Five Senses Learning

I have spent many years studying, multiple Masters degrees, post grad study in areas such as governance and Canon Law, and people ask me 'why?'. I have learnt much from that learning, nose stuck in the books, after-hours lectures or eyes and ears glued to online tutorials.

There is nothing that beats learning by doing. Switching on the senses and seeing, hearing, smelling, touching something that you have read about in those books, watched on movies, or learnt when at school.

It is like our faith; it cannot just be learnt from the reading of texts. It must be lived and actioned and matured from many sources.

A highlight for me at Padua College every year is leading a session over a few days in the city with our Year 9 cohort. Being able to point from the steps of St Patrick’s Cathedral to many names that our House System is named after. That is where Mary MacKillop would have walked, up the road is where Ursula Frayne would have had a cup of tea, that statue is of Archbishop Daniel Mannix, in the middle of the road (watch out for the trams) is a plaque dedicated to Caroline Chisholm, and Archbishop James Goold has a building named after him around that corner.

Many years ago, I had the privilege of living and studying in Jerusalem for a period of time. I remember the words of a lecturer that the Holy Land is the fifth Gospel. You will learn much from listening to the land, being out and about, being mesmerised from the familiar names and sites learnt from texts and stories over the years. He was right. I have also been fascinated by other cultures and especially other religions. Staying in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, I learnt more than from my nose in the books.

At the beginning of Term 4, three of our Mission and Identity Team went on pilgrimage to Italy, and they have kindly shared their reflection below. Year 11 student Thomas McInnes reflects on his faith in action experience, having returned from an ACU student leader scholarship trip in Italy and the UK this month.

Our Padua Pilgrims

Inspired to Lead Pilgrimage Program

This year, Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) launched the ‘Inspired to Lead’ pilgrimage program for Catholic Identity Leaders. We were fortunate to have our applications approved, joining 52 others on a nine-day pilgrimage to Rome, Siena, and Assisi during the Term 3 break.

The pilgrimage began with a focus on the history and tradition of the Catholic Church. The group toured historical sites such as the Roman Forum, Circus Maximus, the Colosseum, the Appian Way, the Catacombs, and Gesu, ending at the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, where St. Catherine's body is buried. Daily Mass was co-celebrated by Bishop Tony Ireland, Rev Mark Reynolds, and Rev Michael Buck.

After a Siena experience, pilgrims travelled to Assisi, touring San Francesco Basilica and Santa Chiara Basilica, and attending Mass at the Chapel annexed to Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli. The group visited San Damiano, a chapel with significant historical and spiritual importance.

We are deeply grateful to MACS and the Pilgrimage Leadership Team for this spiritually enriching experience. Special thanks to our Principal Ms Kelly McGurn and Vice Principal Mr Matt Williams for their unwavering support.

Jean-Paul Antoine, Anne-Marie Wilkinson and Lisa Modd

ACU Student Leaders Program

I was lucky to be selected by a panel at Australian Catholic University along with nine other Year 11 leaders from Victoria to tour Rome for two weeks and then London for the third as part of the ACU Student Leaders Program. Each day was spent engaging in morning lectures and readings, followed up by a site visit in the afternoon. The program was very intense with a lot of readings, self reflection and prayer. The overall theme was to attain a greater understanding about the development of Western Civilisation and the influence of Christianity throughout the world. We were accompanied by two teachers and a parish priest from Victoria.

Overall, it has been the most wonderful and enriching experience. I have visited sites such as the Colosseum, Vatican City, House of Commons to observe a live parliamentary debate, Oxford University, Churchill War Rooms, The Vatican Observatory, Sistine Chapel and Westminster Abbey, as well as going to the Papal Audience, Italian Opera and Globe Theatre. We had a wonderful private mass in St Peters Basilica in Rome. I have learnt so much about Western history, philosophy and theology, and made friends for life with my fellow students. One of the many highlights of the trip was a visit to a Benedictine Monastery in the foothills of Rome. We were very lucky to view a painting of St Francis of Assisi . This is the only one painted during his life and is not usually open to the public. This of course had special significance for me being in the Francis House . I am looking forward to sharing some of my learnings and experiences in 2025 with my community. I wouldn't have been able to have had this experience without the organisers from MACS and ACU, and a special thank you to the Mission team at Padua, and especially Mr Williams and Ms McGurn for all their help and support with my application.

Thomas McInnes, Year 11 Francis

A Time of Rest

Our staff and students are about to enter a well-deserved break. A chance to take the ‘boots off’.

For Mercy Sister, Catherine McAuley and her ‘Walking Nuns’ the rhythm of boots on and boots off was the rhythm of work and rest. With boots on, they were geared for mercy action and when the boots were taken off it was time to relax and watch some cricket.

The Mercy Sisters were called walking nuns because of their untiring work walking the streets and caring for those they encountered, both a term of endearment and disapproval of nuns being out on the street when the proper place for them was in the convent.

Catherine McAuley was a boots on kind of woman - but she was also a great model of the need to come home, relax and have a little fun.

Catherine could never have done what she did without boots off time as well as boots on.

So, at the end of this busy school year make sure you take the boots off for some well earnt rest at Christmas and live out our Mercy charism.

College Theme 2025

In line with our policy on the annual College Theme – 2025 was to come from our Mercy charism.

The Mercy tradition is based on the values of compassion, respect, integrity, justice, hope and joy, as inspired by Catherine McAuley, the founder of the Sisters of Mercy. When the Sisters of Mercy arrived on the Mornington Peninsula in 1898, they recognised the importance of providing an education for young people that would enable them to assume their role in society with confidence and to be initiators of change within the spirit of the Mercy charism.

Our 2025 theme is around challenging our Padua College community to have a growth mindset. Catherine challenged her community with the goal to be better today than yesterday, with a plan to become even better tomorrow.

‘Resolve to be good today, but better tomorrow’

Catherine McAuley, founder of the Mercy Sisters

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