Utopian - Spring 2009

THEUTOPIAN

At the time of his appointment Br Rob had just returned from two years postgraduate studies at the Jesuit University, Boston College in the USA. His MA in Pastoral Ministry had the special concentration in Faith Formation of Young Adults and his thesis was on Immersion Trips as Transformative Experiences for Youth.

Prior to his time in the USA, Br Rob had spent many years in secondary education at Trinity College, Perth, Saint Ignatius College, Athelstone, Saint John’s College, Whyalla, and Rostrevor College, Adelaide. He has been teacher, Religious Education Coordinator, Campus Minister and Principal. He is responsible for introducing the very successful Kairos and Quest Retreats into Australia from the U.S.A. For more than twenty years Brother has been leading groups of students and teachers on extensive immersion experiences in India, working in Chennai, Mandal and Kolkata. Brother Callen is the first non-cleric appointed as Rector of St Thomas More College. The Archbishop believes this appointment is providential and says that Brother Rob is amply qualified both academically and pastorally to lead and guide the young people of St Thomas More College in the best traditions of the College and the Church.

Passing the Baton

this issue Serving the Poor Pg 4 A Magificent Gift Pg 5 Ex-Collegians Celebrations Pg 8 Fr Kevin Moves Pg 15

NEW RECToR, BRoTHER RoB C AllEN WITH MRS PAUlINE IBBS, VICE RECToR.

IN DECEMBER 2008, ARCHBISHOP BARRY

HICKEY APPOINTED CHRISTIAN BROTHER

ROBERT CALLEN AS THE NEW RECTOR OF

ST THOMAS MORE COLLEGE. BROTHER ROB

IS THE TWELFTH RECTOR OF THE COLLEGE.

N E WSLET TER O F TH E ST TH O M A S M O RE CO LLEGE A LUM N I & FRI EN DS spring 2009

2 THE UTOPIAN | SPRING 2009

PERUSING THE PORTRAITS AND

SHORT BIOGRAPHIES OF MY ELEvEN

PREDECESSORS IS A HUMBLING

ExPERIENCE. I REALISE THAT I

FOLLOW IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF

SOME MIGHTY MEN WHO HAvE LEFT

INDELIBLE MARKS IN THE MINDS AND

HEARTS OF THE YOUNG PEOPLE IN

THEIR CHARGE.

I pray that I may live up to their example. I wish to pay tribute especially to Mgr Kevin long, my immediate predecessor, who made my entry into this new ministry very smooth. Mgr Kevin has left the College in very good shape.

I wish to acknowledge the kindness and warm welcome that I have received from students and staff since the day I arrived. Change is never easy, but everyone has

given the benefit of the doubt to the new Rector and offered much support and advice. In particular I wish to acknowledge my deputy, the Vice Rector Pauline Ibbs, our Business Manager, Greg Bates, our Secretary, Janienne Woods, our Admissions officer, Craig Buchanan and our Accounts and Bookings officer, Di Rose. our Catering staff under the leadership of Julie Dhu, our Housekeeping staff guided by Karen Keys, and Maintenance & Gardening under Daryl Forward, all contribute to building up a very happy and caring Tommy family.

It gives me great pleasure to write this piece for the launch of the revamped and resurrected edition of “The Utopian”. We believe that the last edition was published in the summer of 1996. It is our hope that we will manage to publish both an Autumn and Spring edition each year. But we do need to hear from our Alumni and friends whether you like it and whether you have ideas and/or articles you would like to publish. We would like to be in touch with you and we would like you to be in touch with what is happening in the College today.

I write this at the start of my second semester. Not only did I survive the first semester, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Getting to know 175 very different people of diverse backgrounds and cultures was a challenge. This semester our College community consists of 79 Australian, 41 Singaporeans, 32 North Americans, 3 Colombians, 7 Mauritians, 6 Malaysians, 2 South Africans, 1 Briton, 1 Indian, 1 Italian and 1 Vietnamese.

Recently we welcomed thirty young North Americans from Notre Dame, Indiana, one of the finest Catholic universities in the U.S.A. These thirty young people are outstanding ambassadors for their families, their university and their country. They are Science and Engineering students and so they attend U.W.A. rather than Notre Dame, Fremantle.

In my first talk with the students at our Commencement Mass I stressed that we were much more than a boarding house, that we come together as a community. Although our top priority is to strive for excellence and to achieve our highest academic potential, our life in a Catholic residential College is about caring for one another; being inclusive in our friendships; and keeping an eye out for the loner and the lonely. I have asked the whole student body to come together each Sunday evening for our Sunday community Mass where we can pray for ourselves but also for our families and our world. It is from our weekly worship that we can go forth and be the men and women God wants us to become.

