FROM OUR CHAPLAIN

It has been a big week in Chaplaincy celebrating our Year 12 students’ Rite of Passage as they take up their future away from the College.

In the mornings, we have enjoyed Choc and Chats in the Middle School Cafe8 and so Year 12 were invited to come along and take the opportunity to farewell their Middle School years.

During pastoral care time, they experienced their final House Chapels with  a blessing in the Peace and Unity Garden.   Each student received a card with their name on it, and over 30 positive affirmations for those times when negativity might be trying to overtake their mind.

The theme of the message for the week was ‘peace’ and peace starts within ourselves first, and then we can offer peace to others.  They were given the message that they should never dwell on whether they are good enough.  They are.  They are known and valued to us as we have walked the schooling journey with them over the past 15 years or so.

We also heard the story of a Collegian whose name appears in our Briggs House Dining Room, Mr. Illingworth, who went to War in 1917.

In summary, he was injured on the battlefields in France and in the process, lost his diary.  A nearby soldier from Perth, Western Australia picked it up and saw the address on the inside cover was Launceston.  He kept it and tried to find Mr. Illingworth’s family when he returned from the war.  He couldn’t, but then after his death, his family put out a message on Facebook and Mr Ililngworth’s family answered the search and the diary was returned to its original owner’s family .

This was a good story, a profound experience of being and belonging in the human family.  Significance had travelled across nations, cultures, and interests to show a man’s family how significant he was to return his diary to its rightful owners.

I hope every departing Year 12 student knows they are known, valued, cared for and will always belong as a Collegian.  They are not alone, we have their back if they ever need us.

Grace Reynolds
College Chaplain