By Caroline Smith
The Newman College has last week come out in force for a service celebrating the beginning of the academic year and the Commissioning of Student Leaders from Years 6 and 12.
The inaugural PK-12 Family Mass was held on Wednesday 22 February on the school oval, and was celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton and con-celebrated by former student and Ballajura Parish Priest Father John Jegorow, Whitfords Parish Priest Fr Joseph Tran and Floreat Wembley Parish Priest, Fr Andrew Albis.
Around 3000 people attended the event, including parents, staff and students, as well as three Marist Brothers, who were celebrating 200 years of their order’s foundation.
The Marist Brothers – which began as an order in France in 1817 – have a long standing connection to Catholic education in Australia, being first established in the country in 1872, and in Western Australia from 1913.
In 1965, they established Marist College in Churchlands, which was renamed Newman College more than a decade later.
Student leaders from Newman played an important role in the evening’s proceedings, beginning with an introduction from College Captains Peter Loreck and Lucy Houghton, and ending with the Commissioning of the 2017 Student Leaders in Years 6 and 12.
Bishop Sproxton discussed the importance of good leadership in the Church and wider society during his homily, reflecting on the person of St Peter as an example of someone who learned to become a better leader.
“There’s a wonderful story about the time when [St] Peter was finally in Rome, and he and the early Christians were facing a terrible persecution, and he made a very wise decision he thought, to leave Rome…and he was leaving the city to escape this persecution, and the words of Jesus came to him,” he said.
“It seemed as if Jesus was standing in front of him and speaking to him, reminding him of another time when he turned his back on Jesus and his work, the time just before Jesus was crucified, when he denied Jesus three times, denied three times that he had even known Jesus.
“And Peter, reflected on that I’m sure, and on the words of Jesus, was stopped in his tracks, and that question came to him, where are you going? And he knew in his heart that he had to turn back, which he did. And I think that was one of the successes of the leadership of Peter that we cherish.”
He added that followers of Christ could also call on him as a source of strength and courage in their lives, and when they needed to take on a leadership role.
“(Peter) needed that strong spirit of Jesus to give him the courage to do what was the right thing to do,” Bishop Sproxton said.
“Because here we are, all these hundreds of years later, celebrating his life and his witness, and saying to the Lord, give us the courage to be as strong in our faith.
“Give us the courage and the strength to lead others in this faith, especially by serving, by adopting that role of the servant, being able to see the needs of the others and having the generosity to be able to respond to their needs and to love and care through our service.”
Addressing attendees at the end of the Mass, Newman College Principal, Mr John Finneran said the school community could be inspired by its history, in particular the Marist tradition.
“Our prayer and our aspiration throughout the course of 2017 is that yes, in the 200th year of the Marist Institute that we are awakened, that we take collective responsibility for what it means to be part of Newman College, conscious of our tradition,” he said.
“To celebrate our past, to look to the future with hope, and to know that we are a community of faith, we are a community of love, we are a College where we seek to shine, to let your light shine in our faith and in our learning.”