Dear parents, friends, staff and students,

Over the past week I have had the opportunity to stop and spend some time reading and listening to two very influential thinkers. The first was during a Marist online symposium presented by Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP, a Dominican priest currently based at Oxford, England. The second was the encyclical by Pope Francis titled Fratelli Tutti (Fraternity and social friendship). Whilst there are many messages coming from these two, there was one which linked for me as I stopped and took breath. In an early part of his encyclical, Pope Francis quotes Pope Benedict XVI who says;

“as society becomes ever more globalised, it makes us neighbours, but does not make us brothers”.

The notion that stood out for me from Fr Timothy was that with iPads, iPods and iPhones, we are caught up in the ‘I’. Whilst there are undeniable benefits from the improvements in technology, it is worth asking how we might get caught up with things that are less important. In this weekend’s Gospel, Jesus turns over the tables of the traders in the Temple and tells them to “stop turning my father’s house into a market” John 2:16. With this simple act, He challenges us to stop getting caught up with the latest trend at the expense of what is important. What is important, is our relationship with God and with those around us. If we are able to leave behind the focus on ‘I’ we might more easily embrace our brothers and sisters and allow God to enter our lives.

Today we held our belated Opening College Mass. As I explained in last week’s newsletter, due to COVID restrictions, we were unable to invite parents, however, the whole College community was able to come together for a liturgy for the first time in over 12 months. It was a special event with our Year 10 House Captains being badged. Congratulations to all the students who were involved and a special thanks to Ms Meharg for her organisation and Fr Shane for celebrating this for and with us.

Last Monday evening we held our Yr 7, 2022 information evening. As I had previously stated, due to COVID restrictions siblings who were applying were welcome but not required. The evening went well with the main presentation repeated and an opportunity for prospective parents and students to visit classroom displays. By all accounts, our visitors received a good insight into our College community and our students were fine ambassadors for the College. Thank you to those staff and students who assisted on the evening and to the visitors who attended.  Enrolment application forms are available from the College office and are now being accepted. These forms are due back at the College office by the last day of this term (April 1). Please pass on this information to anyone who may be considering enrolling children at Mount Carmel for Year 7 next year. 

Again a reminder that the Parents & Friends Annual General Meeting will be held this coming Tuesday. The meeting will occur on site and parents will need to sign in. At this meeting, the P&F executive for 2021 will be elected. P&F meetings are scheduled for the second Tuesday of each month during school terms and are held in room I3 at the College. All are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Mr Steve Lo Cascio