Peter+Griffin+-+SMMC

The SMMC charism comes from the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, who in turn draw on the Benedictine charism. Some of the more obvious emphases of this charism are: hospitality, compassion, looking for God in the outsider, the lowly or the poor, simplicity, and generosity. The story of the Good Samaritan is obviously a key Gospel story for any institution that draws on the charism. Our school is named for St Margaret Mary and so we weave the thread of her love for Jesus' Sacred Heart across the Good Samaritan thread. Margaret Mary's life draws us to an ever merciful, loving and compassionate Jesus. So the weaving works easily! Given the College's focus on the community service and generous help for others in need, we believe that we are doing well in living out our charism and bringing this to the wider Church and the world. Our College prayer refers to St Margaret Mary Alacoque, "who freely chose to live the life of love". We frequently pray for the virtues and values of love, compassion, desire for peace and generosity.

The centrepoint of many of our liturgies is the Gospel accounts of Jesus teaching or examples from his life that show his great care for the people of his time. We do good liturgies and have a real sense of being a prayerful community, able to touch our young women.

The College continues to have a Good Samaritan presence, through Sr Margaret Lyons. Marg’s service as a volunteer on our College Board, as a support teacher for Japanese exchange students and through many other ways shows us a particularly selfless and straightforward commitment to doing God’s work.

The College has a very strong emphasis on participation and service; the “Maggies Spirit” awards, given at College Assemblies, are given to those who give outstanding service or witness to the Gospel. The College Feast Day is a celebration of identity held at the time of St Margaret Mary’s feast day and is both fun and serious at the same time. There is a sense of the sacred at the liturgy, the ridiculous at the ‘theme’ parade and play at the pool. In other words life is being lived to the full (cf John 10:10).

The leaders of the College are usually keenly aware of the importance and centrality of our shared faith in Jesus Christ. The charism is expressed in vary many ways through the commitment and dedication of staff, who give a great deal of extra time and energy to help students. Generosity in an unselfconscious way is very common.

Our students are generally open, unusually welcoming and quite proud of their school. Our Open Day shows these qualities in abundance and comes, I think, from the spirit within the College.