Blessing And Opening Of New School Buildings at Our Lady Of The Sacred Heart College, Bentleigh

Celebrated by Archbishop Denis Hart
at Our Lady Of The Sacred Heart College, Bentleigh,
on Sunday, 29th August, 2004, at 1.30pm

Introduction

My dear Friends,

I am delighted to return to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College to bless these new facilities.

For so many years the College has been the centre of education of young women in this area. The leadership of Mrs. Lamb and the dedicated staff is a joy to us all as we are guided by the example of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and the love of Christ, which urges us all to live, one with Christ, and to reach out to our sisters and brothers.

This blessing is a sign of true progress in the nurturing and encouragement of young people in the ways of faith and in the unique contribution, which we make to the life of our community.

Homily

My dear Friends,

I am one with the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and with Mrs. Judith Lamb, with the young people of Sacred Heart College and with each of you, as we come for this blessing.

The name of the College speaks of the love of Jesus Christ for all and the invitation to come follow me issued by Jesus, which is as valid today as it was on the shores of Lake Galilee more than two thousand years ago.

These buildings are for the great collaborative work of education of young people. I pay tribute to the dedication of the teachers and to the joy and hope which these new facilities will bring. I do believe, however, that we stand at a watershed in Australia’s religious history.

More than ever we need to integrate our religious life and the contribution we make to our nation. On 27th March this year the Australian Bishops met with the Holy Father, who stressed that joy and hope and responding to Christ’s call will bring his truth to bear on the life of our nation.

The Pope has admitted that the ideology of secularism has found fertile ground in Australia. There is among us the attempt to promote a vision of humanity without God. In the Pope’s own words, “It exaggerates individualism, sunders the link between freedom and truth and corrodes the relationship of trust which characterise a genuine social living.”

We have therefore to be alert to what is going on around us. An eclipse of the sense of God; the undermining of family life; a drift away from the Church and above all, and this is the important point, a limited vision of life, which fails to awaken in people the sublime call to “direct their steps towards a truth, which transcends them”.

We do live in challenging times. The Lord’s own words, “Courage, it is I, have no fear” (Mark 6:50), challenge us even in these circumstances to be sure of what we can offer. Bishops and teachers need to lead women and men from the shadows of moral confusion and ambiguous thinking into the radiance of Christ’s truth and love. In a Christian context, therefore, education begins with a relationship with Christ and a genuine search for holiness so that it can then reach out into a new vision of personhood, of one’s own talents and of the ability to develop them.

I must stress the importance of Sunday as the day of the Lord and the day of Christian hope. For all of us on Saturday night or Sunday sharing in Mass makes us disciples of Christ and helps us to see the world in truth.

If we make Sunday subordinate to a secular concept of weekend, dominated by entertainment and sport, people stay locked within a horizon so narrow that they can no longer see the heavens. That is why Sunday is a day of rest, a day for God and a day for people. Even at a human level, the Pope reminds us, Sunday helps us to be revitalised and fresh with the living water of faith that only Christ can give.

I do urge you, therefore, to remember the importance of God and prayer on Sunday because the Lord continues to beckon to each of us with a love that challenges and calls.

It is this same spirit of love of God, search for his truth, awareness of the richness of family life and of individual gifts, which inspire the education in which we share here at Sacred Heart College. Education is a partnership between pupil, teacher, parent and colleague. It helps us to discover our own talents, to develop and deepen the talents which will fit us for life, remind us of the importance of motherhood and the gifts of nurturing which are specific to women, as well as enabling us, with our specific abilities, to make a contribution to the world and society in which we live, inspired by our faith, its truth and the competence which we have developed.

In this way we can draw others to the Gospel because it is only with the inspiration of Christ and the knowledge that comes from him that all human activity is seen in its true perspective.

Today is a day of great rejoicing. These new facilities remind us of the dignity and giftedness of our young people, of the vision which has inspired your board members and staff and parents to provide these facilities and of the responsibility which comes to all at Sacred Heart College to use these facilities well and make them the places where truth and competence are developed ready to be offered to a world who has sore need of it.

Congratulations to you all. As archbishop, my sincere thanks to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College for all that you are and do.

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.