On 15 August we celebrated a full school Mass on this Holy Day of Obligation, the Feast of the Assumption. 

Christian Ioane, our Head Boy, welcomed those mothers, grandmothers and mother figures in our lives with the following words:

Good morning and welcome to our school mass to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption. As a Marist College, Mary is a significant person in our lives. This year we are learning more about her and what it means to be Catholic and Marist.

I would like to especially welcome to all our mothers, grandmothers and mother figures in our lives who are there today.

You are special people.

I know we don’t always listen to you, no matter how old we are, but we love you.

Fr Mark Walls SM (old boy 1966-1970) celebrated Mass with us. He directed our thinking to what life would have been like for Mary – a young 15-year-old who was asked to be the mother of God! A young girl who accepted this blessing and immediately travelled to help her older cousin, Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist. In describing Mary's life and actions, he highlighted that the images and statues we often see of Mary can be grand and reflect a place we hold for her, but are perhaps more symbolic rather than portray accurately what her life would have been like.

His homily challenged us all, particularly the boys, to think about our mothers and the roll that they play throughout our lives. That while we may not always agree with them, think they are putting restraints on us etc, what they are actually doing is loving us unconditionally. We need to treasure the time we have with them.