Page 7 - 2016 Yearbook

REPOR TS

From the Director of Catholic Identity

T wenty-sixteen marked a significant year for Marists around

the world, as well as locally here at Assumption College.
It was a time of looking back to the events of 200 years ago and
their significance for what we are about here and now. But more
importantly than celebrating the past, it was a year of looking to
the future and envisioning what we could become.

Historically significant was acknowledging the event that took
place on July 23, 1816. On this day 12 Marist aspirants, priests
and seminarians, including Marcellin Champagnat, climbed the
hill to the shrine of Our Lady of Fourvière. On the following day
they placed themselves and their project under Mary’s special
protection. Specifically for Marcellin, this was the birth of a dream
to develop the Little Brothers of Mary, now known as the Marist
Brothers.

While it is good for us to recall the sense of purpose and
determination that inspired these men 200 years ago, it is even
more helpful for us to recognise that, at the heart of everything,
was a vision for what the Church could become, a look to the
future.
With this in mind we acknowledged the past and the present
at ACK this year with the opening of the Fourvière Centre, our
innovative English learning space. While the name connects
us with that important event two centuries ago, recalling the
building’s former use, as our boarding house for so many young
men and women, acknowledges more recent history.
In 2017 we will celebrate the 200th birthday of the Marist
Brothers; 200 years since Marcellin gathered his first brothers on
January 2, 1817 and started the Marist family which continues
to grow within the Church. Our 200th birthday is a special and
a good time to reflect upon what it means to be Marist; not only
for now but into the future. We Marists do not dwell on what was,
but rather look, with audacity and hope, at what might be.
Terry Cooney

5 Assumption College Kilmore 2016 Yearbook