Dear parents, friends, staff and students,

^“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” (Matthew 25: 35-36)

Last Sunday we read the Gospel which emphasises the day of judgement where we would be asked to explain how we cared for others. One small section of the Gospel is quoted above and asks a valuable question around how we live the values of Jesus Christ within our own community. The instruction is quite clear that we are required to care for those around us and to make this a practical connection and not just pay it lip service. How do we provide for the hungry, whether that hunger is physical or spiritual? How do we invite the stranger, even if the stranger is well known to us but excluded? How do we look after the sick or imprisoned even when the imprisonment may be self-imposed through their own decisions or lifestyle?

For each of us individually and as a community, once again the challenge is to figure out how we can include these values in our daily lives and within our long term thinking. Over the next few weeks there will be opportunities for students to donate to various charitable causes and this may be one way that we can display these values. Another may be simply reaching out to someone who is excluded or feels threatened or intimidated. In either case, we are encouraged to consider our decisions and work for the values of a Christ-centred community.

Earlier this term Jaala-Marie Sadler and Brandon Tannoury had been nominated for the 2021 ArtExpress from 8616 works state-wide. ArtExpress is a display of the best HSC major works for Visual Arts and it is an honour to be nominated. We were excited late last week to be notified and Jaala-Marie was selected for her work to be included in this exhibition. We are very proud of all our students and congratulate Jaala-Marie and her teacher Ms Pearce for this strong achievement in a difficult HSC year.

Today we celebrated the final point in the Preliminary courses with the Year 11 Academic Awards and SRC badging ceremony. This took place in front of our first full College assembly since term 1 and was a fantastic opportunity to come together as a community to recognise the academic achievements and leadership of our senior students. As there would have been a number of obstacles in enabling parents to attend this meeting, it was livestreamed for the Year 11 families to watch. The ceremony was a credit to our students and staff and I thank Ms Moore and Ms Tolomeo for their organisation around this and also to Mr Grana for his technical assistance with the livestream which during the ceremony had over 140 people tuned in watching.

On Monday and Tuesday, our Year 10 students attended their annual Gender days. In the past this has been run as an overnight camp, however this year, it was conducted over two days. On one of these days, the students were able to go offsite to Stanwell Tops and complete challenge activities. On the second day they were engaged in gender specific discussion addressing issues related to their personal growth. Thank you to the staff who provided expertise and assistance over these days and to the students who participated with good humour and energy.

On Monday and Tuesday we also held the annual Marist Schools Leaders’ retreat. Again, this was a different event to previous years where our whole SRC was involved in a Zoom retreat. The leaders came up with some fantastic initiatives and explored how they might contribute to improving the Christ-centredness of our community. Congratulations to these students and to Mr Pletikosa who facilitated this.

Over the past few months, Bishop Brian has been celebrating Sunday Mass and livestreaming it. These Masses each Sunday and can be accessed here.

Mr Steve Lo Cascio