Mission News

Mr Luke McMahon

St Vincent De Paul – Leadership Development Program

Marist College Ashgrove has had a student conference of St Vincent De Paul since the foundation year in 1940, making our College conference one of the oldest continuous school conferences in QLD. In recent years the Youth Team at Vinnies has provided a program for Vinnies students in Years 10 and 11, called the Ozanam Leadership Program (OLP), from which has developed an Alumni program.

 

The 2021 St Vincent De Paul College Conference President, Year 12 student, Miles Kilpatrick is a graduate of the OLP and is currently part of the Alumni program. In promoting OLP to our students Miles has this to say about his experience:

The year-long Ozanam Leadership Program concluded in the Term 1 holidays with a Buddies’ day. These Buddies’ days were opportunities for participants to put into action our developing leadership skills as a part of the OLP program and helped provide a day of fun physical activities for local children in areas including Zillmere, Acacia Ridge and Mount Gravatt. It was so fulfilling to be able to engage with these kids, and making new friends, putting a smile on their faces. I was joined by Year 12 Vinnies students Gus Junger who has been a part of this program with me, along with Dylan Treston, Jacob Anderson, and Sam Jensen. Since the ending of this great program, Vinnies has established the Alumni program for graduate OLP participants from my year, and participants from previous years. The program not only aims at allowing us to continue the good work we have achieved in OLP, but also allows us to socially reconnect with our new mates from the program, as well as create new friendships with the others involved. MCA Old Boys Tom Thorpe and Dom Malt who attended OLP in 2019, along with several other participants are involved in this new program, and joined me at a reconnection night on Tuesday. It was a great social night, talking about our different experiences in OLP and what this new program may look like. We plan to continue similar works to the leadership program of community work and volunteering, and expanding our reach further than Brisbane. It is such a great opportunity to be involved in and something for which I am truly grateful. I really encourage the Year 10 and 11 boys of 2022 (this Year’s 9’s and 10’s) to be involved in OLP and keep an ear out later in the year for the opportunity to be involved. Mr. McMahon would love to hear from Vinnies Conference members interested in attending, as it is a great opportunity to develop both leadership and personal skills.
 
More information on the Ozanam Leadership Program for Years 10 and 11 students 2022 can be found at this site: https://vinniesyouthqld.org.au/schools/ozanam-leadership-program

Sony Camp Update for 2021

As a result of the situation around COVID-19 and the particular nature of the Sony Camp, and in the health interests and well-being of the children with disabilities who attend the camp as well as those Year 11 students chosen to work closely with the children on the camp, we have taken the decision to not have a Sony Camp in 2021. College staff have been deliberating over this issue for quite some time. 

 

There are clearly complicated and concerning issues around Australia’s vaccination program which we might have expected earlier in the year may have been resolved by September. At this stage, the children with disabilities may not all be vaccinated by September. These children are extremely vulnerable at the best of times. It seems highly unlikely that our Year 11 students would all be vaccinated by September. We are uncomfortable putting students at risk however low that might appear to be at this stage. In all likelihood staff who volunteer to work on the camp may not all be vaccinated by then either. And while we have few cases of COVID-19 in Australia currently, the increasing possibility of the opening of international and state borders could see that situation change, and rapidly so. The conditions around the provision of residential care are numerous and complex as we know from our own boarding school, made more so with vulnerable children and those students caring for them. 

 

Our first Sony camp at Ashgrove was 2003 so deciding to not conduct a camp for the second year in a row is very difficult. We feel for the children who will miss out on a fun time, their families in need of respite and our own students who are denied a unique and challenging life experience. We hope people will understand. 

Community Prayers

We pray for all in our community who are unwell and are suffering at this time. 

 

We pray for the repose of the souls of:

  • James Truscott (OB)
  • Barry Garvey (OB)
  • Brendan Furdeck’s (staff member) Grandfather

May our loving God, with Mary and Champagnat, walk with all members of the Marist family. Amen

Chaplain’s Corner

May 1 – St. Joseph The Worker. This memorial of St. Joseph the Worker is a legacy to us of the period of the Cold War. It comes to us in 1955 from Pope Pius XII. Its purpose was to give a Christian alternative to the Communist May Day observances, which celebrated the Communist movement. Those observances were often anti-Christian and anti-Church as well anti-democratic.

 

Today, Communism is largely gone and this feast remains to take on a different dimension. It calls on us to look carefully at our performance as Christians in the work we do. People should be able to depend on the quality, honesty, integrity and professionalism of our work whether it be with our minds or with our hands.

 

Today there is a tendency for some people to cut corners in the work they do and not take pride in what they have done.

 

In whatever we commit ourselves to do as volunteers or as employees we should respect our work, respect our employer, and respect the work environment. We make it a place where we can be light to people around us.

 

Frequently, the workplace can become a place of gossip, detraction, slander and even hostility. It may well be a place that needs something of Christ.

 

St. Paul once wrote to the Colossians that we should do our work for the Lord rather than only for others.

 

That is a splendid keynote for this feast of St. Joseph the Worker. Wherever we work, that is our place to be light to others and a place to serve the Lord.

 

St. Joseph, pray for us.
Mary, our Good Mother, pray for us.
St. Marcellin Champagnat, pray for us.
St. Mary of the Cross, pray for us.
And may we always remember to pray for one another.