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LMS Term 1 In Review

Term 1, 2023, has been, like many places, a productive and impactful start to the year for the Lasallian Mission Services Formation for Mission Team. The shape of the team continued to evolve, with two appointments. Firstly, after serving originally as a Lasallian Youth Minister, Retreats and Program Coordinator and Young Lasallians Coordinator over the last 8 years, Sebastian Duhau, began the year as the Associate Director of Young Lasallians. Secondly, Joshua Cant, former Lasallian Volunteer and Lasallian Youth Minister at St Bede’s joined the team in a full-time capacity based out of Melbourne. These two significant changes have will help the team continue to provide presence and service to the mission as the team remains agile and adaptive to needs. Within the “Dream Team 2023”, 4 Young Lasallians chose to serve as Lasallian Volunteers in the Balgo and Middle Swan placements. There are 21 Lasallian Youth Ministers, with 8 commencing at the start of this year.

In January, the return of the in-person Lasallian Student Leadership Seminar and Gathering for the Pilgrimage programs were an ample reminder of the vibrancy of the Lasallian Family. Both experiences saw the creation of a joyous atmosphere as students from across Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea were begin their leadership journeys. One effect of the in-person gathering has been the strengthened online participation of students at LSLS Checkpoints, held in Term 1 and then throughout subsequent terms.

The Young Lasallians Team facilitated 21 retreats over the course of Term 1 in communities in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Armidale, Orange, Moree and Lithgow.  Two new schools were engaged, St Philomenas, Moree, and St Benedicts, Oran Park were the team designed and facilitated a brand new program, “The Flourish Olympics” centred around positive psychology framework of virtues and character strengths. In Moree, Sebastian spent a week there and the local Parish Priest, Fr Damien Locke, alumni of O’Connor Catholic College, wrote this about the experience, “I just can’t tell you what a joy Seb was to have around and his work with our young people was inspiring. He is a credit to himself and to you and your team and I wanted to drop you this short note to acknowledge that. He and our own Georgia McMahon, along with our wonderful REC Melita Roache worked beautifully together across the course of the week and it was just a pleasure to be involved.”  This has been emblematic of the work undertaken by the team.

The team in the Adult Formation space have delivered the Lasallian Compass program to welcome new staff into the Lasallian charism in 3 diverse ways in Term 1. In Adelaide and Sydney, there were over 30+ staff members who gathered together for a one-day facilitated experience. For new Lasallian Leaders who were unable to gather physically, an online experience was held that saw new Directors of Learning, Mission, Deputy Principals and Principals gather.  And for the staff at Caringbah and Cronulla, this induction experience was incorporated as part of the Brothers in residence program.

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