“The Good Samaritan is not just a parable. It is a way of life”
Good Samaritan is now well entrenched in the season of Lent and there is a real sense of the Holy Spirit being alive within the College. There has been a healthy contingent of students attending the weekly Lenten Prayer Group on Tuesday mornings as well as Adoration of the Eucharist on Wednesday’s. While each week two Year 11 and 12 PC classes celebrate mass in the Chapel. In addition we have been overwhelmed with interest from Year 10 and 11 students wanting to attend the Australian Catholic Youth Festival (ACYF) in Perth later in the year. Our senior leaders have also led the way in driving our fundraising efforts for Caritas Project Compassion, which has seen us raise well over $1000 after only two weeks of Lent. In short, our College community has embraced the 2019 theme that “The Good Samaritan is not just a parable. It is a way of life”.
Earlier this week in the Lenten Prayer Group we discussed the Sunday Gospel reading of the transfiguration of Jesus Christ. A moment when Jesus needed some spiritual rejuvenation of his own in preparation for the impending sacrifice on the cross. It was most fitting that our senior leaders, and recent pilgrims to Panama for World Youth Day were able to contemplate the fact that faith doesn’t help us to avoid the challenges we must face, but instead provides us with the tools required to navigate them. With the busyness of school life and assessment periods now well under way, it is important for our school community to prepare themselves spiritually so that they can overcome whatever challenges they may face in the coming weeks.
Last Friday we had the pleasure of welcoming back former student Matthew Frijo who now leads the youth group at our local Parish St Francis Xavier at Lurnea. Matthew was a student that was never a stranger to our College Chapel and in his time encouraged many younger students to dare to explore their faith. He spoke first with our recent World Youth Day pilgrims, who many remembered Matthew as someone to look up to because of the way he was never afraid to communicate his love of Christ. Matthew later spoke to our Year 9 students encouraging them to participate in his youth group and to consider attending the Y-Factor camp that has been advertised regularly to our students in Term 1. A few of our students have indicated they would like to attend so I hope the camp provides them with whatever spiritual nourishment they require at this time.
At our most recent assembly I had the pleasure of acknowledging the eight students in Year 9 and 11 that achieved a High Distinction in the Archdiocesan Religious Education Test last year. Each year, all students in Year 8 and 10 sit the same test that students across the Sydney Archdiocese sit. It tests students knowledge of Religious Education content taught at school and is done so with 50 multiple choice questions. To achieve a High Distinction means that the student has achieved a result that placed them in the top 5% of the Archdiocese so it is certainly an outstanding accomplishment. In 2019 we as Religious Education department have made a commitment to build up the reputation of our students as high achievers in our Religion classes so the opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the students who received a High Distinction was a a great start. The names of our HD recipients are included below.
Mr Matthew Bradbury
Acting Religious Education Coordinator
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