Tommy More is a unique place. It’s a busy and happy place. It’s our home away from home where wonderful friendships are made. The whole experience is a once in a lifetime opportunity to live life to the full, not in any self-centred sense, but in the sense that Jesus meant when he said: “I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly”.

Brother Rob Callen cfc

From the Rector

In January a second Christian Brother joined the St Thomas More community. Brother Warwick Bryant was well known by many of the former Nagle Catholic College, Geraldton, students as he was the foundation Principal of that College. Apart from his role as Pastoral Assistant here at St Thomas More College where he spends time chatting with all freshmen, Brother has a variety of other ministries including: lecturing at Notre Dame University, supervising practising teachers from Notre Dame, counselling at C.B.C. Fremantle and as an Independent Prison Visitor.

PASToRAl ASSISTANT

BRoTHER WARWICK BRYANT CFC

Brother Warwick Bryant

3THE UTOPIAN | SPRING 2009

As the assistant editor of the first issue of “Utopia”, the College magazine that recorded the first two years of the College and was printed in october 1956, it gives me great pleasure to pen these few words for this latest publication, aimed at the College’s many alumni and friends.

As I look back on those early publications, and the photographs of the early students, it brings back to me memories of those men with whom I shared the privilege of life at College. Some I have never seen again, some I have seen constantly, and sadly quite a number have departed this life. Each of us had his own individual life experiences, and fortunes varied.

I have the honour of being one of two past students currently serving on the Council of the College, the other being Professor Bill Reed. I am a recent addition to that body, which contains a cross section of the community involved in various ways with the College, and with a wide range of skills and experience. It meets several times a year, and, inter alia, hears from representatives of the current student body. It supports the Rector and his leadership team in the running of the College (which I might say is a different proposition to such a task fifty years ago).

Readers with a mathematical bent will have worked out that I am not in the first flush of youth, and that leads me to this appeal to all those younger men and women who have had the benefit of this College over the last five decades. Please take an interest in the on-going College, register with the alumni body, take an interest in College affairs, and try to give the College – in whatever way you can – some return for what the College gave you.

Kevin hammond STMC, 1955 – 1957

KEVIN HA M MoND, STMC 1955-1957

THE HoN. JUSTICE KEVIN HA M MoND,

MEMBER oF THE CollEGE CoUNCIl

Looking Forward, Looking Back

ONE THING WE HAvE IN COMMON IS OUR MEMBERSHIP OF WHAT IS A GREATLY vALUED GROUP, NAMELY THE ALUMNI OF THE COLLEGE.


Tommy More Outreach

With all the new freedoms of living away from home, university and college life can be quite self-indulgent. Therefore one of the conditions for living at St Thomas More College is the requirement that every student engage in a minimum of fifteen hours community service per semester. Because the name ‘community service’ can have penal connotations we’ve named our program Tommy More outreach. It is expected to be much more than simply performing tasks for the community, but rather in the spirit of the Gospel it means reaching out to those in need, particularly to those who are on the margins of our society.

Students generously engage in a whole range of activities, including Edmund Rice Camps for Kids, Riding for the Disabled, Shopfront, Christian Centre for Social Concern, Father Brian’s Crisis Care, St Vincent de Paul, Red Cross, Red Shield, Edmund Rice Centre for Refugees and many more.

With all of our students coming from outside Perth, we are always looking for ideas and new areas for suggested placements. It’s not easy to find 175 places each semester so we appeal to Alumni and friends to offer suggestions and assistance in this worthwhile project.

ONE OF OUR DREAMS IS TO

PURCHASE OUR vERY OWN TRANSIT

vAN SO THAT WE CAN HAvE OUR

OWN SOUP vAN.

Although our students have undertaken the training, Red Cross seldom call on our students. We would love to have our own project for which we could take full responsibility – making sandwiches and soup, drawing up volunteer rosters, and most importantly, directly serving the poor of our city. We would love to involve Alumni and friends in this project – to make this dream a reality.

Tommy More outreach

STUDENTS JC Cl ARK, ANY MUllEN, DANIEll A ANToNUCCI AND AISlING

MURRAY PRESENTING CHRISTM AS ToYS To FR BRIAN MoRRISoN

NATAlIE RATH JEN-GoNzAlES ASSISTING AT RIDING FoR THE DISABlED

DANNY WIlSoN WITH HIS YoUNG CHARGE

oN AN EDMUND RICE C A MP FoR KIDS


If you have driven past the front of the College in recent months, or perhaps attended a wedding or a baptism in the Chapel, you may have paused to wonder about two new additions to the College this semester.

