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Religious Education Modules – The Story of the Catholic Church in Australia - Religious Education

Modules – The Story of the Catholic Church in Australia - Religious Education Modules – The Story of the Catholic Church in Australia - Religious Education








Modules – The Story of the Catholic Church in Australia - Religious Education Modules – The Story of

the Catholic Church in Australia -

Stage 3 Module

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www.stpatschurchhill.org/index.html

The Story of the Catholic Church in Australia

http://www.stpatschurchhill.org/index.html



Module Focus

The focus of this module is captured in the words of Edward Schillebeeckx, “the church is…both now as it was then the

‘sequel’ to Jesus, a community of believers who follow Jesus, as they seek…to be a visible and tangible…a sign of liberation” (Edward Schillebeeckx, Church: The Human Story of God, NY, Crossroad, 1990, p.110).

Each generation, time, place and era of the church deals with its own “ups and downs, new processes of following Jesus, interpreting, going further and being confronted with problems (Schillebeeckx, p.103). Each generation in some way

contributes to the life of the next.

The story of the Catholic Church in Australia is a wonderful example of how the identity of the Catholic community today has

been built on the lives and mission of those who were pioneers in the beginning years and those who followed, most

often under very difficult circumstances. The lives of men and women who sought to bring love to those early communities reflect the liberating love of God as expressed in the life of Jesus. They followed Jesus, tried to interpret what God wanted

and were confronted with many problems.

By reflecting on our unique Australian story, we too are called to follow in Jesus’ way by attempting to bring about the

Kingdom of God in our daily lives as Jesus’ disciples. Using examples of people like St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, John

Bede Polding and Caroline Chisholm, we are called as disciples of Jesus to reach out to those who are poor, hurting and marginalised. Like the people of the early Australian Church, there will be challenges, but in faith we pray for the courage to

address them.

www.sosj.org.au

T h e S t o r y o f t h e C a t h o l i c C h u r c h i n A u s t r a l i a – S t a g e 3 P a g e | 1

http://www.sosj.org.au/who-we-are/index.cfm?loadref=105

OutcomesCD S3.3b: Researches and reports on significant figures in the history of the Catholic Church.GRHD S 3.1a: Identifies and expresses ways in which God calls all to share in the work of creating and renewing the Kingdom of GodS S3.5b: Demonstrates how the message of Scripture can be applied to contemporary life.

Learn About Learn ToCD S3.3b:

key figures and their impact on the work of the Church

the history of the Catholic Church in Australia

GRHD S 3.3b: the concept of Kingdom of God and servant leadership

the responsibility to promote justice and peace in the world

the role of the Catholic school

equality in the eyes of God

S S3.5b: the connection between the messages in Scripture and the

lifestyle of Christians

CD S3.3b: research and evaluate the lives and contributions of key

figures in the history of the Catholic Church

identify and research a range of ministries started by

significant figures in the Australian Church

research and report upon the lives of prominent

Christians

GRHD S 3.3b identify manifestations of the Kingdom of God

identify ways that the early Catholic Church in Australia

worked to bring about the kingdom of God.

reflect upon how the work of the early Catholic Church is

Australia is foundational to the work of the Church today

research history and charism of their own school and

parish

S S3.5b: identify opportunities for the application of messages

from Scripture

DISCIPLESHIP CHALLENGE Students are challenged to be involved in their local faith community Students are challenged to act responsibly in response to God’s call Students are challenged to relate messages from the Sacred Scriptures to daily life


Catholic DiscipleshipUnfortunately today’s society is often marked by self-interest, greed and injustice, and as a result there exists a need for renewal of life. The call to be a disciple of Jesus is a call to abandon self-interest and take the side of those who are marginalised in different ways. As Schillibeeckx (p.114) states, “Jesus comes to stand on the side of those who are pushed aside by the community which ‘thinks well of itself’…the poor, the oppressed, the outcast and even the sinful.”

Many people who worked to found the Catholic Church in Australia are great examples of what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus. Pope Benedict said of Mary MacKillop, “Mary MacKillop’s perseverance in the face of adversity; her plea for justice on behalf of those unfairly treated and her practical example of holiness have become a source of inspiration for all Australians.” (said on 17 July, 2008, quoted in Inform; Faith and Life Matters, 121 Catholic Education Centre, Silverwater, 2009). As disciples of Jesus in the 21st century, we are called to apply in ways that we can the discipleship examples of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop and others to the way we live our own lives.

