Pictured: Catholic Mission’s work in schools in Australia supports young people in schools around the world, like Sacred Heart Junior High School in northern Ghana.
HOW WE ENGAGE WITH SCHOOLS
Across the Catholic Education sector, we actively seek to engage entire school communities, including staff, students, and their families, in global works of mission through a range of programs and activities. At the heart of this strategy are three core expressions of what can be achieved mutually through effective schools community engagement: Form in Mission; Pray, Advocate, Act; and Fundraise.
Six pillars of activity uphold these core expressions, and we offer these to schools throughout the year, with each pillar complementing the others. The six pillars are Staff Formation, Student Formation, Community Partnerships, Immersions, Socktober, and Workplace Giving.
STAFF FORMATION
Working in partnership with the Catholic Mission Formation team has been a professional and personal delight.
Catholic Education Executive, Diocese of Wollongong
Catholic Mission Staff Formation programs transform hearts and minds to live the ‘Joy of the Gospel’ and lead mission. Our experienced team of professionals can facilitate opportunities for staff in schools to encounter God in the world through an immersive, interactive pedagogy of dialogue, encounter and experience which engages and transforms the whole person.
Our services:
PROFESSIONAL development
MISSION FORMATION
workshops and facilitation
We partner with local and national church organisations, so that all people, including those working in leadership within our educational institutions, are empowered to witness faith in a way that contributes to God’s mission in the world.
SPIRITUAL NOURISHMENT and guided retreats
THEOLOGICAL FORMATION for mission
Catholic Mission’s formation services include a range of programs and learning experiences. Each program is tailored to your organisational or team needs. We work in partnership with you to develop clear learning objectives and formation outcomes, and we provide end to end program management: instructional design, materials preparation, face to face delivery and program evaluation.
TEAM BUILDING, CONSULTATION, CULTURE AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT for organisational mission
OUR WORK IN ACTION
Catholic Mission’s strong partnership with Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong (CEDOW) is highlighted by the Educating with a Mission Lens program, which began in 2016 and comprised six modules spanning three years. The program engaged over 1,000 staff from teams within the CEDOW office and 16 schools—representing nearly half the diocese.
Through our programs, participants are invited to reflect upon their own situation and how they embody Gospel, leading to formation and transformation in their own witness and leadership. The programs impact people’s beliefs, values, behaviours, and personal and professional day to day decisions and actions.
STUDENT FORMATION
What I love about the program is that it’s just about being the best human being you can be.
Senior Secondary Student, Diocese of Parramatta
As the Catholic Church’s official mission agency, Catholic Mission shares the vision of the vast Australian Catholic education network to form and empower students in the tradition of the Church and to bring the Good News. To this end, we offer the expertise and experience of a network of educators and staff throughout Australia, to partner with schools and educators in the important work of student formation.
In a very real sense, everything that we do at Catholic Mission is about forming people, particularly students, to bring about a deeper appreciation of what it means to be “missionary people”. Our formation programs are specifically designed to give students an understanding of the “why” in relation to the Church’s social and outreach programs.
Only when students have a deep and personal understanding of why we do what we do, can we as educators be satisfied that we have truly formed them in the person of Jesus Christ.
In each state and territory, our professionally trained staff provide workshops and seminars for students at all levels of primary and secondary school to form students in mission and the rich tradition of our Catholic Social Teaching. This not only benefits the individual student but also enhances the Catholic ethos and identity of the school.
Formation workshops, opportunities to advocate, and immersion programs all give students an understanding of a model of social action that moves beyond simple charity to a transformative model based upon justice.
OUR WORK IN ACTION OUR WORK
Catholic Mission’s work in schools is unique, as we are the only organisation providing education resources and programs exploring and examining each student’s individual call to be missionary.
Workshops such as ‘Haves and Have Nots’, ‘Connecting with Creation’, and ‘Know Me’, cover a vast array of curriculum areas providing students with a broad spectrum of educational experiences. Each of these programs has been designed to assist schools in the formation of students based upon not only recognised curriculum outcomes but also scriptural and Gospel imperatives.
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
The shared vision for this program was evident as was the structure of the activities. It has made clear that we need to be proactive in seeking out these opportunities of experiencing another faith life.
Assistant Principal, Diocese of Parramatta
Local partnerships are vital to every school community. Catholic Mission’s engagement with schools supports them to develop and sustain meaningful, respectful, invitational, and interactive relationships with various communities, including parent/carer, parish, education, civic, and business groups, walking in solidarity with them.
Our services:
STRENGTHEN PARTNERSHIPS
with your local parish
In the context of schools, Catholic Mission forms these partnerships directly with schools and Catholic Education offices and facilitates relationships between schools and their communities through formation and fundraising activity, so that all members understand and contribute to supporting everyone to live life to the full.
Community partnerships form an integral basis of Catholic Mission’s community fundraising and advocacy work, as they expand the network of advocates and the potential reach to engage with others who desire a better world for all.
FORM CONNECTIONS
with Catholic youth groups and representatives
ADVOCATE for causes the whole school community is passionate about
Schools can strengthen partnerships with their local parishes by engaging them in their activities in global mission through formation, advocacy, and fundraising initiatives. Our Mission Ambassador Program for Students (MAPS) provides young people with the opportunity to advocate for people in need and articulate their own journey of formation to the broader community.
Catholic Mission can support community partnerships, as we regularly engage and work with youth networks such as Young Catholic Students, universities, advocacy networks, and all levels of Church leadership.
OUR WORK IN ACTION
The Interfaith Encounters program provides a practical component to the study of religion. Bringing senior students from diverse backgrounds together, the program provides the platform for students and staff to develop new friendships, celebrate difference, deepen faith, and promote peace and social cohesion.
Interfaith Encounters provides students with knowledge, skills and experience in identity, dignity, and diversity. Each inter school program is preceded by partnership meetings with staff from each school and a focus group held with students to co develop the specific program.
The immersion experience frequently awakens and draws out of students their compassionate orientation to the world. It achieves in ten days what we hope to achieve over four years.
Secondary
College Principal, Archdiocese of Hobart
A Catholic Mission Immersion gives a small group of students or adults unparalleled opportunities to move beyond being merely tourists through the long-standing partnerships that Catholic Mission has built with overseas and Indigenous Australian communities. The purpose of an immersion is to allow participants to experience life, faith, and justice from a new perspective and to inspire them to live a personal sense of their own Catholic “mission” when they return home.
Catholic Mission offers students and staff the opportunity to experience an immersion in an Australian Indigenous or overseas community.
Catholic Mission’s unique position and history of partnerships over many years means that communities, parishes, and schools throughout Central and Northern Australia are open to sharing their lives in ways that very few tourists or visitors ever experience.
With a great sensitivity to millennia old culture and traditions, acknowledgement of recent history, and within the current context of life, we are led by our hosts into an immersive exploration of culture.
Each group has its own unique experiences and opportunities to connect with and learn about
OUR WORK IN ACTION
All Catholic Mission’s formation employs an experiential and participatory pedagogy, making an immersion the formative experience par excellence. Involved in the local community, participants experience the work of the Church in its current reality, how the Church is carrying out its work, and just as importantly, its ‘why’.
Equally, we aim to transform hearts. Through one to one encounters, immersion participants discover we are all one family, with similar hopes and dreams, and we all suffer equally. Having shared time and heard each other’s stories, each person is moved to commit to building a world built on Gospel values.
the local Indigenous culture from the people met along the way. Participants return with a deeper appreciation of Indigenous cultures, which lays a foundation for future commitments to contribute to an Australian society built on the Gospel imperative of bringing about fullness of life for all.
Each immersion is a tailored formation experience, with three phases built in to ensure the highest level of preparation, implementation, and debriefing.
In 2023 we will offer our general immersion program for senior secondary students to Indigenous communities, and in 2024 we will also offer a School Leaders Immersion for staff in leadership roles.
What was really great about working with Catholic Mission [for Socktober] was how easy they made the whole process to set up. They had so many teacher and student resources, videos, and activity ideas that just made it really accessible and … successful. We noticed that, since going cashless, people tend to donate more when they can do it online.
