Welcome Mr Damian Sligar
Assistant Principal - Religious Education, Identity & Mission

We warmly welcome our third Assistant Principal to the St Francis Catholic College community. Mr Damian Sligar commenced work at SFCC last week.

Damian has been appointed as the Assistant Principal, Religious Education, Identity & Mission. He will work closely with Mrs Melissa Vella (Assistant Principal, Teaching & Learning), Mrs Rita Agostino (Assistant Principal, Pastoral Care) and myself as the senior leaders of the College.

Damian has over 29 years of experience in Catholic Education and has held numerous roles as a Middle Leader at both Magdalene Catholic College and Mt Carmel Catholic College.

At Mt Carmel, he spent a significant period of time in the position of Acting Assistant Principal.  He is currently studying a Masters of Theology and Leadership with the Broken Bay Institute and has completed a Bachelor of Science and a Diploma of Education with Macquarie University, a Graduate Certificate in Physics with ACU, a Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies (Educational Leadership) with University of Newcastle and a Certificate in Religious Education with the Diocese of Wollongong.

Damian is an active member of the Parish of St Paul’s Camden, he contributes to the Parish Pastoral Council, is a member of the Parish Sacred Music and Liturgy Committee.  He is a Cantor at Sunday Mass and has facilitated Sacramental classes.

Damian is very keen to meet our students and families. If you see him around the College, please feel free to introduce yourself and make him feel welcome.

Reflections on St Francis & the San Damiano Cross

Last week, College staff met at the Botanical Gardens at Mount Annan for our annual Spirituality Day. During the day, I shared with staff a reflection on the life of St Francis, in particular the significance of the San Damiano cross, which we have on display in each of our classrooms. I have included a summary (below) for parents/carers and students who may want further insight into this.

As a young man Francis was searching for purpose and meaning. Francis had money, fame & privilege. He was a soldier, a playboy & a noble; but in the end he was not happy. He was searching for more.

One day while walking near the church of San Damiano, an inner voice called Francis to go in & pray. He had heard this voice when he spent a year in captivity, held to ransom by enemy Perugian soldiers. When he heard the familiar inner voice, he obeyed and entered the run down dark & damp small stone church. 

When he entered the church he would have been confronted by a huge hanging crucifix above the altar. It is a large cross, almost two metres high and approximately 13cm thick. The crucified Jesus is life-sized, especially compared to Francis who stood about 5 feet (150cms) tall. In it’s presence you feel compelled to kneel down before an image of the crucified Saviour.

Francis began to pray most devoutly. He heard a tender, compassionate voice then spoke to him:

“Francis, do you see that my house is falling into ruin?
Go & repair it for me.”

Trembling & amazed Francis replied “Gladly I will do so, O’Lord”.

These words filled him with the greatest joy and inner light because in spirit he knew that it was indeed Jesus Christ who had spoken to him.  Francis immediately took various pieces of cloth of different colours from his father’s merchant supplies and sold not only them, but also the horse he was riding.

He returned to the church at San Damiano, found the poor priest, and told him what he proposed to do. The priest was astounded by his sudden conversion. Francis had a reputation as a hard partying playboy & at first he did not believe it & refused to accept the money. Francis begged the priest to let him stay on so that he could go to work on repairing the church at San Damiano. Eventually the priest agreed but still refused the money as he was concerned that Francis’ father would seek for it to be returned. Francis’ heart was good, his soul open.

The presence of God must have been enormous in the chapel that day, or moment of the night, when Francis first approached. There is a moment of true grace. If you close your eyes, can you see the two of them, Francis and Jesus? What must Francis have experienced or had written on his heart to sway him to such radical change? He was different from the moment he stepped foot into the church, and he went on to perform many public miracles.

Later in life he experienced stigmata on his hands and feet. He experienced tremendous pain and his health deteriorated.

Francis was a legend just before he died. He could have asked to be laid to rest anywhere. Eventually he requested his Franciscan Friars to return him to the church at San Damiano, the home of St Clare and the Poor Clare nuns.  Perhaps he wanted to be inspired by the Cross one last time? It was here, during the latter stages of his illness, Francis wrote ‘The Canticle of the Creatures’.

Francis’ good friend Clare & the sisters of the Poor Clares cared for Francis right up until his death in 1226. It is the same cloister in which Clare died, in 1253. The bodies of both St Francis and St Clare were transferred to new Basilicas that were built for each them. St Francis was made a saint just two years after his death by Pope Gregory IX, who had become a friend of St Francis.

The original crucifix that was hung over the altar at the church of San Damiano was moved to the Basilica of St Clare. Today, a full-size replica hangs above the altar in the church at San Damiano.

It is quite imposing in a little stone church. Admist all the spendor and wealth, Francis was baptised in a fountain that we saw at the church of San Rufino in Assisi. It was here he received the Holy Spirit, but it was at San Damiano in this poor, crumbling, forgotten church ruin that Francis truly met God.

BUILDING WORKS UPDATE - STAGE 2 COMMENCES!!

God bless,

Mr Simon Abernethy
College Principal