Mission and Identity 

• Commencement Mass
• Ash Wednesday

Commencement Mass 

Yesterday the entire College community gathered in the Christian Brothers Centre for a Eucharistic celebration to mark the commencement of the 2023 school year. Many hours of planning and preparation had been untaken by our Maintenance Teams, ICT Department, Performing Arts faculty, student musicians and Mission and Identity Team. The theme we celebrated was that which has been laid out before us by our Student Leadership Team – “Listening to Learn, Learning to Listen.” Fr David Ranson, Parish Priest of Our Lady of Dolours presided over our celebration and provided a poignant note in relation to our theme – “To listen is to love, to love is to listen.” Our readings focused our attention to the idea that to listen to the values in the Gospel is to then go an live by these values. One must avoid merely paying lip service to that which we hear in the Gospels.

Our celebration provided the opportunity to light for the first time our College candle for 2023. A tangible reminder that as a community we desire to be guided this year by the light of Christ. The young men of St Pius X College participated in many and varied roles for our Mass, with students filling roles including: reading, as musicians, cantors and choir, altar servers and Eucharistic Ministers. It was wonderful to see so many who volunteer themselves to aid the College in our celebration.

Our celebration not only officially started the year, but also provided the perfect backdrop to formally commission our new College Principal, Mr Michael Ronchetti. Before the entire community Mr Ronchetti confirmed that he would continue to persistently work to ensure the faith formation, educational requirements and expectations of an EREA school leader. These statements of commitment were made before our EREA Interim Executive Director Mr Ray Paxton, Council members Mrs Sarah Gillard and Mr Mark Sullivan, parent and teacher Mrs Joanne Schuster and College Captain Eamon Boyle. Mr Ronchetti symbolically accepted the leadership of our community by receiving the College candle from the College Captain.  

With our Commencement Mass now complete, the liturgical life of the College now commences in full. Today we marked the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday liturgies which took place in year groups. This will be followed by the commencement of our fortnightly Chapel Masses which will be celebrated in our College Chapel, hosted by a Year 9 or 10 Religious Education class and open to the communities of Mercy College and Our Lady of Dolours Primary School.

Ash Wednesday

Wednesday 22 February marked the start of the season of Lent. As a faith community year groups gathered in prayer and worship to acknowledge that we desire to improve ourselves and our relationships with others. Our acknowledgement was made visible by the mark of ash on our foreheads, a symbol noting that we will accept the challenges that lie ahead of us as we journey through Lent. As Catholics we are asked to be people who are prayerful, who can be restrained through fasting and be people who consider the disadvantaged and marginalised through giving alms or charity. To assist us to live this message and follow the example of Blessed Edmund Rice who also worked for those on the margins, we will support the annual Lenten Appeal – Project Compassion, run by CARITAS. This appeal asks us to perhaps give up something that we would have ourselves and donate these funds to CARITAS. Each Tuesday to Thursday the Project Compassion boxes will be taken to homerooms for collections. The funds raised will assist CARITAS to complete initiatives in developing countries so as to liberate individuals who are often lacking basic needs that we take for granted such as: education, health care, food security, employment and sanitation. Through our donations we bring life to our Touchstones and attempt to increase our relationship with God in preparation for Easter. 

Mr Nathan Mulheron - Assistant Principal, Mission and Identity

Pancake Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday was well and truly felt around Little Brother this week with the Edmund Rice Society cooking pancakes and hash browns in support of our Project Compassion Lenten Appeal. Thank you especially to Mr Naidoo and Mrs Guerrera, who helped out with facilitating the event. Pancake Tuesday will be back next week, and will continue throughout the Lenten period. 

BeConnected Program - Chatswood Library

The BeConnected Program is back for 2023! The success of the program from last year has seen it become a permanent addition to Chatswood Library’s member offerings. This year, we are joined by students from Mercy College in mentoring seniors around their use of technology.  

Mr Ryan Balboa - Social Justice Coordinator