Newsletter 16: 17 November 2020
Dear Colleagues,
As we fast head toward the season of Advent and the final phases of the 2020 school year, it is a time for reflecting on these most challenging times.
There is a collective sense of hope in our schools especially with the recent promising news of developments for a vaccine to protect from COVID-19. There is also an acute sensitivity among many Marists to those who have been profoundly affected economically due to the pandemic. Our school communities have come together in extraordinary ways, to quietly and discreetly help many families in need with great dignity.
An important feature of Marist life in this part of the world is the close connections and relationships that exist among many developed and developing countries. Our Catholic tradition reminds us that in preparation for Christmas, Advent is a time to focus on our prayer life, giving to those in need and undertaking good works for the benefit of others.
Considering the serious economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in Melanesia, South East Asia and the Pacific, urgent attention is drawn to the Australian Marist Solidarity Christmas Appeal. The annual promotion and support for this Appeal by our schools over many years is deeply appreciated. In the wake of the pandemic, a strong act of solidarity for 2020, would be a record year for donations from our Australian Marist schools to the AMS Christmas Appeal. Details of the Appeal are included in the newsletter. These same details have been previously sent by AMS directly to schools. Funds that schools provide will go directly to assist fellow Marists in extreme conditions close to Australian shores.
Last Friday marked a special moment in the history of the Marist Brothers in Australia. At Red Bend Catholic College, the Bishop for the Diocese of Wilcannia Forbes, Most Reverend Columba Macbeth-Green OSPPE DD led a prayerful liturgy during which the local Catholic community recognised with gratitude to God, the generous service and considerable influence of the Marist Brothers in Catholic education throughout the central and far western districts of New South Wales over the past 94 years. At the end of 2020 the Brothers community at Forbes will close. The Brothers presence has long been a much appreciated feature of the vast Diocese, with communities in Bourke, Broken Hill, Parkes, and Forbes once serving local families in Primary and Secondary schools.
For much of its history Red Bend was simply known in the Diocese as the College and that title was synonymous with the Brothers. The presence of the Brothers in the minds of most local Catholic families has simply been a constant and deeply appreciated reality. The Brothers have always represented the prayerfulness, faith, beauty, artistry, intellect, wholesomeness, discipline, discovery and importantly the boundless opportunities a holistic, quality, Catholic education presents. The reputation of the College happily endures in the same way today with the committed lay teachers and staff.
Whilst recognition for the constant faithful work of so many Brothers was the dominant theme, Bishop Columba, Provincial Brother Peter Carroll fms and Brother Michael Flanagan fms, (the last Brother to be Principal), spoke enthusiastically of the future for Marist life in the Diocese and Australia, citing the many faith filled lay Marist men and women at Red Bend as examples of what exists throughout the country in ever increasing numbers.
During the celebrations Brother Bernie McGrath and Brother Robert Hayes were recognised most fondly. Bishop Columba kindly hosted a dinner at his home in the evening in honour of the Brothers and presented to Brother Peter a beautiful icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the patroness of the Diocese.