The Magazine of St Aloysius' College • 'Men for Others' • Issue XLVII ...

from the senior school (cont'd)
Celebrating Easter at Life For Kids.
children with literacy difficulties and in helping older teens
who remain at school with assessment tasks. A number of
volunteers have also assisted in gaining placements for teens
at Eora TAFE and Tranby College (Aboriginal Colleges) and
at Ultimo TAFE to further their studies.
Thanks to the lifesavers and board riders of the Northern
Beaches, and the Fire Brigade at Narrabeen, we had many
wonderful days with the kids learning to ride the surf and
after the trip to the Fire Brigade, a number had dreams
of being firemen. Indoor rockclimbing has also been very
popular, bringing trust between children and volunteers who
‘guide the ropes’.
A number of us from Life For Kids had the privilege of
attending Sorry Day in Canberra – a day of ‘dream time’
to reflect on the past with hopes for the future.
Monty Pryor, a renowned Aboriginal storyteller,
entertained at breakfast and brought the kids closer to their
rich heritage and culture.
Weekly Saturday breakfasts continue to be a time of
great community spirit, with sporting activities and birthday
celebrations when we are also able to respond to the many
needs and crises our children and families experience.
We are indebted to our dedicated volunteers and to
generous donors who enable us to accompany children
and their families through poverty and crises, and to bring
hope for the future.
Mrs Ailsa Gillett OAM
Convenor
World Youth Day
2008 at St Aloysius’
College
In July 2008 the largest youth
event in the world will be held
in Sydney. World Youth Day
will gather young people from around the world to build
bridges of friendship and hope between continents,
peoples and cultures. Pope John Paul II was inspired by
the great gatherings of the world’s youth for Palm Sunday
events in Rome and therefore he decided to establish
WYD as a special occasion which occurs every 2-3 years
in a different international city. It is a great way to reach
out to the next generation of Catholics.
The first WYD was held in 1986 in Rome and soon it
will be our beautiful city of Sydney which will host the XXIII
World Youth Day, making it the tenth international World
Youth Day. While WYD celebrates young people’s Catholic
faith, its message is relevant for all people. The event
welcomes people of all backgrounds wishing to join in the
experience. Up to 500,000 people are expected to gather
for WYD08, which is larger than the Olympic Games that
were held in Sydney in 2000. His Holiness Pope Benedict
XVI will make his first visit to Australia for World Youth Day
2008. It will be the first Papal visit to Australia for thirteen
years.
St Aloysius’ College will be involved in several significant
events and preparations leading up to WYD. The College
will be a Youth Festival site where thousands of young
people will attend. This is shaping up to be quite exciting
with a range of events, presentations, bands and exhibitions
all planned. At Aloysius’ we will be billeting over 160
students from our Jesuit Schools in Melbourne, Adelaide,
the Philippines, New Zealand, Micronesia and the United
States. Fourteen of our Old Boys will be involved in the
Magis 08 Programme in a variety of experiments. Over
250 of our students, staff and Old Boys have registered to
be part of such a memorable event.
The College Community has raised funds to sponsor five
young people from our Jesuit School, Xavier High School
in Micronesia, six students from St Josephs Kiangan in the
Philippines and another nine students from the Clontarf
Aboriginal School in Western Australia to join us in Sydney
for WYD 2008.
A student leadership committee has been appointed and
is working tirelessly and enthusiastically with Loreto students
to organise liturgies and events for the students who have
registered for WYD.
At the end of last term, the WYD Cross, Icon and
St Aloysius’ College
A Jesuit School for Boys _ Founded 1879
aloysiad / page 16