Principal's Report
Commitment, Persistence and Courage
In recent weeks, as we have settled into the routine of Remote Learning 2.0, I have been consistently amazed at the commitment, persistence and courage shown by the vast majority of members of our Catholic learning community, staff, students and carers.
The famous Greek writer of tragic plays, Euripides, who was born in about 480 B.C., made this statement about courage: “This is courage in a man: to bear unflinchingly what heaven sends.”
During these COVID-19 times, there have been numerous examples of staff, carers and students taking the opportunity to display courage in their lives and/or encouraging others to do so in theirs.
At times like these we see in these examples how:
- to truly take ownership of our life and live it fully.
- to push ourselves beyond the limits of what is comfortable and familiar.
- to keep connected to what inspires us in life; to pursue our dreams.
- to avoid social conformity; to be who we truly are: a fully authentic me.
- to deal positively with setbacks and failures; to persevere with determination.
We Christians have Jesus as our model of courage for he did all the above. Jesus had the courage to be himself and to trust God in every circumstance of his life, even when he was rejected by the religious leaders who claimed to have the greater understanding of God. He stepped outside the bounds of his society’s expectation and went to help lepers, demon-possessed people, the lame, and the blind. He called a tax collector to be an Apostle and he freely associated with people who were social outcasts.
Jesus had the courage to suffer for God’s values, the courage to die for God’s will and the courage to trust God to raise him from the dead.
During Remote Learning 2.0, we are seeing many examples of our students being encouraged to be the best possible persons they can be; to exercise the capacity God gave them to grow into the courage of Christ.
By being good role models, setting high expectations and upholding firm and fair discipline that holds our students accountable to themselves, we are providing an environment that supports their development of commitment, persistence, and Christ-like courage.
We live as we have been taught. As Dorothy Nolte once wrote:
“… If children live with encouragement,
they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance,
they learn patience.
If children live with praise,
they learn appreciation.
If children live with sharing,
they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty,
they learn truthfulness”
Thank you to everyone who is helping our students to develop commitment, persistence, and courage.
“Jesus, thank you for those around us who help us to build the commitment, persistence and courage that make us more capable of handling life’s situations. May we be inspired by the courage you showed so constantly. Amen.”
God bless
Michael Delaney
Principal