Archbishop's Awards 2021

Archbishop’s AWARDs 2021 For Student Excellence S t u d e n t E x c e l l e n c e 14 The Catholic Weekly, 12 September, 2021 T he Year 12 stu- dents who received an Archbishop’s Award for Student Excellence this year are no strangers to the power of faith and action. Each year, the awards ac- knowledge the commitment to their faith, academic life, community and social justice of one student from each of 50 secondary schools in the Catholic Archdiocese of Syd- ney. The 2021 awards were pre- sented during a live video conference for the students, their parents and principals on Friday 3 September. In his address to the awardees, Archbishop of Syd- ney Anthony Fisher OP en- couraged attendees to “fight for what really matters in life, with the weapons of faith, hope and love.” “As a Church and society one of our best weapons is our young people, and today we recognise our top guns”, said Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP His Grace drew on the ex- ample of reluctant Pope Saint Gregory the Great, known for his humility and determi- nation, and depression era novelist, Raymond Chandler, to ask students to consid- er what tools and traits they used to make the world a bet- ter place. “We all slip into habits to get our point across and in- fluence things,” he said. “This may be our looks or the looks we give others; our thinking and how we articu- late this to others; our emo- tions and how demonstrative we are about them; our phys- ical presence. “Most of us use one or two Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP at the live video conference addressing students, their parents and principals on Friday 3 September. PHOTO: SYDNEY CATHOLIC SCHOOLS Faith and Action This year’s Archbishop Awards saw our students presented during a live video conference of these and leave the others to gather dust. “As a Church and society one of our best weapons is our young people, and today we recognise our top guns.” Executive Director of Syd- ney Catholic Schools, Tony Farley, praised the awardees for their courage and deter- mination to be part of a big- ger world and to seek the truth. “The world needs people who are prepared to stand up and do what’s right: to at times be counter cultural and not just go with what so many others say or do,” he told stu- dents. “To receive an award today you’ve sometimes tak- en the road less travelled, and resolved to see the joy and strength in serving others,” said Tony Farley SERVING OTHERS Meet some of the Archbish- op’s Awards recipients in the following pages, whose faith and determination to make a difference was acknowledged at this year’s online ceremo- ny. - SYDNEY CATHOLIC SCHOOLS As a Church and society one of our best weapons is our young people, and today we recognise our top guns” Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP