Silver Jubilee Address

Transcription

1 Silver Jubilee Address Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta Br Aengus Kavanagh FSP 9 November 2012, St Andrew s Primary, Marayong We are here to celebrate Jubilee... Looking back in gratitude Celebrating the present and looking to the future with hope a lifelong endeavour Celebrating 25 years in the Diocese of Parramatta

2 As a Religious who has been in Catholic education for over 50 years. I am one of an almost extinct species, day release from Jurassic Park! My focus this evening will mainly be one of looking back, telling the story. Individual and collective stories give identity and purpose. In our faith tradition we are very much a people of the story. As Catholic educators, our continuing call is to tell the story of God s whisperings among us the story of God s love. The story of Catholic schools in this country is a proud story that deserves telling and re-telling it is the shared narrative that is woven through our lives. Impact of Catholic Schools The Bishops Pastoral statement: Catholic Schools at a Crossroads, asserts that the Catholic schools are a Jewel in the Crown of the church in Australia. It is fair to say that the Catholic school presents a positive face of our Church, in rich suburbs, in poor suburbs, in regional centres and in far-flung rural settings throughout the land. In earlier times especially, Catholic school education played a big part in the emancipation of Catholics in Australia and now continues to contribute very positively to very fabric of our society. On another level, in our present era, the sad reality is that the Catholic school is the only significant experience of church that many students will ever have. Decision to go it alone In 1880, Sir Henry Parkes introduced the Public Instruction Act which declared that from now on all school education would be free, compulsory and secular. Well, the Catholics who were mainly Irish would have none of that! They always saw the schools as an integral partner with parents and parishes in the transmission of the faith. In the sectarian climate of the time, some even suspected that the Public Instruction Act was an unsubtle attempt to hinder the passing on of the Catholic faith. While the decision to go it alone was a brave one it could have been viewed as foolhardy it was also a costly one. It meant that from that time onwards, the Catholic church would not get a penny of government money in any form of support of Catholic education. From then on, any initiative in the provision of Catholic school education would have to be totally funded by local Catholic communities. Given that Catholics of the time were generally towards the bottom level of the socio-economic scale, this was a tough and courageous call. Surge in religious vocation It seemed like a happy coincidence, but looking back through the eyes of faith we can see it as, an act of Providence, that the earlier part of the 19th century had witnessed the foundation, mainly in Ireland, of a number of religious congregations whose main mission was to provide education and health care for young Catholics who would otherwise be deprived of such services. A majority of the Bishops in Australia at that time were Irish and their occasional trips back to Ireland invariably included a visit to relevant religious superiors with tales of great needs for Catholic schools in the land of Kangaroos and endless sunshine in faroff Australia. As a result, many sisters and brothers came from Ireland. Likewise consecrated women and men from European countries responded to invitations, mainly the Marist Brothers, the De La Salle Brothers and the Ursuline Sisters. The blossoming of the Catholic church in Australia was evidenced by the local foundation of two great congregations of religious women: the Sisters of St Joseph and the Good Samaritan Sisters. Thus, by the beginning of the 20th century the growth of a Catholic system of schools was well underway, staffed almost exclusively by a non-salaried body of religious women and men.

