Mission and Identity 

• Commencement Mass
• Shrove Tuesday
• Ash Wednesday
• Project Compassion

Commencement Mass 

We look forward to next Tuesday’s Commencement Mass which will be celebrated at our Oxford Falls Sporting Complex inside the Christian Brothers Centre. Fr David will help us bring to life our College Theme for 2023 – “Listening to Learn, Learning to Listen.” There will be students involved across many ministries and this will also provide the perfect backdrop to formally commission our new College Principal, Mr Michael Ronchetti.

Shrove Tuesday 

Just prior to the season of Lent, it is a custom for Catholics around the world to cook and eat pancakes prior to the fasting that takes place during Lent. We will also participate in the making and selling of pancakes before school here at St Pius X College. All funds collected will go towards our contribution to CARITAS for Project Compassion.

Ash Wednesday

Following our Commencement Mass, the next day marks the beginning of the season of Lent, Ash Wednesday. Lent is a time when Catholics around the world look within themselves and reflect upon that which prevents them from a closer relationship with God. In preparation for Easter, Catholics are called to be more prayerful, restrained and consider giving to others in an attempt to prepare themselves for the resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday. To mark Ash Wednesday, there will be liturgies that will take place in year groups to ensure that each student receives a mark of ash on their forehead – an outside sign of one’s desire to change themselves so that they may enter into a more fruitful relationship with God. Families and students should also note that on Ash Wednesday there will be no products containing meat sold in the canteen. Catholics often restrict themselves from meat as a way to fast and restrain themselves, along with considering others around the world who regularly go without meals.

Project Compassion 

During Lent we are called to consider others, particularly those who go without and who live on the margins. We are called to donate generously so that others may lead a dignified life. Each year the College supports, through donations, the work of CARITAS in their annual Project Compassion. CARITAS completes initiatives in developing countries so that people may be liberated from their current situation. Work from previous years donations generally provide communities with education, health care and infrastructure so as to become self-sufficient and therefore not reliant upon charity in the future. 

This year the theme of Project Compassion is “For all future generations.” During homeroom students will see a Project Compassion box come around for collections and each family is encouraged to support the work of CARITAS so that we may be authentic to our faith and spirituality. It is at this time we remember the famous line of Blessed Edmund Rice who calls us to be people who can “Give to the Poor in Handfuls.”

Mr Nathan Mulheron - Assistant Principal, Mission and Identity