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STAFF STUDENT COMMUNITY FORMATION FORMATION PARTNERSHIPS04 06 08 PAGE PAGE PAGE Catholic Mission Call toll free 1800 257 296 Write PO Box 1668 North Sydney NSW 2059 Email schools@catholicmission.org.au Published: August 2022 by Catholic Mission © Copyright Catholic Mission 2022 ABN 52 945 927 066 This report contains QR codes for a more interactive experience. Scan codes using your smartphone camera or download a QR Reader app to learn more about our work. Catholic Mission acknowledges that we live and work on the land of Australia’s First Peoples. We pay our respect to the ever‑present spirituality of Elders past and Pictured:present.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. 02
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.
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STAFF FORMATION
Working in partnership with the Catholic Mission Formation team has been a professional and personal delight.
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Catholic Education Executive, Diocese of Wollongong
OUR WORK IN ACTION
SPIRITUAL NOURISHMENT and guided retreats
TEAM BUILDING, CONSULTATION, CULTURE AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT for organisational mission
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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 workshops and facilitation
THEOLOGICAL FORMATION for mission MISSION FORMATION
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.
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. 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.
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.
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STUDENT FORMATIONSeniorSecondaryStudent,DioceseofParramatta
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What I love about program is that it’s just about being the best human being you can
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
OUR WORK IN ACTIONOUR WORK
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.
COMMUNITY
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PARTNERSHIPSAssistantPrincipal,DioceseofParramatta
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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 Communityfull. 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.
with your local parish with Catholic youth groups and representatives
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 Interfaithcohesion. 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.
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.
ADVOCATE for causes the whole school community is passionate about FORM CONNECTIONS
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.
OUR WORK
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Our services: IN PARTNERSHIPS
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.
Secondary College Principal, Archdiocese of Hobart
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.
IMMERSIONS
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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’.
OUR WORK IN ACTION
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
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. 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 Indebriefing.2023we 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.
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.
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Catholic Mission offers students and staff the opportunity to experience an immersion in an Australian Indigenous or overseas community.
SOCKTOBER
Faith in Action Leader, Diocese of Parramatta
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.
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OUR WORK IN ACTION
Socktober cultivates the passion of students— generally in Stages 2 5—to rise up, engage their local community, and take action against poverty through the world game of soccer.
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 Socktober activities.
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.
Socktober challenges students and their families to kick goals for good. Entire school communities engage with the program through two interconnected pathways. The first is a journey in mission called the Socktober Challenge, featuring our popular learning modules, known as Mission Packs. The second is through a whole of school celebration during Mission Week which includes a Socktober Event Day. This celebration, at the height of World Mission Month, may incorporate a mission liturgy and the Socktober Shootout, with the opportunity to create sockballs.
“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.”
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Our pedagogical resources, including the Mission Packs and interactive Goal Packages, have been designed by an expert team of educators with the aim of engaging students and their families with the mission components of the curriculum in a fun and interactive way.
As students kick all kinds of goals through these 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. various streams, they are sponsored by friends and family, raising critical funds for overseas mission 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.
Senior Education Officer, Diocese of Wagga Wagga
GIVING
WORKPLACE
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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 long-term benefits.
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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.
Fr Tekle Mekonnen, Principal, Lideta Catholic Cathedral School
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.”
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.
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.
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.
OUR WORK IN ACTION
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