Parish Administration Staff from across the Diocese gathered at the Chancery for two days of training and professional development this week. This was the first face-to-face Parish Administration Staff Conference since 2019 and it was well received by attendees who enjoyed sharing experiences and learning from each other.
Conference attendees had the opportunity to meet the Chancery staff who support them in their daily parish roles, to pray together and hear about the Diocesan Mission and Pastoral Council and Sandhurst’s Synodal Journey, with a first-hand update on Bishop Shane at the Synod in Rome.
The Conference enabled attendees representing 25 parishes to make sure they were up to speed with the latest diocesan finance and governance processes, including financial software systems; electronic donation platforms on offer; document retention; privacy and cyber security; safeguarding and marriage dispensations and church patrimony.
The conference provided the opportunity to find out more about services which can assist their parish and parishioners:
• Kalma Rathouski, from CatholicCare Victoria spoke about the variety of services offered in Sandhurst to people in need, which ranged from online pre-marriage education courses to, counselling; family services; emergency relief; family and property dispute resolution; wellbeing support services and social housing.
• Stephen Cooper from Procurement Australia, with an alignment with an aggregator at the forefront of ethical and sustainable procurement, shared ways their services can save time and money through aggregated buying power for parish purchases of goods and services. It includes everything from whitegoods to hardware and paint, to travel and utilities, including telephones and electricity.
• Donna Bailey, the Diocesan Archivist with the diocesan archive, holds a central role in the management of historical material, records and information management. She spoke of the policies informed by Canon Law, governing records held in parishes and the Chancery.
• Cameron Fraser, Diocesan Business Manager and newly appointed Diocesan General Counsel, Greg Westbrook spoke about litigation support and the next steps in Church insurances. Greg also explained how he can assist parishes with legal questions.
The first day of the conference was completed with Mass at St Kilian’s Church, celebrated by Fr Andrew Fewings and a band of three eager altar servers.
This year, there were representatives from 25 parishes in attendance at the conference who, through the sharing of parish reports, amongst other things, had the opportunity to share good ideas.
Although scattered across a large geographical area of Victoria, it was clear that attendees value the camaraderie they share with fellow parish administration staff. There was a buzz of excitement as attendees caught up with old friends and welcomed new ones – a total of ten new parish staff members.
For many, networking and catching up with colleagues working in similar roles in different parishes was an invaluable experience, as one attendee explained, “For me, the best part of the conference is the networking, meeting others and knowing that I can call them any time I need to sound something out or need help thinking things through.”
“Coming together in prayer is always wonderful and I return to my parish with more energy and more confidence in my job,” said another.
