VOL 27 | # 01 | APRIL 2015 WHITEFRI R
Belong. Believe. Become. WHITEFRIARS COLLEGE
Features Contents
08 COLLEGE OPENING MASS 03 CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
10 2014 HIGH ACHIEVERS 04 PRINCIPAL’S REPORT
18 LIVING LEGEND 06 THE CARMELITES JOURNEY TO WHITEFRIARS FR NOEL KIERCE O.CARM 07 WOCA PRESIDENT’S REPORT 22 OLD COLLEGIAN PROFILE GILES BLEWITT 12 2014 AWARDS
24 OLD COLLEGIAN PROFILE 13 COLLEGE CAPTAIN’S REPORT DR ANDREW WISE 14 BACK TO BACK CHAMPIONS – SWIMMING
16 A BEGINNING TO REMEMBER – YEAR 7
26 WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
28 REUNIONS
30 COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
32 IMPORTANT DATES
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Chairman’s Report
The Whitefriars In addition to our continued focus on our links with our heritage, the Board has been College Board, is an spending the first half of this year upgrading Incorporated Board, its 5 -10 year College Strategic Plan. When finalised, this plan will be widely circulated established in 2003, to the Whitefriars Community. and has a wide set of responsibilities.
The Board reports annually to the Carmelite Our broader Provincial Council and our 2014 Annual educational philosophy Report will be posted on the College website in June. The Board currently has is being continually 13 members, with Mr John Finn being an modified and advisor to the Board. The background of experience of the Board members is: three enhanced, to reflect Carmelites priests, old Collegians, people the educational with deep experience in financial management and educational philosophy, requirements of this and past parents. decade and beyond, During 2014 the Carmelite Provincial Board Fr David Hofman who has recently to ensure Whitefriars Council engaged an external party to joined the Board. Fr David is the parish undertake a comprehensive review of the priest of the Carmelite Parish at Port continues to be operations of the Board. Generally this Melbourne, and as his time permits, will at the forefront of review assessed that the Board was also provide Carmelite Ministry services to operating effectively, however a number the College. boys education. of potential areas-for-improvement were The Principal of Whitefriars College had, for identified, and the Board is currently 52 years, been a Carmelite before the addressing these matters. appointment of Mr John Finn in 2013. Over The Board acknowledges and sincerely the past two years the Board has been Mr Peter Duffy thanks Fr Wayne Stanhope for his four focused on ensuring that the Carmelite Chairman years membership of the Board. Fr Wayne, Ethos is not being eroded ... but indeed based at Middle Park, was the Provincial of further strengthened. To this end the the Carmelites from 2002 to 2011. Fr Board has made the (further) strengthening Wayne has recently accepted a role of of the Carmelite Ethos a key criteria for President of the Carmelites Formators John to achieve. An element of this Group for the countries of India, Indonesia, strategy is that in 2015, Mr Neal Crossan Vietnam, Philippines and Australia. We are (Deputy Principal - Students of the College incredibly grateful that Fr Wayne will until December 2014) will be leading a continue to provide Carmelite Ministry group of staff to establish a closer working services to the College, as his time permits, relationship with the whole Carmelite however I am pleased to welcome to the Community and Carmelite Ethos.
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Principal’s Report
It is obvious to those who know Whitefriars well, or to those who have read any recent information about the College, that we have three words often associated with us. These words are Belong, Believe and Become. They essentially encapsulate the three Carmelite tenets of
prayer, community We are now creating a Carmelite Institute Whitefriars is providing an education that and service. to operate between Whitefriars and caters for broad interests and abilities, thus Middle Park whereby formation of all staff providing a platform for further successful This year our College theme is Believe. It is can be accommodated in an invitational study and work. an important element to have within any and systematic way. Staff with expertise in This year we have the highest enrolment in family, group or organisation where there this area will be developing further the history of the College and the largest is a genuine sense of commitment from programs. We are determined to not only ever Year 7 intake. We are grateful that interest each person. sustain but foster our Carmelite way of life within Whitefriars. More information on the is high and have found the incoming Year At the beginning of the academic year, just above will be given throughout the year. 7 cohort to be a delightful group of boys prior to the students return, the entire staff who have settled well within a large of Whitefriars gathered at the Our Lady of A few days after the above experience the secondary setting. Their transitional camps, Mt Carmel Parish of Middle Park and Port College gathered for Mass at St Patrick’s House masses and dinners, and other parent Melbourne. Essentially this is considered Cathedral - a fitting way to start the year in gatherings have all been most positive. the home of the Carmelites in Melbourne the people’s church of Melbourne. Our There have been a number of changes to and contains the National Shrine and leadership group was invested. The senior positions of leadership amongst our staff Library. As a staff we heard more about boys have been most diligent in their this year. This brings a set of new eyes the Carmelite origins and how it relates to duties and are setting a fine example. whilst still keeping focused on our mission the work we undertake at the College. We and values. Those staff have begun with spent the day in prayer, pilgrimage and Our Dux of 2014 was Julian Virgona who great enthusiasm. We have a new uniform contemplation. The lay staff realise that achieved an ATAR of 99.3. Julian was one that we are pleased to say has found the Charism of the Carmelites has been a of many boys who performed admirably considerable favour with the boys. As we rich and treasured gift bestowed on us by through hard work and full College phase in the new items over time, we will dedicated former Carmelites and staff involvement. Our average of 40 plus see more user friendly material in a more associated with the College over many years. scores are in excess of 10% over the past three years. We are very proud that defined look through colour and shape.
