49. The Soul
Welcome back to Term 3!
It has been a disrupted school holiday break for many as we navigate our way through more COVID-19 induced lockdowns and travel restrictions. While we are grateful for the great position Australia is in compared to many places in the world, we remember those in our communities whose health and livelihood have been adversely affected since the start of the pandemic. In this edition of The Soul we focus on our neighbour, reminded of the great commandment to love one another. May we keep this powerful teaching firmly in our sights as we seek to see the face of Jesus in all those we meet on the journey of life.
You could have heard a pin drop as the man in dirty, dishevelled clothes arose from the heap at the church entrance. He moved away from the discarded bottle and changed into his vestments and celebrated Mass.
No homily was needed.
“I had my children with me, I had to protect them,” one mother exclaimed.
“I didn’t know if he was dangerous so I walked around him,” an elderly gentleman said.
“I thought he was best to sleep it off,” whispered another just loud enough for those around her to hear.
These were some of the comments made by the parishioners that morning, each trying to justify their actions or lack thereof. In today’s world, much like the lawyer in Jesus’ time as he listened to the Parable of the Good Samaritan, we are left to wonder how many of us would do the same as this parish community? Would we ignore him? Pretend he wasn’t there or even see him in the first place?
That morning, the community all saw him, but no one treated him like they did. They looked through him and justified their actions. You could also almost guarantee that they will also never forget that day.
In Mark’s gospel, Jesus taught us to love our neighbour as ourselves. It is not for us to decide which neighbour we will reach out to in love, we are asked to love and to treat all as our neighbour because as Pope Francis said “In the face of every brother, especially the smallest, the most vulnerable, defenceless and needy is the unique image of God.”
NAIDOC Week Prayer - Heal Country
This video is a prayer sung by NATSIC Councillor, Aunty Dolly. The song 'To You Oh Lord' is accompanied by iconic images from the country and people of the Diocese of Lismore. The theme of NAIDOC Week 2021 is Heal Country. As you watch the video, take a moment to consider the country within and around you. Where do you seek healing?
In the latest Proclaim Lismore initiative regarding mission, Fr Richard Leonard, Fr Frank Brennan, and Br David Hall touched on the various activities and influences of the Church, guiding staff into a deeper understanding of Catholic Social Teaching. In addition, all staff were asked to look at the school’s mission goal for 2022 going forward focussing on the Foundational Values documentation.
The Mission of Jesus Christ-Foundational Values are six ways of living the Gospel of Jesus Christ: evangelisation, tradition, worship, service, witness and community. It will be wonderful to see how schools plan and enliven the last three of these to complete this cycle of Proclaim Lismore. Hopefully, these will help animate the school’s Catholic Identity.
As Archbishop Michael Miller wrote in his seminal Five Essential Marks of Catholic Schools, “it is precisely because of its Catholic identity, that a school derives the originality that enables it to be a genuine instrument of the Church's evangelising mission…the first and most important task for Catholic schools is to maintain and continually strengthen their Catholic identity."
Over the next few editions of The Soul, I will touch on these marks, especially the first three of evangelisation, tradition, and worship. These are essential to the Mission, and the foundations of the Catholic School’s 'originality'.
In the meantime, I wish you well in working on the process of building stronger Mission goals for next year with your leadership team and the School Service Consultants.
Gary Reen
Assistant Director, School Evangelisation & Catechetical Services
Street Retreat
In mid June, the annual CSO Street Retreat in Brisbane, celebrating its tenth year, was fortunate to go ahead before the holiday lockdowns came into effect. This annual event takes 64 Year 11 students from across the 12 secondary colleges of the Lismore Diocese to Brisbane for four days.
Focusing on the Catholic Social Teaching of the preferential treatment for the poor, students learn to recognise Jesus in others and be the face of Jesus to those they serve in a variety of ministry placements across the city.
This engaging video captures the experience through the eyes of its participants.
Standing in Solidarity
Late in Term 2 St Francis Xavier Primary School in Woolgoolga held an evening of ‘Standing in Solidarity’ with their local Sihk Community. Together they shared a meal, music and prayer in a spirit of neighbourly care and concern. These highlight videos sum up the evening:
Proclaim Lismore Wildfire - School Song Project
To celebrate the 50 year anniversary of St Joseph's Primary School, South Murwillumbah, Wildfire was asked to collaborate with students in writing a new school song. Take a look at our collaboration day with students which took place during Catholic Schools Week, in Term 2.
Launched in the last edition, this new section of The Soul is looking for contributions from readers to feature. Submit a piece of art, a photo, a musical recording or some other form of creative expression with an explanatory caption and The Soul will curate and share a selection each edition. Use this form to share your piece.
This week’s offering comes from St Paul’s College music teacher Angus Crowley. We hope you enjoy this musical composition called Amen.
Praying with Music: A Spotify Playlist
Enjoying the worship music featured in each edition? All of the music featured in the ‘Praying With Music’ section of the Soul has been collated into a Spotify playlist. To find it, click on this link or search ‘Praying With Music_2021’, created by Proclaim Lismore.
- Do Something (Matthew West)
Sometimes we wonder why someone else isn’t doing what we think needs doing or fixing what we see that needs fixing. This song calls and challenges us to step out in faith to respond to the needs of others around us.
- Hands and Feet (Audio Adrenaline)
St Teresa of Avila wrote “Christ has no body but yours, no hands, no feet on earth but yours…” This song reflects on being the hands and feet of Christ on earth and how we can touch the lives of others by modelling our lives on Christ.
- Illuminate the Shadows (Paul Zach and Latifa Alattas)
“God’s mercy removes the shadows and darkness, and gives us new light.” Pope Francis.
- Neighbour Album (The Porter’s Gate)
This album is a collaboration project of Christian artists who created songs as offerings to a God who is just and loves justice. In each song, they give God praise for who He is and also cry out for all to see His justice here on earth.
- COVID has resulted in many activities moving to an online format. The Vinnies Winter Sleepout has also transitioned online, giving schools an opportunity to be involved in this significant annual appeal. All the details can be found here.
- The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference Social Justice Statement from 2020 focuses on Mental Health in Australia. It is a good opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with this document To Live Life to the Full.
- This edition of Social Justice Trends focuses on people on the move as Refugee Week took place during June 20-26.
- The Mercy Foundation Youth Awards is a competition open to high school students from years 7 to 12. The competition aims to encourage students to learn more about social justice issues in Australia. The competition opens Monday 26 April and closes 23rd July 2021. Details can be found on the website.
- This week on FORMED - The FORMED team suggests content for the week based on the liturgical calendar, introduces new shows, and gives updates on what is happening at FORMED.
All staff in Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Lismore receive The Soul by email. The link in these emails can be forwarded and shared with family and friends. Alternatively, use this form to subscribe as an additional reader to The Soul mailing list.