Spirituality Day for St Virgil's and St Francis' Staff 

On June 10 a Staff Spirituality Day was held at the College. The theme for the day was - ‘A Spirituality of Justice and Peace’. 

The keynote speaker for the day was Phil Glendenning (pictured above). Phil has been the Director of the Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education since 1996 and has been President of the Refugee Council of Australia since 2012. He was one of the original co-founders of Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) and for 10 years was its National President. He authored the Australian Citizens Statement on Native Title which formed the basis of the Sea of Hands.

In 2017 Phil was awarded an AM (Member of the Order of Australia) for his work for social and environmental justice and human rights across Australia and beyond.

For the occasion, St Virgil’s staff were joined by staff of the St Francis' Flexible Learning Centre. St Francis’ is the only other EREA enterprise in Tasmania and is located in Chigwell. Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA) now governs 55 schools, covering all states and territories of Australia and enrolling more than 39 000 students.  Of the 55, there are  13 flexible learning centres.

Each flexible learning centre is a registered school and offers educational pathways for young people in Years 7-12 who have difficulty in accessing mainstream school for a variety of reason.  They work with young people to: 

• To improve cognitive and academic skills 
• To enhance social and emotional competency
• Strengthen cultural and spiritual life
• Help find employment or other learning
• Build community connection

Their endeavours are very much in keeping with the charism of Edmund Rice.