Churchill Avenue News - Wellbeing Edition

Year 12 Farewell and Faith Reflections

As the academic year for our senior students draws to a close, Caroline Chisholm Catholic College has farewelled our Year 12 students with reverence, celebration, and gratitude. This season marks not only the culmination of their secondary education but also a deeply spiritual moment in the Catholic calendar.

A Liturgical Farewell

On Wednesday 22 October, the College community gathered for the Graduation Mass and Assembly, a sacred event held in Blessed Daswa Hall. The Mass, themed “Set Us Ablaze with the Love of Jesus” (Luke 3:16), was led by Fr. Silvio Bezzina MSSP and Fr. Andriy Mykytyuk, with communion ministers drawn from staff.

This liturgical celebration aligned with the 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C), a period in the Catholic calendar that calls for reflection on humility, service, and spiritual maturity, values that resonate deeply with the journey of our graduating students.

Celebration Day and Community Spirit

The preceding Celebration Day on Tuesday 21 October was filled with joy and symbolic gestures. Students were honoured with a guard of welcome, and the College community came together to acknowledge their achievements and growth.

My message to the Class of 2025

A Call to Young Prophets of Peace and Justice

Good morning dear students, special guests, and staff,

Today marks a significant event for our community, the farewell assembly for our Year 12 Class of 2025, a group of students that has called our College their own during some of the most challenging periods of time that our community and extended society have endured.

From the constraints of COVID-19 lockdowns and setbacks, online learning, changes to the leadership of the College time and time again, and the many other inevitable events that have taken place in the last 6 years, this group of students have demonstrated resilience, vision and spirit, and rightly walk through our gates not just as the graduating class of this year but members of the Caroline Chisholm family forever.

But resilience will only take you so far. I want to also highlight to you, as the newest graduating class entering the adult world, the importance of courage. Not the kind that shouts the loudest or stands tallest, but the kind that kneels beside the broken, that listens to the unheard, and that dares to speak truth in the face of injustice.

This is the courage that defines the lives of those that promote Catholic values, those that embrace Faith, Acceptance, Compassion and Excellence, becoming a fearless voice for the voiceless, a champion of peace, and a devotion to justice.

Currently, in our society, in the world beyond our borders, and even in some of our own local communities, the poor are silenced, the powerful are unchecked, and the Church is caught in the middle.

From this moment, I encourage you to become a prophet of peace. To act with compassion and empathy, to denounce violence, and to call for justice.

Human suffering is not God’s will. I remind you that you are all loved, seen, and worthy of dignity, but so are our brothers and sisters across the world. Go and share this news with everyone you encounter as you transition into adulthood.

So, what does it mean to be a prophet of peace? Especially for you, as a young member of our society?

It means that you are not just the future of humanity. You are its present. You are the voice that must rise when others are silenced. You are the hands that must reach out when others are pushed aside. You are the heart that must beat with compassion when the world grows cold.

As a student of Caroline Chisholm, you are called to:

• Seek peace, not just by avoiding conflict, but by building bridges, healing wounds, and standing up for those who are hurting.
• Proclaim the Good News in action by living lives of integrity, kindness, and service. Let your faith be visible not just in your words, but in your choices.
• Stand with the poor, not out of pity, but out of solidarity. The Church must have a “preferential option for the poor,” because that is where Christ is found.

In a world that often values power over people, noise over truth, and comfort over courage, your witness matters. Your voice matters.

Remember that holiness is not about perfection; it is about presence. It is about showing up for others, even when it costs us. It is about loving so deeply that we cannot remain silent in the face of injustice.

And poverty is not just about material possession. It is about the exclusion of minorities and the suffering of those without access to education. Poverty is the systemic exclusion and discrimination of people based on difference. It is simply not acceptable.

I end with this question for you: will you be the voice of the Christ in bringing peace to abolish violence? Will you be the hands of Christ that lift the poor? Will you be the heart of the Gospel that beats with justice? Because you can, and you are called to do so.

You are Christ in our times; Christ lives in you and your face is the face of Christ. And God is calling you to be a changemaker. The Church provides the avenue, but your actions give the church meaning.

Congratulations and go get the world by making it better than how you found it. Study hard, achieve your dreams and have a wonderful time celebrating when the time comes.

If there is one thing that you must embrace as a graduate of a Catholic school, it is that you have a purpose that goes far beyond a Year 12 certificate. It makes you an instrument of peace.

Thank you.

Napoleon Rodezno
College Principal