Captains of Christian Service Report from Sofia G and Sarah S
Project Compassion Launch 2022
On March 1, Caritas Australia held a virtual meeting with 40+ schools from across Australia, in preparation for the launch of Project Compassion 2022, with this year’s theme being ‘For All Future Generations’. Spanning across the six weeks of Lent each year, Project Compassion brings thousands of Australian schools, Parishes, and supporters together to raise funds for people living in some of the most vulnerable communities across the world. Every year, Penola Catholic College takes part in this initiative; raising money to help people around the world. During the meeting, Caritas representative Romina introduced us to the story of Anatercia, a 12-year-old living in southern Mozambique, and her struggles to cope with adult responsibilities after her father passed away. Using donation money, Caritas was able to source clean water for her village, which helped the young girl and her family to access clean water any time of the day. This story, and many other beautiful stories of Caritas helping others in need are truly an inspiration to practice alms giving; we hope to see every student at Penola put an effort to assist the generations of the future.
Opening Mass (Ash Wednesday)
On Wednesday 2 March, Penola Catholic College held a whole school mass to celebrate Ash Wednesday and to mark the beginning of the 40-day Lenten period for 2022 where we remember Jesus in the desert for 40 days without any food or drink. All staff, and students from Years 7 to 12, attended. Most received the Holy Ashes, and everyone was reverent and respectful throughout the mass. We would like to give a huge thank you to all the students involved in the readings and distributors of the ashes to the different year levels. Our Penola Catholic College community unites much more when we gather as a community and live our Faith. Especially throughout these times, we must ensure we maintain our Faith alive, join in prayer and be grateful for all the blessings received from God. Lent is a time for all of us to fast not only from food but also from selfishness, hurting words, anger, pessimism, just to name a few.
St Patrick’s Day
On Thursday 17 March, one of the College Captains, Jordan G, Principal Mr Caldow, and I attended the St Patrick’s Day Mass 2022 at the Cathedral in the city. Jordan and I had the opportunity to meet the School Captains of St. Dominic’s Primary School in Broadmeadows, and converse with Mr John Kennedy and Ms Lizzie Blandthorn, two of the Members of Parliament. The mass service was incredibly special and memorable with over 40 Catholic primary and high schools from across the state attending, which included an amazing choir from one of the schools present.
Indigenous Garden Project Report from Captain of Sustainability Grace J and College Vice Captain Siala M:
Currently, we are in the process of constructing an indigenous garden in the new Year 12 area. We hope to fill the space with native flora and artwork. Creating places like these is incredibly important because as a community we aim to celebrate diversity in our college and at the core of this is the traditional custodianship that Indigenous Australians have on this land. At the present time we are organising funds and setting out the blueprints and we hope to have the final plans drawn up by the end of Term 2. Later on, the cultivation of selected plants will be a task for the sustainability club to partake in, amongst other things.
