Faith & Mission

mrs Nadia Knight | Assistant Principal - Faith & Mission

Salesian College is a Catholic School in the Salesian Tradition. In what has been another challenging year, we remind ourselves of the nature and purpose of what we do as a Catholic School and as educators.

As a Catholic school we are committed to “… the mission, and privilege, of the Catholic school to build a community, where authentic relationships based on love provide the means and the support for all students to flourish and grow into the fullness of life” (Archbishop Denis Hart). Our School is a place where Gospel values are lived and made relevant to our times, a place where young people are provided with alternatives to the images and values that they are exposed to in today’s world; a place where human dignity is at its centre and where peace, justice and love are taught. Our Catholic faith calls us to embrace the contemporary world with a Catholic imagination, and a particular hope-filled view of the human person and all of creation. Our teachers invite students to make sense of their world and their lives within a faith community that is faithful to the mission of Jesus. Throughout our daily work we recall that: • Christ is at the centre • His life, death and resurrection provide meaning for our lives and shows us how to live • We all, as individuals, have our way to share Christ and his vision as we continue to work to towards being a great Catholic and Salesian School • We are together united in making these things part of every day in all our words and actions Although the vision and Mission of the Catholic is becoming clear, we must also recognise the challenges it faces in our contemporary world. It is in fact, our task to bring faith to life and life to faith with our work with young people. Despite today’s context posing many great challenges, the mission and message of Jesus instils a hope and possibility for each person. Learning brings forth this hope – a hope that is based on the experience of God’s love and care for all. Pope Francis stated recently that through Catholic education we celebrate all the opportunities which enable young people to embrace the hope of a better world with greater possibilities. The challenges of course, give rise to great opportunities and exhilarating challenges. The capacity to navigate the current landscape – to learn together, to work from evidence, to animate and support learners, and to lead in faith and transformation.

We as educators are called to meet these opportunities and challenges with courage and with faith, hope and love for their students.

Along with our students to strive towards: • Honouring the sacred dignity of each person • Searching for truth,

• Embracing difference and diversity • Building a culture of learning together • Engaging with the deep questions of life, • Honouring equitable access and opportunity for all, • Committing to achieving the highest standards possible • Making a difference in the world. As a Catholic School in the Salesian tradition, we also work towards bringing the Salesian alive through Catholic teachings which exemplify the human dignity of every person, compassion, love and forgiveness. Our Oratory (school) based on Don Bosco ensures that we lead in all we do with reason, religion and loving kindness. This is brought to life through understanding oratory as; a home the welcomes, a parish that evangelises, a school that prepares for life and a playground where friends meet and enjoy themselves. A key event that was able to run this year, in-between our lockdowns, was the immersion to Cape York. I can’t imagine a better way of demonstrating how we bring the above to life than this wonderful experience for our students. “The raw connections myself and my friends were able to develop with the Indigenous community was really something special.” - Marvin Elliott, 11A

“My highlights of the immersion would be NAIDOC. Celebrating with the community of Hope Vale, we got to see the many talents and dances from local people. They were really open, even though we were the first group ever to join them for the day of celebration. We engaged in many activities such as dancing, a spear throwing competition, Salesian boys prepared a sausage sizzle for the community, playing rugby with the local kids and talking to the elders about the past of the land and their people.” - Nam Nguyen, 10H