Director of Mission

Closing of the Mercy Door

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Sunday week will see the conclusion of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy and here, in the Archdiocese of Adelaide, the event will be marked with the closing of the Door of Mercy during the 11.00am Mass at St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral.

It will also be the Feast Day of Christ the King and will mark the end of the Church’s Liturgical Year. During yesterday’s RE Learning Area Meeting, teachers from Years 6 to 12 availed themselves of the opportunity to walk through the Doors of Mercy as their own seeing out of the Jubilee promulgated by Pope Francis in December last year.

As a faith community, we have remained focussed on the varied expressions of God’s endless mercy and love towards us and all creation.The redemption of humanity offered through the person of Jesus was equally about the renewal of all creation through the stewardship of the earth expected by all men and women.

The voices of recent Popes from Paul VI to our current Pope Francis call us to an awareness of taking from our mother earth that which nourishes and sustains us as distinct to plundering that which serves to excite and indulge. Let us take our share then but, at the same time, let us be mindful to leave our children their inheritance.

Sunday week marks the end of the current liturgical year and heralds in a new year commencing with the season of Advent. Advent is a time of waiting and of preparing for the coming of the infant Jesus in the season of Christmas.

‘Prepare the way of the Lord’, John the Baptist was heard to exclaim throughout the lands of Judea. Do those words echo through to us today? Do we daily prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus, a belief that we proclaim when saying the Apostle’s Creed with the words, ‘He shall come again in glory to judge the living and the dead?’ No one knows the hour or the day but come he will.

God Bless.

Pat Terminello KHS
Director of Mission

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Saints in the Making!

Over the past few weeks the Year 6 students at Mercedes College have embarked on a new Religion Unit all about saints!

The Catholic Church believes that anyone can become a saint - that is someone who makes it to heaven. Whether you are a priest, a child, a married woman/man, a single woman/man, a religious sister/brother etc. the Catholic Church calls all women and men, whatever their state in life, to seek holiness and sainthood.

The students learnt many new things about Saints and they also learnt quite a bit about the many different Saints around the world.

The unit ended on All Saints Day with a colourful celebration! All Year 6 students and teachers dressed up as their favourite Saint! Students were also asked to give a talk about their chosen Saint.

The following is a talk given by Hannah from 6JD, about the Saint she dressed up as, Saint Rose Venerini. Hannah also read this out to the entire Middle Years cohort at the assembly following the All Saints Day celebration. Hannah not only wore the costume to deliver the speech, but also spoke in a thick Italian accent.

Well done Hannah!

Oh ciao!

My name is St Rose Venerini. I am Italian and I always followed God’s voice. Sadly, my father died not long after I became of age, leaving me to help my mother around the house. Around this time my mother would gather other women from the neighborhood to pray the rosary beads. My mother noticed how little these women knew about their faith so she decided to teach them. After that she was encouraged to became a teacher, so she became teacher, she inspired me, I became a teacher, openned 40 schools, then I became a Saint!

Hannah Rugless
Year 6

As you can see from the photos, the students really embraced the day and lots of fun and learning happened! Well done to all involved on the day!

Fernando Farrugia
6-10 Religious Education Coordinator