St Mary Magdalene's is one of a number of congregations that support the Adelaide High School Chaplaincy finaincially. The Chaplain, Mark Underwood, is a 40-something Catholic who has a great love of the young and of the Lord Jesus, and of his cat, Aardvark, of course. Mark is a member of a Catholic Charismatic Community, The Disciples of Jesus, who encourage and support him as he seeks to evangelise. He is also in charge of a new youth initiative for Adelaide, The Disciples Youth Mission Team.
Mark is active in his own parish and involved in a number of organisations that exist to promote the youth of our State. When he is not busy with all of the above you will find him flying flight simulators around the world or studying the Church Ministry Program at the Adelaide College of Divinity.
As part of his work at the High School, Mark publishes a newsletter called Chaplain's Corner, which carries stories about his work with the Adelaide High School community. If you would like to receive copies, drop Mark an email at
And now a word from the Chaplain..................
I have been the Chaplain at Adelaide High School for 3 years now. I am the first Chaplain the school has had and it is my first Chaplaincy, although I have been involved in schools ministry for 9 years. One advantage of being the first is that you can always say "that's what the Chaplains do in all the schools". (grin) I am employed for 12 hours per week over three days.
Although you are given a job description the most often used phrase is "Go and be a Christian presence in the school". Each Chaplain does this differently. My preferred method is through relationships. That is, I spend time getting to know the kids and giving them time to know that I am 'safe' to talk to. I deliberately keep outside the school system, but know enough about it to allow me to be an advocate when needed.
There have been many situations I have been involved in, including attempted suicides, student deaths, boyfriend/girlfriend problems, dealing with illness, staff difficulties, teaching Christianity in class, helping with religious and moral projects, camps and excursions, etc, etc, etc.
The students soon get to know that I am not judgemental and that I am there to serve them. I am always ready to talk or assist, no matter the subject. Sometimes my Christianity is up front, like when I am asked 'churchy' questions, but more often than not it is in the way I behave, the way I care, the way I help, the fact that I value them that is my Christianity in action.
These are just some of the ways that I am "a Christian presence" in the school. Want to find out more then please phone me so I can share some stories with you, or even come down and get the guided tour. After all this is not just my mission, I do it on behalf of you. It is your mission also!
Each year I try and make sure that each and every student gets at least one opportunity to hear the Christian story in some form or other. Of course this is impossible, but one useful tool in my attempt to do this is the Christian Option Seminar. The school allows me to take the students out of class for a period or two a year, and, although the students can opt out if they want to, most choose to come along. Each seminar is different and varied. They range from rock bands to wrestling stars through to drama presentations. Whatever the means I ensure that each has a strong Christian message. Actually that is part of the problem. How strong is strong enough and how far do I go in making the message acceptable to non-Christians? Getting a balance between the two is always difficult.
This year, for the year 11 and 12 students, I chose to go out on a limb and present the most blatant Christian message ever. I went and saw a preview of Company of Sinners most recent drama "Spit Happens". As usual the company presented a superbly crafted story. The difference this year was that it was very 'in your face' about the story of Jesus. In a nutshell it told the story of a family 2000 years ago, living in Jerusalem. The family consisted of a bricklayer, a blind man and their sister, a fishmonger. Woven through their daily experience was the figure of Jesus. As they struggled through their daily life he impacted more and more into their situation. I became involved in the story and was shocked when the news about Jesus’ death was announced. And a lump came to my throat when it was announced that he was alive.
This was hard stuff! Could I risk putting it in the school? In the end I thought long and hard and felt that I needed to, but that it would be particularly relevant if I could get it in the school just before Easter. Could I get it organised in time. I had to get permission slips sent out, liaise with year level coordinators, organise supervision for the students who weren’t attending, book the hall, arrange 300 seats, put notices in the school bulletin and finally book the seminar. And then I realised I had double booked something else, something I could not get out of. Aargghh!!. Re-arrange, re-book, re-organise, pray harder!
On the day I opened up the hall, set the seats in place, organised water and lunch for the performers and did a thousand and one last minute things. Finally all was ready and the students filtered in and took their seats.
How was the drama received? To be honest it has been difficult to gauge the response, to know what seeds have been planted. There was some muted discussion about it in the school yard, but not an overwhelming response as I have received in the past. Maybe that means the students are thinking and cogitating. I pray that this is so.
I do know however that on at least one level one person was affected. I was approached by a girl immediately after the show and she said "You're a Christian, can you help me?"
Was it worth the risk to run this seminar? I believe that for this one lost sheep the answer is a resounding "Yes!"
I was recently approached by a teacher to talk to a Year 10 Human Geography class and explain Christianity to them.
This was an interesting opportunity, especially as there were students from different denominations and faiths present in the class. It also gave me cause to think. When you write down what it is that we believe does it make any more sense than some other seemingly crazy religions? On the surface, no. So what is it that makes us believe? (A whole other article I think.)
I had an interesting time explaining the concept of a personal relationship with Jesus whilst covering the nuts and bolts of Christianity from the Jewish roots, the story of Jesus, medieval church history, modern worship and church symbols in just 45 minutes.
Then came question time. I wish I had the whole day. The number and variety of questions was staggering, indicating a real thirst for real answers. I believe that I was able to answer the questions in a way the students understood. They felt comfortable challenging me because of the relationship of trust that has been built up in the preceeding years. Young people are actually interested in faith!
We followed up the lesson a couple of days after with a visit to the Catholic Cathedral, to try and put some of those symbols in perspective. Father Maurice Shinnick kindly gave us the complete tour. I was personally surprised by the number of people you could fit into a confessional. Although the students were given opportuities to ask questions they were just a little bit shy. However, on the walk back to school they really opened up.
A surprising number of students finally revealed that they were in fact Christians. (Closet Christianity is something I constantly battle against. If only they realised how 'cool' it is to be Christian.) They asked many questions, mostly indicating a lack of understanding of what the church teaches, and why. Obviously the communication of the 'truths' is something the churches struggle with in the modern world. What can we do? I personally believe that Chaplaincy is one of the most important ways we communicate the love of the church and God to the students. It is only by witnessing Christianity in practice that the students can "see how they love each other" and want to join the community of hope, the church.
Human Geography? I still do not know what that means!!
Please pray for myself and other Chaplains in the schools as we look for new and creative ways to 'be a Christian presence'.
Taken from 'Chaplain's Corner', Issue 4, April 2001
