Dear Families,

Official Opening and Blessing of the Faulkner Centre and Gabriel Expansion
A few weeks ago, we proudly celebrated the Official Opening and Blessing of the Faulkner Centre and Gabriel Expansion, marking an exciting milestone in our school’s growth and educational excellence journey. These new facilities reflect our commitment to creating contemporary learning environments that empower our students to Learn More. Live More. Be More.

The Faulkner Centre holds our Year 11 and 12 students, the building features expansive general learning areas and versatile breakout spaces designed to foster both individual and collaborative work. This building was completed and opened in 2020, so it was great being able to finally celebrate and officially bless this building, as it now stands as a testament to our dedication to creating optimal learning environments for our senior students.

Appointment of new Business Manager at Thomas More College
After a rigorous process and from an excellent field, I am very pleased to announce Tracie Dawber as our new Business Manager. Tracie has excellent qualifications and outstanding experience across a variety of roles. These include:

• General Manager, Corporate Services - Campbeltown City Council
• Finance Director - Calvary North Adelaide & Central Districts Hospital
• Associate Director Finance & Procurement - Adelaide City Council
• Associate Director of Commercial - City of Adelaide
• Director of Finance - Statewide Clinical Support Services
• Business Performance & Continuity Manager - SA Pathology (SA Health)
• Manager, Shared Services SA - Department of Treasury & Finance

Tracie spoke powerfully about a key element of this role: a deep appreciation for Catholic Education, partly due to her son and daughter’s experience at Catholic Schools. She is connected to the Catholic Ethos and wants to play a part in leading it. She was attracted to TMC for this ethos and our diversity which she has become aware of.

We again wish our outgoing Business Manager, Brian Trumble, well as he relocates back to Melbourne this week. It has been great to have Brian work with Tracie over this week to ensure that our school does not miss a beat.

Take care,

Corey Tavella
Principal

On 6 March the College hosted its annual Athletics Carnival. The weather was perfect, and the competition was fierce, as students participated in a variety of events, embodying the spirit of persistence and striving for excellence. McLuskey House took home the Spirit Cup for the fourth consecutive year, with individual spirit medallions awarded to:

Travers: Soren Pugliese
Hosking: Hayley Frank
McLuskey: Ruth Amale
McDonald: Isaac Dunn

Age Group Champions were awarded to those with the most points across individual events:
U/13   Female: Aysha Semoaa
U/13   Male: Ethan Datson
U/14   Female: Emily Salmon
U/14   Male: Kody Todd
U/15   Female: Lily Aitken
U/15   Male: Jed Kennedy
U/16   Male: Rhydian Yem
U/16   Female: Jerlina Kingson
U/21   Female: Chloe Datson
U/21   Male: Shahram Hidayat

The International Women's Day breakfast in Adelaide, hosted by Senator Penny Wong, was a vibrant and inspiring event celebrating the achievements and contributions of women. With a strong focus on empowerment and gender equality, the event featured a powerful keynote address by guest speaker Rachele Perkins, a prominent advocate for Indigenous rights and social justice. Her speech resonated deeply with attendees, highlighting the importance of inclusivity and equal opportunities for all women, particularly those from marginalized communities. The breakfast brought together diverse voices, fostering meaningful conversations about progress and the work still to be done in achieving gender parity.

Our Year 10 students recently embarked on an enriching excursion, visiting several significant sites in Adelaide. Despite the hot weather, the students demonstrated remarkable enthusiasm and resilience throughout the day.

This excursion aligns with their unit on community exploration, where students need to explore and analyse local religious art and architecture, understand the underlying beliefs and stories, and reflect on their contribution to the community.

The journey began at the Himeji Garden, where students explored and learned about the spiritual significance there. Next, they visited the Palestine Center for Peace, where they experienced the powerful exhibition 'A Land of Three Faiths' and engaged in meaningful discussions about peace and justice. The final stop was St. Peter's Cathedral, where students appreciated the architecture and reflected on its historical and religious importance.

