Our Common Home

The St Rita's College Trinity Centre greets visitors with a stunning hand-carved sandstone sculpture of the Earth, adorned with Orsoni smalti and gold leaf tesserae. This work, known as Terra Mater or Our Common Home, is a direct response to Pope Francis' second encyclical, Laudato si'. In it, he urges us to re-examine our way of life, governance and faith. He implores us to listen to the calls for change on our planet and take immediate, global action to protect "our common home." Three of St Rita’s pillars of governance, Courage, Hope and Justice wrap the globe in bands of sandstone. On the map of Australia dot markers indicate where the Presentation Sisters have established education centres around Australia.