PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
Dear Parents/ Guardians,
As you are all aware, John Therry Catholic College is a proud Marist school, and 2022 marks the 150th year of the Marist Brothers contribution to Catholic Education in Australia. At the invitation of Archbishop Polding, which followed representations to the Marists in France by Archdeacon John McEncroe, they commenced their first classes at St Patrick’s Parish in the Rocks on 8th April, 1872.
From those early beginnings the Marists have conducted over 100 schools across Australia educating hundreds of thousands of students and seeking to make Jesus known and loved. Today, John Therry is part of the network of 52 Marist schools across Australia. In Campbelltown we have a particularly strong connection with three Marist schools – John Therry, St Gregory’s and Mount Carmel.
We also have a strong connection to the commencement of Catholic education in the early colony with Fr John Therry acquiring some land in Parramatta to commence the first Catholic school in 1820. Below is comment from Dr Frank Malloy, National Director of Marist Schools Australia about those early days in 1872.
As we enter the final few weeks of a uniquely demanding term and approach the Sesquicentenary celebrations on 8 April, there is merit in reflecting on some of the challenges faced by those first Marist Brothers in 1872 at this very time of year. Having arrived in late February, during the month of March there were a host of trials for the four young Brothers as they sought to open the school and commence the work for which they shared such passion – the Christian education of youth. Reading the accounts from Brother Ludovic’s Annales and Journals, as presented by Brother Alban some 100 years later, one is drawn to the tedious frustrations highlighted with an abiding empathy. The painstaking work in organisation and administration including deft negotiation with a host of local Church and Catholic education authorities is familiar and fascinating.
Basics such as classrooms, furniture, as well as accommodation and financial support for the Brothers had not been finalised. Whilst there were some critical tensions to be resolved, the overwhelming response of the Catholic community was a mixture of joy, excitement, and encouragement. When they made their first appearance at St Patrick’s in the religious dress of the Brothers on April 7, they had to run the gauntlet of the curiosity and emotional reaction of the greatly augmented congregation….After Mass, they more or less had to fight their way across the street to their temporary quarters through pious well- wishers who were greatly taken by the Brothers’ costume.
However, any sense of euphoria from that happy Sunday must have been short lived. Accounts of the students in those first days of the school include the following: Their lack of discipline continued throughout April; particularly distressing for the Brothers was their conduct during the recitation of the Rosary. This seemed to them a game and was said in the greatest disorder. They made up banal, impious and immoral words for the “Our father” and “Hail Mary” to such a point that the Brothers begged Brother Ludovic not to have them said, seeing that more harm than good was being done.
In Ludovic’s Journal entry dated 1 May, he records “67 out of 204 pupils knew the Our Father, Hail Mary, and the Apostles Creed. Very few knew the acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity.” The data was alarming. Happily, what has become known as the “May miracle” soon brought hope to the Brothers. Through Ludovic’s sincere example and earnest appeal to the better nature of the students, daily Rosary before a beautiful May Altar crafted with contributions from the children including candles, was the catalyst for the great change that occurred in general behaviour and demeanour. Without hope and trust in God, the very first Australian Marist school could have well floundered.
