Opening & Blessing

What an incredible day it was as we celebrated the official blessing and opening of the Callan Centre and extensions to the Doyle Wing and Joyce Performance Centre. These new facilities mark a significant enhancement to the College’s educational offerings.

Address by St Virgil's College Principal, Mr Jon Franzin, at the Opening and Blessing ceremony.

Gentlemen this ceremony today, a blessing and opening, is really about you and your future.

Very few of you have decided what you want to do when you leave school – maybe go to university, maybe enter a trade, you will start heading in all sorts of different directions.

You will all end up doing something, and even though you’ve probably had enough of school just for the moment and the school holidays are only one day away, it will be here at school over the next few years that you will continue to discover what the right path for you is, in many ways, including the kind of work you will do in your life, what you are going to become skilful at, enjoy, make a living out of, support a family, and make your contribution to the world.

Some of you will be starting courses that will set your pathways post-school. Others of you at younger year levels, will eventually commence your path and will complete your senior secondary studies in the buildings we are opening today. 

That is a wonderful new opportunity you have. All of you will have an opportunity to develop many of those skills which you will carry with you through life, including in your working life. Remember, when St Virgil’s College opened over 113 years ago, it was started so that young men, like you, could go to a good school and achieve their potential.

At St Virgil’s you are part of that legacy, and the new Callan Centre, extensions to the Doyle Wing and Joyce Performance Centre give you choices and opportunities, which you are very lucky to have. 

So, we are here to celebrate what is being provided to you, and we need to welcome all of the visitors who have come here to join us in that celebration.

I extend a warm welcome to our special guests;

His Grace, Most Reverend Julian Porteous, Archbishop of Hobart 

Fr Suresh – Parish Priest - St Bernard’s Parish 

Br. Peter Flint – Representing the Christian Brothers   

Dr Michael Slattery – Chair of EREA Council 

Mr Peter Fullagar, Regional Director of EREA Colleges Ltd

The Hon. Carol Brown, Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport and Senator for Tasmania

Members of the St Virgil’s College Advisory Council including

Mr Chris Wright - Deputy Chair 

And Mr Todd Marsden

Mr David Mazengarb – President of the Old Virgilians Association 

Mr Damian Messer, Former Principal of St Virgil’s College and Principal of St Mary's College

Mrs Jacinta Waddington 

Mr Tim Penny - Tim Penny Architecture

Mr Rod Street and Ms Kellie Buck, representing Catholic Education Tasmania's Resources & Sustainability Standing Committee

Mr Kyran Frerk and Mr Josh Mulcahy - VOS Construction 

Mr Tim Phillips - Resonance Project Management

On behalf of the staff and students of St Virgil’s College, we are grateful for your presence here today.

We are very lucky, these buildings are of a high quality and are all very impressive facilities, and now it is up to us to make it work, for the benefit of the students here with us today, and for any young people who wish to develop a senior secondary pathway. As we know, a building is only that. It’s what we do in it; it’s the human activity and educational programs that justify its existence.

St Virgil’s is a Catholic school in the Edmund Rice tradition, and Edmund Rice opened his first schools precisely to liberate disadvantaged young boys from poverty and lack of opportunity, specifically by giving them an education. The key idea is liberation through education, giving young people the opportunity and the courses we are offering through these buildings will provide precisely that.

Thank you to all who have contributed to these new developments. The level of interest and enrolments is already growing, and St Virgil’s College has a very bright future ahead. 

There are, genuinely too many individuals and groups to thank for their contribution to designing, building, and equipping these buildings, however, I must mention some, specifically or generally:

Tim Penny Architects and VOS Constructions, the architect and builders - who must be proud of these new additions to our College. This includes the College’s Project Manager, Mr Darren Meany and the College Property Manager, Mr. Martin Newlands.

Key staff at St Virgil’s College who have made this whole development possible, and also those who have worked hard to prepare today’s ceremony.

And if there is one member of the St Virgil’s staff of whom I must make specific mention, and with respect to other individuals who have contributed a huge amount, it is the late Mark Waddington who took on the enormous task of developing the feasibility study for the work for the return to Years 11 and 12 and worked with extraordinary dedication and commitment to see this vision of senior secondary education at Austins Ferry realised and is the single main reason why we can now celebrate the addition of these fine facilities today.

Mr Waddington’s passing in 2022 had a profound impact on those who had the privilege of knowing him. He was a man of grace and humility and was a wonderful example of the charism of Blessed Edmund Rice in action.  In recognition of his work and contribution to the College’s vision of providing a senior secondary pathway for our young men the student lounge in the Callan Centre will be named in his honour and will be a lasting tribute to his legacy and the impact he has had on our College community.   

Finally, on behalf of St Virgil’s College I take this opportunity to thank the Australian government for the partial funding for these developments, and to celebrate, bless and acknowledge the contribution of many in the past and many here present to these new facilities, which will continue to support the ongoing contribution to the education, of the young people of our schools.

Thank you and God bless.

And in part what EREA Chair, Dr Michael Slattery, spoke of : 

It is truly a privilege to be here today to celebrate with you the Blessing and Opening of the Callan Centre, Doyle Wing and Joyce Performance Centre. And what a wonderful product thanks to the support of the Federal Government of Australia, the State Government of Tasmania, and the generosity of the parent community, also, to our Architects Tim Penny and builder Vos Construction.

It's a time to feel accomplished, a time to feel proud for all the hard work, the current moment of success, and the opportunities that lie in the future. It will serve to benefit the current students and future students of St Virgil's for a long time to come.

Since 1872, Catholic Schools in the Edmund Rice Tradition have been educating young Australians in every state and territory. We honour the Christian Brothers for their vision and commitment to establishing schools with other orders of the Church. Today, as part of the Catholic Church, Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA) aims to offer a Liberating Education, based on a Gospel Spirituality, within an Inclusive Community committed to Justice and Solidarity. EREA is committed to creating an environment in which the safety, well-being and participation of all children and young people are paramount. These buildings will see those aspirations from our EREA Touchstones in action, and being lived out in the Gospel tradition.

Finally, I would like to thank the parents and guardians for choosing a Catholic education for their children, and one that is enriched by the charism of Blessed Edmund Rice. After all, the children studying at St Virgil's today are the leaders of tomorrow. And if a community is to improve its economic and social well-being, it needs people with the right experience and the right education, and with a clear moral compass.

As we all know, a good education starts with young people learning the basics of literacy, including religious literacy and faith, numeracy, STEM etc. The students being educated here at St Virgil's do achieve By Deeds, Not Words Alone because the students here enter into a relationship with Jesus through embracing Gospel values and nurturing a Catholic learning community, where each person is hope-filled and liberated to build a better world for all. That is our prayer and deep hope for each graduate of this College.

On behalf of the EREA Council and Trustees, our 55 schools, 23 Flexible Learning Centres and 2 Early Childhood Centre partners across Australia, our joy-filled congratulations to all, and that today and every day will be a great day for learning in these wonderful facilities.