Rector's Report

Greetings! Today September 8 is the 251st day of the year (252nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 114 days remain until the end of the year. As I write this newsletter to you, we are supposed to be welcoming the season of spring but as I look out my office window the weather is wild with wind and rain. However, I am sure we are all looking forward to ‘springing into spring’ when it finally arrives with some warmer weather (hopefully). Spring also commences the AFL Finals Series. This first week will see some teams eliminated whilst others get a second chance. Over the next few weeks, it will be

 interesting to witness how teams prepare to perform at the top of their game to earn the right to play off in the 2023 Grand Final on Saturday September 30.

Reappointment

During last week I had a conversation with Fr Christian Fini OMI, Provincial, who informed me that my first term (3 years) as Rector to Mazenod College, Victoria was due to conclude at the end of the year. I was pleased, that after consultation with Dr Paul Shannon, Principal, Fr Fini has reappointed me as Rector to Mazenod for another three years. I look forward to being present amongst you all during this time. 

Nativity (Birth) of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Today the Catholic Church celebrates the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary on its traditional fixed date of September 8, nine months after the December 8 celebration of her Immaculate Conception as the child of Saints Joachim and Anne. The Church has celebrated Mary's birth since at least the sixth century. A September birth was chosen because the Eastern Church begins its Church year with September. The September 8 date helped determine the date for the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8. Usually, it is the custom of the church to celebrate the feast day of a saint on the date of their death as this is truly the day remembered as their birth into everlasting happiness. Mary, however, entered this world sinless through the privilege of the Immaculate Conception and is the firstborn of the redeemed. Her nativity is a cause for great joy as it is considered the" dawn of our salvation" as Pope Paul VI wrote in the document, Marialis Cultus in 1972.

Reflection

We can see every human birth as a call for new hope in the world. The love of two human beings has joined with God in his creative work. The loving parents have shown hope in a world filled with travail. The new child has the potential to be a channel of God’s love and peace to the world. This is all true in a magnificent way in Mary. If Jesus is the perfect expression of God’s love, Mary is the foreshadowing of that love. If Jesus has brought the fullness of salvation, Mary is its dawning. Birthday celebrations bring happiness to the celebrant as well as to family and friends. Next to the birth of Jesus, Mary’s birth offers the greatest possible happiness to the world. Each time we celebrate her birth, we can confidently hope for an increase of peace in our hearts and in the world at large.

De Mazenod Family Education Network Conference

From August 30 till September 2, 5 staff members from Mazenod joined colleagues from our 3 other colleges: Mazenod WA, Iona and St Eugene’s, Qld for the Oblate Colleges Conference. This was an opportunity to share our common Oblate Charism and the various educational approaches of our various colleges. This sharing is a way to stimulate new ideas and activities in our colleges to enhance the educational opportunities for our students and staff. St Eugene De Mazenod College, Burpengary, Queensland was the host college this year and we are thankful for all their efforts in providing a fruitful and

engaging conference. St Eugene College is coeducational from Prep to Year 12 and is based within the parish of St Eugene de Mazenod (1987). The college had its beginnings as a primary school attached to the parish in 1990 with the secondary college being added in 2008.

Year 7 Information Evening

On Thursday evening, September 7 the college was delighted to welcome students and families of our 2024 Year 7 cohort for an information evening in the Provence Centre. This was a great opportunity for the college to welcome these families and to share its foundations, traditions, and educational opportunities. We look forward to their presence with us in the New Year. On this topic we have also been interviewing the applicants for Year 7 in 2025. Although a bit into the future, these students and families are already excited about the possibility of being part of our Mazenod community. Some extra stress was added to the night as it clashed with the Pies qualifying final. 

Parish Priest Installation

After the education Conference I stayed an extra night in Brisbane to join Fr Nadeem OMI who was installed as parish priest of St Eugene de Mazenod parish, Burpengary, Qld. Fr Nadeem spent three years with me in the Moe/Newborough parish after arriving from Pakistan. Archbishop Mark Coleridge and Fr Christian Fini OMI, Provincial, performed the formal duties. 

Pictured: Fr Harry Dyer OMI, Fr Mathew Raj OMI, Fr Christian Fini OMI, Archbishop Mark Coleridge, Fr Nadeem OMI, Fr John Sherman OMI. 

Season of Creation

The Season of Creation is the annual Christian celebration to pray and respond together to the cry of Creation: the ecumenical family around the world unites to listen and care for our common home. This year we unite around the theme, “Let Justice and Peace Flow.” A mighty river is the symbol for the 2023 Season of Creation. The Season “Celebration” began on 1 September, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and ends 4 October, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology beloved by many Christian denominations.

More information can be resourced at: https://seasonofcreation.org/

A Prayer for the Earth

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures. You embrace with your tenderness all that exists. Pour out upon us the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one. O God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes. Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction. Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth. Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognise that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light. We thank you for being with us each day. Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace.

St Eugene de Mazenod

Pray for us.

Victoria Police and Emergency Services Rememberance Day

Today we gathered in solidarity with our Victoria Police and Emergency Services Personnel. Police Remembrance Day is usually celebrated on September 29, the Feast of St Michael. St. Michael the archangel is the ultimate force for good against evil and brings a sense of peace and security. For these reasons St Michael is patron of law enforcement. It is a day to remember the 176 men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice by giving their lives whilst serving our community since the formation of Victoria Police in 1853. We especially remember one of our own, Constable Steven Tynan, who graduated from Mazenod in 1983. Steven joined Victoria Police and was ambushed and killed in the line of duty on October 12, 1988. Let us pray and remember in thanksgiving our community members who go and confront the danger rather than turn away from it. 

I know it is a week early, but this is the last newsletter for the term, so I say a

Yours in Jesus Christ and Mary Immaculate

Fr Harry Dyer OMI