Please consider a
bequest for the future
of Campion College
Students in Moree
Eight students from the USA joined ten
Campion students in the three-week course,
which focused on Australian and Aboriginal
history. It ended with a tour of schools and
community service in the NSW towns of
Moree, Walgett and Lightening Ridge.
Organized with the assistance of Sharon
Cooke from the Armidale Catholic
Education office, the group assisted
teachers at St Philomena School in Moree,
and participated in a special ceremony at St
Josephs School in Walgett.
The week was completed at the site of
the Myall Creek massacre, a very sombre
Summer School
in January ‘11
A
special opportunity to visit Campion
College and experience a foretaste of
student life will soon be offered for secondary
school students who are about to enter Year
12.
It will cover the core subjects taught at
Campion – history, literature, philosophy
and theology.
In addition, there will be study skills training
of value to students about to begin Year 12.
The experience of similar Catholic colleges
in America is that a residential ‘Summer
School’ helps students to gain a personal
understanding of a Catholic Liberal Arts
program and culture, and decide on the
educational path they would like to follow
after high school.
All came away with a much greater
understanding of the history and continuing
struggle of Aboriginal communities.
More importantly, there was a better
understanding of how Aboriginal culture has
become intertwined with Catholic history
and life in Australia.
A highlight of the tour was the gift of a cross,
hand-painted with Aboriginal motifs by
distinguished Aboriginal elder and gifted artist,
Auntie Faye Green OAM, who is a custodian
of the Kamililroi language and teaches it to
children at St Josephs School, Walgett.
V I TA L S K I L L S f o
r LIFE and SCHO
OL
FOR STUDE
ENTERING YEAR NTS
12 I N 2011
Come to Cam
Australia’s Only Liberalpion,
for a life-changing sumArts College,
mer camp
19-23 J A N U A RY 2011
Bridging Course Leadership Training; Perso Secondary to Tertiary
nal, Spiritual & Social
Development
Get the edge:
Sample
Have fun
learn essential
Make new
undergraduate with
adventure
study skills
friends in a
teaching in
and social
before your
relaxed,
literature, history,
activities
final school year
non-c
ompetitive
philosophy
atmosphere
and theology
Deepen your faith in a
Catholic environment
FIVE FABU LOU S DAYS
& FOU R NIGH TS $400
(some schola
rship assistance available)
Email: [email protected]
for program details visit
u.au
Website: www.campion.ed
u.au
for more about Campion
College.
LENT
TrinityTERM
Term
at Campion
Campion staff in the Leadership Team:
Mr John Parmentier, Dr David Daintree,
Fr Richard Aladics, Ms Valentine Mukuria
and Mr Paul Kennedy.
Campion
Leadership
Program
A
very exciting initiative this year is the
launching of the Campion Leadership
Award Program.
It springs from the mission of the College to
‘educate future leaders’.
The program is designed both to encourage
and to challenge Campion students to grow
in character and leadership ability.
Participants engage in College life as
well as the broader community, through
voluntary service of various kinds –
participating in the public speaking course
at Campion and in the range of spiritual
activities available, and taking a leading part
in extra-curricular activities.
Students have individual mentors, who
help them reflect on their strengths
and weaknesses, give them feedback,
encouraging personal growth and
development.
The Campion Leadership Program is an
integral part of the College’s efforts to
develop students into future leaders, to
appreciate more deeply the Catholic values
which the College professes.
Last December, a third year Campion student, Natasha Marsh, visited
Rome as a representative of the College. Her mission was to take part in
the return of the World Youth Day Icon, Sedes Sapientiae (Our Lady Seat
of Wisdom), to Pope Benedict XVI.
These are Natasha’s impressions of a memorable visit to the Eternal City.
I
submitted my application to represent
Campion College without any real
intention of a response.
It was a crazy idea anyway – I had no money,
no passport, exams were fast approaching
and the Delegation was set to leave in
three weeks. I offered a swift prayer and
endeavoured to think of the application no
more. “What happens, will happen,” I stoically
reassured myself, and flopped into bed.
Three weeks later I was standing, elated
(and shivering) in the vestibule of St. Peter’s
Basilica, waiting to be presented to St
Peter’s successor himself and wondering
what on earth I was doing there.
A quick glance around me confirmed my
misgivings – the remains of Charlemagne
to my left, the host of Cardinals to my right,
and the gold-wrought seraphim above – I
was on hallowed ground, the halls of saints
and martyrs, I did not belong here.
This place was something that you would
read about, dream about perhaps, but was
not the makings of reality, I was sure of this.
