Deputy Principal Mission and Pastoral Care

Student Awareness and Activism at Santa Sabina

The Salamanca Service Model at Santa Sabina has at its core key stories from our Dominican history and legacy. This structural model underpins how we approach recognition and awareness events like National Reconciliation Week and World Environment Day; both of which we have marked in the last week.

Awareness and Activism and our Dominican charism and story

The Dominican tradition is rooted in the preaching of Jesus’ life and the teachings of the Gospels. The Order of Preachers down the ages of more than 800 years have, in their preaching, looked for God in the everyday lives and events of the people to whom they preach in word and action. This was definitely the case in 16th century South America. The first Dominicans to travel from Spain to the New World in 1510 landed on the island of Hispaniola. They were welcomed by Bartolome Las Casas, a slave-owning priest on the Island. The Dominicans spent their first year on the island observing, talking, reflecting and praying. They lived with the Indigenous community and witnessed the terrible degradation these colonised people underwent at the hands of the Spanish conquerors. In December 1511 Antonio de Montesinos preached on behalf of the Dominican community on Hispaniola.

‘I am the voice of Christ in the desert of this island. It would be wise of you to pay attention and to listen with your whole heart and with every fabric of your being… You are all in mortal sin. You live in it, you die in it. All because of the cruel tyranny you exercise against these innocent peoples. Tell me, by what right and with what justice do you so violently enslave these Indians?’

This sermon was the launching point for a wave of new thinking on the basic rights of all humanity. It was driven by the simple Gospel message that we should love one another as God loves us. To the Dominicans in the New World the Indians were ‘persecuted neighbours made in the image of God’. Bartolome Las Casas was moved to change his slave-owning ways and actually joined the Dominicans by 1522. This great legacy of championing the rights of the most oppressed in society spread back to the University of Salamanca in Spain, where many of the Dominicans had studied. Professor Francisco de Vitoria and his study, lectures and preaching on the dignity of the person were very influential in changing the colonial laws in Spain in 1542. ‘So the Salamanca Process came to be.’

Salamanca House Projects

This week our Year 7-12 students will be moving to the Awareness stage of their projects for 2024 after having discerned through discussion and presentations the social issue they wished to pursue as a House. Our Assistant Heads of House accompanied by a committee of students will lead their House in awareness raising activities and learning in readiness for the action goals that will be fulfilled in Term 3 and the Advocacy focus that will happen in Term 4.

National Reconciliation Week

From 26 May – 3 June the College has marked National Reconciliation Week with learning in classrooms and across a range of subject areas. Our Student Leaders have initiated Homeroom activities and researched to answer questions that students have asked during Homeroom time. We have had assemblies on both the Primary and Secondary campuses and students undertook actions such as painting a College banner, creating Indigenous wreaths and making written pledges to display on Dom’s Plot. Again, the strength of Awareness, Action and Advocacy has been demonstrated in our approach to this event.

World Environment Day – Take 3 for SSC Campaign

In our 7-12 Assembly this week the Environment and Sustainability Prefect and her action team introduced a new initiative to the College. We are hoping that this will be adopted across the all campuses. The leaders were excited to inform the community that,

‘This leads to the new environment initiative at Santa Sabina called ‘Take 3 for SSC.’ This initiative stems from the organisation ‘Take 3 for the Sea’ encouraging people to pick up three pieces of rubbish every time they leave the beach or a waterway, with their mantra being simple actions to address complex problems.

The small action of picking up three pieces of rubbish after every recess and lunch will help reduce the likelihood of plastic ending up in our waterways and make the school a cleaner environment. It is our earth we are saving and we can’t leave it up to other people. Let’s start small and ensure that our actions represent our beliefs – no one thinks we should be living amongst rubbish at school so how about we do something about it.’

A lot is happening in the space of Activism and Awareness around the College at the moment. Please stay tuned to our social media for updates as well as initiating discussions with your children around how they are involved in these initiatives at school.