Education In Faith
From the Director of Catholic Identity
Have Virtue & Courage in who you become
On every school uniform, on the walls of classrooms, on diaries and anywhere our logo is displayed, we read the words; VIRTUE COURAGE. These Gospel values permeate through the College year in and year out. In deciding a theme to take us through the academic year, the Youth in Action students felt we needed to explore these values in greater detail; hence our theme for 2019 calls students to 'Have Virtue & Courage in who you become.'
To deepen our understanding of these values we look to our patron Saints; St. Joseph and St. Mary of the Cross MacKillop. Joseph, a humble,f faithful servant, provides our community with a model example of what it means to live with Virtue. The Catechsim of the Catholic Church defines virtue as an habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of oneself. The virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory and spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions. (CCC 1803) The theological virtues acknowledged by the Church include living with prudence, promoting justice, fortitude, temperance, faith, hope and love. To understand what it means to do good, and to live with such virtue, we look to Christ as our example of goodness. As we move forward into 2019, we take guidance and inspiration from the life of St Joseph as we seek to live with Virtue.
St. Mary of the Cross MacKillop provides our students with an example of how to live a life of courage, strengthened through Faith. Courage in the Catholic tradition is considered a virtue and a gift of the Holy Spirit. With the gift of fortitude/courage, we overcome our fear and are willing to take risks as a follower of Jesus Christ. A person with courage is willing to stand up for what is right in the sight of God, even if it means accepting rejection, verbal abuse, or even physical harm and death. I will leave you with the words of Mary MacKillop as we continue this year living with courage.
‘Let us all have courage’
Mary MacKillop; 1874
This year students who exemplify living with Virtue and Courage will be able to collect the following stickers. I challenge all students to end the year with these stickers proudly displaying in their diaries or on their books as they take practical actions in living with virtue and courage.
Opening Mass
We welcomed Archpriest Michael Kalka, Parish Priest of Mary Help of Christians Altona, for our Opening Mass the year. Celebrating our College theme, we began Mass with a commitment of all students to live with Virtue & Courage as the student body stood with their arms out stretched making the commitment to; LIVE WITH VIRTUE AND COURAGE. This stance is depicted in the College theme banner this year, which is also the cover of the school diary. This image will continue to remind students of their commitment made at Mass as they continue throughout the academic year.
In our first reading we reflected on the words of Mary MacKillop who herself wrote;
Now, my own loved ones, there is more that I would like to tell you, but for the interest of charity and peace tis better not. The Institute is passing through a severe trial, but with humility and charity and truth on the part of its members, all will in the end be well. Have patience, my own loved children. Pray, pray humbly with confidence and fear nothing. Our good God is proving His work. Where before there have been many faults, where murmurings and want of charity have appeared, a great change for the better will be seen….. God bless you all. Have courage, pray earnestly, and ask our glorious Patron to help your Mother General to do what is right and best for all.
(1883 November 15th, Kensington – Mary MacKillop to Sisters in SA)
In her letter Saint Mary highlights for us ways in which we can live a life of virtue, by living with humility, charity, courage and love.
The Mass allowed our community to seek nourishment from the Eucharistic and challenged our students to truly live out our theme this year. We thank the members of Youth in Action, MSJ Voices and Archpriest Micheal Kalka for their contribution to such a fantastic celebration.
Year 7 Belonging Day
One of the most exciting retreat days we run here at MSJ is the Year 7 Belonging Day. For the students first Religious Education unit here at the College, the students explore what is means to belong. At MSJ having an understanding of the Josephite Charism and their history is at the core of what it means to belong to our College, to a community of young women living out the good news of the Gospel, by following in the footsteps of Mary MacKillop.
During their Belonging Day, the Year 7 students journey into the Mary MacKillop Heritage Centre at East Melbourne. It is here that the students visit the museum set up to remember and educate the people of Melbourne about the Josephite history in Melbourne. Mary MacKillop herself was born in Fitzroy. Following their visit to the museum, the students embark on the Mary MacKillop walk around Melbourne. It is here that they truly come to know the person of Mary, and the Josephite story here in Melbourne.
If you would like to visit the Heritage Centre and embark on the walk in the city yourself please visit their website and keep an eye out on their weekend open days.
Living With Virtue and Courage - A student example
Leah Achterberg is a Year 8 student who has bravely agreed to take part in the "World's Greatest Shave" and will be shaving her head on 15 March 2019. In Leah's words:
"I decided to take part in the World's Greatest Shave because 60,000 people in Australia alone are living with blood diseases and I would love to give back to them and help them through this tough time. The World's Greatest Shave donations do not just go to research for a cure, they also go to supporting and comforting patients and family members. I would like to just say thank you to you all for your support and help."
This is the link to Leah's fundraising page: my.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/leahachterberg.
It would be fantastic if the MSJ community could support Leah and donate to her page.
Danielle Fairthorne
Director of Catholic Identity