PASTORAL CARE Pastoral Care is offered at Mazenod College in a wide and all-encompassing way. The welfare and care for those within our community and beyond is of primary importance. The Archdiocese of Melbourne calls us to the following: A fundamental belief for Catholic Schools is that in Jesus is seen God’s image and likeness in its human expression, and that Jesus’ values and teachings show all people ‘the way, the truth and the life’ (John 14:6). In accordance with this belief, values to be promoted within a Catholic school’s understanding and practice of pastoral care include love, respect, compassion, tolerance, forgiveness, repentance, reconciliation and justice. This rationale is expressed through relationships and structures that promote the education of the whole person in mind, body and soul. Through Counsellors, Nurses, Homeroom Teachers, Year Level Coordinators, Oblate Priest Chaplaincy, Deputy Principals and Principal, each layer of care is prepared to work collaboratively for the welfare of our students and their families. Archbishop Mark Coleridge DD from Brisbane expressed this beautifully when he said: “I used to think when I was young that the easiest thing in the world was to be a human being with a heart of flesh and not a heart of stone. Now that I am old and wise, a product of Catholic Education myself, I can in fact see that the art of being a real human being is subtle, difficult and the most important art of all. By that I mean the art of being a real human being in the full sense of that term. Now our schools exist to do many things; they impart vast amounts of knowledge, any number of skills and so on. Yet at the heart of everything that we do in our schools, is teach the art of being human. Fully human and fully alive.”
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