Prayer Focus: The Australian Creed

The Australian Creed was developed by the Australian inclusive Language Project in Toowoomba. It is a beautiful creedal prayer which captures the best of what it means to be Australian and connects it with faith. It is available on the Mary MacKillop website.

http://www.marymackillop.org.au/_uploads/rsfil/000460_cbea.pdf

On this website in “Resources” you will have access to many beautiful prayers http://www.marymackillop.org.au/resources/dsp-collection.cfm?loadref=255

Core Scripture

Phil 2:3-9 (ESV)

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself,


http://www.marymackillop.org.au/resources/dsp-collection.cfm?loadref=255


taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death- even death on a cross.

1 Cor 12:4-11

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

Scripture in Context

Phil 2:3-9 (ESV)

This passage is the most well-known in St Paul’s letter to the Philippians. It is known as the “Christ-hymn”. It is concerned with reflection on the nature and mission of Jesus. This ‘hymn’ relates to the image of the suffering servant from the Book of Isaiah. It is concerned with the relationship between wisdom (Spirit of God) and the servant who suffers. It connects the theme of humiliation and exaltation through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Its position of Christ humbling himself calls us to be humble in our own lives and to reach out to those who are humbled by their position in society.

The story of the early Catholic Church in Australia is one of suffering servants. St Mary of the Cross MacKillop humbled herself to serve others. Like Jesus, she was rejected through her excommunication and was raised in her own way, especially through her sainthood.

1 Cor 12:4-11

The Holy Spirit dwells in each of us and thus the love of God lives in us. The Holy Spirit exists always in our stories of grace. Grace means God fully giving God’s love to human beings and inviting us into this love, to be liberated and transformed. We humans are free to say yes or no to grace. We can be drawn either to love or to lovelessness.

We are invited as Christians, and in a special way as Church to be open to the gifts of the Spirit. In this passage, St Paul leads us to understand that the spiritual endowment given to everyone is for the common good. We are called to discern what the Spirit is asking of us in the context of our times. Through grace we are called to mission. “Our story is far from complete. The breath of God draws us to the new, into the openness of God’s future” (Denis Edwards, BBI Holy Spirit E-Conference).

The story of the Catholic Church in Australia is an exemplification of how many people used their spiritual gifts in different and often amazing ways to work for the common good. Their story began the story that we continue today as we are called to answer the call of the Holy Spirit by using our charisms (spiritual gifts) for the betterment of society.


Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church

N 782 The People of God are called to be… …Its mission is to be salt of the earth and light of the world.

N785 The People of God share in Christ’s Prophetic OfficeThe holy People of God shares… in Christ's prophetic office," above all in the supernatural sense of faith that belongs to the whole People… and when it deepens its understanding and becomes Christ's witness in the midst of this world.

N 786 The Church shares in the royal office of Christ….the People of God shares in the royal office of Christ…Christ… made himself the servant of all, for he came "not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." For the Christian, "to reign is to serve him," particularly when serving "the poor and the suffering, in whom the Church recognizes the image of her poor and suffering founder." The People of God fulfils its royal dignity by a life in keeping with its vocation to serve with Christ.

N 787 The Church is communion with Jesus From the beginning, Jesus associated his disciples with his own life, revealed the mystery of the Kingdom to them, and gave them a share in his mission, joy, and sufferings.

N 865 One holy, Catholic and Apostolic ChurchThe Church is ultimately one, holy, catholic, and apostolic in her deepest and ultimate identity, because it is in her that "the Kingdom of heaven," the "Reign of God," already exists and will be fulfilled at the end of time. The kingdom has come in the person of Christ and grows mysteriously in the hearts of those incorporated into him, until its full eschatological manifestation.


Background for the TeacherThe Church and Kingdom of God

The origin of Church is found in the “person, life and work of Jesus Christ” (Brian Gleeson, “Origin of the Church in Jesus Christ and His Mission”. In The Australasian Catholic Record. Vol. 81, No. 4 Oct 2004, p. 431). However, the word “church” is only mentioned twice in the Gospels, whereas “Kingdom of God” is used 150 times. We don’t know if Jesus intended to form a church, probably not as he was a faithful Jew. However, he was a faithful Jew who called for radical conversion in the ways that people lived, expressed in his use of the term “Kingdom of God”.

