St Charbel’s students welcome bishop

Sydney
23 June 2002

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St Charbel’s students welcome bishop

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St Charbel’s students welcome bishop

Bishop Ad Abikaram, students Chadi Akouri and Araz Ayoub and St Charbel’s College principal, Fr Joseph Charbel

Chadi Akouri and Araz Ayoub (pictured below), high school students at St Charbel’s College, Punchbowl, really support their Maronite Catholic Bishop of Sydney, Bishop Ad Abikaram.

They made a beautiful pencil sketch of three Gospel scenes – on their own initiative and in their own time – to frame and present to the bishop on his first official visit to their school.

Bishop Abikaram visited the school, which has 900 students from kindergarten to Year 12, on the feast of Mary Help of Christians.

It was his first visit there since his installation as the Maronite bishop of Sydney and Australia in February.

College captains Spiro Chahine and Olga Jaa Jaa extended a warm welcome to the bishop on behalf of the whole school community.

“We pray that your time in Australia is enriched by God’s blessings,” they said.

“May you continue the work of your predecessors and at the same time exercise a leadership and ministry that is characterised by your own personal dynamism and distinctive vision you proclaim.”

Some students had designed a logo for the bishop’s personal motto, ‘At the service of the Gospel’.

They incorporated this into a banner along with other Gospel themes and presented this to the bishop as well.

The day provided the students with an opportunity to remember their cultural traditions and celebrate the cultural diversity of Australia.

Celebrating the past while also committing to shaping a better future was the theme of the liturgy. There was also a cultural performance by the students, which highlighted Australian and Lebanese heritage through drama, dance and song.

The college principal, Fr Joseph Charbel, wished the new bishop a “long and fruitful ministry, blessed by God’s grace and supported through our prayers and personal gifts.

“May your leadership guide us in meeting the challenges of this new millenium so that we may work at the service of the Gospel with renewed vigour, and commit our words and deeds so that we may proudly proclaim: ‘To him be glory forever’,” he said.