Mission Report – November 5, 2015

The High Court of Australia is at the top of the court hierarchy in Australia. Its home is in Canberra in a building of magnificent architecture that reflects the character of Australia in both its materials and its design. However, that is just the building and not the court itself. If the justices of the High Court were to sit to hear a matter in our College Pavilion, the Pavilion would become, in a -‘real sense’, the High Court of Australia. It is the people who are -‘the Court’. In the same way, whatever aeroplane the President of the United States flies in acquires the famous call-sign -Air Force One-. It is not the object that attracts the title but the person and the office.- –

I suggest that there is something similar with St Patrick’s College. When the College Band performs whilst on tour in Queensland, we are right to claim that St Patrick’s College is in Queensland. When the Year 8 cricket team plays a game in Victoria Park the College is at mid-wicket and silly mid-off. Last Sunday when our student leaders attended the liturgy -From Lament to Hope- in the wake of the abuse scandals, the College was to be found among the many other members of the Ballarat Catholic Community. St Patrick’s College Ballarat is encountered far beyond an address in Sturt Street.

Jesus said to his disciples “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” (Matt 18:20) This promise of Jesus is a defining characteristic of our College because those who gather under the banner of the College always gather in the name of Jesus. This is the founding intention of Blessed Edmund Rice and those first Christian Brothers who carried Edmund’s hope and faith to Australia. It is the faith and hope that animates every activity we undertake today. For the College is ultimately a witness to the love of God, and this love may be encountered throughout creation by those who gather inspired by this reality. Let us not be distracted by the many opportunities and the consequent hectic rate of activity of the College so as to forget who we really are, and what we are taking to the world.