The heart of the concept of the Kingdom of God is “liberating and healing actions for all sorts of needy persons” (Gleeson, p. 434). In Jesus, God entered human life and challenged people to step out of their comfort zones. In doing so, Jesus offered comfort to those who are marginalised, not necessarily that their lives would change, but that their lives were worthwhile and that they were loved by God.

The coming of the kingdom was the foundation of practically everything that Jesus did and said and was “his favourite phrase for what his mission was all about” (Gleeson, p.432). Jesus insisted on a change of life-style as a requirement for the coming of the kingdom. Jesus taught that the kingdom of God existed right there and then in his own words and actions and in the hearts and hands of those who live faithfully in God’s ways. It was also future orientated as people live in hope that the kingdom of God one day will be fully realised.

Jesus gathered around him a community of followers, whom he instructed in mission. It is most likely, therefore, that Jesus “intended that the work for the kingdom would continue after his death” (Gaillardetz, p. 18). However, whilst it was in his witness and proclamation in his historical ministry that gave his disciples the food for their mission, it was in the post resurrection events that the foundations of church really occurred. It was the post Easter encounter with the risen Lord “that animated the disciples and constituted them, empowered by the spirit as a community” (Gaillardetz, p. 18).

The historical Jesus who proclaimed the Kingdom of God and the risen Christ of faith exist in a relationship of tension. “For Christians there is no Jesus outside the confession of Christ in the church, just as there is no Church confession without the liberating appearance of the historical Jesus of Nazareth for humankind.” (Schillebeeckx, p. 104). As Schillebeeckx says, the whole history of the church consists of ups and downs, new processes of following Jesus, interpreting, going further and being confronted with problems.

The people of the early Catholic Church in Australia lived in tension , experiencing many ups and downs and being confronted with problems. However, within that difficult environment, there were many people who worked to bring about the Kingdom of God especially by reaching out to the marginalised. In their teachings and their actions, they sought to bring the historical Jesus and the Christ of faith to the people of their times. It is on the shoulders of such people that the Catholic Church in Australia exists today. The legacy of these years can be seen in the social conscience, action and education that is the main work of many Catholic institutions and organisations today.

Australian Catholics in the Early Years of European Settlement

The Australian Catholic Church community has its foundations in the stories of the first European migrants to Australia in the eighteenth century. They came from England on the First Fleet in 1788. Of the 1,044 convicts who arrived, 316 were Catholics. Of approximately one in ten convicts transported from England who were Catholic, half of them had been born in Ireland. There were no priests and thus Catholics like everyone else were often forced to attend ecumenical services led by Reverend Richard Johnson. However, Catholics found ways of sustaining their own religious culture.

The Contribution of Irish Faith


Irish Catholics brought with them a rather unusual brand of Irish Catholicism which included a mixture of “formal Catholicism, debased Catholic practices, family piety, superstition, magic and Celtic mythology” (Edmund Campion, Australian Catholics: The Contribution of Australian Catholics to the Development of Australian Society, Viking Penguin Books, Ringwood Victoria, 1987, p. 4) Their view of the world helped them to survive in this harsh land and give them some respite from the worries of their lives in colonial Australia. This was particularly helpful as the Irish were at odds with their English Protestant governors and administrators in the penal colony, who forced the Protestant religion and way of life on everyone.

So it was that the deepest chasm that existed within penal Australia was more specific than between gaoler and prisoner; it was the bitter gulf between those who held power and authority, and Irish Catholic convicts. To the Protestant ascendancy of penal Australia-compromising the governors, the officers, the administrators, the leading churchmen and citizens-there were two essential conditions of civilization: the Protestant religion and British political and social institutions. On both counts the Irish were barbarians. (Patrick O’Farrell, The Catholic Church and Community in Australia: A History, Nelson, Melbourne, 1977, p. 3)

Even in the absence of priests and in the most difficult of social environments however, Catholic faith continued to give meaning to life. “It was a view of the world enabling one to sustain the present and hope for the future. It was also a folk culture, a bond of loyalty to one’s fellows. The tenacity of this layman’s religion cannot be measured by attendance at Mass or financial contributions to the clergy. Yet what evidence there is points to the hardiness of this colonial transplant of the Catholic faith from Ireland” (Campion, p. 4).

