The initiative, led by ACU theologians and a prominent governance expert, aims to examine the evolving role of lay leadership in Church governance.

The research will focus on how lay leadership can be nurtured and effectively integrated within the Church's governance structures.

Spearheading the project are Associate Professor Maeve Louise Heaney VDMF and Associate Professor Jamie Calder SJ from ACU's School of Theology. Commissioner Adjunct Professor Susan Pascoe, an award-winning governance expert, a team from Durham University and ACU PhD candidate Lawrence Hallinan join them.

Ministerial PJPs (Public Juridic Persons), a widely adopted governance model in Australia, will be a key focus. Under the Code of Canon Law, these entities serve as the Church's equivalent of civil corporations. They oversee Catholic ministries such as schools and healthcare.

Many of these responsibilities have transitioned from religious institutes to lay-led Ministerial PJPs in recent years. This makes them a crucial aspect of lay involvement in Church governance.

Discernment and decision-taking

Professor Heaney said the research would help improve lay leaders' ongoing formation through a theological lens.

"As a theologian, I'm interested in exploring the theologies of ministry underpinning these emerging forms and how they interweave and support a synodal Church that involves lay people in discernment and decision-taking. This theological lens will help us identify and provide adequate resourcing and formation for such leadership" Heaney said.

Professor Calder emphasised the vocational nature of lay governance in the Church.

"For ecclesial or Church leadership, the starting point is to understand that the role of a canonical steward is a vocation or a calling to exercise the ministry of leadership in the Church as service" Calder stated.

Professor Pascoe, who has played a key role in the Synod on Synodality, added that the project would offer valuable insights into the Church's journey toward greater synodality and shared responsibility.

The Association of Ministerial Public Juridic Persons supports the study which is expected to be completed by 2025.

Sources

Australian Catholic University

CathNews New Zealand

The study encompassing 2,300 respondents unveiled distressing statistics, with nearly half having reported experiencing or witnessing physical violence. Approximately 54% were subjected to threats.

According to the report's author Paul Kidson, incidents range from direct attacks on school staff to confrontations with parents. Some instances reportedly involved weapons such as machetes and knives.

Interestingly, the survey highlighted regional disparities with principals in the Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory facing the gravest threats.

Robyn Thorpe, the Northern Territory Principals Association president, expressed concern over the lack of adequate support in handling such situations.

"We can put the school into a lockdown, call the police, but sometimes in our communities the police aren't on duty so you have that feeling of a bit more vulnerability" Ms Thorpe said.

Western Australia also witnessed a distressing surge in violence, with over half of principals reporting physical assaults. This has led to calls for more effective enforcement of existing policies.

The escalating violence levels have prompted schools to implement security measures, including hiring security guards and installing fences.

Verbal abuse and intimidation

Angela Falkenberg, president of the Australian Primary Principals' Association, stressed that the issue is not confined to physical altercations. It also encompasses verbal abuse and intimidation.

However, the escalating violence is taking a toll on the mental health of school leaders, with higher rates of anxiety and depression reported among them compared to the general population.

Professor Herb Marsh, co-lead investigator of the study, highlighted a 76.5% increase in physical violence since 2011, with over half of school leaders considering early retirement.

Amidst these challenges, there are urgent calls for systemic reforms and proactive support mechanisms to ensure the safety and well-being of school leaders.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare emphasised the government's commitment to addressing the teacher shortage crisis and prioritising initiatives to support teacher wellbeing.

IPPE co-lead investigator and leading school well-being expert Associate Professor Theresa Dicke said despite mounting challenges, school leaders showed extraordinary dedication, commitment and commendable resilience.

"But every year we call for more to be done. There is an urgency for education ministers to prioritise responding to the data in this report" she said.

Professor Dicke called for a national summit to coordinate strategies and resources to ensure that issues facing principals are in focus.

"Otherwise many of them will act on their intention to leave and it will make achieving important policy initiatives very unlikely."

Sources

Australian Catholic University

The Australian

ABC News

CathNews New Zealand

Australian Catholic University (ACU) experts say it explores Australian and global perspectives on liturgy and sacramental theology, music and art.

It is the ACU Centre for Liturgy's most recent initiative. It aims to enhance the liturgical apostolate in Australia.

Speaking of Liturgy features local and international experts discussing several liturgical topics.

The first six episodes explore a variety of liturgical contexts. Each episode emphasises best practice.

The first one looks at schools. How do schools embrace their ecclesial identity? How do they strengthen their identity and mission through celebrating the liturgy well?

Future episodes will feature conversations including advice for good preaching and pastoral care for the sick and dying.

Why have a Catholic liturgy podcast?

Centre for Liturgy director Professor Clare Johnson explains the podcast's genesis.

"We wanted to improve Australian Catholics' liturgical literacy", she says. The Centre hopes using a range of media will help expand liturgical formation opportunities.

The Centre's mission is to foster the whole liturgical apostolate, Johnson says. "We are constantly trying to evolve and engage audiences in different ways."

