MISSION CENTRAL

Sacramental program 

St Augustine’s offers a sacramental program for students who, with their parents' knowledge and consent, wish to complete their sacraments of initiation into the Catholic faith or who wishes to enter the Catholic faith through Baptism and the other sacraments of initiation, namely Reconciliation, Confirmation or First Eucharist. If your son is interested, please talk to him about this important step, and, if you wish to support him in this, please email Maree McCormack, executive assistant to the Leadership Team, on mmccormack@cns.catholic.edu.au for more information.  

A MAPS Appeal Update

Finn Slade, Service Captain

Two weeks ago, I was invited to join a zoom call with Australian Marist Solidarity to connect and learn with St Joseph’s College in the Solomon Islands. During this call I learnt about their daily activities, conditions and lives of students attending St Joseph’s College. The differences between things we take for granted everyday were really thought provoking, things such as: the availability of clean water. Cold water on tap isn’t accessible at St Joseph’s; drinking water is supplied from rainwater tanks and they are strongly discouraged from drink tap water due to poor filtration. 

Also, St Joseph's doesn't have Tolle's staff and groundskeepers like us. Instead, prefects and student leaders clean the grounds and cook. Hot chips and pasta don't appear for the students wanting to get a meal. Food like cabbages have to be grown and prepared for the whole school then paired with something else like rice. Another difference was many of their students don’t arrive to school by car, but travel by boat.

When they have extreme weather events, the staff housing floods. This also makes it difficult for boarders to leave and return home to their families. The life of boarders at St Joseph’s is one that is similar to our own, waking up at 6 and finishing at 4. These comparisons between our luck and their reality is really something to think about. It has become something at the forefront of my mind, especially during Lent. 

Showing kindness through charity is the best way to do it. You may not see how your efforts have made a difference, but you will get this happiness and peace knowing you have helped someone less fortunate. After this year, St Joseph’s will  no longer be our focus school. You won’t be able to donate to help their cause. Now is your time to do it. 

We have raised $3,483 so far. Years 10 and 11 haven’t raised anything yet. I understand that some homerooms have fundraising ideas in the works, but the time for action is now. Some ideas that homerooms have come up with in the past have included thong throwing competitions, spiders for sale, pizza and ice cream, guess the number of lollies in a lolly jar, fairy floss, basketball shoot out, golf, Zooper Dooper sales after Wednesday sport, just to name a few. 

Finally, the support from the senior students for Rosies this term has been overwhelming. Thank you for generously giving your time to help those doing it tough in Cairns.

From the SRC 

Cooper Meares and Matthew Williams 

Rubbish in Cairns is a problem. Every piece of rubbish has the potential to negatively impact the reef ecosystems and amazing wildlife. This year, the SRC plan to do something about it. We have begun a new initiative, Clean Up Cairns, where we will clean up areas special to the Saints and Cairns communities. The first event of this initiative occurred early in March where we had over 40 students and teachers come and spend their afternoon cleaning up our own school grounds. We found 35 bags of rubbish from just one day of school. This is not acceptable and we challenge our students to take more responsibility for our surroundings. 

Recently, the newly voted SRC travelled to Good Council College, Innisfail, for a day of leadership lessons and activities built to challenge our thinking about leadership, students and the environment. Led by Brother Tony, we were invited to share our ideas, experiences and topics for new initiatives and ways to improve our respective schools. This trip was very rewarding for our SRC and will hopefully help lead our actions into the future. The College welcomes these students to their new leadership roles. 

11 - Jonathan O'Farrell

11 - Lachlan Turner

10 - Paul Hitchings

10 - Pont Nupiri

9 - Joseph Keating

9 - Tremaine Tapim

8 - Max Belbin

8 - Samuel Kelly

Finally, the SRC have only been active for a short while but are already cooking up some new initiatives. Ideas being passed around are new handball courts, a potential games room and more microwaves. Stay tuned for more updates.  

Brekky with the Boys - the first for 2025

Brekky with the boys was a great experience for all. It allowed us to relate to the leaders of our school and learn valuable lessons from the prefects including the importance of service, and the strength of community. Joining this event with student-led prayer was a good idea because  we were reminded of how fortunate we are and how easily we can help others with education through the Lenten MAPS Appeal.