3 Sadness and hardship Given the conditions of the time, and given the total lack of government funding those pioneers suffered many hardships. Many of the Irish sisters and brothers died young, far removed from families and loved ones. 19th Century deaths of young Irish Patrician Brothers Name Year Age Place Benedict McSweeney Maitland Malachy Dwyer Albury Regis Keogh Maitland Ambrose Ryan Armidale Aloysius O Leary Bathurst Lewis Hynes Goulburn Regis Dwyer Wagga Wagga Anselm Casey Wagga Wagga James Ryan Wagga Wagga Stanislaus Meagher Orange Peter Gaynor Albury The Patrician Brothers were always small in numbers compared with many other religious congregations involved in Catholic education and so, this is but a fraction of the tales of sorrow and hardship of religious who gave their all for the church s mission of Catholic schools in the early years their lives were the soil that gave birth to our present systems of Catholic schools We are part of that story. May we never forget. These sacrifices of the early days invite us to reflect. Why did they do it? In circumstances of our own time we are challenged to reclaim their motivation, their purpose; but most of all, their simple but steadfast faith. And so it was... up to the 1950s when the staff in Catholic schools was still more than 95 per cent religious. Even up until 1965, three out of every four members of staff in Catholic schools were religious. Pressures in keeping pace and coping with change The 1960s was a very challenging decade for Catholic schools. There was a massive expansion in enrolments and a major restructuring of education in NSW with the introduction of the Wyndham Report. The first six-year of secondary education student cohort sat the first HSC in The ripple effects of Vatican II and the restless state of western society through the 1960s saw considerable numbers leaving religious life and a diminishment in vocations. As yet, Catholic teaching training colleges were mainly for religious only. This was many years before the emergence of the Australian Catholic University (ACU), recruitment of qualified and Catholic teachers was a major challenge. Many Catholic schools, especially in the expanding western suburbs, were stretched to breaking point. The Goulburn strike of 1962, wherein the Catholic authorities threatened to disgorge all their students into the state system was a sign of the desperation of the times. The establishment of a system of schools A ray of hope came in the late 1960s when the NSW Government decided to allocate a modest per capita funding to Catholic schools. The political climate was changing and the Federal Government followed suit which gathered momentum with the election of Gough Whitlam in Up to this time schools, especially secondary schools, had been mainly autonomous. There was a Catholic Education Office (CEO) in Elizabeth St in the city in the 1960s with a full-time staff of about six mainly priests and retired religious. Monsignor Slowey was the director. With the gradual flow of government funding and special purpose grants the staffing increased at the CEO and the office moved to the old St Benedict s, present site of Notre Dame, Broadway. Decentralisation and new structures At that time, the Archdiocese of Sydney covered a very expansive area from Cronulla in the South to Toukley on the Central Coast

4 and westward to Katoomba and Blackheath. In the late 1970s, it was decided to restructure the Archdiocese into regions for pastoral purposes. Similarly, the Archdiocese decided to commence the process of decentralisation of the system of schools along regional lines. In 1981, the first steps were taken and five regions were named, each with an inaugural regional director as follows: Eastern Region Ann D. Clark Inner West Region Sr Patricia Heenan Charity Sister Northern Region Br Norman Hart Marist Brother Southern Region Br Anthony Whela Christian Brother Outer West Region Br Aengus Kavanagh Patrician Brother Establishment of Outer West Region With a few minor changes, the Outer West Region as known in the early 1980s, covered the same geographic area as today s Diocese of Parramatta. One exception was St Gerard s Carlingford which was in the region and eventually incorporated into Broken Bay Diocese. The regional Bishop Bede Heather, a Scripture scholar and a man of great compassion his continuing exhortations to teachers and school leaders was to show the face of Jesus the Good Shepherd to the children in their care. For my first year in the region, 1981, I had a desk at CEO Broadway. I was a wandering minstrel in the embryonic region with an office base in the newly opened John Paul II Senior High School at Marayong. The first regional office in 1982 was a rented floor space above the ANZ bank in Dunmore Street, Wentworthville. At the end of 1985, the regional office moved to what was commonly called DAC in Blacktown. Originally, there was an office staff of about six, which grew to 20+ by It did not take us long to realise that the newly-named Outer West Region was lagging behind in a variety of services and facilities compared with the more established parts of the Archdiocese of Sydney. In the first instance, there was a serious under-provision of schools. Besides, new sites had to be acquired for new schools. Funding for new schools was derived from three sources: capital grants, local contribution of parish and school, and bridging finance from the Catholic Building and Finance Commission. The negotiation of funding from each of these sources was often a tedious and drawn-out process. We had no specialist finance and building personnel in the emerging regional offices and so the small number of senior office staff wore many hats. The decade from witnessed what was probably the highest peak period in the opening of new Catholic schools in one geographic area in the history of Australia. Try to picture the planning, the negotiations and the goodwill that would have been background to each of these establishments in a time of limited personnel and meagre resources. The person who contributed most in this capacity was Terry Keogh. He is here today and I salute him. Terry went to Sydney CEO in 1992 and became Director of Financial Services there until his retirement a few years ago. He received a Papal Knighthood for his services to Catholic education. He has most of his adult life in this Diocese and is a parishioner at Glenbrook. Schools opened in the Diocese from : 1981 John Paul II Senior High, Marayong 1983 Sacred Heart Primary, South Mt Druitt 1984 MacKillop Primary, South Penrith 1985 Holy Spirit Primary, St Clair 1986 St John Vianney s Primary, Doonside 1986 Corpus Christi Primary, Cranebrook 1986 St Patrick s Primary Blactown (site relocation) 1986 McCarthy Senior High, Emu Plains 1986 Bede Polding College, South Windsor 1986 St Patrick s Primary Blacktown (total relocation to new site) 1987 St Madeleine s Primary, Kenthurst 1988 Emmaus College, Kemps Creek 1988 Marian College, Kenthurst 1989 Immaculate Heart Primary, Quakers Hill If such rapid development were to happen in our present circumstances, the stewards would be testing key players for performance-enhancing drugs! Mind you, in addition to the physical development, there was great energy around the building of a community of schools within the region, as well as general renewal in good educational practices.

