Catholic Identity & Mission News
Happy Catholic Education Week!
We were delighted to be so involved in the hosting of the Diocese of Sale’s launch of Catholic Education Week last Friday. The College Leadership Team and some of our student leaders attended mass at St Thomas the Apostle where our combined campus Music Ministry choir led the singing magnificently. The priests were so efficient in distributing communion that our choir didn’t get to sing one of their songs, our school song ‘Be not afraid’, but after the mass, they were able to present their rendition to Bishop Greg in a special performance – it was wonderful! The Music Ministry teachers, Mr Matthew Van der Velden, Mr Nigel Patawaran, and Ms Genevieve Lyte, had worked so hard with the students and had created beautiful, layered harmonies and arrangements for the music and our students were rightly proud of their efforts, as was I! Their joy set the tone for a number of activities this week as our College community celebrated its Catholic identity.
Next week is another important one in terms of our Catholic identity – it’s Reconciliation Week. Reconciliation Week is celebrated each year from May 27 – June 3 and incorporates Sorry Day and the anniversary of the Mabo ‘Native Title’ decision. The theme for this year is ‘Now more than ever’, a very fitting theme in light of the work still to be done to ensure that our First Nations peoples experience justice and hope and have access to opportunities where they can flourish. While there will be information and advocacy for reconciliation, there is also a relatively new event that has quickly become a highlight of our Reconciliation Week activities – our own Dreamtime Aussie rules footy matches.
This year, our footy players will wear incredible student designed Dreamtime jumpers. The jumper designs were created by Eden Evans (Year 10) and Olivia Anderson (Year 11), two young Indigenous women from our Clyde North Campus. We had invited and encouraged our Indigenous students to submit designs and so were delighted when Eden and Olivia submitted creations of such high quality. Eden was clear that her design should feature the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags, and Olivia was also happy to include this feature, and so we sought and were granted the appropriate permissions, and the jumpers went into production. I cannot wait for the players to see them and am confident they will feel very proud to represent their campus in such special gear. Thank you to Eden and Olivia for sharing their talents with our community and to Mr Gerard Brown for initiating the jumper design project and facilitating their production.
As a Catholic community, St Peter’s College continues the journey of reconciliation in the hope that all people in Australia will live together in forgiveness, love, hope and peace.
Acknowledgment of Country
This National Reconciliation Week we acknowledge the many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations across Australia, who have had continued connection to their Country since time immemorial. We especially remember 27 May and 3 June, two dates that are important to all Australians. The first is the anniversary of the 1967 referendum when Australians voted overwhelmingly for a change in the constitution and the second is Mabo Day which commemorates Mer Island man Eddie Koiki Mabo and his successful efforts to overturn the legal fiction of terra nullius, or ‘land belonging to no-one’. We pay tribute to the Elders who have come before and used their voice for change for a better future for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We honour today’s Elders who continue to advocate for Reconciliation through Voice, Treaty and Truth-telling.
(This Acknowledgment of Country is taken from Reconciliation Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 2024 National Reconciliation Week Secondary Resources)
Ms Fiona McKenna
Deputy Principal - Catholic Identity & Mission