Director of Mission

Retreat, Reflection Day & Vinnies Appeal

By Email this article

It has been a very busy start to Term 3 in terms of matters relating to our College mission and identity.

The Year 11 Retreat and Year 9 Reflection Day were all successful due to the tireless efforts and energy of the facilitators, staff and old scholars who assisted. In September, Mercedes College and St Aloysius College will join forces for the Vinnies sleep out (more details to follow). On Tuesday, Deacon Andrew blessed our beautiful Catherine McAuley statue.

One definite celebration is that late last term the College collected, through your generous donations, 1400 plus non-perishable items for the Vinnies Winter Appeal, another incredible effort. Vinnies collected the items last week and expressed their gratitude to our community.

---

Conference of the Australasian Mercy Secondary Schools Association

Recently, our Interim Principal Mr Paul Wadsworth and I attended the 15th Biennial Conference of the Australasian Mercy Secondary Schools Association (AMSSA) in Sydney. At the conference we were challenged to consider the theme of Speaking the Silence, a complex theme that challenged us on many levels and offered provocations such as: How can we be champions of the dignity for every human being? How can we speak with authentic voices, break the silence, search for truth and embrace those who are marginalised, those who are in need?

The mystery of Christ is a raw, real image, one that, as Pope Francis suggests, requires us as Christians to go out and be amongst the people to work collaboratively in communities. For me, this is not a secularised image, but a liberating Catholic-filled welcoming image.

Catherine McAuley encourages us to “be shining lamps, giving light to all around us.” Many of the Mercy Sisters, and keynote speakers at the conference, named the need for people who can to use their capacity to empower others. The reality is, we must spread the message that we are all, regardless of our personal story, valued, unconditionally loved and, deserving of a seat at God’s table.

From this conference, and because I am relatively new to this community, this semester, I will be exploring in detail:
• How the call of Mercy and our Mercy Identity is spoken and lived at Mercedes College
• What Gospel values we celebrate at Mercedes College
• How we are the loving church we are born to be
• “We can never say it is enough” (Catherine McAuley) and we must all continue to speak the silence and be authentic voices

---

I close by giving the last word to a few groups of Year 11 students who wrote the prayers below for the Mass on one of the retreats…rather inspiring.

Compassionate God,
We would like to give thanks to all those who care, who use that compassion to better everyone’s lives, no matter the circumstances.  Let us all remember that compassion is active care without bounds.
Lord in your mercy.
Hear our prayer.

Dear Lord,
Help us to play our role within our community and provide comfort to those who need it.  Let us be grateful for what we have and where we are. Show us how to embrace change, with grace in our lives.
Lord in your mercy.
Hear our prayer.

Lord,
Thank you for giving us this opportunity to come together and engage in this Retreat.  We pray we can strengthen our relationships and enjoy our time away from the pressures of school.  Thank you God for keeping us safe throughout this Retreat.
Lord in your mercy.
Hear our prayer

Deborah Lubatti
Director of Mission

---

Year 9 Reflection Day

Early in Term 3 the Year 9 students were invited to engage with staff, peers and God on their reflection day. The focus of the day was on respectful relationships and the true meaning of love.

Here are some insights from some of the Year 9 students:

Year 9 Reflection Day was an informative and freeing experience for all of us. I enjoyed talking to and hearing other perspectives on love, relationships and mutual respect as everyone offered something unique and different. I think we could all benefit from learning even more about this topic in the future.

The reflection day was a chance for the year nine cohort to take a step back from our busy year nine lives and have a chance to reflect. The main focus was relationships and the different types of love. It was interesting to learn how limiting the English language is in the different ways that we express our love, with only the one word at our disposal.

I really enjoyed being able to discuss topics that are relevant to us as young adolescents. I also liked how interactive the day was and the open forum for communication of everyone's perspectives.

Year 9 Students 

I shall leave you with a blessing prayer, which contains some deep insights about relationships, By John O’Donohue from Benedictus: A Book of Blessings:

May you have the grace and wisdom to act kindly, learning to distinguish between what is personal and what is not.
May you be hospitable to criticism.
May you never put yourself at the centre of things. May you act not from arrogance but out of service.
May you work on yourself, building up and refining the ways of your mind.
May you learn to cultivate the art of presence in order to engage with those who meet you.
When someone fails or disappoints you, may the graciousness with which you engage be their stairway to renewal and refinement.
May you treasure the gifts of the mind Through reading and creative thinking so that you continue as a servant of the frontier where the new will draw its enrichment from the old, and may you never become a functionary.
May you have good friends to mirror your blind spots.
May you know the wisdom of deep listening, the healing of wholesome words, the encouragement of the appreciative gaze, the decorum of held dignity, the springtime edge of the bleak question.
May you have a mind that loves frontiers so that you can evoke the bright fields that lie beyond the view of the regular eye.
Amen

Fernando Farrugia
Religious Education Coordinator Years 6-10