THESE NEW ADDITIONS ARE NOT

STUDENTS, HOWEvER, BUT RATHER

CHRIST AND THE vIRGIN MARY, IN

THE FORM OF A LIFE-SIzED, BRONzE

REPLICA OF MICHELANGELO’S ‘PIETA’,

THE ORIGINAL OF WHICH IS ON

DISPLAY IN ST PETER’S BASILICA IN

ROME.

The statue was unveiled on Palm Sunday, and depicts Mary holding Christ’s lifeless body in her lap after he has been taken down from the cross on Calvary. Blessing the statue as part of the College’s Easter ceremonies, Monsignor long (until recently Rector of the College) described the statue as an important meditation on the Christian understanding of suffering. “Mary’s sorrow

on the hill of Calvary, her cradling of the body of her dead son Jesus, has long been a powerful symbol for Christian people grappling with sorrows, disappointments and pains in daily life,’ noted the Monsignor, adding that it was hoped that the surrounding flower beds would be available for the scattering of ashes by local Catholics and alumni of the College in the future.

The replica was cast in Italy by a renowned bronze sculptor, Franco Del Chiaro, at his foundry in Tuscany, and then shipped to us here in Perth, where the base was built by local builders TlC Projects, to design specifications laid down by RAD Architecture. The purchase of the statue, and associated work, was funded by a very generous donation from one of our alumni, who has asked to remain anonymous.

Michelangelo Fronts Up at Tommy More

THE BEAUTIFUl BRoNzE REPlIC A oF MICHEl ANGElo’S PIETA SITUATED NEAR THE CollEGE CHAPEl

OK, WE ARE PROBABLY PREACHING

TO THE CHOIR HERE. AFTER ALL,

YOU LIvED IN COLLEGE, AND WE

WOULD HOPE THAT YOU ENjOYED

YOUR TIME HERE, TAKING AWAY

MANY FOND MEMORIES, AND

APPRECIATING THE ADvANTAGES

THAT COLLEGE LIFE OFFERED.

Still, it’s always nice to have our own thoughts confirmed by unbiased sources, and we now have a report from the Australian Council for Education Research (ACER) which highlights the benefits of a College environment for students undertaking higher education here in Australia.

The report, which draws on data gathered as part of the Australian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE), confirms that residential colleges make a significant contribution to higher education in Australia. Students living in residence are, the report concludes, more likely to be ‘more engaged than others, particularly in terms of participation in active learning and enriching experiences, their interactions with staff, and their perceptions of support.’ The report also notes that residential students report ‘greater levels of individually focused support,’ and that their learning development and satisfaction is ‘greater than for those who lived off campus.’

The report’s authors, Dr Hamish Coates (ACER’s Principal Research Fellow) and Dr Daniel Edwards (a Senior Research Fellow in the Council’s Transitions and Post-School Education and Training Program), point to some serious benefits offered to those who choose to live in a residential environment, and their findings are doubtless offering food for thought to university administrations around the country. on a purely personal note, it was also nice to see some of our own students – appropriately dressed in their College sports kit – featured in the report, full copies of which are available for free download from the ACER website - http://www.acer.edu.au/ausse/

A Little Bit of What’s Good for You


Leading by Example – The Past Rectors of Tommy More

IN THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF SHORT

BIOGRAPHICAL PIECES, WE ExAMINE

THE LIvES AND ACHIEvEMENTS OF

THE vARIOUS RECTORS OF THE

COLLEGE, BEGINNING WITH OUR

FOUNDATION RECTOR FROM 1955,

FATHER CORNELIUS FINN Sj.

our founding Rector, Father Con Finn SJ, was born and schooled in Ireland, entering the Jesuits at the age of eighteen, and undertaking studies at the National University of Ireland where he majored in English and latin in the early nineteen-thirties. Philosophy and language courses followed, undertaken in France, and then theological studies in Austria immediately prior to the Emergency (as the Second World War was commonly known in the then Irish Free State).

At the age of twenty-eight, the young Jesuit was recalled to Ireland, and was ordained a priest in 1939, before being assigned to parish work in England. He travelled to Australia in 1942, dodging German U-Boats throughout the trip, and was appointed on his arrival to a post at loyola College, Watsonia. There he taught English, latin, and French, and began to give retreats – a habit he was to continue for many years.

Father Finn was appointed Rector of Aquinas College, Adelaide, in 1950, developing and growing the College for two years before ill-health forced him to take a sabbatical. His health recovered, he was appointed as the founding Rector of St Thomas More College here in Perth. It was Fr Finn’s responsibility to find the money for the new buildings, and to oversee the work, while at the same time serving as parish priest in Attadale, and supervising the building of a new parish school there as well!