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“We are very proud that Whitefriars is providing an education that caters for broad interests and abilities, thus providing a platform for further successful study and work. ”
I am delighted to advise that Whitefriars a series of activities. This follows on from College has been accepted into last year’s evening where over membership for the Council of 110 families attended the Year 7 mother International Schools (CIS).This now gives and son event. us the opportunity to use the resources of this group to access over 680 schools Sporting success has so far come in the worldwide in terms of comparing their form of Senior ACC Premierships in programming, structures and exchange Swimming and Cricket. Congratulations possibilities. CIS schools are high quality to both teams. places that are carefully scrutinised in terms of the depth of their learning A Master Planning group is currently programs and matching rhetoric to reality looking at all College facilities. A major in their offerings. We will now move building program that accounts for towards seeking to gain full accreditation additional learning spaces is being over the next eighteen months, which will planned for the immediate future. ultimately give us a world standard On the front cover of this edition is a accreditation benchmark. It is so photo of Fr Noel. We celebrated with important that our boys, predominantly Fr Noel in recognising his 60 years as a from the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Carmelite. A wonderful man imbued have a broad and International view of the with humour and good will. world. Once our young men finish at the College they will also have access to many Universities and Colleges around the world. Almae In Fide Parentis
The College is very keen to try and Mr John Finn connect with parents as much as possible. Principal There is much scope for this to occur. The recent night program with Year 8 fathers and sons was a good example of a very well attended gathering, where senior students offer practical advice and a listening ear to our Year 8 families through
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The Carmelites Journey to Whitefriars
Carmelites are part of an international family that stretches from Burkina Faso to Beijing,
Honduras to Hong Kong. The original five Friars who came to Australia The Carmelite Sisters in East Timor distributing in 1881 medicine to local village children Our family is made up of Carmelite Friars (priests and brothers), lay men and women who follow the Carmelite Way in their daily Although the first Carmelite Friars arrived in When five Irish Carmelites arrived in Port lives, as well as sisters and nuns. Australia in 1881, two Lay Carmelites arrived Adelaide in 1881 they took on the pastoral care some eighty years before. of people in the large rural parish of Gawler, From small beginnings on Mount Carmel in 50 kilometres north of Adelaide. They had to Palestine towards the end of the 12th century, James Dempsey and John Butler were travel to their parishioners by train, buggy and we have spread around the world and now transported to Botany Bay for their alleged on horseback. As well as their religious duties, number around 6,000 priests, brothers, nuns involvement in the Irish Rebellion of 1798. they also contributed to the cultural and and sisters, and thousands more lay people, They arrived in Sydney aboard the Atlas in intellectual life of Gawler by involving some 50,000 people in all. October 1802. themselves in the Gawler Institute and the Saints Peter and Paul’s Society (an adult There was no priest during the ten years from You’ll find Carmelites in every part of the education venture). world, including ours: Indonesia, Vietnam, 1810 to 1820, and James Dempsey was virtually Australia, Timor-Leste, Hong Kong, Papua the centre of Catholic life in the colony. He The next year Frs Joseph Butler and Patrick New Guinea, India and the Philippines. prayed with the sick and accompanied the Shaffrey, came to Melbourne to take charge condemned to the gallows. He made his of what is now the parish of Port Melbourne Carmelites try to respond to the needs of local home in Kent Street, a religious and social / Middle Park. In 1883, they set up a ‘night people wherever they find themselves. So centre for the Colony’s Catholic community. school’ for adults teaching history, literature, you’ll find Carmelites in parishes, schools, There the community gathered for prayer on art and music to their largely uneducated retreat centres, orphanages, training colleges, Sundays and weekdays, the children received people. During the Great Maritime Strike of universities, medical clinics, media and religious instruction and pastoral care was the 1890s, their soup-kitchen kept the dock communications, distributing food, celebrating organised for the poor and sick. workers and their families alive. masses, baptisms, weddings and funerals, teaching adults and children, comforting the In 1817 Fr Jeremiah O’Flynn arrived in the That Carmelite tradition of looking after the sick and grieving, and much more. colony, only to be deported by Governor needs of people, responding creatively to Macquarie six months later. By accident or challenging situations and accompanying You’ll also find lay Carmelites engaged in almost design he left the Eucharist at Dempsey’s Kent people through life’s experiences with warmth every trade and profession. There are some Street house. Dempsey turned the best room and gentleness, has been a hallmark of the Lay Carmelite communities which are directly in his house into a little chapel and formed a Order’s ministries in pastoral care, education, involved in ministry. The Lay Carmelites in small confraternity of men to watch over the retreat ministry, spiritual accompaniment and Brazil, for example, fund and manage a centre Eucharist. John Butler, his fellow Carmelite, was communications. Australian Carmelites have which provides education, food and medical one of the members. Eye witness accounts done the same as missionaries in Zimbabwe care to 200 children and their families who are record that on Sundays the crowd at Dempsey’s and Indonesia. Now we are helping to grow living in various situations of social or house overflowed onto the veranda and into the Carmelite spirit as we respond to the needs personal risk. the street. of the Carmelites and the people of East Timor.
