Issue 13 - 9 May 2025

From our Rector

Pope Leo XIV and Happy Mother’s Day

Cardinal Robert Prevost OSA was elected by the College of Cardinals as the new Bishop of Rome and the Pope of the universal Church. Over the last week he had been mentioned as a possibility but had to overcome the fact that he was an American. The traditional wisdom was that no American would ever become Pope due the US’s superpower status. However, Cardinal Prevost was described as the least American of the American cardinals as he has spent a significant amount of his adult life working as a missionary in Peru and he lived in Rome for over a decade as the worldwide leader of the Augustinian Order.

Pope Leo is 69 years old. He was born in Chicago and joined the Augustinians after completing a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. He was ordained a priest in 1982. Following this he studied canon law, ultimately completing a Doctorate in Canon Law in 1987. He spent over a decade working as a missionary in Peru, teaching canon law in the seminary as well as assisting in a parish on the outskirts of the city. In 1999 he returned to Chicago and became the Provincial of the Augustinians. In 2001, he was elected the Prior General, the worldwide leader of the Augustinian Order. He served in this role for 12 years. In 2014, Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru and he became a Peruvian citizen. In 2023 Pope Francis called Archbishop Prevost to Rome and appointed him the Prefect for the Dicastery of Bishops which makes recommendations to the Pope on the appointment of bishops.

Let’s pray for Pope Leo XIV and for his Petrine ministry. His choice of name suggests that Catholic social teaching will be a priority building upon the legacy of Pope Leo XIII, a late 19th century Pope who wrote the famous encyclical Rerum Novarum .

On Sunday we celebrate the gift of mothers and throughout the month of May, as Catholics we seek to honour Mary, as the Mother of God. The tradition emerged from some of the pagan practices of the ancient Greeks who dedicated May to Artemis, the goddess of fecundity and the Romans who focussed on Flora, the goddess of blooms throughout May. In medieval times, the tradition of honouring Mary was linked to the emergence of the season of Spring and new life within the northern hemisphere. For our northern neighbours, May is when spring is in full bloom, inviting people to savour the gift of new life. While the same obvious signs of new life are not as obvious as we experience the movement into autumn, our celebration of mothers on the second Sunday of May ties in well with the traditional devotion to Mary.

From our Principal

Pope Leo & Religious Vocations

From the P&F

Happy Mothers Day from the P&F Committee!

Student Leadership

Message from Daniel Osborne, Vice Captain (Day Boys)

Ignatian Centre

Regis Campus

Year 6 Excursion to Canberra

As part of their homework, the Year 6 students have taken time this week to write about what they experienced. Some of their thoughtful reflections are shared below.

I really enjoyed our trip to Questacon! We got to do lots of fun, hands-on science activities. One of my favourites was the earthquake simulator – it showed us what an earthquake feels like and how tectonic plates move. During my time in the earthquake house, I found out that some earthquakes can be really dangerous, especially if they reach a high magnitude like 7.0. Whilst at Questacon, I also learned about gravity, how explosions work, and what causes them to happen. My highlight of the experience was the free fall slide. It was super fun! We had to hang from a bar for three seconds before dropping. As I slide down, it felt like there was no gravity – it was awesome!

Ted N. 6.1

The Royal Australian Mint was a really cool place with lots of fun things to see. It was awesome checking out all the different coins, like the Vegemite coin, the Matildas coin, and the Year of the Snake coin. We even got to see how coins are made! There were robots doing a lot of the work. First, a machine made the coins, then a robot carried them to another machine that added the colour and the image. After that, the coins were squashed (compressed), then sent up something like an elevator — it was a big spinning bowl that carried the coins to huge boxes. Another robot checked if the bags were packed tight enough before sending them off to the compression machine. In the end, the coins are picked up by a bank. I never thought that the it took so much just to make a single coin.

Will D. 6.2

I really enjoyed our trip to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). While we were there, we went on a full tour of the whole place, including the gym, the pool, the volleyball training courts, and the gymnastics areas. The best part was that our tour was led by actual athletes who train at the AIS. During the tour, I learnt a lot about what it’s like to be a professional athlete — how hard they work and what their training routines are like. It was awesome getting to ask real athletes questions. Watching them train gave me some great ideas for how I could improve in my own sports. At the end of the tour, we got to try out the fun sporting games in the Sportex room. We shot basketballs, played skiing games, tested how high we could jump, and even measured how hard we could kick a ball. It was such a great time!

Nick D. 6.3

When I visited Parliament House in Canberra, I was buzzing with excitement. We were all hoping to meet the Prime Minister or even our school’s local Member of Parliament. Our visit started with a tour around Parliament House, where we learned about the origins of the Senate and the House of Representatives. We found out that the House of Representatives has 150 members, each representing a different area of Australia. We also learned that the Senate has 76 members — 12 from each state and 2 from each territory. At the end of our tour, we went to a room that was set up like the House of Representatives so we could take part in a role play about passing a bill into a law. It was really fun! Even though my side lost, we still got to learn how laws are made. It would have been nice to meet someone from the government, but we understood that they were all back in their local areas getting ready for the upcoming election.

