An Augustinian Graduate

The Graduate of an Augustinian Catholic School

Augustine reminds us that the Spirit works through both the Book of the World and the Book of Scripture. We acknowledge the good progress made in the 21st Century educational environment, for example through the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians, and the good work done in Catholic education on developing a rigorous Religious Education curriculum and focusing on the importance of Catholic Social Teaching.

The Augustinian school humbly seeks to offer, distinctive windows or lenses through which its graduates and families can continue to find value and renewal in their life journey:

humility; interiority; community; the restless search for truth and ongoing conversion.

The lenses work together in a dynamic combination – like yeast. The truth is searched for both by looking within and attending to the Inner Teacher, and through listening to the community. The process is underpinned by humility.

‘The Villa Man’

‘The Villa Man’ is a concept which was originally proposed by students in the 2011 Senior cohort. The idea was to find a way of representing how pursuing a wide range of different interests and talents is all part of being the Villa Man. This concept continues to resonate with students and creates connections between different year groups, including previous years. Through a series of podcasts, the College’s Dean of Mission and Identity, Mr John Holroyd discusses ‘The Villa Man’ with a number of community members who offer great insites into what makes a ‘Villa Man’.

Podcast 1 – Christian Welch (2011 College Captain) and Harrison Adams (2011 Senior). Click here to listen.

Podcast 2 – Matthew Rolls (2019 College Captain), Will Barwick (2019 College Vice Captain) and Will Stevens (2019 Senior). Click here to listen.

Podcast 3 – Brendan Cox, Manny Lynch and Quentin Masson (College parents). Click here to listen.

Humility

“Let us, you and I lay aside all arrogance. Let neither of us pretend to have found the truth. Let us seek it as something unknown to both of us. Then we may seek it with love and sincerity, when neither of us has the rashness or presumption to believe that we already possess it.”
“I watch over you by virtue of my office, but I also wish to be watched over by you. I am a pastor for you, under the Pastor. From that position I address you as one who teaches, but with you I am a disciple in the school of the one Master”.
“Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower what will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.”

A Graduate:

Has a sense of gratitude for life and its promise.
Values diversity and is inclusive of difference.
Is open to tradition and the wisdom of the elders.
Continues to seek self-knowledge, alone and in relationship.

Interiority

“Return to yourself. Withdraw from all the din. Look inside yourself to find a pleasant, private corner in your consciousness…” (Sermon 52,22)
“Always examine yourselves without self-deception, without flattery, without buttering yourselves up. After all, there is nobody inside you before whom you need feel ashamed, or whom you need to impress. There is someone there, but one who is pleased with humility. Let Him test you. And you, too, test yourself.” (Sermon 169.18)
“Late have I loved you, O Beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved you. For see, you were within and I was without, and I sought you out there. Unlovely, I rushed heedlessly among the lovely things you have made. You were with me, but I was not with you.” (Confessions 10,27,38)
“When teachers have explained, using words, all those subjects which they profess to teach, even the science of virtue and wisdom, then the ones we call pupils consider within themselves whether what they have heard is true. This they do by gazing attentively at that interior truth, so far as they are able. Then it is that they learn, when within themselves they discover that what has been taught is true…” (The Teacher 14.45
“You are closer to me than I am to myself.”
“Let me know myself that I may know You.” (Soliloquies 2,1,1)

A Graduate:

Grows in knowledge and acceptance of his own gifts and graces.
Encounters Christ, the inner teacher.
Practises silence, stillness and reflection.
Gets in touch with his deeper self and personal story.
Goes beyond the surface values of society and popular culture.

Community

“Honour God in each other.” (Rule 1,8)
“Before all else, beloved, love God and then your neighbour, for these are the chief commandments given to us.” (Rule 1,1)
“God does not demand much of you. He asks back what he gave you, and from him you take what is enough for you. The excesses of the rich are the necessities of the poor. When you possess more than you need, you possess what belongs to others.” (On Psalm 147.12)
“Friendship should not be bounded by narrow limits…. It extends beyond those to whom we owe affection and love, even to enemies, for whom we are commanded to pray. There is no one in the human race to whom we do not owe love, even if not out of mutual love, at least on account of our sharing in a common nature.” (Letter 130.13)
“I admit that when I am wearied by the scandals of the world, I abandon my whole self to the love of friends. I find rest in their love and I can stop worrying, for God is in that person to whom I abandon myself and with whom I feel secure and find rest. Their friendship eases my fear, fear about the incertitude of tomorrow that stems from human fragility…”(Letter 73:10)
‘In an orchestra there are many different instruments. But all are tuned so carefully and played in harmony that the audience only hears one melody. This must be our ideal: to be one orchestra for the Lord.’ (On Psalm 150,8)

A Graduate:

Values the formation of community as an end in itself.
Gives priority to relationships, seeking tolerance, forgiveness and service.
Is conscious of the ‘common good’.
Understands friendships as a place of God’s presence.
Values a mutual search for truth within community.

Restless Search for Truth

“You have made us for Yourself, O Lord and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” (Confessions 1,1)
Truth conquers and “the victory of truth is love.” (Sermon 358,1)
“Let our searching be such that we can be sure of finding and let our finding be such that we may go on searching.” (The Trinity 9.1,1)
We “understand in order to believe; we believe in order to understand.” (Sermon 43.9)
“Every illness of the soul finds its medicine in the Scriptures.”
“Accordingly, dear reader, whenever you are as certain about something as I am go forward with me; whenever you stick equally fast seek with me; whenever you notice that you have gone wrong come back to me; or that I have, call me back to you.” (The Trinity 1,5,1)

A Graduate:

Acknowledges that truth is sought both through an inner journey (The Inner Teacher), the Scriptures and in community.
Appreciates the dynamic and lifelong nature of the search for truth
Values that truth is to be found objectively through the subject disciplines, the Scriptures and wholehearted commitment to learning.

Ongoing Conversion

“It is necessary for a person to let themselves be seized by the Word and change their life.”
“You can judge how much progress you are making by the degree to which you prefer the common good to your own individual interests.” (Rule 5,2)
“Hope has two beautiful daughters: their names are anger and courage. Anger that things are the way they are. Courage to make them the way they ought to be.”
“When the truth is eagerly sought, finding it produces greater enjoyment. Found, it is sought again with renewed desire.” (The Trinity 15,2,2)
“As pilgrims on the way, sing in hope, but keep on marching. Are we making progress in good works, in true faith, in right living?
‘‘Bad time, troubled times’, these people say. Let our lives be good, and the times will be good. We make our times; as we are, so are the times.” (Sermon 80,8)
“Become what you are not yet.”

A Graduate: