Catholic Character

Catholic Character

​ALL IN THE WAY OF MARY – Founded by the Priests of the Society of Mary, at St. John’s College we seek to model our lives on Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Our spirituality is expressed in our devotion to modelling Mary’s attitude towards others, her quiet action, often described as hidden and unseen. In doing so, we strive ‘to do as Mary did’, in everything we say and do. “All to Jesus through Mary, All to Mary for Jesus.”

Our Special Character is Catholic in the Marist tradition, and is central to College life.  This is ultimately expressed through our College Motto, “Opere et Veritate”, and the values and habits of a St. John’s Man. Our motto translated​ means “In Truth and Work”, or what we like to say “In Word and Deed”.  It is in doing what is morally right through our every day actions that our Catholic Character is made visible.

Prayer and liturgy form an important part of life at St John’s.  Mass is offered every week on a Tuesday, and school masses are a high point of our community life. Benediction and  retreats offer students a diverse range of contemporary and traditional Catholic experiences.

​Service is equally important and there are a range of opportunities for the boys to be involved with  service to the College and the wider community. The College has opportunities for service such as Young Vinnie’s,  Commit to a Cause and Young Marist Neighbours. In addition, each year a group of our young men involve themselves with a social enterprise project which addresses issues of social justice.

The Pastoral Care of our students draws from our Catholic tradition where we seek to support our students and help them to grow to be young men of character.  We want our young men to be good fathers, good husbands, good employees and good employers. This is made clear through the values and habits we hope to see in our young men, which are based on gospel virtues.

YOUNG VINNIES GROUP

Every Tuesday, a team of boys sacrifice their early morning sleep to follow Christ’s call – “Feed the Hungry”. From buttering the bread, to frothing up the milk to preparing the Wheet-Bix, these boys are prepared to feed those in need.

With the help of Mrs. Minehan who works effortlessly to provide for these boys, they feed up to 100 students with toasties, hot chocolate and Wheet-Bix smoothies. The Young Vinnies group aimed to feed as many hungry students as they could, with the support of the Society of St. Vincent De Paul. A government program called Kickstart Breakfast was introduced to supply free Weet-Bix and milk to feed hungry students in the school and has amalgamated with the breakfast club.

The boys involved with the program are proud of what they do. It’s not easy coming into school at 7am to set up for a breakfast that they themselves don’t get to enjoy. Sacrifice is the key to this project and the team are always prepared to provide for others first.  St. John’s College has always tried to push the idea of student leadership and this breakfast club resembles the school values of sacrifice, humility and service. I would like to make special mention of Mrs. Minehan for always being available and providing the ingredients we needed.

The Young Vinnies have also been involved with the Caritas Challenge, community garden and Commit-to-a-Cause.  This year money raised through the Caritas Challenge went to people in South Sudan.  Money raised by the Year 11 Commit-to-a-Cause, which was run by the Vinnies, was donated to the “Whatever It Takes” Trust.

Opera Et Veritate – In word and in Deed.