Even as a child I would lament the absence
of magic and wonder to be found in the ‘real
world’. Where were the enchanted
corridors of Jacques’
Redwall Abbey? In what
city was the breathless
magic imbued in Tolkien’s
Rivendell to be found?
Natasha Marsh at the Colosseum
I grew up mostly in the
company of the elves,
But there was a main difference. This place
faeries and medieval knights who haunted
was real. Before my eyes was a sight of
these ethereal lands.
beauty with more strength and power than I
had ever imagined.
As I grew older these characters and places
took a back seat in my thoughts in order to
This was a true beauty which resulted
make way for reality – although they were
from the contemplation of God. It was an
never far away.
attempt to reflect His love and goodness, to
give the Christian soul a shadowy image of
These imaginings gradually translated into
Heaven – an endeavour which put Rivendell
the general search for the beautiful and the
to shame.
other-worldly. Yet experience taught me that
this kind of beauty existed in the mind, not
Elves were real, but they came in the
real life. It was a situation I was not happy
form of the vaulting choirs of angels which
about, but had come to accept as a fact.
tumbled out from behind every pillar.
Enchantment and awe
However, standing there in the foyer of St.
Peter’s Basilica, I was confronted with a
sight which challenged my outlook. This
place filled me with the enchantment and
awe that I had come to know from my
childhood books.
The romantic knights were the remains of
the popes, both saintly and otherwise, who
slept beneath my feet.
The world was beautiful, but not in the way
that I had looked for. It is charged with the
grandeur of God, in a way that is intimately
more satisfying and – ultimately – real.
I feel truly blessed to have had this
experience. It is one that I hope I will never
forget.
Annual Ball
at the College
Campion’s Student Association
extends an open invitation to its
Winter Ball, to be held at the College
on Friday, September 3, at 7.30pm.
Dress is Black Tie, and a live band
will be performing.
For students who are interested in the
kind of foundational subjects offered at
Campion, and who wish to study in an
environment supportive of both faith and
reason, the January School could be of
decisive benefit.
Further information is available on the
College website (www.campion.edu.au), or
by ticking the box on the enclosed flyer.
www.campion.edu.au
Vol 9. No 3 Winter 2010
www.campion.edu.au
Campion students at last year’s College Ball
Tickets and further details can be
obtained from the website – www.
campion.edu.au
PLEASE SUPPORT
THE WORK OF
CAMPION COLLEGE.
Bishop Anthony Fisher OP, recently installed as Bishop of the Diocese of Parramatta in
which Campion College resides, with the President, Dr David Daintree, and students.
ALL GIFTS ARE
TAX-DEDUCTIBLE
www.campion.edu.au Campion’s Brag Winter 2010
www.campion.edu.au Campion’s Brag Winter 2010
4
The program will extend over five days –
January 19-23 – and consist of a healthy
blend of undergraduate teaching, social
activities and outdoor excursions.
and reflective moment as people walked in
silence and prayed.
The week was a profound experience for
all who participated in the meetings with
important elders of the Kamiliroi people.
Catholic Learning in the Liberal Arts
A Campion
Student in Rome
Student visit Aboriginal Communities
I
n July, Campion College conducted an
intensive program in Australian history
for both its own students and visitors from
overseas.
CAMPION’S BRAG
1
A Golden Week in Australia
The St Edmund Campion Lecture
Catholic Audacity in a Secularist Society
In May, Peter Milward SJ, an English Jesuit priest, visited Campion College to deliver
a series of guest lectures. Fr Milward is Emeritus Professor of English Literature at
Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan, and served as the first Director of the University’s
Renaissance Centre. He is a prolific author, particularly on Shakespeare, and is a
member of Campion’s International Board of Advisors.
Each year the College celebrates its Patron Saint by inviting a distinguished speaker to deliver the St
Edmund Campion Lecture.
This year, on 24 June, Mr A.J. (Tony) Macken, an eminent lawyer who is National President of the Order
of Malta, spoke on ‘Edmund Campion in Australia: Catholic Audacity in a Secularist Society.’
Mr Macken sketched the personal background and historical circumstances of Edmund Campion’s life,
and then went on to explore the possible lessons provided by the Saint in addressing the great intellectual
and cultural challenges facing Catholics in contemporary Australia.
The following is an edited version of Mr Macken’s speech.
T
here are many ways in which
Edmund Campion might be
approached today –
•
•
•
•
the literary stylist and master of English,
celebrated by Evelyn Waugh;
the Catholic champion who
challenged the title-deeds of the
Protestant Reformation and became
in consequence a victim of calumny,
torments and a show trial, mourned by
Msgr Ronald Knox;
one of two great and complementary
Catholic thinkers on the idea of the
University – the other being John Henry
Newman – as described by Campion
College co-founder Karl Schmude;
the subject of continuing study by
biographers, historians, educationalists
and churchmen.
To a greater extent than any other saint
of his century – perhaps of any century
past – Edmund Campion seems our
contemporary: his brilliance, his charm, his
physical fearlessness, his moral courage,
his spirituality, his kindness, his humility,
his breath-taking audacity, his mastery
of English, his skill in debate – all these
endear Campion to us now as it did to
contemporaries then.
Campion as Inspiration
Like us, Campion lived against a
background of momentous historical events
which, like us, he was called upon to resist,
reshape, deflect, expose or fulfil.
St Thomas
More on the
Liberal Arts
‘. . . There are some who through
knowledge of things natural construct
a ladder by which to rise to the
contemplation of things supernatural;
they build a path to theology through
philosophy and the liberal arts...they adorn
the queen of heaven with the spoils of the
Egyptians.’
The photo of St Thomas More on display
in the Campion Chapel. It was donated
by neighbours of the College, Tom and
Monica Kelly of Toongabbie.
Letter to the Guild of Masters, the
governing body of Oxford University,
in which he stressed the universal
benefits of a liberal education.
•
•
•
•
Fr Peter Milward SJ lecturing
at Campion College
Mr A.J. (Tony) Macken delivering
the St Edmund Campion Lecture
become the source of authority in our
culture;
It is based on the principle of relativism
which holds there are no objective
truths: it is sceptical of all authority so
we should be sceptical of its authority;
It has a monopoly of ‘public opinion’
(that is, of what is published) but this is
highly problematic because the modern
media is inaccurate in its representation
of society;
It has marginalised the Judeo-Christian
heritage and in the Stalinist tradition
‘there is an empty chair where the
Church ought to be’: Catholics do not
get a hearing in Australia, with Islam the
only religion which is allowed to have a
presence in the public sphere;
Catholics have a right to expect that we
will exist and be represented accurately
in the popular culture.
Secularist worldviews
I would respectfully add three points to
those made by Mr Greg Sheridan:
• Contemporary society and many of its
institutions reflect secularist world-views.
Catholics did not make contemporary
society: secularists did. Their creation is
quite unloveable, for some unlivable and
for very many persons unbearable.
We approach the secularist society as
liberators of its victims who deserved
much better than this: just as Campion
approached the victims of the
institutions imposed on Tudor England;
• A key battleground is the secular
universities: just as it was for Edmund
Campion.
The moral and intellectual culture
of a secular university, good or bad,
presages the moral and intellectual
culture of Australian Society in 3 – 5
years time, and it can itself be reshaped
within a university generation of 3 years;
• Transforming the culture of Australian
Society calls for particular leadership
qualities of which Edmund Campion was
the exemplar: physical fearlessness,
moral courage, what some call
‘chutzpah’ and others audacity.
Campion College is preparing a full version
of Mr Macken’s St Edmund Campion
Lecture, ‘Edmund Campion in Australia:
Catholic Audacity in a Secularist Society,’
which is expected to be published in October.
Readers of Campion’s Brag may wish to
indicate their interest in receiving a copy by
ticking the box on the donation sheet.
I
n Japan what we call ‘Golden Week’ is a
series of three national holidays about the
beginning of May, which we put together to
form a consecutive week.
But for me, coming to Australia and lecturing
on Shakespeare at Campion College, it
was what we call in England ‘a busman’s
holiday’.
Just as a busman is always driving a bus as
his daily chore, so when he goes on holiday
with his family he is expected to drive the
family car.
Thus back in Japan I am always lecturing
on Shakespeare, and similarly during my
week at Campion College I was doing the
same thing. Only for me it isn’t a chore. I
love it, especially when I can speak to such
students as I found at Campion.
Not all audiences would agree with me
that Shakespeare must surely have been
a Catholic, but the Campion audience from
the very name and emphasis of the College
was predisposed to agree with me.
And I love all those who are so kind as to
agree with me. (Of course, even if someone
disagrees with me, I love him or her as well.
But it’s more difficult!)
Anyhow, how could I fail to enjoy my golden
week at Campion College under a warm
autumnal Australian sun, with such good
students around me?
And they were just the right number for
a Catholic college specializing in the
humanities, what Milton calls ‘a fit audience,
though but few’.
It was, I thought, so fitting to the Catholic
mind of Shakespeare, looking as he does
‘in the dark backward and abysm of time’,
both to the Bible and the Classics, while
prizing all that followed under the name of
‘tradition’.
