The
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12 October 2003
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‘Free people from fear’
Bishop Anthony Fisher with senior student debaters and Glenn King, master in charge of debating at Riverview
The truth which debating seeks to find
and articulate “has enormous potential to liberate people from falsehood, superstition
and fear”, says Bishop Anthony Fisher.
The newly ordained bishop was addressing the annual debating dinner at his former school, St Ignatius’ College, Riverview.
He told students, parents and staff: “I travelled the country and the world through debating.
“I entered the noble profession of law in a large part because of debating. I joined the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) in a significant part because of my desire to put my debating skills and experiences to some higher end.
“Above all, I learnt to think and speak well through debating and I will be eternally grateful to this college and to such men as Fr Charles McDonald SJ (his former debating master) for that opportunity.”
Bishop Fisher said: “My first official activity as a bishop - in fact as a bishop elect - was a debate in the Great Hall of the University of Sydney on the issue of euthanasia with Dr Philip Nitschke.
“There were about 1000 students there, and, though I was rather nervous about it before hand, I think the debate went very well. By the end, most of the students had their doubts about euthanasia or were opposed to it altogether.
“That, it seems to me, was debating put to the service of questioning and informing, pursuing and teaching the truth, on a major social question.
“I remember thinking at that time how well my debating days at Riverview - more than a quarter of a century ago - were in some sense a preparation for that day in the Great Hall.
“And so, I want to thank the college for all it gave me and pay tribute to the great gift that the ‘Riverview debating experience’ was for me.”
The bishop paid tribute to Riverview’s “extraordinary” debating record.
“We know that, for the past four decades at least, Riverview has almost always won the senior championships it has entered,” he said (31 GPS premiership wins in the past 40 years).
“It is known, among other things, as Australia’s greatest debating school. Debating has always been a feature of the College.
“It is its oldest extra-curricular activity - the debating club at Riverview was founded by about 1881.”
Bishop Fisher was an outstanding debater while at Riverview. He was captain of the GPS first debating teams which won the GPS premiership in 1976 and 1977, captain of the NSW State debating team in 1976 and 1977 and captain of the Australian schools debating team in 1977. He was dux of Riverview in 1977.
He told the college dinner that Jesuit education has always encouraged the study and practice of rhetoric.
“The truth which debating seeks to find and articulate has enormous potential to liberate people from falsehood, superstition and fear,” he said.
“As Fr Charles McDonald SJ argued, debating can teach us both tolerance and conviction, by inviting us to step beyond our prejudices, to extend our horizons, to see the truth on all sides of an argument and then - and only then - to pursue, with humility and integrity, those arguments which are strongest and most incisive.”
Bishop Fisher asked students to “reflect upon what you will do with the skills and experience that debating at Riverview has given you”.
He recalled: “When debating at Riverview for years, then coaching debating, and then writing up its centennial history, I was pressed to reflect upon what it was all for.
“Was it just about winning trophies and admiration, applause and self-esteem?
“Those are fun, of course, though they do not count for all that much in the long run. Debating, Riverview style, has to be about more than linguistic pickpocketing.
“In the end, the challenge of St Ignatius himself and of his college to you young men is this: is it eloquentia perfecta* you have learnt? Or something less worthy?
“Are they worthwhile thoughts you will have and communicate to our world?
“Will you put those gifts to the building up of God’s kingdom on earth?”
Congratulating debating students on their recent GPS premiership win, Bishop Fisher said: “We debaters who have gone before you are very proud of you indeed and not just because of the past you are joining, but because of the great promise you hold out for the future.”
Eloquentia perfecta, the Jesuit education model, is the ability to use speech and writing effectively, logically, gracefully, persuasively and responsibly.