Catholic Identity and Mission
“The greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves.”
– Luke 22:26
Welcome back to Term 3. We hope the break gave everyone something close to genuine rest. We are only two weeks in, and already the term is full of life.
Justice is not a comfortable theme. It is not a word that sits quietly on a wall. It asks something of us. And this fortnight, in ways that have been genuinely moving to witness, our students and community have been answering.
BASP Winter Food Drive – Thank You
Today marks the conclusion of our BASP Winter Food Drive. To every family who dropped something into a Homeroom bin, to every student who remembered and brought something in: thank you. The Drive has been a quiet, consistent expression of who we are as a community, and that is exactly why it works.
The Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project supports people seeking asylum in Melbourne who have no work rights and no Medicare. They receive no government funding. Every item collected over these past weeks will make a real difference to people in genuine need. The scripture puts it plainly: “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” That is what our community did.
Year 11 Retreat Day – Community, Service and Leadership
Last Thursday 16 July, our Year 11 students came together for their Retreat Day. The day was built around three questions: What gifts am I bringing to this community? What does it mean to serve, not just to lead? And how do I use those gifts for something beyond myself?
Students began the morning by naming the qualities they most admire in someone they look up to. Then they turned the card over and named those gifts in themselves. It is a simple exercise. It is rarely easy. From there, trust and initiative activities gave the group an experience of what genuine teamwork actually requires: not just someone willing to lead, but someone willing to follow, to catch, to carry.
A highlight of the day was the panel discussion on leadership facilitated by our Principal, Stephanie Smyth. She traced the thread from St Brigid of Kildare through the founding of the Brigidine Sisters in 1807 to the women who built this school. The contrast she drew is worth holding onto. The world’s version of leadership reaches for power. Ours reaches for humility and service.
The day closed with a commissioning liturgy. Candles lit from a central flame. Readings from John and Luke. Intercessions written and offered by students. A blessing that sent them back into the year with something to carry. We are proud of how our Year 11 students showed up.
À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ / St Bede’s Local Indigenous Immersion
Last week, 21 of our students took part in the joint À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ and St Bede’s Local Indigenous Immersion at Saltbush, Balnarring.
On Thursday morning, the group travelled to Willum Warrain Aboriginal Gathering Place in Hastings for a Welcome on Country and yarning with local First Nations community members. The afternoon opened out into cultural walks through the Bunurong landscape at Balnarring, learning from the country itself, its plants, its stories and its deep history. Friday morning was the Bushrangers Bay Walk, a guided coastal walk through Mornington Peninsula National Park.
This immersion is a lived expression of our focus on Justice this year. It asks something real of students. Not just information about First Nations history, but a different way of seeing. We are deeply grateful to Dave McKail and Julie Hepburn for accompanying our students with such care. We look forward to hearing the students’ reflections in the coming days.
Looking Ahead in Term 3
Later in the term, we will gather as a whole community to celebrate our 122nd Foundation Day Mass. 122 years since the Brigidine Sisters established À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ here in Mentone. The flame they lit has never gone out. More details to follow.
We also look forward to our Year 8 Retreats, the Kildare Ministries Ecology Retreat, and Brigidine Day celebrations. There is a rich term ahead of us.
Prayer
Loving God,
we return to this place carrying the ones who are still cold,
still hungry,
still waiting to be welcomed.
Give us the courage this term
to listen before we speak,
to serve before we lead,
to use our gifts for something beyond ourselves.
May the flame of St Brigid burn in us,
as it has burned in this place for one hundred and twenty-two years.
Amen.
With warmest wishes to our whole community,
In Strength and Kindness,
John Riddle
Director of Catholic Identity and Mission