Mission Report

by Assistant Principal -Mission and Identity, Mr Geoff Brodie

“Be still, and know that I am God!

I am exalted among the nations,

I am exalted in the earth.” (Ps 46:10)

Our year is underway, and we are mostly returning to the busy routines disrupted by the pandemic. We keep in our prayers those students, staff and family isolating after a positive test or as a household contact. However, school notices are filling up with invitations to sport sign-ups, SAGERS meetings, school production rehearsals, study groups and career advice sessions. It is a joy to read of the College coming to life.

There remains the constant challenge in life to balance activity with careful reflection. We want to get things done, so we are active in the many important dimensions of living. But we also want to make sure our activities are the best thing, the good thing, to be doing – and so we need to step back and reflect on our living. We can’t do both at the one time. We are either engaged in action and getting the job done, or we are taking a break from all the action and thinking about why we are doing it all, and whether it is all worth our precious time and effort.

The liturgical moments in our College life are unique and valuable invitations to unite action and reflection. It is what we proudly name as a time of prayer. We start our day and our classes with prayer; our year level and whole school assemblies start with prayer; staff meetings start with prayer; Mass is offered each week in our Chapel; and at least once a term the whole College gathers for Mass. Liturgical experiences unite all our ‘loves’ into a life-giving whole.

Again, the liturgical moments in our College life are unique and valuable invitations to unite action and reflection. If we bring the action of our days to prayer and choose to be open to the way God will move our hearts gently towards the life-giving option, we participate in the transformation of the world. Through our choices and actions, God’s infinite love and mercy will be present in the renewal of our relationships. This reward of the liturgical life of the College can be experienced in no other way. The liturgical life forms us to

• be readily available and fully present to the person in front of us. Liturgy forms us to experience the other person as a gift. More than this, they are the gift I need to fully be myself. In turn, I can make a gift of my knowledge and skills, and so together we learn how to cooperate with the truth, beauty, and goodness of God’s creation. This is the vision of a Catholic education in the spirit of Edmund Rice.
• work towards and value friendly and harmonious relationships. We not only experience the gifts of friendship, but we come to know the foundation of friendship and harmony and discern the courageous action needed to be faithful friends in difficult times.
• choose the actions consistent with a flourishing and fulfilling life for my family, friends, and community.

Importantly, when we stop to give personal thanks to God for daily gifts of friendship, our community celebrations in Word and Sacrament are enriched as privileged moments to encounter our loving God, who is the source of all gifts. And the impossible is possible for a community that shares in and celebrates their unity in God’s love.