Most Irish convicts were put on convict ships at Cork. Before they left, the priests from Cork heard their confessions and gave them a prayer book to “sustain them in the priestless years ahead” (Campion, p.4). Those prayer books as well as those who had rosary beads turned out to be key elements of maintaining Catholic practices and in the end faith in the colony. The Irish also became a prime source of Australian nationalism, not wanting to be disenfranchised in Australia as they had been after the conquest of Ireland. Whilst there were hardened criminals amongst the Irish, most of them were convicted of crime “driven by hunger or poverty” (Campion, p. 7). After completing their sentences, most “settled down to a new life and became useful citizens” (Campion, p. 7).

The Beginnings of the Catholic Church in the Laity

The first Australian Catholics were without priests for many years, therefore, early Catholics in the colony of New South Wales had to rely on one another to sustain their faith. The foundations of the Catholic Church in Australia were reliant upon a determined laity.

In the absence of priests, ordinary people emerged as spiritual leaders e.g.

In Sydney, a stonemason, Jack Dempsey read prayers with those who were condemned to death. A priest, Jeremiah O’Flynn, who came later in 1817 and was then expelled from the colony is said to have left the Blessed Sacrament in Dempsey’s house in Kent Street. It is possible that the first Mass in the colony was celebrated in Dempsey’s house. There is another tradition, however, that says that the Blessed Sacrament was left in the house of William Davis. Perhaps it was carried between the two houses. Columbus Fitzpatrick, who was a boy at the time later recorded what happened at Dempsey’s house:

Mr Dempsey secured the assistance of five or six other religious old men, whose whole duty and pleasure was to watch and pray in that room, in which an altar had been erected and a tabernacle placed to receive the holy pix. This room was converted into a little chapel, and it was no unusual thing on a Sunday, when Catholics could assemble to join in the prayers at Mass which were being read in that room, to see many of them kneeling under the verandah, and even in the street, much to the amusement of the scoffers, who said we ought to be sun-struck. (Campion, p. 5)

Columbus Fitzpatrick’s mother taught her sons the Catechism and how to serve Mass, even though there were no priests. She and a man called McGuire taught children how to sing liturgical music.


A man called Francis Kenny sang vespers (evening prayers) on Sunday nights at the Fitzpatrick’s home.

William Davis was sent to Australia without trial as a convict for his part in the uprisings in Ireland in 1878. He ended up becoming a prominent person on the colony. He obtained land in the Rocks in 1809. He and his wife Catherine were active in trying to obtain recognition of the Catholic faith in the colony. As there was no priest, he turned his home into a centre for Catholic prayer.

There is one tradition that says that Fr Jeremiah O’Flynn left the Blessed Sacrament at the home of Davis when he was sent from the colony and people came to worship in front of it. There is another tradition that said that it was left at the home of James Dempsey. It is likely that it was carried between the two homes, but not known for sure.

In 1840, he gave part of his land to the Catholic Church. This land which was bounded by Gloucester and Grosvenor streets is where St Patrick’s Church was built. The foundation stone was blessed on 25 August, 1840. Davis, who was elderly now, also donated £1000 towards the building of the Church.

Prayer groups were led by the people themselves, outside the courthouse in Sydney and in private houses.

“When the settlement spread, similar groups would appear: at Port Phillip in the cottage of Peter Bodecin, a carpenter; in Adelaide at the Phillip’s household” (Campion, P. 6)

Therefore, pre-ecclesial (Church before ordained ministry) Catholicism survived and developed, closely being linked to the experience of being Irish Catholic. “It survived and was nurtured mainly within family circles but also in wider environs such as the local communities and the Dempsey cottage chapel. So at the very least, one must recognise a Catholic reality in existence before regular priestly ministry began in Australia.” (Campion, p. 9)

http://www.catholicenquiry.com/about-us/the-journey-of-the-catholic-church-in-australia.html

http://www.sydneycatholic.org/people/archbishop/homilies/2003/2003511_112.shtml

The Arrival of Priests in the Colony

Three Irish priests were transported for allegedly complying with the 1798 rebellion in Ireland . The 1798 Rebellion was the most widespread of all the Irish Rebellions. Eleven counties in Ulster, Leinster and Connacht rose against English rule over six months in 1798, leaving 30,000 dead.

