Hero photograph
2020 Sacramental Programme
 
Photo by SBC

From the Rector

Justin Boyle —

I hope all the community are wintering well.

Every year the College runs a Sacramental Programme. This year, thirty-five students will take the initial steps towards receiving the Sacrament of Baptism. A highlight of this initial presentation were the testimonies by three of the senior boys who will also accompany the boys in this journey. The messages from Isaac Cahill, James Methven and Seamus Lohrey about what faith meant to them, struck a chord!

During the last week of Term 2 we also gave the boys the opportunity to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, with a number of priests being available. A good number of boys took up this opportunity.

Fr. Mark Walls and Mr Matt Newman from the Marist Youth Ministry have walked about thirty Year 12 boys through a programme entitled "Living Social Justice". The boys were challenged to consider the way they think about various aspects of social justice, and to see issues from more than one side - of seeing things from a 'socially-just' point of view, i.e. doing what is right for people.

In the Catholic tradition, there is another set of guides to seeking out the objective truth about issues, such as wealth inequality, racism and sexism.

Last Saturday, 24 July, the 1st XV played Christchurch Boys’ High School at Straven Road. As always, our team was expecting a torrid affair and they were not surprised with the closeness of the contest. The half time score was 17 -11 in our favour. With less than 10 minutes to go our lead had narrowed to 22-18. The class of our team then came to the surface with 3 converted tries, which blew the final score out to 43-18 in our favour. This win means the team earns the REDDER Cup which is awarded to any team that beats St Andrew’s, Christ’s College and Boys’ High in a season. This was last done by the 1st XV in 2013 and has only been achieved 15 times by our top team.

There have been many notable and interesting games between St Bede’s and CBHS down through the decades. CBHS has been consistently the most successful in terms of results, but the contest has always been a battle and St Bede’s have had their share of great success. When it comes to rugby the two schools share a common bond.

Since the beginning of the Crusaders Schools Competition (Miles Toyota Championship) in 2001 - Christchurch Boys High School and St Bede’s College have between them won 16 out of the 20 Championships. CBHS have dominated, winning 11 championships, and St Bede’s have claimed 5 titles.

At the final assembly of the term, we launched the “Run For A Life” campaign in support of the CanTeen organisation. Addressing the assembly were Jackson Wright and Connor Selwood, who lost his mother to cancer. Please see the articles in this newsletter for their speeches, our history with CanTeen and the ways you can help support this year’s event.

Until next month.

J G Boyle