From the Headmaster

Dear Members of the Marist College Ashgrove Family,

Last Friday, we celebrated Champagnat Day with a difference!  One day early as the feast day is June 6 and also the fact that the Mass was live-streamed to the boys in pastoral groups from the Chapel!

However, some things remained the same.  We still had three award winners for our annual Champagnat Day Award.  The award winners were recognised because they displayed some or all of the qualities that St Marcellin held dear:

Faithful            Encouraging                Persistent                    Trusting

Caring             Hardworking               Generous                     Respectful

I am grateful to Mr Luke McMahon who wrote the following citations:

Champagnat Awards 2020

When we gathered in year level commencement ceremonies and in staff groups at the start of the year, and again in today's celebration as we just saw on the video, we have been asked to think about what it is we "plan to do with our one wild and precious life". It is a provocative question prompting us to think about who we are and about the lives we are living and about the life we might wish to live. The recipients of the Champagnat Award for 2020, each in their own way, give us some direction on that last point, give us an insight into the life we might wish to live by the manner of their being amongst us and by the priorities they have set in their own lives. Our Marist community here at Ashgrove fashions its life to some extent and its values and attitudes to a large extent on the example of the Founder of Marist education, St Marcellin. For many of us in this community, Marcellin is our inspiration and guide to the life we might wish to live, to the person we aspire to become. And today we want to celebrate the lives of three people from our community who exemplify in some way those Marcellin characteristics of being faithful, encouraging, persistent, trusting, caring, hardworking, generous and respectful. 

Presenter: Mark Elliott - MSA Regional Director QLD

Our first Champagnat award is made to a person who has made an extraordinary commitment to the broader life of the community on the one hand and to the well-being of numerous students on the other. It is a commitment completely selfless in its intent and entirely focused on creating something positive and life-enhancing for our community. In his first letter to Timothy, St Paul describes how a good minister of Jesus Christ might act and what might be the duties of such a minister towards believers. Paul writes, "she must be well attested for her good works, as one who has brought up children, shown hospitality, washed the saints' feet, helped the afflicted, and devoted herself to doing good in every way". In other words then, a servant of the servants of God, one who looks to improve every situation, one who has a special eye out for those most in need, for the vulnerable; one who does not count the cost of including people, of making people feel welcomed into this community, one who in imitation of Paul's advice to Timothy, does good in every way. And does it with joy and energy and creativity and in true Marist spirit, does these things in quiet, unstated ways. A feel for our awardee's commitment to our community that is to you and me, can be gleaned from these few examples: planning with others, numerous Blue and Gold Balls, fund-raisers and community-builders, coordinating the annual Marist Mothers' Christmas lunch, styling significant sections of the renovated Tower building, running morning and afternoon tea service on an almost weekly basis at the grandstand during sports rounds and at each walkathon in support of the Parents and Friends and as a service to the community, contributing to our staff coffee Tuesday gatherings, attending parent dinners, visiting Boarding families, saving the College thousands of dollars in preparing liturgical flower arrangements with thought and creativity, and welcoming groups of Year 12 Boarders to a home-cooked family meal every year. These things and many more for more than a decade are testament to our awardee's unstinting commitment to Marist College. Put these together with untiring commitment to instilling in boys with schooling challenges a can-do spirit of optimism and we see an expression of what it means to be Marist – being present to people in personal and positive ways, working with a style of simplicity, being passionate about the work being done, firmly focused on nurturing family spirit and fraternity amongst us, and doing that which Jesus has called us to do in the quiet, unsung way of our Good Mother. We are very pleased to congratulate and thank on this feast of Marcellin Champagnat, Mrs Paula McLoughlin.

Presenter: Br Jeff Barrington - Community Leader Marist Community Ashgrove and Provincial Councillor

Our second Champagnat award is made to a staff member. At this school, we are well acquainted with Marcellin's use of the three violets as a symbol of the virtues that are said to best typify a Marist attitude and way of being. Those of us gathered in the Chapel this morning sit beneath a statue of Marcellin in which the violets are depicted, in the Founder's hand and at his feet. You boys know that statue well. Here Marcellin encourages in those who share his vision, an attitude and a way of relating that is simple, humble and modest. Our staff awardee is an exemplar of these virtues and we see them expressed in their being generous, helpful, hospitable, gentle in word and deed, devoted and faithful – Marist virtues by any measure. And in our awardee as some of us have come to appreciate, we witness a heroism, a courage that has been demonstrated by a remarkable journey made in service of family and born from a desire for peace and flourishing, the pursuit of which has brought to our community a deep knowledge and appreciation of the struggle which others sometimes have to face. Devotion to Our Good Mother, Mary is at the heart of a Marist school. Mary supports, guides, and leads us to her Son Jesus. This is our belief. It may surprise some that for Muslim people Mary is thought to be one of the preeminent women to have ever lived, the only woman mentioned by name in the Qur'an in fact and many more times mentioned there than she is in the Christian gospels. For Muslims, Mary is variously known as a servant of God, among the great worshipers of God, a righteous servant and along with Jesus, a sign from God. Some Muslims think of Mary as a prophet of God. According to the sacred texts of Islam, the Qur'an and the Hadith, believers fulfil God's will by being helpful to people in their time of need, by forgiving others, by respecting elders, by fulfilling promises, by being kind, by being patient in adverse circumstances, by being just, honest and in control of one's emotions. It is clear to see that there are many more things that unite we Christians, we Marists, with those of the Muslim faith, than divides us for sure. In our encounter with our awardee, this has certainly been our experience. Our staff awardee is a fine example of his faith tradition's values and attitudes and since having established a place within our Marist community has often said that upon joining our College staff he feels privileged to have been welcomed into what he calls the house of Mary. And we are the better for it. We are very pleased to make the 2020 Champagnat Award for Staff to Mr Hanif Afzally. 

Presenter: Peter McLoughlin - Headmaster

Our third Champagnat award is made to a Year 12 student. Those staff members who have observed first hand our Year 12 recipient agree on these things: there is no self-seeking motive behind anything this young man does for the good of the College or for others. Looking for ways to do good is part of his make-up – volunteering, supporting peers, genuine and cheerful are what typify this boy's approach. All agree that the Marist characteristics are amply manifest in this young man's words, actions and being – selfless, hardworking, reliable and trustworthy, empathetic and resilient go some way to describing our recipient. Life has presented its challenges to our awardee. This is an unassuming and gentle young man, a fine role model for younger students, with a deep inner strength, firmly committed to family and to making the world around him better than it might otherwise have been. Fr Champagnat's origins are to be found in a small, remote part of the world and it was here that he was inspired to create something positive and life-changing. We are gathered here today, separate but united, because of this man of humble origins. Something of this resonates with our awardee. The honesty and sincerity of this young man, born from simple and humble origins, are what impresses those who have crossed paths with him. Of our Year 12 recipient his Head of House comments: "He has got the balance right. He knows when to work, he knows when to have a laugh. He is an exemplar in the House, and the finest example of real yet understated leadership, epitomising the character and values that young Marists should aspire to". The 2020 Champagnat Day Award is made to Year 12 student, and Boarder from Theodore, Chris Mahony. 

Our sincere congratulations to Chris, Hanif and Paula.  Very deserved recipients for 2020.

Yours in Jesus, Mary and St Marcellin.

Peter McLoughlin

Headmaster