Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home Culture Book of the Week

Era of sacrifice and achievement

byGuest Contributor
25 December 2005
Reading Time: 2 mins read
AA
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

FROM A SUITCASE ON THE VERANDAH:

FATHER BERNARD O’SHEA AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF CATHOLIC EDUCATION IN BRISBANE 1943-1983

By Maurice Ryan, Brisbane Catholic Education, $29.95

Reviewed by Br Brian Grenier CFC

IN his preface to From a Suitcase on the Verandah, David Hutton, the executive director of Brisbane Catholic Education, reminds us that an entitlement mentality can easily replace what should be a sense of gratitude if we succumb to the human tendency to forget the past.

We need no other justification for the publication of this fine book in which an important chapter in the history of Catholic education in Brisbane is recorded, together with the story of Fr Bernard (Barney) O’Shea whose life was dedicated to this cause for more than 40 fruitful years.

Though it was not the intention of Dr Maurice Ryan to write a biography of Fr O’Shea, he has included in these pages enough personal and professional detail about his subject’s life for the reader to encounter a zealous, competent, hardworking man whom many Catholics of my vintage will remember as a wise, courteous, personable and dedicated priest.

Fr Barney O’Shea was appointed Inspector of Religious Education and Youth Movements in the Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Brisbane in 1943.

Five years later he became the director of Catholic Education – a post he held until his resignation in 1983.

For most of that time he was also the parish priest of St Ita’s, Dutton Park.

Related Stories

Future First Nations teachers honoured with Rome scholarship

Marymount College claims historic girls’ rugby league Confraternity title

Sunnybank’s ninth Multicultural Mass unites 16 languages in prayer

Under his leadership a loosely structured enterprise that could be administered from a presbytery verandah became, in time, a vastly expanded and increasingly centralised system of quality education.

The phases of this development are well delineated in this attractively produced, large-format (210mm x 250mm) hardbound book.

Among the many issues and topics that the author has painstakingly researched and documented for this work (with the assistance of John Schiavo and others), one could point to the negotiations with governments concerning funding for the recurrent and capital needs of the schools; the formation and operation of various councils, commissions and committees; the contribution of religious congregations and the expanding role of lay staff; the occasional internal conflict and dissent generated by competing interests; the questioning of the importance attached to Catholic education among archdiocesan priorities – to mention just a few.

Not least among the many pleasing features about this book is the interesting and informative 20-page introduction which gives an overview of “Catholic Education in New South Wales and Queensland 1800-1940”.

Dr Ryan’s text, I should add, is enhanced by the inclusion of many relevant photos which set other times and other places before us, an index of names and a timeline of Fr O’Shea’s life.

I recommend this story of sacrifice and achievement to all readers of The Leader, especially those who are or who have been teachers in Catholic schools.

It looks back to a time when our schools were under-resourced and classrooms were crowded and when building schools took precedence over constructing churches; and it looks forward to a future that, one may reasonably hope, is bright with promise.

ShareTweet
Previous Post

BAD NEWS BEARS

Next Post

Agca goes free

Guest Contributor

Related Posts

Future First Nations teachers honoured with Rome scholarship
Education

Future First Nations teachers honoured with Rome scholarship

2 July 2022
Marymount College claims historic girls’ rugby league Confraternity title
QLD

Marymount College claims historic girls’ rugby league Confraternity title

2 July 2022
Sunnybank’s ninth Multicultural Mass unites 16 languages in prayer
QLD

Sunnybank’s ninth Multicultural Mass unites 16 languages in prayer

1 July 2022
Next Post

Agca goes free

Global scandal of child suffering

Mater joy at 100th birthday

Popular News

  • Sunnybank’s ninth Multicultural Mass unites 16 languages in prayer

    Sunnybank’s ninth Multicultural Mass unites 16 languages in prayer

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Archbishop Coleridge unveils new cross at Banyo church

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Fr El Louie Jimenez ordained

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Australian Plenary Council aims to avert Church ‘moment of crisis’

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Marymount College claims historic girls’ rugby league Confraternity title

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Future First Nations teachers honoured with Rome scholarship
Education

Future First Nations teachers honoured with Rome scholarship

by Hannah Kennelly
2 July 2022
0

YOUNG Aboriginal and South Sea Islanders education students, Jedda Ellison and Hayden Kubler have been awarded the...

Marymount College claims historic girls’ rugby league Confraternity title

Marymount College claims historic girls’ rugby league Confraternity title

2 July 2022
Sunnybank’s ninth Multicultural Mass unites 16 languages in prayer

Sunnybank’s ninth Multicultural Mass unites 16 languages in prayer

1 July 2022
Evarist D’Souza

Archbishop Coleridge unveils new cross at Banyo church

1 July 2022
Netball Superstar: St John Fisher student Jayden Molo.

St John Fisher College student selected for the Australian Netball U17 Squad

1 July 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping