MISSION CENTRAL

 50 Years of Devotion

Congratulations to Fr Laurie Timms on being a Carmelite for 50 years. After an interview with the SRC, they came up with the speech below to recognise our Chaplain's jubilee. It was delivered at yesterday's assembly by Martin Weiss.

An integral member of the Saints community is Father Laurie. Often keeping out of the limelight he does not seek attention or appreciation for his acts of service to the College. Rather, he likes to blend in. Some people from outside our college may not even know he’s a priest because he is just another member of the Saints family. We’ve all seen him in Tolle’s having a yarn with students and spent time with him on camps and retreats. Year 7 camp would not be the same without a burnt damper from the campfire!  Mass in the bush on the Chillagoe camp is certainly not a memory that many young men can claim.  Most of us would not know this trivia fact that he was a classroom teacher for three years in his career. This brings me to the point of talking about Fr Laurie today. I am here to thank him on behalf of the College for his generosity of spirit, his easy-going personality and for the sense of humour he brings to this community.  2022 marks a 50-year anniversary for Fr Laurie. 50 years ago he took his vows in the Carmelite order. 

Who are the Carmelites? 

A Carmelite life is a Christian life. Hence, it is a life of constant conversion while striving to live in allegiance to and discipleship of Jesus Christ. In this endeavour, the Blessed Virgin Mary is their model and companion. Like her, their call is to a "hidden union with God" for the sake of the Church and the world.

When we hear this, it is no wonder that Fr Laurie fits in so well to the Marist tradition as they both share the desire to do things in the way of Mary for Christ. 

This milestone is very special, so to mark the occasion the SRC invited Fr Laurie to a meeting so that we could find out a little more about this happy priest who likes to talk about pizza and sunflowers at our whole College Masses. 

So, some things about Fr Laurie I’m pretty sure you didn’t know:

1. At 15 he tagged along with his friend to a camp run by the Carmelites in Sydney just to get a free trip. Look where that ended!
2. He thought he was only “helping out” at the military base as a temporary thing, just to help out with saying Mass. Forty-three years later (which is this year) he retired from his duties with them.
3. He wasn’t sure he should become a priest, but the idea would not go away until he because one.
4. He didn’t want to leave Brisbane and his parish there but Br Michael Green, a previous principal,. was persistent, and he invited him to take a look at Cairns on a holiday. Well, Cairns is the best place to live, it was in the beginning, is now and always shall be. 
5. A final thing that you may not know is that Fr Laurie in his 50 years as a priest nearly left but he didn’t and as far as we are concerned here at Saints, we are so pleased that you are here and that you are our Chaplain because we think you're a top bloke. 

I would now like to ask Fr Laurie to come up and accept this gift on behalf of the College. Fr Laurie’s role at Saints is not just being a chaplain, it is much more. He does countless things for this school as well as outside of it. Essentially, Fr Laurie is a helping, kind, generous man. Thank you for being you! 

Sacramental Program 

 If your son is interested in being involved in our Sacramental Program, please contact either Fr Laurie Timms or me. Baptism, Reconciliation, First Eucharist and Confirmation are all available to your son through this program. 

Relay for Life Update 

By Stirling Harris

Relay for Life is well and truly underway with many boys fundraising for the Cancer Council. This year we have four groups of 10 boys doing the relay. Each individual has been set the task of raising at least $200 with some boys already doubling that figure. We even have a couple of guys over a grand each! Keep an eye out in the notices for when the teams will be raising money around our school grounds. 

This week the Year 12s ran a sausage sizzle and raised over $800. Lads are walking around selling raffle tickets for gift baskets and, of course, for the one we all want to win: the 10kg block of chocolate. All money raised will go to the Cancer Council to be used to help people with cancer. Let’s get behind this boys; it’s a great cause and will be really valuable to the people who need it most. The relay is on Saturday 30 July from 2pm to 11pm. Watch this space for photos in the next newsletter.