Inaugural National Conference - August 2007

Franciscan Schools Australia, an initiative of the Missionary Franciscan Sisters, is administered in collaboration with Franciscan Leaders for the purpose of sharing resources both human and material to ensure the enrichment of Franciscan Spirituality within the schools. From 1 to 3 August the Inaugural Franciscan Schools Australia Conference was held at Mercy Centre, Bardon.

Sister Pauline Robinson mfic, Coordinator of FSA, in preparing the brochure for the Conference wrote:

“I trust that this first Conference will give us time to meet one another, to revitalise and replenish our own faith lives, to foster our Franciscan connectedness with each other, and to glean ideas that will enable us all to better pass on the gift of Franciscan spirituality to the young people we have the privilege to teach and support.”

I believe that the hopes and dreams of Pauline and her Committee were more than fulfilled as delegates who are at the heart of Franciscan education shared wisdom, experience and knowledge with each other and with Franciscan Religious who added many years of experience in education to the informal dialogue.

The Conference aim was to gather Franciscan educators from across Australia for the first time so that together they could address their common Franciscan heritage and discuss how best to pass on that unique heritage to our students. Seventy-five teachers and more than twenty religious, from the three eastern states, attended either full-time or part-time.

At this time in the history of Catholic Education here in Australia, as we see religious withdrawing from schools they have founded, there is concern that the rich spiritual gifts of the great Founders of religious orders not be lost to the Church. There is now a feeling of confidence that FSA and Conferences like the one just held will contribute significantly to ensuring that the Franciscan charism of the schools who are members of the Association remains strong.

A competition through the schools resulted in the logo for FSA and this was presented to the assembly by the primary school student Felila Rosenthal from St Francis Primary, Crestmead who won the art contest.

Details regarding keynote speakers and the very helpful workshops of the Conference are available on the FSA website www.fsa.asn.au.

Some of the Conference participants

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