While there are other liturgy podcasts available, they're not specifically Australian.

"We wanted to create a podcast that speaks specifically about liturgy today in the Australian context," she says.

"We're proud that our podcasts are created by Australian liturgical experts along with some wonderful and enriching international liturgy colleagues.

"Australians who are committed to the Christian life should have access to resources reflecting their Australian culture as well as international perspectives."

Johnson hopes the podcast will inspire and encourage everyone engaged in liturgical celebrations in Australian parishes, schools and other Catholic communities.

"We are excited to launch this new podcast and ... the possibilities it offers for exploring sacred liturgies, our rich and indispensable source of true Christian life," she says.

To listen to the podcast, go to Speaking of Liturgy.

Source

• ACU
• ACU

De La Salle Brother, Peter Bray, received the doctorate for two reasons.

One was for embracing the values and principals of education in the Catholic tradition.

The other, for his significant contributions to education and educational administration in Australia and overseas.

Bray became the eighth Vice-Chancellor of Bethlehem University in late 2008.

Since them he has committed to making the University an "oasis of peace" for young Palestinians.

Established in 1973 as a joint venture between the Vatican and the De La Salle Brothers, Bethlehem University is the first registered university founded in the West Bank.

It is also the only Catholic university in the Holy Land.

Although fewer than one percent of Palestine's population is Christian, Bray's commitment and leadership has ensured quality higher education for all, not just Christian students.

Bray speaks of challenging times for West Bank students who lose everything - except, as one told him, their education.

"I'm particularly aware of the suffering our students are experiencing in just existing, so I really admire the fact that their resistance is expressed in a nonviolent way by just getting on and doing the ordinary things," Bray says.

Br Bray accepted the honorary doctorate from ACU on behalf of his inspirational students.

"By ACU recognising Bethlehem University through me is showing the young people of Bethlehem University that they are not forgotten, and that is a really important part of helping to keep hope alive," he said.

"I'm deeply, deeply grateful to ACU for enabling us to keep hope alive among our students."

ACU Vice-Chancellor and President Zlatko Skrbis called Bray's leadership approach inspirational.

"Despite the challenges he faces at Bethlehem University each day, he is always mindful of putting the present and future needs of his students first," Skrbis said.

"His commitment to education in the Catholic tradition is bound by the duty he feels to help people to realise their full potential.

"His ultimate vision to instil hope in his students is inspiring and should be at the heart of the mission of all educational institutions.

"ACU is proud to bestow the Doctor of the University on such a humble leader."

Bray's honorary doctorate also recognises his instrumental role in creating ACU's Master of Education Leadership, which was established while he was Director and CEO of the Wellington Catholic Education Centre.

From Taranaki to the Holy Land

Despite his 40-plus years in senior roles in Catholic education, Bray's personal experience of high school was the complete opposite.

He eventually completed secondary school, attended Sydney's Macquarie University, then obtained a Masters degree from Massey University and a Doctorate at the University of San Diego.

He was a principal of several Catholic secondary schools, before becoming the Vice-Chancellor of a Catholic university.

Of all his education postings, Bray says being Vice-Chancellor of Bethlehem University was the most difficult and the most rewarding.

Source

• ACU

Burns describes his involvement in helping prepare the FCBCO conference as very much "in the background", but that one of the FCBCO's main themes is caring for the earth and sea.

He says the worsening realities for Oceania are real and cannot be overlooked.

One Papua New Guinean woman who spoke out at COP27 was Ursula Rakova.

She castigated the industrialised nations that still refuse to limit fossil fuel use.

While she welcomed the agreement reached at COP27 on loss and damage funding, she says she's "not confident ... industrialised nations will want to give money to loss and damage while ... continuing to extract fossil fuels.

"Because if they really want to save the earth, especially these smaller islands in the Pacific and around the globe, they will have to walk their talk."

Like Rakova, many FCBCO members live with the realities of major changes affecting our common ocean home. They want change, but progress is slow.

FCBCO member countries include American Samoa, Cook Islands, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Marian Island, Papua New Guinea, Western Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna, and expert contributors to the conference from Fiji, Tonga, Niue and Australia.

The FCBCO bishops will meet in Suva next February - they meet only once every four years.

The recent earthquakes that devastated parts of Indonesia and Solomon Islands should be a wake-up call for all leaders, says FCBCO president Archbishop Peter Loy Chong.

To provide the bishops with some extra information and perspective about the sea theme, a preparatory online event has been organised with the Australian Catholic University.

Chong, who is also Archbishop of Fiji, will give the welcome address at next week's online event and says he remains "deeply concerned about the worsening realities for people to recover from natural disasters in our region."

He hopes the preparatory online event will generate insights and recommendations from the peripheries for the FCBCO Assembly to consider in February 2023.

The FCBCO meeting will be the first time in 16 years that Pacific Island nations will have the opportunity to host a group of experts along with often marginalised Pacific voices.

Source

• Supplied: ACU
• RNZ
• interest.co.nz