Province Leader

Reflections of the Leader of the Christian Brothers in South Australia and Western Australia

Administration

In July of this year (2004) the Holy Spirit Province of the Christian Brothers launched a new Charter for its schools. The document is called ‘The Charter for Catholic Schools in the Edmund Rice Tradition’. This Charter is the key document for the operation of all Christian Brother schools in Australia and has also been launched in the other three Christian Brother Provinces in Australia. I share with you some of the key elements of my speeches to the board members, staff members and Christian Brothers at the various launch ceremonies. Thank you all for being here today. I acknowledge that all of you will have brought with you different experiences and feelings to this day. Some of you will have come with a sense of energy and excitement as you begin a new term. Some will have come with the experience of a wonderful holiday with family or friends. Others will not be feeling so fired up about returning to work, and some may even be dealing with unexpected disruption to their lives, personally, in a relationship or within their families. As you listen to what I have to say, and as you read the Charter which I am about to proclaim to you, DO NOT set these feelings and experiences aside. Let what I say speak to you as you are, let the Charter speak to you as you are, today, in this moment in time. That is where God is at work in your life. This is a very significant day in the life of any Christian Brother in this room. This occasion, and several more around Australia like this, is a momentous occasion for what is now coming to be known as Catholic Education in the Edmund Rice tradition, which operates in 38 schools around Australia. It is a significant moment of growth in the schools of Holy Spirit Province in South Australia and Western Australia. And it is a special day for your school. There is rightly and understandably a lot of discussion about the future governance of Christian Brother schools in Australia. Some of you have been, some of you are, and some in the future will be involved in discussions and planning about that matter. DO NOT LET THAT MATTER DISTRACT YOU! You have more important things to do! That more important thing to do is to be a very significant part of the living expression of this Charter today, tomorrow and in the months ahead.

(Br) Kevin P. Ryan

Today I am joining with all the members of the Province Leadership Team in South and Western Australia, and joining with the three other Christian Brother Province Leaders in Australia. We are mandating Christian Brother Schools in Australia to express and develop their life and mission in the way that is described in this Charter. There will be one Charter but there will be a great diversity of expression due to local circumstances. Let us ponder that. In Australia there are thirty eight schools being formally committed to this Charter. Since 1868, the Gospel of Jesus has been shared in this country from a particular Edmund Rice perspective. We are building upon that work, with all its flaws and all its gifts. In 1993 this Province proclaimed its own perspective of Catholic education in the Edmund Rice tradition in the “Vision for the Future” document. Our boards and schools have courageously endeavoured to bring that Vision to life in our nine schools. This Charter does not set aside that document or that work; it tries to build upon it in the light of our experience, the current cultural and social realities in Australia, our deepening understanding of Edmund Rice, and our deepening understanding of the Gospel of Jesus and God’s dream for the world and for us. In four or five year’s time, this Charter too will be updated. While I am unlikely to be involved with that process, I would quite confidently predict that the Charter will express a sharper edge, a more Gospel edge, an even more challenging mission when that process comes to fruition. The Dangers! What are they? One danger is that you individually, or as schools, read through the Charter as if it was a skills check list to see what you are already doing or could do. That is not to say that we do not need to explore each of the cultural characteristics carefully and systematically and to see what we are, 7

Administration

or could be doing to bring that characteristic alive in our schools. But we need to allow the underlying energy of this Charter to take over our minds and hearts so that we can begin seeing the implications and consequences of being mandated with this Charter. Implications and challenges that you and I have not even imagined, yet alone implemented. So let’s begin the journey with this Charter as our space-craft. Let’s fly above the world and look at it through the eyes of our loving, energetic, creative Trinity God, and through the eyes of Edmund. Let’s imagine ourselves as the most loving, just, Spirit filled people that you and I can be. Let’s imagine ourselves as taken over by this Charter and its energy and spirit. To whom and what are our eyes and hearts attracted as we gaze lovingly at this world? Who and what do we want to reach out and touch, to hold, to heal and make whole, to reprimand, to challenge, to bring to the fullness of life? If you and I are open to that loving, energetic, creative Trinity God that Jesus has told us about in his life and stories, then the answer becomes clear. While we are called to try to embrace all, it is to the most fragile, hurting and marginalised that we are most attracted. With the eyes and heart of Edmund, we are not only called to comfort and hold but are called to challenge, to empower and liberate, by giving the language, the practical skills and attitudes, and faithgift that allows people to grow to be fully human and spirit-filled people - to recognise the spark of the divine in them and in all that surrounds them in their day to day lives. We are called, like Jesus, ‘to give them life and give it to the full’ (Jn 10:10). We are called as Edmund Rice schools to deal with this Charter in the light of the realities of our lives, the lives of our students and the country in which they live. We know that the young men and women with whom we live and work are in many ways beautiful and inspiring people. We also know that many young people today are exhibiting a growing tendency to binge drinking. That is one aspect of some of the realities of the health of young adults today in Australia. Similarly, we can say that we are living in a peaceful, free and democratic country which is physically beautiful. Yet, as we say that, we also know that our current national government has effectively let the agenda of reconciliation as it relates to Indigenous people quietly slip off the national agenda. It could also be argued that the current negotiations with the East Timor government over oil and gas fields are less than just! As your leader from now until 2008 I ask you, I challenge, I beg you to let that spark of spirituality grow in you, and I am talking to all of you whether you are Catholic or not, whether you are Christian or not. Let this Charter speak to your attitudes, to your skills, talk to your heart, to your inner self and let yourself be open to the Spirit people, to the Spirit places and to the Spirit events in your life. Open your heart to the Spirit of Edmund who can lead you to the Gospel of Love and Justice, to the Gospel of Jesus. It is with great excitement that I launch this Charter in this Province and in your school. We, the members of the Province Leadership Team and the Province Formation Team, humbly offer to walk beside you in the coming years to explore its implications and implementation. May the Spirit of Jesus, the man of love and justice, and the spirit of Edmund, live in our hearts. I am sure that over the next year or so that your school will share more with you about this Charter. However, if you would like a copy now, do not hesitate to contact your school or the Province office of the Christian Brothers in Perth.

I thank you for your wonderful support of Catholic education in the Edmund Rice tradition and wish you well for 2005.

Br Kevin P Ryan Province Leader