5 Creation of Parramatta Diocese Parramatta had been made a diocese in 1986 but it was January 1987 when the first Diocesan Education Office opened with Ann D Clark as the inaugural Executive Director of Schools. In the decades to follow the opening of the diocesan office, the provision of additional Catholic schools remained a priority as well as the expansion and upgrading of existing schools. It is doubtful if any other region or diocese in Australia experienced such massive growth in Catholic school education over a such a comparatively short span of years. This phenomenon reflects many favourable features peculiar to these parts. In the first instance, it provides a window into the expansion and youthful exuberance of the region; It also highlights the sense of priority for Catholic school education within Catholic communities and the willingness to make sacrifices. Additionally, it reflects the positive experience many parents themselves have had in Catholic education as well as their current perceptions of the Catholic school as a good place to send their children. Happily, these features continue to flourish in our diocese in this, our year of Jubilee. Of course, Catholic school education is about much more than buildings and physical resources. It is what happens in the schools that counts. Many factors have combined since 1987 to create a vibrant system of schools in the diocese. We have been blessed with dedicated teachers, good school leaders, along with great support from clergy and parish communities. As inaugural Executive Director of Schools, Ann D Clark was an elegant and feisty woman with a rare combination of vision and pragmatism. Though seriously burdened with ovarian cancer in her latter years, she worked right up to within weeks of her death. The opportunity to work with young people in schools, making a difference in their lives through a good education, an education where there was an integration of religious faith and spiritual values, where the sacred was brought into conversation with the secular, was an attraction in the vocation of thousands of young Australian women and men who joined teaching congregations in earlier eras. That same motivation attracts many of the present school leaders and teachers and that same motivation continues to sustain them and to add meaning to their lives. It is beyond a job for most it is a vocation. She was succeeded by her colleague, Anne Benjamin, who brought a gentle calmness, collaboration and consolidation to the system. As you would know, the third and present Executive Director is Greg Whitby. With his infectious passion for engaged and effective learning for all students, Greg has enthusiastically promoted the embracing of new education paradigms relevant to the digital and knowledge age in which we now live. And so, 25 years on, we have a well established diocesan system of schools, and we share Barack Obama s aspiration that the best is yet to come. Challenges and opportunities ahead When I was a growing up in Ireland, the only movies I ever saw were in black and white. Many issues in the Irish society and church of that time were also seen in black and white. Then along came technicolour which gave new and alluring perspectives, new horizons which were mirrored in society. Now we have 50 shades of grey. The rapidly changing conditions of our times pose significant challenges for our Catholic schools. Reflecting on the changes So, in my lifetime association with Catholic education in Sydney, I have been immersed in the transition from religious to lay almost 100 per cent Religious in the late 1950s to almost 100 per cent lay now. I am sometimes asked what I think of the changed circumstances and whether I have any regrets that there are not more sisters and brothers in Catholic schools now. I hope I am not teetering on the brink of heresy here, but I see what has happened in the changeover in staffing of Catholic schools as the work of the Holy Spirit. We have the most academically qualified leaders and teachers we have ever had in the story of Catholic education in this country. Come what may, we will be up there in the professional and educational stakes. However, we live in a time when statistics tell us that fewer than two out of every 10 baptised Catholics in Australia go to Mass regularly. That s a worrying situation. In this context, a question we might well ponder is: Will Catholic schools be authentically Catholic 25 years from now? Given that we have no way of knowing what circumstances will be like in 25 years time, we cannot answer this question.

