From the Principal

• Reflection 
• Commencement Mass and Academic Awards Ceremony
• Open Day - Saturday 18 March
• Enrolments for Years 5, 6 and 7 2025
• Invitation to P&F Commencement Mass and Social
• Key Dates

Reflection

Fasting & Feasting

Lent is more than a time of fasting; it can also be a joyous season of feasting. Lent is a time to fast from certain things and to feast on others.

Fast from judging others

Feast on the Christ dwelling in them

Fast from worry

Feast on Divine Providence

Fast from complaining

Feast on appreciation

Fast from self-concern

Feast on compassion for others

Fast from discouragement

Feast on hope

Fast from problems that overwhelm

Feast on prayer

Fast from thoughts of illness

Feast on the healing power of God

Blessed Edmund Rice - Pray for Us

St Pius X - Pray for Us

Live Jesus in our Hearts - Forever!

Commencement Mass and Academic Awards Assembly

Commencement Mass 

The Commencement Mass was a wonderful liturgical celebration signifying the official commencement of the College academic year.  The College Captain, Eamon Boyle processed into the Christian Brothers Centre carrying the College candle as a sign of Christ’s light leading us as we commence the school year.  He was followed by all Year 12 who wore their college blazers with pride and walked proudly through the centre aisle for their last Commencement Mass.  This procession of students is a rite of passage for all Year 12 and I hope this begins a tradition of acknowledging our most senior year group at the college.

I would like to acknowledge and thank our special guests for their attendance Mr Ray Paxton, EREA Interim Executive Director, Ms Ms Sarah Gillard, Member of the School Advisory Council and P&F President, and Mr Mark Sullivan, Member of the School Advisory Council.

On behalf of the College, I offered a very special thank you to our celebrant, Father David Ranson, whose support of our mission at St Pius X College is strongly evident with his presence at the Mass and his ongoing interaction with the staff and students of the College. It is very heartening to know that as we strive to celebrate being Catholic in our world today, to live lives that accord strongly with Catholic values, Catholic beliefs and Catholic culture we have Fr David’s support and the support of the clergy of the parish of Our Lady of Dolours. We are truly grateful for his celebration of the Eucharist and his words of encouragement. Thank you Fr David.

My heartfelt thanks to the members of our staff who worked tirelessly to ensure that yesterday’s wonderful celebration of the Eucharist was a memorable, uplifting and sacred occasion. The music was amazing, and all the musicians should be congratulated for their support of music at the College.   In particular:

• To our singers led by Mrs Annabelle Westhoff and Mrs Christine Lewis.
• To Mrs Stella Talati for her conducting of the Senior Concert Band.
• To Ms Stephanie Gan (piano) and Mr Stephen Cummins (Bass guitar) who supported the Senior Concert Band.
• To Mr Stephen Cummins, Mr Brendan Jones,  Mr Rob Stephen, Mr Michael Ortega, Mr Daniel McGowan and Mr Jordan Molyneux for their expertise with the lights and sound and the recording of the Mass.
• To Mr Trent Willoughby and Mr Ron Noort for their diligence in providing an extremely well presented Christian Brothers Centre as a sacred space.
• To our Mission and Identity team; Ms Lisa Guerrera, Mr Sam Di Sano and Mr Ryan Balboa who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to bring the Commencement Mass to fruition.
• To our wonderful young Year 12 servers Christian Moore, Thomas Connaghan and Marco Balverde for being available to serve at our Eucharistic celebrations.
• To the Year 10 students who worked tirelessly on Monday afternoon to set up the CBC.
• To the wonderful St Pius X staff for their overall support of the day.
• Special thanks must also go to the Leadership Team for their organisation of the day. I would like to especially thank Mr Nathan Mulheron, Assistant Principal – Mission and Identity, who worked diligently for many weeks to ensure we had a meaningful liturgical experience.

I would like to share with you some of my speech:

“… To Eamon Boyle, Joshua Bewley, Mitchell McGrath, the College Prefects and all of Year 12, we as a community wish you every success as you lead the student body throughout 2023. With Jesus by your side and the inspiration of Blessed Edmund Rice as your guide, you will be well supported in your endeavours by both your Year Coordinator Mr Paul Ticli and all the St Pius X Community.  Year 12, you play a significant role in ensuring that the traditions, the values and the pursuit of personal excellence are maintained by all members of the College.  This is not a choice, this is now your responsibility. 

The College theme for 2023, as mentioned throughout our Mass and by our College Captain Eamon, is “Listening to Learn, Learning to Listen”.  This theme is based on the EREA Touchstone of “Liberating Education”.

The theme provides us with great insight into the charism of Blessed Edmund Rice. His compassion; his thirst for justice for those on the margin and his energy to educate the very poor and illiterate youth in Waterford, Ireland.  Edmund listened to the cries of the children and sought to encourage them through education so that they and future young people could take their rightful place in society.

St Pius X College is charged with these same responsibilities of:

• working to the best of our ability
• serving the individual needs of each person
• achieving in a safe, supportive and healthy environment
• providing a holistic education integrating faith with culture and learning
• enabling students to experience and value critical awareness of justice and peace issues.

In order to fulfill these learnings, we must first listen.

