From the Principal

From little things big things grow

Paul Kelly’s classic song title is appropriate for our current building program. Efforts are being made to stage our building to minimise disruption and allow a busy school of 1550 students to maintain full activities. However, some disruption is inevitable.

Last Sunday’s gospel told the parable of the mustard seed. We would love to be able to plant a seed today and have a magnificent tree tomorrow. But that is not possible, and it often takes many years for a tree to grow to full maturity.

Similarly, it is exciting that our building plans are coming to fruition. But we cannot press a magic button and have a finished product ready to go. During the week, I wrote to families with details of temporary parking and drop off/pick up arrangements. It may be advisable for older students to stagger their departure time to avoid the rush period at the end of the day. The remaining few weeks of term will be important as we trial new procedures to compensate for our main car park being unavailable.

Like the mustard seed, we are open to growth as a College and as a Church. Growth in our facilities is not as important as growth in our spiritual, academic, pastoral, artistic and sporting programs. Likewise, the Church is often growing towards fuller maturity. It is nourished in its growth by the Eucharist and Word of God.

Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in the general division

The richness of the Word of God is often complemented by the beauty of liturgical music. This week, we were delighted to learn that the Order of Australia medal has been awarded to Sister Deidre Browne ibvm, who composed our John XXIII College song; ‘Seek Justice, do justice, be justice in the world today…’.

Loreto Sister Deidre spent a few weeks in 2014 at the College consulting with students and staff about what the community would like to sing in their College song. Many of the phrases we sing are the actual words of students.

Congratulations to Sister Deidre ‘for service to the community as a religious sister, and through music, education and the liturgical arts.’

Robert Henderson

Principal