From the Principal
- Reflection
- Blessed Edmund Rice Icon
- Junior School
- ISA Sport Basketball Grand finals
- Senior Swimming
- P&F Cocktail Party
- Open Day - This Saturday
- ISA Grand Finals
- Enrolments for 2025
- RIP Carolyn Watkins
Reflection
Risks
To laugh is to risk appearing the fool;
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental;
To reach out to another is to risk involvement;
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self;
To place your ideas, your dreams before the crowd is to risk loss;
To love is to risk not being loved in return;
To live is to risk despair;
To try at all is to risk failure;
But risk we must.
Because the greatest hazard to life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing…
Does nothing…
Has nothing…
Is nothing…
Suffering may be avoided…
But we simply cannot learn, feel, grow, love or live.
Chained by certitude
We are slaves.
We have fortified freedom.
Only the person who risks can be free.
Amen.
Teachers and parents have a co-responsibility to support our students to take risks (not ones that are unreasonable or unsafe) but risks that challenge us to become better people. Risks that take us out of our comfort zone. By taking risks we can learn, we can grow, we can feel, we can love, we can live life to the full, we can be free. I pray that all our students can laugh, weep, reach out to another, show feelings, share their dreams so that they can live and make this world a better place.
In the Gospel reading in third week of Lent, Jesus takes a risk by talking to a Samaritan woman. He would have been frowned upon by the elders because, being Jewish, you were encouraged not to talk to Samaritans, let alone a woman. So why did Jesus choose a single Samaritan woman of dubious background, in a backwater place, at the wrong time of what was a hot day, to make a request before whom to be vulnerable? Make no mistake, that woman is us right now. It was no accident that Jesus happened to be at the well that day and took the risk.
It is a gift this week to get in touch with the times we have been that Samaritan woman. How open are we to letting God into our lives and make changes like the Samaritan woman? She did not set out to encounter God that day, but God set out to encounter her. We do not set out on our days of vulnerability to encounter God, but rather God sets out to encounter us. The question for us then is ‘Are we awake to this encounter?’ May you continue to encounter God as he knows your story.
Blessed Edmund Rice - Pray for Us
St Pius X - Pray for Us
Live Jesus in our Hearts - Forever!
Blessed Edmund Rice Icon
‘Give to the poor in handfuls’
Over the coming term, I hope to present to the St Pius community the meaning of the Edmund Rice Icon. The icon by Irish artist Desmond Kyne depicts the various aspects of Edmund’s life and plays an important role in retelling the story of Edmund while maintaining his legacy.
The original is about the size of a household door. Kyne used the principles of Byzantine and Celtic iconography. He has devised, through modern technology, a unique process whereby light, falling onto a laser-ruled metal backing, is brilliantly reflected through glass in front, on which the Icon is painted. The Icon literally glows and sparkles in different ways depending on the angle of viewing it.
Desmond Kyne's artistic portrayal of Edmund's life in the kinetic glass medium has played a remarkable part in making Edmund's life known.
So, the Icon of Edmund Rice celebrates through symbolic pictures the holiness of Edmund and holds him up as someone we can imitate.
Junior School
The Year 5 Camp and the Year 6 excursion to Canberra were both highly successful. The Junior School staff have been overwhelming in their compliments of the students and how they all engaged in the organised activities. Special thanks to Mrs Jill Greenwood and all the staff for their support of the students in these overnight activities and for the giving of their family time to ensure St Pius can offer these fantastic opportunities for our students.
ISA SPORT
Basketball Grand Finals
Congratulations to all the teams who competed in the ISA Basketball Grand finals on Saturday 11 March. All the games were highly exciting with all the Pius players demonstrating a highly level of skill, determination, great pride in their school and quality sportsmanship. Congratulations to grand finals winners:
- 14Cs coached by Mr Matthew Wall
- 15As coached by Mr Jack Garrett
- Open F coached by Mr Paul Ticli
Congratulations also to our grand finalists who were gracious in defeat:
- 13 Development coached by Mr Ryan Johnsun
- 15D coached Mr James Miller
- Open C coached by Mr Fernando Mendez
I was most impressed with the Open C team. Though they lost their final ISA game playing for Pius they were outstanding in the way they conducted themselves throughout the game. This was identified by the umpires who approached me at the conclusion of the game and expressed how impressed they were with the players and Mr Mendez. They labelled them ‘the best team they officiated throughout the entire Grand Final day’. What a great compliment to the players and to Mr Mendez. Congratulations for upholding the high standards that have been established at St Pius X College. I was an extremely proud Principal following these comments because as I noted last week, in Woodchatta, success is not measured by winning but rather by the way you play the game. The Open C team achieved success last week and we are all very proud of them.
Swimming
The ISA Swimming carnival was held today. The St Pius X swimmers have been training exceptionally well and following their success at Christian Brothers carnival recently we look forward to hearing their achievements. Thank you to Ms Proc, Mr Stearn and Mr Mulheron for their supervision of the students. I will report next week on our success stories.
Welcome P&F Cocktail Party – Friday 24 March
The date is locked in, Friday 24 March, 7:00 pm at the Chatswood Campus. The caterers are booked, the playlist is being put together. For those of you who weren’t here last year, this event sold out in days so click here to book your tickets asap! We will be running a raffle this year so watch for an email to find out the prize and purchase tickets online soon!
OPEN DAY - SATURDAY 18 MARCH
The College OPEN DAY has arrived. All is in readiness to welcome over 1200 people to the College. I have been overly impressed by the vast number of students who are giving of their time on Saturday to promote the College and share with those attending their experience of life at St Pius.
Enrolments for Years 5, 6 & 7 2025 are now open
Enrolment application forms for St Pius X College are now open. Please see the College website or visit the following link for details.
The closing date for lodgement of 2025 applications is Friday 28 April 2023.
RIP Carolyn Watkins
(19 October 1955 - 5 March 2023)
The College extends its deepest condolences to the extended Watkins family on the passing of Carolyn Watkins on Sunday 5 March 2023. Carolyn attended Mercy College and was also a teacher at Our Lady of Dolours Primary School in Chatswood for many years.
Carolyn was the wife of Michael Watkins (Class of 1970) who was a past president of the P&F and Treasurer of the Old Boys’ Association. Their sons, Craig and Peter, attended the College during the late 1990s and early 2000s. The Watkins family are an integral part of the St Pius X College community and Watkins Oval at Oxford Falls is named in honour of their family.
May Carolyn rest in peace and may her family find comfort in the memory of the life she gave to others.
Live Jesus in our Hearts
Mr Michael Ronchetti - Principal