St Pius X College Newsletter

 

Social Justice 

Project Compassion 2017

  • Mission & Identity
  • Project Compassion:  

                        Address by the College Captain

                        The $505 Homeroom Challenge

Mission & Identity

On Monday we officially launched the Caritas Project Compassion Appeal. This is our main fundraising event of the year and is run by Year 12. Collections will be taken each day during Assembly and in Homerooms. In Religion Classes, students are participating in a variety of activities that highlight the work of Caritas and the 2017 theme of  "Who is My Neighbour?"

 

Today all students attended an Ash Wednesday Liturgy.   Ash Wednesday is one of the days we are asked to abstain from meat and the College Canteen had alternate options for students to purchase. On the Fridays of Lent the Edmund Rice Society students will be selling pancakes in the morning before school. The cost is $1 and all money collected will go to Project Compassion.

 

Our Chapel is beginning to take shape and should be completed in the next few weeks. We hope to celebrate Mass with Father Paul Finucane every second Tuesday in our chapel, alternating with Mercy College. Our 16 WYD 2016 pilgrims will join their Mercy College travelling companions for a reunion Mass in the Mercy College Chapel before school at 8am on Tuesday the 7th of March. It will be a great opportunity to see these groups mingling again, sharing memories and recommitting a pledge to be ambassadors of their faith as Pope Francis urged them to be.

 

The scripture quote which Year 6 will unpack and live this year has the theme of Come and See and is linked to the reading from Johns Gospel (John 1:35-51). Here Jesus calls his first disciples and asks them to leave elements of their life behind to follow him. So too, our Year 6 students are encouraged to go from ordinary to extraordinary as they begin to build relationships and let go of childhood dependency by becoming more responsible and mature. This theme will work in conjunction with the Pastoral theme of Friendship and Respect.

 

I have been notified by one of our parents, Mrs Anne Casey of an upcoming Immersion Experience for adults to Timor Leste which is run in partnership with Catholic Mission. Having had the opportunity to participate in several Immersion experiences in several countries, these are life changing experiences that allow a rare glimpse into the history, culture and life of people in another country. This Immersion is run in conjunction with the work of the charity called LETS (Letefoho East Timor Support). Please see the information below for details.

 

LETS East Timor Immersion from 4th to 12th June 2017 - A life-Changing Experience

Would you like the opportunity to change your own life while supporting others to change theirs? The LETS charity (Letefoho East Timor Support), in partnership with Catholic Mission, is organising the East Timor Immersion from 4-12 June 2017.

 

This is the fourth LETS immersion to Timor Leste. These trips are a key program in LETS mission to support the developing community of Letefoho in Timor Leste. The 2017 immersion will feature the opportunity to:

  • spend time in Timor Leste capital, Dili, learning about the history and culture of the Timorese people
  • stay with the community of Letefoho and witness first-hand the grace and generosity of the Timorese people
  • observe projects supported by LETS
  • immerse yourself in the day-to-day lives of local people at school, work, home and mass
  • experience the scenic and beautiful mountainous area of Letefoho.

For more information, please see:

Ms D Dempsey - Assistant Principal Mission & Identity

Project Compassion

This week at St Pius X College we launch Project Compassion and Catholic Schools all over Australia begin to raise funds for our largest charity, Caritas. This year the theme of Project Compassion is “Love thy Neighbour.” This collection is run right throughout Lent where my Year 12 peers and I will be coming around to homeroom groups every day until the end of term to collect.

Each Year the Edmund Rice Society assist Year 12 with Project Compassion by running a pancake stall each Friday morning of Lent in front of the gym steps, this year they are allowing myself and the other school leaders to assist so please come and buy a pancake with maple syrup for $1. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Edmund Rice Society for their ongoing support in this and many other social justice issues. I was a member of the Edmund Rice Society and I encourage you to consider joining this worthy group. They meet this Wednesday and next Tuesday at 1pm in LC2 - tell them Joe sent you and I know they will welcome you.

As the theme this year is “Love thy Neighbour” we will be raising funds to help our neighbours in Fiji who have been effected by cyclone, Vietnam which has many children with disabilities, the Philippines who have been affect by tsunami and floods, and Timor-Leste which suffers extreme domestic violence due to poverty. These groups are our neighbours most in need of help so I am setting you all a challenge - I call it the “$505 Homeroom Challenge.” Here I challenge each homeroom to raise $505 that will buy farm crops for one Fijian family affected by cyclones, two piglets and training for a family in the Philippines, one first aid training for natural disasters for one person in the Philippines, three counselling sessions for a parent with a disabled child in Vietnam and five day’s food for a victim of domestic violence in a shelter in Timor-Leste. I will be keeping a tally of homerooms in the foyer and update it weekly with not dollar amounts, but pictures of what each homeroom has raised for those communities.  Boys - please check it out next Monday.

To help get this challenge started the Edmund Rice Society has said they will pay for a lunchtime pizza and soft drink party for the first homeroom to reach the $505 target. Wow, that’s pretty cool of them, so when you see myself and the other Year 12 boy’s coming to your homeroom to collect dig deep and give generously.

Now just before I go I want to talk to you about YOU taking ownership of your donation rather than just asking Mum or Dad for money. One way of doing this is asking at home what extra jobs can I do at home to earn some extra cash for me to give to Project Compassion; for example if I unstack the dishwasher each morning of the school week can I earn $5 for the week so the donation is from my own efforts and work. If we all take on this approach, we can be proud that it will be us boys who have worked hard to raise these funds for our neighbours in need and not our parents.

Don’t forget the lunchtime pizza and soft drink party for the first homeroom to reach my $505 homeroom challenge, as well as the pancake stall Friday mornings from 8 till 8.30. Please dig deep boys.  Thank you,

Joe Unwin - College Captain

$505 Homeroom Challenge

$150       = farm crops for one Fijian family affected by cyclones

$ 75        = one piglet and training for a family in the Philippines

$ 75        = one piglet and training for a family in the Philippines

$ 50        = first aid training for natural disasters for one in the Philippines

$ 35        = counselling session for parent with disabled child in Vietnam

$ 35        = counselling session for parent with disabled child in Vietnam

$ 35        = counselling session for parent with disabled child in Vietnam

$ 10        = one day’s food for a victim of domestic violence in a shelter in Timor-Leste

$ 10        = one day’s food for a victim of domestic violence in a shelter in Timor-Leste

$ 10        = one day’s food for a victim of domestic violence in a shelter in Timor-Leste

$ 10        = one day’s food for a victim of domestic violence in a shelter in Timor-Leste

$ 10        = one day’s food for a victim of domestic violence in a shelter in Timor-Leste

$505              Homeroom Challenge Total

Mr D Blake - Social Justice Coordinator