Future Foods
In Week 7, Year 9 Geography students were given the opportunity to sample some future foods. These foods were purchased from a sustainable source (Circle Harvest) and is suitable for human consumption.

After the tasting, students engaged in a reflective discussion about their experiences. They considered the taste and texture of the insects, comparing them to their initial expectations. Some were surprised by how palatable and even enjoyable the insects were and even ate their entire serving!

The tasting experience provided valuable insights into the potential of insects as a future food source. Students learned about the high protein content and low environmental impact of insect farming compared to traditional livestock. They discussed the benefits of incorporating insects into diets to address issues of food security and sustainability.

However, we all agreed that it will take quite some time to get used to eating insects.

National School Leadership Summit Reflection on 14 March, our College Captain and Vice Captains had the privilege of attending the National School Leadership Summit at St Peter’s College. This event brought together student leaders from across Australia, offering an incredible opportunity to network, share ideas, and build meaningful connections.

Held in the historic Memorial Hall, the summit was led by consulting advisor, Jason Seeman from The Learning Future, who led 3 key sessions: Self, Others, and Community. The first session focused on personal leadership skills, emphasizing simple yet effective habits for strong leadership. The second session explored how these skills apply in group dynamics, encouraging collaboration and teamwork. Finally, the community session brought us back together as a school team to brainstorm potential improvements for our own school environment. One key discussion point was the reform of the subject selection handbook, an exciting initiative currently under consideration.

On Friday of Week 6, our Year 10 Law in Australia students visited Government House and Parliament House to learn more about how South Australian politics works. At Government House, the students had the opportunity to meet Ron Bunten, the husband of Her Excellency The Honourable Frances Adamson AC, the Governor of South Australia. He spoke to the students about the importance of understanding how government works, encouraging them to stand up for what they believe in and make their voices heard.

The students were then guided through Parliament House by our local MP, John Fulbrook, who explained how laws are made in South Australia. They explored both the House of Assembly and the Legislative Council and even took part in a role-play debate in the House of Assembly, experiencing firsthand how politicians discuss and vote on new laws.

Uniform Shop Opening Hours
Mondays:  2:00pm - 4:00pm
Thursdays: 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Fridays: 8:00am - 10:00am

Two of the Year 11 Spiritualities, Religion and Meaning classes came together to celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) 2025 with a successful fundraising event, selling a variety of delicious treats to support initiatives that empower women and girls. The event featured an array of snacks, including chips, lollies, muffins, cookies, and soft drinks, along with a fun "decorate your own brownie" station, waffles and refreshing Zooper Doopers just to name a few.

Held on March 8, 2025, this year’s International Women’s Day follows the global theme “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress”, highlighting the importance of gender equality and economic empowerment. Funds raised from the student-led initiative will go towards CARITAS Australia supporting education, safety, and leadership opportunities.

The Problem of Evil and Suffering Can Easily be Explained
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Happiness and excitement, something every child in a modern society would experience. But there can never be happiness and excitement without evil and suffering, because that’s what makes happiness and excitement so rewarding. Everyone views evil and suffering from different perspectives, especially from a religious perspective. Buddhism is recognised as one of the most peaceful religions in the world, for its strict peace virtues and teachings (Der-Lan Yeh, 2006).  

What are the Buddhists teachings on the nature of evil and suffering?
Buddhists do not believe that human beings are evil, however they accept that suffering is the consequence of human’s greed, anger and ignorance (BBC n.d.). Buddhists teachings on the nature of evil and suffering are deeply rooted in the four noble truths and the main concept of karma (https://www.facebook.com/learn.religions, 2018). The four noble truths in Buddhism starts with Dukkha (suffering) which displays that life is inherently filled with suffering and dissatisfaction. Samudaya (Origin of suffering), represents that suffering arises from greed, desire and ignorance. Nirodha (Cessation of Suffering), informs that it is possible to end suffering by eliminating your desire and greed. Magga (Path to the Cessation of suffering), is a practical guide to end suffering. (Mark, 2021). Originated from Hinduism, Buddhism is also mainly scaffolded on Karma referring what goes around comes around. Karma refers to one’s actions whether good or bad has a corresponding effect on one’s future. Bad actions lead to suffering while good actions lead to happiness and peace (BBC, 2009). Buddhists also respond to evil and suffering through the eightfold path which is a concept outlining the steps to achieve enlightenment and liberation. This is through meditation, abandoning wholesome loved ones, developing awareness of the body, feelings, mind to maintain a clear and focused mind (Anon, 2021).

