On Monday 12 October, the first day of Term 4, staff from the three Catholic schools in the region took part in our annual Staff Spirituality Day. As with all things this year, the day was not as it usually is and was shortened to a half, rather than full, day event. Over 100 of us logged on to Zoom to hear the wisdom and insight of Fr Richard Leonard SJ.

This was our second Spirituality Day with Fr Richard and we were once again blessed with engaging content that reminded us of our mission and role as educators in a Catholic school. One of our greatest challenges in the modern Catholic school is making our position relevant and clearly communicating the place of formal Religious Education as something of value. Fr Richard articulated the need in the current context to stand true and firm to who we are as a Catholic community, despite the pressure we may feel to become more secular in terms of our traditions and practices.

The day was most thought provoking and helped to reaffirm the beauty and wealth of Catholic Education. We were encouraged to see the important role we play in educating our students in Gospel values of faith, hope and love – guiding principles of this school and Catholic schools everywhere.

Richard was ordained a priest in 1993. He directs the Australian Catholic Office for Film & Broadcasting, is an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Catholic University; has been a visiting scholar within the School of Theatre, Film & Television at UCLA and a Visiting Professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Fr Richard has served on juries at the Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Warsaw, Hong Kong, Montreal, Brisbane and Melbourne International Film Festivals and he has lectured on faith and culture all over the world. He has been published in America Magazine, Eureka Street, US Catholics, is a regular columnist with The London Tablet and is a regular guest on ABC Radio. He is the author of ten books. Jesuit College of Spirituality 2020

Erica Drewsen

Religious Education Coordinator