St Joseph's College, Echuca

Principal's Report

Pentecost

Last Sunday was Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost is the great celebration that marks the birth of the Christian Church by the power of the Holy Spirit. Ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven, the Apostles and Mary, together with many of Jesus’ disciples, were indoors when a sound like a rushing wind filled the house and tongues of fire hovered over their heads. They were filled with the Holy Spirit.

 

Pope Benedict told us how this event is to be understood by us on a personal basis when he said, “Jesus is no longer to be found in any specific place, but His spirit, the Holy Spirit, emanates from Him and enters our hearts, thereby uniting us with Jesus and with the Father”.

 

The weeks after Pentecost focus attention on the work of the Holy Spirit in the day to day life of a Christian. It is to Jesus that we look to see what life and growth we should pursue, for it was Jesus who showed us how to live the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives. We admire the wisdom expressed in His parables, His understanding of the poor and the sick, His right judgement when tested by the Pharisees, His courage to continue the journey to Jerusalem when He knew what fate would await Him, His knowledge of God’s will, His reverence for His Father, His awe before the wonders of creation: “…. consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air … .”

 

The Spirit of the first Pentecost began a life’s journey in the Apostles and disciples, as they shared the life of Jesus with other people. So, too, is the Spirit of Pentecost with our young people as, hopefully, they live and share the life of Jesus with the people in their lives. Of course, they will need example and encouragement from their parents, teachers and other adults in their lives.

 

Plenary 2020

On Sunday the Plenary 2020 Council released a media statement regarding the next steps in its process of preparation for October 2020.

 

This excerpt explains some of the outcomes of the initial consultations. The full media release is printed elsewhere in this newsletter and more information can be found at https://plenarycouncil.catholic.org.au/ .

 

There will be further opportunities for input from all Australians over the coming months. We all need to be alert to these opportunities and make the effort to be active participants in shaping the future of our Catholic Church in Australia.

 

“The National Centre for Pastoral Research was able to pinpoint more than 100 recurring subject areas from those 17,500 submissions,” said Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, president of the Plenary Council.

 

In some ways, those subject areas described what one might call ‘the messy reality’ of Catholic life in Australia today. The voices of the faithful help all of us to understand something of the historical experience and the current reality of the Catholic Church in Australia. 

“We worked to discern what people were yearning for as we move into this next stage of preparing for the Plenary Council.”

Archbishop Costelloe said there was a clear desire expressed for the Church to renew herself and focus on the person of Jesus Christ.

“Accordingly, the six National Themes for Discernment flow from that primary goal of being a Christ-centred community of people,” he explained.

 

The six National Themes for Discernment invite people to reflect, to pray and to consider how God is calling the People of God to be a Christ-centred Church in Australia that is:

  • Missionary and Evangelising
  • Inclusive, Participatory and Synodal
  • Prayerful and Eucharistic
  • Humble, Healing and Merciful
  • A Joyful, Hope-Filled and Servant Community
  • Open to Conversion, Renewal and Reform.

Half way

Next week we begin the second half of the academic year. This week the busy time of end of semester is upon us and our focus is on end of semester tests, exams Year 10 – 12 students) and reports. No doubt there will be assignments and projects to finish as well. Hopefully most students are settled into the routine of Term II and have also developed a good routine for managing their time in order to get work submitted on time.

 

Our students will have to make sure that they plan their homework and study time to fit everything in. Teachers too have a busy time as they grade the work that is submitted, supervise and assess exams and then write reports.

 

I regularly make the comment to our staff that we need to make sure that we are respectful of each other’s workload during busy times and try to accomplish our own work in a way that does not impact negatively on others. Generally, the single most important way that we can do this for each other is to make sure that we meet deadlines. In the case of the teachers they will be under pressure to make sure that reports are written on time. This takes a lot of planning. Students can help in this regard by making sure that they hand work in to teachers on time.

 

If we can all be mindful of this at all times, but particularly in the busy times, then we are demonstrating a very important way of answering Jesus’ call to “Love one another as I have loved you”.

 

Over the next week it would also be good for all families to make time to review the family calendar to make sure that students have adequate time set aside to make the most of Semester II.

 

I reiterate the challenge to all students to ensure that they always submit their best work, and that they approach every lesson and piece of work with a genuine desire to make the most of the talents they are blessed with.

 

God bless

Michael Delaney

Principal.