In Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus asked the disciples what others were saying about him. Peter announced that others believed Jesus to be the Christ. The word Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word for Messiah, which means “the anointed one.” At the time of Jesus, the image of the Messiah was laden with popular expectations, most of which looked for a political leader who would free the Jewish people from Roman occupation. Interestingly, Jesus never used this term himself but preferred to be the Son of Man. Many scholars suggest that the phrase Son of...
In Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus asked the disciples what others were saying about him. Peter announced that others believed Jesus to be the Christ. The word Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word for Messiah, which means “the anointed one.” At the time of Jesus, the image of the Messiah was laden with popular expectations, most of which looked for a political leader who would free the Jewish people from Roman occupation. Interestingly, Jesus never used this term himself but preferred to be the Son of Man. Many scholars suggest that the phrase Son of Man is best understood to mean “human being.” In the reading, Jesus explained to the disciples that, whilst others may have thought that about him, he would be rejected by them, and would suffer and die at their hands, but rise again after three days. Peter’s rejection of this prediction was rebuked by Jesus and he explained that discipleship was about following in the way of the cross.
In our own lives, following our faith is a call to discipleship and following the way of the cross can be seen as each of us being true to the Gospel values that we espouse. This may mean that there will be times when others will denigrate us for our beliefs and actions, but these beliefs and actions are deeply rooted in our Catholic faith. In an everyday sense, to our young men, this will mean that there will be times when they will have to make decisions and take actions that are counter-cultural to social views or friends but true to themselves. We refer to this as having integrity.
Our young men finished their last exams today and now can take a short break to freshen up for the last term of the year. There is no formal reporting process or Parent/Teacher interviews for this term. However, if you are concerned about your son’s results, please contact the relevant teacher(s) at the beginning of the beginning of next term.
The Year 11 students and the College staff have selected the College and House Leaders for 2019. When meeting the students before the final selection, I have been most impressed with the calibre of the nominations and the passion that each young man has shown to serve the College and his House. Next year, our College Captain will be Oscar O’Brien and the Vice Captains will be Ben Evans and Morgan Prendergast. They are three very impressive young men.
The 2019 House Leaders are:
Likewise, each of these young men have shown good leadership potential especially in the last couple of years. It is important for us to also remember that the Year 11 students will be leaders of the College next year as well. Therefore, they will all participate in a Leadership Camp on 15-17 October (second week back). The camp will be held on our own campus.
There will be staff changes next term due to some staff taking leave or finishing at the College. Mr Tim Kenny will take long service leave during the term and Mr Luke Royes has been appointed to the position of Dean of Identity during this time. Mrs Lorraine O’Sullivan and Mr Aaron Kerr will also take long service leave during this time. Mr Kevin Van der Weide will return to take Lorraine’s classes and Mrs Megan McVeigh will replace Aaron. Finally, Mrs Avril Perkins has retired from working in our library. Avril has been associated with St Patrick’s as a mother from 1985 and then a Library Assistant since 1995. She has been a wonderful servant to this community and we wish her the very best in her retirement.
The final round of AIC sport took place last Saturday. The only remaining sporting commitment is the AIC Track and Field Championships to be held next term. Our Tennis and Basketball teams finished the season with strong performance against Padua College. Both these sports have enjoyed a wonderful season with the Basketball teams finishing 2nd overall and our Tennis team finished 5th overall in aggregate. I would like to thank the many students who represented the College during the term and particular thanks to Doug Locke and Steve Copping (Basketball) and Br Chris Pritchard (Tennis) for their organisation as well as all the staff, parents and old boys who assisted with the coaching. This year has been one of our most successful years in the College’s history across all sports since we started the AIC competition.
I hope that all our young men have some time to relax and refresh over the next two weeks and that they will be helpful to their parents and return ready to excel again in the last term of the year.
Live Jesus in our Hearts!