‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me.’

– Matthew 25:35

We find ourselves this week in a quietly significant space, the days between two great invitations that are, in truth, one and the same invitation. Reconciliation Week has drawn to a close and Refugee Week approaches with equal urgency in the week ahead. What unites them is what unites all of our justice work in the Brigidine tradition: the conviction that every human person bears the dignity of God, and that our response to that dignity, in truth-telling, in welcome, and in the practical act of making room. This is not an optional extra but the very heart of who we are called to be.

In strength and in kindliness, then, let us gather what the past weeks have given us, and turn our hearts, with gratitude and with hope, toward what is still to come.

Reconciliation Week – ‘All In’

National Reconciliation Week has now drawn to its close, and what a week it was. Under the 2026 theme ‘All In’ and in a milestone year marking Reconciliation Australia’s 25th anniversary, we gathered as a whole school community for a liturgy that was, by any measure, a genuine highlight of our term.

Our students rose to the moment with real beauty. The creation of our 2026 Reconciliation banner and the making of friendship bracelets in indigenous colours were not simply craft activities, they were visible, tangible acts of solidarity; young women working with their hands to say: we are here, we are listening and we are all in. A warm and heartfelt word of gratitude to every student who was involved in preparing and celebrating the liturgy – your generosity made it the meaningful, community-shaping event it was.

Refugee Week – Week 9

Next week (15 – 21 June) our community turns its attention to Refugee Week, the annual national invitation to direct our gaze toward those who have been forced to flee their homes, to leave behind everything familiar in search of safety and the chance of a life lived with dignity. The week culminates in World Refugee Day on Saturday 20 June, observed around the world as an act of solidarity with the more than 100 million people currently displaced.

In the Brigidine tradition, the call to welcome the stranger is not a peripheral concern; it is one of the most ancient and urgent expressions of our faith. This Refugee Week, we will mark this commitment together as a community through prayer, reflection and one of the most concrete acts of hospitality: the gift of food.

BASP Winter Food Drive – ‘A Pantry of Welcome’

Our Kilbreda community is currently supporting the Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project (BASP) through a Winter Food Drive running in these last weeks of term. We need your help, and every single item counts.

BASP is a remarkable expression of our Brigidine charism, operating out of Albert Park and supporting people seeking asylum in Melbourne who have no work rights, no Medicare and often no other source of food. BASP receives no government funding.

The most urgently needed items right now include long-life milk, tinned fruit, tinned tuna, basmati rice and pasta, honey, tea and coffee, soap, shampoo and toothpaste, washing powder and Coles or Woolworths gift cards. The full shopping list is available on the BASP checklist your daughter can pick up from her Homeroom or simply add one or two items to your next shop.

Donations can be dropped in the boxes located in each Homeroom until the end of term.

In the spirit of St Brigid, who turned no one away from her door hungry, may we make room at the table for those who have so often been told there is no room for them.

Year 9 and 10 Retreats – Week 10

As we move into the final week of term, our Year 9 and 10 students will each be given the gift of a dedicated Retreat day. This is an opportunity to step away from the rhythm of the classroom and encounter something of the sacred in one another, in the world and in themselves.

Year 10 Retreat – Monday 22 June

Our Year 10 students will spend the day at Saltbush Balnarring, a beautiful property on the Mornington Peninsula that is one of the community works of Kildare Ministries. A day on that land, in that spirit, away from screens and schedules, is a genuine gift and we pray it will be a day of real depth, friendship and encounter.

Year 9 Retreat – Thursday 25 June

Our Year 9 students will gather for a day focused on Catholic Social Teaching and First Nations perspectives, with guest presenter Scott Darlow, a proud descendant of the Yorta Yorta people and an educator of remarkable passion and reach, whose work in schools across Australia and beyond brings Indigenous history, culture and justice into vivid, challenging and ultimately hopeful life. It will be a day not merely of information but of genuine formation, an invitation to see the world with different and more generous, eyes.

We hold our students and all who accompany them in prayer as they approach these days of reflection and renewal at the close of a term that has asked so much – and given so much – of our community.

A Prayer for Refugee Week

Loving God,

you have told us that the stranger among us

shall be as a citizen among us,

and that to love the stranger is to love you.

This week, we pray for those who have made the longest journeys –

who have crossed seas and borders and years of uncertainty

in search of nothing more than safety, and the chance to belong.

May we be a community that makes room:

in our hearts, in our hands,

and in the quiet, faithful act of setting aside

a tin of food for a person we may never meet,

but whom you have already called our neighbour.

In the spirit of St Brigid,

who turned no one away from her door,

may we tend the flame of hospitality

and keep a place at our table

for all who are still searching for a home.

Amen.

With gratitude for all that you are and all that you bring to this remarkable community,

In strength and kindness,

John Riddle

Director of Catholic Identity and Mission