Shakespeare and the Jesuits
Such is the mind we find in all his
plays, a mind that cherishes the ideal of
‘Christendom’, in abrupt contrast to those
who were engaged, even in his own time, in
Campion Students launch
their own publication
E
Siobhan
arlier this year, Campion students
launched a student periodical called
The Sextant. Its Editor,
Reeves, a second year student at the
College, explains the title of the publication
and the reasons for its establishment.
Why did you start a student publication?
Quite a number of students had been talking
about the need for such a publication for
some time, and so a few of us got together
and decided we’d have a go at producing a
high quality student periodical.
Where did you get the name The Sextant
from? It was inspired by the admirable journal
Quadrant. We also like the name because
of its reference to the navigation instrument,
Campion’s editorial team at work: Siobhan
Reeves (right) and Paul O’Donovan (left)
which in a sense reflects our desire for the
Sextant to be a part of the students’ journey
though Campion and through life.
What is the purpose of the publication?
The purposes of The Sextant include, but
are not limited to, showcasing the talent
of Campion students, providing a forum
for reasoned debate on different issues,
supporting the College in forming future
articulate leaders, displaying a cohesive
student community, and providing some
lighter reading.
What motivates students to contribute to
The Sextant? It differs for every student, but
I believe the principal reasons are to share
something of their own experience, to initiate
or take part in a debate about different
issues, and to stop me pestering them.
Who does the editorial team consist
of? It’s a great combination of students
from across all three year levels of our BA
degree. They contribute in different ways –
some through regular features, layout and
design, editing, printing and circulation, etc.
How are the printing costs covered? We
were blessed in having the initial printing
costs covered by the College. We are
now trying to finance the Sextant through
student functions and advertising.
cutting England off from her medieval past
and from the Catholic continent.
In this respect, he was at one with the
Jesuits of his time, notably with the first
Jesuit martyr Edmund Campion, under
whose direction (according to my theory)
he may have actually made the Spiritual
Exercises of St. Ignatius in Lancashire in
the spring of 1581.
So I may conclude, if there is anyone
deserving the nickname of ‘Campion’s
brag’, it is surely William Shakespeare!
Students in Corpus
Christi procession
Campion students participated once again
in the annual Corpus Christi procession
through the streets of Sydney. A second
year student, Jacqueline Ramsey,
offers her impressions of this special
witness of faith.
As the first hymn announced the beginning
of the Corpus Christi procession in Sydney,
from St. Patrick’s, Church Hill to St. Mary’s
Cathedral, so too did a deluge of rain begin
to drum an irregular marching pace upon
hundreds of hastily erected umbrellas.
The 2010 Corpus Christi Procession,
held on Sunday, June 6, was a beautiful
opportunity to celebrate, adore and bear
witness to the gift of our Lord in the
Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist.
Approximately 4000 drenched yet jubilant
faithful packed into St. Mary’s Cathedral
for the conclusion of the procession which
culminated with a homily by His Eminence
Cardinal Pell and final Benediction.
Over fifteen past and present Campion
students attended the procession with their
family and friends. It was a marvellous
way to spend a Sunday afternoon, truly as
living witnesses of the faith we profess.
www.campion.edu.au Campion’s Brag Winter 2010
www.campion.edu.au Campion’s Brag Winter 2010
2
If Edmund Campion were to challenge
contemporary Australian secularist society,
he would do so in different words and on
different issues, but undoubtedly with the
same relish, exuberance and audacity as in
1580 and 1581.
It is possible to suggest how it might read
since an eminent Australian journalist
did something very like this in May 2010.
Mr Greg Sheridan, Foreign Editor of
The Australian, delivered an address in
Melbourne with the title ‘Surviving the
Secular Society’.
As reported in Kairos Catholic Journal (12
June 2010) by a Campion graduate, Celeste
Badman, Mr Sheridan made eight points:
• Catholics should seek out Catholic
culture which exists in abundance and
not least the culture of the past, should
be open about their religious beliefs and
should claim our share of the popular
culture;
• We should recognise that public
culture is now not just secular but
‘tremendously hostile to religion in
general and Christianity in particular’;
• The commanding heights of our culture
in the universities and media tend to
produce a particular world view: that is
that western society itself is completely
illegitimate and profoundly unjust
and that is because it is racist, sexist,
patriarchal, neo-colonial, capitalist,
exploitative and authoritarian – with
the Catholic Church perhaps the worst
offender;
• These views are not based on reality
and have no lasting credibility: indeed
the secular world view is paradoxical
– although anti-authoritarian, it has
On his return to Japan, Fr Milward offered these reflections on his visit to the College.
