Oremus let us pray - St Aloysius
Oremus let us pray - St Aloysius
Oremus let us pray - St Aloysius
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It’s a hectic start of the year for the boys. As if meeting their new<br />
teachers, getting to know their classmates, learning about the merit<br />
system, getting <strong>us</strong>ed to the school diary, new routines, and be<br />
introduced to the concept of regular homework (... very slowly, I’d<br />
like to assure you) wasn’t enough, there have been two major<br />
sporting events that will have occupied your boys’ time, and your<br />
attention and patience, within the first five days of school this year<br />
prior to receiving this news<strong>let</strong>ter.<br />
The first of these was the Junior School inter-ho<strong>us</strong>e twilight<br />
swimming carnival at SOPAC (Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic<br />
Centre), Homeb<strong>us</strong>h. This is generally a most exciting day for the<br />
boys, and for families to be able to see their boys swim in the same<br />
pool where so many of their heroes and world champions have<br />
swum. I hope the boys, as well as those parents who were able to join<br />
in, enjoyed this carnival and the spirit in which everyone participated<br />
in this event. You can expect to hear more about this event in this<br />
column as well as in the Sportsmaster’s column in the next issue of<br />
The Gonzagan. Thank you in advance to the many parents who were<br />
able to assist <strong>us</strong> in so many ways.<br />
The second sporting event, namely Summer sports trials for Cricket<br />
and Basketball and gradings for the Tennis teams, are being held on<br />
Friday and continue this Saturday at vario<strong>us</strong> times and venues between<br />
8.00am and 1.00pm. Beca<strong>us</strong>e of the late finish due to the carnival on<br />
Thursday, you have the option of sending your boys to school at later<br />
commencement time of 9.35am on Friday. If you choose to send them<br />
in at the regular time, supervision will be available from 8.00am in the<br />
school grounds. Boys are asked to come to school on Friday in their<br />
sports uniform (Colour ho<strong>us</strong>e-shirt, shorts and hat) with plenty of<br />
sunscreen, water, morning tea and lunch. Sunscreen lotion is also<br />
available at school, but please encourage your boys to bring their own,<br />
and some spare, and remind them to apply it liberally whenever they<br />
are out and about in the hot sun. On Friday, boys will be transported to<br />
and from school to different venues and dismissed from school at the<br />
<strong>us</strong>ual time of 3.00pm. Since not everyone that trials on Friday will be<br />
guaranteed a place in the team and/or sport of their preferred choice,<br />
at the concl<strong>us</strong>ion of Friday trials, they will be notified if and where<br />
they should be turning up for the Saturday trials. Please impress upon<br />
them to bring home that information to you on Friday afternoon. At<br />
the start of Week 2, team lists will be displayed on the sport notice<br />
boards outside the glass doors j<strong>us</strong>t off reception, and after school<br />
training will also commence during the week. Information regarding<br />
training days and times and venues, as well specific sport uniform<br />
requirements, will be sent home on 6 February once the team lists are<br />
published.<br />
On 9 February we will celebrate the opening of the New Year with<br />
the Junior School Commencement Mass at 9.00am, followed by<br />
morning tea to welcome new parents into the Aloysian community.<br />
Please come along to <strong>pray</strong> for God’s blessings on the New Year and<br />
all our endeavours on behalf of our boys and your sons. The Mass<br />
will be held in the Boys’ Chapel (in the Senior School) and morning<br />
tea will be held in the foyer outside the Great Hall. Week 3 promises<br />
to be an exciting one, especially for boys in Years 3, 4 and 5, with the<br />
camp and get away programme. If any parents have not returned the<br />
permission and medical forms required for the Year 5 camp, we<br />
would like them to be returned urgently by Monday next week.<br />
We congratulate the following Junior School boys who have j<strong>us</strong>t<br />
celebrated their birthdays in this month of January:<br />
1 January James Dettre, Alec Elhindi<br />
4 January Edward Happ, Andrew McClintock<br />
7 January Flynn Sloan, Ang<strong>us</strong> Allen<br />
13 January Daniel Geokjian<br />
14 January Rafael Colinares<br />
15 January Joshua McGillicuddy<br />
16 January Kieran Dean, Daniel Tandany<br />
18 January Nicholas Sywak<br />
19 January Miles Branagan<br />
