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Dear members of the Whitefriars College FamilDear members of the Whitefriars College Family,
“Citius, Altius, Fortius” is the motto of the modern Olympic Games. These three Latin words mean “Faster, Higher, Stronger.” Baron de Coubertin the founder of the Modern Olympics borrowed the motto from a Priest named Henri Martin Dideono, the headmaster of a school in Paris. This motto speaks of more than physical prowess or achievement. It speaks to me of resilience, determination, commitment, adaptability and evolution.
Every athlete competing in Paris has a story. A story which speaks to these values and ideas. One such story which has grabbed my attention during this period has been that of Australian cyclist Grace Brown. As a young person growing up in Camperdown in Western Victoria, Grace’s dream was to be a worldclass middle-distance and cross-country runner. She was well on the way to achieving this lofty goal when stress fractures and other persistent injuries began to hamper her progress. For a time, Grace persevered but in the end the pressures on her body became too great and she had to retire that dream.
After a period of uncertainty, a friend suggested to Grace that considering her natural gifts as an endurance athlete she should think about becoming a cyclist. Grace took a leap of faith in that moment and totally invested herself in this new direction. She went on to compete on the world stage which culminated in her winning the Gold medal in the road time trial in Paris. The first Australian ever to do so.
This story speaks to me not only of Grace’s talent and dedication, but it also speaks of her ability to adapt, to evolve, to have the courage and resilience to pick herself up, dust herself off and take that leap of faith which is required in moments like these. She took a situation which was out of her control and instead of continuing to live in that space decided to take control over her life and her ambition and just get on with it!
I am privileged often at Whitefriars to witness members of our community who show similar qualities in dealing with adverse situations not of their making. Like the student who doesn’t make the ACC team he has been trying so hard to get into, rather than flounder in disappointment, he chooses another sport to play and ends up loving it. Or the 79 Year 11 students who his year have taken a courageous leap of faith in putting himself forward for our senior leadership program, not knowing what the outcome will be. Or perhaps, the group of young men who took the courageous leap of faith to perform on stage or support back stage in our recent production of Sleepy Hollow.
It is our ability to adapt, to evolve to try a different approach and to take control of our own destiny which can lead to our greatest achievements. In my recent trip to Ireland and the UK where I traced the history of the Carmelites in this part of the world, I discovered that the qualities and attitudes I have mentioned here are precisely those which have assisted greatly in their survival over the last 800 years.
The following extract from the journal I kept during our travels best illustrated these qualities of adaptability, resilience and reinvention which is a hallmark of being Carmelite.
Saturday June 22 2024
Today we left Cambridge and drove two hours Northeast to the County of West Norfolk and a small village named Burnham Norton. My research had suggested that there I would find a ruin of one of the first Carmelite Priory’s in the England.
History tells us that post the Muslim forces victory over the Christians in the crusades of the 13th Century, the Carmelites were forced to leave Mount Carmel and venture to other parts of the world. The first Carmelites to leave ventured to Europe and England. They arrived in Burham Norton in 1241 and then branched out to other parts of England.
Here in Norfolk and other places the Carmelites adapted to their new surroundings and the needs of their new community. Whilst attempting to maintain their contemplative hermit like existence they recognised that the signs of the times and place they were in required a different approach. In this space they recognised that there was a greater need to minister to the poor and most marginalised in the community and therefore they lived amongst rather than apart from the community.
The Carmelites became very well known and loved in the communities they established in England as thoughtful, gentle and generous men of faith and love who became known for their teaching of the poor in Urban areas. The Friary and Church grew and flourished over the next 300 years until 1538 when King Henry VIII enacted the reformation and outlawed all Catholic Monasteries and Churches. Two friars from the community of Burhan Norton were accused of planning an uprising against the closures, one of these men, a Carmelite Priest named John Peacock, was convicted and was subsequently brutally executed. Other Carmelites who would not pledge allegiance to the King as the head of the Church were also executed.
This story spoke to me of both the adaptability and resilience of the Carmelites in responding to needs of their new environment and their courage and conviction in standing by their beliefs and their community even under threat of death. It speaks to me of the Carmelites ability to be flexible, to evolve, to make a deliberate decision take control of what at first appears to be a situation beyond their control and move forward one step at a time.
Like Grace Brown and the Carmelites may we too have the courage to adapt, to change, to meet the signs of the times and thrive in new and exciting directions.