Mission News

Prayers

Let us take this moment to be aware of the presence of God in our own lives, in our Marist community, and in the lives of all we meet. 

As a Marist community we pray:

• For the repose of the soul of Elisa Duffy (Jorge Ruiz’s mother in law and Tomas Ruiz grandmother).
• For the repose of the soul of Michael O’Kelly, father to Old Boy Liam O’Kelly (grad’ 2018)
• For the repose of the soul of Jeremy Vanderbyl’s grandfather. 
• For all in our community who have COVID-19 or are recovering from COVID-19.
• For our students as they enter exams. 
• For those in our community in need of our prayers.

Let us Pray, using the words of blessing that Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth:

May the life of the Lord Jesus,

And the love of God,

And the companionship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. 

Mary our Good Mother Pray for us

St Marcellin Champagnat Pray for us 

St Mary of the Cross Pray for us 

And may we remember always to pray for one another.

May our loving God, with Mary and Champagnat, walk with all members of the Marist family. Amen

Head of Mission 

Marist Faith Formators Colloquium 

Marist Schools Australia National Faith Formators’ Colloquium 2022

Creating spaces for voices to be heard…..

Last week members of the College Mission Team were fortunate to be engaged in the National Faith Formators’ Colloquium presented by the Marist Mission and Life Team. The first of these since before COVID-19 and although an online delivery, it was still an interesting and challenging experience for our staff. 

The keynote address was delivered by Dr Hugh Mackay AO, well known to Australians, on the topic of “Forming a Culture of Kindness”. Dr Mackay prefaced his remarks with the hope that Marist schools might be known and celebrated as catalysts for kindness, as exemplars of how to build a harmonious society based on “loving kindness”.  Amongst other points made were these:

• leadership demonstrated from a basis of power inevitably leads to the destruction of community, while leadership expressed in service of those being led tends to promote social harmony; 
• religions of all kinds that have endured and we humans know to be true, always promote kindness and compassion, typified for Christians by Jesus’ being seen as “a light of kindness for the world”;
• religions that perpetuate judgment, dogma and exclusion in ordered to perpetuate themselves struggle to serve a wounded community with the respect and kindness individuals and the community deserve;
• the promotion of individualism and competition that so characterises our secular culture is leading to loss of connection and social cohesion, qualities essential to our human flourishing. 

Other workshops included Dr Catherine Keenan, Executive Director of the “Story Factory” who emphasised the importance of writing for young people, something that gives them agency in the world. Those working with young people need to offer non-judgmental, safe and supportive spaces for young people to be creative.

Isaiah Dawe, a young Indigenous man, and Old Boy of St Gregory’s College Campbelltown and CEO of ID. Know Yourself gave the most personal and moving account of his own life. Having been in out of home and foster care to the age of 18 Isaiah explained his sense of dislocation and disconnection from the knowledge of his culture and for him, the profound lack of peace that so many of us take for granted from having a connection to place, culture and people. Isaiah’s comment that “we become more so we can give more” was so finely directed at those involved in the education of young men. Isaiah’s theme of knowing and valuing our identity melded perfectly with this year’s Marist theme of Known and loved ……dignity for all.

Tony Clarke, the National Director of Marist Mission and Life, presented some guiding principles of Marist Faith Formation which will inform the work of those involved in Mission in Marist schools for some time to come. He proposed 7 principles:

1. Discipleship, and a spirituality that is deeply incarnational, with Jesus Christ as the centre of the Catholic school
2. Living with a God-consciousness
3. A journey to the interior life
4. The formation of the Gospel takes place in the Christian community
5. Formation must build capacity
6. Formation needs to be deeply spiritual, theological, Christological and explicitly transformative
7. We must seek new ways to be Church. 

Our aim in Marist schools is to offer high-quality education and in equal measure, high-quality evangelisation. Such an aspiration was amply focussed upon in this year’s Colloquium. 

Primary Welcome Mass 

With such a disrupted start to our year we were delighted to be able to finally celebrate with our Year 5 students with a Mass of welcome. Fr Tini celebrated Mass with us on Wednesday 23 March. We thank Fr Tini and the Year 5 teachers, parents and students for the wonderful way they joined in this Eucharistic celebration. We look forward to sharing many more such opportunities. 

Term 2 Date Claimers 

Mother Son Evening Mass College Chapel - Wednesday 4 May 

Week 3, Term 2

Humantix booking will open the first week of Term 2. 

Year 12 Retreat - Wednesday 13 – Friday 15 July 

Week 1, Term 3

Information about the Retreat will be sent to Year 12 parents and students next term. 

College Community Mass Schedule for Term 2