Tandem on a Motor Bike.

I would have been all of sixteen at the time, it was Christmas holidays and in January I was to go to the Juniorate in Strathfield to begin training as a Christian Brother. My favourite uncle arrived out the front of my home on a motorbike to take me for a spin around Windsor. It was my first and only ride on a motorbike and we appeared to be travelling at 100k but the reality would have been much less. At the end I dismounted feeling exhilarated and my uncle said; “You know your going to Sydney is really upsetting your father”. This was a shock to me as dad and I were always, mates and cobbers. We kept nothing from each other and had a wonderful relationship. If ever I was in trouble at home dad was always involved as much as I. My response to my uncle was, “How come?” He replied, “Now, if you go there the family name will die out with you”. My uncle and his sisters were not catholic and could not make any sense of my leaving home. I went to Strathfield but that conversation and the consequences have always remained with me.

In 2000 I went to Ireland for the Celebrations of the opening of the founder’s first school. I also travelled to England and while there visited Costessy, once a farming village, now a suburb of Norwich city where my ancestors lived. I visited the small village cemetery in the church grounds of Saint Walstan’s. We are not a royal line but we can trace the family back to 1733 at Costessy. They were farming people and staunchly catholic and maintained their beliefs in a non catholic environment.

St Walstan was the patron of Farm workers and agricultural labourers of the nineteenth century. They were a large proportion of the people of England, who went unheralded in the history books. They with their wives and children were the yokels, the swede-bashers and the country bumpkins. On their labours, the wealth of the nation was ultimately founded; they were the mainstay of the Army, the men who defeated Bonaparte and Germany in WW1, the emigrants who went to the colonies, who opened up the goldfields of Australia and then farmed the land after varying success. My own ancestors came in 1857 on ‘The Roxborough Castle’ and established themselves on the Bendigo goldfields as butchers.

I found no trace of ancestors my fathers age at Cossy although there were others dating further back, and was told to visit the Cathedral of the Holy and Undivided Trinity at Norwich dating back to 1096. Norwich was noted for its crack field regiment one of the elite in the British Army. A ‘crack Regiment’ in British terms means more were killed than in other regiments. Here I found my ancestors buried in Flanders Fields far away from the farms of Costessy. The family name had died out here after nearly 200 years. It continued on in the immigrants who came to Australia.

I then spent a quiet hour in the Coach and Horses Inn dating back to the 16th Century. The Inn and market nestle in the shadow of the ancient cathedral. Here the Laws’ as farmers would have sold their produce in the market and more than likely spent more of the proceeds than they could afford imbibing, if they were anything like future generations. Two of the family became priests and fortunately in that family there was another male to continue the name and a girl joined the Mercy Sisters and another became a Benedictine nun. It was a moment of pride in my simple roots and deep sadness for this lost heritage as I remembered my uncles words, “ the name will die out with you.” I have valued my decision to become a brother, as I believe I have led a meaningful and positive life as a Christian Brother. I have met the challenge of generativity with the belief in a continuing brotherhood. Now nearly 60 years after that tandem ride and I think of my second family the Christian Brothers I say,” Is it all happening again, twice in a life time”.

With no new vowed members we have lost two generations. With the largest meeting of Australian Christian Brothers taking place in Brisbane in January, are we missing something if we do not address, How we Seek New Brothers. What is the purpose of being a well-organized structure, with a huge investment in property, ministry and aged care, if we are unable to attract young members? My generation has witnessed the demise of many popular names and organizations such as ‘Skipping Girl Vinegar’, ‘Pelaco Shirts’, ‘juniorates’ and ‘novitiates’. “ Is the name ‘Christian Brothers’ to be included in this litany?”
Vocations – Everyone’s Responsibility

Kevin Laws, cfc
kjlaws@spp.edmundrice.org