Page 3 - Certantes magazine 2019 FINAL
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message from
the principal
But as much as the world requires us to adapt
and evolve, there are so many areas of our lives
that require us to hold fast to traditional values
– values that grow from our Christian faith and
connection with Jesus as “the true vine” (John
15:11). St Francis de Sales (from whom Don
Bosco drew his inspiration from) challenged
everyone to be ‘everyday saints’ through the
practice of eight little virtues; I’m sure they are
familiar and accessible to everyone of us:
Welcome to the latest edition of our Alumni
News, Certantes. In this issue, we focus on • Kindness • Gentleness
the achievements of a number of past pupils • Gratitude • Patience
from across the years who have accepted the • Generosity • Honesty
Salesian challenge to become “good Christians • Cheerful Optimism
and honest citizens”. We certainly live in a • Thoughtful Concern for Others
complex and rapidly changing world, a world
that requires each of us to evolve and adapt to The challenge to all of us is to remain both
these changing conditions. In our own school flexible enough to ‘adapt’ whilst at the same
context, some of these changes have included: time remaining inflexible when it comes to
these core Christian virtues. It is a challenge
• The proliferation of mobile technologies
not for the faint of heart, but for those willing
• A decrease in active Parish participation to take up Bosco’s challenge to be “good
• Increasing levels of anxiety amongst Christians and honest citizens”. I’m so pleased
adolescents to celebrate the outstanding achievements
• Declining funding for skills education of so many of our alumni in the pages of this
• A greater awareness of learning diversity magazine who have indeed done just that; you
make us all so very proud.
• Increasing societal demands on schools for
compliance and accountability As we journey through the next decade of
Salesian presence here in Sunbury, I pray
Each of these changes require innovative that your journey since graduating from
solutions and staff prepared to adapt and
‘Rupertswood’ has continued to be influenced
respond to each one. As a school, we believe by the Salesian spirit of friendship and
our success in recent years is due largely to our
understanding. We encourage each of you to
dedicated and creative staff who have been keep in touch with us by contacting our College
prepared to adopt new skills and demonstrate
Development Team and by viewing our many
a capacity to ‘think outside the square’. In doing social media outlets, including our new-look
so, we believe we set a wonderful example to
College Website. Yours in Don Bosco
our students who will one day be faced with
similar challenges, challenges that will require Mark Brockhus
the skills of resilience, creativity, collaboration College Principal
and persistence among just a few.
Salesian College Sunbury 3
