Faith and Mission

Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral

On Tuesday 6 September, Ms Smith and Ms Casey joined some Year 9 and 10 students in attending the National Catholic Education Conference Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral. It was an incredible honour to represent the College along with over 1400 teachers and fellow students from other schools.  Mass was presided over by Archbishop Peter Comensoli. 

The Year 11 Text and Traditions students have been exploring The Three Worlds of the Text when learning about Scripture passages in both the Old Testament and New Testament. 

The Three Worlds of the Text are important understandings because they each enable the Scripture passage to be understood on varying levels. Below are examples of each meaning. 

The worlds of the text have three dimensions:

• the world that gave rise to it – the world behind the text
• our world as readers today – the world in front of the text
• what is in the text – the world of text (sometimes called the world within the text).

After exploring parables through the Worlds of the Text, the students were tasked with writing a modern day parable that taught a significant message to today’s reader. The intended audience was our Year 7 cohort. Below are two student responses.

Luke 6:35

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

This Parable is based on Luke 6:35

It was another day where the pigs and cows fought for food on the farm. The cows hated the pigs, Why? Because the pigs kept stealing their share of food. There was only so much the farmer provided for them. No animal really knew why the pigs kept stealing the food. Not a day went by without bickering, side-eyeing and fighting. ‘How did this even come to be?’ is what the other farm animals were curious about. The leader of the farm animals, the horse, finally had enough. ‘Do you want to make peace with the pigs?’ the horse asked the cows. ‘Only if they apologise first’ they replied. ‘You must be the ones to apologise first, be kind to them, do the good things first but expect nothing, you might learn something new’ advised the horse. The cows agreed and apologised. The pigs were surprised because the cows always treated them badly. The pigs felt guilty and apologised too. The pigs finally explained their behaviour. The  cows were the bigger animals, and the farmer always provided more for them, and it was this that made the pigs jealous. From then on, the cows and the pigs shared and ate the food together and everybody was happy.

Angel Year 11

A modern twist to the ‘Parable of the Banquet’

Based on Matthew 22:1-14

There was a rich business man in the City district. He had just had a huge profit in his business, and wished to celebrate this news with his friends and business partners. He booked out a large venue and made sure he chose the finest caterers to provide the guests with the best night. He sent out his assistants and workers to send personal invitations to his guests.

However his first friend said “I have just invested in a company so I need to supervise the work.” His business partners also declined the invitation and said “We have an important company meeting with our managers, we can’t make it.” Another said “I have an important client meeting”. They all declined the invitation and made up excuses. His assistants came back and reported all these excuses to the rich man and he became furious. He then ordered his assistants to go out into the city streets and invite all the homeless people. His assistants went and did so and filled the venue with guests. The rich man said “Not one of my acquaintances who were invited will get a taste of my feast, for all were invited but only a few chosen.”

Explanation:

The modern parable and the parable of the Great Banquet have a similar theme. Jesus has invited all of humanity to the Kingdom of God (heaven). When we look at scripture we see prophets, apostles and disciples who have come to invite us to the Kingdom of God. In the modern world priests, the religious, youth leaders and ministers have taken this job and are inviting us to the ‘Great Banquet’ (heaven), however we often make up excuses and decline their invitation. We make excuses like ‘we have work’ or ‘we have to study’ and forget our invitation to the Kingdom of God. Only a few listen to this invitation, and they live according to the teachings of Christ. Hence why the rich man (Symbolising God) says “All are invited but a few chosen”.

Aleena Yr 11