Breathe the Spirit of God

Earlier this week, several staff had the opportunity to hear from the eminent UK theologian, Fr Timothy Radcliff. Fr Radcliff spoke via zoom to every Marist school in Australia (there are over 50 of us) on this year’s theme ‘Breathe the Spirit of God’. Fr Timonthy that our first act as a human is to take a breath, and what an important moment that is for both ourselves and our parents. So too, our last act is to expel a breath – frequently surrounded by our loved ones and those who care for us and for whom we care.

Loving God, let us never take our breath for granted. We heard millions of stories throughout the pandemic of those who struggled for a precious, life-giving breath. We watched ventilator machines bring breath to those who could not manage it on their own. The simple things of life, such as our breath, bring energy and healing. May we, loving God, bring energy and healing to others too. Grant us the kindness, humility and patience to always know when those around us are struggling for breath – not just physically, but spiritually and emotionally. Let our breath, our quite efforts and unconscious routines bring health and comfort to all. Amen.

Peace and Blessings

Neale Daniher Community and Sports Pavilion

We were privileged today to host Neale and some of his friends and family for a ‘sod-turning’ of the Community and Sports Pavilion that is being named in his honour. With the restrictions in place at the end of last year, we weren’t able to have Neale on site when the project truly got underway.
For those who haven’t yet been on site for sport or any other event, under-ground work has been completed and the concrete slab has been laid and we are on track for completion in November (fingers crossed the Kilmore winter doesn’t hold things up!).
Neale again expressed his deep love of the College and appreciation for the honour of the naming. Ray Carroll said a few words in tribute of Neale and Anthony Daniher also shared on behalf of Neale and his family. The short formalities took place at lunch at the cricket (the Firsts played Trinity today in place of interrupting the long-weekend!)

Teens and Consent

Like you, I’ve been watching the press over the past week or so report on the courage of young women and girls who have come forward to share their experiences of abuse and non-consensual sex. It is wonderful that these young women have found their voice, but devastating that they should need to have done so in the first place.

Our Wellbeing and Pastoral Teams sometimes have to respond to matters raised by our students about non-consensual encounters they have been involved in (or have heard about from a friend), and they do a wonderful job of helping those students speak with their parents, and where necessary, contact external agencies for specialised support and follow-up. Sometimes, this has involved SOCIT – the Sexual Abuses and Child Abuse Investigations Team (to protect the privacy of young people, they usually visit our school in plain clothes). As you can imagine, the vast majority of these scary and damaging encounters happen away from school hours. Even in just the few short weeks that we have been back at school we have responded to incidents our students have been involved in. Some occurred recently, others are from months, even years, ago. As you can imagine, the response is individualised, and often complex. Many of you have been involved in supporting young people during these times, and I thank you for your care and compassion towards they, their families, and their friends.

As in the rest of society, non-consensual sexual experiences happen to all types of young people. Certainly, those whom we think of as ‘at risk’ for a variety of reasons seem to tend to be more vulnerable in these instances, but such everts equally are as likely to happen to the young person you think of as ‘having it together’. They happen at parties, in homes, down the street – anywhere where young people gather. Sometimes, but certainly not always, alcohol or drugs are involved.

One thing we can draw some small degree comfort from is that the training we conduct with our students is having a positive effect in encouraging students to come forward and report incidents of concern. As you know, we’ve been explicitly teaching consent law to our senior students Year 10-12 for many years and in the past eighteen months or so, in response to external advice, have also added it to the Year 7-9 Child Safeguarding training. Importantly, the Respectful Relationships Curriculum (elements of which are taught in MyBEING) tackles the issue from a prevention perspective - helping to ingrain values of respect and acknowledgement of the dignity of all people. We are, with parents, helping to educate our young people in an important human value and right (and law!), but we are also doubling down on the values of our faith – respect for dignity of every human being and a strong commitment to the common good of all.

But there is no one silver-bullet solution and we would be naïve to think we can change this on our own.  Our society sometimes sends young people a very different message to the ones we espouse, and the world of young people is now more substantially influenced by what is tolerated and even celebrated online (including a substantial growth in access to pornography which is seeming having a profound effect on normalising non-consensual intimate behaviours). I found this article from one of the Principals’ in Sydney last week extremely useful in reflecting on what we can do to support young people to protect themselves and others, to act respectfully in their personal relationships, including what we as adults need to champion and challenge in our family and broader social lives if real change is to be effected: https://www.smh.com.au/education/schools-can-t-end-the-scourge-of-sexual-assault-adults-behaving-like-adults-can-20210222-p574qz.html.

