Br Laurie McCann

On leaving Mittagong, I spent the "six months" at Marist Brothers' College Ayr, where it was good to be on the staff of my old school and to spend time with my family, who I'd seen only at Christmas and 2nd July, since leaving home three years previously. Later (1992-1995) I returned to the same school, where I was the penultimate Marist principal, before handing over to the capable hands of a lay principal in 2001. Ah yes, the monks are fewer and older these days. Even Mick Prest's alma mater no longer has a Marist at the helm (a good move, and Ross Tarlington is a fine Marist leader.) After uni at Macquarie (1969-1972), a great experience shared with many of the novices of 67-68, I taught at six different schools over the following fifteen years: Cairns, Enoggera, Mitchelton, Joeys, Gladstone and Lismore. Then followed an exhilarating year (1988) on the Marist Retreat Team, followed by three years as "Master of Scholastics" at Gladesville. Unlike Kieran who had sixty or more of us young men in his care, I had only five. Even so, it was a challenge I'm not keen to repeat! After my second stint at Ayr, I had a wonderful year overseas in 1996, doing the second novitiate at Manziana (Rome), followed by six months in Chicago where I studied at Loyola University. From 1997 to 2003, I worked in Papua New Guinea, mostly in Bougainville (Tarlena High School, then Mabiri High School), where I assisted in trying to restore education to the war-torn island. Interesting times, to say the least, but it was a rewarding period of my life. Returning to Australia in 2004, I took up a teaching position at St Francis Xavier College Hamilton, where I am still.
It has been an interesting life, and I'm still happy in the service. I look back on our formative days at Mittagong with many great memories and I'm looking forward to re-connecting with old friends at the reunion in July.