News &
Events

It has certainly been a very productive and busy first 6 weeks of Term 1, the Lenten term. It has been wonderful to have returned to normal school life with many co-curricular and whole school activities and events being held throughout this term. 

As we enter into March and the season of Autumn, it is timely to reflect on some of this year’s key events so far: 

• Year 7 Orientation Program
• 1,219 students have been engaged in day-to-day classes and learning 
• Commencement Mass and VCE Excellence Assembly
• Ash Wednesday Liturgy
• Years 7-9 Parent Welcome Evening
• Senior School Parent Welcome Evening
• VCE/VET/VM Senior Program Information Evening
• Year 12 Overnight Retreats
• Year 9 Country Experiences at Good Samaritan Campus (GSC)
• Student Leadership Development Day
• Social Justice Servant Leadership Development Day
• Multicultural Youth Student Leadership Day 
• Grade 5 Primary Feeder School Visits
• Year 10 Premier League 
• SACCSS Senior Sports
• SACCSS Junior Golf 
• Caritas Fundraising Activities 
• International Women’s Day
• House Swimming Carnival
• Various excursions and incursions
• Years 7 Camps will take place from Wednesday 22 March 

All these events and activities take planning and preparation to ensure that they are successful events. I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of the Thomas Carr College community to thank our staff for their efforts. They have been extremely diligent and generous with their own time to enable the many events listed above to take place.  Without the support of staff, these activities simply would not take place, so I thank staff most sincerely for their efforts. 

St Patrick’s Day

Next week on Thursday 17 March we celebrate St Patrick’s Day. It is a global celebration of Irish culture and remembers St Patrick, one of Ireland’s patron saints, who ministered Christianity in Ireland during the fifth century. 

St Patrick is known and admired all over the world as the young slave who became an unlikely hero, the shy boy transformed into a courageous missionary. Patrick came to an alien land that soon became his adopted home, and a foreign people became his friends. He was no brilliant scholar but a man of deep faith tried and tested in the fires of slavery and exile. At first a reluctant preacher until filled with the strength of the Trinity he overcame his fears and limitations to establish one of the strongest Churches in the Christian world. 

Patrick was a towering figure. He had a strong biblical faith centred on the Trinity. He was deeply familiar with the Word of God and pondered it day and night. He lived in intimate union with Christ who was always before, behind, above, within him. Every step he took was in the company of Jesus, every word he spoke was inspired by Jesus, every breath was full of the spirit of Jesus. 

The faith of Patrick worked its way into every fibre of life. The true Irish faith of which we can be so proud made our forefathers a people of saints and mystics, of poets and scholars. St Patrick was a great saint. May he be our guide and inspiration. 

In this prayer he asks for God’s help in various ways: 

May the Strength of God pilot us. 
May the Power of God preserve us. 
May the Wisdom of God instruct us. 
May the Hand of God protect us. 
May the Way of God direct us. 
May the Shield of God defend us. 
May the Host of God guard us. 
Against the snares of the evil ones. 
Against temptations of the world 

May Christ be with us! 
May Christ be before us! 
May Christ be in us, 
Christ be over all! 
May Thy Salvation, Lord, 
Always be ours, 
This day, O Lord, and evermore. Amen. 

Catholic Education Week (12–19 March 2023)
‘Forming lives of faith, hope and love in the light of Christ’.

This year, Catholic Education Week will be celebrated across the Archdiocese of Melbourne from Sunday 12 March to Sunday 19 March.

The week is an opportunity for our school to join all 334 Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne to celebrate our distinctive Catholic identity, our achievements, and the role our school plays within our parish and local communities.

The theme for this year’s celebrations is ‘Forming lives of faith, hope and love in the light of Christ’.

Catholic education seeks to provide students with a high-quality education that is inspired by the example of Jesus Christ and fosters the development of the whole person, forming individuals with more than just skills, but with the virtues to live life as transformative agents in our communities.

Ten of our students will attend the Mass of St Patrick for Schools held on Friday 17 March, celebrated by Archbishop Peter Comensoli, followed by the Young Speakers Colloquium for secondary school students.

The Creative Arts Exhibition, at the Catholic Leadership Centre East Melbourne, which showcases the wonderful artwork of primary and secondary students in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, will run from Tuesday 14 March to Saturday 18 March and is open to the public.

At Thomas Carr College, we take seriously our primary purpose of nurturing our students’ faith. Christian teaching is central to our work and the challenge for us is to continually ensure it is included in all we do. 

And finally, may all members of the Thomas Carr College community in 2023 truly live, breathe and enact our wonderful College motto of ‘They Will Shine’.

Mr. Jamie Madigan
Principal