Newsletter 8: 14 June 2022

Dear Colleagues,

In the week when our schools throughout the country celebrated The Feast of Saint Marcellin, a series of book launches were concluded during which Sub Tuum Praesidium was formally released. It is a comprehensive history of the Marist Brothers in Australia from 1872 - 2022. In a recent communication, Provincial Brother Peter Carroll wrote the following in regard to this important historical record, highlighting the dedicated and skilled work of the four authors.

The writers have done a masterful job in preparing this History; definitive may be the adjective. They have most adequately covered the breadth of the undertaking. They’ve recounted the successes and failures. They don’t embellish, nor do they avoid; they are honest. They are comprehensive, and yet their account is accessible and readable. The design and layout is attractive: there is a comprehensive index, thorough footnotes, and a glossary of terms, always helpful with Church-speak!

Congratulations to our 4 authors, and to their editor (Fiona Sim) and graphic designer (Stan Lamond).

I’m not sure what’s more difficult: writing a book or writing a book with others. I’m sure the four of them faced difficulties, and maybe some difference of opinions, but their collaboration has been most successful. We shouldn’t be surprised at the lucidity of the writing. Each of the four was well equipped for the task.

John Luttrell, who writes the first two parts on the Foundations and then the First Australian Province, is a passionate student and teacher of history, scholar and lecturer, accomplished researcher, published author. He was well-situated to review the primary sources of our early years and assess the Centenary history written by Br Alban Doyle. While Alban’s Centenary book was heavily weighted towards the first 40 years (80% of it) John has brought new balance to the history of the Brothers from 1872 to 1948.

Julian Casey: no-one is better qualified to be the historian of the Melbourne Province than Julian who led the Province for 11 of its years, was a Member of Council for more than double that and knew every Brother of the Province. Despite his personal closeness to people and events, he has maintained objectivity and balance. In the sections that cover his two terms as provincial, he cleverly adopts a memoir approach.

Neville Solomon, with a degree in History Honours from the University of Queensland, he is a gifted teacher of the subject, with firsthand knowledge of many of the events and figures in the Sydney Province, about which he writes. He is a dramatic storyteller.

Peter Rodney is also a lover of history and talented teacher, with a deep appreciation of the Marist Mission, both here and internationally, especially through his eight years as Councillor General. He has brought insight and dispassion to the ten years of the second Australian Province.

And they all share the key qualification – love of the topic: a deep appreciation and regard for the Marist Brothers and the mission given the Institute by St Marcellin. Sincere gratitude and warm congratulations to John, Julian, Neville and Peter for their sustained effort over 5 years, and their excellent finished product!

When I launched the book, I quoted from a 2014 letter by Pope Francis to Religious:

“Recounting our history is essential for preserving our identity, for strengthening our unity as a family and our common sense of belonging. More than an exercise in archaeology or the cultivation of mere nostalgia, it calls for following in the footsteps of past generations in order to grasp the high ideals, and the vision and the values that inspired them...in this way we come to see how the charism has been loved over the years, the creativity it has sparked, the difficulties it encountered and the concrete ways those difficulties were surmounted. We may also encounter cases of inconsistency, the results of human weakness and even at times a neglect of some essential aspects of the charism. Yet everything proves instructive and, taken as a whole, acts as a summons to conversion. To tell our story is to praise God and to thank him for all his gifts”.

And effectively this is what the history does. It’s not a case of saying “look at what we did! Look at how hard working the Brothers have been!” It’s more a matter of saying: “any successes, any good that’s been done has been achieved through the grace of God, working in simple Brothers, unpolished human beings, his chosen instruments”. When we look at the past 150 years of Marist life in Australia, we can truly say, in faith, “Thank God”!