By Mrs Liisa Hammond, Principal

Re-contextualisation of the Gospel

I was speaking with Kate Cullen, our Curriculum Leader for Arts and our previous Assistant Principal Religious Education. In this conversation, she highlighted that some members of our community may not have understood my re-contextualisation of the Gospel. 

It was my understanding that our community would comprehend the concept of re-contextualisation, as it has been a key improvement strategy of the Assumption College Strategic Plan from 2018 – 2022. It sits under the focus of the “… development of a shared understanding and consistent language for Catholic identity” to be achieved through, amongst other strategies, “… participation in the Enhancing Catholic Schools Identity Project”. This was inspired by one of our previous principal’s trips to Belgium (Kort Goodman) and involvement in the KU Leuven Enhancing Catholic School Identity (ECSI) program. 

Re-contextualisation is the process of placing something in a new context for the purpose of renewing its meaning. With reference to Catholic Identity, inspired by the research conducted by Pollefeyt and Bouwens (2012, Leuven University), re-contextualisation is a way to invite dialogue and understanding of the Catholic identity within a contemporary context. Our strategic plan inspires us to create a shared understanding of our Catholic culture, one that privileges a re-interpretation of the Gospel that enhances our culture and identity. 

Luke 10: 25 – 37 

This Gospel is one from over the holidays; however, it is also one of my favourite readings. The parable of the Good Samaritan is a story that Jesus told to respond to the question, “… who is my neighbour?” 

It is important to note that this story was written in the mid-1600s, over 3 ½ centuries ago, yet the universal messages revealed through Jesus’ words are still relevant. So often, when we speak of this parable, we focus upon the acts of kindness demonstrated by the Good Samaritan towards a man who had been severely beaten and a victim of theft. For this newsletter, I wanted to focus on two of the other characters in the parable. These other characters have perhaps been given a bad reputation not because they were being deliberately mean, but because they were blinded by their adherence to rules and societal expectations. 

We are told by Jesus that two men walked past the beaten man. Consequently, these two men have been historically placed in the roles of villains. They were a priest and a Levite who were heading to Jerusalem, to the temples to carry out their religious duties (I do defer to the fact there are theologians that argue that the priest had already completed his duties; however, I have not confirmed that, so I am happy for the standard response to stand for our newsletter). For contextual understanding, in the Jewish culture, to touch blood was to make a person ritually unclean, and there were strict cleansing rules. Rules that would have dictated the need for the travellers to return to Jericho, to follow the cleansing rituals. The road from Jericho to Jerusalem was a notoriously bad road to travel, almost 30 kms in length, and it was a road that you did not travel alone. 

It could be argued that this section of the story is not meant to be a criticism of the priest nor the Levite, but more a comment on the fact that those who strictly follow the laws and rituals of the time, whilst ignoring humanity and the need for compassion, may miss the opportunities they are striving to experience. Both these men were men of faith and devotion, but through their devotion, they failed to live out their faith. 

I believe that there are times in our lives when we play the role of the Samaritan, a caring and compassionate individual who is willing to do all they can to help others; then there are times when, perhaps due to stress or commitments, we act more like the priest and the Levite. We all strive to be committed to the word and actions of ‘Truth and Love’, and yet, if we are honest, there are times when we become distracted by our own needs or mission – we are just lucky that those times aren’t recorded for others to witness 3 ½ centuries later. 

The Good Samaritan parable asks us, who is our neighbour? Who would we stop and help, even if we are busy, distracted, and stressed? From a neurological perspective, what Jesus is asking of us is to shift from the first person perspective, where we only see events and priorities through our eyes, to the third person perspective, where we consider what others are feeling or prioritising. If we can see beyond our own needs and ‘to-do-lists’ then we are living as Pope Francis challenges us to do, “… to go ‘outside’ the self … and place the human person, (and their) dignity and the common good at the centre of all activity” (Fratelli Tutti). 

Listening Forums

We have had our final Assumption College Listening Forum for 2022. It was a lovely experience to be able to spend time with parents and carers, over the course of several weeks, in individual year levels, listening to their responses to two questions:

1. What does Assumption College do well?
2. What would you like for the future of Assumption College?

The opportunity to spend time listening to our community is a privilege. Our most precious commodity is time, and I sincerely thank those who gave their time to speak so openly and respectfully. I recognise that the staff who attended these sessions were placed in a vulnerable position, opening themselves up to criticism. Yet, all conversations were productive, critical, and upheld the dignity of all community members – thank you! 

As stated previously, we will be utilising these responses to inform Assumption College’s new strategic plan; however, I just wanted to review some of our typical responses to these two questions.

What does Assumption College do well?

1. Improvement in communication – the emails and conversations with teachers, the text messages, the social media posts, the Parent/Carers Information sessions, the Listening Forums – the communication has been much improved this year and “we feel like we know what is going on now.”
2. The move to Year Level co-ordinators (PALs) has been excellent. Having that one person who knows your child and can deal with issues that arise within the year group has been excellent. 
3. Camps and Retreats – social and emotional learning is so important, and the opportunities provided by the camps and the retreats are wonderful.
4. Improvement in the responsiveness to wellbeing and learning issues and consistency in the application of things such as behaviour management and uniform have been much appreciated.
5. Resources and facilities are “top-notch” – the future Resource Centre/Year 7 Learning Area is a positive move, Assumption College buses and plan for Agricultural and Athletics precinct – looking forward to seeing this come to fruition.  

What would you like for the future of Assumption College?

1. Staffing – understanding the current context of a teacher shortage etc., and the terrific work of our current teachers, we need to work as a community to continue to attract, retain and develop quality staff. 
2. Continue to develop quality practices and ‘real-life’ experiences concerning our “New Normal” – COVID and unpredictable weather occurrences.
3. Greater connection needs to be established between the Pastoral Care Teacher and parents/carers.
4. Continue to develop elective courses, including Agriculture Science – resourcing and development. 
5. Technology - consider changing to all students having laptops instead of iPads and continue the Technology evenings at the start of the year to empower parents/carers to set boundaries at home, review of Parent App. and access to Learning Management System – CANVAS for parents/carers to help track learning issues (Live reporting/feedback). IXL is great – can we use it across all subjects? 

This is just a snapshot of the information and insights shared. In future meetings, I look forward to communicating more details to our P&F committee and our College Board. 

May Our Mother Mary grant her blessings upon our College community.