John XXIII College Newsletter

Faith and Mission

At John XXIII College, our 2025 theme, 'Seek Justice,' calls us to respond not only to human injustice but also to the cry of the Earth. This week, as we marked World Environment Day on 5 June, we are invited to reflect on how our everyday actions impact the world around us, especially the beautiful natural spaces we are privileged to enjoy on our campus.

 

This year's World Environment Day theme is 'Ending Plastic Pollution Globally', under the campaign #BeatPlasticPollution. Led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), this global initiative urges individuals, communities, and nations to take decisive action against plastic waste, which has infiltrated every part of life, from our oceans to our food systems, and even our own bodies through microplastics.

 

Our library display this week draws attention to the growing amount of rubbish being left around the college grounds. This litter not only spoils the beauty of our environment but also harms the local fauna, including the Carnaby’s Black Cockatoos, who visit our trees and skies. The display features thought-provoking quotes from Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ powerful call to care for creation, reminding us that:

 

“The Earth is essentially a shared inheritance, whose fruits are meant to benefit everyone.”— Laudato Si’ #93

 

It is heartening to see efforts being made to protect and care for the environment, from recycling initiatives to wildlife awareness, but we must each ask ourselves: What is my own personal footprint?

 

Pope Francis reminds us that 'we are not God. The Earth was here before us and it has been given to us' (Laudato Si’ #67). With this gift comes responsibility. Stewardship is not just a task for a few eco-warriors or sustainability clubs; it is a call for all of us, every day, in every action. Justice for the Earth is justice for future generations.

 

World Environment Day, and the reflections in our library, challenge us to be more intentional:

  • Pick up rubbish, even when it’s not yours.
  • Reduce single-use plastics.
  • Respect our shared spaces and the creatures who inhabit them.

By doing so, we honour our College theme and respond faithfully to the invitation of Laudato Si’, to become people who seek justice not just with words, but through care, respect, and action.

 

 

Janeen Murphy

Deputy Principal Faith and Mission

 

 

 

 

 

 

Community Mass

 

Next Friday’s Community Mass will be prepared by Year 11. We look forward to welcoming all Year 11 students and their families. 

 

If you have any questions about Community Mass, please contact Mary-Anne Lumley.

 

Community Mass details

  • College Chapel
  • Fridays in term time
  • Starts at 8:00am; concludes at 8:30am.

Sacraments

Confirmation

Many Year 6 students will be confirmed in their parish this Sunday. They have been preparing for the sacrament in their Religious Education classes. The sacrament of Confirmation completes initiation into the Christian community and marks the beginning of their adult journey of faith. We congratulate those students and families and hold them in our hearts at this significant sacramental moment in their lives. 

 

Parents often have questions about the Sacrament program, so don’t be afraid to ask. Below are some useful points of contact: 

Good News for Pentecost Sunday

 

This Sunday the Church celebrates the feast of Pentecost – the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the disciples, filling them with joy, surprise and courage (Acts 2:1-11). The reflection on this scripture below is part of a longer homily by Fr Errol Lobo in which he highlights the changes brought about by God’s Spirit: creating communion, empowering Christians for mission and helping people remain faithful to Jesus.

 

 

COMMUNION

The Spirit creates communion. God’s Spirit breaks down the walls that divide us. Luke’s account tells us that the startled onlookers came from many different lands and cultures, and yet they heard the disciples’ Spirit-inspired speech in their own native tongues. Strangers find themselves suddenly melded into a new community; drawn into the family of God. The arrival of the Spirit creates unity and harmony out of diversity, in a way until then impossible, as those drawn into the community of Jesus’ disciples live out his indestructible new life and witness to the truth that God has made him both Lord and Christ. 

 

Our challenge today, of course, in our own polarised and fragmented world, is to see ourselves included in this new creation. The Church of Christ, gathered in the Spirit, is sans frontières; every criterion of human worth must be ultimately subordinated to a common allegiance to Christ. We belong to him and to each other; the Spirit draws us into a communion of life and love. 

 

MISSION

The Spirit empowers us for mission - building us up not for ourselves but for others. The Spirit is not a gift for an inward-looking community of a chosen few, but an explosion that propels the disciples outward on mission, even to the ends of the earth. It is not that we somehow make up for the absence of Jesus who has gone to the Father, but that the risen Lord continues his presence and ministry in the world through us, making us his Body—his hands and his feet—through the power of the Spirit, offering the boundless grace of God to the world in which we live. The Spirit gives us his gifts, his life, so that through us, the world may find life in the one Lord. In God’s new creation, we ourselves are the earth into which the Spirit is poured out, breathed, kindled into, so that we become fully alive for the sake of mission and ministry. 

 

FAITHFULNESS

The Spirit leads us to the truth. The Spirit, who is eternal newness, is also eternal faithfulness. The Spirit leads us, both as individuals and as a community of disciples, to greater fidelity towards what God has revealed to us in the person of Christ. The Spirit helps us see all things, even things that we would rather not see; things we might want to put aside because they are too painful or too demanding. It is the Spirit who clears our vision, showing us that perhaps we do not love the good enough or love the wrong things too much. In other words, the Spirit helps us face up to the truth about ourselves. 

 

Communion, mission, fidelity—these are what the outpouring of God’s Spirit mean for us even today. And how much we need these gifts anew! On this day of Pentecost, therefore, we make the prayer of the Church in every age our own: Come, Holy Spirit, and as at that first Pentecost, fill the hearts of all your faithful, and enkindle in us the fire of your love.

 

Lobo, Errol. "Pentecost - 8 June 2025." Pastoral Liturgy 55, no. 2 (2025): 1. https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/pastoral-liturgy/vol55/iss2/24

 

Fr Errol Lobo is a priest in the Kalgoorlie-Boulder parish, providing pastoral care to its Catholic schools and acting as a Visiting Chaplain at Curtin University's WA School of Mines.