Our Years 7-9 students settle into examinations this week. One of our Year 8s has just told me he clocked up 10 hours on the weekend working through his study guides. What a terrific effort, definitely taking to heart Lao-Tzu’s maxim: “A scholar who cherishes the love of comfort is not fit to be deemed a scholar”.

News from the Chaplain

All Saints Day

This Sunday we will be celebrating All Saints Day (which, like ‘the day before the races at Tangmalangmaloo’, is the day after Halloween). We are all called to be saints. Our constant failures should not turn us away from that goal but help us to be more humble and strive ever more faithfully to that goal.

Moral psychology poses a range of theoretical challenges to being a saint. One such challenge is the “Good Samaritan experiment”. Subjects in this experiment were students at Princeton Theological Seminary. As each subject arrived, he was informed that he was to give a talk that would be recorded in another building. Along the way to the place for the talk, the subject encountered a "victim" slumped in a doorway. Half of the subjects were assigned to talk on the Good Samaritan Parable; the others were assigned a different topic. Some of the subjects were told they were late and should hurry; some were told they had just enough time to get to the recording room; and some were told they would arrive early. Judging by their responses to a questionnaire, they had different religious and moral orientations. The only one of these variables that made a difference was how much of a hurry the subjects were in. 63% of subjects that were in no hurry stopped to help, 45% of those in a moderate hurry stopped, and 10% of those that were in a great hurry stopped. It made no difference whether the students were assigned to talk on the Good Samaritan Parable, nor did it matter what their religious outlook was.

Such experiments do not mean that ‘sanctity’ is just a matter of circumstance. The information provided is so scant that we cannot draw any real conclusions. A student that failed to stop may have done so because of a mistaken notion of duty to be ‘on time’ or he may have failed to stop because of the less worthy motivation of ‘getting some airtime’. Another student with the same unworthy motivations may have stopped to help precisely because there were onlookers! These external factors provide the occasion for different manifestations of character traits. Agents who are normally kind and compassionate under ordinary circumstances, find it difficult to maintain this behaviour under the stress of being late. Their lack of compassion in this case does not indicate that character traits do not exist, rather that these subjects did not have full virtue. Full virtue requires that one is kind and compassionate in all circumstances where this is the appropriate behaviour, no matter how difficult it is to do so, and that one should act effortlessly, no matter how many temptations there are to do otherwise. That we are not yet saints is a constant call for conversion. Let us see in Christ the model for our own behavior.

Here are some PowerPoint slides of the events

Year 2 Catechism Test for Secondary

I remember an old toothpaste commercial with Mrs Marsh showing the children how liquid can permeate a piece of chalk. Their high-pitched nasal response said it all: “Oooh, it really does get in!” In the same vein I decided to test the effectiveness of the Primary School Catechism lessons by running a multiple choice test for all of the students in Secondary. The results confirmed the wisdom of that rote learning as it clearly helped the older students navigate some quite complex ‘wrong answers’ which I interspersed with what they had learnt in Year 2. The average mark was 24 out of 26 which I consider to be a very pleasing result. I am half tempted to run the test on Facebook to see how other teenagers would fare with these dogmatic challenges!

Below are the three questions that stumped a good proportion of the students. A cryptic clue to the correct answers is what you might expect to hear from the flock J

2. What does the ‘Immaculate Conception’ mean?

(a) The ‘Immaculate Conception’ means that Mary conceived Jesus in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit.

(b) The ‘Immaculate Conception’ means that Mary, from her first moment, was free from original sin and was full of grace.

(c) The ‘Immaculate Conception’ means that Mary was thought of by God as His best idea since before the creation of the world.

(d) The ‘Immaculate Conception’ is a doctrine of theologians that the Holy Father has recently withdrawn his support for and said that it no longer applies to believers today.

6. Who is the head of the Church?

(a) The head of the Church is Jesus Christ.

(b) The head of the Church is the Pope.

(d) There is no supreme head of the Church.

15. Is there only one God?

(a) Yes, there is only one God.

(b) No, there are three gods but they act as though they were one God.

(d) Yes, although He goes under different names. Different religions all worship the same God.

Vietnam Experience

During the month of January, a goodly number of past and present Redfield students took part in a service project in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) looking after Vietnamese orphans. The Orphanage of Phu My is an experience like no other. 2 floors lined with cots are filled by 400 patients, many with cerebral palsy. During the course of the week 200 staff and many local and international volunteers help to feed and clean the children. Resources are so scarce that the nurses on the night watch sleep on the floor. Although the Communist Party took over the Orphanage some years ago with a representative of the Party as the director, the actual work and oversight of the children continues to be carried out by 14 nuns of the Order of St Paul of Charity. These goodly nuns are the backbone of all that takes place in the Orphanage. They are forbidden from baptising or catechising the children but their affectionate example leads the children to embrace the faith of their own accord once they are old enough to start sneaking off for catechism lessons at the local churches. The habit clad nuns follow a simple timetable of prayer and work that begins with mental prayer at 4am, Holy Mass at 5am in the local parish, work, lunch, a 15 minute repose, more work and then Holy Rosary, Spiritual Reading, Mental Prayer and Divine Office from 4pm onwards. They retire for sleep at 9:30pm.

Although Vietnam continues to be ruled by a totalitarian communist party that allows no freedom of expression, the bark of the party tends to be worse than its bite. The inflow of tourists, expanded trade and the need for alliances with other countries in order to ward off potential Chinese invasion has led to a loosening of the communist crackdown on religion. That said, the Party still interferes in religious matters and sets a quota for the number of priests that are allowed to be ordained each year. A little under 10% of the country is Catholic but the Churches are filled with people every day and from early in the morning. The Church continues to grow with a steady flow of converts and in Saigon at least the priests are well regarded by everybody and may move about unhindered in their clerical attire.

As for the nitty gritty of the Workcamp the boys sanded, painted and installed a ceiling to an upstairs patio converting it into another playground for the children. They also fed the disabled and spent time caring for the orphans with whom we grew very attached. Those children who could would literally leap out of their cots to receive an affectionate hug and a look of compassion and understanding. Their smiles expanded tenfold during the wheelchair races and ‘ball pit’ basketball games we arranged. When we finally had to leave there were tears shed by the children and staff. The nuns were also sorry to see us go, impressed as they were by the boys daily Mass attendance and afternoon visits to the Blessed Sacrament. All in all I think that we will have a good number of ‘veterans’ wanting to go back the next time we organise a service project in Vietnam.

Fr Richard Umbers

Holy Week Hymn Singing
On Holy Thursday at lunchtime, there will be a recital of Holy Week hymns led by Christian Catsanos. Parents and students are most welcome to attend.
Fr Richard Umbers

Ladies Chapel Roster Term 4, 2009

Chapel Linen Roster

Chapel Flowers

Week 1	Grace Zambrano
Week 2	Mari Teh
Week 3	Ruby Catsanos
Week 4	Juliett Dimian
Week 5	Eugene Fidel
Week 6	Daria Yu
Week 7	Kati North
Week 8	Maricel Cavestany
Week 9	Meray Douehi
Week 10	Cynthia Jaucian