I have been surprised and delighted to meet with and hear from some of the first generation of Thomas More Centre participants. Now some of these men and women have growing adolescent and young adult children of their own. They recount memories of their TMC Summer School encounters which ran from 1989 into the mid-2000s.

A few have said: “I want my kids to have something like we had. The people we met and the topics we discussed have been landmarks in our lives.”

These original “schools” ran for one to two days. They featured in a fairly concentrated timeframe: high quality speakers and teachers, lively discussions and encounters, time in the company of impressive Australian or international leaders, and equally importantly, time forming friendships and networks.

These schools were often thematic. Over the years many issues have been canvassed: the role of the laity in the world, the importance of virtue and the beatitudes, building the common good, the importance of a culture of life, the unity of faith and reason and many other foundational issues.

Many of these schools were organised in Melbourne, but there were one or two in Adelaide and elsewhere. Melbourne was the natural home for these events at the time and many young people and their parents, seminarians, young religious and fellow Christians would travel in order to attend.

At the time there was nothing quite like the TMC Summer Schools. There were times when over 200 people, mostly under 25 years of age, would make a sort of pilgrimage to the “big smoke down south” to be part of the Summer School experience. There were pizza nights and, during a few memorable years, balls and dances organised around the more serious talks’ program.

Australian demographics and culture have changed key since those first decades. Now we see the importance of being more expansive and de-centralised in helping to launch schools, as well as our talk events, in other parts of Australia. So many of you have moved to regional communities to discover more affordable land and housing, to embed yourselves in deeper communities and to explore educational alternatives for your families.

We are not by any means abandoning the big cities. We are aiming to launch schools that touch on distinctive teams in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and beyond.

We are immensely impressed with the first 21st-century school hosted by the superb TMC hub in the Wagga region, organised by our live-wire coordinator in Albury, Catherine Stewart. Catherine and her team have assembled a brilliant program running over a day and two nights – the TMC “Autumn School” has been organised for the weekend of April 19 and 20 this year.

The Autumn School features outstanding speakers and important topics by any standard, Australian or international.  It is completely authentic to the classic high standard of the original TMC schools.

The theme of the Autumn School in Albury is the dignity of the human person – what we might call the theological and philosophical anthropology that lies at the heart, implicitly or explicitly, of any society or culture.

The theme is “Truth and Beauty of the Human Person and Vocations” and the topics include talks on having confidence in objective truth in confusing and relativistic times (Anthony Gordon); the continuing importance of a real and natural order to morality, reason and creation (Fr Peter Murphy); and the challenges to human dignity and how to defend it in a digital world affected by pornography (Fr Sean Byrnes).

I am looking forward to exploring our confidence in an "ecology" that integrates the value of the land and the human person. The afternoon will be organised around an important workshop run by the wise and highly-skilled Stina Constantine. It will provide highly practical and insightful exploration of building personal virtue in our lives; it will be a real highlight of this school.

A final session will discuss the important diversity of vocations, with the support of Sara Moore from the Anima Women’s Network and Fr Bradley Rafter (currently the formator at the Wagga Seminary).

As if this treasury of wisdom was not enough, the wonderful people at La Maison will cater with their outstanding Lebanese cuisine for our meals and refreshments.

The Autumn School will be held at St Patrick’s Catholic Parish Hall in Albury, and we are very grateful for the welcome we have received from the parish priest and the community.

The talks will be meaty but accessible for anyone over 18 and from any educational background. We are delighted that a number of very well-formed priests of the Wagga Diocese are involved in this school, including Fr Peter Murphy – the Vicar General of the Wagga diocese – and administrator of the Cathedral, Fr Sean Byrnes.

We are deeply honoured to have the support and encouragement that Bishop Mark Edwards has given to the Autumn School.

We are looking forward to meeting some familiar and new faces in Albury.
Please promote the event within your network of friends and contacts, and do not hesitate in getting in touch if you have any questions or special needs in relation to this first school.

A blessed Holy Week and Easter to all!

Anna Krohn
Executive Director
Thomas More Centre