Faith, Mission & Values
Faith
We seek to develop in our students a personal and active faith relationship with Jesus Christ, inspired by the example of St Francis and our Franciscan heritage.
The College offers rich and engaging experiences to open our young women to the presence of Jesus in their lives. This is multifaceted and occurs through the Religious Education curriculum; the College Pedagogy of Encounter approach to giving scripture meaning in today’s world; the liturgical life of the College; Student Lead Ministry; Faith Formation Days, Retreats and Immersion Programs.
The faith life of the College is also inspired by the legacy of our four college patrons: Clare, Francis, Helene and Mary.
Clare: She Who Connects. We are strengthened by St Clare of Assisi, a woman of firm faith, commitment and sisterly love.
Francis: She Who Shares. We are inspired by St Francis of Assisi who invites us to know Jesus and enter into a shared humanity through inclusion and peace.
Helene: She Who Learns. We value Helene de Chappotin’s vision for education, which professes learning for all to achieve fullness of life.
Mary: She Who Seeks Truth. We follow Mary’s model for life to trust in the truth of God’s love.
At every Year Level, our students have opportunities to support and participate in social justice action. This is integrated in the Religious Education curriculum through Years 7 to 12 and is also part of co-curricular activities.
We encourage and support student-led initiatives and campaigns. Each Year Level has a social justice focus, led by our Franciscan student leaders, for which students take local and global action to improve the lives of others in meaningful ways.
2023 College Theme
'May we treasure God’s word like Mary'
Mary’s faith is an example to us all. Mary’s faith was nurtured through prayer and reading the scriptures. She did so all her life which enabled her to say ‘yes’ to God at the Annunciation. Her faith gave her the strength to continue as she watched Jesus suffer and die.
When people spoke to Mary about Jesus, she ‘treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart’ (Luke 2:19), reflecting on God’s guidance in her life.
God loves each of us into life. God wants to be in relationship with us. If so, we need to make time. If we are to be like Mary, we can make time to listen to God in prayer. We can make time to go to Mass. We can make time to read the Bible. In that way, we will hear God’s word. Then we each need to give ourselves time and space to think about what God’s word means for me in my life. As we do so, our faith will grow and strengthen, just as Mary’s faith did.
Mary lived her faith. We can live our faith by being our true selves, finding and developing our gifts and talents, then using them to build the Ave community. We can live our faith through relationships that show respect and compassion. We can live our faith by acting for justice through our social justice focus.
The 2023 College Banner was created by Year 12 student Alex Rivette. Alex’s work was selected amongst numerous student applications with artwork inspired by Mary and this year’s theme.
St Clare Chapel
