Catholic Mission’s Work in Mission Formation and Education

Jenny Collins‑White

Mission Formation Manager

The Mission Formation team carries the work of the Pontifical Missionary Union to transform hearts and minds to live the joy of the Gospel and lead mission. We facilitate opportunities to encounter God in the world through an immersive, interactive pedagogy of dialogue, encounter and experience which engages the whole person.

Learn more about our work with mission formation and education

The Pontifical Missionary Union (PMU) is the society of the Pontifical Mission Societies that seeks to affirm Pope Francis’ call for renewal. ‘May the missionary ardour that consumed Blessed Paolo Manna, and from which the Pontifical Missionary Union flowed, continue still today to burn, to impassion, to renew, to rethink and to reform the service that the work is called to offer the whole Church. Your Union must not be the same next year as this year; it must change in this direction, it must be converted to this missionary passion.’ Pope Francis’ Address to the Superior Council of the Pontifical Mission Societies, June 2016. The Mission Formation team carries the work of the PMU to transform hearts and minds to live the joy of the Gospel and lead mission. We facilitate opportunities to encounter God in the world through an immersive, interactive pedagogy of dialogue, encounter and experience which engages the whole person. Our formation and education programs and resources have local and global perspective and include: • International and Indigenous immersions for students and adults; • Engaging workshops and international guest speakers on mission for school students; • World Mission Month resources for students, teachers and catechists; • Advocacy in support of children and Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander peoples; • Professional development and learning programs of contextual mission for adults and leaders working in Catholic organisations, institutions and agencies across sectors of health, social services, education and diocesan local church.

This includes a biennial mission leadership conference.

Adult Formation and Professional Development

The strong partnership with Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong (CEDOW) has continued throughout the financial year. The headlining program Educating with A Mission Lens, now in its sixth year, consists of six modules spanning three years. The 2021 program is set to engage teams within the CEDOW office, as well with 16 schools, which is almost half the number of schools in the Diocese of Wollongong. This represents almost 1,000 teaching and other school staff engaging in formation with this program. Work on developing similar partnerships with other dioceses is well underway but has faced challenges with ongoing border closures and lockdowns.

Catholic Mission continues to play a critical facilitation role with the Plenary Council via Deputy National Director, Peter Gates, and Sr Marion Gambin, who has joined the Mission Formation team on a part‑time basis this year. This work represents a vital partnership with the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC). Again, due to COVID‑19 restrictions, both the Plenary Council, and Catholic Mission and Catholic Religious Australia’s biennial Mission: One Heart, Many Voices conference have had to transition to online forums and are now scheduled for October and September 2021, respectively.

The Interculturality Program

The Interculturality Program is designed to build cultural awareness and develop cross‑cultural skills to help participants live and work more effectively in multicultural communities. COVID‑19 has affected this area of work with most of the clients requesting a face‑to‑face experience, therefore most have elected to wait for the end of restrictions to reschedule the planned work. A business plan and promotional materials have been developed for 2021 and promotion activities are being rolled out, targeting multicultural religious congregations and multicultural dioceses, with the aim of possible training sessions in 2021. A new development in Mission Formation is training in “Facilitation for Adult Learning” which arose from a direct request from the Diocese of Wollongong. Three half‑days have been carried out since April 2020 with a final session in September.

The Interfaith program was co‑developed and piloted with 60 senior students from Unity Grammar in Austral and St Patrick’s Marist College in Dundas. The program has had positive support from all stakeholders and is looking to build on the initial success of this program in the future.

Schools Formation Programs and World Mission Month

Web‑based interactive educational resources for World Mission Month (October) were launched online on July 1, 2020. In October 2020, the focus was on Cambodia and the work of the Church with children with disabilities, largely due to landmine injuries. Interactive classroom workshops and activities are also an important feature of our mission education programs across the country.

Advocacy

Catholic Mission’s advocacy work in support of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples has focused on the Community Catechist leadership program. Several stakeholder meetings were held throughout the year leading up to the first meeting of all stakeholders in Alice Springs on 20 March 2021. A pilot program is being developed in Alice Springs with the local elders, Divine Word Missionaries, Catholic Mission and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council. The organisation’s work to protect children focuses on advocating for an end to immigration detention of children via the End Child Detention Coalition Australia Ltd (ECDC) which was founded by Catholic Mission. Whilst children are largely out of detention in Nauru and on the mainland, there is still no legislative protection that ensures they will remain out of locked detention facilities. ECDC continued the work of seeking legislative change, offering webinars featuring expert health and legal specialists plus promoting the new Community Refugee Sponsorship Initiative. Catholic Mission has also made steady progress on developing its Ecological Action Plan, and Reconciliation Action Plan.

Interfaith Program

The research, pilot and evaluation phases of the Interfaith program were completed by the end of 2020. The program developed a relationship between cohorts of students at two secondary colleges – one Muslim college Unity Grammar in Austral, NSW, and one Catholic college, St Patricks Marist College in Dundas, NSW. All stakeholders have been extremely positive about the program and are looking forward to 2021 which will see a steady uptake of the program with some additional partners. The teaching and learning modules, promotional materials, Memorandum of Understanding and the business plan have all been finalised.