Pope Francis states:

“Listening is much more than simply hearing. Hearing is about receiving information, while listening is about communication, and calls for understanding. Listening allows us to get things right, and not simply to be passive onlookers, users or consumers. Listening also means being able to share questions and doubts, to journey side by side, to banish all claims to absolute power and to put our abilities and gifts at the service of the common good.”

Pope Francis continues by stating that “Listening is never easy”.  I agree with Pope Francis. Listening means paying attention, it means wanting to learn, to value, to respect and to truly ponder what the other person says.  To be authentic learners we must listen to the ‘heart’.  It is here that we will become genuine in our listening and our learning.

The beginning of a new school year provides great optimism and opportunity for every member of the College community. You, and I, need to seize the day, work together, as we have the power to liberate our hearts and minds so that we are inspired, empowered and ‘hope-filled’ for success in 2023.

Let us continue to walk together, shoulder to shoulder, meeting the challenges of each day in 2023, with pride, dedication, perseverance and the willingness to be authentic listeners. It is through Faith and Hard Work that we, as members of St Pius X College, will remain faithful to our community, to EREA and to the wider Catholic community.

Therefore, let us all keep Jesus in our hearts as we live the Gospel in 2023.”

Academic Awards Assembly

The Academic Awards Assembly acknowledges the 2022 Semester 2 academic achievements.  It is also an opportunity for the College to congratulate the 2022 HSC High Achievers.  This was another wonderful recognition for academic and student excellence. Our special guests included Mr John Couani and Mrs Marie Couani, Mr Brad van Dijk (Father of Tom van Dijk) and Mr Derald Rose (Grandfather of Tom van Dijk).  It was an honour for the College to welcome back Mr Couani who presented Benjamin Cullen with his Dux medallion as well as the opportunity of shaking hands with the HSC High Achievers.  Mr Couani and Mr van Dijk presented Jack Lonergan from Year 12 with the The Thomas Van Dijk Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded to a student who “is committed to the school, demonstrates a high academic capacity in all their subjects, including an interest in Science.  The student will also demonstrate an all-round involvement in College life in such areas as Sport, Music, the Performing Arts and include an involvement in the Pastoral Wellbeing of other students and overall service”.  Congratulations to Jack for this wonderful acknowledgement. 

Congratulations also to the other scholarship recipients:

The Year 11 Old Boys Scholarship                                              John Carroll

The Bergelin Trade Scholarship                                                  Caleb Hanrahan

The Year 11 Christian Brothers Academic Scholarship     Cooper Anderson

The Year 10 Br M M O’Connor Academic Scholarship       Anthony Parissis

The Year 9 Br B J Carter Academic Scholarship                    James Kevric

The Year 8 Br V A Howard Academic Scholarship               Zachary Rapa

Over 200 students were acknowledged for their achievements in Semester 2, 2022.  This assembly was a great celebration of the quality of young men who preserved to do their personal best. I would like to acknowledge, in particular those students who received an Academic Gold Award.  To Evan Ausling, Joshua Bewley, Ethan Chow, Darcy Keenlyside, Jack Lonergan and Edward Turner.  Congratulations these and all the students for their ongoing commitment to their studies.

Thank you to over three hundred parents who attended to support their son’s achievements.  It has been such a relief to be able to welcome back parents to celebrate these significant milestones in heir son’s journey, so far.

Special thanks to Mr Alex Damo for the professional presentation of the Academic Awards Assembly.  Also, I would like to thank Mrs Sue Cheney for her organisation of all things associated with the assembly – booklets, medals, trophies and certificates.

This is my first experience of celebrating both the Commencement Mass and the Academic  Awards assembly.  I was truly proud of our community as it celebrated both events with great dignity, respect, and reverence.  Thank you to everyone for making my commissioning and official welcome to the College such a memorable one. 

OPEN DAY - SATURDAY 18 MARCH

The College OPEN DAY will be held on Saturday, 18 March.  The Chatswood campus will be open from 10.00 am to 2.00 pm.  The Treacy Centre at Oxford Falls will be open from 8.00 am to 12.00 pm.  Tour bookings are essential. 

There will be three separate session times that families can book to visit the College.  At the commencement of each session, there will be a short information presentation before our students guide families on a tour around the College.  Session times will be 10.00 am, 11.30 am and 1.00 pm.  The links to book for tours at both our Chatswood and Oxford Falls campuses are below:

Enrolments for Years 5, 6 & 7 2025

It is that time of the year again where families need to make decisions about their sons’ education.  Enrolment application forms for St Pius X College will be available from Wednesday 1 March.  Please see the College website for details.  The closing date for lodgement of 2025 applications is Friday 28 April 2023.

Invitation to P&F Commencement Mass and Social

Everyone is welcome to join us for our P&F Commencement Mass and Social this Saturday 25 February commencing at 5.30 pm.  The Mass will be followed by a light supper in the College grounds.

More information can be found in the P&F News page of this Woodchatta including the Humanitix link to advise your attendance.  

Key Dates

P & F Commencement Mass and Social:

Saturday 25 February 5.30 pm

P & F Meeting - AGM:

Monday 6 March

Live Jesus in our Hearts

Mr Michael Ronchetti - Principal