marist catholic college...christmas; we need to liberate it! yet christmas has above all a taste of...

MARIST CATHOLIC COLLEGE PENSHURST

Friday 1 December - Number 19

one school • one family • one communityTelephone: 9579 6188 Fax: 9579 6668 www.maristpenshurst.catholic.edu.au

FROM THE PRINCIPALThis week our Year 12 Student Leadership Team galvanised the support of students and staff to donate money to ‘Buy the Bat’ that was being auctioned by the school. The money raised is going to the McGrath Foundation along with the money raised from the ‘Girls Night In’. This initiative demonstrates the commitment so many of your sons and daughters have for social justice and their willingness to be part of this school community.

This year we also celebrated a milestone; Brother Tony Butler being sixty years as a Marist Brother. Our parents, students and staff see Brother Tony as a visible presence and authentic witness of the Marist charism and ethos in the Catholic life of the College. The staff are having a special morning Tea for Br Tony next Tuesday to celebrate this achievment. Congratulations Br Tony!

Next Thursday, Friday and Saturday our Year 10 and 11 students will be attending the Australian Catholic Youth Festival (ACYF). ACYF is a national gathering of Catholic young people established by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC). It exists to provide young people with opportunities to deepen their relationship with Jesus, be empowered to be disciples in the world today and encounter and celebrate the vitality of the Church in Australia. Archbishop Anthony Fischer OP has prepared a welcome for the participants. It reads:

‘Welcome to the Australian Catholic Youth Festival 2017. Thousands of your friends and peers have gathered with you here in the Archdiocese of Sydney together with my brother bishops, priests and religious from around Australia.I encourage you to participate wholeheartedly in this experience by attending plenaries, liturgies, workshops and other experiences where you can take time to learn, ask questions, pray and deepen your relationship with Jesus Christ. I wish you every blessing during this time at the festival.’

As we prepare to participate in the largest gathering of Catholic youth in Australia since World Youth Day 2008, I ask that we keep these young people in our prayers. The ACYP prayer is included below:

Loving God,You call us to embrace the joyborn of your Son Jesus.May It well up in our hearts,And be lived through acts of mercy.

Help us resolve to trade-in comfort, aspire to greatness,and follow the path of the Cross as a courageous generation.

Inspire us to build upon the culture, traditionand beauty of the Church;nourish us as we dare to blaze trails that open new horizons.

Send us forth to be instruments of change and hope in this great Land of the Holy Spirit.

Like Mary, may we discern your call with faith and love:Responding with great joy in our hearts.

In union with Jesus, our Saviour and friend,We pray to be filled with your Holy Spiritthat we may be your witnessesthrough the Australian Catholic Youth Festival.

Amen.

St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, pray for us.

Our Lady of the Southern Cross, pray for us.

Mr Ray MartinCollege Principal

2one school • one family • one community

Agnoscere Et Diligere - To Know and To Love

2

UPCOMING DATES Mon 4 Dec Tues 5 Dec Year 10 Transition

Wed 6 Dec Year 10 Awards Assembly

Thurs 7 Dec - Fri 8 Dec Year 10 & Year 11 ACYF

Tues 12 Dec Christmas Liturgy & Years 7-9 Awards Assembly Marana Auditorium, Hurstville 11.30am

Wed 13 Dec Year 7-9 Picnic Day Year 7-9 Reports Distributed Year 7-9 Last Day

Thurs 14 Dec Optional Parent/Teacher Interviews

FROM THE ASSISTANT PRINCIPALParents/Carers,

We are about to enter into a period that our Church calls Advent. Advent is the season of new beginnings. A new liturgical year begins on the First Sunday of Advent and it presents us with images of transformation, renewal and hope. It is the season of the impossible becoming possible. It is the season of longing and light. Week by week, candles are lit on the Advent wreath signifying our longing for the light of Christ, as the time of his birth draws near. Yet Advent celebrates more than Christ’s birth. It paves our way toward celebrating Christ as God-with-us, God in human flesh. This is a profound mystery at the heart of our faith, and it is the cause of our joy at Christmas. During this period of Advent, may we approach our journey towards Christmas with a sense of hope, compassion and acknowledgement of the real reason for the season.

Australian Catholic Youth FestivalAs part of our Advent journey, we are very much looking forward to participating whole-heartedly in the Australian Catholic Youth Festival. Our Year 10 and Year 11 students will spend time in plenary sessions, workshops, dialogue spaces, prayer experiences, live music, justice activities and much more. The festival has attracted high quality presenters and performers from overseas and across Australia. I extend my gratitude to the staff for accompanying our students and for the generosity of their time.

Year 10 LeaversIt is with a touch of sadness that we farewell our Year 10 leavers next Wednesday, 6 December 2017 with a spirituality session, an awards ceremony and farewell BBQ. These fourteen young men commenced their secondary schooling at MCCP in 2013 when the college was a small 7-10 boys school. What enormous change they have witnessed. They will always be Marist Penshurst boys and we wish them the best in their continuation of their education at other schools, TAFE and applied pathways.