'The United Irishmen' were inspired by the revolutionary ideas of the 1789 French Revolution. They were founded in Belfast in 1791 and later in Dublin with the aims of Catholic emancipation and parliamentary reform. By 1794, the movement was driven underground. Its leader, Theobald Wolfe Tone, had gone to seek French help in securing a revolution. Other prominent men of the movement included Belfast Presbyterians such as Henry Joy McCracken and Dublin's Lord Edward Fitzgerald. The masses that made up the bulk of the United Army were Catholic. The United Irishmen may have numbered as high as 100,000 and were arranged by county, barony and parish. http://homepage.eircom.net/~tipperaryfame/rebel798.htm

James Harold arrived in 1800. He was very angry about his banishment from Ireland. He suffered from poor health, was bitter, lonely and isolated. He thought that he belonged to the higher classes, but he was rejected by them because he was a convict. He warned the government of an Irish conspiracy in September of 1800, but would not reveal his sources and so was sent to Norfolk Island as a teacher, and later to Tasmania. When he left Australia, he went to the USA and didn’t return to Dublin until his old age.

Peter O’Neill arrived in February, 1801. He was unjustly sentenced and so after a review of his case was returned to Ireland in January, 1803.


http://homepage.eircom.net/~tipperaryfame/rebel798.htm



James Dixon arrived in January, 1800 and is the most well-known of the three priests who arrived in the early colony. He quickly gained the approval of the government. He was an educated member of the middle class. Governor King allowed him to run a school, thinking that this might instil proper ideas in the minds of his pupils. King knew that there were real grievances amongst the Irish. Some were transported without trial and there were no papers for some. There were always threats of Irish uprisings. Governor King thought that maybe allowing a priest to work amongst them might soften their grievances. He was given conditional emancipation and allowed to exercise his priestly ministry. The first public Mass was celebrated in Sydney on 15 May, 1803. Following that, Masses were rotated on Sundays between Sydney, Parramatta and the Hawkesbury. Dixon also celebrated weddings and baptisms and was allowed to attend prisoners who were going to the gallows.

When news got to Rome, Fr James Dixon became the first Catholic Church appointment in Australia. Fr Dixon’s Masses were tied up with rules:

- Catholics could only attend their local Mass and couldn’t travel to one of the other Masses- People couldn’t use Mass as a place to talk against the authorities- The military were present at all Masses.

However, the Governor also warned Protestants not to interfere with Catholic practice of the faith. Governor King was so pleased that he decided to pay Dixon 60 pounds per year. However, early in March, 1804 there was a rebellion of Irish convicts at Castle Hill. The governor thought that Dixon’s masses were cover for planning this and withdrew the permissions and the salary. Fr Dixon lived privately at Parramatta for five years, being supported by Catholics and even some Protestants. He celebrated baptism and weddings. He returned home to Ireland in 1808. Under the decision of Samuel Marsden, Catholics were again forced to worship with Anglicans.

Jeremiah O’ Flynn arrived in 1817. He had been a missionary in the West Indies before being appointed by Rome to Botany Bay. The British Government wouldn’t agree to his appointment, so he just set sail for Sydney. He told Governor Macquarie that his papers were following. He had to agree not to officiate at any Catholic services until his papers arrived. He ignored this, celebrating Mass, baptisms and weddings. Macquarie ordered him out but he went into hiding. Months later he re-appeared and began to convert some of the soldiers to Catholicism. Catholic soldiers asked the governor for him to stay. He was expelled from Sydney in May 1818, but he left the Blessed Sacrament in Dempsey’s cottage.

The first official Catholic Chaplains were appointed.

