Staff Insights
By Rev. Dr Katherine Rainger, Senior Chaplain
In the lead-up to a conversation about Christian rituals with Year 7 students, I asked them about the rituals associated with birthdays in their families. As well as hearing about cakes and presents that are a common feature for many of us, we also heard about an elaborate scavenger hunt with riddles and clues that lead to presents. Ms Lonsdale also reported that Christmas pudding is served on her birthday!
Humans rely on rituals to mark the passage of time, to make meaning of our experiences, and to reflect upon and process significant events.
Three rituals we share as an Anglican school are Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Communion. Baptism is a ritual of initiation that is open to everyone. The symbols of water, oil, and candles signify being renewed, being welcomed into the faith, and anointed to live as a follower of Jesus, bearing his light in the world. Baptism can happen at any age.
Confirmation involves recognition through a prayer, prayed by the Bishop, that God confirms his love and grace in our lives as we confirm our belief and trust in God. Confirmation is a ritual for teenagers and adults who have come to a decision about faith for themselves.
Holy Communion is a ritual given to us by Jesus in which the everyday symbols of bread and wine become a source of spiritual nourishment. Each term, secondary students are invited to participate in Holy Communion.
Rev. Andy and I can also arrange for services of Baptism, admission to Holy Communion and Confirmation to take place in the Radford Chapel. If you are interested in any of these rituals, please email me. We’ve had some enquiries about Confirmation, and it would be good to know if others are interested too.
This short video produced by Anglican Schools Australia discusses the rituals of Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Communion.
Reflection on the Referendum
At the recent Anglican School Australia conference held in Canberra, we heard from Signatory and Advocate for the Uluru Statement from the Heart Thomas Mayo and artist and speaker Canon Glenn Loughrey on the case for voting yes in the upcoming referendum. Both speakers were met with enthusiastic applause. The conference delegates then voted to affirm the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the Voice to Parliament.
After his presentation, Thomas Mayo took questions from the floor. What struck me was the fact that one person said the proposed referendum did not go far enough, and the next person said that it went too far! Thomas gave succinct and convincing answers to both questions. Thomas’ speech and recitation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart at Dirrum Dirrum Festival in 2022 can be accessed here.
The Anglican Church of Australia has a constituted body called the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Anglican Council (NATSIAC) that functions in a similar way to the proposed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament.
NATSIAC and the Public Affairs Commission of the Anglican Church of Australia have compiled a list of resources for Anglican parishes, schools and organisations titled, Understanding and Responding to the Referendum to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. It can be accessed here.
May the God of hope and restoration be present in our conversations, prayers and action as individuals and communities seek justice, reconciliation and a way forward over the coming month and into the future.
A Thanksgiving for Australia, a prayer by NATSIAC member Rev. Lenore Parker
God of Holy Dreaming, Great Creator Spirit,
from the dawn of creation you have given your children
the good things of Mother Earth.
You spoke and the gum tree grew.
In the vast desert and dense forest,
and in cities at the water’s edge,
Creation sings your praise.
Your presence endures
as the rock at the heart of our Land.
When Jesus hung on the tree
you heard the cries of all your people
and became one with your wounded ones:
the convicts, the hunted, the dispossessed.
The sunrise of your Son coloured the earth anew,
and bathed it in glorious hope.
In Jesus we have been reconciled to you,
to each other and to your whole creation.
Lead us on, Great Spirit,
as we gather from the four corners of the earth;
enable us to walk together in trust
from the hurt and shame of the past
into the full day which has dawned in Jesus Christ.
Amen
News
By Ms Megan Fritsch, Director of Sport
Radford College was once again invited to take part in the Australian Sports Foundation (ASF) Pollies Relay Dash on Tuesday, 5 September.
