From the Principal

During the last two weekends, I have been privileged to represent the College at both Jesuit Principals’ and Loreto Principals’ meetings, with the former taking place at St Ignatius College, Geelong, Victoria and the latter at Loreto Normanhurst in Sydney. My College representation and input are based on the close links our College has with both Loreto and Jesuit schools across Australia, New Zealand, and more recently, for our College, in England and Scotland.  For the benefit of new parents, John XXIII College is both a Loreto Associate school and a Jesuit Companion school, stemming from our rich Loreto and Jesuit heritage. 

Of course, our foundation as a College was a result of the 1977 amalgamation of St Louis’ School for Boys and Loreto Claremont (an all-girls school). As such, our students have benefited for close to 50 years now from an educational model designed to develop well-rounded graduates equipped with the understanding and skills necessary to make a valuable contribution to an increasingly interconnected, complex and diverse world; a world requiring a generation of leaders capable of navigating these complexities with empathy, understanding and a global perspective.

The ability to navigate complexity with empathy, understanding and global perspective requires guidance of course and this week we were thrilled to have Fr Frank Brennan SJ return to the College for the WA launch of his latest book, Pope Francis: The Disruptive Pilgrim’s Guide. Fr Brennan’s most recent publication holds particular significance for our College, given that the guide is the culmination of time spent last year with students and staff as our inaugural ‘Academic in Residence’.  In fact, each chapter of the book concludes with a set of questions for reflection crafted by our very own Deputy Principal - Faith and Mission, Janeen Murphy.

As Fr Brennan writes in his introduction, ‘My thanks to the staff and students at John XXIII College in Perth for providing me with the space and encouragement to quarry Francis’ words and actions, producing some useful distillation for future staff and students for whom Francis, like John XXIII, will be an abiding inspiration in times of rapid change.’

During the book launch, we were honoured to hear from Fr Eamonn Conway and Fr Brennan.  A particular highlight was also hearing Year 11 student, Alyssa Mignacca’s own reflection.  The significance of listening to a student of our College community reflect on a book titled Pope Francis: The Disruptive Pilgrim’s Guide, was not lost on our audience either.  Well done Alyssa.

Daniel Mahon

Principal