3
A Golden Week in Australia
The St Edmund Campion Lecture
Catholic Audacity in a Secularist Society
In May, Peter Milward SJ, an English Jesuit priest, visited Campion College to deliver
a series of guest lectures. Fr Milward is Emeritus Professor of English Literature at
Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan, and served as the first Director of the University’s
Renaissance Centre. He is a prolific author, particularly on Shakespeare, and is a
member of Campion’s International Board of Advisors.
Each year the College celebrates its Patron Saint by inviting a distinguished speaker to deliver the St
Edmund Campion Lecture.
This year, on 24 June, Mr A.J. (Tony) Macken, an eminent lawyer who is National President of the Order
of Malta, spoke on ‘Edmund Campion in Australia: Catholic Audacity in a Secularist Society.’
Mr Macken sketched the personal background and historical circumstances of Edmund Campion’s life,
and then went on to explore the possible lessons provided by the Saint in addressing the great intellectual
and cultural challenges facing Catholics in contemporary Australia.
The following is an edited version of Mr Macken’s speech.
T
here are many ways in which
Edmund Campion might be
approached today –
•
•
•
•
the literary stylist and master of English,
celebrated by Evelyn Waugh;
the Catholic champion who
challenged the title-deeds of the
Protestant Reformation and became
in consequence a victim of calumny,
torments and a show trial, mourned by
Msgr Ronald Knox;
one of two great and complementary
Catholic thinkers on the idea of the
University – the other being John Henry
Newman – as described by Campion
College co-founder Karl Schmude;
the subject of continuing study by
biographers, historians, educationalists
and churchmen.
To a greater extent than any other saint
of his century – perhaps of any century
past – Edmund Campion seems our
contemporary: his brilliance, his charm, his
physical fearlessness, his moral courage,
his spirituality, his kindness, his humility,
his breath-taking audacity, his mastery
of English, his skill in debate – all these
endear Campion to us now as it did to
contemporaries then.
Campion as Inspiration
Like us, Campion lived against a
background of momentous historical events
which, like us, he was called upon to resist,
reshape, deflect, expose or fulfil.
St Thomas
More on the
Liberal Arts
‘. . . There are some who through
knowledge of things natural construct
a ladder by which to rise to the
contemplation of things supernatural;
they build a path to theology through
philosophy and the liberal arts...they adorn
the queen of heaven with the spoils of the
Egyptians.’
The photo of St Thomas More on display
in the Campion Chapel. It was donated
by neighbours of the College, Tom and
Monica Kelly of Toongabbie.
Letter to the Guild of Masters, the
governing body of Oxford University,
in which he stressed the universal
benefits of a liberal education.
•
•
•
•
Fr Peter Milward SJ lecturing
at Campion College
Mr A.J. (Tony) Macken delivering
the St Edmund Campion Lecture
become the source of authority in our
culture;
It is based on the principle of relativism
which holds there are no objective
truths: it is sceptical of all authority so
we should be sceptical of its authority;
It has a monopoly of ‘public opinion’
(that is, of what is published) but this is
highly problematic because the modern
media is inaccurate in its representation
of society;
It has marginalised the Judeo-Christian
heritage and in the Stalinist tradition
‘there is an empty chair where the
Church ought to be’: Catholics do not
get a hearing in Australia, with Islam the
only religion which is allowed to have a
presence in the public sphere;
Catholics have a right to expect that we
will exist and be represented accurately
in the popular culture.
Secularist worldviews
I would respectfully add three points to
those made by Mr Greg Sheridan:
• Contemporary society and many of its
institutions reflect secularist world-views.
Catholics did not make contemporary
society: secularists did. Their creation is
quite unloveable, for some unlivable and
for very many persons unbearable.
We approach the secularist society as
liberators of its victims who deserved
much better than this: just as Campion
approached the victims of the
institutions imposed on Tudor England;
• A key battleground is the secular
universities: just as it was for Edmund
Campion.
The moral and intellectual culture
of a secular university, good or bad,
presages the moral and intellectual
culture of Australian Society in 3 – 5
years time, and it can itself be reshaped
within a university generation of 3 years;
• Transforming the culture of Australian
Society calls for particular leadership
qualities of which Edmund Campion was
the exemplar: physical fearlessness,
moral courage, what some call
‘chutzpah’ and others audacity.
Campion College is preparing a full version
of Mr Macken’s St Edmund Campion
Lecture, ‘Edmund Campion in Australia:
Catholic Audacity in a Secularist Society,’
which is expected to be published in October.
Readers of Campion’s Brag may wish to
indicate their interest in receiving a copy by
ticking the box on the donation sheet.
