Religious Education News

For the last month we have been supporting  Catholic Mission in its annual Mission Month fundraising appeal. Our house leaders and Bridie Giles, our Lasallian Youth Minister, have worked hard (and often against the weather) to run activities and raise much needed funds for the work of the Church in Mongolia. My deep thanks to Bridie and our student leaders, and to everyone who has purchased something over the past month for your wonderful support for Catholic Mission. Please read Bridie’s great story on our fundraising efforts!

Next month we will be participating in the celebrations surrounding the reopening of our Cathedral. It’s been over a year since the Cathedral was closed to permit the repairs to the roof and tower, and in that time we have seen our school chapel and gym used by the parish community for Masses and other liturgies. It has been wonderful to see the College becoming more closely aligned with the wider Armidale Cathedral parish once more. All members of the school community are warmly welcomed to join in with members of the parish at the grand reopening of the cathedral at the 10 am mass on Sunday December 15th, and then afterwards at the parish fair in the grounds of the Cathedral.

For the last fortnight students in our RE classes have been working towards completion of major assessment tasks for the term. The standard of responses has been very good, with students working closely with their teachers to enhance their knowledge, understanding and skills. Our Year 10 students, for instance, have been completing an essay task on interfaith dialogue and the results have been excellent, with these students demonstrating that they are well and truly ready to step off on the final stages of their school education as they move into senior year. 

This week our Year 10 Assistant Catechists met for the last time with Deacon Paul Manvell from Tamworth and Mrs Kerry Steller to provide feedback on their work with Catechists in our local schools. I’d like to thank all of the students involved for their efforts this year and Mrs Steller and Deacon Paul for making this opportunity available to our young leaders. We will resume the program next year and I hope that some of the Assistant Catechists from this year will be able to continue on with the program in 2026. 

Next week will see the launch of the St Vincent de Paul Christmas appeal. Many of you would know that for many decades, our school has supported our local St Vincent de Paul society through providing goods for their Winter and Christmas appeals. This year’s focus is on the young children in our local area who, through no fault of their own, are experiencing great poverty. For them and their families Christmas is not a joyous experience, but a reminder of the tough times that they are experiencing. More information about the appeal will be passed onto students and families in the coming week. The items collected will be presented to St Vincent de Paul following the final school mass on 11th December. 

I’d like to finish off with a reflection from Brother Mark McKeon, a De la Salle brother currently living in Israel:

St Paul reminds us in the letter to the Corinthians that we are God's temple and that the Spirit of God dwells in us. Remembering this can help us see our students, colleagues and ourselves with the eyes of faith.

Let’s see each other and our world through the eyes of faith now, and into the future.

Mr Andrew May

Religious Education Coordinator

Our Founders - St Angela Merici and St John Baptiste De La Salle

Saints Mary and Joseph Cathedral Parish

Keeping in touch with what is happening in the Cathedral Parish is easy through their website and Facebook pages.

With such a difficult year and a half it has been harder for parishioner's to give to the parish through the plates, particularly when the church is closed as it is at present. The Parish account details are available on the Parish bulletin. 

Cathedral Parish Website

Information about our founders

La Salle Website

Ursuline Sisters Website