In 1955 he was appointed full-time to St Thomas More, and saw the College opened in March of that year. It was Fr Finn who gave us out motto, ‘God’s Servant First’, who chose those first students, and who welded them into a community.

Fr Finn was with us at St Thomas More College until 1959, when he was reassigned, and returned to take up teaching roles at loyola College and Campion College concurrently. In 1968 he was appointed to head up a new community of university scholastics in Canberra.

For most of the next years, Fr Finn taught and led retreats, many based at Corpus Christi College in Victoria, as well as working with the Catholic Education office to help teachers preparing to teach catechetics to school children.

In retirement, the College was pleased to welcome Fr Finn back for a year, and to tap the depths of his wisdom and knowledge, as well as his intimate knowledge of the College in its founding years.

Remembered as a man of great wit and kindness, as well as a humble man who displayed many talents during his long service to the Church, Fr Finn was also a respected spiritual director, and a fine preacher. He went to his reward in 1993, at the age of eighty-two.

In August the beautiful mosaic Icon of our lady Seat of Wisdom – Sedes Sapientiae – was received into the Collegiate Chapel by Fathers Armando Carandang and Jamie Calder SJ. The Icon was commissioned by Pope John Paul II to celebrate the Jubilee year of universities in 2000. This icon travels to universities around the world, uniting students and staff in our shared faith and pursuit of knowledge. The mosaic icon was made by Jesuit Fr Marko Ivan Rupnik from Slovenia.

Sedes Sapientiae

FR CoRNElIUS FINN S J, FIRST RECToR

oF THE CollEGE, 1954-1959

BR RoB C AllEN, FR ARM ANDo C ARADANG AND FR JA MIE

C AlDER S J RECEIVE THE ICoN IN THE CollEGIATE CHAPEl


The dark recesses of the College archives contain any number of gems – often mysterious and intriguing photographs, the origins and details of which have now been lost in the mists of time.

As the first in what we suspect will prove to be a series of unidentified photographs, we offer this collection of students (presumably, given the haircuts, from the 1970s), who seem to be having a whale of a time in what looks to have been the Pat Kirby Junior Common Room. Beyond that, we admit to being stumped. Can you identify any of the students in the shot? or perhaps you can recall the event itself? If you have any information, please let us know – and we can assure you that anonymity will be respected if you happen to be one of the wilder haircuts concerned!

Watch out for an update in our next edition. In the meantime, if you have a photograph containing old collegians you are keen to identify, let us know, and we will see what we can do to help.

The Saint Thomas More College crest was designed in the inaugural year of the College, 1955. The crest’s design is based on the combination of the arms of our patron saint and those of the University of WA as embodied in the stained glass windows in both the Chapel and the Dining Hall. The Sir Thomas More family coat-of-arms consists of a white shield, a black chevron (an heraldic device shaped like a ‘V’) with three moorcocks. The use of moorecocks is a gentle pun on the name “More”. A moorcock is a fowl or grouse found in the heather moorlands in Great Britain and Ireland.

our own College crest consists of the white shield with a chevron displaying the College colours – deep blue and gold – with only two moorcocks and the black swan, the symbol for Western Australia which is also featured in the University of Western Australia’s crest. The college motto came, however, not from Sir Thomas More’s coat of arms but from his declaration on the scaffold in 1535 that ‘he died the King’s good servant but God’s first.’

Our College Crest Where are They? Who are They??

THE MoRE FA MIlY CoAT oF ARMS

oUR CollEGE CREST AND MoTTo

‘GoD’S SERVANT FIRST ’


Formal Dinners continue to be the highlights during each semester. These are occasions to behold as students transform themselves from ordinary uni students to men and women of charm and sophistication. We hold two formal dinners each semester and in recent times they have taken on themes – Commencement, International, Winter Christmas and Valete. A College Mass in the Chapel always precedes these dinners.

The Commencement Mass is the Mass of the Holy Spirit, and for the International evening it was the Mass for All Nations. For our recent Christmas in July, we used a nativity set loaned by Trinity College, East Perth, and two boy sopranos from the St Mary’s Cathedral choir sang “once in Royal David’s City” and “Panis Angelicus’.

All students brought a $10.00 toy as a donation to Fr Brian’s Christmas Appeal and our guest speaker was Mr Jarrod McKenna - recovering consumer, peace preaching eco-evangelist, larrikin seditionist & one-day want-a-be permaculturalist. Jarrod challenged us to think about the true meaning of Jesus’ prayer “Thy kingdom come” for our lives today.

