St Brendan’s College mourns the passing of two students
16 September, 2021St Brendan’s College is continuing to support students and staff after the loss of two young members of its community.
Mitchell Norris passed away in hospital after an accident on a private property north of Yeppoon on Friday the 27th of August. Mitchell will be remembered as the smiling, cheeky larrikin, full of life, whose zest for life and fun-loving personality touched the lives of everyone who knew him.
Eli Kent passed away on Sunday the 29th of August after a long battle with cancer. Eli will be remembered as a resilient, strong, funny, and good-natured young man who touched the lives of all those he met.
Both boys were laid to rest last week, with students honouring their much loved brothers/mates with a guard of honour, following the celebrations of Mitch & Eli’s lives at the Sacred Heart Church, Yeppoon.
The College wishes to continue to send their love and support to both the Norris and Kent families at this difficult time. Please keep both families in your prayers.
At the Funeral of Mitchell, Father Matthew Moloney said,
“To ask why is not what is going to bring Mitchell back, there will never be an adequate answer. It will be a never-ending cycle and spiral into darkness. Our faith and today, is not about that. It is about Resurrection and recognising the gift that Mitchell was, is and will continue to be. What I can do and what we can do with you Mark and Tracey, with Nathan, is to recognise the gift and blessing and miracle that he was to you. To allow his spirit to hold you and guide you into the day which now seems bereft of his life but upon second look he is there with you in spirit.
I listened to you share a little of his story and he filled you with such deep joy and contentment. His spirit is still there for you holding each of you and now leading you into the day. His hands are there for you and his heart is now your heart beating with his spirit in the love you have for him and for each other.
Tracey, you mentioned that Mitchell said that he loved you and said it aloud each day and how he was your shadow Mark, his Pedro. Your child of God will continue to be revealed in that love which he shared and gave. In our first reading this is the love which God has lavished upon you. Now and into the future the times that you remember this love are him now saying to you: he is there with you, watching, walking, talking along with you in his spirit and voice within you.’
At the Funeral of Eli, Father Matthew offered these words,
Jackie and Stu no words can explain or make better the grief that you are feeling at the moment. However, the symbols and ritual which we do here today speak to us in ways that words sometimes cannot express and can lead us and hold us all in this sadness, this chaos, this grief which holds you and us all.
We surround you with our prayers and presence as we commend your Eli to God. He was given to you as gift and blessing, and he was, is, and will continue to be, into the future. As you held him in his illness, he now holds each of you. He now, we pray, rests in heaven with God.
When we gathered at his bedside to anoint and bless him with the holy oils, I asked Eli did he know all the love that he had for you his mum and dad and for his little sister Ella and that you had for him. You remember, he nodded and whispered: ‘yes’, he did, and then I told him that that love will never leave him and will never leave you his mum and dad and little sister. That is the love which Richard just shared with you today in our reading. It is the love which was shared in Eli who was gift and blessing. That love which surrounded him now surrounds you Jackie and Stu and your little Ella.’
We, as the Diocesan community, keep the families, friends and the community of St Brendan’s College in our prayers.
