Dear parents, friends, staff and students,

This Sunday’s Gospel (John 15: 9-17) is in many ways considered one of the simplest and most important teachings of Jesus Christ. It is sometimes referred to as ‘the new commandment’ and is simply stated as “love one another as I have loved you”. The love reflected in this gospel is total and complete. It is a love that is completely self-sacrificing and one where the value and the needs of another are placed ahead of one’s own needs. Jesus confirms this by going on to say “A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends.” This love that Jesus talks about is the love of God for us, and we are reminded that we are created from this love. It is apt then that this year, this reading falls on Mothers’ day. For many of us, our mothers reflect the genuine simplicity of God’s love for us. It too is complete and total and is reflected in the sacrifices that are made for us day after day. On behalf of children everywhere, I wish all our mothers a very happy Mother’s Day.

Last Friday and Saturday, a number of our Year 12 students attended the Marist forum via zoom. The zoom allowed the students to participate with Marist students from across the state and develop their understanding of Marist values and discuss how these might be put into practice. The feedback from the organisers around our students was very positive. Thank you to the students who were involved and to Mr Pletikosa who organised and attended with them.

On Wednesday Peter Hill the Director of Education in the diocese of Wollongong will be visiting Mount Carmel to spend the day meeting with staff and students and getting to know who we are and what we do. This visit is an opportunity for us to showcase the great things that are happening and the wonderful community that exists. I encourage any students who may see Mr Hill around to make him feel welcome.

Over the last week I have received a number of emails from members of the public praising the way that our students have offered to help when they were not required to. There will be detail on these in the Assistant Principal report, however I would like to thank those students who go out of their way to help others and to you, their parents, who are the primary educators and reinforce this as important.

From next Tuesday, an EFTPOS machine will be available in the College canteen. We have been trialling this in the La Valla CAFÉ for senior students and it has proven very popular. This will make purchasing food easier as students and parents will not need to find cash to purchase food. Cash will also still be accepted in the canteen.

Next Tuesday May 11, we will be holding our next P&F meeting. This is held in room I3 (at the front of the College near the La Valla Centre) and starts at 7pm. This meeting’s guest speaker will be Ms Alison Kripal our Administration and Compass Coordinator. She will be presenting information on Compass and how parents might use it to enhance communication with the College. Following a request at the last meeting, we will trial running this as a zoom. Should you wish to access the meeting via zoom, please use the ID: 92049635279  and passcode: 980535. All are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Ite in Veritate

Mr Steve Lo Cascio