This year, Year 11 students Josie Holt, Hugo Hayward, Jack Walker, Chloe Miller, Matilda Sullings, Joshua McIntyre, Zoe Hickey and Chrysanthe Karkazis joined more than 50 runners, including Minister for Sport Anika Wells, Senator David Pocock, Hon Dr Andrew Leigh MP, ASF CEO Patrick Walker, Olympic and Commonwealth champions, and media in the relay race at Parliament House.
The 2023 winning team was led by Senator Pocock and supported by Radford team members Hugo and Chrysanthe.
The ASF is the country’s leading non-profit sport fundraising charity that distributes funds to athletes and sports clubs across Australia. It is the only organisation in Australia for which donations are tax deductible.
Radford sport is also creating a stronger relationship with the ASF to support the various sports at the College. Currently, Radford rowing and netball have projects that you can donate to simply by going to rowing and/or netball – we will also be looking at putting place projects for our other sports.
We would like to say thank you to the ASF for its ongoing support and providing our students with such great opportunities.
By Miss Haruna Masuda, Language Assistant - Japanese
Hi everyone! I’m Haruna from Osaka, Japan. I’m the assistant teacher for Japanese this year. I have been working at Radford since Term 1 and will leave at the end of Term 3. My time here is getting shorter and shorter every day. Since I came here, I experienced a lot of things, and I learned a lot of things. I’m sure I made progress in many ways through my experiences here. In this article, I would like to share those experiences and how it has improved me.
I have lived with a different host family during each term. I was very nervous every time I moved to a new host family’s house. But at the same time, I was very excited to get to know new people and gain new experiences. I could experience living with three different families, and as expected, they all had different lifestyles. Since all of my host families lived in different areas, I got to experience the different atmosphere in each neighbourhood, such as Hawker, O’Connor and Florey.
I have also travelled to many places while I’ve been in Australia. I've been to Sydney, Ballarat, Melbourne, Narooma, Cairns and Uluru. I think I have done a lot of fun things during my trip. I like all of the places, but if I had to pick one, I think I would say Uluru was the best for me because I have never seen that type of scenery in Japan.
I have experienced a lot of things in Australia, but I think the biggest experience for me has been joining classes at Radford. I have enjoyed classes very much. They are very different to Japanese school. I've found the students at Radford to be very welcoming. Everyone is very nice and kind. In terms of language classes, I think the students are enjoying talking in Japanese, and teachers are teaching real Japanese. It might be natural for you, but I think it’s different to Japanese school because we tend to focus more on tests rather than using the language for communicating. That’s why teachers in Japan also tend to teach how to get good scores in tests. Also, because we don’t have a speaking test, we rarely practise speaking. This is the biggest difference that I've noticed between language classes in Australia and Japan.
Because I've joined Japanese classes every day, I've been able to learn more about my country while I've lived in Australia. I can notice the differences between Japan and Australia more through the classes. I've realised that my everyday life in Japan is totally different compared to my daily life here. I knew temples, shrines, anime and Japanese food were unique to Japan, but I didn’t know that my daily life in Japan was unique. I never thought Japanese snacks were good because it’s the only thing I know. I didn’t know Japanese bread was good either and I didn’t understand why foreign travellers took photos of just buildings in Osaka. I have become proud of my country and proud of being Japanese (of course, I love Australia too!). But I think I might not have realised these kinds of things if I hadn’t come to Radford, even if I had come to Australia on holiday. Thanks to these experiences, I now know how unique Japan is. And now I’m thinking about pursuing a job that can introduce the world to Japan. I think I found a lot of things that I want to do in the future and what I can do through the experiences I gained here. I hope students also learn more about Japan and get to like it more.
I came here to improve my English, to experience the life in Australia, and to learn how to teach Japanese, but I feel that I've learned much more than I expected. This experience really changed my life. I am really grateful because all the teachers, staff and my host families warmly welcomed me. I couldn’t have spent a wonderful time like this without them. This is the longest experience for me living outside of Japan, so I feel Canberra is my second hometown. I will leave very soon, but I’m sure I will be back here someday!
