R.E News - Assistant Principal / Mission

Merry Christmas

I would like to express my best wishes for all our families for a merry and holy Christmas. Don't forget the reason for the season and get to Church to praise the birth of the King that came to serve rather than be served. Don't forget to go to Mass over Christmas. Mass times at all the parishes that O'Connor serves are hyperlinked here.

Farewell Ms Menz

Sadly our illustrious leader, Ms Menz, departs O'Connor as principal at the end of this year. The good news is she will continue her long association with our College in her new role with the Catholic Schools Office. Ms Menz is a great example of the Gospel value of servant leadership and she has served our community in many roles, none more so than the visionary leader of our College. Rightfully so, Ms Menz was recognised by the Armidale Diocese Director of Schools, Mr Chris Smythe, on presentation day, with a distinguished service award. Below is the citation accompanying that award.

Regina Menz has been an educator in the Armidale diocese for the past 18 years as a teacher, Leader of Learning in science and curriculum, consultant with the Catholic Schools Office and Principal at O’Connor Catholic College.

First and foremost Regina is a model teacher. Her example has been an inspiration to teachers across a variety of fields. She is innovative and passionate about teaching and her enthusiasm is clearly evident to her students, parents and colleagues. In her present role as Principal, her example of maintaining a teaching load, the priority she gives to the learning of her students is a clear message to the learning community of our mission.

As Leader of Learning in the Science Faculty, Regina was in many respects a vision of the future for middle management. Although efficiently keeping up with demands of administration, her focus on the real work of leading learning was obvious. As a role model and as a mentor Regina has significantly increased the capacity of both developing teachers and experienced teachers alike.

Curriculum coordination at a high school is a complex role. Regina in this role was excellent, her retention and mastery of the processes of the many systems enabled leaders of learning to really concentrate on the work of learning. In her present role as Principal, she is still the ‘go to’ person for mentoring staff in these areas and despite her knowledge in this area does so in a gentle and affirming manner.

Prior to her appointment as Principal at O’Connor Catholic College, Regina was seconded by the Catholic Schools Office as a consultant and systems coach. In this time her leadership extended to a diocesan level, leading learning in a number of areas over a variety of schools. Most importantly Regina herself was learning through her witness in a variety of contexts and a rigorous program of professional reading and development.

Guard of honour for Prinicpal Regina Menz which was organised as a surprise following The Vinnies Year 11 Christmas Appeal Liturgy.

Vinnies, Christmas Appeal and the Jesse Tree

Thanks to our Vinnies group, students were able to enjoy a lovely Christmas liturgy based on the Jesse Tree. It was also an opportunity to present the gifts students have been collecting to those less fortunate. Many thanks to those families that contributed. The Jesse Tree is explained here by Loyola press:

The Jesse tree helps us connect the custom of decorating Christmas trees to the events leading to Jesus’ birth. The Jesse tree is named from Isaiah 11:1: “A shoot shall come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” Jesse was the father of King David. We adorn a Jesse tree with illustrated ornaments that represent the people, prophesies, and events leading up to the birth of Jesus. The ornaments of the Jesse tree tell the story of God in the Old Testament, connecting the Advent season with the faithfulness of God across four thousand years of history.

You can read more about the Jesse tree on this site.

St Nick

The following is an article from Gearard Hore from the CSO on the real story of St Nick.

Nicholas, a Greek Christian bishop,  was born about 270 and died in 343. He is one of the best-loved of Christian saints, venerated by allChristian groups that honour saints.

Nicholas’s story is a mixture of fact and legend. He was Bishop of Myra, now called Demre, on what we would call the south coast of Turkey. Among much else, Nicholas was renowned for his generosity. One famous story  is that the father of three teenage girls in Myra was so poor that he, to his horror, could see no alternative  and began making plans to sell his daughters into slavery. On three successive nights Bishop NIcholas secretly dropped a small bag of gold into the house through a window. Each of the girls now had a dowry and could marry. 

Nicholas was thought of as a saint straight after his death on 6 December 343 and devotion to him became widespread. 6 December is a day of gift-giving to children in some countries. Traditionally  the gifts are  small ones.  One of those countries is the Netherlands where the saint’s name  is Sinterklaas. Seventeenth century Dutch settlers in and around New Amsterdam in North America brought the tradition and the name with them. The British took over New Amsterdam and renamed it New York in 1664 but the Dutch custom remained and was adopted by other settlers. By the late eighteenth century, the name variation Santa Claus had appeared in USA as would the custom of Santa Claus-delivered gifts appearing mysteriously while children slept on Christmas night. The name and the custom would soon spread well beyond USA.

Britain had had its own different personification of the season, a kindly old man called Father Christmas. He also was a secret Christmas gift-bringer. When the American export, Santa Claus, began to appear in Britain in the nineteenth century, Father Christmas and he coexisted for some decades. Then the two were thought of as similar to each other. Today “Father Christmas”, if used at all, is another name for Santa Claus.

Each candy cane we consume at Christmas can remind us of St Nicholas. Its shape is, deliberately, that of a shepherd’s crook, the symbol of a Bishop, a symbol of Nicholas of Myra.

The retreat season drew to a close this week culminating in the Year 11 Retreat to Echidna Gully. In what was a wonderful day despite some torrential rainfall, students reflected on their story and shared their hopes and aspirations for the future. The day involved prayer, role play, games and bush dance. Thank you to our great LYMs for organising a really memorable day.

Damian Roff

Our Founders - St Angela Merici and St John Baptiste De La Salle

Year of St Joseph

Saints Mary and Joseph Cathedral Parish

Keeping in touch with what is happening in the Cathedral Parish is easy through their website and Facebook pages.

With such a difficult year and a half it has been harder for parishioner's to give to the parish through the plates, particularly when the church is closed as it is at present. The Parish account details are available on the Parish bulletin. 

Cathedral Parish Website

Information about our founders

La Salle Website

Ursuline Sisters Website