BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2011 ADDRESS

2011: A year like no other.

A year of uncertainty, of endurance, of sadness.  A year during which the College reached out to the homeless.  A year in which staff, students and family were called on repeatedly to accept disruption, cancellation, change.  It has been a year in which our limits have been tested sorely: at school, home, at work, at play.

But there is symmetry to this year and the College's beginnings in 1961.  That was a beginning I imagine also filled with uncertainty and a need for forbearance.  That was a beginning where staff, students and families had to work together in trying circumstances.  It was a year in which Principal Brother McClintock probably prayed for an easier life.   

Our College's history began with the Christian brothers 50 years ago.  We thank and honour those Brothers for their lives of "love and service" to this community; for the willingness with which they accepted Bishop Joyce's invitation to establish a new Catholic College in Christchurch; and for the legacy they have left us. 

St Thomas' Integration Agreement with the Crown is an Agreement designed to preserve and safeguard the special character of the education provided here.  That special character is the delivery of education witnessed within the parameters of a Catholic faith. 

The Brothers are gone now from St Thomas'.  Their mission here was fulfilled some time ago and they looked beyond the classroom in New Zealand to see how best they could "open [their] hearts to Christ present in those oppressed by poverty and injustice". 

But their legacy remains.  In part, it is the life of the College we celebrate tonight: the reward of hard work, the achievement of success.   But the legacy of the Christian Brothers in this school is also the example of a life dedicated to Christ: a life of "faith and generosity"... a life rich in the sacraments.  It is this life of faith that we as participants of this Catholic community must also live up to and emulate.  It is, after all, our point of difference within the state integration system.  Without commitment to a practising faith - including faith's sacramental dimension; without commitment to a witnessing faith - acknowledging those oppressed by poverty and injustice, our Catholic schools might cease to exist. Without those dual commitments from us, our Catholic schools cease, in reality, to be any different from our State counterparts. 

As we begin the next 50 years of the history of St Thomas', let us review the example that we give our children, the students of this College.  Do we expect of them involvement in a parish life? Do we commit them to participation in the Mass and other sacraments outside of the College? Do we expect of them an ability to take their faith beyond their life here and really live it in the world? 

If the pressure on our Catholic rolls is any indication, it is clear that there is a demand for Catholic schools.  But what is fuelling this demand?  Why do we choose a Catholic school when our State counterparts deliver an effective education by committed professionals who believe in their students?

Shouldn't the answer be that we are actively choosing an educational environment that echoes what we offer at home? Shouldn't it be that we are choosing an education that lives, breathes and speaks a Catholic faith, a faith complemented - crucially - by one lived also by us, the parents? 

The old boys who met at the jubilee this year would have seen how the school has changed.  There is no doubt that St Thomas' of 1961 bears little physical resemblance to the College today.  But what should be evident now, as it should have been 50 years ago, is that this College is a Catholic College, made up of staff, parents and boys prepared to exemplify a faith inside and outside the College grounds.  That is the real legacy of the Christian Brothers.

Earlier this year in a meeting with the Board of Catholic Cathedral, Christine O'Brien joked about how under normal circumstances we would have required a year, or longer, to plan for a site sharing arrangement; the policies to be written, the agreements drafted, the protocols for this and that, requiring negotiation.  By contrast, when the College proprietors met with Brother Joe Lauren in the aftermath of the February earthquake to discuss Cathedral's needs there was a swift and unanimous decision to endorse Christine O'Brien's tentative agreement with the Catholic Education Office to share our grounds. But of course this invitation was issued with no experience of how sharing was going to work in practice.  In short, the site sharing with Cathedral was an enormous undertaking and while there were benefits for both schools it was not without disruption, uncertainty and the exercise of considerable patience from all sides. 

It is a testament to Christine O'Brien, all her staff - as well as the boys - that such a potentially fraught arrangement worked so harmoniously.  Thank you to all parents and caregivers who understood and accepted the position taken. 

Finally: farewell to Year 13.  2011 was not the year any of us had planned. Many of the things you might have anticipated were disrupted. The teaching and learning you might have expected was undoubtedly different.  This year, your last, might stand as the most memorable of your college life.  You have been challenged this year, but then you can expect to be challenged again and again in your life beyond school.  You might ultimately view the experiences of 2011 as having helped prepare you for what lies ahead.  In some ways, it's just the beginning.  As you embark on your next phase remember those Christian Brothers and copy their lives of "love and service".  Our love and best wishes to you all. 

Margaret Mary de Goldie