June 4th was a day of great excitement for Savio Salesian College: on this day, we received our bishop. I say ‘our bishop’ because Bishop Tom Williams is home grown, with his roots firmly established in St Anthony’s parish on Scotland Road.
He visited us to see how we were going on. Students were as eager to meet him as he was to meet them. He had words of encouragement for the staff, too.
The culmination of the students' experience was the Year 7 Mass, with all the readings rehearsed, the Prayer of the Faithful written, the Offertory Procession organised and the altar servers practised.
Year 7 students filed into the hall prepared and looking pristine.
We were very fortunate that a music group from St James’ Church, (our local parish, served by Salesians), came along too and the students sang with gusto under their leadership. Thank you all who came!
Readers from Years 8 and 9 delivered messages from the Acts of the Apostles beautifully.
The bishop spoke about what it meant to be a part of the Salesian family. ‘Family’ was to be his theme for the day.
Proudly, our students brought down a scarf to represent all St John Bosco’s family – especially those present. Then a small box of soaps followed showing how we served others less fortunate than themselves: the soaps had been collected by our Junior SVP, and were in readiness for taking to St James’ SVP.
We had much to celebrate; a school being guided by the Church, with teachers who were dedicated to making the lives of their students richer in God’s love.
Later in the day, the bishop celebrated a Mass for the Staff. He had spent the day talking to us, listening to our problems and discussing possible solutions: our problems are not unique as we struggle to keep our faith alive and active.
We have to remember that no matter what we are a part of the family of God.
Bishop Tom’s visit provided us all with real encouragement for what we are doing. Staff and students sometimes need a good dose of inspiration and Bishop Tom certainly gave us that and we thank him.
As St John Bosco said:
‘Do you want to do a holy thing? A truly holy thing? Educate the young.
