Greetings to you all! Staff and students have truly settled into the regular college routine for Term 3. We continue to keep our Year 12 cohort in our prayers as they move towards their final 8 weeks before their exams. On Wednesday (July 26) we celebrated the Feast of Saints Joachim and Anne the parents of Mary and the grandparents of Jesus. Grandparents remind us that life is not a sprint, that it takes time and patience over the long journey of life. This feast is a timely reminder for us to celebrate and give thanks for the gift of our grandparents.

Fr Kevin Davine OMI's Ordination Anniversary

Fr Kevin Davine OMI was born in Warragul, Victoria and educated at St Patrick’s College Sale (Marist). He joined the Oblates in 1952 at Sorrento and was sent to Piltown, Ireland to study. On July 29, 2023, Fr Kevin Davine OMI will celebrate 64 years of priestly ordination.

On the July 29 1959, Fr Kevin created history by becoming the first Missionary Oblate of Mary Immaculate to be ordained in Australia. The ordination took place at St Mary's Cathedral, Sale, Victoria. Fr Kevin has enjoyed a long and distinguished ministry in education being the only rector to serve in all three Oblate Colleges: Mazenod College (2) Victoria - 1973 to 1977; Mazenod Western Australia, and Iona College Queensland. A change of career followed in 2005 when he moved into parish ministry, as parish priest, St John Vianney’s, Springvale North for 6 years and then 6 years as parish priest of Our Lady Star of the Sea, Sorrento. In 2017 Fr Kevin resumed his ministry at Mazenod College, Victoria through his presence as College Chaplain. In 2010 he was awarded the OAM in the Australia Day honours list, for Service to Education.

World Youth Day

World Youth Day 2023 is a Catholic youth festival that is held every 3 years in a different country. This year it is being held in Lisbon, Portugal from August 1-6. The theme for WYD is: ‘Mary rose up and went with haste’ is about the

'yes' of Mary to the needs of her cousin Elizabeth. Pope Francis will join the youth from around the world from August 2 until his departure on August 6.

The first official WYD was held in 1986.

This picture shows the WYD Pilgrims from Oblate Youth and Mazenod College, Victoria getting ready for departure.

2023 World Youth Day Prayer

Our Lady of the Visitation,

you who arose and went with haste into the hill country to meet Elizabeth,

lead us also to encounter all those who await us

to deliver them the living Gospel: Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord!

We, too, will go in haste, without distraction or delay,

but with readiness and joy.

We will go with peace because those who bring Christ bring peace, and well-being comes from being generous and loving in our deeds.

Our Lady of the Visitation,

through your inspiration, this World Youth Day

will be a shared celebration of Christ, whom we bring to others, just as you did.

Please make this a time of testimony and sharing, of fraternity and thanksgiving,

with each of us looking for opportunities to give to those who are waiting to receive.

With you, we will continue this path of encounter so that our world will join us, too, in fraternity, justice, and peace.

Help us,

Our Lady of the Visitation,

to bring Christ to everyone, in obedience to the Father and in the love of the Holy Spirit!

St Eugene de Mazenod Pray for us.

Fr Sholto Douglas OMI

On Monday 17 and Tuesday 18 July, our Oblate and Mazenod community were pleased to welcome Fr Sholto Douglas OMI.

Fr Sholto was born in Brisbane and ordained a priest in 1988. He has served in the Australian Province in parishes and as a teacher at Iona College, Brisbane. Fr Sholto then volunteered to serve as a missionary in Kenya and for the past 13 years in Zimbabwe.

Fr Sholto was the celebrant for the Year 10 reflection day Eucharist and gave a presentation in the Lecture Theatre. His energy saw him visit many of the classrooms to share his missionary experience. The College thanked Fr Sholto with a gift to assist the missionary work of the Oblates in Zimbabwe.

St Eugene de Mazenod

The 1st of August is the birthday of St Eugene de Mazenod, Founder of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. St Eugene was born on this day in 1782 in Aix-en-Provence. This year will be the 241st anniversary of his birth. After a life dedicated to spreading the Good News, Eugene died on May 21, 1861 at the age of 79. His feast day is May 21. Eugene was canonized a Saint on December 3 in 1995 in St. Peter's Basilica, Rome by Pope John Paul II.

Fr Eugene began his ministry by reaching out to the poor, the workers, the youth, the sick, the country villagers, the servants, and the needy prisoners of Aix. St Eugene’s influence is not limited to the age in which he lived but continues its effect on our time especially here at Mazenod College as we strive to live these quotes from St. Eugene de Mazenod:

Co-operate in building up the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Be someone who acts promptly and willingly.
Be more docile to the internal voice of God.
Let us not limit our zeal.
It is a matter of serving God.

As part of the de Mazenod Family, let us pray that St Eugene will continue to inspire us in our care for each other here at Mazenod and beyond as we answer his call to practice Charity, Charity, Charity towards all people.

St Mary of the Cross MacKillop

On August 8 we celebrate the Solemnity of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, Australia’s first Saint, born of Scottish descent in Melbourne (15 January 1842 – 8 August 1909). In 1866, Mary Helen MacKillop and her two sisters said ‘Yes’ to Fr. Julian Tenison-Woods invitation to come to Penola, South Australia to open a Catholic school. Together with Julian Tenison-Woods, she founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart (the Josephites), a congregation of religious sisters that established schools and welfare institutions throughout Australia and New Zealand, with an emphasis on education for the rural poor. Sr Mary Mackillop was declared a Saint by the Catholic Church in St Peter’s Rome on October 17, 2010.

(The above drawing of Mary MacKillop is by Vincent (Sunarith) Lim – Year 10, 2017) and hangs in the College Chapel.

On Friday April 5, 2023, we blessed the plaque that now marks the entrance and records the day of the official blessing of our new Penola Centre formerly known as the Learning Diversity Centre. Like Mary MacKillop, through our baptism, each one of us is called to say ‘Yes’ to the call we have received to bring Jesus’ presence into our world through our own gifts and talents.

Character Strength

This week Mazenod has been highlighting the character strength - ‘Perspective’. This means a particular attitude towards or way of regarding something from a different point of view. Perspective is a lens through which we learn to see the world; it shapes what we see and the way we see it. The lens can clarify, magnify, distort, or blur what we see. In a fun way these couple of pictures might illustrate this meaning.

Yours in Jesus Christ and Mary Immaculate

Fr Harry Dyer OMI

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