I was delighted to join in the celebrations for Queensland Catholic Education Week (CEW) which was launched in Cairns with a special presentation and dinner for the Spirit of Catholic Education Awards on Sunday evening, followed by Mass at St Monica’s Cathedral on Monday morning.
Held each year in Week 3 of Term 3, CEW is an opportunity for all 313 Catholic schools in Queensland to celebrate and promote their distinctive mission and ethos, with this year’s theme being, ‘Communities of faith, hope and love’.
Cairns will also be the host diocese for the 2025 Australian Catholic Education Conference next 20-22 August, and it is so important to move beyond metropolitan areas for major events, so we can experience the distinctiveness and diversity of our school and diocesan communities in rural, regional and remote areas of Australia.
With a new Bishop, Fr Joe Caddy to be installed later this month, and the announcement of a new executive director, Diarmuid O’Riordan from next year, who will replace retiring executive director Bill Dixon, the Cairns diocese will be in an invigorating period of renewed leadership and we look forward to working with them in the planning over the next 13 months.
Philanthropy report
It was disappointing to see that the Productivity Commission’s final Philanthropy Report released last Thursday, has disregarded the critical needs of our school and faith communities (see story).
The NCEC raised serious objections to the draft report, which lacked thorough analysis and engagement with concerned groups. The recommendations to remove Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status for building funds and religious education in government schools threaten the significant contributions we make to Australia’s social fabric and would place an additional financial burden on families already facing significant cost-of-living pressures.
Catholic school families fund nearly 90% of their school buildings and maintenance, raising $1.96 billion in 2022 alone. This is in addition to the nearly $4.1 billion of after-tax dollars which the recurrent funding model expects parents and families will contribute towards their children’s education through school fees.
Thankfully the Australian Government has committed to uphold previous commitments to maintain DGR status for school building funds and explore ways to enhance, not hinder, philanthropic support for faith communities.
However, there are still some areas of the report that have not been addressed by the government including DGR status for some types of school scholarships. We will continue to advocate to government.
Jacinta Collins
National Catholic education executive director
Photo: Students from St Michael’s School, Gordonvale with Rev Kerry Crowley, Jacinta Collins, Archbishop Mark Coleridge, Chair, Qld Catholic Education Commission, Madeline Brennan KC, and executive director, Catholic Education Diocese of Cairns Bill Dixon, on the lawn of Bishop’s House after Catholic Education Week Launch Mass at St Monica’s Cathedral.