Justice and Peace is a key priority for St Edward’s College. The founder of the Christian Brothers, Blessed Edmund Rice, was a man who saw the needs of others and committed himself to ACTION.
At St Edward’s College we are part of an international group of schools and justice and peace ministries. There are 38 Edmund Rice schools in Australia and we are connected to them partly through the Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Development, Homebush.
‘Our schools exist to challenge popular beliefs and dominant cultural values, to ask the difficult question, to look at life from the standpoint of the minority, the victim, the stranger’
Br Phillip Pinto, Congregational Leader of the Christian Brothers, New York, 2002.
All Year 7 students will be introduced to the story of Blessed Edmund Rice via their studies in Religious Education. In addition, boys will be given ample opportunities to participate in community outreach such as Red Cross, 40 Hour Famine, soup kitchens and many others. These institutions challenge us to be faithful to the spirit of the Good News.
More formally, the Year 8 ‘Charity Begins at Home’ program inducts boys into 15 hours of compulsory community outreach per year. This is called the WATERFORD PROJECT. Students have three terms to complete the program and parental support is much needed and valued.
Other significant outreach opportunities continue in Years 10, 11 and 12, which aim to broaden students experience of serving others in need. These outreach activities form part of the Waterford Project. The Waterford booklet can be downloaded below, together with other relevant information.
As an Edmund Rice school, we are governed by THE CHARTER (2011) and are now newly led by Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA) – this document governs expectations of Edmund Rice schools in terms of Community Outreach as well as our response to people living on the margins and our use of compassion and service to those in need.