Students from several Perth Catholic schools have last month joined Archbishop Costelloe in launching a creative project on the grounds of St Mary’s Cathedral.
As part of Archbishop Costelloe’s 2023 LifeLink Day for Primary Schools initiative, students were invited to create a collage that visually expressed their learning and educational experience resulting from LifeLink Day.
Students were encouraged to identify the issues people in need face here in the Archdiocese of Perth which the LifeLink agencies support and then search newspapers and magazines, thinking about the role newspapers and magazines play in creating or stopping the issues people in need face in our society today.
The creative, informative and inspiring artworks were then collected and incorporated into a significant art installation in the shape of a giant cross at St Mary’s Cathedral.
The project took inspiration from St Mary McKillop, with the installation taking place Saturday 28 July in advance of the feast day of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, Tuesday 8 August 2023.
The giant cross was then installed on the front grass of St Mary’s Cathedral.
LifeLink Manager, Brett Mendez explained to The Record the Cross symbolises three main points.
• Life, it points to overcoming of suffering through the resurrection of Christ.
• Hope, it is a calling for us to decide to live as Christians and to trust in the promise that we will be given the strength to do so. It is a commitment to remain strong in our faith no matter how difficult life become.
• Identity, a reminder of our religion and a representation to the world of who we are, It marks us as followers of Christ, the body of the Church.
Speaking about the important role of St Mary MacKillop, Archbishop Costelloe said she devoted her life to ensuring a holistic Catholic education for children from rural, poor families.
“What an amazing woman Mary was, guided by an unshakeable love of God and called to the service of the poor and the marginalised across Australia,” Archbishop Costelloe said.
“She faced many challenges and experienced many hardships… and yet she endured.
“Her motto, ‘never see a need without doing something about it’ became the foundation for her response to need in the community – educating the poor, caring for the sick and providing shelter for women and children.
“Saint Mary MacKillop often said, ‘We must teach more by example, than by word.’
“She tried hard every day to demonstrate respect for the dignity of every person she met, to help in any way she could, whether a friend or colleague, homeless or poor, aged or infirm.
Our LifeLink agencies reach out to help people in need in the community. Through your support of LifeLink Day, you are continuing the tradition of Saint Mary, demonstrating in a very real and practical way, your love and compassion for our brothers and sisters in need,” he concluded.
