5 minute read
Catholic Mission’s Work in Mission Formation and Education
Jenny Collins‑White
Mission Formation Manager
The Mission Formation team seeks to transform hearts and minds in the joy of the Gospel and to raise up leaders in mission, in keeping with the vision of the Pontifical Missionary Union (PMU). We invite people to engage with God in the world through an immersive, experiential pedagogy of dialogue and encounter. In short, we engage the whole person.
Learn more about our work with mission formation and education
Our Mission Formation programs and resources have local and global perspectives. They include: • International and Indigenous immersions for students and adults • 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 programs of contextual mission for leaders working in Catholic organisations and agencies across sectors of health, social services, education and in dioceses. This includes a biennial mission leadership conference.
Adult Formation and Professional Development
Our strong partnership with Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong (CEDOW) continued throughout the year with the headlining program Educating with a Mission Lens, now in its sixth year. Steps towards similar partnerships with other dioceses continue to progress. Catholic Mission has an ongoing and critical facilitation role with the Plenary Council via Deputy National Director, Peter Gates and Sr Marion Gambin RSJ, a member of the Mission Formation team. This work represents a vital partnership with the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. Transitions to online platforms, due to the disruption of COVID-19, went smoothly for both the First Assembly of the Plenary Council held in October 2021 and the biennial conference of Catholic Mission and Catholic Religious Australia, Mission: One Heart Many Voices, in September 2021. Participant evaluations rated both events as outstanding successes.
Interculturality Program
Our Interculturality Program is designed to build cultural awareness and cross cultural skills for participants living and working in multi-cultural communities. It is delivered by Patrick Fox, a certified trainer on the Berlitz/TMC cultural orientations model. Using a hybrid mode of delivery, Patrick held a training in Toowoomba Diocese in April 2022. This concluded the training begun in October 2020 which had been interrupted due to COVID. This time they were able to carry out a second full day’s session on Cultural and Interpersonal Competency for Mission for pastoral associates, a mix of clergy, religious and lay leaders from across the diocese. Patrick also presented a keynote, titled Intercultural Clergy – Gift and Challenge for the Presbyterate, for the Archdiocese of Sydney Clergy Formation Day in March 2022.
In August 2021, a one-day Cultural Orientations Model was presented to the interdiocesan Committee for Ongoing Formation of Broken Bay, Parramatta, Sydney and Wollongong Dioceses. In Broken Bay Diocese, a six-session program, Cross-cultural Competency for Mission, commenced in February 2022 with priests from Poland, India and Pakistan, as well as lay pastoral workers from the Pacific.
Meanwhile, in the Archdiocese of Perth, long-planned formation courses, adapted to Zoom, commenced with two groups: pastoral associates and safeguarding officers. Each received six sessions designed to improve communications skills informed by a deeper cultural awareness, especially around pastorally sensitive issues. The pastoral associates are leading the diocesan-wide initiative Creating Welcoming Parish Communities and assisting parishes to be more culturally competent. The Safeguarding Officers received the training as part of their ongoing formation provided by the Archdiocesan Safeguarding Office.
Schools Formation Programs and World Mission Month
July 2021 saw the launch of web-based interactive educational resources for World Mission Month, celebrated in October. This was the first year that Catholic Mission successfully integrated its schools-based education and fundraising programs into the one initiative, known as Socktober. The schools focus for 2021 was the work of the Good Shepherd Sisters in Thailand. These sisters work with children from disadvantaged backgrounds, providing education, nutritious food and socialisation activities.
The Socktober program has become a gold standard resource. It successfully integrates formation and fundraising components and has seen significant uptake by schools Australia-wide. Its development was supported by personnel from across our organisation who form the Schools Strategy Working Group. Interactive classroom workshops and activities are also an important feature of Catholic Mission’s education programs, increasingly used alongside Socktober.
Youth Partnerships
The Mission: One Heart Many Voices (MOHMV) Conference provided Catholic Mission and Catholic Religious Australia with an important opportunity to collaborate with Australian Young Christian Workers and other youth networks. The Conference allocated a day for addressing issues faced by post-school young people. The feedback of the five young people who planned the day was unanimous: the way to reach disengaged young Catholics is through engagement with current social challenges, viewed through a Gospel lens and informed by Catholic Social Teaching and recent ecclesial documents such as Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti. Catholic Mission is working with this advice in its preparations for the 2023 MOHMV conference.
Advocacy
Throughout the year, we continued our advocacy work for ending the immigration detention of children and for supporting families seeking asylum. Catholic Mission provides in-kind support to the End Child Detention Coalition Australia (ECDC) as a founding member of ECDC and as a representative on its board. The Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia program has become an important part of ECDC strategy and Catholic Mission is a critical partner in this work. We also have launched Catholic Mission’s Ecological Action Plan (EAP) to provide a framework to ensure that Catholic Mission plays a positive role in God’s mission by caring for our common home.
Interfaith Encounters Program
Our Interfaith Encounters program is engaging seven schools in Greater Sydney, bringing together senior secondary students from Catholic and Muslim colleges for a series of modules. This work includes two new inter-school partnerships – a total of four new colleges – that are rolling out the program after a fruitful 2020 pilot. With the success of a virtual day in 2021, Catholic Mission is confident that the program will proceed in full this year, accommodating an online/offline modality as required. We expect to engage between 100 and 140 Studies of Religion (SOR) senior students in the program, as well as teaching staff, faith leaders and school leaders.
Catholic Mission has received a grant from Multicultural NSW (COMPACT Social Cohesion and Community Resilience Grants) to run the Interfaith Encounters program with the seven schools in Greater Sydney from February through to August 2022. The COMPACT grant funding covers staff costs for the program coordinator and for the Mission Formation Officer (one day per week) to support program delivery. It also provides funding for schools to cover expenses of catering and tours of places of worship. As grantee, Catholic Mission is now a partner within the COMPACT Alliance, an alliance that has grown to 80 organisations working towards social cohesion and community resilience in NSW.
