Term 1, Week 8 (20 March 2023)

Dear Parents/Carers,

This week in the Sunday liturgy in our journey through Lent we focus on the story where Jesus restored the sight of a blind person.  This man had been blind since birth, spent his days begging outside the temple at the Pool of Siloam, and was well known in his community. 

Jesus was criticised by his detractors for performing this miracle.  Some said this was a trick and the person claiming to be cured was an imposter and not the person who usually begged outside the temple, others criticised Jesus for restoring the sight of this person on a Sabbath and therefore he was breaking the conventions of the reverence of the Sabbath. Others believed the person’s parents faked his condition, and his parents were summoned by authorities to verify that he had been blind from birth.  Other explanations were proposed to contradict what Jesus had done. The man who had his sight restored was driven out of the community. Jesus later sought him out, spoke to him and revealing that he, Jesus who restored his sight, was the Son of God.

As Catholic Christians we could reflect on this scripture passage for some time, the event and the implications of this event.  I offer a few points for you to consider.

In the time of Jesus people thought that any person with particular conditions or disabilities, had these conditions as a result of sin of the person, or sin somehow related to that person, and as such was ostracised from their community. Jesus destroyed this perspective in this event.

We are lucky to live in a country where we have some laws whose goal is to build a culture contrary to the understandings in the time of Jesus.  However, I wonder what our inward perceptions are when we come across, the homeless, the disfigured, those with physical and other disabilities, those suffering from the hidden agony of mental illness or other conditions and diagnosis. These people too are made in the image and likeness of God.

At Mater Dei we often refer to the parable of the Good Samaritan who showed compassion, kindness and supported to the injured person. From our Christian perspective, all human beings are made in the image and likeness of God, and are our neighbours.  We are challenged to love our neighbour as ourselves, so does our behaviour, including the use of social media, reflect this Christian perspective?

In his most recent book Hugh Mackay writes about therapists, and speak of the therapists that have the most positive impact on supporting others. He lists some behaviours of these therapists as those who:

• Listen to others, their stories and needs, (and I might add here what Covey emphasises, to listen not just with our ears, but with our hearts and our eyes);
• Acknowledge, and treat others with respect and dignity, and encounter and interact with others without being judgmental;
• Welcome others, make them feel comfortable in their presence, greet them with a smile and acknowledge their talents and contributions.

As Christians we are asked to love our neighbour as ourselves, and St Paul in his wonderful outline of the characteristics and behaviours that reflect love, opens that outline with the first behaviours as being patient and kind.

As we reach a time well into our season of Lent we might reflect on Jesus as the Son of God, our Christian values, and our behaviours and perspectives towards others, especially those who have disabilities and particular needs. I know that here at Mater Dei, every day, we witness lived out Christian perspectives towards others.  In our daily lives, may we all contribute to making our community more welcoming, inclusive, respectful, and kind, and appreciative of others and their talents and contributions.

Regards,

PAUL McCANN
INTERIM CEO/PRINCIPAL

Herzlichen Glückwunsch! Congratulations to the students in 9/10 McCabe for their presentation and game of colour bingo during the Secondary Assembly last week, related to their learning of German. It certainly created some competition amongst the 3 Stages to see who would win as each colour was called out in German.  I believe that 7/8 Benedict were declared winners, along with a family member from our visitors who joined us. Danke also to Mrs Ferry for her organisation of this. Congratulations to all of the students who prepared, presented and participated in the Secondary Assembly, along with the Mater Dei representative swimmers who were recognised for their achievements in the pool, and Hannah for receiving a Student Learning Award. 

I recently attended a professional learning day facilitated by Catholic Schools New South Wales with a  focus on integrating the learning and teaching of Respectful Relationships across the K - 12 curriculum, with the opportunity to hear presentations from colleagues across various Catholic School settings. A constant throughout the day was the crucial partnership and role of families and carers in supporting children and young people in their intellectual, social, emotional and moral development, including as key role models.  The relationships that children both encounter and witness from key role models in their own lives is instrumental in developing their own understanding of respect and dignity for both themselves and others. The same can be said for the experience of respectful relationships that our students encounter at school.    

