Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews

from every nation under heaven. 

When they heard this sound,

a crowd came together in bewilderment,

because each one heard their own language being spoken. 

Acts 2:5-6

Last Sunday 24 May, our Church celebrated the Feast of Pentecost, a mysterious event recorded by Luke the Evangelist (Acts 2:1–31) in which the Holy Spirit gifts the disciples with the ability to speak and communicate in languages that everyone understood. Anyone who has travelled overseas will appreciate how difficult and frustrating it can be trying to understand people when they don’t speak your language, and the enormous feeling of relief when you eventually find someone who does.

Whilst this event caused the salvific message of Jesus to spread very quickly within the early Church communities, it also raises profound questions for the modern Church and Catholic schools. How can we speak to students about their faith using language that they understand? Will they listen? Will we listen to them? In a world that deifies the individual and measures their worth via their social media profile, how can we make students listen to Catholic Social Teaching that has the preferential option for the poor, subsidiarity and community at its core?

In this year of Justice, there are many ways to speak to students, and even more ways to listen to them. Communication is a sine qua non for a positive relationship, and the highly skilled Year 8 Homeroom teachers, and the other Kilbreda College staff have built very strong and mutually respectful relationships with the Year 8 students throughout the first semester of this year.

One of the topics on which students and staff can listen to each other and agree upon is sustainability and caring for the natural environment. In the Foreshore program, Year 8 students work alongside the City of Kingston Foreshore and Coastal Management Group on the management and conservation of the foreshore and recreational areas. Students explore the relationship between Kingston Foreshore and Port Phillip Bay and participate in pollution control, propagation of indigenous plants and revegetation.

The following girls successfully applied to be part of Foreshore in Semester 1:

Under the leadership of the Kingston Council team, these Year 8 girls will participate in different activities including revegetation works, weed removal, litter removal and go on a walk and talk to discuss different plants along the foreshore.

Bill Fitzsimons

Level Leader: Year 8