In the Gospel last Sunday (Luke 21: 5 – 19), the disciples ask Jesus about the end of time. His response is about staying firm while all around us crumbles and about being prepared. But He also says to them “do not be frightened”.  Over the past one thousand years, there have been many predictions about the ‘end of the world’. The focus should not be about being fearful of the end of the world as we know it, but more about how we are preparing for our own transition to life eternal. Jesus tells us that if we live His message and follow the truth (Ite in Veritate), we will share eternal life with Him. This makes the ‘end of the world’ more about the end of our world as we currently know it and gives us an opportunity to spend our life preparing and improving ourselves. At today’s College assembly, I spoke to the students about what we hope will be the values held by a Mount Carmel graduating student. The graphic I used is reprinted in the student diaries, however, I wonder how many of our students have read it and have reflected on what it means. If we each strive to be the best people we can be, and walk in truth, we have nothing about which to be frightened.

Last Saturday, Mrs Meharg accompanied a number of our older students to the Catechists’ Mass which was held at the Cathedral in Wollongong. Each year this mass recognises the contributions of the catechists throughout the diocese and the tremendous amount of work they do in spreading the message of Jesus Christ to those students who do not have the benefit of being in a Catholic school. On behalf of our whole community, I congratulate and thank these students for the vital work they have done in the local schools.

On Monday our Australian Catholic Youth Festival (ACYF) students spent the day at a program aimed at their attendance at the festival held in Perth in a few weeks. These students have been given an opportunity to develop their own spirituality and hopefully bring some of this energy back to Mount Carmel over the coming months. I thank Ms Toogood for her work in supporting and organising these students over the past few months.

On Tuesday, we had a low key thank you to our canteen volunteers. I thank them very much for the volunteering of their time and talents to ensure your children have access to healthy and appetising food. Without the support of these parents (current and past) and friends, it is difficult to run this service. Thank you to these volunteers and to Betty Roberts (our Canteen manager) for all your work.

Our Year 11 students participated in the annual ‘U-turn the wheel’ program held at the College. This program presents the students with some vital but basic information about safe driving and presents information from the Police Liaison Officer and Rotary volunteers who show the students the difficulties truck drivers face and the implications of poor driving habits. I thank them for their presentation and ask parents to regularly have discussion with your children about safe driving and passengering.

Tonight I will be attending the Lighting the Way Awards where staff within the diocese are recognised for long service and for excellence in contributions within our school system. This year, we have Mrs Melina Trimarchi being recognised for all her work in support of our Food Technology and Hospitality staff and students. Mrs Trimarchi regularly goes above and beyond her duties to ensure the students are well cared for. Congratulations to Mrs Trimarchi and to Mrs Marks for her thoughtfulness and work in nominating Mrs Trimarchi.

Once again a reminder that as we move toward the end of the year, our finance office is looking to finalise the budgets and invoices for 2019. I would ask that any parents who have outstanding school fees, look to complete their payments over the next few weeks so that we can ensure our commitments are met before the end of the year. As always, if there are any difficulties meeting these fees, I ask that you contact our finance office and arrange a discussion with the College. Thank you again for your ongoing support.