Mission & Catholic Identity News

An Easter Blog

A few years ago, I was privileged to study in Israel. It is especially at this time of the year with our Easter celebrations, that those memories flood back. To actually have seen and listened to the land that Jesus walked, is still one of my most treasured experiences. Up there with Richmond winning the premiership in 2017, birth of my children and getting married. In no particular order!

It is important to have an understanding of the time and place that was Palestine in the first century to fully understand the story and message of Easter. Our students are fortunate within their RE curriculum, that they have a chance to study the life and times of Jesus. I studied a number of hours a day, based mainly in Jerusalem. On subject areas such as the Abrahamic Traditions, Mark’s Gospel and learnt about the complex story of Israel. I undertook many excursions to the key places found in sacred texts and spent four days around the Sea of Galilee.

Here is a snapshot of a blog that I kept while on the pilgrimage.

Well, here we are standing at 'the gates of Jerusalem'. A lazy 36 hours of travel through Melbourne, Singapore and Istanbul to the Holy City of Jerusalem. First impressions of Israel, driving in from Tel Aviv airport with our very chatty cabbie, is one of many stories, one of many feelings around its past, its present and what the future holds for this amazing country of contrasts. We see from a distance, what the driver phrased - Tel Aviv, the 'Miami' of Israel with its glittering beaches and bars on the Mediterranean and its position as one of the leading IT and Start Up cities on the planet, to the barren landscape we cruise through past the many 'settlements' to the Old City of Jerusalem. Which will be my port of call for the next 35 days. My place of residence is truly breathtaking, the Ecce Homo convent on the famous Via Dolorosa, the street of significance for its living part in the Stations of the Cross. Each sandstone wall corridor and twisting staircase of the convent has a pulsating beat that screams 'history'…

Thank you and well done

Thank you to RE Coaches, Ms. Elouise Johnson (Clyde North) and Mr. David Fini (Cranbourne) who facilitated our Stations of the Cross on Wednesday April 3rd. They were ably supported by Youth Ministry staff and classes at both campuses, in what was a very reverent and poignant showcase of our most significant moment in the Catholic Christian calendar.

Thank you Melbourne Football Club

Thank you to the MFC for donating to St Peter’s College a number of free tickets to the Melbourne v Hawthorn game on May 4. It was decided that the best way of giving out these tickets was for staff to nominate students who had best displayed our Petrine Values in Term 1. It has been great to get nominations from staff of students who have gone above and beyond, to make us a great Catholic place of learning.

Have a happy Easter

Buona Pasqua

iFeliz Semana Santa

chúc mừng lễ phục sinh

Matthew Williams

Deputy Principal - Mission & Catholic Identity