No matter who or where we are, Carmelites True to the Carmelite Charism, Dempsey and Whitefriars College is part of the long tradition are always trying to carry the presence of God Butler laid the foundations of a Carmelite of faith, hope and love that the Carmelites with us so that whatever work we do is done culture in Australia, through their care for the have nurtured for over 800 years. with integrity, joy and hope, and in a way spiritual and practical needs of people and that brings life to others. their steadfast faith and hope for the future. Fr David Hofman O.Carm
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WOCA President’s Report
One of the management remains an issue for most There has been talk over the years of a organisations but a College alumni, such as Basketball Club and even a Cycling Club acknowledged WOCA, needs to contend with a population – WOCA would be keen to promote and strengths of a good ‘on the m o v e’. Modern communication support these ventures but physical methods are always improving and the assistance is needed to get these school is the level to College has recently announced the Clubs established. which ex-students appointment of a part-time Development Officer who will be a driving force behind This year has seen the introduction of a remain connected the build-up and maintenance of the WOCA tie. This was presented to the Year after their formal contact database. 12 cohort (approximately 200 boys) at the beginning of the year and it is to be education period. Every year WOCA offers a Scholarship for worn by all Year 12s to signify their the son of an Old Collegian entering Year 7 standing among the College pupils. This While there had been a previous attempt and this year we have had 18 applicants, tie is available (to purchase) by all WOCA to form such a group in the late -1960s, which is great. The Scholarship covers 50% members, as are a set of stylish cuff-links. after the first Year 12 group, it seemed to of the annual tuition fee and runs for six have decreased by 1975. Then in late years, on the basis of ongoing satisfactory Awards for all Year levels at the College 1998, a group came together to discuss performance. Applicants are put through are a key part of WOCA’s remit and this the formation of the Whitefriars Old rigorous testing which grades them includes a sizeable prize to the Year 12 Collegians Association and WOCA officially according to educational standards and Dux, as well as three awards at each level commenced activities in February, 1999. then they need to attend a 20 - minute for students who exhibit the Carmelite interview to boost their application. ethos, demonstrate a continued effort The Association aims to assist the continuity Academic, sporting, family, co - curricular and achieve excellence. and growth of fellowship amongst past and general interests are all taken into students and offers a support structure as account in order to reach a final decision. WOCA takes pleasure in inviting past students the base for a variety of other activities. of the College, of all ages, to become The Whitefriars Old Collegians Football Club members and join in this valuable initiative. A detailed strategic plan was developed has been in action since 1986 and this If you are a past student, this Association for the Association, which at the time year is participating in Division 1 of the has been formed for you. Come and join was extremely optimistic – some items Victorian Amateur Football Association. with us to help contribute towards a have come to fruition and blossomed while The Club provides an opportunity for over vibrant and successful organisation. others remain on the ‘wish list’ for now. 150 young men each year to participate actively across four team levels but Mr Philip Thomson Currently there are approximately 1,800 importantly, it also provides an outlet for WOCA President members. All students who have many past parents and friends of Whitefriars graduated since 2007 become automatic to become involved in a sporting club. members and there are another 300 or WOCA is an active sponsor and supporter. so who are paid-up Life Members.
The Old Whitefriars Cricketers have been In 2015, WOCA is involved at different levels going for the past six years and have in the College and Carmelite community participated in the Melbourne Cricket but we are always looking to make Club’s Club XI turf wicket competition for improvements where possible. One of the past three. A premiership was the most significant impediments to obtained in our first season which was a growing WOCA has been the inability to great achievement. Again, WOCA is an confidently stay connected with members active sponsor and supporter. and aspiring members. Accurate database
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College Opening Mass
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2014 High Achievers
The Class of 2014 have achieved some outstanding results. Many of their achievements are a reflection of the dedication and commitment displayed by students and staff throughout the year.
They offer inspiration and challenge to those facing the VCE in years ahead. “Their results are a Over 150 Year 12 students sat Unit 3 and 4 reflection of their examinations. All Year 12 students who presented for the VCE this year were awarded capabilities and effort, the Certificate and 98% of these students as well as an indication an ATAR score. of the quality of the Whitefriars College ATAR statistics: Whitefriars College 7 or 4% of our students are in the top 5% of the nation with an ATAR of 95 or above teaching staff. ”