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From the Director - Faith, Mission and Learning

On Friday at Junior Assembly, I extended to our Junior students an invitation and a challenge.

At St Andrews, we are a community, but we are proudly a Catholic community and we provide the students with many opportunities for them to encounter a God who loves them.

Recently I had the opportunity to go to Belgium to analyse the data from our recent ECSI Catholic identity survey. Our survey data suggested that we at St Andrews are a dialogue school, and that we welcome dialogue from people of all different religious traditions about the existential questions about life. Our data clearly suggested however that we are clearly a Kerygmatic dialogue school. In other words, we welcome and embrace all people from different religious traditions and faith backgrounds, but as a part of the mission of the Church, we proudly proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord to all.

History is the story of God seeking us out, as he desires a relationship with us. Through the incarnation, God came down out of eternity to intervene in history to restore our relationship with him that was damaged by original sin. Christ through his death and resurrection restores our relationship with God who is always reaching out to us to this day, he is always seeking us out, he wants to make us more.

So my invitation to all of our students was to respond. To respond to a God who loves them beyond measure and seeks them out. Our students have the opportunity to be involved in many ways within our community and encounter God. We have Mass here on the Junior Campus every fortnight before school in the Sacred Space, where they can encounter Jesus in the Eucharist. We have opportunities to be involved in Social Justice in SJS and SAC YOUTH our youth group that meets fortnightly. In year 10 we have EMHC training for those who would like to serve during Mass. Students can join our Music Ministry, and from Year 9 join our Peer to Peer Ministry team to help bring others to Christ during reflection days at SAC YOUTH.

Our invitation is open to all, all students are warmly invited to experience and be a part of the faith life of the school. The Challenge is for our students to respond to the God that awaits them...

Mr Andrew Hoare

Director - Faith, Mission and Learning

Vinnies Christmas Appeal

A reminder that St Andrews will be supporting the Vinnies Christmas appeal by participating in a Food Drive for those families who are struggling in our community.

The Food Drive will begin next Monday in Week 6 and it will run for two weeks.

You can support the appeal by donating food items, particularly Christmas-type food items, such as Tin ham, Christmas Pudding, Chocolates, and Tin fruit, all to be made into hampers and delivered to families in need by Vinnies.

Students can bring their food donations into your Learning Groups in Week 6 and 7 to be placed in the baskets for each Learning Group. The hampers will be donated to Vinnies on St Andrews Day.

You can also support the Christmas appeal by donating funds directly to the St Andrews Christmas appeal website. The link will be sent to you and your families on Compass.

Thank you for your support in being the Hands of Jesus in the community.

Please see our linktree attached that has more information about Vinnies Christmas Appeal, including a wishlist of suggestions that we can donate to our food donation baskets:

https://linktr.ee/SJS_christmasappeal

LIFTED EVENTS

LIFTED GO

On 17th October, a group of Year 9 students accompanied by Miss Tan attended LIFTED GO, which was an event run by Catholic Schools Diocese of Parramatta that offered an opportunity to participate in the Bishop’s Social Justice Statement Launch for students.

The purpose of LIFTED GO was to allow students and teachers to:

Come together in prayer and dialogue with Bishop Vincent Long, Jack de Groot, and their peers from across the Diocese;

Gain an understanding of the key themes of the Social Justice Statement 2024–2025.

Discern concrete actions in their local school community in response to the statement and the personal encounter with God, self and others (Head, Heart, Hands & Soul).

Experience being part of a diocesan-wide “faith in action” community that sets foundations for networking and collaboration.

