Faith, Justice and Formation

SPC Winter Appeal Thank You 

Thank you to all those families who contributed to the College Winter Appeal. Your generosity is very much appreciated by us and by those who receive these small acts of love. 

No more donations are being collected. They were distributed to our Justice Partners on Monday by a wonderful band of current and past parents (Tina and Thai Vu, Anna Le, Nora Francis, Claudia Elias, Melissa Dannaoui, Louise Haddad, Madhavi Gupta, Grace Bogomiakov and Elaine Rahme), organised by and including Raja Touma. Thank you so much to all of you!!

Our Partners passed in their immense gratitude for all the Winter woolies, sleeping bags and blankets. All toiletries will now be packed up at Winter Sleep Out to distribute to rough sleepers around the city.

Thank you one and all.

National Reconciliation Week Celebrations at SPC

What a wonderful celebration of First Nations’ culture we witnessed on Friday at our Reconciliation Week Assembly on Breen Oval. We thank our Aboriginal Education Worker, Mr Wallace, for his coordination of our guests who shared the culture and history they are so proud of. We thank Mr Taylor and the First Nations’ fellas from Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview, who danced for us and led us through a smoking ceremony, which cleanses negativity and connects those involved to the land we live on. 

The group were truly impressive and took under their wing one of our own students, Harvey Truscott from Year 10, who danced for the first time – so proud of him!

Marcus Donovan, from Year 7, shared his thoughts and part of his story to the awe and wonder of our guests. Mr Byrne addressed the assembly with heart and a voice of reason, while Mr Wallace shared his Nan’s harrowing story as part of Truth Telling on the path to Reconciliation.

Celebrating another culture does not diminish our own, just like lighting another candle does not put out our own. We need to celebrate the endurance and strength of our First Nations peoples who have survived through incredible hardship, and who have such joy and beauty to share; all part of the land we call home. (See my article last week for more.)

As part of this week our sporting teams, Chess and Drama Production also ensured we acknowledged the week and all that we stand for as a Catholic School in the Edmund Rice Tradition, with our First IV Tennis, First XI Football, 16A Rugby and First XV Rugby teams wearing our College’s First Nations strip. We saw nothing but respect and care from our teams and their opponents over the weekend.

See the photos below for a showcase of what an Inclusive Community can look like.

Gillian Daley

Director of Identity