6 However, we do know that our capacity to faithfully integrate the religious and spiritual dimensions of our Catholic tradition will be assured if we are intentionally proactive in our priority to the faith and spiritual formation of staff within our system now, and in the years immediately ahead. In this quest, it is my perception that we already have many strengths on which to build. I live in a community with three other Patrician Brothers Mark, Patrick and Bernard. Among us, we have spent almost 200 years in Catholic education over 70 years as school leaders. We live in the heart of a school and we go to lots of ceremonies and celebrations in Patrician-linked schools. Frequently in our extended dinner conversations, enlivened by the occasional Merlot or Chardonnay, we share our admiration of the professionalism and faith of so many of the staff in the schools. We often muse that if the pioneer brothers could look in on what s happening now, their hearts would be full of joy. They would gladly say: It was all worth it... though there have been great changes... the spirit lives on. I feel certain that the pioneers of most other Catholic schools would think likewise. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week I was involved as a coordinator of a seminar for senior student leaders from four schools. It was an inspiring experience for me to work closely with 42 young adults and senior staff from each of the schools. Something which impressed me greatly was the openness and honesty of so many in their sharing, often alluding to the importance of God and Jesus in their lives. A group of students lead the morning prayer each day effortlessly using technology to blend a nice mix of scripture, reflection and music which obviously found resonance in the hearts as well as in the heads of the group. At our Eucharist, I was impressed with the ease and reverence with which they assumed various roles as well as the richness of the Prayers of Intercession they had prepared. Unfortunately, most of those young adults will not be found in the front pews of our parish churches on weekends. However, there is no doubting the signs of faith and spirituality and their enculturation within our Catholic tradition. Obviously family background is a contributing factor, but the impact of years of catechesis, evangelisation and witness of staff in Catholic schools play an important role. The experience I had at the seminar filled me with admiration and hope. Parramatta - a happening place We are fortunate to be involved in Catholic education in that part of Australia marked out by the Parramatta Diocese. The city of Parramatta itself, with its continuing growth and maturing, is a symbol of the optimism and exuberance that characterise these parts. Parramatta is close to the demographic heart of Sydney. Politicians are falling over themselves in their promises to upgrade transport infrastructure to Sydney s west and north west widening of M2 and M4, re-vamping of Parramatta Rd. Parramatta CBD is in for a major re-configuring, two new top grade football clubs, the Giants of Western Sydney in AFL and Western Wanderers in soccer. It is a happening place! The diocese is a key player in Australia s most multicultural melting pot, sharing in all that richness, including the associated challenges and opportunities. We have a young and enthusiastic bishop with a passion for the faith development of our youth. A bishop who constantly affirms all who work in Catholic school education as his collaborators in the mission of the church. We hold the precious legacy of the generations of teachers, school leaders and Catholic communities who have gone before us and whom we remember with affection and gratitude this evening. We best honour the legacy we bear by giving fresh expression, in the circumstances of our times, to the faith and commitment of the giants on whose shoulders we stand. We are now called to be the giants on whose shoulders future generations of teachers and leaders in Catholic school education will stand. May we pay forward the rich legacy we hold, and in the words of St Paul to Timothy, may we FAN INTO A FLAME the gift that God has given us. a lifelong endeavour Celebrating 25 years in the Diocese of Parramatta Published November Licenced under Neals.