Newsletter 17: 8 December 2022

Dear Colleagues,

After the publication of the newsletter last week, some additional information was received and some important information inadvertently overlooked. Please see below some further testimonies to retiring Principals from the Queensland/Northern Territory region. Each of these fine people were recognised with warm appreciation at the Marist Schools Australia Mass and Dinner celebrations in Brisbane. (These people will also be included with those recognised in previous newsletters and at the three Marist Mass and Dinner ceremonies in the first edition of Lavalla magazine in 2023.)

Wayne Chapman leaves Mt Maria College Petrie after four years of extraordinary leadership. His quiet, calm and measured style has served Mt Maria incredibly well and his sense of humour in the face of challenging circumstances is always appreciated by staff and colleagues on the College Leadership Team. Wayne’s time at Mt Maria has been marked by a deep and authentic commitment to Marist spirituality. In 2023 Wayne will take up his new position as principal of Clairvaux Mackillop College. We wish Wayne the very best and thank him for his fine leadership at Petrie.

For the past four years Terry Finan has led the Marist community at St Peter Claver College Riverview with distinction. Terry is prolific and powerful story teller which he uses effectively to convey cultural messages to students and staff. His calm and gentle manner has been greatly valued by the staff and students at Claver. It is a College with a strong and authentic Marist spirituality and this has been modelled consistently by Terry during his time as Principal. Terry retires at the end of 2022 to spend more time with his wife Judy and the grandchildren. We thank Terry for his generous collaboration with Marist Schools Australia and wish him well for the future.

David McInnes is well known in the broader Marist family having moved from Sydney to Noosaville to take up the Principal role eight years ago. Dave is a gentle and faith-filled man who has led the community at St Teresa’s during difficult times. His sense of humour and ‘can do’ attitude has been an extraordinary model for students and staff. Dave retires at the end of 2022 to spend more time with family. We thank Dave for his wonderful contribution to Marist spirituality on the Sunshine Coast.

Mr Anthony Boys, the current Principal of Marist Catholic College North Shore, has been awarded the prestigious Leadership Fellowship from the Menzies Foundation which recognises his significant contribution to education and his capacity as a contemporary leader of learning. Anthony has been invited to be the keynote speaker at the renowned Sydney Morning Herald Schools Summit 2023. Anthony is very well known and highly regarded in our Marist circles. As a former student and Principal of Marist College Eastwood, Anthony has also held leadership positions at Marcellin College Randwick and Marist College Kogarah. I know all Marists will join me in heartiest congratulations to Anthony.

Below is included for your prayer and reflection thoughts, from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ, captured in his work titled Hymn of the Universe. It is commended to you during this holiday period when we rest and reflect on the year gone by and look with hope to the promises of the new year.

Trust in the Slow Work of God

Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are, quite naturally, impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stage of instability - and that it may take a very long time.

Your ideas mature gradually - let them grow, let them shape themselves, without undue haste. Don't try to force them on, as though you could be today what time (that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will) will make of you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be. Give our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.