Page 9 - The Gonzaga Record 1989
P. 9
but this will be the first in Ireland. To quote from Fr Crowe's letter:
"From the mid-sixties on, lay men and women have begun to take on
more important positions in our schools. Lay people have filled more
and more teaching positions so that Jesuits are now in the minority;
we have lay-principals in our two junior schools, we have lay bursars,
lay vice-principals and indeed mostly lay people on the boards of
management of four of our schools. Gonzaga has been no exception
to these developments. This growth in participation by lay people in
our schools is due in part to the challenge posed by Vatican II, that
lay people are entitled to full opportunities to exercise their vocation
and professionalism.
Another consideration that weighed very heavily on the Provincial
and his advisers is the glaring reality that in the future the numbers of
Jesuits in Gonzaga as elsewhere will inevitably be limited . . . .
Gonzaga is to remain a Jesuit school .... But how can this be if the
Headmaster is not a Jesuit? The College will remain the home of a
community of Jesuits who will continue to work in the school, inside
and outside the classroom, as they have done in the past. The numbers
have become smaller than used to be the case, but that makes even
more evident their role in working with lay colleagues in setting a
recognisable Jesuit stamp on the spirituality and whole tone of
Gonzaga ... .. The new Head will be a person convinced in faith,
skilled professionally, proven in some educational administration and
with a sense of the Jesuit tradition .... However, any change of this
magnitude will create some moments of uncertainty in the minds of
all of us, but it also provides great opportunities and our ambitions
are clear. These ambitions are to continue at Gonzaga a full Catholic
and human education in the Jesuit tradition ... :'
The excerpts from Fr General's address elsewhere in the Record refers in
some detail to that Jesuit tradition. As this change pertains to the 1990-91
school year it will be more fully dealt with in the 1990 Record.
An event worthy of mention at the start of the new school year 1989-90
was the publication by Irish Messenger Publications of a series of six
booklets on faith-related issues, aimed at young people in the 16-30 age
group. Five of the six booklets were written by five members of the
Gonzaga Community and the series was launched at a Press conference
in Gonzaga with the students of 5th and 6th years present with staff and
the other guests. The Chairman of IMP, Mr Patrick Nolan, presided and
the speakers were Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, Fr Phi lip Harnett SJ, Irish
Jesuit Provincial, and Fr Eddie Keane SJ, representing the authors.
In the multiplicity of events that make up a school year people look
for some strands running through the year which, while not capable of
being tabulated on a results sheet, on the other hand help to make the
education process fruitful, beyond being merely success ful. If Gonzaga
is to be a Catholic and Jesuit school worthy of the name, one of these
strands must be the quality of compassion, referred to in the graduation
7
"From the mid-sixties on, lay men and women have begun to take on
more important positions in our schools. Lay people have filled more
and more teaching positions so that Jesuits are now in the minority;
we have lay-principals in our two junior schools, we have lay bursars,
lay vice-principals and indeed mostly lay people on the boards of
management of four of our schools. Gonzaga has been no exception
to these developments. This growth in participation by lay people in
our schools is due in part to the challenge posed by Vatican II, that
lay people are entitled to full opportunities to exercise their vocation
and professionalism.
Another consideration that weighed very heavily on the Provincial
and his advisers is the glaring reality that in the future the numbers of
Jesuits in Gonzaga as elsewhere will inevitably be limited . . . .
Gonzaga is to remain a Jesuit school .... But how can this be if the
Headmaster is not a Jesuit? The College will remain the home of a
community of Jesuits who will continue to work in the school, inside
and outside the classroom, as they have done in the past. The numbers
have become smaller than used to be the case, but that makes even
more evident their role in working with lay colleagues in setting a
recognisable Jesuit stamp on the spirituality and whole tone of
Gonzaga ... .. The new Head will be a person convinced in faith,
skilled professionally, proven in some educational administration and
with a sense of the Jesuit tradition .... However, any change of this
magnitude will create some moments of uncertainty in the minds of
all of us, but it also provides great opportunities and our ambitions
are clear. These ambitions are to continue at Gonzaga a full Catholic
and human education in the Jesuit tradition ... :'
The excerpts from Fr General's address elsewhere in the Record refers in
some detail to that Jesuit tradition. As this change pertains to the 1990-91
school year it will be more fully dealt with in the 1990 Record.
An event worthy of mention at the start of the new school year 1989-90
was the publication by Irish Messenger Publications of a series of six
booklets on faith-related issues, aimed at young people in the 16-30 age
group. Five of the six booklets were written by five members of the
Gonzaga Community and the series was launched at a Press conference
in Gonzaga with the students of 5th and 6th years present with staff and
the other guests. The Chairman of IMP, Mr Patrick Nolan, presided and
the speakers were Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, Fr Phi lip Harnett SJ, Irish
Jesuit Provincial, and Fr Eddie Keane SJ, representing the authors.
In the multiplicity of events that make up a school year people look
for some strands running through the year which, while not capable of
being tabulated on a results sheet, on the other hand help to make the
education process fruitful, beyond being merely success ful. If Gonzaga
is to be a Catholic and Jesuit school worthy of the name, one of these
strands must be the quality of compassion, referred to in the graduation
7
