I read a reflection recently from Hill Carmichael about one of the most famous Gospel stories, the Good Samaritan, which I thought was excellent. I attempted to summarise the reflection, but it works better left in the original (I have left out the first paragraph).

Hill Carmichael writes: After my professor finished reading (the story of the Good Samaritan), he looked up and said, “This is not a story about being nice. This is a story about the transformation of the world.” ...he went on to explain that Jesus is responding to a question by sharing that there are three types of people along the road between Jerusalem and Jericho.

The reflection

The first type are the robbers, whose ethic suggests that “what is yours is mine at whatever cost”. And the robbers will take whatever they need through violence, coercion and whatever means necessary. These are the people who will leave us physically, mentally and emotionally beaten and bruised along life’s road with nothing left but our shallow breath.

“Both the priest and the Levite are deeply respected in their communities. They very likely follow all the societal rules and norms. They sit on local boards. They pay their taxes on time and likely coach their son’s or daughter’s teams. They also show a great deal of love to those within their immediate communities, but because of what crossing the road to help might cost them, they put their head down and go about their business. So, without even recognizing it, they do more harm than good. Their focus is inward toward their needs and the needs of those who are most like them. It’s an ethic that leads the good and decent priest and Levite toward a life of valuing their reputations instead of relationships. And it often results with them choosing their own individual rights over the health and well-being of their neighbours. Unfortunately, this is the category where I fall most often throughout my life. And if we’re all being honest, I’d say it’s the category that most of us fall into more than we care to admit.”

Then there is the Samaritan, whose ethic is love. And along one of the most dangerous roads in all of history seems to live by a code that says “what is mine is yours…if you have need of it”.

My safety is yours…if you have need of it.

My security is yours…if you have need of it.

My resources are yours…if you have need of them.

My health is tied to your health.

My well-being is tied to your well-being.

Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. preached on this text often and once said that the real difference between the priest and the Levite from the Samaritan is the question that each must have asked. The priest and the Levite likely asked, “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?”. The Samaritan likely asked a very different question - “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”

Fear has a way of making us all behave badly. It was true for the priest and the Levite, and it is still true for us today. When fear is the ethic of our lives, we tend to cling to our own safety and our own individual rights. When fear is the ethic of our lives, we retreat, mind our own business and rarely cross to the other side of the road to help. And when fear is the ethic of our lives, we end up placing our hope in mottos like “We Dare Defend Our Rights” or “Don’t Tread On Me” as opposed to Jesus’ greatest commandment to “Love God and Love Your Neighbour”.

It doesn’t take looking out the window for very long to know that we are all on a road somewhere between Jerusalem and Jericho right now. It’s dangerous out there. The heartbreak and exhaustion are real. It’s not just the virus. It’s everything. It’s layers and layers of being beaten and bruised along a dry, hard road these past 18 months.

So, we have some choices to make. We can choose to make our decisions with an ethic of fear. And for a time, choices based on fear have a way of making us feel safe, but that is fleeting at best.

The other choice is to cross the road to help our neighbour. When we cross to the other side, we’ll get a glimpse of something Jesus talked an awful lot about. We’ll see what transformation looks like. We’ll finally understand who we are called to be. And best of all, we’ll finally encounter the Kingdom we’ve been longing for.

Staffing News

Mrs Donna Duggan has accepted a position at St James College starting in 2022.  Donna has made an outstanding contribution to the St Aloysius College community as an educator, mentor and leader and she will be sadly missed. Donna started at St Aloysius in 2009 and has a held a diversity of roles at the College, presently being in the very important position of Director of Teaching and Learning

No matter what her role, Donna has always demonstrated an outstanding work ethic with the highest level of professionalism and integrity.  Her students have benefited from having a passionate teacher who has always worked hard to ensure that they have the best learning outcomes in an engaging environment. As a leader, Donna has worked tirelessly to ensure the College has a collegial approach for teaching and learning from Kinder to Year 10.  She has been approachable, supportive and willing to action the many needs of a growing College.  We are grateful for the time and energy she has given to progressing the College towards Year 11 and 12 in 2023. 

Mr Martin McManus will in effect retire at the end of the year. Martin will actually be taking Long Service Leave at the start of 2022 and will technically retire at the end of his Long Service Leave.

Martin commenced at St Aloysius in 2015. He is a passionate and outstanding teacher who genuinely cares about each of his students. Martin is very energetic. If he is not on class, Martin is checking in on students in electives, visiting intervention classes, touching base with teachers, calling parents, patrolling the grounds, directing buses, repairing vacuum cleaners, cleaning toilets… the list goes on.

As well as supporting students, Martin has been a wonderful support to parents and staff. Whenever there has been any problem, no matter what size, he always is fully active in providing support and follow through. Martin also thinks of everything. At the beginning of each and every year, timetables for each Grade 7 class are created, printed and displayed, labels are printed for bag boxes, and students are directed on exactly where to store their display folders, bibles and associated belongings.

St Aloysius has been very blessed to have Donna Duggan and Martin McManus on the staff. They have both been incredibly generous in their support of the St Aloysius community.