Each Thursday lunchtime we celebrate Mass in our Old Collegians’ Chapel. Led by College Chaplain, Fr Eladio Lizada, staff and students gather to celebrate in Word and Sacrament the many gifts God has granted us, and to pray for the wisdom and courage to live God’s kingdom on earth.

Last Sunday, the Boarding Community gathered for our Annual Reconciliation Week Mass and dinner. Our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) expresses our commitment for unity and healing through the everyday encounters of a school community, but it is also important to step aside from the everyday and pray and reflect on what motivates us and what direction we wish to go. The celebration of the Eucharist at the College seeks to be both a part of the everyday and to be an invitation to step out of the everyday to reflect on, with God’s grace, the ‘big picture.’

In all aspects of our Mission as a Catholic school in the Edmund Rice tradition, celebration of the Mass is the centrepiece that unites everything. In Mass we share in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and so receive the courage and wisdom to transform suffering into good. Our Faith in Action and SAGERS groups continue to be opportunities to be contemplatives in action and share in God’s work to transform our world.

In recent weeks our students and staff have been involved in these activities:

• Tutoring at Tarneit community centre and Melton’s Kirrip house (Indigenous tutoring program),
• Conducted four sausage sizzles and the Athletics day food stall to raise funds for worthy causes,
• Easter egg drive distributed to patients at the Base hospital,
• Winter food drive, which is currently still in action
• Peer mentoring with students at Our Lady Help of Christians Primary school Wendouree will begin on Friday June 10^th.

The SAGERS (Student Action Group Environmentally Resource Smart) students have been building a set of compost bays to help recycle food waste around the college and thus reduce the emissions of the greenhouse gas methane.

In addition SAGERS will be planting trees in Ballarat on May 27^th helping to regreen Ballarat.   Thank you for your support of these ventures.  If you’d like to be involved, please contact Mr. Michael Weadon and/or Mr. Rorey O’Kelly.

Finally, I would like to make a last call for students to submit their walkathon fundraising money. We are not yet at our target of $40,000, which equates to less than $40 per student. Through this major annual College event we make a significant contribution to the everyday lives of many people through the work of our justice partners:

• Edmund Rice Centre – St Albans
• Edmund Rice Foundation Australia
• Edmund Rice Camps
• Caritas

May God continue to bless our everyday encounters, and grant us the wisdom and courage to work for his kingdom of love.