Mr Chris Morris - Assistant Principal

FROM THE COLLEGE BURSARAll school fees are now overdue. Please finalise your account unless prior arrangements have been made with the Principal.Thank you to all families who have settled their accounts.Mrs Joy O’Sullivan - College Bursar



3

From Pope Francis’ Homily at Midnight Mass St Peter’s 2016

The shepherds discover simply that “a child has been born to us” (Is 9:5). They realize that all this glory, all this joy, all this light, converges to a single point, the sign that the angel indicated to them: “You will find a child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger” (Lk 2:12). This is the enduring sign for all who would find Jesus. Not just then, but also today. If we want to celebrate Christmas authentically, we need to contemplate this sign: the frail simplicity of a tiny newborn child, the meekness with which he is placed in a manger, the tender affection with which he is wrapped in his swaddling clothes. That is where God is.

With this sign, the Gospel reveals a paradox. It speaks of the emperor, the governor, the high and mighty of those times, yet God does not make himself present there. He appears not in the splendour of a royal palace, but in the poverty of a stable; not in pomp and show, but in simplicity of life; not in power, but in astonishing smallness. In order to meet him, we need to go where he is. We need to bow down, to humble ourselves, to make ourselves small. The newborn Child challenges us. He calls us to leave behind fleeting illusions and to turn to what is essential, to renounce our insatiable cravinfs, to abandon our endless yearning for things we will never have. We do well to leave such things behind, in order to discover, in the simplicity of the divine Child, peace, joy and the luminous meaning of life.

Let us allow the Child in the manger to challenge us, but let us also be challenged by all those children in today’s world who are lying not in a crib, caressed with affection by their mothers and fathers, but in squalid “mangers that devour dignity”. Children who hide underground to escape bombardment, on the pavements of large cities, in the hold of a boat overladen with immigrants… Let us allow ourselves to be challenged by those children who are not allowed to be born, by those who cry because no one relieves their hunger, by those who hold in their hands not toys, but weapons.

The mystery of Christmas, which is light and joy, challenges and unsettles us, because it is at once a mystery of hope and of sadness. It has a taste of sadness, inasmuch as love is not accepted, and life discarded. Such was the case with Joseph and Mary, who met with closed doors, and placed Jesus in a manger, “because there was no place for them in the inn” (v. 7). Jesus was born rejected by some and regarded by many others with indifference. Today too, that same indifference can exist, whenever Christmas becomes a holiday with ourselves at the centre rather than Jesus; when the lights of shop windows push the light of God into the shadows; when we are enthused about gifts but indifferent to our neighbours in need. This worldliness has kidnapped Christmas; we need to liberate it!

Yet Christmas has above all a taste of hope because, for all the darkness in our lives, God’s light shines forth. His gentle light does not frighten us. God, who is in love with us, draws us to himself with his tenderness, by being born poor and frail in our midst, as one of us. He is born in Bethlehem, which means “house of bread”. In this way, he seems to tell us that he is born as bread for us; he enters our life to give us his life; he comes into our world to give us his love. He does not come to devour or to lord it over us, but instead to feed and serve us. There is a straight line between the manger and the cross where Jesus will become bread that is broken. It is the straight line of love that gives and saves, the love that brings light to our lives and peace to our hearts.

That night, the shepherds understood this. They were among the marginalized of those times. Yet no one is marginalized in the sight of God, and that Christmas, they themselves were the guests. People who felt sure of themselves, self-sufficient, were at home with their possessions. It was the shepherds who “set out with haste” (cf. Lk 2:16). Tonight, may we too be challenged and called by Jesus. Let us approach him with trust, starting from all those things that make us feel marginalized, from our limitations and our sins. Let us be touched by the tenderness that saves. Let us draw close to God who draws close to us. Let us pause to gaze upon the crib, and relive in our imagination the birth of Jesus: light and peace, dire poverty and rejection. With the shepherds, let us enter into the real Christmas, bringing to Jesus all that we are, our alienation, our unhealed wounds, our sins. Then, in Jesus, we will enjoy the taste of the true spirit of Christmas: the beauty of being loved by God. With Mary and Joseph, let us pause before the manger, before Jesus who is born as bread for my life. Contemplating his humble and infinite love, let us simply tell him: Thank you. Thank you because you have done all this for me.



4

PEER SUPPORT PROGRAMOn Tuesday 28th November, 50 Year 9 Peer Support Leaders engaged in a leadership training day. The Peer Support program encourages peer connections between our new cohort of Year 7 students 2018 and Year 10 students 2018 and will assist our new Year 7 students in developing practical skills to enhance social and emotional wellbeing. It also builds the leadership capacity of students within the school.

The day was held at Our Lady of Fatima Peakhurst and incorporated activities and training based on relationships, making connections, empathy and problem solving. An important part of this day was the reflection tasks, whereby students were asked to reflect on their own strengths, challenges and their sense of community. It was an action filled day with students forging bonds with other leaders. One highlight of the day was students, working as a team, creating an icon using paper and tape and a fashion parade ensued with much laughter.