FATHER CHRISTM AS HAS

A GIFT FoR ToM ClUNE

K ATE Sl ABoSKY & DANIEl SAENz Al ARCoN

BEING VERY FRENCH

MEGAN VENABlES EN JoYING

THE HoRS D ‘oEUVRES

FRIENDS: M ATT KRUM MENACHER, ANNE FlINCHBAUGH AND XIAN HUI lIM

Evenings of Elegance


ANAHITA MoVASSAH AND lIz o’BRIEN AT THE M ASQUERADE

M ADElEINE VENABlES SAVoURING

THE CHA MPAGNE

VIVA l A FRANCE: A M AlIA CRoASDAlE, REBECC A NoRM AN, JESS EM MoTT AND loRIN CoX

ToM BoNGIoRNo, DEBoRAH lEE, REECE SMITH, JESS DE BEllIS M AKING INTRoDUCTIoNS

FR ERASMUS MoRRTY WITH STUDENTS AT CoM MENCEMENT M ASS oF THE HolY SPIRIT oUR PRESIDENT, JoSH BoYlE, SURRoUNDED BY

SARAH TEo, C A MERoN DRUM MoND, KRISTINE KESAVAN

AND WENDY SAY


The Collegiate Chapel Choir continues to go from strength to strength. The College is blessed to have such enthusiastic and dedicated young people who faithfully practise for two hours every Tuesday evening and sing at our 5:45 Sunday evening community Mass. The Chapel is filled with our own residents, but many students from other Colleges attend also, as do many other people who make up our Chapel community. Under the professional and conscientious direction of Ericius Tan, a Tommy Alum, the choir makes our Sunday evening Mass a reverent and prayerful experience every week.

The Collegiate Chapel Choir

MEMBERS oF THE CollEGIATE CHoIR

IN FRoNT oF THE NEW PIETA

EX-CollEGIAN MR ERICIUS TAN,

DIRECToR oF THE CollEGIATE

CHoIR

C ASSIE CoX looKS FoR oPTIoNS

ED BUllER HolDING UP THE DEFENCE JADE DAVEY BREAKS ClEAR oF THE GEoRGIANS

RYAN MITCHEll looKS To

THE RUNNING BACK lINE

TRENT KING BREAKS DoWN THE WING

Each week many students participate in the inter-college sports program. The intense rivalry between the Colleges continues with the Tommy girls recently going through undefeated in the volleyball tournament. The girls’ basketball team handsomely defeated the UWA Econs girls in the annual Intercollege v Interfaculty Basketball Final. We are engaged in a huge range of sports, and we are hoping to upgrade our Tommy sports uniforms for the new year. our new Tommy sports motif should contribute to our ongoing success.

Inter-College Rivalry


DEBoRAH lEE WITH CHIlDREN IN C A MBoDIA

KRISTINE KESAVAN WITH HIll TRIBES CHIlDREN IN THAIl AND

BoBBY PoWERS AND JoHN M AIER IN JAl ACHATRA, BANGl ADESH

SOME OF OUR STUDENTS HAvE

ALREADY BEEN ENGAGED IN

SERvING THE POOR IN DEvELOPING

COUNTRIES. THEY DESCRIBE THEIR

ExPERIENCES AS LIFE CHANGING.

Deborah lee has been engaged in a village, Phun Chreh, located on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Since 2005 she has worked with the Don Bosco nuns there, assisting impoverished children. Deborah hopes to take other Tommy More students with her during her next trip at Christmas.

Kristine Kesavan has also been engaged in a mission trip in Thailand, working at the Catholic Mission Centre of Wiang Kaen run by Thai missionaries Fr Paul Anurak and Holy Infant Jesus nun, Sr Bernard Pranee Trithara. This is a special outreach to Hmong and Yao hill tribes.

Bobby Powers and his friend John Maier recently spent six weeks teaching English to children in the village of Jalachatra, north of the capital Dhaka in Bangladesh. Bobby and John worked primarily with the tribal Mandi and Garro people who are a Christian minority in a predominantly Muslim country. They assisted the Holy Cross priests and Sisters in this special work.

As an extension of Tommy More outreach, Brother Rob is keen to lead a group of students from the College to India to work on various projects in Chennai, Mandal and Kolkata. Students are encouraged to volunteer and to begin saving for the trip. Brother Rob is also seeking sponsorship.

Such immersion trips to developing nations are not for everyone. But for those who do take up the challenge, these experiences can be truly transformative opportunities.

Every participant can attest that they undertake their mission experience thinking they are going to lend a hand and help the poor, but in fact it is they, the pilgrims, who are truly transformed and who receive so much in return.

Overseas Immersion Experiences


over the years students have searched for a suitable sports motif for our College teams. They have lifted the Moorcock from the crest and placed it on clothing and literature. Somehow our emaciated fowl has not quite matched the chivalrous knight of St George, nor the fierce-looking wyvern of Trinity. So after a diet of steroids and the skills of an artist, our “Tommy” has morphed into quite a fighting bird. Students and staff have enthusiastically welcomed our new sporting hero!