I
n Japan what we call ‘Golden Week’ is a
series of three national holidays about the
beginning of May, which we put together to
form a consecutive week.
But for me, coming to Australia and lecturing
on Shakespeare at Campion College, it
was what we call in England ‘a busman’s
holiday’.
Just as a busman is always driving a bus as
his daily chore, so when he goes on holiday
with his family he is expected to drive the
family car.
Thus back in Japan I am always lecturing
on Shakespeare, and similarly during my
week at Campion College I was doing the
same thing. Only for me it isn’t a chore. I
love it, especially when I can speak to such
students as I found at Campion.
Not all audiences would agree with me
that Shakespeare must surely have been
a Catholic, but the Campion audience from
the very name and emphasis of the College
was predisposed to agree with me.
And I love all those who are so kind as to
agree with me. (Of course, even if someone
disagrees with me, I love him or her as well.
But it’s more difficult!)
Anyhow, how could I fail to enjoy my golden
week at Campion College under a warm
autumnal Australian sun, with such good
students around me?
And they were just the right number for
a Catholic college specializing in the
humanities, what Milton calls ‘a fit audience,
though but few’.
It was, I thought, so fitting to the Catholic
mind of Shakespeare, looking as he does
‘in the dark backward and abysm of time’,
both to the Bible and the Classics, while
prizing all that followed under the name of
‘tradition’.
Shakespeare and the Jesuits
Such is the mind we find in all his
plays, a mind that cherishes the ideal of
‘Christendom’, in abrupt contrast to those
who were engaged, even in his own time, in
Campion Students launch
their own publication
E
Siobhan
arlier this year, Campion students
launched a student periodical called
The Sextant. Its Editor,
Reeves, a second year student at the
College, explains the title of the publication
and the reasons for its establishment.
Why did you start a student publication?
Quite a number of students had been talking
about the need for such a publication for
some time, and so a few of us got together
and decided we’d have a go at producing a
high quality student periodical.
Where did you get the name The Sextant
from? It was inspired by the admirable journal
Quadrant. We also like the name because
of its reference to the navigation instrument,
Campion’s editorial team at work: Siobhan
Reeves (right) and Paul O’Donovan (left)
which in a sense reflects our desire for the
Sextant to be a part of the students’ journey
though Campion and through life.
What is the purpose of the publication?
The purposes of The Sextant include, but
are not limited to, showcasing the talent
of Campion students, providing a forum
for reasoned debate on different issues,
supporting the College in forming future
articulate leaders, displaying a cohesive
student community, and providing some
lighter reading.
What motivates students to contribute to
The Sextant? It differs for every student, but
I believe the principal reasons are to share
something of their own experience, to initiate
or take part in a debate about different
issues, and to stop me pestering them.
Who does the editorial team consist
of? It’s a great combination of students
from across all three year levels of our BA
degree. They contribute in different ways –
some through regular features, layout and
design, editing, printing and circulation, etc.
How are the printing costs covered? We
were blessed in having the initial printing
costs covered by the College. We are
now trying to finance the Sextant through
student functions and advertising.
cutting England off from her medieval past
and from the Catholic continent.
In this respect, he was at one with the
Jesuits of his time, notably with the first
Jesuit martyr Edmund Campion, under
whose direction (according to my theory)
he may have actually made the Spiritual
Exercises of St. Ignatius in Lancashire in
the spring of 1581.
So I may conclude, if there is anyone
deserving the nickname of ‘Campion’s
brag’, it is surely William Shakespeare!
Students in Corpus
Christi procession
Campion students participated once again
in the annual Corpus Christi procession
through the streets of Sydney. A second
year student, Jacqueline Ramsey,
offers her impressions of this special
witness of faith.
As the first hymn announced the beginning
of the Corpus Christi procession in Sydney,
from St. Patrick’s, Church Hill to St. Mary’s
Cathedral, so too did a deluge of rain begin
to drum an irregular marching pace upon
hundreds of hastily erected umbrellas.
The 2010 Corpus Christi Procession,
held on Sunday, June 6, was a beautiful
opportunity to celebrate, adore and bear
witness to the gift of our Lord in the
Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist.
Approximately 4000 drenched yet jubilant
faithful packed into St. Mary’s Cathedral
for the conclusion of the procession which
culminated with a homily by His Eminence
Cardinal Pell and final Benediction.
Over fifteen past and present Campion
students attended the procession with their
family and friends. It was a marvellous
way to spend a Sunday afternoon, truly as
living witnesses of the faith we profess.
www.campion.edu.au Campion’s Brag Winter 2010
www.campion.edu.au Campion’s Brag Winter 2010
2
If Edmund Campion were to challenge
contemporary Australian secularist society,
he would do so in different words and on
different issues, but undoubtedly with the
same relish, exuberance and audacity as in
1580 and 1581.
