Faith Formation and Mission

“Peace is built in the heart and from the heart” – Pope Leo XIV 

These words which beautifully echo our own Spirituality of the Heart were shared by His Holiness Pope Leo XIV during his first address to the diplomatic corps to the Holy See on 16th May. They typify the new pontiff’s central message of peace since being elected and remind us that peace in our communities and our world cannot exist until we each find peace within ourselves.

Within our MSC way of being, we find the source of this inner peace when we recognise in our own hearts the compassionate love found in the heart of Jesus. During the same address, Pope Leo went on to ask his audience to keep in mind two other words that represent pillars of the Church’s missionary activity – justice and truth.

While the pontiff had our current global context in mind, these three words – peace, justice and truth – are relevant to our Australian context as we mark National Reconciliation Week (NRW) (27th May – 3rd June). This year’s theme is “Bridging Now to Next!” and challenges us all to build bridges designed on peaceful foundations, pillars of truth and trusses of justice.

As we journey through NRW, may we all consider how we can build peace within our own hearts and extend that peace towards our Australian community in a spirit of reconciliation.

Year 9 Retreat 

This year the college introduced an overnight retreat for Year 9 Students. It was held on 12th to 13th May and took place across St Mary’s Towers and AGH Camps in Douglas Park. The theme of the retreat was Gifts of God’s Creation with both venues providing great opportunities for the students to step out of their comfort zones and consider how to be stewards of creation. 

St Mary’s Towers, a spiritual place for the MSCs since 1904 provided the ideal venue to explore how God speaks to us through the natural world while AGH Camps gave the students many activities to test their courage through giant swings and high ropes courses. It was a wonderful two days for students to come to a deeper appreciation for the gifts of nature, the gifts in each other, and the gifts in themselves. 

During the evening, we were lucky enough to have an outdoor Eucharist as the sun was setting over the Nepean River and Razorback Ridge. It was a beautiful way to conclude the day with a backdrop echoing the words of Psalm 19 “the heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”  

Vinnies Winter Appeal 

This term we turn out attention to supporting vulnerable members of our local community through the Vinnies Winter Appeal. The focus of the 2025 highlights how young people can be effected by homelessness. To help ensure we get a good spread of items, each House has been allocated a category of items to bring in. Students are asked to bring in items prior to Sacred Heart Day (Friday 13th June). 

Laudato Si Week 

In Week 4 we celebrated Laudato Si Week marking the Tenth Anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical renewing the call to care for our common home. Despite the inclement weather, we still managed to have a number of activities to mark the occasion. This included a nature photo display (you can see some of the great photos taken by students below), a nude food day to reduce our waste, and the launch of a staff Laudato Si Action Group to explore how we as a school community can work towards the Laudato Si goals.