Last Sunday was the Feast of Christ the King and marked the start of the new liturgical year. At this Mass, we are reminded of the death of Jesus with the story of the two thieves who were crucified beside Him. On one side was the thief who mocked and jeered at Jesus and told Him to save Himself. On the other, was the thief who believed Jesus was something special and asked to be remembered by Him when He entered heaven. It may appear somewhat unusual that we read a story of Christ’s death so close to the celebration of His birth at Christmas but this message is reminding us of His position as Christ the King. As we are also reminded in His interrogation prior to His crucifixion, His kingdom is not of this world and we should be considering how we contribute to His kingdom being supported and promoted by our actions. If Jesus is truly the path to the Father and our way of gaining salvation, we should be asking which of the two thieves we imitate. Do we mock the message of Jesus, or support Him and help to bring about the Kingdom here and now?

Over the first few days of this week, our College Captains and Vice Captains attended the annual Marist Student Leaders’ Retreat at Mittagong. This affords our four main leaders the opportunity to meet with students from other Marist schools and discuss their approach to student leadership and develop contacts with like-minded students in schools with the same charism. It was noted on a number of occasions, that this was a rare event where all Marist Brother and Sister schools in NSW were in attendance (21 in total). Our students represented Mount Carmel with pride and distinction. I attended the final Mass and dinner with the students and was particularly impressed by Jaden Legaspi who was a co-Master of Ceremonies at this dinner. Congratulations to Jaden, Emma, Beyonce and Jordan on their involvement and participation at this retreat. 

On Tuesday evening, a number of our students and staff attended a training session at the St Vincent De Paul’s Nagle Centre. This training is in preparation to go onto a roster to assist in distributing meals for people who require assistance. These staff and students have volunteered their time and talents to assist in this area and I thank them on behalf of our community. For our senior students who would like to become involved in this important form of service, please see Ms Toogood to register your interest.

On Friday, we held our Year 7, 2020 Orientation Day. On this day our 214 newest members of our community come together to meet each other and to be welcomed into the Mount Carmel Catholic College community. This day is an important introduction to who we are and what we do. It starts with the Marist characteristic of Family and builds from there. I warmly welcome all these new students and any new families into Mount Carmel and look forward to working with them over the next few years.

Finally, in our newsletter a few weeks ago, I announced that a number of our students had been named for possible inclusion in HSC major work exhibitions. We have now been informed that Abigail Chiwawaya has been successful in her nomination for Art Express for her major work, “Girls Like Us”. We congratulate Abigail and her teacher Mrs Pearce for her achievement and recognition for her major work.