Faith & Mission

STUDENT REFLECTIONS 

Last weekend, my wife shared with me a reflection from a Catholic Bishop in which he was quoted as saying that 

“The Church does not have a Mission. 

The Mission has a Church”.

What a quote for our times! My hunch is that whatever Sunday gospel reading I encountered, the quote could be at the heart of any newsletter reflection I wrote.

Last Sunday’s gospel reading? Martha and Mary.

We can all relate to the story of these two sisters. We know the tension that arises between the ‘Marthas’ of the world who need to attend to the practical details of a situation and the ‘Marys’ who give their attention and focus to the deeper philosophical messages that can be discerned.

There is no simple resolution to such a conflict. Neither Martha nor Mary have a mission. The mission has need of them both. 

Below the surface of this gospel story is the affront that Jesus is giving to the cultural and societal norms of first century Palestine.

It was a scandal for a man to be alone with two women who were not his own family members. Even worse is that, as a rabbi, it was taboo for Jesus to teach women.

As is evidenced in many passages of the New Testament, Jesus and his followers rejected these crude stereotypes as to place of women in their community. In the early church, women played major roles in leadership of the fledgling Christian communities.

To paraphrase the quote above, women do not have their mission in life, the mission has women who work for its fulfillment.  

Morning Masses

Class Masses will resume for Term 3 tomorrow – 26 July. This morning Mass will be prepared by Year 8 Green. 

All parents are welcome to join us for these Tuesday morning masses at 8.00am in the College Chapel

Mr Mark Hyland

Director of Faith and Mission