Principal

Dear Members of the Academy community,

How quickly life changes – a couple of weeks ago we would not ever have imagined the atrocity that is currently being perpetuated by Vladimir Putin on the citizens of Ukraine.  Our hearts go out to the people of Ukraine.  On Ash Wednesday, the following prayer was prayed as part of the Prayer Service:

We pray for the people of Ukraine as they suffer in the face of unprovoked Russia  aggression.

We pray for the people of Russia whose leaders have recklessly lead them into the terrors of war.

We pray for all those leaders who have the power over life and death;

that they will choose for all people life, and life in all its fullness.

As we prepare for this Easter season, we are challenged to stand in solidarity as a global family.  We are challenged to live and act with love and hope, now and for all future generations.

We also keep in mind the people of New South Wales and Queensland during this time of terrible floods, loss of life and loss of houses and businesses.  We continue to keep our fellow Australians in our prayers and pray that they have the strength to deal with Mother Nature at her worst.

Sometime ago, Pope Francis made the following statement about Covid-19 - “an emergency like Covid-19 is overcome in the first place, by the antibodies of solidarity”. How true that is, for the people of New South Wales and Queensland at this time. 

We hold our sad world in our hearts.

Moving to something more positive - the beginning of the 2022 school year has seen the Academy community coming together at the recent Swimming Carnival.  It was so wonderful that the whole College could join together to celebrate achievement in the sporting area.  Many thanks to Mr David Molino, Director of Sport, for all his organisation of this key event and congratulations to Sherlock for their sterling efforts in winning the overall competition again this year.  This is the third year in a row that Sherlock has taken home the trophy and we look forward to seeing if they can make it a double act at the forthcoming Athletics Carnival!

With Covid-19 restrictions starting to ease, we are now able to recommence our Tuesday morning Masses which are organized by a particular class each week but open to all students and parents.  The first Mass for this year will take place on Tuesday 15 March at 8.00am. Once again I thank Fr Peter Varengo, College Chaplain, for his willingness to celebrate our Tuesday morning Masses.  Pausing at the beginning of the day and taking the time to reflect on how blessed we are is a very fulfilling experience.

Each year, the College hosts what we call a ‘Conversation’.  This ‘Conversation’ is a gathering of staff, student, parent, Alumnae and School Council representatives who come together each year to discuss and formulate a plan for a particular area.  On Monday 21 March we will hold our 2022 Conversation with the focus being Reimagining Wellbeing.  For your information, we have held four Conversations in the past years on the following topics:

2016 – The Year of Mercy                                          

2017 – Care for the Earth

2018 – Vision, Mission and Values Statement             

2019 – Development of Strategic Plan

The 2020 and 2021 Conversations were unable to take place due to Covid-19 restrictions.  We are looking forward to a rich Conversation about the extremely important area of ‘Wellbeing’.

Every blessing,

Sr Mary Moloney rsm 

Principal

“I No Longer Pray For Peace”

On the edge of war, one foot already in,

I no longer pray for peace:

I pray for miracles.

I pray that stone hearts will turn to tenderheartedness,

and evil intentions will turn to mercifulness,

and all the soldiers already deployed will be snatched out of harm's way,

and the whole world will be  astounded onto its knees.

I pray that all the "God talk" will take bones,

and stand up and shed  its cloak of faithlessness,

and walk again in its powerful truth.

I pray that the whole world might sit down together 

and share its bread and its wine.

Some say there is no hope, 

but then I've always applauded the holy fools 

who never seem to give up on the scandalousness of our faith:

that we are loved by God ......

that we can truly love one another.

I no longer pray for peace:

I pray for miracles.On the edge of war, one foot already in,

I no longer pray for peace:

I pray for miracles.

I pray that stone hearts will turn to tenderheartedness,

and evil intentions will turn to mercifulness,

and all the soldiers already deployed will be snatched out of harm's way,

and the whole world will be  astounded onto its knees.

I pray that all the "God talk" will take bones,

and stand up and shed  its cloak of faithlessness,

and walk again in its powerful truth.

I pray that the whole world might sit down together 

and share its bread and its wine.

Some say there is no hope, 

but then I've always applauded the holy fools 

who never seem to give up on the scandalousness of our faith:

that we are loved by God ......

that we can truly love one another.

I no longer pray for peace:

I pray for miracles. 

AMEN