Opinion Articles

SOUL MATTERS: Compassion just one of values we hold dear
By Gerard Mowbray

Catholic Schools Week is being celebrated this week in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle. This is an opportunity for us to acknowledge all that we do, and reflect on what it is we offer, as Catholic Schools.  The Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle is growing year by year, and in 2007 caters for 15,733 students across 56 schools.  Obviously many of our achievements are shared by our colleagues in education sectors across the state.

Unless Catholic education offers something distinctive, then we expend a wealth of resources for no particular gain.  I believe our Catholic Schools offer a welcoming, secure, nurturing and positive environment that resonates with parents and families, not only from the Catholic sector, but beyond.

To maintain distinctiveness is no easy task.  Certainly there are qualities we offer that shape our identity.  We embrace the value and individuality of each person.  It should be our proud boast that all within our schools can find their niche – the physicist, the netballer, the musician, the rugby player, the chess player, the student who struggles to find friends in the playground – all have a place. 

To seek to shape well the identity of each student is fundamental. In addition to the cognitive, emotional, psychological and physical, there is a deep awareness of the spiritual dimension of our students, and staff. Catholic schools and parish communities desire to contribute positively to each one's spiritual journey, and to foster a commitment to peace, justice and truth.

Our response to those in need is practical as well as philosophical.  In a radical enrolment scheme, Dr Wayne Tinsey, Director of Catholic Schools, has made access to Catholic schooling for those in financial need readily available, with tuition fees as low as five dollars per week. 

Our schools seek to be celebratory and hope-filled.  They might be called Easter schools: places that by their very nature, are happy and radiate hope.  Catholic Schools are called, above all, to create young men and women who believe in themselves, and who seek to embrace life fully. Unless we achieve this, we have failed in our most basic calling as educators.

Values education is receiving much attention in the media and society generally. Catholic Schools are grounded firmly on the person and values of Christ.  Compassion, therefore, should imbue all that we do. While our schools offer comprehensive curricula and a commitment to results appropriate to each student's capacities, ultimately we seek to shape young men and women who move into happy, fulfilled, compassionate adult lives.

We continue to grow and to provide a positive educational alternative because many seek both the security and challenge of all that we do, as we embrace the needs of each individual within our school communities.

Gerard Mowbray

Gerard Mowbray is the Principal of St Mary's Campus, All Saints College, Maitland.