Mission and Identity
- Christmas Appeal - Final Week!
- Youth Mass
- Movie Night
- Road to Bethlehem Liturgy
- Best Foot Forward Campaign
1 Peter 4:10 St Pius X Christmas Appeal - Final Week!
Thank you to all families who have contributed to our 1 Peter 4:10 Christmas Appeal. It is certainly heartwarming to be able to walk through the foyer and see such generosity manifested by the College Community! These donations will be distributed to our various partner organisations from this Friday through our Matthew 25:40 Immersion Program, and through the generosity of some College Staff, who have offered to deliver donations on behalf of the College.
Donations are still needed for each Year Group. A reminder of the categories and nominated needs can be found below:
Year 5 and 6 will be supporting the St Vincent de Paul Society in Woy Woy, who are requesting the following to be donated:
Non Perishable Snack Supplies packed into zip lock bags, containing three snack items and a can of tuna, soup sachet or packet of noodles.
Year 7 will be supporting St Mary’s Primary School Bowraville who are requesting New casual clothing items, new sporting related items and new primary aged toys to be donated
Year 8 will be supporting CatholicCare Broken Bay who are requesting Non-perishable snack items, non perishable food items, toiletries and toys suitable for young children to be donated.
Year 9 will be supporting the Burdekin Association through the Frenchs Forest Parish, who are requesting non-perishable snack items, non perishable food items and toiletries to be donated.
Year 10 will be supporting Centacare who are requesting Christmas present hampers. Each homeroom will be organised into present groups and will receive the specific needs relevant to their grouping.
Year 11 will be supporting St Michael’s Meals who are requesting non-perishable snack items, non perishable food items and toiletries to be donated.
Youth Mass - 26 November - 5:30 pm, Our Lady of Dolours Church
Students are all invited to celebrate and participate in the Youth Mass on Sunday 26 November at 5:30 pm at Our Lady of Dolours Church. This is a Mass where students from St Pius X College and Mercy College put their faith into action by doing the readings, playing music and serving on the Altar and administering Eucharist. Parents and students are all welcome!
Newly trained Eucharistic Ministers and Pilgrims for the Greater Sydney and Central Coast Immersions are to be in attendance as part of their formation program to support their ministry.
Post-Mass Movie Screening - 26 November 6:50 pm
As we draw our monthly Schools Masses to a close for 2023, we would like to invite students to the 6:50 pm screening of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in Chatswood. This is an informal community gathering intended to foster connections between young people within the Chatswood Parish community. Given the informal nature of the event, students will need to arrange for their own movie ticket and transportation to and from the venue. It is a great opportunity to celebrate time together.
The Road to Bethlehem - A Liturgical Pilgrimage
On Moday 4 December the College will break open the scripture of one of our most sacred stories, that of the Nativity - The Birth of Christ, God in human flesh - The Incarnation. Our approach to this liturgy has its roots in 1223!
According to Bonaventure, Francis in 1223 sought permission from Pope Honorious III to do something 'for the kindling of devotion' to the birth of Christ. As part of his preparations, at Midnight Mass in 1223, St Francis 'made ready a manger, and bale hay, together with an ox and a donkey,' in the small Italian town of Greccio.
One witness, among the crowd that gathered for this event, reported that St Francis included a carved doll which cried tears of joy and 'seemed to be awakened from sleep when the blessed Father Francis embraced Him in both arms.'
The Nativity story continued to expand within Christian devotional culture well after Francis’ death. In 1291, Pope Nicholas IV, the first Franciscan pope, ordered that a permanent Nativity scene be erected at Santa Maria Maggiore, the largest church dedicated to The Virgin Mary in Rome. From here Nativity imagery dominated Renaissance art.
This first living Nativity scene – which was famously depicted by Italian Renaissance painter Giotto di Bondone in the Arena Chapel of Padua, Italy – ushered in a new tradition of staging the birth of Christ.
In the tondo, a circular painting of the Adoration of the Magi by 15th-century painters Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi, not only are there sheep, a donkey, a cow and an ox, there is a colorful peacock as a symbol of eternal life that peers over the top of the manger to catch a glimpse of Jesus.
With a similar vision to that of St Franics, we take seriously our responsibility as custodians of our faith and its sacred stories, and believe biblical stories require a biblical sized effort to connect present generations with the Gospels.
It is with great pleasure that St Pius X College and Mercy Catholic College will collaborate to host ‘The Road to Bethlehem - A Liturgical Pilgrimage’, here on campus at 10:00 am on 4 December.
We will be joined by students from Our Lady of Dolours Primary School and members of the Parish. With large sets, costumes and lives animals, we will bring to life the Nativity. Our students and staff, dressed in biblical costumes, will move in and through the congregation seated in the playground, as they unfold one of the greatest stories from our ‘God of surprises’.
Best Foot Forward Campaign
This Friday, we will be raising awareness of the ‘Best Foot Forward’ Campaign run by the Edmund Rice Foundation. Their goal is to raise awareness so that women and girls can have a brighter future. Women and girls living in poverty lack basic human rights and fundamental opportunities.
As our contribution to this important initiative, all students and staff are invited to wear brightly coloured or ‘crazy’ socks to promote the importance of the ‘Best Foot Forward’ initiative.
In addition, the College will form the shape of a foot from their logo for an aerial photograph to be shared across our social media platforms. To assist us in our goal of raising awareness, we invite families to forward this photograph and link to the campaign next Friday.
Mr Daniel Petrie - Assistant Principal, Mission and Identity