In recent weeks our network has rejoiced in the significant leadership roles taken on by Loreto past students: Celia Hammond, Hollie Hughes and Kirsty Robertson. We introduce them to you with their own words, which express values that Mary Ward would be proud of:

Celia Hammond

• John XXIII College past student and current parent
• Member for Curtain, West Australia

Liberal MP for Curtin Celia Hammond delivers her first speech in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Monday, 29 July, 2019. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)

We can, and we do, rise.
We learn, we adapt and we make change when change is required in the best interests and for the common good.
Let us remember our resilience, our can-do, our fair go, our compassion and our humour.
Let us embrace and encourage our individualism and celebrate our diversity, but at all times remember our shared humanity.

– Maiden Speech in the Australian Senate – 29 July 2019

 

Hollie Hughes

• John XXIII College and Loreto Kirribilli past student
• NSW Liberal Senator

Senator Hollie Hughes Maiden Speech (APP Image)

I want to take some time today to reflect on another strong woman whose influence has helped shape my path to this place. A woman who had the strength to dissent, to ignore what the hierarchy insisted upon and to resist calls for her to know her place, even to the point of imprisonment. A woman who knew, even 400 years ago, that women in time will come to do much. That woman was Mary Ward, founder of the Loreto order and ever present at John XXIII College in Perth and Loreto Kirribilli in Sydney where I went to school. Mary Ward fiercely believed in the education of girls and the enabling of young women to do anything a young man can do. When you grow up with the legacy of Mary Ward as your educational philosophy it never occurs to you that you can’t or won’t. I was encouraged throughout my childhood and education to strive to be the best I could be and never feel constrained by my gender or anything really for that matter.

– Maiden Speech in the Australian Senate – 30 July 2019

 

Kirsty Robertson

• Loreto Normanhurst past student
• Chief Executive Officer, Caritas Australia
• Caritas Australia is the official international aid agency of the Catholic Church in Australia and is part of Caritas Internationalis, a family of 165 national Catholic relief and development agencies

Kirsty Robertson

“For more than 50 years, Caritas Australia has represented so much of the goodness in humanity – a story of love and compassion that our world so desperately needs. As a small child, I put my pocket money into the Project Compassion box and I then went on to start my working life in one of Caritas’ programs, so to be appointed to this role at Caritas Australia feels a little like coming home.” Ms Robertson called it “an incredible honour” to serve with the National Council, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and a community of staff and supporters “who share not just their knowledge, experience or money but their humanity”. “May we together continue to amplify the voice of the poor and walk in solidarity with our brothers and sisters throughout the world,” she said.

– Excerpt from Caritas Australia Media Release, 6 August 2019