Year 10 'Write of Passage'
Last night I was deeply moved
by the community celebration of the 2019 Memoirs that are a collaboration of ten senior citizens from
Allity Care Walkerville and ten of our Year 10 boys who volunteered to be part of the program. While
the project helps the boys extend their writing skills, the friendships they develop with the residents
is truly amazing and speaks to the goodness of the boys and their senior partners. Listening to
their stories and reflections last night, I wondered if there has ever been a moment when I have been
prouder of a group of students. Watching how attentive each boy was to his partner, how much they
had grown as young men over the last 13 weeks and how committed each had been to 'doing justice' to the
story of the resident was simply profound. Year 12 student, Nathan McCarthy once told me that his involvement
in the project had changed his life. Now I understand why. Thank you to Mr Whitefield and Ms De
Ieso for leading the program this year, to each of our boys for their sincere and committed efforts and
to the staff and residents at Allity Care Walkerville.
All Saints Day and All Souls
Day
It has long fascinated me that those whom we recognise as Saints of the Church are often
rejected or persecuted by their own societies. In biblical times, that rejection often led to their early
death. Yet, this should not surprise us when we consider that it was the same fate met by Jesus.
So, we might ask, what's the point? What was so important that it was worth risking rejection
by friends and family and even their lives for? Perhaps, the individual person's experience of God
was so immediate and personal, so intense that it overtook and superseded our everyday and limited sense
of what is important. In the Catholic tradition, one of the reasons why we learn about the Saints
is because we catch a clearer glimpse of what is available to us as we open ourselves to the influence
of God's love in our lives.
All Souls Day provides us with a special day in
the calendar to give thanks for the lives and love of family and friends who have passed away. The
following prayer, that we prayed in our Junior School staff meeting this morning, captures the spirit
of All Souls Day and connects it to our everyday lives.
Loving God, all life and love begins
with you.
We come to you as family, with our lives just as they are.
We
bring our joys and hopes, pains and struggles, laughter and tears.
We ask for your healing
touch for our families and an openness to your forgiving love.
Be our constant strength
as we try to help our children in their journey.
We hope that they will come to know
you as their loving God.
And may we, as children, bring to our families a sense of hope
and joy.
We ask that we will be a family who cares for each other.
And
we pray that our family love will flow outward, spreading your peace and compassion to the whole world.
Finally, thank you to our Year 12 men who have led with distinction in 2019. You chose the
theme, 'The Year of Legacy' as your focus for 2019 and there are many ways in which your individual and
collective commitment to Palma Merenti and being Men for Others has left your indelible mark on Rostrevor
College.
Thought for the week
The glory of God is men and women fully alive
- Saint Irenaeus
Brian Schumacher
Principal
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