Our Mission of Love

The O’Connor Catholic College motto, The fruit of the Spirit is Love was chosen to replace the mottos of the founding schools of O’Connor - De La Salle College (Esto Vir - Be a Man) and St Ursula's (Serviam - I will serve). Both De La Salle and St Ursula’s taught their students that giving, not taking, is a key aspect of our Christian faith, and this was represented through their mottos. Both schools taught that by being the best versions of themselves, their students would grow into caring and compassionate members of society. 
St Ursula’s College was established in 1882 by a small group of Ursuline sisters who were invited to Armidale by Bishop Torregianni. They were joined in Armidale by the Brothers of the Christian Schools (De la Salle Brothers) in 1906, who established a small school on the outskirts of the town. Both schools grew and educated generations of students until changing economic and political realities forced the amalgamation of the two schools in 1975 (this year is our 50th anniversary!). 

Our school was named after Bishop Patrick O’Connor, who from 1875 to his death in 1932 served the Diocese of Armidale as a priest, Vicar General and later Bishop. It was during his tenure as Bishop that the De La Salle brothers were invited to establish a school in Armidale in 1906, with a mixture of French and Irish brothers establishing a school on the outskirts of Armidale. Although the French brothers departed Armidale only a few months after their arrival, the Irish brothers persevered in their endeavours. For the next 70 years, De La Salle College Armidale was an established feature of Armidale’s educational landscape. 

Here at O’Connor, we encourage students to show love for themselves and each other at all times. Jesus taught that we should love others just as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:39). In his letter to the Galatians (in central Turkey), St Paul wrote that the fruit of the Spirit is Love - from this we take our motto. 

Love takes on many forms - it is shown through respect, reverence, care, compassion, kindness, acceptance, a desire to serve others, and so on. We encourage our students to show love for their fellow classmates through being people who respect the rights of others to learn in a calm, settled classroom environment. We encourage them to show love for the school through the way they treat all members of the school community as well as the school grounds. 

I spoke at length to our year 11 students during their leadership retreat about our motto, and how they can take it with them as they begin their final year of formal schooling here at O’Connor, and the motto is often a feature of discussion in our junior Religious Education lessons and yeargroup masses. It’s hard not to ignore the motto when it’s hanging in plain sight in our school chapel!

Our school seeks to  provide students with many opportunities to live out our motto. Like every other Catholic school in Australia, we are strong supporters of annual appeals such as Project Compassion, the St Vincent de Paul Winter and Christmas appeals, and Catholic Mission. In addition to our clothing drive for the Winter Appeal which has run for decades, we also regularly participate in the annual sleepout, with a great group of committed young people and staff coming together to experience, if only for one night, the feeling of being homeless. 

In addition to these whole school events, we seek to provide a range of opportunities for our young people to live out our motto. Year Ten students have opportunities to work alongside adult Catechists in some of our Armidale public schools - this year is the fourth iteration of the Assistant Catechists program, and it has given many young people great insights into what it actually means to see the Spirit in action. We continue to support the Lasallian Youth Leader program for our Year 11 students, taking on opportunities to lead and mentor their fellow students. I have been greatly impressed by the openness of our Year 11 LYL applicants who spoke frankly about how they can implement our motto, and the values of faith, service and community into their lives here at school and in the wider community. 

Moving into 2026, our O’Connor community will continue to live out the charisms and values of our founding orders. We hold up high the Ursuline motto of Serviam and the Lasallian Signum Fide, striving to continue to follow in the footsteps of the amazing women and men who established the schools that would one day become O’Connor Catholic College. 
 

Source: Andrew May, Religious Education Coordinator, O'Connor Catholic College Armidale