During his three years of ministry, Jesus himself modeled respectful relationships for his disciples, and for us to follow today. Indeed, our very call to Jesus Christ is to learn to respect the uniqueness and dignity of others as he did, and to love as he did, and to model this in our daily actions and interactions with others. This is the ultimate expression of the love of God in us and through us. To show love begins with respect and building respectful relationships. As we move closer to the end of our Lenten journey and truly prepare our hearts to celebrate the Risen Christ, may we be less distracted and slow down to take stock of our lives and our hearts.

JENNIFER FOLDES
DEPUTY PRINCIPAL

The  inaugural  Prophetic  Voices  program  was  initiated with  the  Good  Samaritan  Education (GSE) 2022  Triennial Conference.  At  the  conference,  the  student  group  proposed  that  Prophetic  Voices  become  an  ongoing  annual program  across  the  GSE  schools  building  on  the  bonds  created  and  the  energy for  collaboration founded  in  the common spirit  of  the  Good  Samaritan  Benedictine  charism.  The  GSE  community  embraced  the  opportunity  for  the students to continue to nurture their prophetic voice to challenge and provide awareness for the broad GSE community on the issues that concern them. 

On Wednesday, 15 March, Mater Dei’s two School Captains, Breeana and Jack, together  with our House Captains, Jacob, Tom, Nathan and Saul zoomed in with students from other GSE Colleges to discuss social issues of the day.  For this forum we were fortunate to  listen to Brooke Prentis, Aboriginal Christian Leader, and Wakka Wakka woman.  Brooke spoke to us about Deep Listening and how land, sky and all creation are brought together by the Creator into relationship and community. Community that looks like unity in diversity. Community that not only says, but does love their neighbour as themselves. 

Our students did a wonderful job giving their perspective on how we can do this at Mater Dei and beyond.

SPORTS NEWS

SECONDARY REPRESENTATIVE SWIMMING

On Friday, 10 March, eight Mater Dei students attended the Wollongong Diocese Secondary Swimming Championships at Corrimal Pool. The students were Maya, Mischa, Leishiya, Aidan, Jack C, Justin, Jacob C and Zach P. The students competed in the 50m Freestyle, 50m Backstroke and 50m Breaststroke.

The students swam extremely will, with Mischa winning both the freestyle and backstroke, Maya winning the breaststroke and coming second in the freestyle and backstroke, Leishiya finished second in the freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke, Aidan finished third in the freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke, Justin finished third in the freestyle and backstroke and Jack finished third in the breaststroke.

Maya, Mischa and Leishiya have been selected to represent the Wollongong Diocese at the Combined Catholic College Championships at the end of March.

PRIMARY CROSS COUNTRY

This morning, six primary students attended the St Clair’s Primary School Cross Country Carnival. The students completed a 2km course. Marco, Corrado, Maria, Hayden, Joshua and Lilly-Rose represented Mater Dei proudly.

Past Events

WORLD MATHS DAY

World Maths Day was celebrated by our students on Wednesday 8th March. Mrs Twine invited the classes to the hall for a fun session of all things mathematics. Our Big Idea was the fact that “Maths is fun’ and our learning intention was, we are learning how we can solve maths problems. Our emphasis was about trying to solve problems and helping others and sharing our solutions. The students were very active in a warm up task of subitising then engaged in a number of tasks including building bridges and counting how many blocks they needed, writing math stories, noticing and wondering about 3D models and sorting money. A great way to think about and celebrate problem solving.

Future Events

TREK FUNDRAISER

LIPSTICK LUNCHEON

2023 AFTERNOON ARRANGEMENTS

In the event of either of the following:

• Student needs to be collected by a different family member or family friend over 18 years of age
• Student needs to be collected by parent INSTEAD of usual taxi arrangement for a specified day

Parent/Guardian is required to advise the school of the change, and MUST include the full name of person collecting, PRIOR to 2:30pm on the day of the change. This may be done via one of the following options:

• Noting change in student diary
• Phoning School Reception on ph. 4655 7481
• Emailing schooladmin@materdei.org.au

If your child needs to be collected by a service provider - a Parent/Guardian is required to complete a Collection by a Service Provider form (available on Compass) and email it to schooladmin@materdei.org.au

This form must be received PRIOR to 2:30pm on the day before the new arrangement is to take place.

If unable to provide the full name of the staff member collecting, the Parent/ Guardian is required to arrange the Service Provider to notify the school via schooladmin@materdei.org.au  email by 2:30pm on the day the student is to be collected.