Students Complete 2024 Sacramental Program

What a blessing it is to help people journey towards God!

Last week, 18 students from Melton and Cobblebank campuses received their Initiation Sacraments at a beautiful Mass at St Anthony’s Church led by our Parish Priest Fr Alex Clemente.

It was a pleasure and honour for the Assistant to the Director of Faith and Mission at our Cobblebank Campus, John Kavanagh and I, to prepare the largest group of students to take part in the Sacramental Program during the third year it has been offered at the College.

We congratulate the following students and welcome them as the newest full members of our Catholic family:

Melton Campus

Ava, Aibert, Victoria, Sheen, Kelsey and Shelby (Year 7), William (Year 8), Yeani, Bao (Year 9) and Orlando (Year 11).

Cobblebank Campus

Adele, Tanisha, Konnor, Skye (Year 7), Liam, Connor, Rhianna, Elias (Year 8).

A special mention to Cobblebank student Tanisha who was the only one to receive the Sacrament of Baptism last Thursday.

I was very impressed with this year’s group of students, particularly their dedication and willingness to participate in what the program has to offer.

There were some who attended every session, completed every section of the workbook, and willingly and joyfully partook in all the Virtue Tasks (special activities done at home). This was amazing and inspiring.

One of the wonderful highlights was when one of the students said that they had not been going to Church on Sundays, however because of their recent faith journey, they had approached their parents who had agreed to support their desire to go, and will now start taking them to Sunday Mass.

This is what it is all about, our unity to Christ in the Church He established. My heart was filled with joy hearing these words and, in a very real way in relation to the humility of faith, the student became the teacher.

Below are reflections from two of the students who made the sacred journey of completing their Sacraments of Initiation into the Catholic Church. I thank them for being willing and courageous enough to share their stories.

Aibert, Year 7, Melton Campus

When I first started my spiritual journey to be closer to God, I was a little nervous. None of my friends were in the program and I was outside of my comfort zone.

At first, I doubted I would finish, but as I attended the weekly lessons the Word of God interested me and inspired me to continue.

Regularly doing my ‘God work’ as Mr Sciberras would call it (which was our work at home), I started becoming excited to know more about the Catholic faith. I found the experience to be very rewarding, I gained lots of knowledge and it was an amazing spiritual journey.

I was anxious while receiving the sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Communion, but I was very excited to be fully part of the Catholic family, the Church, and to receive the Holy Spirit into my soul. 

Shelby, Year 7, Melton Campus

I come from a Catholic family and was baptised at the age of seven. Upon commencing high school and immersing myself in the Catholic faith even more through Religion classes, I decided I wanted to complete my Sacraments of Initiation. I joined the program at school with other students ranging from Year 7 to Year 11. Every Thursday we met with our teacher, Mr Sciberras, to discuss the content we had focused on during the past week.

We were given a workbook to fill in which comprised of 12 chapters. The workbook was supported by videos which helped us create more of an understanding on the topic. Each chapter focused on a new area of the seven Sacraments, God and who He is, and the Catholic Church.

Along with the workbook and videos, we were set ‘Virtue Tasks’ to complete at home. They focused on a special activity to do at home or for our parents. For example, cooking dinner for your family, asking your parents about their first job, cleaning the house and discussing our Confirmation Saint and Sponsor.

I feel blessed to have been given the opportunity to complete my Sacraments of Initiation within my high school. At the Initiation Mass, where I received my Confirmation and then Holy Communion, I was given the opportunity to read the Second Reading during the Mass and I was extremely nervous, however, I felt honoured to be asked to do this. I feel much closer to God and happy and excited to have now completed all my sacraments.