Faith in Action Leader, Diocese of Parramatta
Socktober for Mission Month is Catholic Mission’s flagship schools community engagement program. With its deep formation and fundraising journey, it aims to empower school communities by celebrating and engaging with mission through a Head, Heart and Hands model.
Socktober is a movement that inspires students of all ages to rise up and take meaningful action against poverty through the global sport of soccer.
Socktober invites students and their families to kick goals for good and raise critical funds for overseas projects. Entire school communities take part in the program through two interconnected pathways. The first pathway starts with watching the Socktober video to inspire students about the cause, followed by engaging in the mission journey through our popular learning modules, the Mission Packs.
The second pathway starts through a whole school celebration during Mission Week, which includes a Socktober Event Day. This celebration, held at the peak of World Mission Month, features a mission liturgy and the creation of sockballs, where par ticipants have the opportunity to make their own sockballs. These sockballs can then be used in fun activities such as a sockball shootout or a staff vs students game.
OUR WORK IN ACTION
When St Mary’s War Memorial Primary School in regional NSW surpassed their Socktober fundraising target, it provided an unexpected learning moment for the students. Louise, the Religious Education Coordinator, recalls: “When we finally shared that our fundraising effort could help purchase milk for a month for the children at the Good Shepherd Kindergarten in Bangkok, our students were concerned about what would happen after that month.
“That’s when I was able to share with them the national fundraising amount, which was around $100,000 at that point, and I told them that we were part of a network of schools that had made such a huge impact. It was a real eye opener for our kids.”
As students kick all kinds of goals through the sevarious streams, they are sponsored by friends and family, raising critical funds for overseas mis sion projects. It provides young people in Australia with the opportunity to lead in mission, encouraging them to think not only of what they will do to help, but why they will do it.
Our pedagogical resources, including the Mission Packs and interactive Goal Packages, have been designed by an expert team of ed ucators with the aim of engaging students and their families with the mission components of the curriculum in a fun and interactive way.
Socktober is inspired by Pope Francis’ Sport at the Service of Humanity initiative, which was launched in 2015 to provide an opportunity to combine the emotion of faith and sport into a powerful force that can make a real difference to our world. Its six guiding principles can be found throughout all the
WORKPLACE GIVING
The contribution I make through workplace giving provides certainty for Catholic Mission and me.
I also know that my donation will make a difference to a community enabling them to support themselves rather than relying on others.
Helping communities become self-sustaining has immeasurable long-term benefits.
Senior Education Officer, Diocese of Wagga Wagga
Workplace giving provides employees with the opportunity to give in a sustainable way to Catholic Mission so that together we can reach out and give life to those most in need in communities around the world. It is a win-win-win for employees, employers, and Catholic Mission.
Contributions through workplace giving go a long way in helping Catholic Mission support children, communities, and future Church leaders in Australia and globally. They provide certainty for our partners, who benefit from long term, stable funding for their existing and planned community endeavours.
The opportunity to give from pre tax income reduces the taxable portion of an employee’s salary, increasing what they take home, while knowing they have made a significant impact in the lives of communities in need on a consistent basis.
OUR WORK IN ACTION
About 95% of children (nearly 36 million) in Ethiopia do not have access to basic goods and services, including education. The Lideta Catholic Cathedral School in Addis Ababa caters to many of these children, offering scholarships to boys and girls from low socioeconomic communities and conflict zones, some of whom are orphaned. The school boasts among the highest graduate outcomes in the country, and it is supported by Catholic Mission workplace giving contributors.
“Thanks to [you], we can admit more students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. It is our vision to give children the chance to be educated in our school. We believe if one child gets the chance to be enrolled in our school and enter university, they too in turn will pull their family out of chronic poverty.”
Fr Tekle Mekonnen, Principal, Lideta Catholic Cathedral School
For employers, establishing and offering a workplace giving option to their employees shows a strong commitment to social justice and a heart for mission.
Along with demonstrating corporate responsibility, this can work to build morale in the office, especially if staff are working towards a common goal.
Workplace giving is a practical way for Catholic education staff to put their faith into action, and to offer their own response to the challenge put to their students to make a positive difference in the lives of others.
