Assistant Principal - Pastoral Care

Farewell Year 12

“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” Dr Seuss

Spring is a season that brings mixed emotions – for those who suffer from hay fever it is a torturous time of the year while for those who loathe the cold the promise of summer’s warmth is a godsend. For me it is always about growth – I gain great pleasure from watching my Chinese Elms glisten with new leaves as the old leaves decay and nourish the soil beneath the tree – an endless cycle of growth. And so too do I feel this way at school, at this time of year as our Year 12 students prepare to voyage off into the great blue yonder. The child who came to the college in 2017 leaves us now an adult.

And what sort of adult will that be?

We often seem torn between two competing, and at times, divergent goals – preparing students so that they can go out into the market place and survive and thrive, to be productive members of the community and economy. At the same time, we are trying to help young people on a path to doing good and being good in a way that honours God. Much of the expectation that schools face from governments and authorities is on producing citizens who can work. 

This dilemma was explored by a Jewish Rabbi, Joseph Soloveitchih, in his book ‘The Lonely Man of Faith’. He argued that we have two sides within us which he called, Adam I and Adam II. Adam I is our face to the world – our ambitious, competitive side that wants to find success and achievement. Adam II on the other-hand is spiritual, an inner being that wants to serve others and do good by others. The American journalist and social commentator, David Brooks describes the former as our ‘resume virtues’ – the list of things we have achieved and have to sell and the latter as our ‘eulogy virtues’ – the qualities we possess as a person that stays with others after we are gone.

The problem that we find is that our society seems to reward the Adam I or ‘resume virtues’ much more than the Adam II or ‘eulogy virtues’. Brooks argues that this can turn us into a “shrewd animal who treats life as a game, and you become a cold, calculating creature who slips into a sort of mediocrity where you realise there's a difference between your desired self and your actual self.” I think that we can all agree that this is not what we want for our young people.

And one can’t help but feel that the growing rates of anxiety, depression, drug use, domestic violence, dysfunctional families, suicide and self-harm are all somehow linked to the failure of our materialistic way of life to make us contented human beings. Something seems to be lacking and I would argue that it is a spiritual dimension to our lives. Clearly, rates of attendance to all Christian churches are on the decline and the latest census data shows that more Australians identify themselves as atheists than ever before. The growing percentage of Australia’s population reporting no religion has been a trend for decades, and is accelerating. Those reporting no religion increased noticeably from 19 per cent in 2006 to 38.9 per cent in 2021.

As the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse revealed, the Catholic Church as an institution systematically failed to protect young people and part of the consequence of this irresponsible behaviour has been the desertion of young people from the Church. Hopefully the Plenary Council will enact measures that will help those who have turned away from the Church feel that it is once more a place where they can find God in a community setting. One only has to look about at Sunday mass to see how urgent the issue is for the Church.

Nevertheless, one of the most profound lessons I hope the Year 12 students take from their time at the college is the importance of living a life in service to others. A beautiful line from Pope Francis echoes this sentiment when he said: “Life grows by being given away, and it weakens in isolation and comfort.”

And as I watch these young men and women leave I am filled with pride at what they have achieved and, more importantly, what they will contribute to future communities. Not only are they capable but they are generous, thoughtful, willing to be involved and eager to make the world a better place. They have supported each other through challenging times and striven to create a welcoming environment for younger students. 

And so as Term 3 draws to a close there is little left for me to say except go with our best wishes, prayers and love.                 

The following is a prayer that the Irish would say as they left the security of what they knew for the unknown, dangerous, yet hopeful shores of Australia. And so as Year 12 leave the sanctuary and safety of school I pray:

O Lord, be thou

Their light and guide.

Make straight the path.

Give your shelter 

And your comfort unto them.

Harbour them in this,

Their present journey,

As in their larger one

That begins and ends in you.

Be ever at their side,

Till homewards they come.

Amen.

Mick Larkin - Assistant Principal - Pastoral