In October 1819, the first official Catholic chaplains were appointed to the colony. “They were Philip Conolly and Joseph Therry. Their arrival on Sydney Harbour on Tuesday, 3 May, 1820, is seen as the beginnings of formal Catholicism in Australia. By then, there were six or seven thousand Catholics in the colony.” (Campion, p. 13)

Philip Conolly was 34 and was technically in charge. He got on well with the government, but was transferred after a year to Tasmania. Within eight months he had built a small timber chapel in Hobart, said to be the first separate Catholic Church in Australia. He ended up in disputes with the church about land titles, rough behaviour and other matters. He was suspended from priestly ministry, to which he sued for defamation. He died in 1839, aged 53. He was reconciled to the church by Father John Therry.

John Joseph Therry was 30 when he arrived. He intended to only stay for four years and then return to Cork in Ireland. He was a heroic figure who took on the role of Church building. He dreamed of a great Gothic structure. With government support, the Governor laid the foundation stone for St Mary’s chapel in 1821, but government funds dried up and were withdrawn in 1827. “In 1828, an observer described St Mary’s by moonlight as looking like a ruined abbey. It wasn’t until 1833, 12 years after the foundation stone was laid that the first Mass could be celebrated there.

Catholic people loved Therry for his devotion to duty. They delighted in passing on stories of those years~

-He kept a horse saddled at his door in case he had to go out urgently to someone in need

-He pulled himself by rope across a flooded river to hear a condemned man’s confession

-He ran to Government House with proof of a condemned man’s innocence and saved his life with minutes to spare

-He argued for the rights of Catholic convicts not to have to attend Protestant services


-He fed Aboriginal people who camped in his yard (Campion,pp.16-17)

Therry worked under most difficult circumstances. In June 1825, he wrote in the Sydney Gazette of his hopes to build Catholic schools. He ended by saying that he had ‘unqualified respect’ for Anglican ministers, but a typographical error left out the prefix and it appeared as an insult of ‘qualified respect’. He could prove that the insult was not his, but his official position as chaplain was cancelled and his salary stopped. Governor Darling tried to send him home, even though he said that he would work for no pay. The Governor was worried about moving against Therry as he was so popular. In Hobart, Therry’s nominal superior, Philip Conolly “denigrated his brother priest as impudent, vain, unlettered, conceited and affected. Worse: he was money-hungry” (Campion, p. 18). He did acquire wealth, but it seems that he used it to help the poor. He did not get on with his replacements, Daniel Power and Christopher Dowling. He remained a hero to his people, particularly in light of his harsh treatment by the government.On the Pittwater Parish website, you can see a picture and information about an early church that Fr Therry built at Careel Bay. http://cathchurch.net/nsw/parish/Pittwater.htm#HISTORIC Historic and modern pictures of St Mary’s Cathedral as well as historic information including about Fr John Therry are available at http://www.sydneyarchitecture.com/cbd/cbd2-002.htm ).

John McEnroe who arrived in 1832. His humanity was clear to all. He was an alcoholic; however he managed to give up the drink. He had abilities of analysis and foresight and the new vicar-general William Ullathorne relied on him for this. He saw the need for Episcopal leadership and wrote to Archbishop Murray in Dublin, saying that the colony needed a bishop.

John Bede Polding, an English Benedictine who became the first bishop of the colony. He served in Sydney for 42 years commencing in 1835. He arranged for Catholic convicts arriving by ship to spend several days with him at the cathedral. “By 1841, some 7000 convicts had experienced Polding’s spiritual power in a ministry unique in Australia’s early history” (Campion, p. 21). Polding’s aim was to serve the poor. He also travelled thousands of miles to spiritually lead people. He saw himself as a missionary.

The vicar-general, William Ullathorne, however, felt that Polding’s passion for mission meant that he didn’t have time to attend to the day to day work of being a Bishop. “The vicar-general came to see that the bishop’s dreams over-taxed reality.” (Campion, p. 22). Bishop Polding also wanted to keep the colony as a Benedictine colony (his religious order). He found it difficult getting Benedictine volunteers to come but still sent home members of other orders. He never gave up on this dream. When he died in 1877, there were 11 male Benedictines in Australia.

William Bernard Ullathorne arrived in 1833. He was sent with the powers of the vicar-genera (person commissioned to act on behalf of the Bishop) of Mauritius who had distant oversight of the Australian church. He was a 26 year old Benedictine priest. “He had two qualities necessary for survival on the frontier: enormous self-confidence and a belief in ecclesial (church) authority (Campion, p.21). As vicar-general, he was Therry’s superior. He began to make church authority felt in colonial Australia. He remained the vicar-general under Bishop Polding.

