Catholic Identity & Mission News
Over the past week, St Peter’s College has been ‘All In’ for National Reconciliation Week! Reconciliation Week ran from May 27 – June 3 and our FIRE Carrier staff and students contributed to a range of events and initiatives to recognise and celebrate our First Nations people. Our FIRE Carrier commitment endeavours to educate our community that reconciliation is more than a word, it’s also about action including being good Indigenous allies and listening to the voices of First Nations peoples.
The theme for this year’s Reconciliation Week was ‘All In’. As explained by Reconciliation Australia, ‘All In makes clear that reconciliation is not a spectator sport and that all of us must step away from the sidelines and take action to make change. The theme also reminds us that reconciliation and advancing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ rights isn’t a passive activity, and it is not solely the responsibility of First Nations people, who have carried the weight of championing, explaining and acting for far too long’.
Reconciliation will not happen by itself, and it will not happen without all of us. So, our students ran bake stalls, made a range of five gorgeous badges to sell, created chalk art, and ran a BBQ to coincide with our annual ‘Dreamtime’ footy matches, all to raise awareness and much needed funds for the Opening the Doors Foundation. The tagline for the Opening the Doors Foundation is that they are ‘Keeping Koorie kids in an education of their choice’ and they do this by financially supporting the education of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students across all sectors. During Reconciliation Week, there were daily notices and prayers on SPACE that aimed to educate our own community about the triumphs and challenges faced by our Indigenous Australians who are widely recognized as the oldest continuous living culture on Earth. If you would like to learn more about Opening the Doors or make a financial contribution, you can do so at Openingthedoors.org.au.
Putting faith in action and supporting those in need is a key feature of our Mission at the College and last week, we finalised our Term 1 fundraising for Caritas’ Project Compassion campaign and I am delighted to report that we smashed previous fundraising efforts by raising over $11,000 for Caritas’ good works in Australia and overseas! So many staff and students contributed to this outstanding achievement through Project Compassion boxes, lunchtime stalls, can collecting, Business Management business projects, car washes and more. We are a large community, and it is wonderful that we promote outward facing initiatives that reflect our shared Catholic Social Teachings of dignity of the human person, preferential option for the poor and solidarity. Enormous thanks to all who contributed in ways big and small to our Project Compassion efforts this year. Our annual theme this year urges us to ‘Let all that you do be done in love’. This theme is certainly resonating with our generous social justice advocacy and initiatives so far this year – well done everyone!
Ms Fiona McKenna
Deputy Principal – Catholic Identity & Mission