Principal's Message
Prayer before Mission - Saint Carlo Acutis
Each Tuesday at 8.30am a lovely experience occurs in the College Chapel when Fr James celebrates the weekly staff Mass at St Paul’s. In schools 8.30am seems to be one of the busiest times of the day for teachers, however there are always large numbers of staff who share this beautiful experience with Fr James, usually ending with a song with members of the liturgy band. Presently Fr James is on leave and Fr Pius has been celebrating with us. This week Fr Pius spoke about the two new saints canonised by Pope Leo XIV, Carlo Acutis and author Pier Giorgio Frassati. Fr Pius spoke of Saint Carlos’ great devotion to prayer and spoke to us about the importance of prayer as a foundation prior to mission work. Saint Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager who tragically died in 2006 after being diagnosed with leukemia, has given the next generation of Catholics a relatable role model who used technology to spread the faith.
Saint Carlo, who is known as the "saint in sneakers", has been touted as the patron saint of the internet for his work cataloguing miracles and evangelising online. He was particularly passionate about Eucharistic miracles: supernatural events involving consecrated bread and wine as the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ. It was with great delight that I was able to inform Fr Pius that a national exhibition of Carlo Acutis is touring capital cities in Australia in October, and following the great advocacy of Fr James the exhibition is coming to Kempsey from 15-19 October. St Paul’s is planning to bring the exhibition to the College on 15-16 October to energise and inform our students of the most recently canonised Catholic Saint, Carlo Acutis.
A Week of Celebrations
There is a significant range of celebratory opportunities in Week 10 this Term. On Monday 22 September, the College will celebrate the opening of the Mercy Centre and commemorate the John and Ellen Henry Pavilion as Bishop Greg visits us. Bishop Greg will be taking the opportunity to speak to our staff and students on this day, these are always very entertaining discussions.
Our Year 12 cohort celebrate their final reflection day on Tuesday 23 September at Scotts Head where the beauty of their times together at St Paul’s can be considered and celebrated. The Year 12 Mass will commence at 9.30am on Wednesday 24 September in the All Saints Catholic Church, this gathering is always a special and moving affair particularly for our Year 12 students, their families and their teachers and other students. After morning tea the Year 12 Major Award Ceremony begins at the Edmund Rice Centre which finishes the Year 12 students school commitment, only the HSC examinations and Graduation Dinner is left for these wonderful students. Thursday 25 September is the final day for Term 3 for students with our staff celebrating our annual spirituality day on Friday 26 September.
2026 School Leaders
During the Year 12 Mass, there is the traditional handover of student leadership roles from Year 12 to the incoming HSC group. I am very pleased to report that we have received a record number of students interested in being a 2026 student leader from our current Year 11 cohort. Our College watched each student’s speech this week in PC and their recommendations have been compiled by senior staff. It is a great joy to see so many impressive young women and men put their hand up for leadership consideration, the decision to finalise the incoming group will be very difficult due to the high quality and quantity of candidates.
Kind regards
Mr Geoff Melville BRurScEd, MEd, GCertRE
Principal