The Unique Character of the Australian Catholic Church

In the 1800s, Rome was becoming ever more conservative (e.g. the conservative encyclical was called the “Syllabus of Errors” released in 1864) the Church in Australia in a way seemed immune from such ideas, intent on surviving in a harsh land. There were in some cases good relationships between Protestants and Catholics. Fr McEnroe in Sydney and Fr Geoghegan, the first priest of Melbourne continually spoke of religious tolerance. John O’Shanassy, an Irish Catholic led the campaign for Jewish freedom. On the other hand, Protestants and Catholics were at times polarised. Catholics were a minority, but with a history of Irish rebellion were able to show their power on the streets.

Significant Women in the Colony

Caroline Chisholm

T h e S t o r y o f t h e C a t h o l i c C h u r c h i n A u s t r a l i a – S t a g e 3 P a g e | 1 0

http://www.sydneyarchitecture.com/cbd/cbd2-002.htm

http://cathchurch.net/nsw/parish/Pittwater.htm#HISTORIC

An English woman, Caroline Jones, was born on 30 May 1808, near Northhampton, England. She became a Catholic at nineteen, married Lieutenant Archibald Chisholm in 1830. She came to the colony with her husband who was an Indian army officer on leave from Madras. She soon made her passion for social justice active in the colony.

In 1836 the government began an assisted immigration scheme to Australia. In fifty years, over 200 000 assisted immigrants came, nearly half of them Irish. The difficulty of settling people, especially young girls in the colony was discerned as a problem by Caroline Chisholm. “Confronted by the neglect of newly arrived immigrants generally, and particularly distressed by the spectacle of the single females drifting into prostitution, she determined that, as no other seemed willing to begin to help, she would. In New South Wales from 1838 to 1846 she made over her life to the cause and comfort of the emigrant poor, favouring neither country nor religion, only need.” (O'Farrell, 1985 p 84)

Caroline worried about young girls finding work and housing in Sydney, and felt that they would be better moving to the country. She used to meet each ship as it arrived in the harbour. She made friends with the young girls, helped them find jobs in Sydney or to re-locate to the country. She travelled with young women who agreed to start new lives in the country. She won government support in setting up a hostel for young women arriving from Europe. In six years, she managed to place 11 000 people.

She returned to England in 1846 and set up her own family colonisation society with the support of Charles Dickens. Some of the things she organised with this society:

Improved conditions on ships to Australia Made it easier for colonists to send money home Organised a missing persons’ bureau Answered thousands of queries about Australia.

In 1854 Caroline Chisholm returned to the colony, this time to Victoria, amidst the turmoil of the gold rushes, to continue her work. In 1877 she died in England, poor, bedridden and in obscurity. Her tombstone bore a just tribute: 'the emigrant's friend'.

This remarkable woman was sustained by her faith. She vowed not to judge people by race or creed. She developed wonderful relationships between Christian denominations. In the school she set up in her immigrants’ home, the teacher was Presbyterian, and the chaplains were Catholic and Anglican. Unfortunately, “clerical jealousy handicapped her work: Protestants thought that she was a tool of the priests; Catholics thought she would be making converts. Polding did not like her- he thought her unfeminine. She survived them all as well as poverty and illness” (Campion, pp.24-25)

However, Australian history has a special place for Caroline Chisholm, her contribution so significant that her portrait was placed on the first $5 note. The Diocese of Broken Bay has recognised Caroline’s contribution by naming its main office “ The Caroline Chisholm Centre” in recognition of her work for ~ social justice, women, Catholic faith and ecumenism in Australia.