Thank you to all the wonderful Year 9 Peer Support Leaders who participated in the day. Our Year 7 2018 cohort are fortunate to have such great Peer Leaders. An additional thank you to Mr Michael Fisher, Mrs Lucy Pelosi and Ms Louise Beard who all led sessions and brought their own expertise to the day.

Ms Anne Collins - Peer Support Facilitator

PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPOn Friday 17 November, Year 9 Visual Arts students had the wonderful opportunity of taking part in a Photography Workshop held by Canon Collective. For the first two periods of the day the class worked their way around the school taking photos of the objects surrounding them. The art class unpacked the three fundamental techniques required to create a photographic image; ISO, aperture and shutter speed. They learnt how to balance these three skills to create fascinating exposures. All the students thoroughly enjoyed playing around with the cameras and learning new techniques and perspectives in regard to photography.

Joybelle Fernandes - Year 9



5

SRC NEWSFrom this week, we are proud to display new house banners and shields. Our challenge to all students is to get excited, get involved and get behind their house. These house banners go beyond colours and images - they represent the hard work and perseverance of so many men and women in our 65 year history at Penshurst. It is up to all students to represent their house with pride. There are so many ways for you to represent your house. Every merit in the diary, every Bronze you receive, every time you represent the school, you are helping your house achieve victory. The Caritas Project Compassion appeal next year will also offer students wonderful opportunities to represent their house and to show house spirit. 2018 will be the first year in the College’s history that we will have a full 7-12 coeducational Swimming Carnival. It really will be a living out our motto of “One school, one family, one community”. As it will be the 65th swimming carnival in our proud history, we want to make it the best carnival yet.

We can only do this if we all get excited, get involved and get behind our house.

Zachary Pitkethley - College Captain



6

SCC SPORT RESULTSSOFTBALL RND OPPOSITION W/L SCORE COACHJUNIOR 7 Rosebank College Loss 5 - 7 Mr Martin Forrest

INTERMEDIATE 7 Bethany College Win 9 - 4 Mr Jon CullertonGF Rosebank College Loss 6 - 12

TOUCH FOOTBALL RND OPPOSITION W/L SCORE COACHJUNIOR 7 Casimir College Win 5 - 0 Ms Anna LeINTERMEDIATE 7 Casimir College Win 17 - 0 Mr Michael Falzon

GF Mount St Joseph’s College Win 10 - 7

CBSA SPORT RESULTSVOLLEYBALL RND OPPOSITION W/L SCORE COACHJUNIOR 7 St Charbel’s Punchbowl Loss 1 - 2 Mr Mark BarnesINTERMEDIATE 7 St Charbel’s Punchbowl Win Forfiet Mr Michael Way

SF De La Salle Revesby Loss 0 - 2SENIOR 7 St Charbel’s Punchbowl Loss 2 - 0 Mr John Lloyd

TOUCH FOOTBALL RND OPPOSITION W/L SCORE COACHJUNIOR 7 St Charbel’s Punchbowl Loss 4 - 8 Mr George KarpouzosINTERMEDIATE 7 St Charbel’s Punchbowl Win 15 - 1 Mr Kieran Smith

GF St Mary’s College Win 8 - 3

SCC SOFTBALL - RUNNERS UP

In the 21 - 0 victory over De La Salle Bankstown, the intermediate team hit a record, 5 home-runs including a ‘grandslam’!

The 5 home-run hitters were (pictured left to right):

• Bella Ryder, Jaz McQuillan, Chiara Mascolo, Serena Alemagar

Well done girls!

Mr Jon CullertonCoach



7

CBSA INTERMEDIATE TOUCH FOOTBALL - UNDEFEATED PREMIERS

SCC INTERMEDIATE TOUCH FOOTBALL - UNDEFEATED PREMIERS



8

COUNSELLOR’S CORNERBuilding Bully Shields

A great course for parents that provides insight into bullying behaviours, as well as providing useful skills and strategies for parents to assist in building resilience in their children. It also helps parents to work with their child to increase their own protective strategies, and responses to bullying behaviour.

Course: Building Bully Shields

When: Weekly 10:30 AM - 12:30 PMFrom: Wednesday, 22 November 2017To: Wednesday, 06 December 2017 Cost: $60 or Free for Concession holders

Location: Catholic Care, Mary Potter Wing, Corner West & Thomas St, Lewisham Phone: 9509 1111

Christmas

‘Coping with Christmas’ support evening for bereaved people (Kogarah)

Discussion and support evening for people who are concerned about coping with Christmas following the death of a family member or friend. Organised by Calvary Bereavement Counselling Service.

Thursday 30 November: 6.45pm-9pm (7pm start) Calvary Hospital Conference Centre, Rocky Point Rd Kogarah

More information and to book: Phone 9553 3025

A December Kindness Calendar from Action For Happiness

The calendar can be accessed online:http://www.actionforhappiness.org/media/625562/kindness_calendar.pdf

For more information about the benefits of giving/helping others, please see:http://www.actionforhappiness.org/10-keys-to-happier-living/do-things-for-others/details

http://www.actionforhappiness.org/media/625562/kindness_calendar.pdf

marist catholic college...christmas; we need to liberate it! yet christmas has above all a taste of...

Documents