Maria+Peck+-+Columba

Columba Catholic College

The three Catholic schools in Charters Towers amalgamated in 1998 and the charism of Columba is based on the three previous schools. Mt Carmel College was run by the Christian Brothers and based on the charism of Edmund Rice while St Marys and St Columba’s were founded by the Sisters of Mercy (Catherine McAuley) and later run by the Good Samaritan Sisters (John Bede Polding). The charism of the Sisters of Mercy has never been strong as their presence in the Catholic schools in Charters Towers was so brief.

Columba is a P-12 co-educational boarding school located on 2 campuses in Charters Towers. We have recently had a change in Principals after the previous Principal had worked in Catholic Education in Charters Towers for 21 years.

The charism evident at Mt Carmel College also seemed so much stronger that that of St Mary’s. This may have something to do with the fact that there were always a community of Christian Brothers living and working at the College. They taught and lived the Edmund Rice story. Staff were in-serviced regularly on the charism of Edmund Rice and were expected to share this story with the students. Where as there were no nuns working at St Mary’s in the later years and their story seems to have got lost.

Since the amalgamation of the three colleges all 3 charisms are acknowledged in our history and we now have a patron saint St Columba. However more needs to be done at the College to impart the charism of Edmund Rice, Sisters of Mercy and the Good Samaritan Sisters so that both students and staff know their story. Feast Day is celebrated every year and the contributions of the Christian Brothers, Sisters of Mercy and Good Samaritan sisters are told then. The feast day of Edmund Rice is also acknowledged, but not in the same way that it was when the Christian Brothers were still in the school. Somewhere along the line the significant celebrations associated with the Good Samaritan Sisters seem to have been lost.

The Columba staff consists of all lay staff, with the exception of one Good Samaritan Sister who is the School Chaplain. There are no Christian Brothers left at the College now. There are a large number of students enrolled who are not Catholic and many belong to other religious denominations. A large number of staff are not practicing Catholics. The school is an integral part in the mission of the Church and does work in close collaboration with the Parish Priest and parish.

Brian and Hack (2005) state that the charism of a school is integral in building community and discipleship. Charism provides a lense through which to view the gospel. The problem at the moment is the story of these early founders is not well known by the majority of staff, especially the new staff. Older staff who worked at Mt Carmel know the story of Edmund Rice well as they were often sent away to be in serviced. However this no longer occurs.

The names of the various interschool sporting houses are named after key people in the school’s history such as Bishop Benjamin, Edmund Rice, John Bede Polding and Catherine McAuley. However many staff and most students do not know the significance of these names. As well as making orgnanisational decisions the SLT needs to be committed to developing a plan (personal development, release time, beginning teachers program) for imparting charism information onto staff so they too cam pass it on to students. All staff should be involved in the religious dimension of the school. They need to learn the language and symbols of the charism.