The Tree: An Image of Growth to Celebrate St Angela's Day at Toowoomba

 

wattle tree

A charism is a gift given by the Holy Spirit to a person or group for a particular work in the world (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1994, n. 799).

The charism of Angela Merici and the Ursuline Order are alive and well at St Ursula’s College Toowoomba. This charism continues to evolve and change according to the times and permeates the very fabric that is St Ursula’s College Toowoomba and this was evident at our Feast Day celebration in January. The symbol of a tree was chosen to celebrate the contribution that has been made by the Ursuline community to the wider Toowoomba region over the past 86 years.

Angela was a woman who challenged the cultural and social norms of her times and we challenge each of our students to question their world and how they can contribute to a more just world. Angela was also a woman who was attuned to the hopes and cries of the people that she met in her daily life. So too we challenge our students to bring imagination and courage to their own lives and to be a transforming presence in our global world.

I believe there are two key principles which underpin the Ursuline charism; relationships and the ability to find the extraordinary in the everyday. Key to the charism of Angela Merici is the centrality of relationships. In her second counsel she asks us to be ‘kind and warm hearted’ to make our world and our school a place where quality relationships are characterized by goodness, kindness and attentiveness to one another as a sign of God’s love for every human being. By remembering love is both fragile and creative everyone will keep searching as St Angela did for new ways of expressing love in daily life. Contemporary scholars such as McBrien (1994, as cited in Cook and Simonds, 2011) describes this notion of relationships as being core to our Catholic values:

• Sacramentality—We experience God in and through all things.
• Mediation—We come to God through Jesus.
• Communion—We can only live the Gospel in community.
• Tradition—We are one with our cumulative and collective past.

 

Relationships is what made this celebration an incredible outpouring of the Spirit. The strong relationships between students, staff and the wider community. The support offered by the Australian Ursuline Community was testament to this and we thank them all so very much for being present with us on this significant day.

The charism of Angela Merici is also easily accessible by all. Her writings promote values such as kindness, compassion, tenderness, innovation, adaptation, courage, perseverance, joy, hope, integrity, respect and freedom. Angela’s decision to form a Company of Women who lived within their communities not only challenged authority, but recognised that lay men and women could experience the joy of the spirit and the Grace of God.

Angela was a farm girl and her rural roots run deep in a College which is bound by family and rural families. She was approachable, and gracious in her interaction, but strong and determined to offer a third option for young women of her time. Waves of spiritual energy flowed from Angela and shaped major innovations: consecrated life for single lay women; women’s religious life with an apostolic thrust; women’s education; secular institutes.

 

This poem, by an unknown author, epitomises the genuine and humble character of a woman before her time...

 

" So what was Angela like?

…Short, thin, plain-featured, blond.

Idealistic and impetuous in youth, she developed into a practical and balanced woman.

Her intensity endured, however, in her compassion, in warm friendships, and in deep affection for her “daughters.” One friend said that his family “could not live without her.” Another described her words as “ardent, powerful, gentle.” She was a reconciler, consulted in family squabbles and in civic crises.

A farmer till midlife, not educated, Angela liked to read and was sought out for her knowledge of Scripture. She travelled in an age when that required serious courage. She dedicated long hours to intimate conversations with God.

Angela’s intensity focused most deeply on Jesus Christ."

The spiritual energy of St Angela continues to challenge us as a College community. Our school is alive with the spirit of joy and hope and our rich Ursuline traditions are found in the relationships of all those whom walk the hallways and classrooms of St Ursula’s College Toowoomba.

May the symbolic trees of community continue to prosper at St Ursula’s College Toowoomba. We will continue to challenge the students and staff of the College to be “Serviam” women and men, daring to question, creating a world of mercy and justice.

 Faces of Angela LOGO2016 CMYK for printed use

Debbie Ryan

Assistant Principal Identity and Culture

St Ursula's College Toowoomba

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image: 'Faces of Angela'