Matthew 22: 15-21

The Gospel reading last Sunday told the challenge Jesus was given by the Pharisees, they question if it is lawful to pay tax. Jesus comes back to them asking who's face is on the coin. They replied, “Caesar’s.” At that he said to them, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

Sometimes we can take ourselves too seriously and think we are in control, and our view of life is the only one, when we do this we can lose sight of God who has a plan much greater than our own. Our community has had a number of challenges and we have felt significant pain and suffering because of this. Let us stay connected with God's plan by praying together, showing kindness and mercy, compassion and a smile. Give to God by giving to each other. With only a week to go until our students leave for study leave, we have to meet with the senior school about finishing strongly and using the last three weeks of school to their advantage. Many students will need every moment of class time to attend tutorials to ensure they are meeting their goals. 

'Love me not'

A huge thank you to the NZ Police, especially Aaron Dann for running this programme for us.  The ideal for our students is that they will experience committed, loving and life-giving relationships however the statistics for NZ tell us that most of our students will encounter situations where they need to know the signs that something is not okay.  This may be in their own relationships or as bystanders.  I encourage you to have a conversation with your daughter about what was covered today.

Year 11 - 13

In recent years at St Catherine's, as well as other schools around New Zealand, there has been a rise in silliness in the final week of school. Sometimes referred to as "prank week", this behaviour has become steadily more anti-social. Last year the impact on our College from damage from students from other schools amounted to about $6000 worth of damage.  To my knowledge, St Catherine's students have not been involved in this behaviour and have always left on a positive note. Please support this message by having a conversation with your child about the legacy they hope to leave at St Catherine's and finishing term in the positive fashion they have led the school in this year. 

Our leaders are planning some fun activities in their final week of school, and we want everything to be in the spirit of good fun rather than unkind or unlawful behaviour.