Curriculum

Religious Education

The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard (18131855) told the story of a circus which comes to town and promptly catches fire. One of the circus clowns, dressed in character, is dispatched to the village for help and to warn of the danger. However, the clown’s cries are greeted with laughter and applause. His growing anxiety only serves to add fuel, so to speak, to the comic spectacle enjoyed by the townsfolk. Their mirth is short-lived, of course, as the conflagration engulfs both circus and town, consuming all. I suspect that most Religious Education teachers will identify with the clown, as their audience expects to be entertained, only to find that there’s work to be done. The College is wholly supportive of Pope Benedict XVI when, speaking recently to Irish bishops during their ad limina visit to Rome about Religious Education in Catholic Schools, he stated that, “superficial presentations of Catholic teaching must be avoided, because only the fullness of the faith can communicate the liberating power of the Gospel”.

This year has seen the introduction of second edition texts in the To Know, Worship & Love series, along with a new curriculum published by the Catholic Education Office for Years 710. The new primary curriculum will be trialled next year. Also in 2007, VCE students will undertake a more rigourous Religious Education program than in the previous years, with the introduction of Texts and Traditions at Year 11 and Ethics at Year 12. Culture is often antithetical to the gospel. The peril in which modernity is to be found, like that of the village in Kierkegaard’s story, makes the message of salvation and truth all the more urgent, especially if it is greeted by misunderstanding, apathy or derision, rather than applause. We are convinced of the need to speak the truth in love (Cf. Eph 4:15). The College is pleased to join parents in the Christian education of their children. As Pope Benedict has said, “the family is the privileged setting where every person learns to give and receive love”. In collaboration with parents, De La Salle seeks to ensure that every student knows the joy of God’s love in their head and in their heart. Mr Ian Smith Religious Education Coordinator

Seated with Mrs Joan Ferguson are the boys preparing for First Reconciliation and First Communion — Ashton Agar, Year 7, Sam Beckman, Year 4, Daniel Ryan, Year 6 and Wesley Agar, Year 4. Will Agar, a Year 5 student attending another school, is also a member of the group. First Reconciliation was celebrated at the College on Tuesday, 13th November with Father Tiernan Doherty presiding. The students received First Eucharist, together with other young people from St Joseph’s School at St Joseph’s Parish Church.

WYD Day

De La Salle College was invited to attend the Melbourne Launch of the Activ8 program, in preparation for World Youth Day Sydney 2008, which will be the largest Catholic youth event organised in Australia. Bishop James Wingle, of St Catharine’s diocese in Ontario, Canada launched the program, saying World Youth Day 2008 has the potential to be a “real watershed” experience for the Church in Australia. Bishop Wingle’s presentation followed a lunch for Catholic students at the Cardinal Knox Centre at St Patrick’s Cathedral, attended by Anthony O’Shea, Xavier Fitzgerald and Anthony Boghdadi from Year 9. World Youth Day promises to be a big part of life at De La Salle over the next two years, with all students being invited to take part in this historic event. Bishop Wingle, who was involved with the preparations of World Youth Day Toronto, Canada in 2002, said World Youth Day “opens doors, it opens all kinds of pathways and avenues for an emergence of a new life and a new consciousness of the Church”.