The power of Young People!
Six students and a Padua staff member are currently in Portugal attending World Youth Day.
World Youth Day is a gathering of the global Church for a week-long pilgrimage event. Held every two to three years, millions of Catholic young people meet for a time of fellowship and celebration. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for all involved.
Our Padua Pilgrims:
- Bella Walsh
- Yasmine McCoy
- Lorelei Kiernan
- Olivia Jolly
- Hollie Whitty
- Reuben Guest
- Ms Jess Connors (staff member)
Our youth are the future of the Catholic Church in Victoria. Go to any ‘Church’ event and the main proportion of attendees are often youth representatives from our Catholic Colleges and Schools. The youth are a very strong and influential movement. We therefore have a huge responsibility as educators at Padua College to make sure that our Catholic Identity is well-formed, contemporary and understood, as we have an influential position in shaping the child that leaves our school doors.
We do this through a quality Religious Education program, rich experiences of prayer and gatherings, and engagement in social action and justice, to name just a few examples. We are very lucky that our young people at Padua College have a great capacity to address injustice and create new opportunities for joy and hope. Many of our students want to serve and are willing to take a chance to make the world a better place. We are privileged to have rich Mercy and Franciscan charisms as a guiding light on how to inspire renewal and change into new opportunities for growth.
This August our students have been involved in a coat and tin drive for Vinnies, with senior students hosting a quiz evening (August 11 – tickets email mwilliams@padua.vic.edu.au) raising much-needed funds for local Vinnies, a group presenting a social justice project for ACRATH and students preparing for a Mercy Education schools social justice camp. At last count, we had 27 students at the Mornington Campus attend a senior social justice team meeting, which is always full of energy and creative ideas.
There is always faith in action happening at Padua!
Padua staff create new Chapel candle stands
Many thanks to Design Technology members of staff: Dave Colcott (M) and Sean Chappell (R) who both exhibited artistry in their creative contributions to our recent Padua Day celebrations and Mass.
Within a tight timeframe, Sean built a wooden candle stand for our new (larger) College candle. Amazingly, he also engraved into the wood our school logo and motto crafting a sturdy and portable stand for use in the St Francis of Assisi Chapel and across the Mornington Campus.
Dave took on the difficult task of re-designing an existing hand-sculptured metal candle stand to safely accommodate our new, larger College candle. By re-using materials but keeping within the aesthetics of the Chapel’s design, he skilfully removed existing supports and dexterously designed and welded a new base to fit our candle, ready in time for Padua Day. Now, both our Pascal candle and College candle are alongside each other in the Chapel, offering contemplation for all.
