Caroline Chisholm is a well-known humanitarian whose desire to help others saw her work in a number of different areas.  She is best known for her work assisting immigrants arriving in Australia, especially women, having witnessed the poverty of many new immigrants to this land. Caroline Chisholm fought to have shelters built to accommodate women and families.  Students in Chisholm are encouraged to aspire to be like Caroline Chisholm in the way they interact with and support others at the College and in the wider community.

Chisholm House has partnered with the Brigidine Asylum Seeker Project, who work in the same spirit as Caroline Chisholm in helping immigrants and asylum seekers arriving in Australia today.  Students will be involved in fundraising activities to support this initiative, as well as having the opportunity to participate in ministry activities associated with the charity.

St Marcellin Champagnat, the founder of the Marist Brothers, is the life-giving root of Marist education. St Marcellin was born in 1789 in Marlhes, southern France. St Marcellin was ordained as a priest in July 1816 and begun work to help young people of spiritual and human poverty. Through the Marist Brothers, Marcellin begun a journey of “making Jesus Christ known and loved” through teaching and learning. This is where our House value of knowledge is derived from. Marcellin believed that “if you want to teach young people, first you must love them - love them all equally”.

An initiative of the Marist Brothers, the Olympic Village Exodus Community has been active in the Olympic Village, Heidelberg West area since 1998, attempting to meet identified emerging needs of local residents. The Community began at the invitation of the parish priest of St Pius X, Heidelberg West. The live-in members of the Exodus Community volunteer their services to the Community and its ministries. Central to the ministries of the Community is inclusion of local people in all aspects of work, including membership of the Exodus Community Management Team.

Sister Irene McCormack is the patron saint for McCormack House. For 30 years Sister Irene McCormack worked as a teacher in country areas. During this time, she persistently challenged the bishops to act more justly in providing resources for country students and schools. In 1987, Sister Irene McCormack undertook missionary work in Peru. She worked in low income suburbs of Lima, before being transferred to supervise the distribution of emergency goods by Caritas Peru in Huasahuasi, situated in the Andres Mountains about 200km from Lima. This House has taken for its theme the virtue of Courage. We trust that McCormack House will offer an outstanding example of courageous service to the College staff and students.

McCormack has chosen as our House Charity, CatholicCare. Since 1935, their professionally delivered programs and services have been supporting individuals and families to increase their quality of life and reduce social isolation and disadvantage. CatholicCare’s mission is to work on behalf of the Archdiocese of Melbourne and the Diocese of Sale to build on the vision of ‘life to the full’ for families, individuals and communities in all their diversity, but in particular for those who are marginalized in society as a result of poverty, disadvantage and other barriers to social inclusion.