Special Character Report

Over the weekend, the Head students and I took part in an Edmund Rice Leadership Retreat. Over the 3 days, we were given the privilege to connect with the head student teams from the Edmund Rice schools over NZ including St Kevins, Liston, St Thomas of Canterbury and St Peter’s College. On Friday, St Thomas, Liston and St Kevins arrived. We all  spent the afternoon getting to know each other and participated in our first workshop which focused on the terms “belonging, hope and balance” which are all keywords that we will be faced with on our journey as leaders. We finished the night off with an intense game of spotlight in our Dominican building (dream come true!) .

On Saturday, we all spent the morning at the markets, followed by a picture challenge around Dunedin which needed to include a “Laughable moment” “Most shocking moment” “Best landmark” “Spiritual photo” and “Best team photo”. After everyone had gone round town getting their photos, we headed to the airport to pick up the students from St Peters College. After bonding with them and participating in another workshop, we were lucky enough to be taken to the rugby game on Saturday night. After the game, we headed back to school to play some more intense spotlight and finished our night off with a liturgy, reflection and affirmations to one another.

Sunday was kept short and sweet with a morning Mass with Bishop Michael Dooley and a chance for us all to say our final goodbyes. We are well and truly blessed to have had the experience of this Leadership Retreat, it was like no other and words can’t describe how innovative it was for us as leaders. We are excited to bring our knowledge from it into our College over the coming weeks and use it to support our other prefects. 

A huge thank you to Amelia Bresanello for making the weekend a possibility, she opened doors for us that we didn’t even know were shut!

A Prayer for our Pope in times of sickness.

Loving and Merciful God,

We come before You in prayer, lifting up Your servant, Pope Francis, in his time of need. You are the Source of all healing, and we ask You to surround him with Your loving presence, granting him strength and recovery. May Your divine grace rest upon him, restoring his health and filling him with renewed vigor to continue leading Your Church with compassion and wisdom.

We place Pope Francis into Your hands, trusting in Your eternal care. May he be comforted by the love of the Church and the prayers of all the faithful. We ask, through the Blessed Virgin Mary, that his recovery be swift, and his spirit be strengthened in Your peace. May Your will be done in his life, O Lord, and may Your healing power be with him always.

We offer this prayer in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

God Bless,

Meadow Stewart