Principal

Dear Mary MacKillop, Catholic Regional College Community,

Happy Father’s Day

Happy Father’s Day to all fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers for this Sunday, 6 September. I hope you have the opportunity to spend time with or connect with your family.

My Leave

From 10 September to 29 September, I will take Enrichment Leave to participate in the PAVCSS Footsteps of St Paul pilgrimage.

The pilgrimage will follow significant parts of St Paul’s Second Missionary Journey, visiting places associated with Paul, his companions, and the early Christian communities described in the Acts of the Apostles. It will deepen my understanding of the historical, cultural, and religious context in which these communities developed and in which St Paul’s writings emerged.

As an important opportunity for personal faith formation, I also hope the pilgrimage will broaden my understanding of the Greek Orthodox tradition and Islam and provide insights I can bring back to my role as Principal, particularly in supporting the Catholic identity and mission of our College.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to undertake this pilgrimage and look forward to sharing some of the experience with our community on my return.

During my absence, Chris Spencer will serve as Acting Principal. I know that Chris will have the full support of our staff, students and families, and I leave confident that the College will be in very good hands.

Josephite Pilgrimage – Walking in the Footsteps of Mary MacKillop and Julian Tenison Woods

Next week, Claire Cassidy and Grace Ronchi will accompany Amelia Hams and Claire Glasgow as they join more than 30 other pilgrims from Josephite schools in Victoria and Tasmania for a four-day AJASS Josephite Pilgrimage in Tasmania.

They will leave on Tuesday and return on Friday night, travelling together to explore more deeply the story, spirituality and continuing legacy of St Mary MacKillop, Fr Julian Tenison Woods and the Sisters of St Joseph.

The pilgrimage begins in Hobart with a Commissioning Mass at MacKillop, Mornington, followed by an opportunity to explore what it means to be a pilgrim – not simply travelling to different places, but approaching the journey with openness, reflection and a willingness to be changed by the experience.

A significant focus of the journey will be the Josephite story in Tasmania. At Sacred Heart, New Town, the group will visit the Josephite Mission and History Centre, learn about the history of the Sisters of St Joseph in Tasmania and consider an important question for all Josephite schools: What does the Josephite charism look like in our school today?

The pilgrims will also travel through Richmond and Oatlands, visiting historic churches, school sites and places associated with Mary MacKillop and the early Josephites. At Oatlands, they will explore Mary MacKillop’s story and learn more about the Josephites' ministry in the region.

Another important part of the pilgrimage will focus on Fr Julian Tenison Woods, co-founder of the Sisters of St Joseph with Mary MacKillop. The group will explore his connection with Tasmania and his deep appreciation of creation and ecological spirituality. At Geeveston, they will visit the church where Julian inscribed his name above the doorway before travelling into the Huon region and Tahune, connecting his spirituality with the natural environment he knew and loved.

Throughout the pilgrimage there will be opportunities for prayer, reflection, conversation and meditation. Importantly, the final session asks the pilgrims to consider what they will take from the experience and how they will share it when they return to their respective school communities.

This is an important part of belonging to a College in the Josephite tradition. Our history and connection with Mary MacKillop are important, but the Josephite story is not simply something from the past. Each generation is challenged to give expression to the courage, faith, practical action and commitment to responding to need that characterised Mary MacKillop, Julian Tenison Woods and the early Sisters.

We wish Claire, Grace, Amelia and Claire well on their pilgrimage and look forward to welcoming them back, with experiences and reflections to share with our College community.

Being a Pilgrim Rather Than a Tourist

A tourist travels primarily to see a place; a pilgrim travels seeking to encounter it. Tourism collects sights, experiences and memories. Pilgrimage invites reflection, attentiveness and transformation. The pilgrim asks not only, “What did I see and learn?” but also, “What does this experience now ask of me?”

Arts Amplified – A Celebration of Creativity and Talent

Our Arts Amplified – Arts and Technology Showcase, held on Thursday 27 August, was a wonderful celebration of our students' creativity, talent, and hard work.

With a virtually packed house, families and friends enjoyed an impressive evening of live music and drama performances, student artwork and technology displays, and food and coffee prepared and served by our students. Just as importantly, it was wonderful to see performers supporting performers and students enthusiastically encouraging their peers throughout the evening.

Congratulations particularly to Beth Winterhalter for her leadership in bringing together such an outstanding display of student talent and achievement. An enormous amount of work went into preparing the evening, particularly during an already busy period that has included Eisteddfods, our Feast Day Mass and 40th Anniversary celebrations.

An event such as this is very much a team effort. Thank you to Beth Winterhalter, Phil Shuhmann, Meg Doherty, Daniel Watson, Yuki Hama and Jayde Trappett for their work preparing and supporting our Music students.

Thank you also to Christina Lomagno, who led the organisation of the Arts display, together with Laura Higgins, Adam Cochrane, Claire Mangs, Peter Preston and Sam Florence for their work with students, and to Richard Muranty for preparing our Drama students for their monologue performances.

Our Technology students also made an important contribution to the evening. Milly Ellen, supported by Melita Berzins, Melinda Stepahn and Aliesha Wriggley, worked with students to prepare and serve some wonderful food, while Jo Knox and our Vocational Major students kept everyone supplied with coffee throughout the evening.

Behind the scenes, many others helped make the night possible. Thank you to our Maintenance Team – Ken Myors, Robert Damon and Boyd Robertson – for setting up and packing down the venue; Rachel Collins for coordinating room changes and other logistics; and Mehadi Anik for photographing the evening on behalf of the College. We also thank the students and teachers who willingly relocated classes to enable us to use the Year 10 classrooms for the displays.

Much of the work that makes evenings such as Arts Amplified possible happens quietly in the background. It is a wonderful example of people within our community seeing a need and doing something about it so that others can experience the excellence, excitement and enjoyment that were so evident on the night.

Most importantly, congratulations and thank you to our students – those who performed, exhibited their work, prepared and served food and coffee, and supported one another throughout the evening. Their talent was impressive, but equally impressive was the enthusiasm, generosity and encouragement they showed towards each other.

We can be very proud of them and of the wonderful Arts and Technology programs they represented.

Sapientia Domini Docet Nos

John M Freeman