The Soul of a Community

St Albert the Great’s Feast Day and holiday was a terrific testimony to our school patron. It was also significant as a showcase for our magnificent Blackfriars Priory School community. I planned much of the day with significant input from Mr Jon Harmer and the School’s Music Department. In this article, I’d like to highlight the contributions that make Blackfriars the terrific learning community it is, and moreover the manner in which a community seems to have an eternal ‘soul’.

Jon Harmer’s role as Community Liaison Officer includes maintaining connections with old scholars. This was on display during our Remembrance Day/Dominican All Saints Day Liturgy and Assembly through his organisation of the presence of our old scholar Vietnam War veterans. For our St Albert’s Day celebration, the 50+ Years Old Scholars group was launched, and eleven old scholars joined us for the Mass and then for morning tea.

One old scholar amongst them, Tom Wilson (’64 graduate) was instrumental in reviving the old and original Blackfriars School Theme Hymn – The Hymn to St Albert. Tom still had a hand-written music sheet from 1961 (as pictured below) and we had the lyrics, as below. In the weeks leading up to the Mass, Mrs Libby Hunter, with help from others in the Music Department, taught the choir this hymn which was the recessional hymn for the Mass. In what was a lovely symbol, our old scholars joined the choir to sing it as Fr Kevin Saunders OP and the altar boys recessed from the Mass. This symbolically connected the old with the new.

The School Anthem – The Hymn to St Albert

Patron of our school, St Albert,

Teach us how to study well;

So that we may gain true knowledge,

And God’s praises we will tell

Deign St Thomas full of wisdom,

Guide us in our studies now;

That through Mary’s intercession,

Seeds of Wisdom we will sow.

Purity you honoured dearly,

Lead us to be more like you;

Pray we will be chaste and ever

Honour virtue dearly too

Bless our teachers mighty Father,

Aid them in their work today;

Help their efforts gain full merit,

Help us heed all things they say.

O Great God of earth and heaven,

Hear us as we humbly pray;

Grant that we may all forever

Love and honour Thee each day.

During the Mass, students who completed their initiation into the Catholic Church brought forward the gifts. They did their sacraments through Rosary Church, illustrating Blackfriars’ connection with our broader church community. Former Head Prefect, Peter Herriman (’61) read the First Reading and was joined by Year 9 student, Daanyaal Shakoordeen who led the Responsorial Psalm. Daanyaal was guided through the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) with Fr Matthew Boland OP earlier this year. Again, this symbolically demonstrated the connection between the old and the new of our Catholic community.

Prior to the Mass, Br Brendan O'Hearn OP spent five minutes presenting images of the school from the 1950s and 1960s, as well as photos of some of the buildings as they were on the grounds in the 19th century. One image included the sculpturing of our St Albert the Great statue, as well as its movement from “full-forward to centre-half-forward” as Br Brendan put it to make way for the library. Br Brendan’s illustration of what is old is contrasted with both what we currently have, and what will be built over the next six years (as per Mr Cobiac’s Master Plan presentation during the Remembrance Day/Dominican All Saints Day Liturgy and Assembly). The physical structure that houses our community is something that does change. However, it is significant that the patron of our school St Albert does not.

We had Year 7s, Marcus Di Manno and Lucas Petroccia read the Prayers of the Faithful and 2019 Prefects, Christian Jones and Gianni Caiazza perform emcee duties. We had parents and friends in attendance also.

When considering all of this, it strikes me that the physical structure of Blackfriars changes, as do the bodies that fill its rooms daily over the years. However, the soul of the community stays the same. It is a Dominican soul that is most strikingly impressed upon anyone arriving here that sees the dominant statues of St Dominic and St Albert the Great. Whilst it may be cliché, it is also true: once a Blacks boy, always a Blacks boy. For our students who were blessed to see the members of the 50+ Club recite the School Hymn, this saying must ring true. Moreover, it must serve as an important lesson: the certainty and stability of the soul of the Blackfriars Community is one which can serve you for life.

Remembrance of the Shoah

On Thursday 8 November, nine of our Prefects joined me at St Francis Xavier Cathedral for a memorial service to commemorate those who suffered in the Holocaust of WW2. The service was organised and conducted by Fr Michael Trainor and Mr Ron Hoenig, who are Co-chairs of the Council of Christians and Jews. The service was moving, and our Prefects participated by each lighting a candle at particular parts of the ceremony. They are pictured below with the co-chairs at the dinner that followed.

Mr Matthew Crisanti

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL: RELIGIOUS IDENTITY AND MISSION

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