Principal's Message

 

Easter Address to Students

Today I wish to speak to you about something very important and I want you to listen very attentively.  It will be brief but please focus and understand clearly what I say today.

The Easter Story that we begin to remember today and celebrate on Easter Sunday is a story about death and life.  The story of Jesus being nailed to a Cross, scorned, mocked, spat upon, his side pierced with a lance and let die over time on a Cross as people walked past and stared.  It is a story of sorrow and pain as Mary, his mother, stood watching as her son died nailed to a Cross.  What a horrific moment in our Christian Story.

However, from this Cross emerges a new story of resurrection from the dead, new life and light.  Jesus rises from the dead and gives hope to a new world.  It is like the sun rising on the horizon to commence a new day.  It is filled with warmth, great light and brilliance.  This is the hope that Jesus offers.  This is the story of our Christian faith beginning when we were baptised.  At baptism, we were immersed in the water, cleansed and taken from the water and had oil placed on our forehead with the sign of the Cross. We are claimed as a Christian.  In this Easter service today you too again will receive oil. You will again be reminded that you are a Christian.

This story is old but ever new.  Today within our Catholic Church and Christian community we have been marked by the horrific scandal of child physical and sexual abuse.  It is an unpleasant, shameful story and as Christians/Catholics we are marked with that shame and embarrassment.  The trust that many may have had in a Church and society has been broken or destroyed by individuals and groups of persons abusing others.  It is a sad and unpleasant story and there is no pride in it.  It is very much like Jesus on the Cross.  As the leader of St Bede’s College Community and with much pain in my heart, I want to say clearly to each staff member and to each student: - I am sorry, deeply sorry, for the shame that each of you has been marked with because of the scandal associated with the Royal Commission into child physical and sexual abuse.

But as I said, the Easter story is not only about death and shame it is about hope and new life and light.  It is about new beginnings.  Yes, we are a Catholic and a Christian community and as one of the Year 12s said to me recently, our faith in the person of Jesus is much greater than any sinful community and Church.  Our faith is about our brotherhood and sisterhood for each other where we care and love each other with compassion and kindness.  We respect the sacredness and beauty of each person.  We value the human person and respect the person. It is about our Guiding Principles, our work in Thailand and India, Mission Action Day efforts, Vinnies programme, and caring for our younger brother, helping a friend, and so on. All of these are about goodness and a sign of a better world and a living faith. This is what marks us as Christians and Lasallians.

The Easter story is about a God entering our world, about entering our life and touching our hearts.  While the recent story of the Church and the community has been tarnished, we need to be alive with hopeful hearts and focus on the brilliance of the Easter event.  There is so much goodness in the world and we can be Easter people by being good persons.  Jesus is the example of the Easter person.  He is the light that guides.

So let us acknowledge the sinfulness of the physical and sexual abuse that has occurred.  While saying sorry for shameful actions in our Church and community, I urge each of us to stand proudly as Christians and Lasallians to let our love and goodness be a light to the world.

May each of you have a Happy Easter with much joy and happiness.  I know of your kindness, love and generosity and this is the light you bring to the world.  This is what marks each of us as Christians and as Easter people.

Br Garry Coyte fsc

PRINCIPAL