Our Morphing Moorcock

A MooRCoCK IN THE WIlD

THE MooRCoCK oN THE SHoRTS THE MooRCoCK FRoM oUR CREST THE NEW “ToM MY”

Student funding has been a hot issue in the press of late, particularly amongst country students, concerned that they might have to take a second year off to be able to qualify for independent government support while undertaking their degrees. While the Federal Senate bounces the proposals back and forth, it is reassuring to know that others, closer to home, have been considering student funding, and have come up with answers of their own.

As many of you will know, Brian Singleton was the first Student Club President at College back in the 1950s. Brian went on to pursue a successful career in the law in WA,

and passed away in 2005. In recognition of the help that he received at the College as a young man, new to the city and its environs, Brian’s wife, Bev, contacted the College in late 2007 with a proposal to set up a scholarship in her late husband’s memory, the aim being to provide for a student from rural Western Australia whose circumstances might not otherwise allow for a College placement.

Awarded on a semester-by-semester basis, the Singleton Scholarship has had two recipients thus far, Mr Nathan o’leary, and Mr Joshua Boyle, the latter following in Brian’s footsteps, serving as this year’s Student Club President. We asked Josh what receipt of the Scholarship had meant to him.

“The Singleton Scholarship has allowed me to continue to stay and study at Tommy More. As a country student, paying my own way through College, the Scholarship provides peace of mind for the semester, and has allowed me to focus on my studies, rather than working long hours to make ends meet. The opportunity to have lunch with Mrs Singleton recently, and to say thank you for the opportunity to remain here, is something that I am especially grateful for.”

The Singleton Scholarship is awarded by Mrs Singleton each semester, after consultation with the Rector of the day.

A Singular Contribution


Elsewhere in this edition, we have noted the students who come and go, and even the fact that Rectors have a shelf-life, and find themselves moving on to bigger and better

things after a few years in residence.

What we haven’t yet noted are those individuals who seem to outlast us all, so in this edition we pause for a moment to bring you up-to-date with someone who will be known to many, given his long service here at the College – Mr. Greg Bates, who came to us in 1992 as Administrator, and is still going strong seventeen years later as Business Manager.

In the space of those seventeen years, Greg has certainly seen a lot of change. He has worked under four Rectors, and has seen quite literally thousands of students pass through the College. He has overseen the dismantling of the tower at the front of the College, the building of the alfresco extension to the dining room, and the landscaping of the back quad and other green areas around the campus. He has also overseen the renovation of whole swathes of the College, including the recent improvements to the dining room and conference facilities. He and his family even lived in the College for a time, getting first-hand experience of student life at Tommy More. There aren’t a lot of things Greg

hasn’t seen during his time here – from the highs of comedy, to the lows of tragedy – and while there are a lot of things he might not be keen to experience again, he seems quietly pleased as he reflects back on his Tommy years.

“I’ve seen somewhere in the region of two thousand students pass through the College in my time here, and I can honestly say that I only had serious problems with two of them, which isn’t a bad ratio in anyone’s book!” observed Greg. And his funniest recollection? “Well, there was the one time that Father Kenny, who was living in College at the time, mentioned to me that there were thought to be over 750,000 words in the English language, but followed that up by telling me that, as far as he could tell, the resident immediately below him in K Block only knew two of them!”

We also asked Greg what the biggest change was during his tenure. “I think it has to be the way in which the students attend to their studies,” he suggested. “In my early years there was a more laid back approach to university attendance and study, and an attitude of ‘I’ll finish my degree next year.’ Now the students seem to be more intent on graduating as soon as possible. The cynic in me believes it may have something to do with the increase in HECs fees.”

And what of the future? What does it hold for Greg? Well, he has always maintained that he wants to be here when the current batch of rolling upgrades to rooms and furnishings are completed, and that is still a couple of years off. He is also looking to the next stage in his personal world tour - having recently visited Northern Europe and Russia, then China as part of another vacation, he is now looking for possible future venues. Anyone with suggestions (and ideally a spare room overseas to go with them!) is more than welcome to give him a call.

The Bait’s Truly Hooked

GREG, FRESH oN THE JoB IN 1992

GREG, MUCH WISER IN 2009

CHAPEL BOOKINGS WELCOME THE CollEGE CHAPEl IS A PoPUl AR

VENUE FoR EX-CollEGIANS CElEBRATING

WEDDINGS AND BAPTISMS.

