"We part as friends..."
"We are about to leave behind the days when all our hopes were the brightest, our laughter the loudest, and our tears the sweetest."
That phrase read out during the Cross & Passion College Graduation 2009 mass echoed through the vaulted ceiling of the parish church last evening as the Class of 09 spent one of their last times together as a group.
It was bitter-sweet. Perhaps the first realisation that relationships built up over six years were about to leave the relatively safe harbour of their schooldays. To fend for themselves in the rougher, possibly more dangerous, definitely more uncertain seas of the rest of their lives.
For the Year Head, Mr Dennehy, it was his official parting from a group with whom he'd been closely associated since their Fourth Year. He clearly found it difficult. He spoke for longer than he had anything left to say, as if trying to push back the moment of disconnection.
"You have, hopefully, learned the skills needed to tackle the next phase of your young lives," was his core thought as, on behalf of all the teachers of the Class of 09, he wished them well in their future. An adult, he tried to pass on one thing which all adults learn, that humankind really doesn't do invincibility. And that trying to be so is not necessarily a good thing.
"Don't try to be too strong. As a human being you will feel very vulnerable and humble at times. That humility may be your real strength. Be assertive, not aggressive. Be flexible, accommodating and open to learning. Keep in touch with your spiritual side and keep God in your life."
It was a good message. Even if some of those there don't take it onboard immediately, or even for many years to come. Which, of course, is inevitable. But at some time in every one of his listeners' lives, when they really need the words, or the ideas behind them, they will be there, buried but accessible in the software of their memory.
The event itself, though, was as much a celebration of the past as it was a good wish for the future. In that celebration, the Class of 09 excelled. To mark their transition, they brought to the altar a number of symbols of their time at CPC.
Schoolbooks to illustrate all they have learned. A bowl of seeds representing their first years in the school and their hopes for the future. A plant reflecting the maturity and growth they have achieved. A sports jersey for the teamwork and recreation learned in sports and leisure. Candles for the light shown by the teachers and staff. And a class photograph, showing them as young adults, ready to meet ever-changing challenges.
In front of all these, a mat laid on the altar steps had the signed name of each member of the class. A foundation of collective comradeship for all their individual futures.
The mass was a long one, but it didn't feel so. Possibly because it was one where the celebrant only had a minor role in the whole scheme of things. And Fr Paddy Ryan, current chaplain to CPC, appeared to be really enjoying it that way.
The Ceremony of Light, where they shared between them the flame from the church's Paschal Candle, was an attempt to make eternal the warmth and light which the students have experienced from each other for the past six years. Moments of wistfulness were evident in faces lit by the flickering flames.
Naturally with young people, there was music. A lot of it. Mostly guitars, though piano and flute also figured, as did many individual and combined voices. Real talent flexing growing skills. Giving joy. As a mere observer, it was a privilege to be there.
At moments for reflection, the assembly was urged to follow their dreams. To work hard. To be kind. To learn that people are the real treasures in life. And it seemed that the message was as much for their parents as it was for the young people.
The time when the children presented flowers to their parents was sweet, but also marked a point of no return. There were hugs, probably swiftly-wiped tears. There was pride. There was surely, for some, intimation of a future moving away.
But even when they do, those of us who have gone through it know it doesn't end. Nor do we want it to. Fr Paddy asked the parents were they prepared to commit to ongoing support? Of course they were. And the young people for their part committed to accept the opportunities of life 'with joy and energy'. That is all that parents hope for.
There was more music. There were presentations to teachers, and to other staff of CPC. And then it was time to leave. To begin to put behind them the years when innocence was helped towards maturity by their parents, their teachers, and by their own developing friendships.
There were balloons to release, in the yellow and blue of their school, colours which will always bring special memories of a time that, as Mr Dennehy put it, 'you cannot forget'.
There were friends to hug, before they went home with their parents, to glam up in advance of going out to celebrate their new status in their own ways.
They'll have chances to hug again, during and at the end of their now-looming examinations. But as of Tuesday evening, an era has ended for them. And in the one which they have just now entered, there is no doubt the Class of 09 will make CPC, their local home towns, and their parents, proud.
