Issue 12 SJC News 2021

‘May you live in interesting times’ is a Chinese curse that confusingly has sometimes also been invoked as a blessing. The current times are certainly interesting. The economic and social havoc wreaked by COVID is a curse, however, the way in which we respond to it has the capacity to be a blessing.

Tough times are a curse if they make us more self-centred, insular and fearful of others. They are a blessing if they make us more empathetic and altruistic. As educators, we need to find ways to help students avoid the curse and find the blessing. The emphasis that our College places on ‘inclusion’ and care for others reminds us of how core the latter is to our mission.

Our model for inclusion is Jesus Christ who was ‘the great includer’ whose core message was to love one another. The Gospels show Jesus seeking out and including sinners, lepers, tax collectors and ethnic minorities, all of whom the society of the day tried to exclude.

Our goal at St Joseph’s is to ensure that everyone is welcome, everyone feels that they belong and that no one feels marginalised or discriminated against in any way. This is our goal every week, but it was in sharp focus as we celebrated ‘diversity week’ last week. The core message of diversity week is acceptance and inclusion of all people regardless of age, race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. Some students (and some adults) find aspects of this message difficult and confuse ‘inclusion and acceptance’ with promotion.

While we continue to educate our students about their legal and moral obligations in how they treat those who are different, we understand that this educative process is an ongoing one. To those who would seek to run the argument that acceptance does equal promotion, I would refer them back to the Gospels. Jesus did not encourage sin or sinners, just inclusion and acceptance of all.

It is also worth reflecting from Pope Francis’ words (from his weekly audience 23/6/21):

“Indeed, today too there is no shortage of preachers who, especially through the new means of communication, can disturb communities. They present themselves not primarily to announce the Gospel of God who loves man in Jesus, Crucified and Risen, but to insist, as true “keepers of the truth”—so they call themselves—on the best way to be Christians. And they strongly affirm that true Christianity is the one they adhere to, often identified with certain forms of the past and that the solution to the crises of today is to go back so as not to lose the genuineness of the faith. Today too, as then, there is a temptation to close oneself up in some of the certainties acquired in past traditions……. Ultimately, faith in the Holy Spirit present in the Church carries us forward and will save us.

It seems increasingly likely that we can expect state-based lockdowns to continue in Australia until the great majority of people are vaccinated. In the coming months as a variety of COVID-19 vaccines become more widely available there will be ongoing debate around whether or not one should be vaccinated, and whether or not one’s children should be vaccinated (as children seem more prone to infection by the Delta variant).

We know that vaccinated people are less likely to suffer serious illness if infected and less likely to transmit it to others. In short, vaccination makes you and the people around you safer. Of course, there will be those who choose not to be vaccinated as is their right. This individual right must be respected, but at the same time must be balanced with the obligation to help keep those around us safe.

In these interesting times, we continue to be challenged to not lose sight of our obligation to care for others. I think that our gospel imperative to ‘love one another’ makes the answer to the ‘should I be vaccinated’ question relatively straightforward.

One of the strategic goals of the College in recent years has been to improve student literacy and reading. Our Library Manager, Joy Whiteside, and the library staff have continued to improve the amenity of the library and it is a wonderfully welcoming and inviting space. I’m pleased to report that the borrowing rates in our library are continuing to climb as are the number of students using the library as a space to read and study. More literate students are better equipped to understand their world and make proper informed decisions. I hope that your son and all students will take the opportunity to visit and enjoy learning in the library.

Some students in the Hamlyn Heights area have been approached by an adult male, driving a white car. He asked them to get into the car.

Please reinforce safe behaviours with your children and remind them of how to respond to strangers if approached.

God Bless