Feast Day celebrations

We celebrated a wonderful Feast Day – the Sacred Heart of Jesus - last Friday, starting with a spirit-filled mass led by Father Mark Hanns msc. The band and choir provided beautiful singing and music and prayers were read in a variety of languages representing the richness of cultures in our College community. 

Our Art Club with Mrs Chris West had completed the wall mural: May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be Everywhere Loved! which hung above our altar. Celebrating the 150 years of the OLSH Sisters, for our reflection hymn after communion, a small group of staff and students sang the Ametur. 

Always a feature of this mass is our Blanket Appeal and the presenting of our blankets to our local St. Vincent de Paul representatives who assist those in greatest need during the cold winter months. Thank you to everyone – students, staff and parents - who contributed to our blanket appeal. Many donations of blankets and warm clothing were brought forward to our altar during our offertory procession and then loaded into our College van for distribution by our St Vincent de Paul friends. 

We had a very special moment when two of our Year 10 students, Mary and Angelina participated as communion ministers for the first time. Angelina and Mary completed a Eucharistic Ministers training course with Fr. Martin Tanti and Ms. Donohue to help them prepare for this special ministry in serving the College community. They have provided their reflections on what this ministry means to them.

"In our training, we discussed with Father Martin, our understanding of this special ministry before learning how to distribute communion and offer a prayer for those not receiving communion. I am looking forward to deepening my connection with the school community by serving in a meaningful and spiritual capacity. I hope to contribute to the sense of unity and faith within our school and inspire others to do the same." - Angelina

"This is a special way I can live out my faith and serve the school community. It is a deeply meaningful experience and privilege for me. It makes me feel blessed to be able to offer Jesus to everyone in the school. Being a communion minister also helps me to grow a closer spiritual connection to God." - Mary

Ms Megan Donohue
Deputy Principal, Faith and Mission

Issoudun Retreat reflections

The Retreat day at the end of the Hartzer program is a great day of reflection and growth for our students. Here are some of the reflections from Hartzer Group 1. 

"One of the many activities we did on our retreat day was a fashion parade. You would dress one person in your group up in newspaper and present your design. I loved working in a group with people that I didn’t really know. It helped us improve our team work and leadership skills." - Laura

"During retreat day we learnt 'How do others see me?' In this session we got into small groups and worked as teams to create beautiful newspaper dresses in a short amount of time. We got into our homeroom groups and wrote positive affirmations to each other. In doing this it gave us something nice to look back on of what people had to say about us. It made me feel special because now I have a few pages of which those around me have said nice things. As a team once again, we did an activity of ‘frozen pictures.’ This was an exercise was where we had to make pictures with our body, it was funny to see everyone’s ideas and how people created pictures with there body. Overall, it was a nice day, and It was a great day of connecting, creating, and spending time with friends." - Cassy

"One of the days we got to spend at Hartzer was called reflection day. It was led by Ms Donohue and Ms Oro. It was a lovely day where we all were able to delve into our inner selves and find out our own individual strengths. Towards the end of the day, we completed an activity called My Sacred Story. This activity involved us creating our own shields with a motto and information about our families history and what we value as important in life. Personally, I loved being able to be creative and make my own shield reflective of my own morals and my families background. Reflection day was a rewarding experience for every girl who took part in it, and the good memories I made I will never forget." - Ava

"Our first activity was a beautiful journaling session, where we sat in our homerooms and wrote in each other’s journals one thing we liked about them. It was a great way to bond as a homeroom after everything we had done together, and everyone found it heartwarming to read entries made about them from other people, because, as Ms Donohue reminded us, what people write is the truth. It was lovely to see the wonderful truths about yourself written on paper, and compliment others too, and was a great way to start the day! This retreat day really summed up the experience of Hartzer, which is something we will never forget." - Imogen

Reconciliation Awareness Week at OLSH

We celebrated Reconciliation Awareness Week from Monday 3 June to Friday 7 June, and during the week prior, we participated in The Long Walk to the 'G under the OLSH FIRE Carriers banner.

The Long Walk is an annual community event that invites all people to come together to celebrate and acknowledge the importance of continuing to build connections and reconciliation for all Australians.

The walk is named after Michael Long, an Indigenous Australian, who continues to strive for reconciliation and the strengthening of relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous peoples, for the benefit of all Australians.

We enjoyed the opportunity to gather together in Yarra Park, to engage with various displays and activities, listen to music and hear from Michael Long. We then joined in with a huge crowd of people on The Long Walk as we wound our way through Yarra Park and around the MCG. It was a wonderful celebration which was followed by the ‘Dreamtime at the G’ football match.

This year marked the 20^th anniversary of The Long Walk. We were very proud to have participated in such a significant event as part of Reconciliation Week.

2025 Ametur trip to the UK and Europe

We are currently planning two Ametur trips for 2025, to the UK and Europe in the 2025 April School holidays. 

There will be a Performing Arts tour in the UK and an Italian cultural immersion in Rome and Orvieto. 

Both groups then meet in Issoudun, France, the birthplace of the OLSH Sisters for three wonderful days to complete the experience.

The trips will be open to current Issoudun to Year 11 students.

An information session will be arranged before the end of Term 2 for all interested students and parents.

Great reading in Australian Catholics magazine

There are some wonderful articles in the newest edition of Australian Catholics including which has a focus on the relationship between Religion and Science.

The Bible Under the Microscope, by Luciana Romanski
In the Bible, the ancient Hebrews hint at scientific knowledge since credited to renowned scientists.

Five Scientists who Believed in God, by Michael McGirr
Many scientists believe in God and see their work as in some way exploring the mysteries of the sacred.

You will need to log in with the email address parents@olsh.vic.edu.au and password acparents.

Australian Catholics is Australia’s only national print magazine for Catholics of all ages and all walks of life and is distributed throughout Australia to Catholic parishes and schools.

Student opportunities

Here are a couple of opportunities that students and families may be interested in:

Encounter + - An evening for secondary school students at the Catholic Leadership Centre on Friday 14 June from 6 - 9pm. Encounter+ is your chance to encounter Jesus through adoration and worship led by Emmanuel Worship. Plus, there’s reconciliation, fellowship, food, and, of course, a whole lot of fun.

Ignite Conference - held in Sydney and Brisbane in the September holidays. Ignite Youth is dedicated to gathering, raising up and sending out a new generation of Catholics who are on fire for Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, formed in the faith and centered in the Eucharist – young people living their Catholic faith with dynamism and passion to reach out to their world with the life of the Gospel.