St Stephen’s Cathedral in Brisbane was filled with prayer, praise and gratitude, as hundreds gathered to mark 150 years of Edmund Rice Ministries in Queensland. Source: The Catholic Leader.
The Mass on July 31united Christian Brothers, school and ministry representatives, clergy and the wider community to honour the enduring legacy of service, education and compassion inspired by the Irish founder.
Edmund Rice Oceania province leader Gerard Brady CFC said it was a day of “gratitude and hope”.
Brisbane apostolic administrator Archbishop Mark Coleridge paid tribute to the brothers and their influence on his life.
“As I move towards retirement, I find myself looking back; and looking back, I find myself more conscious than ever of the debt I owe to the Christian Brothers,” he said in his homily.
He said he had heard contemporaries complain about the schooling they received from the brothers.
“What I received wasn’t perfect, but it left me with happy memories and a deep sense of gratitude to the brothers who taught me,” he said.
“Later in life, when I was working in the Vatican before being named bishop, I was again in close contact with the brothers.
“As well as serving in the Secretariat of State, I was chaplain to the Brothers’ General House community when Brother Edmund Garvey was superior general and Brother Dan Stewart Superior of the House. Each week I would escape from the Vatican for Mass, a good meal and fine company.
“When I was named bishop, the General House community gave me the crozier which I’m using today and which I have carried around in my car through my years as bishop.
“They also gave me a first-class relic of Blessed Edmund Rice, which has accompanied me to this day.
“So my debt of gratitude is deeply personal. But it’s not just personal, because a host of others would be no less grateful for what they received from the brothers, who shaped not only individuals but societies.
“The fact is that Queensland and Australia would be unrecognisably different were it not for the Christian Brothers.
The concluding rites of the Mass included the presentation of a banner depicting Blessed Edmund Rice, gifted by the Christian Brothers and presented to ministry and school representatives by Archbishop Coleridge and Br Brady.
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Queensland education shaped in image of Blessed Edmund Rice for 150 years (The Catholic Leader)
