Our school provides opportunities for students, staff and parents to know and celebrate their Catholic faith. This is done through the religious life of our school. Members of our community experience a rich liturgical and prayer life, celebration of the Sacraments, faith formation, social outreach activities, and opportunities to share faith with each other and with youth from other schools in the Archdiocese.
Our dedicated learning facilitators invite students to engage in lessons that help them explore content relevant to the course. Encouraging a flexible and engaging learning experience, our students seek the truth about God, the Church and the Bible among other engaging topics. Students graduate from Southern Cross Catholic College Burwood with a real life experience of what it means to be Catholic, both in and outside of the classroom.
Staff are encouraged to nurture their own faith and understanding through opportunities such as further study in Religious Education and Theology, prayer and reflection, retreats and pilgrimages and other faith formation activities.
Our staff are committed to their role as Catholic educators. Each year, they attend a staff spirituality day in which they deepen their understanding of their faith, and in turn, their students.
Our Catholic school is part of the Catholic Church. We work in partnership with our local parish and priests in order to enrich the spiritual life of the students, staff and families of our school, especially through the celebration of the Sacraments.
The college is proudly Catholic and incorporates all aspects of Catholic life, including regular prayer, Mass, opportunities for retreats and reflection days. Religious Education is part of the curriculum and all students complete Catholic Studies as part of their HSC. All aspects of college life are underpinned by Gospel values and the college has a close relationship with the local parish of St Mary’s Concord.
Central to the religious life of the school is the person of Jesus Christ who came among us ‘as one who serves’ (Luke 22.27). Our Catholic school is committed to reaching out to help those in need, through charitable outreach initiatives. All outreach activities connect to the person of Jesus Christ and to the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. Drawing on the Catholic Social Teaching of the Church, we have a deep commitment to supporting a range of charitable organisations, families and individuals in need.
All students are expected to complete a minimum of 30 hours of social outreach over the two years they spend at the college. The philosophy behind this requirement is to help our students to look outward and to seek to use their gifts and talents for the benefit of others. Initiatives at the college include visiting the local nursing home, St Mary’s Villa and an immersion in an Aboriginal community. Social outreach is a means of putting faith into action and encouraging our students to become more socially aware of ways that they can contribute to the wider community and to the less fortunate members of our society.