FROM THE BOARD CHAIR

To all of you who make up our wonderful St Patrick’s College Townsville Community, I want today to make a very important announcement. On 1 July 2025, I will have reached the end of my nine-year tenure on the College Board of Governance. Hence my time on the Board both as Director and Chair will come to an end. It has, for me, been a wonderful, challenging and fulfilling journey and I will leave with a great sense of accomplishment and pride. 

Across the nine years of my tenure, I have seen the shaping and implementation of the governance architecture of the Board – policies, protocols, practices, reporting and accountability, risk management, committee structures etc. – that have enabled the Board to function with professional effectiveness. The implementation of the College Master Plan provided a few decision-making headaches along the way, but the result has been top-of-the-range facilities to provide an excellent teaching/learning environment for our teachers and students. Most importantly, our succession planning resulted in a recruiting strategy that has seen the appointment of excellent Directors, highly effective in their particular professional careers, who will continue to govern and guide the College with passion, commitment and competence. I will leave the College fully confident that it is in good and safe hands, knowing full well that the Spirit of Mercy will continue to imbue the very fabric of St Patrick’s College Townsville. 

The appointment of the new Board Chair will be announced by Mercy Partners at our Annual General Meeting on 26 May.

1 July will also mark the moment when, after 120 years, there will no longer be a Sister of Mercy directly involved in the life of the College. Some may see this as a time to be sad or disappointed but, in truth, it marks the culmination of a dream begun long ago by a small group of us that we could find a way to ensure that our Mercy Ministries would continue beyond us and flourish into the future. At St Patrick’s College Townsville, that dream will soon come to fruition. That is a moment for celebration!

For me personally, the timing of my departure from formal ministry within the College Community has come fortuitously at a time when I believe I have done all I can do for the College. Whilst I will not miss the responsibilities that I have carried over the past nine years, I will dearly miss my working with the Directors, the Principal, the College Leadership Team and staff; the inspiring liturgical and student achievement celebrations; and I will very much miss being surrounded by energetic and happy students who have always welcomed me with a smile. But new things are now possible for me and I will be able to give more time to some of the other ministries that beckon, primarily among them the privilege of accompanying others as they make their journey in faith into the Catholic Church.

I am reminded of the Scriptures where God announces “I am doing a new thing. Can you not see it?”.

In this Jubilee Year, as we are called to be Pilgrims of Hope, let us embrace this wonderful new thing that beckons our College into a bright and wonderful future!

I ask God’s blessings upon you all!

Sr Helen Mary Peters

BOARD CHAIR