Campion Graduates Urged to Answer Life’s Defining Question

“The world really needs saints right now.”

That was the challenge put to graduates at Campion College Australia’s 18th Graduation Ceremony, held on Tuesday 16 December in the George Cardinal Pell Grand Hall on the College’s Toongabbie campus.

Occasional Address speaker Dr Joanna Howe, Professor of Law at the University of Adelaide, told graduates that the defining task of their lives would not be professional success alone, but discerning how their gifts must be placed at the service of others.

“Where does the world’s greatest needs and your own gifts and desires meet?” Dr Howe asked. “That’s the question you must answer with your life.”
Addressing graduates, Dr Howe warned that answering that question would not be straightforward, particularly in a culture resistant to truth and moral conviction.

“To actually speak truth and stand up for that truth,” she said, “you need to know that people will try and shut you down.”

She cautioned graduates to expect resistance, discouragement and pressure to conform.

“You will be told that you shouldn’t do it that way,” she said. “You will be told that you are not good enough, you are too young or not experienced enough.”

Dr Howe illustrated her message through the witness of St Maximilian Kolbe, who offered his life for another prisoner at Auschwitz, arguing that extraordinary courage is formed long before moments of crisis.

“Father Kolbe prepared for that moment of extraordinary sacrifice through the daily moments of his life,” she said.

Earlier in the day, graduates and their families gathered for the Graduation Mass, celebrated by Most Reverend Peter Mel Murphy, Bishop of Armidale, with concelebrants Very Rev Peter Williams, Fr John Flader, Dr Luke Holohan SM, Fr Anthony Robbie, and Fr Piotr Kruk OP, Campion College Chaplain.

In his homily, Bishop Murphy reminded graduates that the word “graduation” derives from the Latin gradus, meaning to step up, urging them to respond to a culture lacking spiritual depth with hope and responsibility.

“This culture is devoid of spiritual transcendence,” Bishop Murphy said. “Fill those flaws, those potholes, with hope.”

Reflecting on the themes raised throughout the speeches of the day, Campion College President Dr Paul Morrissey pointed to the College’s Bachelor of Arts in the Liberal Arts as a response grounded in integration rather than division.

“Our world is fragmented dangerously – it has disintegrated. I encourage each of you to pursue the integrated life,” he said.

The ceremony also marked a milestone for Campion College’s Graduate Certificate in Religious Education (Primary), with the largest cohort to attend graduation in person. Among them was a group of teachers from Mary Immaculate Catholic Primary School, Bossley Park, who graduated together. The online postgraduate program extends Campion College’s liberal arts mission into Catholic schools by equipping teachers with theological depth and practical classroom application.

Concluding her address, Dr Howe reminded graduates that the call to live truthfully and courageously is personal and unrepeatable.
“There is only one of you,” she said, “and I can’t wait to see the contribution you each make to the world.”

Dr Howe’s full address is available below.