Principal's Reflection
The Catholic Church and Australia lost a hero last month when Fr Bob Maguire died. He was a well known identity and very well known in his home town of Melbourne. I used to love listening to his radio program with John Safran, who is Jewish. They had great chemistry and were very funny. He was an ardent supporter of those most in need. Fr Bob had an unwavering commitment to feeding and housing the poor, the hungry and the homeless. He also regularly butted heads with some members of the Church hierarchy who found his forthright, populist approach to Catholicism difficult to contain. His enthusiastic embodiment of the principles of Vatican II, a modernised Catholicism initiated by Pope John XXIII in 1958, led him to clash with the church’s more traditional members, among them the late Cardinal George Pell who, according to Maguire, considered Fr Bob and some Vatican II devotees to be “cafeteria Catholics”.
Fr Bob, was never afraid to wade into political discussions, he spoke about the ‘national disaster’ of homelessness in one of his final interviews in 2022. In the same interview he urged Australians to ‘brighten up’ and focus on what gave them joy. Fr Bob, who was probably far from perfect, lived a life that Jesus would have loved. He preached a Gospel of joy, of liberation and hope. Fr Richard Rohr is a very well known Catholic priest and theologian. Fr Bob would have loved this quote from him – “The prophet is not an outsider throwing rocks, nor a comfortable insider who defends the status quo; but one who lives precariously with two perspectives held tightly together in a loving and creative tension: the faithful insider and the critical outsider.” Fr Bob, like Jesus, got a few noses out of joint but Fr Bob avoided crucifixion – just. The Church and our world lost a hero in Fr Bob. May his passion and commitment be reborn in all of us.
School Satisfaction Surveys – as a part of our school review cycle, you will receive in your inboxes a ‘Satisfaction Survey’ which has been prepared by the Diocese. I hope that every parent will find a few minutes to answer the questions and give us some useful feedback on what we do well and what we could do better. In anticipation, many thanks.
Parents & Friends – in last week’s Newsletter I included a link for parents to pose any queries relevant to Shalom that I would look to answer by way of a Podcast that we could distribute. To date, we have received zero questions. I’m really hoping that this is reflection on how happy parents are at Shalom and how good our communication is! That said, here is the link again. Don’t be frightened to ask difficult questions!
Mr Dan McMahon
Principal
mcmahond@shalomcollege.com