While it may be that we will not be able to solve this significant societal issue for everyone and evermore, we need to keep striving to be part of the solution for the young people who are in our orbit. Should any young person come to you with a concern for themselves or another, please reach out to the College Wellbeing Team (and support them to get there if necessary), who will work with them and their parents/carers to determine how to proceed.

Michael Carr-Greg, the eminent child psychologist has prepared a thoughtful short presentation on teens and consent that you may like to view. It can be found on PAM under ‘Assumption School TV’. There are may wonderful topics available for you on this site (the school pays the subscription so that all parents can access the resources) that you may also like to explore, but the consent matter, being particular topical in the news at the moment, is definitely worthy of your time.

Year 7 Camp is going well!

Reports back from the Year 7 Camp is that the students and staff are having a wonderful time. Keep an eye on the social media accounts for photos of them participating in all the wonderful activities and spending time getting to know each other. The Camp is always one of students most memorable school experiences and even years later we continue to hear of the friendships formed and the giggles enjoyed!

Principal on Leave

Over the past few months I’ve endured the ‘excitement’ that many women encounter of a fast growing fibroid. After next week, I’ll be on leave for six weeks while they remove it and everything it seems to have attached itself to, with a hysterectomy. One thing I’ve learnt through this process is that one in three Australian women have to have a hysterectomy by the time they are 65 and I’ve been surprised how many women have recently shared with me the long, painful experiences they have endured before this surgery has been made available to them.

On a personal level then, I just wanted to encourage everyone to do their best to break down the stigma of speaking about hysterectomy and other gynaecological issues – if one in three women are finding themselves in the situation where discomfort, pain and the difficulties of balancing family and work commitments while managing their unpredictable bodies leads to major surgeries, we can do much better than making this subject taboo.

In any case, I’ll be back on deck at the end of Week 1 of Term 2 and in the interim, you’ll be in the capable hands of Acting Principal, Vaughan Cleary.

LATEST NEWS

From the Faith Office

Each morning this term, two learning mentor groups gather in the Le Rosey chapel to begin the day with a meditation on our 2021 College Theme: Breathe the Spirit of Life and to pause in silence and space to pray the morning prayer. It is proving to be a wonderful opportunity to allow our students time away from the usual rush and hassles of the morning to connect, if just for 15 minutes, with the spiritual heart of our college.

A Lenten Reflection

The Kilmore Marist Association is presenting online each Tuesday a Lenten reflection for the parish of St Patrick's based on the 5 Marist Characteristics. The first session was presented by Kate Fogarty and was a wonderful introduction to Marist Spirituality, focusing on Marcellin Champagnat’s commitment to do all things In The Way Of Mary. The next three weeks will cover the following characteristics:

Tuesday 9th March: Simplicity

Tuesday 16th March: Love of Work

Tuesday 23rd March: Family Spirit

Please contact Mr Paul Reed (paul.reed@assumption.vic.edu.au) at the College if you would like information about how to attend these sessions.

Social Justice

Social Justice is an important dimension of the faith life of the College and our Social Justice, Fire Carriers and Sustainability groups have been active in starting up projects for 2021. Next week we will celebrate International Women’s Day with a presentation by former student Shardyed Yilma, who works for UN in Women’s Rights in the area of Communication, titled ‘The Day of the Girl’.

2nd Sunday in Lent

The Gospel that is read in Churches on the Second Sunday of Lent is always the dramatic story of the Transfiguration of Jesus. Here Jesus takes with him his dearest friends, Peter, James and John, and climbs a high mountain to be alone. There they catch a glimpse for a moment of the world as it is meant to be when Jesus is Transfigured in their sight. But while this vision of perfection is alluring, and understandably the three closest disciples wish to remain there with the vision, the key to understanding this story is what happens next. The vision disappears, the disciples are covered in shadow and in the darkness God speaks to the disciples, revealing the true identity of Jesus to them. The disciples, and we, learn an important lesson from the experience. We are reminded life is a journey and none of us have reached the destination yet. We must hear the voice of God whispering to us in the dark and uncertain times, calling us to journey on, confident though that Jesus travels with us especially in these dark times, lighting our way with glimpses of beauty, happiness and understanding.

Upcoming Events

Tuesday 09 March- School Photos

Monday 22 March - College Open Evening

Thursday 1st April - Last Day of Term 1

Wednesday 29 April - New Parents Welcome Evening

Fri 29 - Sun 31 October - RURBAN

Open Evening

As our current College families, you are our best advocates. We welcome you to share your experiences with others in your community and encourage them to attend our College Open Evening on Monday 22 March 2021.

Open evening school tours can be booked online now - BOOK HERE

COMMUNITY NEWS

Marist Parent Connect is a new publication to connect our families to the Marist story, its spirituality and traditions. This editions topic is Our Marist Story and can be found HERE

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