22 January Brendan Kell, G<strong>us</strong> Morton<br />
24 January Ewan Cooper-Frater, Tomas Esteban, Harry<br />
Lidbetter<br />
26 January Xavier Tafft<br />
27 January Ted Conlon<br />
28 January Joe Byrne, Joseph Mayer<br />
29 January Kieran Gorman, Jasper Hudson<br />
30 January Samuel Kember, William Senior<br />
Martin Lobo (martin.lobo@staloysi<strong>us</strong>.nsw.edu.au)<br />
THE DEVELOPMENT OFFICE<br />
On behalf of the College Development Office and the College<br />
Foundation I would like to extend a warm welcome to the Aloysian<br />
Family to all the new boys and families who commence their<br />
Aloysian education this year and a hearty welcome back to all our<br />
existing families. I tr<strong>us</strong>t that the Christmas Holidays were relaxing<br />
and that you have all started the year refreshed.<br />
January has certainly been a b<strong>us</strong>y start to the year.<br />
The New Year was warmly welcomed by over 1,300 members of the<br />
Aloysian Family at the annual SAC New Years’ Eve Family Picnic on the<br />
roofs of the school. The events raised $49,350 which has been<br />
directed to the College Bursary Fund. Tickets for the 2012 event will<br />
go on sale in Week 1 of Term 4.<br />
3 January marked the 60th anniversary of the ordination of<br />
Rev Fr Tom O’Donovan SJ. Father O’Donovan was the seventeenth<br />
Rector of the College serving from 1968-1973 and remains a great<br />
stalwart and supporter of the College. After leaving the College,<br />
Father O’Donovan served as Rector of our brother school,<br />
Saint Ignati<strong>us</strong>’ College Riverview, but it was his many years as<br />
Director of the Jesuit Mission that Father O’Donovan is perhaps best<br />
known. Father now lives in retirement at Canisi<strong>us</strong> College Pymble.<br />
3 January also marked the 50th anniversary of the ordination of<br />
Father Bob Walsh SJ. Father Walsh has been a member of the<br />
College Jesuit Community for a number of years and is a former<br />
Chaplain to the Mater Misericordiae Hospital and Parish Priest of<br />
<strong>St</strong> Joseph’s Neutral Bay and <strong>St</strong> Francis Xavier Lavender Bay. In<br />
February Father Emmet Costello SJ (SAC <strong>St</strong>aff 1956-1970 and 1980-<br />
1987) celebrates 70 years in the Jesuits and Father Joe O’Mara SJ<br />
(SAC <strong>St</strong>aff 1983-1989) celebrates 50 years as a Jesuit. The College<br />
warmly congratulates these men on their anniversaries and thanks<br />
them for their support of the College and their ongoing <strong>pray</strong>ers.<br />
On 28 January the College celebrated the 133 anniversary of its<br />
founding in 1879. On the day the College opened 45 boys were<br />
admitted, the number growing to 115 by the end of the first year.<br />
Now on our third site (Woolloomooloo 1879-1882, Darlinghurst<br />
1883 and Milsons Point 1903-present), the College now educates<br />
1,200 boys from Years 3-12 and is one of the leading boys’ schools in<br />
the country. The College is the oldest Jesuit School in NSW and the<br />
oldest Independent Catholic boys’ day school in the <strong>St</strong>ate. We as a<br />
family have much to be proud of and much to look forward to in the<br />
months and years ahead!<br />
Over the Christmas break a number of new signs have been erected<br />
throughout the College. New signs adorn the entrance to the Junior<br />
School and main building in the Senior School, whilst a new College<br />
crest has been placed on the front of Dalton Hall and the Ho<strong>us</strong>e<br />
Crests have been mounted on the verandah of Dalton Hall facing the<br />
grass area of Wyalla. All the new signage has been designed and handmade<br />
by Danthonia Designs and certainly adds colour and vibrancy<br />
to the exterior of the College. New signage will be progressively<br />
rolled out over the coming years across the entire College.<br />
Mr Terry Gabbedy, the Deputy Director of Development, retired on<br />
13 January and has returned to live in Brisbane with his wife Moira.<br />
Terry served the College for nearly four years and his valued support,<br />
sage advice and energy for all things Aloysian will be missed. The<br />
College wishes Terry and Moira a happy, healthy and long retirement<br />
in sunny Brissy!<br />
Terry’s retirement has enabled the College to re-structure the<br />
Development Office. I am delighted to announce that Melinda Meyer<br />
has been promoted to the newly created position of Fundraising<br />
Manager at the College. Melinda has been on staff for the past three<br />
years serving as Development Officer and has proved to be a great<br />
asset to the Aloysian Family. In her new role, Melinda will take on<br />
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