By Melissa Cartner
St Helena of the Holy Cross Catholic Church in Ellenbrook has a strong connection with its parish schools and in particular Holy Cross College which stands physically on the same land, sharing parish soil.
This relationship has grown over the years and on the weekend at the Easter Vigil, among the 14 catechumens and candidates, four teachers and two support staff (with two more teachers fully initiated into the Catholic faith at a later date) were from our College.
Parish Priest Fr Bonaventure Echeta works hard on maintaining this connection.
Together with Principal Mr Albert Borrello and Deputy Principal- Faith, Mr Daniel Bateman, support staff member and parishioner Mrs Sharna Bateman as lead catechist, a tailored RCIA program was developed that suited the busy nature of our working staff members.
This Catholic faith journey of our staff started in June 2024 and weekly lessons were delivered over afternoon tea in the Holy Cross College open planned classrooms.
Some of the highlights for me as a sponsor, included the Rite of Acceptance at a whole College Mass in our Gymnasium (Lima) where the staff witnessed their faith in front of 1400 students, staff and parishioners and the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion held at St Mary’s Cathedral.
Candidates and catechumens rolled up their sleeves for their social justice commitment, cooking dinner for the homeless for our local charity “Ellenbrook Meals” and together with their sponsors took part in a faith filled Lenten retreat and shared meal with Fr Bonaventure and all parish candidates.
The occasion was meticulously organised by the Bateman family and cooked by Holy Cross College student volunteers, further deepening our close relationship with the parishioners.
Fr Bonaventure shared in his homily that these staff members have been inspired by the Holy Spirit to teach the stories of scripture and most importantly the coming of our saviour Jesus Christ in their classrooms.
With growing enrolments and the expanding of our college’s need for Catholic teaching staff, many of our newly confirmed will be teaching Religious Education in the junior, middle and senior classrooms of Holy Cross College.
As Learning Area Leader of Religious Education, I, along with the Senior Leadership Team, will be welcoming them with open arms, guiding them in their new subject area.
In attendance at the vigil was Ben Bull, Senior Team Leader for Religious Education at Catholic Education WA and Catholic Institute WA, Managing Director, Dr John Topliss, who volunteered as acolyte, strengthening our close relationship in further developing our teachers and staff committed to Catholic Education.
Melissa Cartner is Learning Area Leader of Religious Education at Holy Cross College.