How do the Catholic Church's explanations of evil and suffering compare to those of other religious traditions?
While Buddhism approaches evil and suffering from focusing on karma and the four noble truths, the catholic church in contrasts takes the perspective of evil and suffering is understood through the lens of original sin and the fall of humanity (Patheos, 2019). Catholicism attributes evil to human sin and the disobedience to God, in contrast to Buddhism where they see evil and suffering as a result of ignorance and negative actions (Rhoades, 2017). Catholics also believe that the main purpose for evil and suffering adds redemptive value to bring induvial closer to God. However, Buddhist’s don’t particularly believe to look to God but believe that suffering is something to be fully understood by their mind and transcended through spiritual practice. Buddhism has an approach to rely on your own mind and become mentally strong, in comparison to the Catholic Church that believes they should look to God as a guide (Spiritual Primate, 2025) (Patheos, 2019). Catholics find solace in the redemptive power of Christ’s suffering and the sacrifice that he made for the world (Fradd, 2013). Catholics use this to find their confidence and courage to face fears, whereas Buddhists follow the eightfold path to achieve liberation from suffering. Both the Catholic Church and Buddhism have profound insights into the nature of evil and suffering, providing their followers with scaffolds for understanding and addressing these universal human experiences.

How does the Kandahar hijack highlight the struggle with pain and suffering?
The Kandahar hijack of the Indian Airlines flight IC-814 in December 1999 was a traumatic event that involved terrorists hijacking the plane and leading to a weeklong hell for the passengers and crew (Financialexpress.com, 2024). This incident can be examined through the lens of Buddhism and their teachings of evil and suffering. The hijack and the terrorists terrorising and screaming in the first 20 minutes of the flight where passengers and crew endured pain, fear and loss can be seen as dukkha, which is the first out of four noble truth teachings of budda. The terrorist’s motive in the hijack was due to their craving an attachment to their political goal in releasing their fellow terrorist leader, Masood Azhar, which led to immense suffering for the innocent passengers and crew. This relates to Budda’s second noble truth teaching of Samudaya as this is the origination of the suffering. While the passengers were held hostage for a 7-day long period they were still released which can be referenced by Budda’s third teaching of Nirodha which is the end to suffering. All the passengers and crew may not be Buddhist however, their resilience and bravery to comprehend the hijack can be a step towards the last teaching of Budda in the noble truth known as Magga which is the path to end suffering through eliminating bad desires. After the incident passengers would feel the pain firsthand of evil holding them back from associating with evil themselves.

In conclusion, evil and suffering may be a painful burden, however, there are ways to avoid falling in the loophole of evil and suffering through finding a door to happiness and mindfulness through religion. Many religions have different aspects and beliefs for evil and suffering however, an intelligent person rather than choosing just Buddhism as a guide, would be a flexible learning other beliefs and finding similarities and differences to branch his knowledge. Evil and Suffering may sound painful however, without it the world wouldn’t feel as peaceful, and, PERFECT.

Akash Acharya
10 Blue

Year 12 student Tyler Gridley has continued his success on the athletics track. In December, Tyler represented South Australia at the Australian all-schools championships in Brisbane. Tyler placed 4th in both the 800m and 1500m

Over the recent long weekend, Tyler also competed in the SA Athletics state championships. He competed in the open men’s 800m, qualifying for the final and becoming one of the youngest to do so. Tyler finished 5th in a time of 1:52.15 seconds behind some of Australia’s best men’s 800m runners.

In hot conditions, Tyler also won the under 20's 1500m in a time of 3:57.2 to solidify his place as one of the state's best middle distance runners.

Tyler’s next event is the Australian Championships, held in Perth in early April!