Fleur De Lis Issue 1 2022
From the Director of Mission This year we focus on our Mercy Key of Loyalty. Loyal en Tout, our motto “Loyal (to God) in all things” is an important value we live as a Mercedes College community. Inspired by our founders, the Mercy Sisters, the acts of service – social justice, care for each other and our faith – underly all that we do. Our liturgist, Mercy Sister Duyen Nguyen reminded staff ahead of the start of term, that before leaving this world, Jesus commands all of us “Love each other as I have loved you”. (John 13:34). Loyalty needs to go with love. A committed married couple cannot be fully loyal to each other without having love for each other. Our educators cannot fully commit themselves to teaching if they don’t love children or don’t love teaching. When we do things with love, we do it with passion, with joy and fulfilment. The College’s Mercy Keys are a great guide of how to live Mercy, and even with an unusual start to the year, the strength and loyalty of our community continues to shine through. While we look forward to being together as a school community to celebrate our Catholic services, we successfully celebrated our Ash Wednesday liturgy virtually, where we prayed for all in our community, and also for those in Ukraine. Our Year 11 students are now volunteering in the community each Monday afternoon, living the Mercy spirit for Community Service. Students are providing service in schools, kindies, libraries and councils. Many small works of Mercy are taking place, including students volunteering with local environmental groups further to guidance from Tom Robinson and his passion for conservation. Congratulations to Charlotte Sorrel, Isabelle Pena Negrette and Stella Tisato, our Social Justice leaders this year. I look forward to meeting together as a community in the coming months and continuing to empower our Mercedes College students to live their faith, the Mercy spirit and use their gifts to serve the world. Therese Wilson Director of Mission
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