The
Catholic Weekly
Online
Sydney
15 February 2004
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Birthday wishes for Aloysius
SA parishes merge
Focus on family
Gregorian Schola offers singers big chants
Gibson’s Passion ‘work of faith’, says cardinal
How to help create a ‘culture of peace’
Pregnant pause: The joy of showing our baby the way
There is a doctor in the house
Wollongong diocese buys site for high school
Boree log bush bash
Work in Catholic education brings honour for four
Bishop launches ‘significant’ new faith courses
$80,000 boost for drug fight
Editorial: Greatest story
Letters: Something special
Conversation: Fr Aiden Kelly, prison chaplain - Helping souls in a captive Congregation
On a walk with God ...
A credible Jesus
A biblical-based Mary
A life of Mercy with music
Care, prayer still very much in order
The Polding legacy
‘Catholic-only’ order denied
US-bound on the pitcher’s mound
Birthday wishes for Aloysius
Laurie Byrne (left), 97, Ben Fong, 7, and Jim Young, 94, cut the St Aloysius birthday cake
By Damir Govorcin
Seven-year-old Ben Fong was wondering what all the fuss was about – only a few weeks at his new school and he was the centre of attention.
As the youngest student at St Aloysius’, Milsons Point, Ben was the ideal choice to front the college’s 125-year celebrations.
He was joined by two of the college’s oldest living old boys, Laurie Byrne, 97, and Jim Young, 94.
It was a coming together of St Aloysius’ past and future.
Ben, who is in Year 3, was engrossed in the excitement of the occasion and delighted to make “two new friends”.
Laurie and Jim, who wore his 1926 honour cap, happily posed for photos with him.
They also cut a huge birthday cake together and offered Ben a few words of advice.
“I told Ben to be a good boy and enjoy what the college has to offer,” said Laurie.
“Jim and I are the college’s past; Ben will be a part of the college’s future.”
Ben’s moment in the spotlight didn’t finish with the cutting of the cake.
Next he was doing a series of interviews with journalists from local newspapers, with his proud father recording the special event on a video camera.
Ben handled the questions like a professional.
“The best thing about St Aloysius so far is making new friends,” he said. “The school has a lot of history and I really like it here.”
Then he went off to rejoin his classmates.
In a sense, Laurie and Jim have passed on the baton to Ben who will carry on the tradition and history at St Aloysius.
The birthday celebrations were the ideal opportunity for Laurie and Jim to reminisce about their days there.
For Laurie, the oldest living Aloysian at 97, the college holds a special place in his family’s history.
Four generations of the Byrne family have attended the college.
Laurie’s father John went to the college in 1881, two years after it opened; Laurie followed him from 1917-22.
His son, Laurie junior, was the dux of the college in 1958.
Then Laurie junior’s son, Martin, followed in his father’s footsteps.
“Our family has had a special bond with the school,” says Laurie senior.
“It’s a huge part of our family history and we are proud to have made a contribution to the college.
Of the numerous changes the college has undergone through the years, Laurie laments the fact that ‘there aren’t more Jesuit priests teaching at the college today”.
But, he is quick to point out, “I have nothing against lay teachers because I know the Jesuit ethos of excellence in education has been maintained”.
Laurie and Jim catch up several times a year at college functions.
Laurie says he was “an average student and sportsman” at school, but that can’t be said for Jim who excelled in rugby union.
He played in the college’s First XV and represented NSW at senior level.
“I have nothing but fond memories of the college,” said Jim.
“I enjoyed representing the college in rugby union and I learned and grew as a person during my years there.”
St Aloysius’ College, one of only four Jesuit schools in Australia, is the oldest independent Catholic boys’ day school in NSW.