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Whitefriars Day – Something Special

In times of hardship and challenge, we look for strength and support from the communities with which we belong. We are blessed to have a wonderful community at Whitefriars and the celebration of Whitefriars Day on Friday 11 September, where over 1000 people gathered virtually, was a testament to this.

The day began with a liturgy led by our Carmelite Chaplains Father Paul Sireh, Brother Sean Keefe and our Liturgy and Social Justice Captains, Zain O’Neil and Luke Harford. College Captain, Alex Dunmill spoke to the community about the supportive environment at Whitefriars, the brotherhood which exists and the strong sense of family. This was followed by a series of testimonies from the young men of Whitefriars who shared with the community what it means to them to be a Whitefriars boy. Thank you to Toby Brown, Josh Hannan, Ben Bugeja, Baxter House, Joel Savy, Landen Couper, Amin Yekta and Sourav Gary who spoke about the following qualities of our community – courage, wearing the uniform with pride, achieving the best you can, looking after your mates, a supportive community, being selfless and serving others and being a gentle man.

Mr Murphy, our College Principal, addressed the community and spoke of the Carmelite tenants of Prayer, Community and Service and how these are the essence of the Whitefriars community.

Finally, to continue to foster our connection to the people of Timor Leste and our support of the Carmelites who work closely with them, the traditional Walkathon was replaced with the ‘Walk in Their Shoes’. Students and families were encouraged to go for a 40-minute walk, symbolic of the average time it takes a Timorese student to walk to school. The accompanying photographs show the spirit and solidarity expressed by our community and the video below, put together by Mayra Walsh, Community Development Ministry Director for the Carmelites, made it real and provided us with inspiration and awareness of our friends in Timor-Leste.

https://clickv.ie/w/gVwo

The day was a wonderful celebration of Whitefriars College and showed that when under duress, the strength of a community shines through. A special thanks to Mr Joshua Vujcich, Director – Identity, Mission and Faith for steering the planning and delivery of the day.

 

Mr Mick Lafferty

Deputy Principal – Students