The last few months all of us have been missing the physical connections with other people. Often in times of challenge or crisis, we as a community, find new and creative ways to respond. Isolation does not mean aloneness!
Whitefriars has been creative in exploring new ways to stay connected as a faith learning community. On Tuesday evening, over 40 mothers/female mentors and their sons gathered online for the first virtual Time & Space at Home event. Whitefriars has held this event annually – albeit physically – at the College for over 7 years. It was fantastic to see so many families gather to stay connected with each other and with our community online. The key part of the evening is the sharing of ‘treasures’ – an item which says something about the relationship with the other person. There were many surprises, smiles and even a few happy tears – it was a very humbling experience to be a part of.
Some feedback from mothers/female mentors:
- It was nice to have a deeper discussion to chat with each other, beyond the everyday conversations, that include have you done your homework, what movie we are going to watch on TV! 🙂
- Lovely to meet some other families from our community and share our treasured memory with them.
- I thought my son was okay with life at the moment but the conversation brought up his concerns and worries. It has also given us a path for keeping the conversation going into the future.
- It was lovely to share time to sit and chat. We don’t often get the opportunity to do this.
Some feedback from the boys:
- It was really nice to have a one on one conversation with my mum.
- It was a great experience to be able to talk to other people beyond just my family.
- Great! Learnt a lot about my mother.
- It was a lot of fun, we had a blast asking questions and answering them.
What a night! Thank you to all our mothers/female mentors and boys – you are doing an amazing job!
A special acknowledgement to Mr Mark Murphy for his support of the evening and to our facilitator, Bill Jennings.
Mr Joshua Vujcich
Director – Identity, Mission & Service
