Director –Catholic Education Sandhurst · PDF fileA Parent’s Reflection ‘I’d like to stress, ... • Vocation is the response a person makes with his ... the...

Director – Catholic Education Sandhurst

We acknowledge the traditional custodians, the

Gadigal people of the Eora nation on whose land we gather

• What memories are evoked?

• What do I know about the goulburnstrike & what did I notice?

• What was happening in church, society, families then?

• What did education look like?

• What were the priorities then?

A Parent’s Reflection‘I’d like to stress, Brother, that if it hadn’t been for the closure of the schools in Goulburn, the firm attitude of Bishop Cullinane, with the support (even reluctantly) of the Archbishop, and the fact that the schools did close with all the resultant publicity, for and against, I doubt very much that the Catholic schools would have continued for another four or five years. I think that the Catholic schools as we knew them, the parochial schools, would have closed and we would have had a number of more exclusive Catholic schools, and that was it…I really believe that’ (ACR July 2012)

• Brian Keating – one of 3 key leaders along with Arthur Rolfe, JB Mullen

Vatican II: 1962 – 1965

Pope John XXIII

aggiornamento

• What images are evoked?

• What is happening in the church, society, families?

• What does education look like?

• What are the priorities now?

COMPARISON Commonalities? Differences?

What image of god & self- understanding as Church do the two hymns evoke?

POPE FRANCIS2013 -

Pope John Paul II

Change in Religious IdentityAustralia

Change in Religious IdentityAustralia

Religious ID 1947 2006 2011

Christian 88% 64% 61.1

Other 0.5% 5.6%

Not reporting a Christian faith 18.7 22.3Fastest growing religion is Hinduism

No Religion 0.3% 19% 22.3

Not Stated 10.9% 11.5% 8.6

Gary Bouma, Australian Soul: Religion and Spirituality in the twenty­first century Cambridge University Pres s (2006 page 53)

The Melbourne Scale - BoeveHow do Catholic schools respond to today’s context?

• Is leading the mission in 2013 very different to leading in GoulburnStrike Days of 1962?

• What is the call to mission today?

• What are the opportunities & challenges?

• What qualities and capacities are needed for leading for mission in 2013?

• What have we learnt in sandhurst?

Leading for Mission & Identity Fundamental Questions

• Who are we?

• Why are we?

• How are we?

Mission• When I hear the word Mission what comes

to mind?

• What do I wonder?

• What is the role of Catholic education in God’s mission in the world as a vibrant part of the Church?

• What leadership is required of us in this mission?

• Are we active participants or observers?

What is the Mission?Luke 4: 16 – 2016 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Catholic education finds its identity in the Mission of God in the Church

– the Mission has a Church (Bevans & Schroeder, 2011)

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: (Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium 1997)

SSEB STRATEGIC PLAN 2007-2010

Co-responsibility dialogue

Stewardship subsidiarity

SSEB Strategic Directions 2012­2015

CEO STRUCTURE 2012 - 2013

Enacting the SSEB Strategic Direction & CoSSI

Animated through DIALOGUE - CO-RESPONSIBILITY - SUBSIDIARITY - STEWARDSHIP

SHAPING CULTURE - BUILDING CAPACITY - ENHANCING PERFORMANCE

Having ‘wrestled with’ - Who are we?

Extensive dialogue - Why are we? Identifying - What are the key elements of the mission today – same mission, different context - Reading ‘the signs of the times’?

How are we? What leadership is required?

Context:

Pluralist societal context…

Full schools & emptying churches…

Seeming irrelevance of church to most people…

Credibility of ‘the Church’ & big organisations…

Where is God in this?

• Informed & faith-inspired leadership• Inspired by Vatican II• well informed• Articulate in the tradition & education

• Capacity for relationships & community building• to encourage & instil personal &

communal confidence • To engage in dialogue – building co-

responsibility: co-leadership at all layers

• CHARACTER & COMPETENCE– CHARACTER (COURAGE) TO BE ABLE TO NAVIGATE

THE TURBULENT WATERS OF DIALOGUE WITHIN AND BEYOND CHURCH IN RESPONDING TO THE MISSION

– AN ARTICULATED PERSONAL FAITH THAT IS CONSTANTLY NOURISHED: PRAYER, RETREATS, SPIRITUAL DIRECTION…

– CONFIDENCE IN OUR LAY SPIRITUALITY

– CAPACITY TO LIVE WITH PARADOX & AMBIGUITY –‘NOT EITHER/OR BUT BOTH/AND (RECONTEXTUALISING – HOLDING IN AN INFORMED DIALOGUE)

• Vocational response – passion!

What is my ‘call’ as a Leader in Catholic Education – in the Church?

YOUR PASSION WORLD’S NEED

• Vocation is the response a person makes with his or her total self to the address of God…

• “Vocation is where your deep gladness (PASSION) and the world’s deep hunger meet (WORLD’S NEED)”(Buettner)

To Ponder…• It takes great courage to remain open under the pressure to be certain

• To facilitate young people’s growing in wisdom and age is to watch the unfolding of God in our midst (O’Leary)

• Role of Catholic education – human flourishing in a deeply Christian understanding – whatever makes a person more wise, more loving…makes them reflect more fully the image of God (Source of Life)

(Doctrine on the Incarnation – Council of Chalcedon 451, reflection by Rev Michael Himes, Professor of Theology at Boston College) 

“Catholic education unites the mission of the Church with service to the total development of the human person…it is about human flourishing in a deeply Christian understanding – whatever makes a student more wise, more loving, more fully human is making the student reflect more fully the image of God”

(Diocese of Sandhurst Source of Life Core Document p. i)

Leadership - is about becoming our best selves focused on agapic love (self-gift) – it is about those whom we serve

Paul to the Ephesians 3: 14-21I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be 

strengthened in your inner being with power through the Spirit, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. 18 I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the 

breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 

20 Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to 

all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

MAY OUR HIDDEN SELVES GROW STRONG

CHARACTER & COMPETENCE ENFOLDED IN VOCATIONAL CALL GIFTED BY GOD’S GRACE

In Summary – Sustaining the Passion!

• The temptation for us as teachers & leaders who are hard pressed on all sides – whether by pupils, parents, the media, league tables, or new curricula initiatives – is to become enmeshed in a downward spiral  of expectation and practice. The imperative, despite the difficulties, is to resist a drift  towards cynicism, to look for and find incentives and rewards within the changing realities of teaching & education…to enCOURAGE each other and not disCOURAGE…to actively support and advocate for the profession and ministry of teaching!       (Day 2004: 176)Blessing

Bevans, S & Schroeder, R (2011) Prophetic Dialogue: Reflections on Christian Mission Today. Orbis Books. New York

Bouma, G. (2006). Australian Soul: Religion and Spirituality in the twenty­first century Cambridge University Press

Day, C. (2004): A Passion for Teaching, Routledge Falmer, UK

O’Leary, D (2008). Begin With the Heart – Recovering a Sacramental Vision. Columba Press. Dublin