Over the past few weeks Roncalli has celebrated a number of different Special Character Events.

At the beginning of the term the staff gathered in the College Chapel to participate in a staff liturgy that focused on May as a month dedicated to Mary. We reflected on the many and varied images of Mary around the world and also the qualities of Mary and how we as staff can be guided by these qualities of humility, courage and mercy.

For the first time we had two new additions to the St Kevin’s Exchange; Scripture Reading and Debating. Reggie Fleming and Emillea Tate represented the College in Senior Scripture and Neve Bruin and Jemimah Francisco in Junior Scripture. Both categories were tightly contested and all students showed great courage and respect in reading the Word of God. Reggie Fleming was awarded first place for Senior Scripture for the inaugural competition.

Our debating team consisting of Sheridan Ioane, Jai Crowe and Olivia Piddington competed against a talented and confident St Kevin’s College debating team. Both sides presented solid arguments, however St. Kevin’s narrowly took the win. The debaters were well prepared by coach Mr. Dave Batchelor and we thank him for his advice and expertise.

Aquinas, Chanel and Colin have all celebrated their first Liturgy in the College chapel. Each liturgy took their focus from the namesake of their house. They looked at the values that each house stands for and reflected the attributes of whom each house was named after. We thank the Special Character leaders and House Leaders for their thoughtful and reflective liturgies on these very important examples of faith in our College.

At the end of last year we farewelled the last two Sisters of Mercy from Timaru. In order to maintain our Mercy connection three Year 12 students went to Christchurch to visit the Sisters of Mercy sharing in a morning tea and celebration of Mass with the students of Villa Maria College which is adjacent to the Sisters residence. The students valued the time spent with Sisters Dianne and Lorraine as well as meeting new Sisters who shared their memories of teaching and life in Timaru. We thank Sisters for their hospitality and we look forward to another visit next term.