Mission & Catholic Identity News
Giving Lent 100%
On March 5th, we were privileged to host the Sale Diocese Project Compassion launch with a prayer service. Students from visiting Catholic Colleges and special guests heard that the theme for Project Compassion this year is based around hope and giving Lent 100% in the name of hope. Bishop Patrick spoke in his homily about hope being one of the three pillars of Christian virtue. The other two being faith and charity. He mentioned that hope helps us to face life’s challenges and sustains us as we work alongside the most marginalised and vulnerable communities to achieve better lives.
Staff, students and guests were asked what their hope is for their College or community. And to who, could they bring hope to.
This got me thinking, what do I hope for?
Having three children, I am always thinking about what I hope for the future for them. What I hope they learn in their Catholic education. Much of my hope for them is that they feel that they belong and feel connected to a purpose or to a community.
The same hope is there for all of our students and staff that belong to our St Peter’s College community.
Belongers
A key arm of our mission as a place of Catholic education is how we ‘befriend’ or ‘welcome’ people into our St Peter’s College community. How we make people feel that they ‘belong’. I have had to do many Year 7 Enrolment interviews for 2020 recently. Many of the families have mentioned about the special welcome that you get and feel in a Catholic school and for it being one of the key reasons for them seeking a Catholic education.
A well-worn book on my bookshelf is Richard Branson’s on ‘the secrets they won’t teach you at business school’. Branson speaks of the first visual that visitors see on arrival at his home, the British Virgin Islands, are signs in the airport arrivals area that designate the immigration channels. Unlike the rest of the English-speaking world, the signs read ‘Belongers’ and ‘Non-Belongers’ rather than ‘Residents’ and ‘Nonresidents’.
He speaks about the term ‘belonger’ being amazingly powerful. When a nation embraces its own as ‘belonging here’ as opposed to just living there, it breeds a different form of loyalty. It reminds us that this is where we belong, and so our efforts are not just on our own behalf, but also to benefit the community.
On March 12 we celebrate Harmony Day at St Peter’s College. A day of cultural respect for everyone who calls Australia home – from the traditional owners of this land to those who have come from many countries around the world. Such days help us at St Peter’s College to learn and understand how all Australians from diverse backgrounds equally belong to this nation and enrich it.
Ash Wednesday Services
On March 6, all staff and students celebrated Ash Wednesday, with services that invited us to remember what we are called to do with our lives. We heard a message that instructed us to: `be careful not to do good things for others just to be noticed so that others praise you... instead, be quiet about it. You know what you have done and God knows what you have done.’
It was spoken about how as children we were invited to give up `things’ for Lent. As young and older adults, we are invited to realise that Lent is really about being open to what God wants to do in us and how God wants to be in us: how can we be ‘Good News’ for each other in our daily lives?
The ashes are a stark symbol, a symbol that reminds us that we are all on a journey. To put on ashes is to say publicly and to yourself that you are reflective; that Lent is not “ordinary time” for you. In Lent we acknowledge that we are not perfect, that impatience and selfishness do show themselves, at times, in our lives. During this season, however, we make a special effort to reach out to the other; to serve others before ourselves.
Matthew Williams
Deputy Principal: Mission & Catholic Identity