Catholic Identity & Mission News

Over the recent holidays I was referred to an online article written by the musician, writer, actor, and artist Nick Cave. Cave publishes a blog called ‘The Red Hand Files’ and was answering a question (challenge?) from a fan about his Christian leanings. Asked if he’d had a ‘conversion’ experience, Cave responded that he sometimes wishes he had had a ‘conversion’ but in fact what he had experienced is a ‘slow and gradual flowering of a religious impulse that has always been inside him’. He said that it doesn’t mean he doesn’t experience doubt about matters of faith. In fact, he says that ‘it is the wild dance between belief and doubt that is the very essence of religiousness’. 

During this past week, as we’ve specifically looked at ‘futures’ planning, I wondered if there were potentially some ‘Nick Caves’ among our student cohort who might reflect on their time at St Peter’s and recall how they were encouraged to engage with ‘faith’ on many levels. At times, we’re very specific in our religiousness but there are many more times, I think, that the invitation and conversations about faith are more subtle. 

We know our school community is a very diverse one and in our Religious Education program, we complete at least one unit per year that focuses on a non-Catholic religious tradition. But it can be a bit like learning another language – you often learn more about your first language while comparing it to another! In both my Year 7 and Year 9 RE classes this term we are looking at other faith traditions – Judaism and Aboriginal Spirituality respectively. In our introductory work, we look at the nine aspects of religion and inevitably discuss the distinction between religion and spirituality. I remind students that every single person has a spiritual dimension to them, but whether it’s ‘religious’ is another thing. In last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus shared the ‘Parable of the Sower’ realistically explaining that seeds (of faith) can fall on fertile, indifferent, or barren land.  I suspect that at the College, all these landscapes are represented!

Notwithstanding, we hope that our efforts meet our students’ needs where they’re currently at, but also that they store their learning for times within the future where they can call on it and make more sense of their world. In answering a second question on his blog, Nick Cave referred to scripture in response to a woman who described herself as ‘feeling like hell’ and she asked him for words of help. He offered her this consolation from the Book of Numbers and I hope that as we consider the gifts and opportunities of a Catholic education, this blessing inspires and sustains us, wherever we are on our own journey of faith: 

The Lord make his face to shine upon you,

And be gracious unto you

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you,

And give you peace.         (Numbers 6: 25-26)

Reference: Nick Cave at https://www.theredhandfiles.com/i-just-listened-to-your-interview-with-the-justin-welby-archbishop-of-canterbury-i-cant-work-out-whether-you-believe-or-not-did-you-have-a-conversion/

Fiona McKenna

Deputy Principal - Catholic Identity & Mission