Dylan W. 6.4

Co-Curriculum

Saturday Rugby Match Review - May 3, 2025

Here are the top 5 highlights from Saturday 3 May 2025 :

5th Place: Some of our senior teams suffered cancellations at the hands of Woollahra Council, which was disappointing for those boys and parents. I know the social Opens sides will be raring to go next week! But both at Riverview and at Hordern Oval at The Cranbrook School, we saw some slashing performances. The 3rd XV blew Barker College away in the first half and eventually won around 37-5 at First Field, Riverview. Over at Rose Bay, our 4th XV had a very tight tussle with Cranbrook 3rd and lost on the final whistle. The 2nd XV and 1st XV blotted the hosts out with some jarring defence and played some lovely rugby to both post resounding victories scoring around 100 points and conceding nothing. A special mention to the groundsmen at Cranbrook. The surface at Hordern Oval and the atmosphere there was wonderful. Thanks to all the Riverview students and parents who made the trip over to the dark side of Sydney Harbour!

4th Place: All of the SIC Riverview A ‘performance’ level teams clinched victories against varying opposition. This marked a significant change in fortunes following recent challenges against strong opponents like St. Augustine's. (Augustine’s did the same to Scots yesterday, routing them in most grades)

3rd Place: Several of our Riverview Rugby sides competed against sides who are arguably graded in ‘higher weight divisions’. Special mention should go to those teams that competed against stronger opponents. One notable performance was the 16F/G team's victory over Scots 16E. Our View boys displayed great courage and determination to bring home the bacon there.

2nd Place: We must stop for a moment and pat our rugby referees on the back. Afterall, no games go ahead without our Riverview refs giving up their time of a Saturday. A heartfelt appreciation to our referees yesterday. I saw Ben Frawley a View Old Boy juggling sausages at the Old Boys BBQ then heading down to referee games on the main deck – I saw Mr Szabo and Mr Garling over at Regis and a new entrant father Mark Flynn! Paul Dean wandered in from Wagga Wagga and Ticka Tynan was about as usual. And no Riverview Saturday is complete without Dr Simon McCaffrey blowing the whistle. And a special welcome back to Year 13 lad, Nick Dougherty, who officiated four games with professionalism and fairness throughout the day. Thaks to all our volunteer referees!

1st Place: The standout moment belongs to our 14A team, celebrating their first victory whilst playing rugby under the Riverview crest. They had a tough year against bigger opponents last year and hopefully now can see the fruit of their hard work pay off. Their resilience and dedication to improvement have been commendable.

Congratulations to all the teams and individuals who made this week's highlights reel. We're committed to continuing our efforts to develop every player in the program, aiming to bounce figure strongly next Saturday 10 May against Oakhill and Central Coast Grammar.

Thank you for your unwavering support of your children, our coaches, and the entire Riverview Rugby Program staff. We're excited about upcoming initiatives that will be communicated through our dedicated Age Group Managers this week.

CIS AFL Tournament

1st XVIII vs Newington 8.14 (62) v 4.7 (31)

In beautiful sunny weather following a week of rain, our 1st XVIII took to the field for the 1st time since winning the inaugural AFL Jesuit Cup. 4th field held up beautifully considering the rain and the boys were pumped to take on traditional rivals Newington.

The match was hard fought from start to finish, as we’ve become accustomed to with matches between these 2 teams. This meant our defence was under continuous pressure. They stood tall lead by the efforts of Xavier Browne, Ollie McDougall, Antonio Hartman and captain Sam Hutchinson which went a long way to minimising Newington’s scoring opportunities and giving View the advantage. The strength and experience of the Riverview back 6 will challenge most opponents this season.

Rory Parker was at his silky best starting the day on the wing then running through the midfield to close the match. All midfielders often got first touch due to the exquisite ruck work of Tim Smith in his 1st XVIII debut.

Accuracy was a challenge up forward, but Jesuit Cup leading goalkicker Archer Wilson and 1st XVIII debutant Noah Duane both finished the day with 2 goals each.

A strong victory leading into a massive Friday night match up vs Waverley this week.

2nd XVIII vs SHORE 1.5 (11) v 23.14 (152)

For the opening match of the 2nds season the boys showed great resilience and determination. The scoreboard didn’t accurately reflect the grit and fight that our boys showed all day. Seb Cage looked like a natural in his first game of footy whilst Xavier Donohue and Jonas Mason continued where they left off from last season. James Armour was dangerous up forward whilst Lachlan Clubb and John Dynon fought hard in the backline. Shore was too good in the end but the boys should be proud and keep their heads held high for this week

3rd XVIII vs Barker 3.2 (20) vs 1.1 (7)

Round 1 for the 3rds saw boys across all codes come together to fill a side and compete against an undermanned opposition. The opening quarter was highlighted with defensive transition goals as the boys went end to end with the thrum (William Thrum) starring off half back giving his best Dusty impression and a bounce. Quarters two and 3 saw a midfield resurgence as some of the younger players got their mojo together scoring multiple centre bounce link ups to flying deep forwards. Unfortunately, the fourth quarter saw Barker bring on some fresh legs gaining the upper hand towards the end. Spirits were high with a promising season to come.