Higher Things

This week’s Parenting Ideas article in the downloads section is about emotional intelligence. As parents and carers, you are expertly placed to observe this area of your daughter’s development. The article considers some strategies that can be used to support young people with emotional smarts. As with any area of development, awareness and understanding can make a real difference to growth and development. I appreciate the article’s consideration of differentiating between moods and feelings, accepting discomfort and building an awareness of triggers.

I encourage parents and carers to consider this article and how it may support you with your daughters. Additionally, please do not hesitate to contact your daughter’s House Coordinator or myself if you are worried about how she is managing through the roller coaster of 2020. I firmly believe that a team approach can only be a positive way to navigate the uncertainty and contradictions of this year.

Parent Well-being Hub – Coming Soon

The College Pastoral Team is in the final stages of developing a Parent Well-being Hub. Using Google sites, it is hoped that this will form a valuable resource base for parents and carers. The Hub will provide information on well-being and mental health in relation to adolescent girls.

If you have an area which you would like to suggest the Hub should include, or a resource, book or podcast etc. you would recommend us sharing, please let me know.

Eating Behaviour Support Service

Approaches to eating, food and body image can all contribute to behaviours that can negatively impact adolescents. Grand Pacific Health has advised us of a new service that you may find valuable. This 8-week online group is a prevention/intervention initiative for young people with emerging disordered eating behaviours. Further details are in the downloads section or please contact myself, Kulilla Centre staff or your daughter’s House Coordinator.

Miss Emma Magill
Assistant Principal - Dean of Pastoral Care

The beauty of the Rule is its simplicity and its relevance. As Joan Chittister, O.S.B. observes; “Benedictine spirituality is the spirituality of the twenty first century because it deals with the issues facing us now – stewardship, relationships, authority, community, balance, work, simplicity, prayer and spiritual and psychological development. Second, its currency lies in the fact that Benedictine spirituality offers more a way of life and an attitude of mind than it does a set of religious prescriptions”.

For me, one of the more endearing characteristics of the Good Samaritan charism is that of kindness. When I was growing up, it was not uncommon to hear of people being described as “kind” or for reference to be made to “acts of kindness”. Perhaps it is me, but my sense is that it is a word less used in 2020. There can be fewer more noble adjectives. Kindness implies gentleness, tolerance, compassion, peace and justice. It captures in a single word, a disposition of the heart that builds community and that is ‘others centred’. In chapter 31 of The Rule, Benedict says “Above all, let him be humble. If goods are not available to meet a request, he will offer a kind word in reply, for it is written: A kind word is better than the best gift (Sir 18:17)”

The charism of The Sisters of the Good Samaritan is amply summed up in the word “kind”. In her book; The Good Sams: Sisters of the Good Samaritan 1857-1969, Margaret Walsh, in recording the early history of the Sisters says; “People noticed their kindness and the influence which flowed from it”. At St Mary’s we have been blessed by the presence of the Sisters and by the witness they have given to building a kind community. One need not look too hard to find examples of kindness in our community; between the girls themselves, the girls and staff and of course our community of parents and carers. This is what we celebrate on 11 July and what we aspire to live out in our College every other day of the year.

As we continue to navigate our way through troubling and insecure times, our communities might well be enriched and sustained by an even greater attention to kindness and to the Rule of St Benedict.

Mr Tony Fitzgerald
Principal