It is possible to suggest how it might read
since an eminent Australian journalist
did something very like this in May 2010.
Mr Greg Sheridan, Foreign Editor of
The Australian, delivered an address in
Melbourne with the title ‘Surviving the
Secular Society’.
As reported in Kairos Catholic Journal (12
June 2010) by a Campion graduate, Celeste
Badman, Mr Sheridan made eight points:
• Catholics should seek out Catholic
culture which exists in abundance and
not least the culture of the past, should
be open about their religious beliefs and
should claim our share of the popular
culture;
• We should recognise that public
culture is now not just secular but
‘tremendously hostile to religion in
general and Christianity in particular’;
• The commanding heights of our culture
in the universities and media tend to
produce a particular world view: that is
that western society itself is completely
illegitimate and profoundly unjust
and that is because it is racist, sexist,
patriarchal, neo-colonial, capitalist,
exploitative and authoritarian – with
the Catholic Church perhaps the worst
offender;
• These views are not based on reality
and have no lasting credibility: indeed
the secular world view is paradoxical
– although anti-authoritarian, it has
On his return to Japan, Fr Milward offered these reflections on his visit to the College.
3
Please consider a
bequest for the future
of Campion College
Students in Moree
Eight students from the USA joined ten
Campion students in the three-week course,
which focused on Australian and Aboriginal
history. It ended with a tour of schools and
community service in the NSW towns of
Moree, Walgett and Lightening Ridge.
Organized with the assistance of Sharon
Cooke from the Armidale Catholic
Education office, the group assisted
teachers at St Philomena School in Moree,
and participated in a special ceremony at St
Josephs School in Walgett.
The week was completed at the site of
the Myall Creek massacre, a very sombre
Summer School
in January ‘11
A
special opportunity to visit Campion
College and experience a foretaste of
student life will soon be offered for secondary
school students who are about to enter Year
12.
It will cover the core subjects taught at
Campion – history, literature, philosophy
and theology.
In addition, there will be study skills training
of value to students about to begin Year 12.
The experience of similar Catholic colleges
in America is that a residential ‘Summer
School’ helps students to gain a personal
understanding of a Catholic Liberal Arts
program and culture, and decide on the
educational path they would like to follow
after high school.
All came away with a much greater
understanding of the history and continuing
struggle of Aboriginal communities.
More importantly, there was a better
understanding of how Aboriginal culture has
become intertwined with Catholic history
and life in Australia.
A highlight of the tour was the gift of a cross,
hand-painted with Aboriginal motifs by
distinguished Aboriginal elder and gifted artist,
Auntie Faye Green OAM, who is a custodian
of the Kamililroi language and teaches it to
children at St Josephs School, Walgett.
V I TA L S K I L L S f o
r LIFE and SCHO
OL
FOR STUDE
ENTERING YEAR NTS
12 I N 2011
Come to Cam
Australia’s Only Liberalpion,
for a life-changing sumArts College,
mer camp
19-23 J A N U A RY 2011
Bridging Course Leadership Training; Perso Secondary to Tertiary
nal, Spiritual & Social
Development
Get the edge:
Sample
Have fun
learn essential
Make new
undergraduate with
adventure
study skills
friends in a
teaching in
and social
before your
relaxed,
literature, history,
activities
final school year
non-c
ompetitive
philosophy
atmosphere
and theology
Deepen your faith in a
Catholic environment
FIVE FABU LOU S DAYS
& FOU R NIGH TS $400
(some schola
rship assistance available)
Email: [email protected]
for program details visit
u.au
Website: www.campion.ed
u.au
for more about Campion
College.
LENT
TrinityTERM
Term
at Campion
Campion staff in the Leadership Team:
Mr John Parmentier, Dr David Daintree,
Fr Richard Aladics, Ms Valentine Mukuria
and Mr Paul Kennedy.
Campion
Leadership
Program
A
very exciting initiative this year is the
launching of the Campion Leadership
Award Program.
It springs from the mission of the College to
‘educate future leaders’.
The program is designed both to encourage
and to challenge Campion students to grow
in character and leadership ability.
Participants engage in College life as
well as the broader community, through
voluntary service of various kinds –
participating in the public speaking course
at Campion and in the range of spiritual
activities available, and taking a leading part
in extra-curricular activities.
Students have individual mentors, who
help them reflect on their strengths
and weaknesses, give them feedback,
encouraging personal growth and
development.
