Opinion Articles

SOUL MATTERS: Celebrating the Catholic education system
By Ray Collins

This week, in New South Wales , Catholic Schools celebrate Catholic Schools Week, an opportunity to acknowledge the history, purpose and achievements of Catholic Schools from their earliest days to the present.

In the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle 56 schools, ranging in size from 28 students to over 1000 students, continue to provide quality education to those who seek enrolment. They form a system of schools which continues a tradition of education in the Hunter and Manning Valleys dating back to the 1830s. For over 170 years Catholic schools in various forms have offered an education that fosters religious education, academic learning, the arts, physical activity and skills training.

This education takes as its foundation the Gospel of Jesus Christ, helping students to develop a belief and values system that has encouraged the building of communities where Jesus' message of love of God and love for one another is paramount. Catholic Schools continue the centuries old tradition of the Catholic Church as a significant provider of education in the community.

This celebration of Catholic Schools is given added emphasis by the fact that 2009 is the 100 th anniversary of the death of Blessed Mary MacKillop, the foundress of the Sisters of St Joseph. The Josephites have played a prominent role in the education of the children of the Hunter, often in the most outlying areas of the Diocese. Mary's commitment to the education of the poor and her outreach to isolated communities has been a hallmark of education in the Diocese from its earliest days.

This year the theme of Catholic Schools Week is Youth in Action - Active in Faith, Active in Learning . Students are encouraged to give expression to their faith through their outreach to the community and to be active in their learning through their attention to their studies and a thirst for knowledge.

Across Australia parish communities and their schools will celebrate this theme.

Today, more than 17,000 students are enrolled in Catholic Schools in the Diocese with more than 2000 teaching and support staff employed to meet their educational and pastoral needs. Together with the Government Schools system and the Independent Schools, Catholic Schools provide parents with a choice of education based on the needs of their children.

Recent Government initiatives have encouraged a greater degree of co-operation between these systems and that has been evident in initiatives in the Hunter including the Climate Cams for Schools Program, Service Learning and Trade Training Centres.

The Catholic Schools system in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle continues to provide quality education in a caring and supportive environment.

Why not visit a Catholic school this week and share in these celebrations?

Ray Collins is the Director of Schools in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.

*This article was published in The Newcastle Herald, 23rd March 2009