Catholic Diocese of Broome

The recent series of anniversaries of schools around the Kimberley have been magnificent gatherings for each of the communities involved. Forty years of St. Joseph's School, Wyndham was followed by twenty-five years at Ngalangangpum School, Warmun. Barely had the cries of delight faded away when John Pujajangka-Piyirn Catholic School in Mulan launched its remembrance of twenty-five years in existence and then, hot on their heels, came Holy Rosary in Derby with a golden jubilee of operations remembered in a most fitting manner.
The various birthdays brought joy not only to locals but also to a large number of others lucky enough to be in each community when the celebrations were in full swing. They were times for remembering, for reunions, for recalling significant events and for well organised festivities that in turn create memories of their own.
The contribution to education in the Kimberley by Religious Congregations such as the St. John of God Sisters, the Sisters of St Joseph and the Mercy Sisters all received due recognition. Their heroic works were built on firm foundations of faith, generosity and self sacrifice. Many stories related by those who shared some of the times with these Sisters bore testimony to a notable absence of inflated comfort zones. The ability to achieve much with very little in hand was a recurrent theme told during the anniversary occasions.
It occurred to me that all of us today are living on the credit accumulated by those who went before us. Reference to the past is not mere nostalgia but rather, it is a useful framework to judge where we are today and how we ought to develop or grow in the future. Nobody seriously wants to go back to fruit crates for furniture or painted plywood for school slates. Neither do we want our pupils or teachers or other personnel to suffer the deprivations of limited power supply and bare tin sheds for classrooms. However, the spirit that sustained those who gave so much in the beginning to these noble institutions of learning is a model for all of us labouring to proclaim the Good News and striving to help others to become suitably educated. The willingness to give freely, generously and happily of ourselves is a goal worth pursuing.
Many thanks to all those people who contributed to the occasions of the anniversaries. All the celebrations were joyous, impressive and moving for everyone who participated in them. The opportunities given to glean from the past and see the achievements of the present are appreciated.
For people of faith celebrations of the type we have been recently exposed to are particularly important. They decidedly capture the imagination of those whose present faith story is built on the gift of past revelation and tradition, and the witness of personal heroism. Such celebrations bring the beginnings into the present in a very real manner and lift us beyond ourselves to the realm of thanksgiving. Might they also inspire us to find what joy there is in other eucharistic moments as we happily celebrate God's on-going goodness to us.