austraLasia #1972
Australian Prime Minister visits St Joseph's College, Ferntree Gully
MELBOURNE: 31st October 2007 -- The current Australian Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, visited St Joseph's College in Ferntree Gully, a Salesian school in Melbourne, on Monday 29 October. Mr Howard, who is heading for a tough election in several week's time, used the occasion to speak quite personally to students and staff of the College, in addition to announcing 'significant funding' for skills and technical education in Australia, should he be re-elected. The Prime Minister congratulated the newly ordained Fr Brian Ahern sdb, a past pupil of the College, expressing 'great admiration for a person who is prepared to devote his life to the spiritual upliftment of the community'. The visit included a politically star-studded lineup of local and federal politicans. Mr Howard was accompanied by his wife Jeanette.
The Prime Minister spoke of the values of Catholic education as espoused and practised by St. Joseph's College: 'I wanted to take just a moment to say to all of you how much I respect the achievements of the Catholic education system....the quality of education provided not only in a formal educational sense but also through the spiritual guidance of young men and women in the Catholic system is greatly to be admired'. He further urged students to 'listen to the counsel and encouragement of your teachers. Teaching is a wonderful dedicated profession because the impact of teachers on young lives ranks only second to the impact of parents on young lives'.
Obviously well informed on the history of St Joseph's College, the Prime Minster congratulated the school and in particular its principal, Mr Vincent Feeney, for the way in which it had 'embraced the need for change and modernisation whist preserving the best traditions of a Catholic education'. He commented on his own insistence as Prime Minister on the importance of understanding the history of one's culture and society. It was a point well-taken by Mr Feeney who, as a Salesian lay educational leader, has recently returned from a visit to Annecy and Piedmont with many other Australian Salesian lay educational leaders.
The Prime Minister concluded with a personal expression of good wishes to the College school captains, Simon and Jarred, whom he saw as 'wonderful young men who go into the world and make a rounded contribution to making a stronger and better Australian nation'.
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AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use BoscoWiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xml Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at at http://sdl.sdb.org
Australian Prime Minister visits St Joseph's College, Ferntree Gully
MELBOURNE: 31st October 2007 -- The current Australian Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, visited St Joseph's College in Ferntree Gully, a Salesian school in Melbourne, on Monday 29 October. Mr Howard, who is heading for a tough election in several week's time, used the occasion to speak quite personally to students and staff of the College, in addition to announcing 'significant funding' for skills and technical education in Australia, should he be re-elected. The Prime Minister congratulated the newly ordained Fr Brian Ahern sdb, a past pupil of the College, expressing 'great admiration for a person who is prepared to devote his life to the spiritual upliftment of the community'. The visit included a politically star-studded lineup of local and federal politicans. Mr Howard was accompanied by his wife Jeanette.
The Prime Minister spoke of the values of Catholic education as espoused and practised by St. Joseph's College: 'I wanted to take just a moment to say to all of you how much I respect the achievements of the Catholic education system....the quality of education provided not only in a formal educational sense but also through the spiritual guidance of young men and women in the Catholic system is greatly to be admired'. He further urged students to 'listen to the counsel and encouragement of your teachers. Teaching is a wonderful dedicated profession because the impact of teachers on young lives ranks only second to the impact of parents on young lives'.
Obviously well informed on the history of St Joseph's College, the Prime Minster congratulated the school and in particular its principal, Mr Vincent Feeney, for the way in which it had 'embraced the need for change and modernisation whist preserving the best traditions of a Catholic education'. He commented on his own insistence as Prime Minister on the importance of understanding the history of one's culture and society. It was a point well-taken by Mr Feeney who, as a Salesian lay educational leader, has recently returned from a visit to Annecy and Piedmont with many other Australian Salesian lay educational leaders.
The Prime Minister concluded with a personal expression of good wishes to the College school captains, Simon and Jarred, whom he saw as 'wonderful young men who go into the world and make a rounded contribution to making a stronger and better Australian nation'.
_________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use BoscoWiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xml Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at at http://sdl.sdb.org
