The English have terrible weather, and their cricket team is rubbish! But, they certainly do ceremony and ritual better than anyone else. I’m not a monarchist but I was one of the millions of avid viewers of the ritual, ceremony and pomp that surrounded the death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth. There were very similar scenes with the crowning of King Charles. Even for us descendants of rebellious Irish Catholics, you have to hand it to the Brits – they do ritual and ceremony so well.  The ranks of the great and glorious were very evident at both events.  Royalty obviously has its privileges.  Interestingly, yesterday, the Church celebrated the feast of ‘Christ the King’.  I’m not sure that Jesus of Nazereth, who seemed to spend most of his time hanging around the ‘losers’ of his time, would have felt very comfortable taking a front row or even a back row seat at the recent Royal ceremonies.

His life did not reflect anything much of the trappings we normally associate with Kings.  The early followers of Jesus longed for a King to rescue them from oppression but Jesus made clear that his notion of ‘Kingdom’ was very different.  Pope Pius XI gave the Church the feast of ‘Christ the King’ in 1925 in reaction to political movements of the day. Yesterday’s Gospel tells the story of Jesus dying on the Cross and the only one who recognized his worth was someone else being crucified on the same day who said to Jesus, ‘Remember me when you come into your Kingdom’.   That bloke and the others who ‘got’ Jesus, knew that he was most comfortable at the margins of society.  His ‘kingdom’ was not about wealth or power or privilege or prestige.  All of those who were his ‘mob’ would be last and least likely to have received an email invitation to attend royal ceremonies at Westminster Abbey!  For the rest of us, who would like to get an invite to the Kin(g)dom that Jesus dreamed of, will continue to challenge ourselves to be open, every day to the last, the lost and the least.

We were reminded last week, of the big gaps that will be left at Shalom by Kim O’Shea-Hard and Mary Taylor.  It was a really big week at the College with six Academic Awards ceremonies all of which were organized by Kim and a wonderful Graduation Liturgy put together so thoughtfully and tastefully by Mary.  Shalom has been blessed to have these two wonderful educators working with our young people for so many years.  They will be hugely missed. 

Congratulations to all of those many students whose academic efforts and achievements were recognized last week.  Thank you to all of their parents who so positively supported their efforts throughout 2022.  Job very well done.

Tuition Fees & Levies 2023 – not surprisingly, our school fees will rise next year but well less than the current inflation rate. 

The payment of school fees is terribly important for the College to enable us to function effectively.  We are enormously grateful to all of those families who are able to pay their fees on time.  We will always look to support those families who are in financial difficulties and it is most important for those in that situation to have good communication with the College.  As of today, there is just over $1.5 million outstanding in school fees.  That is a lot and I would ask that all families who have accounts outstanding to speak to me if there are difficulties of which we are not aware or to attend to the account as soon as possible.

Mr Dan McMahon
Principal
mcmahond@shalomcollege.com