Principal
Much was written and said in the media following the recent release of the ABS 2021 Census data. One item that featured prominently in this coverage was the increase in the numbers of people identifying as having ‘no religion’. This trend was paralleled by the decrease in the numbers identifying as Christian. Both have been growing trends over many years and they were highlighted by a change in the Census question structures.
While there is no doubting the figures, nor the fact that these trends require deep reflection and analysis by those of us who hold a religious belief there is a counterpoint to them. This is another emerging trend across Australia over many years that the ABS Census does not identify.
This trend is reflected in the growing numbers of students attending faith-based schools and the growing numbers of such schools. This is certainly true for Catholic schools. I can only speak from my knowledge of Catholic schools that it is also a reality that a significant number of the students and families are non-Catholic and some would identify as ‘no religion’.
Similarly, there is continuing growth in faith-based hospitals and health care services. This is replicated in the increasing provision and uptake of Catholic aged care as well as Catholic family and social services delivery. Anyone and everyone can access these services and people of faith and no faith at all are doing so.
The majority of these faith-based schools, hospitals and health care services are founded in the mission, values and beliefs of Christianity. People may not be filling the Church pews anymore but they are filling the classrooms, the waiting rooms and wards of many faith-based institutions. This is cause for hope. It is also a reason to reflect on why.
I can only reflect on why families choose to send their children to Catholic schools because that is my area of expertise. I believe they do so because of the high quality of education and care that Catholic schools almost universally provide. Further to this, Catholic schools are considered places that expect high standards of behaviour based on explicit values.
The best of these schools are also considered to be welcoming communities. They are communities that engender a sense of belonging, connection and attachment. This can be true for students, staff and parents alike.
For those of us who are fortunate to be a part of the Nudgee College community these feelings of connection and belonging are deeply felt. We experience them in all sorts of ways, be they at intimate moments for small numbers of people or large gatherings with big numbers. To highlight just a few from recent days at the College I mention the following:
- The late afternoon parent, student and teacher conversations as part of Year 9 and 10 subject selections.
- The gathering of 1st XI football players, parents and coaches in and under the Grandstand last Thursday morning.
- Last week’s Boarding Formal dinner and the Barrett House dinner
- The Cattle Club boys who are at the Ekka this week and next for the first time in three years.
- The House Assembly speeches delivered by Year 11s students with the courage and ambition to apply for leadership positions for 2023.
- The large crowds at last Saturday’s GPS Basketball and Rugby fixtures or the Long Lunch this Sunday afternoon. It is our fifth Long Lunch but our first since 2019 and a crowd of 1,500 will gather on Wilkes Oval for a very special community occasion.
I expect that you could add to this list with your own experiences of where you find or have found this sense of community connection and belonging at Nudgee College. There may be ‘no religion’ in such moments but there is God. Joan Chittister captures this profoundly:
“It is in community that we come to see God in the other. It is in community that we see our own emptiness filled up. It is community that calls me beyond the pinched horizons of my own life, my own country, my own race, and gives me the gifts I do not have within me.”
Mr Peter Fullagar
Principal
