The Ignatian - December 2016 Vol 26 July Edition Vol 27 | Page 5

Above clockwise Fr General Peter Hans Kolvenbach SJ during a visit to Riverview; Fr Pedro Arrupe SJ; Assistance Competition winning photo showing a commitment to worldwide Jesuit education, taken by Will Hancock, Year 12. formation to ecologically sustainable design and planning of facilities. The commitment to indigenous peoples is reflected in the thirty-six First Nations young men currently in the boarding community and the acknowledgement of aboriginal culture in our curriculum, in liturgies, Assemblies – in short, whenever we gather. Commitment to an equal standard of education is reflected in the growing means-tested Bursary Programme which ensures a Riverview formation is possible for many families who would never have dreamt it at all possible. The College’s recent public stand on the matter of just allocation of government funding to schools is another case in point. Our commitment to the equal treatment for both sexes takes as one starting point the reality that fifty per cent of our teaching staff are women. When Fr General addressed us, it was less than thirty per cent. And moving beyond the context of Fr General’s time, we hope to cultivate in the young men a deeper understanding of, and respect for, those of a broader range of orientations. The remaining commitments we approach in both deeds and words – in what and how we teach, in the guests we invite to Assemblies and Hot Potato Shops, in the advocacy in the A T Thomas Group, in the lived experiences of service programmes and immersions. Of course, commitment never suggests completion or conclusion. It is being there for the long haul. It is often, “Yes, but not quite.” We keep at it. Even when it comes with a cost. A school in the Ignatian tradition will be marked out by commitment to values which sometimes the world may not find popular, and when to do so is to swim against the tide or be out of step with the sway of public opinion. Interviewed on another occasion, Fr Kolvenbach observed, “I am convinced that in 400 years of history our educational institutions have had as their sole end the commitment to make the human city a more just one for the Lord’s sake.” It is often said that Riverview is like a little city. So let us commit to making it more humane and more just – for the Lord’s sake. FR ROSS JONES, SJ R EC T O R F R O M T H E R EC T O R | I G N ATI A N | 5