Christian Service

Christian Service

Statements from the journals of Year 11 students participating in the ‘Sharing Gifts’ programme, sum up very well the spirit of Christian Service. Our students are discovering how their faith in God can be lived out in service of others through interaction with people in need in the community. “Through Christian Service, relationships develop between yourself and people who you never thought you would relate with. You know that you are a gift to them and that they are a gift to you. Then you know that God has touched your heart and helped you to love. You know that you are on the way to becoming a man for others.”

Gerald Lillywhite

“I see God in the joy of people removed from the world’s eye. God cares when no one else sees the pain. I was in some small way acting for God.”

Matthew Bouwman

“I learnt that people coming to the end of their life still have something to share. When I was talking to one elderly man, he told me about the greatest day of his life. I didn’t understand him clearly, but I felt that it was a special moment and it was quite significant that he would share it with me.”

Tom Gee

“The life cycle seems very long when you are 15

years old but when you sit with an elderly person you realise that these people were 15 years old not that long ago, looking forward to the same things in life that I am at the moment.”

Caz Matarazzo

“I learnt that all people react the same way when cared for, that people begin to feel valued and develop a sense of belonging. These feelings are important to all people and this is all people need, to Mrs Marya Stewart Director of Christian Service be cared for. “

Ben Wisby

“I realised that there was a world beyond the big houses and leafy streets of my home: a world of cold nights and harsh environments. I began to see the plight and pain of less fortunate members of our society. These people now had faces and names that I knew, stories that I had heard and fears that I had tried to comfort.”

Dominic Rose

“This wasn’t a challenge of the mind or body. It was a challenge of the heart”

Long Pham

The reflections on their experience of Christian Service reveal that at Trinity College we have many young men who are capable of great sensitivity and compassion. Given the opportunity to serve others they discover strengths within and come to understand that people who seem to be less capable and less valued by our society have a lot to offer.

Marya Stewart

Director of Christian Service

Amnesty International

Edmund Rice

There are people all around the world who suffer imprisonment or torture for their political, religious beliefs or because of their racial origin. Others face the death penalty. These people feel abandoned, alone and forgotten. A group of Trinity students from Year 8 through to Year 12 have been coming every week to express their support for others in such difficult circumstances by sending a message of encouragement and challenging authorities in other countries to fulfil their commitment to human rights. These students have grown in their understanding of the difficult political and social situation in other places and deepened their appreciation of living in a country where they are secure. In Term One at Trinity we organised a very successful encounter with students from other secondary schools where students had an opportunity to share their experience of Amnesty International. This inspired other students to organise groups in their schools.

Leo Murray

Amnesty International Coordinator

EDMUND RICE OUTREACH GROUP

Back row: Janek O’Toole, Gianni Di Giovanni, Tom Shuker, Shaun Dee, Joshua D’Souza Third row: Joseph Ryan, Melvin Mohar, Gerald Lillywhite, Daryl Tan, Marc Ferguson, Colin Loh Second row: Daniel Tan, Michael Maynard, Daniel Scivolo, Matthew Cain, David Parkinson, Brian Nimbalker,

Mrs Marya Stewart

Front row: Benjamin Tomasi, Jamie Rodgers, Cahal Di Gregorio, Shane Gonsalves, Nathan Colli, Joshua Webster, Long Pham

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Back row: Janek O’Toole, Gianni Di Giovanni, Christopher Harris, Shaun Dee Third row: Matthew Fitzsimons, David Gardiner, Marc Ferguson, Melvin Raja, Matthew Cain, Shane Gonsalves

Second row: Mr Leo Murray,

Cahal Di Gregorio, Michael Maynard, Stephen Morphett, David Parkinson, Jamie Rodgers Front row: Benjamin Tomasi, Long Pham, Andrew Cotter, Joshua Hicks, Blair Bayens, Richard Perera, Gerard Rosario

Christian Service