One of our Year 9 students who attended the event reflected on the experience:

“Returning to the LIFTED community for the second time has become a blessing in so many ways. After my first experience I knew this environment did not only provide me fun activities but offered me the opportunity to explore and deepen my relationship with God and understand everyone else's too. This time round I was lucky enough to experience the Social Justice Statement with Bishop Vincent ,with a room full of uplifting souls which brought in a huge sense of belonging, growth and the opportunity to learn more about myself and the world around me. Not only have I continued to grow personally and spiritually with Christ but I have also gained a greater understanding of God's call for peace and social justice in our world today. The event opened my eyes and showed me how living out my faith means caring for others and working towards fairness and kindness in my community. With the activities and open discussions that helped me see my role in promoting social justice and how I can apply it into my own school environment, I realised it is part of God's greater plan for me. I also have gained new insights into how God lives throughout our lives and how he shapes us into who he wants us to be. The mentors and the new souls I was able to connect with that day helped me to see no matter where we are in our story, God is always guiding us with love and grace and has prepared a purpose for each and every one of us! I am beyond grateful for this opportunity to be able to come back and strongly grow in faith once again and I cannot wait to take my understanding throughout both experiences and let my actions reflect his love and guidance in everything I hope to do at school. I encourage others to see this as a chance to not only grow personally but also discover more of God's plan for them. Thankyou!”

Siyara Gauchan, Year 9

We hope to give students more opportunities to attend LIFTED events with the Parramatta Diocese in the future.

LIFTED LIVE in the Forecourt

On Saturday October 26, our newly formed Youth Ministry Band were given the opportunity to perform at LIFTED Live in the Forecourt at St Patrick’s Cathedral. LIFTED Live is an event run by Catholic Youth Parramatta, and provides an opportunity for young people and their families in the Diocese to come together to celebrate community and our Catholic faith.

SAC M&M is a new youth ministry band that was formed in the later half of 2024, consisting of a mix of some very talented students from St Andrews College Marayong. From Year 10 we have Lexi on acoustic guitar, Jerome on electric guitar, Ethan E, Ethan C, Jaliyah and Charlene on vocals, Cameron on bass, Angelo on keys and Moses on the keytar. From Year 9 we have Lucas and Shaun on the guitar, Kayya on keys and Ward on the drums. Although they are a newly formed band, they have great bond and synergy already, but most importantly they understand the importance of using your musical gifts and talents to serve God and to show others that music can be a form of a prayer.

We are very proud of our students for using their talents to serve God and to get involved in Diocesan events.

Timor Leste

In the recent October school holidays, our Faith in Action Teacher (FIAT) coordinator Miss Tan was able to go on an immersion trip to Timor Leste, along with other FIAT coordinators from various schools around the Diocese. The team visited three different places in Timor - starting in Dili, moving to Baucau and then finishing in Baguia. The team were able to immerse themselves in the culture and lifestyle of the Timorese people, and were able to visit schools and social justice initiatives that were funded by Catholic Mission. Miss Tan would like to share some of her reflections on what was definitely an experience of a lifetime:

How did I encounter God in a person?

A person who really impacted me was a teacher named Julio from the Katilosa Foundation, a centre for students with disabilities. Although our interaction with him was fairly short, I was just so inspired by the real love he had for his students - he really embodied what it meant to be a person for others and to live out true servant leadership. With the little resources they have in Timor, he used his resourcefulness to teach himself Braille, in order to teach his vision-impaired students so they could learn alongside their peers.

How did I encounter the culture and values of the Timorese people?

Visiting the Chega museum in Dili really opened my eyes to the resilience of the Timorese people despite the political instability of the country’s past. Their resourcefulness, their desire to build up their communities and to rebuild their nation was an amazing thing to see. The value of community and looking after one another was so present throughout every place we visited.

How did I see God in the Catholic faith of the Timorese people?

Going to daily Mass was truly one of my favourite parts of the immersion. Witnessing the real devoutness of the Timorese people allowed me to see the beauty of God in so many ways - in the reverence of the Mass, the singing, and the dedication of the community in being part of the Church community.

What was one of my favourite memories?

One of my favourite memories was teaching the older grades at St Joseph’s Catholic school in Baguia. I saw my students back home in the faces of the Timorese students that we encountered, and it was just a great reminder that no matter where you are from or what your circumstances are, our young people have such big dreams and hopes that they want to accomplish.

We are hoping to offer a Timor Leste immersion trip for staff and students at St Andrews College in the future, and to continue to build the relationship with the people of Timor Leste and the Parramatta Diocese.

The Mission Team