Principal's Report

Dear Families and Friends of Nazareth College

Many years ago I was extremely moved after having watched a movie entitled ‘Hotel Rwanda’.  In short, it was about a hotelier, Mr Paul Rusesabagina, who saved a group of refugees during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.  He did everything in his power to save his family and large numbers of refugees in harrowing circumstances.

Rwanda at that time was amidst chaos, civil war, corruption and hundreds of thousands of people were killed and buried in mass graves.

The saddest thing for me was that the movie highlighted such atrocities, yet, the international world looked away.  The unwillingness of the western world to step in and stop the genocide was inhumane.

In the past week, Pope Francis has urged all – religious and non religious – to pray for the people of the South Sudan and the African Congo.  These people, in a similar way to the Rwandan people, have been persecuted, killed, robbed, displaced and are facing starvation.

23 February was convoked as ‘A Day of Prayer and Fasting for Peace’.  Hence, it is important that we all, in many ways, try to enact what Pope Francis, along with many other religious teachers, request of us.  This, hopefully, will place the spotlight on South Sudan and the African Congo region and assist the multitude of people who have been affected by the atrocities for many years.  Their stories need to be heard and the world needs to act!

In our own community, I urge all of us to also keep in mind the minority groups who are also persecuted.

‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called Children of God.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven’.  (Matthew 5:8-10)

At Nazareth, it is wonderful to see over forty (40) students taking Action in Faith by joining the St Vincent de Paul Society Conference.  These young people have pledged to help the poor, those less fortunate than ourselves.  This is one way in which our students live out their faith.

I urge all other community members  to join in through prayer, action and generosity during this Lenten period.

This week we have welcomed over four hundred (400) students from our local parish schools and surrounding state schools, to spend the day at Nazareth College.  Each of them experienced the day in the life of a secondary school.

It is our hope that this was a positive and everlasting experience which will eventuate in a Catholic education in years to come.

Thank you to all our supporting schools and their staff for allowing the children to spend the day here.

God Bless

Mr Sam Cosentino

Principal