The Catholic Dialogue School Consortium commenced in Bendigo on Monday 24 February, with more than 100 delegates joining the conversation, both in person and online.
International presenters, Professor Didier Pollefeyt and Dr Jan Bouwens from KU Leuven in Belgium facilitated rich conversations with Clergy, Principals, Religious Education leaders and Catholic identity teams from across Eastern Australia.
The theme of the consortium was “Pilgrims of Hope: Enhancing Catholic Schools Identity (ECSI) – the key strengths and challenges”.
Fr Jackson Saunders from Sacred Heart Cathedral Bendigo said his key takeaway from Day One was the emphasis on recontextualisation. "The importance of placing Jesus at the centre of all that we do in our schools, not to just focus on values-based education, was a key message," he said.
The Enhancing Catholic School Identity (ECSI) project has been running in Victorian Catholic Dioceses for more than twenty years. However, last year the Catholic Dialogue School Consortium in Victoria inaugurated a new partnership with the Catholic University of Leuven with a commitment to 2028. The newly formed consortium represents more than 210 Catholic schools in the dioceses of Sale, Ballarat and Sandhurst, along with those sponsored by the Catholic Religious Institute and Ministerial Public Juridic Person Victorian Schools Limited (CRMV Ltd).
The Catholic Dialogue School is a model for Catholic school identity today that brings a renewed and living Catholic faith tradition into dialogue with diverse religious traditions and worldviews in a culture of increasing secularisation.
Professor Didier said that through the new partnership, the ECSI research group and theologians will continue to provide a series of empirical tools for assessing Catholic school identity.
“We will also enable Catholic Education Offices and schools to enhance their Catholic identity with a variety of practical support projects, including on-site professional development modules and whole school projects, professional formation via the annual ECSI Intensive Courses in Leuven, an ECSI helpdesk, working visits throughout Victoria, and a new series of ECSI Master Classes.
Tim O’Farrell from the Diocese of Ballarat Catholic Education Limited said it was fantastic to gather in Bendigo with colleagues from the Sandhurst Diocese and beyond.
“It's a great example of collaboration and coming together to explore Catholic Education in the regional Diocese of Victoria,” said Tim.
Other participants added their reflections from day one.
“This is joy-filled work that we're engaged with and there is hope and optimism for that work,” said Dom Ryan from the Diocese of Sale.
“My main takeaway is the great work that we can do together in terms of moving ourselves to a recontextualising space in the way in which we can do that as a collaborative environment.” – Michaela, St Mary of the Angels College, Nathalia.
“It has been fantastic unpacking with such professional people each of the different scales; the Post-Critical Belief (PCB) Scale, the Melbourne Scale and the Victoria Scale,” said Kimberley McSweeney, St Kilian’s Primary School, Bendigo.
The three-day consortium took place in Bendigo on day one and two, before heading to Warragul for the final day on Wednesday 26 February.
Image above: Professor Didier Pollefeyt of the Catholic University of Leuven presents Bishop Shane Mackinlay with a statue of Mary Mother of Jesus, the patron saint of the university.
