Catholic Identity & Mission News
St. Peter's College Culture
This past week I’ve had the pleasure of being on an employment interview panel and in their own ‘question time’ at the end of the interview, one of the candidates asked me what was the ‘culture I'd like to see at St. Peter’s College’. It was a good question and although I was unprepared for it, I found that this answer came to mind straight away: I said I wanted to see a school that was authentically ‘Catholic’: inclusive, hope-filled, Jesus-centred, and proud to practise what we preach in terms of Catholic Social Teaching. Perhaps this might sound a bit idealistic but actually, as we celebrated Harmony Day this week, and continued to prepare for Easter, I could proudly call on many examples that showed that these things were already a part of what we do at St. Peter’s.
Harmony Day
Harmony Day is always a special day at our College. We are such a diverse community and to see it celebrated by our students and staff is a joy to behold. In planning for the days, the Heads of Campus determined that we wanted to set the agenda of our Australian story at its rightful beginnings and so to that end, we had representatives of the Bunurong Land Council ‘Welcome us to Country’ and perform a cleansing smoking ceremony to commence our assemblies. They talked about being ‘traditional custodians’ rather than ‘owners’, mirroring our own call to stewardship of creation. The assemblies again featured performances and at the Clyde North Campus, the closing act was a solo dance performer who received encouragement and help from many friends who couldn’t help but join him in solidarity on stage. Cultural food stalls, prayers in different languages, traditional dress, and lots of orange (as a mark of mutual respect) were just some of the ways that Harmony Day reflected the culture we work to build and maintain at the College.
Caritas Project Compassion
As Easter approaches, we also wind up our work for Caritas’ Project Compassion campaign. Enormous thanks for our Social Justice Coordinators Clarisse Campos (CLN) and Denise Tan (CRA) who, with the Social Justice groups, have led the charge for greater advocacy and fundraising than ever before. The Vocational Major students have also used their talents to plan, build and cook up a storm to raise funds for Caritas too – thank you all! Which leads us to the most holy time of the Christian calendar – Easter.
Stations of the Cross
At Easter we remember the arrest, ‘trial’, crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Throughout this term, our Year 11 Ministry – Youth, Music and Art – classes have been working to prepare their interpretation and depiction of the Easter story through the ‘Stations of the Cross’. These are then presented to the College in the final assembly of term on Holy Thursday and while the ‘story’ doesn’t change, because different students approach it annually, the Stations are presented in a unique way and reflect the recontextualisation of each group. While at the time of writing this, the Stations have not yet been presented, I have been privy to some of their planning and preparation and know that facilitated by their RE teachers, these Ministry students are going to present thought-provoking and prayerful presentations for us all. As a school community, we are very grateful for their efforts.
I wish all in our school community all the blessings, hope and joy that are promised through the resurrected Christ and hope all have a very safe and happy holiday period.
Fiona McKenna
Deputy Principal - Catholic Identity & Mission