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Liturgies – Hearts Celebrating as One
At Chevalier College, our liturgies are the beating heart of our community life – moments where we pause, gather, and breathe together as one family shaped by the Spirituality of the Heart. These sacred celebrations create the rhythm that carries us through each school year, grounding us in God’s love and reminding us of our identity as a Catholic MSC school.
Our whole school liturgies include our Opening Mass, Holy Week Liturgy, Chevalier Day and Advent Mass with our major school liturgy being the celebration of Sacred Heart Day in June. In addition to these whole school liturgies, each year group gathers at least once a year for a Year Mass.
Across all these moments, liturgies at Chevalier College do more than commemorate seasons or events. They shape who we are. They draw us into gratitude, challenge us to act with justice, and inspire us to live with courage and compassion. They give voice to our joys and space for our sorrows. Most importantly, they remind us that each member of our community is deeply loved by God and called to share that love generously.
At Chevalier College, our retreat program is a cornerstone of our responsibility in helping to form the hearts of our students. Retreats give our students something rare and precious—time and space to step away from routine, to reflect deeply, to connect authentically, and to encounter God in themselves, in others, and in the world around them.
Across six years, our retreat continuum gently guides students from an emerging sense of belonging toward a profound interior journey of self discovery, purpose, and vocation.
This pathway is intentionally designed: the early retreats (Years 7 to 9) help young people understand that they are part of a community that cherishes them, while the senior retreats (Years 10 to 12) invite them further into the deeper questions of life—“who am I?”, “who am I called to be?”, and “what will I do with my one wild and precious life?” (Mary Oliver).
What follows is an overview of each retreat and how it contributes to the spiritual, emotional, and communal growth of our young people.
Year 7 Retreat: "The Spirit of Chevalier"
Run in the first week of Year 7, the Year 7 Retreat serves as a formative induction day as students come to understand their new school community and discover their place within the home we call “Chev.” The retreat helps students form the first bonds of trust and reminds them that they are part of a community shaped by love and the Heart of Jesus.
Year 8 Retreat: "Walking the MSC Story"
The Year 8 Retreat widens their sense of belonging by deepening their understanding of the wider Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC) story to which they belong. Through storytelling, prayer, and pilgrimage, students learn to appreciate how various MSCs lived “to be on earth the Heart of God” before reflecting on how they can be the heart of God to others.
Year 9 Retreat: "Gifts of God’s Creation"
The first overnight retreat in the program, the Year 9 Retreat expands students’ sense of belonging to include creation itself. Held across St Mary’s Towers and AGH Camps in Douglas Park, the retreat balances a reflective environment inviting students to reflect on the natural world as a place where God speaks, whilst providing outdoor challenges and activities to encourage courage, teamwork, and trust.
Year 10 Retreat: “The Heart Inside”
Having developed a growing sense of belonging – to each other, to the Chevalier story, and to God’s creation-the Year 10 Retreat deepens a student’s interior spiritual journey of discovering who they are and who they are called to be. Held at Stanwell Tops in a space of listening, honesty, vulnerability, and hope, the Year 10 Retreat focuses on identity and authenticity. Students explore the “masks” people often wear and are invited to discover the truth of their own hearts.
Year 11 Retreat: “Gifts of the Heart”
The three day Year 11 retreat invites students to look deeply at the gifts God has placed within them. Through guided reflection, prayer, and communal sharing, they consider how these gifts might be used in service to others and appreciative how the diversity of gifts (and personalities) are complimentary and contribute to a community’s growth. Students reflect on fears that hold them back, strengths that empower them, and the stirring of future vocation. This retreat becomes a pivotal moment of maturity and spiritual grounding as students prepare to be the senior student leaders within the College.
Year 12 Retreat: “The Heart’s Journey”
The final student retreat invites students into a profound time of reflection, helping them recognise God’s presence in the joys, struggles, and ordinary moments of their lives. Over three days, students look back on their life story, acknowledge the formative experiences that have shaped them, and consider how God has journeyed with them through both joy and sorrow. Central to the retreat is the invitation for healing and forgiveness – of themselves, of others, and of the moments that have been difficult to face-culminating in a moving liturgy of reconciliation.
Through prayer, sharing, creative symbolism, and affirmation, students come to recognise their own worthiness and the love of God who walks with them unconditionally. Ultimately, the retreat sends students forth with renewed hope, grounded in the assurance that they are accompanied by God and by their community as they continue the unfolding journey of their lives.
At Chevalier College, social justice is not an optional extra—it is the natural outflow of our identity as a Catholic community shaped by the Spirituality of the Heart. A way of expressing with our hands what has touched our hearts. Rooted in the dignity of every person, our social justice initiatives create opportunities for students to encounter the world with compassion, to stand with the vulnerable, and to recognise their responsibility to be on earth the heart of God to the most vulnerable and marginalised.
Our initiatives draw deeply from Catholic Social Teaching, especially the dignity of every human person, the call to solidarity, the pursuit of the common good, and our responsibility to care for creation. Major campaigns including Project Compassion and the Vinnies Winter Appeal occur throughout the year with other causes being highlighted from time to time.
Heartworks@Chev is an additional opportunity for interested students to further pursue social justice initiatives and reflect more deeply on the “why” behind such experiences. Heartworks meets on a Friday afternoon generally twice a term with dates being advertised in student notices and the Chev Need to Knows. It is open to all students in Years 7 to 12 who are looking for greater outreach opportunities.
“Christ has no body now but yours.”
St Teresa of Avila
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