Have you considered booking the College Chapel for a wedding or baptism? We offer special rates for ex-collegians, and are always happy to hear from you at these special times in your life. For more information, and a full costing for your event, please contact Diane on 9386 0102, or e-mail her at [email protected]


The College is currently planning to host an Alumni Day during the long break at the beginning of 2011. At this point, the event looks likely to commence with a lunch here on site, and a welcome from our new Rector, Brother Rob Callen cfc, then tours of the College and of your old university departments in the afternoon. The evening portion of the event will then begin with Mass in the Chapel, followed by a formal dinner in the College dining room, with slightly more alcohol than our older alumni will recall being served when they were resident here in College. Accommodation will be available for those who want to kick off their shoes and relax with friends after dinner, and we will even do our best to accommodate Ex-Mores in their old rooms where possible (book early for this particular option!).

We are putting a lot of work into ensuring that the event will be a great success, but it won’t get off the ground without the enthusiasm and support of our alumni. If you would like to be part of this event, we would ask that you contact the College, and touch base with the organising team. Similarly, if this newsletter has reached you by a circuitous route, you can either drop us a note of your

new address by post, or contact us on-line via our Alumni update page at http://www.stmc.uwa.edu.au/alumni. We would love to keep in touch with you, and with anyone else who might be interested in hearing from us, so if you know of ex-students who have fallen out of touch, let us know, or lend them your copy of The Utopian, so that they too can get involved.

Similarly, we hear on the grapevine about small groups of alumni who meet on a semi-regular basis to catch up for coffee and a chat. If you are involved in one of those groups, and would like us to advertise your activities, please let us know. There are also geographically based groups, such as the College’s Singaporean Alumni Club,

with whom we can put interested parties in touch. And if your gatherings or informal get-togethers produce photographs that you would like to share with fellow ex-collegians, we have a dedicated page on our website for alumni events, and would be happy to let others know what you have been up to.

Suggestions for future editions of this newsletter are always welcome, and should either be mailed to the College, or e-mailed to our alumni editor, Craig Buchanan, at [email protected]

We always pleased to hear from you!

Future Alumni Events

FR BIll UREN S J MIXES WITH EX-

CollEGIANS AT AN AlUMNI EVENT

ADA M DoSTER THE

CoNSUM M ATE CoNNoISSEUR

SIlVANA M ARTINEz, MElISSA TRUITT,

AlICE REYNolDS CHECKING Cl ARITY

The newly renovated Senior Common Room is the venue for more sophisticated functions for seniors. Recently they held a wine and cheese night and Pauline, our Vice Rector, provided a very informative education session in wine appreciation. It was very well attended and our seniors are now expert in distinguishing between Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Traminer and Semillon, as well as Shiraz, Merlot, Cabernet, Burgundy and Pinot Noir. More importantly they have the language of the wine connoisseur.

Wine Will Never be the Same


Father Kevin - On the Move

AS THE PROvERB TELLS US, ALL

GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO

AN END, AND THAT INCLUDES

THE TERM OF OFFICE OF EvEN

THE MOST POPULAR AND

LONG-SERvING OF RECTORS,

AS FATHER KEvIN LONG

DISCOvERED LATE LAST YEAR,

WHEN THE ARCHBISHOP ASKED

HIM TO ACCEPT A TRANSFER TO

GUILDFORD AT EASTER, AND TO

TAKE OvER THE RUNNING OF ST

CHARLES SEMINARY THERE.

Father Kevin had been Rector for almost ten years by that point, though his association with the College goes back a good deal further than that, as many students from the nineties will recall.

Father Kevin first came to Tommy More as a PhD student almost twenty years ago, before being appointed Vice Rector under Father Tim Quinlan in 1993. He continued to serve under Father Theo overberg between 1997 and 1999, and when the Jesuits left the College at the close of the century, it was Father Kevin who was appointed to succeed as the first diocesan priest to manage the College, a distinction he was to enjoy for a little over nine years, making many life-long friends along the way.

In recognition of his lengthy service, and acknowledgement of his new role as the head of the seminary, responsible for the formation of new priests within the local diocese, the Holy Father was pleased to elevate Father Kevin to the ranks of the Monsignori in April this year. Commenting on the newly-minted Monsignor’s appointment in Guildford, ex-collegian

and Vice-Chancellor Emeritus of Notre Dame Australia, Dr Peter Tannock, observed that he had been appointed “at a relatively young age, and full of beans,” facts well known by those who lived alongside him here at St Thomas More over the years. We wish him every success in the future, and many return visits to his old home.

MoNSIGNoR loNG, PICTURED AloNGSIDE

HIS MoTHER, SEMINARIAN RoSHAN, AND

FATHER JoHN o’REIllY AT THE RECENT

MoNSIGNoRIAl INVESTITURE.

