I hope the recent Easter Break was a peaceful, happy and holy time for you.

Over the vacation I came across Father Antony Kadavil’s “Easter Life Messages” sermon and I found it most profound. Father Kadavil is a retired American Priest whose sermons (not surprisingly) have found widespread acclaim – even of late from the Vatican.

His Easter “Life Messages” are essentially seven aims to which we should aspire:

1) We are to be a Resurrection people

2) We need to seek our peace and joy in the Risen Jesus

3) We are to be transparent Christians

4) We need to live new, disciplined lives in the Risen Jesus 

5) We need to remember Easter in our Good Fridays: 

6) We are to be bearers of the Good News of Resurrection power. 

7) We need to be Easter people:

Given our close affinity with Saint Mary Magdalene, I found the sixth of these to be particularly relevant. Allow me to include Father Kadavil’s words on this here: “We are to be bearers of the Good News of Resurrection power. Resurrection is Good News, but at the same time, it’s sometimes painful because it involves death. Before the power of the Resurrection can take hold in our own lives, we’re called to die to sin, to die to self. We may even have to die to our own dreams so that God can do what He wants to do with our lives. Resurrection is about seeing our world in a new way. Early that Easter morning, Mary Magdalene did not find what she was looking for, the dead body of Jesus. But she found something better than she could have imagined: The Risen Jesus. Sometimes, the things we think we want most are not granted to us.  What we get instead is an experience of God’s new ways of working in the world. That’s the power of the Resurrection. When those moments come, we must spread the news--just as Mary Magdalene did: We have seen the Lord!”

Indeed, as the saying goes, the Spirit can move in mysterious ways and, as such, we are all encouraged to be open to new opportunities and/or ways of helping others or even looking at things – experiences of “God’s new ways of working in the world”

ANZAC DAY:

With ANZAC Day officially occurring in the Holiday Break, the College commemorated ANZAC Day on Wednesday this week as a whole community. Commemorating ANZAC Day obviously continues to be very important for us as a nation and locally it is pleasing to see the Magdalene Catholic College Honour Roll* continuing to grow.

(*NB: This Honour Roll is a list of Australian Service people who have fought or served in various conflicts, Emergency or Peacekeeping Operations who are connected in some way with the College – parents/carers, grandparents or relatives of staff and students).

I would like to thank Mrs Viv Rixon and the various Magdalene students who attended and represented the College at the Camden ANZAC Day Service last week.

TERM TWO:

The year is progressing very quickly. In the coming weeks, Years 7 and 9 will engage on NAPLAN Online and from Years 7 - 12 staff will turn their attention towards the writing of College Reports. We will also see a new term of MISA Sports, various Diocesan Competitions will occur and our Debaters and Public Speakers will also commence in their respective Competitions. We commend our students for their ongoing participation and wish them very well in their endeavours.

UPCOMING ELECTION:

With the Federal Election looming large, I have included in this Newsletter up-to-date information about Catholic School Funding. This is an area which is often grossly misunderstood.

It is quite common for systemic Catholic Schools to be regarded as Independent Schools but this is not the case. As such, funding provided to systemic Catholic Schools like Magdalene is not sufficient to adequately support the needs of our students. Given this, I would encourage you to be particularly aware of the issues pertaining to Education as the various political parties speak about their policies and Election promises. Please read the attached information.

Mr Matthew McMahon

Principal