The Campion Leadership Program is an
integral part of the College’s efforts to
develop students into future leaders, to
appreciate more deeply the Catholic values
which the College professes.
Last December, a third year Campion student, Natasha Marsh, visited
Rome as a representative of the College. Her mission was to take part in
the return of the World Youth Day Icon, Sedes Sapientiae (Our Lady Seat
of Wisdom), to Pope Benedict XVI.
These are Natasha’s impressions of a memorable visit to the Eternal City.
I
submitted my application to represent
Campion College without any real
intention of a response.
It was a crazy idea anyway – I had no money,
no passport, exams were fast approaching
and the Delegation was set to leave in
three weeks. I offered a swift prayer and
endeavoured to think of the application no
more. “What happens, will happen,” I stoically
reassured myself, and flopped into bed.
Three weeks later I was standing, elated
(and shivering) in the vestibule of St. Peter’s
Basilica, waiting to be presented to St
Peter’s successor himself and wondering
what on earth I was doing there.
A quick glance around me confirmed my
misgivings – the remains of Charlemagne
to my left, the host of Cardinals to my right,
and the gold-wrought seraphim above – I
was on hallowed ground, the halls of saints
and martyrs, I did not belong here.
This place was something that you would
read about, dream about perhaps, but was
not the makings of reality, I was sure of this.
Even as a child I would lament the absence
of magic and wonder to be found in the ‘real
world’. Where were the enchanted
corridors of Jacques’
Redwall Abbey? In what
city was the breathless
magic imbued in Tolkien’s
Rivendell to be found?
Natasha Marsh at the Colosseum
I grew up mostly in the
company of the elves,
But there was a main difference. This place
faeries and medieval knights who haunted
was real. Before my eyes was a sight of
these ethereal lands.
beauty with more strength and power than I
had ever imagined.
As I grew older these characters and places
took a back seat in my thoughts in order to
This was a true beauty which resulted
make way for reality – although they were
from the contemplation of God. It was an
never far away.
attempt to reflect His love and goodness, to
give the Christian soul a shadowy image of
These imaginings gradually translated into
Heaven – an endeavour which put Rivendell
the general search for the beautiful and the
to shame.
other-worldly. Yet experience taught me that
this kind of beauty existed in the mind, not
Elves were real, but they came in the
real life. It was a situation I was not happy
form of the vaulting choirs of angels which
about, but had come to accept as a fact.
tumbled out from behind every pillar.
Enchantment and awe
However, standing there in the foyer of St.
Peter’s Basilica, I was confronted with a
sight which challenged my outlook. This
place filled me with the enchantment and
awe that I had come to know from my
childhood books.
The romantic knights were the remains of
the popes, both saintly and otherwise, who
slept beneath my feet.
The world was beautiful, but not in the way
that I had looked for. It is charged with the
grandeur of God, in a way that is intimately
more satisfying and – ultimately – real.
I feel truly blessed to have had this
experience. It is one that I hope I will never
forget.
Annual Ball
at the College
Campion’s Student Association
extends an open invitation to its
Winter Ball, to be held at the College
on Friday, September 3, at 7.30pm.
Dress is Black Tie, and a live band
will be performing.
For students who are interested in the
kind of foundational subjects offered at
Campion, and who wish to study in an
environment supportive of both faith and
reason, the January School could be of
decisive benefit.
Further information is available on the
College website (www.campion.edu.au), or
by ticking the box on the enclosed flyer.
www.campion.edu.au
Vol 9. No 3 Winter 2010
www.campion.edu.au
Campion students at last year’s College Ball
Tickets and further details can be
obtained from the website – www.
campion.edu.au
PLEASE SUPPORT
THE WORK OF
CAMPION COLLEGE.
Bishop Anthony Fisher OP, recently installed as Bishop of the Diocese of Parramatta in
which Campion College resides, with the President, Dr David Daintree, and students.
ALL GIFTS ARE
TAX-DEDUCTIBLE
www.campion.edu.au Campion’s Brag Winter 2010
www.campion.edu.au Campion’s Brag Winter 2010
4
The program will extend over five days –
January 19-23 – and consist of a healthy
blend of undergraduate teaching, social
activities and outdoor excursions.
and reflective moment as people walked in
silence and prayed.
The week was a profound experience for
all who participated in the meetings with
important elders of the Kamiliroi people.
Catholic Learning in the Liberal Arts
A Campion
Student in Rome
Student visit Aboriginal Communities
I
n July, Campion College conducted an
intensive program in Australian history
for both its own students and visitors from
overseas.
CAMPION’S BRAG
1