PRIMERo NG, SARAH M ARIE TEo, RACHEl BATEM AN, WENDY SAY,

C ASSANDRA GoH AND KRISTINE KESAVAN IN ACTIoN

RoY SIM BEING METICUloUS

They went out to the highways and the byways touting for business. Nearly forty Tommy More students spent a whole weekend washing the cars of all those they could encourage to drive into the Tommy More car park. It was a fun weekend and real community effort. The production line was the epitome of efficiency. After taking out their costs, the students raised $2000 which was sent to the Christian Brothers St Mary’s orphanage in Kolkata.

Carwash for Kolkata


Mounts Bay Road, CrawleyWestern Australia 6009Phone 61 8 9386 0111

Fax 61 8 9389 [email protected]

www.stmc.uwa.edu.au

The Utopian is intended to be an occasional publication, keeping our alumni and friends up-to-date on developments here at the College, and helping people to stay in touch with old friends and acquaintances in the process. If you know someone who might like to receive a copy of the magazine, or if you would like to contribute to a future edition yourself, please contact the College. Postal and e-mail addresses are available at the top of this page.

As part of our ongoing committment to the environment, The Utopian is printed on Recycled, Australian made, Carbon Neutral paper.

About The Utopian

The College has always been proud of its sporting prowess – tug-of-war games between front and back wings, footy games won against St George’s, or swimming competitions against St Catherine’s; and all those times when our residents tried their best, enjoyed the competition for what it was, and came away the better for having tried their hands. That said, we think we are right in saying that no one has yet bested a recent resident, Fergus Kavanagh, who managed to gain an olympic place in Beijing as part of the Australian Men’s Hockey team, and who returned home the proud recipient of a bronze medal.

Fergus, who was resident here at Tommy More between 2004 and 2008, and who left us to take a break from his studies in preparation for the olympics, was a popular student, and an inspiration to a whole dining room of our current residents, who gathered to watch him play on behalf of his country.

If a few of us remembered a back-wing balcony that was off-limits to anyone with a nose on account of the hockey gear that seemed to be permanently drying on it, then we held our peace, and enjoyed the results along with everyone else!

And never let it be said that sporting prowess comes at the detriment of other obligations, such as religious devotion. When asked in the run-up to the games to tell interviewers a little about himself, and what he had wanted to be when he was a child, Fergus answered “the Pope”. Not a priest, then a bishop, then the pope, no, Fergus had his eye on the top job from day one. That same spirit of ambition has served him well on the sports field, however, and the whole College community wishes him well in what we are certain will prove to be a long and noteworthy career, even if it doesn’t end in a white robe and a pair of red slippers!

Medal Success for Tommy’s 1st Olympian

FERGUS IN FUll SWING AT THE olYMPICS

THE UTOPIAN

Br Rob had just returned from two years postgraduate studies at the Jesuit University, Boston

College in the USA. His MA in Pastoral Ministry had the special concentration in Faith Formation of

Young Adults and his thesis was on Immersion Trips as Transformative Experiences for Youth.

Prior to his time in the USA, Br Rob had spent many years in secondary education at Trinity College,

Perth, Saint Ignatius College, Athelstone, Saint John’s College, Whyalla, and Rostrevor College,

Adelaide. He has been teacher, Religious Education Coordinator, Campus Minister and Principal.

He is responsible for introducing the very successful Kairos and Quest Retreats into Australia from

the U.S.A. For more than twenty years Brother has been leading groups of students and teachers on

extensive immersion experiences in India, working in Chennai, Mandal and Kolkata. Brother Callen

is the first non-cleric appointed as Rector of St Thomas More College. The Archbishop believes

this appointment is providential and says that Brother Rob is amply qualified both academically and

pastorally to lead and guide the young people of St Thomas More College in the best traditions

of the College and the Church.

Passing the Baton

this issue Serving the Poor Pg 4 A Magificent Gift Pg 5 Ex-Collegians Celebrations Pg 12 Fr Kevin Moves Pg 13

NEW RECToR, BRoTHER RoB C AllEN WITH MRS PAUlINE IBBS, VICE RECToR.

IN DECEMBER 2008, ARCHBISHOP

BARRY HICKEY APPOINTED CHRISTIAN

BROTHER ROBERT CALLEN AS THE

NEW RECTOR OF ST THOMAS MORE

COLLEGE. BROTHER ROB IS THE

TWELFTH RECTOR OF THE COLLEGE.

N E WSLET TER O F TH E ST TH O M A S M O RE CO LLEGE A LUM N I & FRI EN DS

spring 2009

CATHOLIC RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF PERTH WITHIN THE UNIvERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Documents

Utopian - Spring 2009