Faith in Action through Service
Each student at the College has a suite of ‘Faith in Action’ opportunities made available to them in order to make a tangible difference in the world and to enliven their faith. The College is proud to offer a suite of programs that range from weekly local volunteering opportunities and community based initiatives to interstate immersion opportunities.
Inspired by the vision of Blessed Edmund Rice, who worked to promote dignity within the docks of Waterford, these Faith in Action opportunities are vital in giving students agency and the confidence to build a world that is positive, just and inclusive.
To support students realising their potential as faith filled instruments of change, the College offers the following Service Program opportunities:
Weekly Service Program Partnerships
Matthew Talbot Hostel – Serving food to those without permanent accommodation
Young Mentors Program – Chatswood Library – mentoring Seniors with technology use and digital safety
St Peter’s Nursing Home, Lane Cove – intergenerational interaction, technology help, and sustainability-related projects
Term based Program Partnerships
Street Retreats – Interacting with, and learning from the Homeless through an accompaniment model
CatholicCare Disability Services – One Day Immersion working with people living with different Intellectual Abilities through an accompaniment model
Bunnings Fundraising BBQs – Chatswood Parish – Supporting the StreetWork Program
College Wide Appeals
Project Compassion Lenten Appeal – Collecting donations and raising awareness for Caritas Australia
St Pius X College Winter Appeal – Supporting Jesuit Refugee Services and St Vincent De Paul, Brookvale
St Pius X College Christmas Appeal – Year group based donations, supporting a variety of charity partners:
Year 7: St Mary’s Primary School, Bowraville
Year 8 and Year 9: French’s Forest Parish Donation Drive
Year 10: CatholicCare Disability Services
Year 11: St Michael’s Meals Initiative, St Michael’s Parish, Darlington
Matthew 25:40 Immersion Program
St Pius X College is dedicated to the development of the whole person. We seek to challenge and inspire not just the mind, but also the heart and hands of all our students.
By creating a synergy between the head, heart and hands, we enable our students to become instruments of change in a world hungry for justice, peace and healing.
As a Catholic School in the tradition of Edmund Rice, we are deeply committed to providing opportunities for our students and staff to seek out the marginalised and commit to endeavours motivated by sacrificial love. It is in this light that the College offers the Matthew 25:40 St Pius X Immersion Program.
The College draws the ‘why’ from Jesus, and how Blessed Edmund Rice responded to Jesus’ call to transform the world through love of God, neighbour and self.
In the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 25, the people ask of Jesus when was it “that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?”
Then in Verse 40, Jesus replies profoundly: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”
It is in response to this call, that we like Blessed Edmund seek out our monastery in the streets and serve through an immersion on the margins.
What is an Immersion?
An immersion is a powerful strategy in helping us understand and involve ourselves in Jesus’ mission. Through the immersion experience we come face to face with local people and recognise them as our sisters and brothers. We empathise with them and share their daily joys and sorrows, celebrating their richness and gifts, and feeling for their pain. We learn as much from them, possibly more, as they learn from us. It is a journey of accompaniment and encounter.
Guided throughout the experience by critical and prayerful questioning, we recognise that we are involved in and share responsibility for, their reality in this global society. An immersion is an opportunity for our students to use their unique God given talents that have been carefully moulded and sharpened through their world class education here at St Pius X, and to invest them in the betterment of the lives of our neighbour.
The College offers the following Immersions to students in Year 10 during Term 4.
These immersions are designed in service of those experiencing poverty, destitution, mental illness, addiction, homelessness and disability.
- The Greater Sydney Immersion is a three day, non residential immersion working with agencies such as Catholic Care, Cana Farm, Hope Street Baptist Mission, St Vincent de Paul and the Station Outreach Centre.
- The Central Coast Immersion is a three day residential immersion working with agencies such as the Glen, the Coast Shelter, Mary Mac’s Place and Landcare.
- The Bowraville Immersion is a four day residential immersion working with the community of St Mary’s Primary School Bowraville
- The Baradine Immersion is a five day residential immersion working with the communities of St Lawrences Coonabarabran and St John’s Baradine.
By serving through the Matthew 25:40 St Pius X Immersion Program, students’ eyes and hearts will be opened to see beauty and possibility in the faces of those who are so often forgotten, and ignored society. In doing so, we continue the mission begun in Christ and pursued by Blessed Edmund, to transform the world through love, by seeking out the forgotten and voiceless of our community, and offering your time and talents in service of their needs.
Through faith and hard work, we at St Pius X can realise the dream that sparked with the Gospel and came into view by looking out the window at docks of Waterford.