The Sisters of Charity

In 1838 five Sisters of Charity arrived in Sydney from Ireland - these sisters were the first religious sisters to arrive in Australia. Their first Ministry was to female convicts in the Parramatta jails. They then extended their role to establishing schools in the Sydney district. The Sisters of Charity have remained in education on the East Coast of Australia since this time and have been involved in Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Institutes.


http://www.rba.gov.au/Museum/Displays/_Images/1960_1988/chisholm_5_dollar_back_big.jpg

Mary MacKillop and Her Importance in the Early Australian Catholic ChurchMary’s Story http://www.marymackillop.org.au/marys-story/beginnings.cfmSisters of St Joseph http://www.sosj.org.au/who-we-are/index.cfm?loadref=105 Interactive Timeline http://www.bne.catholic.edu.au/religious-education-mission/ReligiousEducationCurriculum/Documents/learning-objects/mary-mackillop/bce-index.html Mary Helen MacKillop was born in Fitzroy, Melbourne on 15 January 1842. However, when she was baptised six weeks later she received the names Maria Ellen. Her father, Alexander, was educated in Rome for the priesthood but left before his ordination. He decided to migrate to Australia and arrived in Sydney in 1838. Her mother, Flora MacDonald, left Scotland and arrived in Melbourne in 1840. They were married in Melbourne on 14 July 1840 and eventually had eight children. The other children were Margaret (Maggie) 1843-1872, John 1845-1867, Annie 1848-1929, Lexie (Alexandrina) 1850-1882, Donald 1853-1925, Peter 1857-1878 and Alick (died at 11 months,1847).

Mary, the eldest of their children, was educated at private schools and by her father. She started work at the age of fourteen as a clerk in Melbourne and later as a teacher in Portland. To provide for her needy family Mary took up a job as governess in 1860 with her Uncle, Alexander Cameron, at Penola in South Australia. She was to look after their children and teach them. Already set on helping the poor whenever possible, she included the other farm children on the Cameron estate as well. This brought her into contact with Father Julian Edmund Tenison Woods, who had been the parish priest in the South East since his ordination to the priesthood, after having completed his studies at Sevenhill, in 1857.

Mary MacKillop and Father Julian Tenison Woods

Fr Woods was ordained as a Jesuit at Sevenhill in the Clare Valley in South Australia in 1857. He was soon sent to work in Penola in the South East of South Australia. He had a parish that covered 5 600 square kilometres, with much of the land being desert. Many of the people were pioneers who were trying to make a living in a harsh land as farmers, shepherds, timber workers and miners. There were three towns in the parish - Penola, Mt Gambier and Robe. The rest of the people were scattered through the bush. Fr Julian rode 30 or 40 miles per day suffering from heat, exhaustion and thirst. He saw and experienced the desperate needs of the people. He remembered French nuns who travelled around the country teaching poor children. He saw the need for an order of nuns to do the same in South Australia. His idea came to light when he met Mary MacKillop in 1861.

Father Woods invited Mary and her sisters Annie and Lexie to come back to Penola and open a Catholic school there. In 1866 a school was opened in a stable and after renovations by their brother, the MacKillops started teaching more than fifty children. When Father Woods started his school he was soon appointed Director of Education and became the founder, with Mary, of the Sisters of St Joseph who would teach in his schools.

The Sisters of St Joseph

In 1867 Mary became the first Sister, and Mother Superior, of the newly formed Order of the Sisters of St Joseph and moved to the new convent in Grote Street, Adelaide. Dedicated to the education of the children of the poor, it was the first religious order to be founded by an Australian. The rules written up by Father Woods and Mary for the Sisters to live by were: an emphasis on poverty, a dependence on Divine Providence, no ownership of personal belongings as God would provide and the Sisters would go wherever they were needed. The rules were approved by Bishop Sheil. By the end of 1867 ten other Sisters had joined the Josephites.

By the end of 1869 more than seventy Sisters were educating children at twenty-one schools in Adelaide and the country. Mary and her Josephites were also involved with an orphanage, neglected children, girls in danger, the aged poor, in Johnstown near Kapunda a reformatory, a home for the aged and incurably ill. Generally, the Sisters were prepared to follow farmers, railway workers and miners into the isolated outback and live as they lived.

In December 1869 Mary and several other Sisters travelled to Brisbane to establish the Order in Queensland. Two years later she was in Port Augusta for the same purpose. In 1871 they also established a school in Burra.



http://www.marymackillop.org.au/marys-story/beginnings.cfm

Mary is Excommunicated

During 1871, Mary was wrongly excommunicated by Bishop Sheil, who was against most of the things she had fought for, on the grounds that 'she had incited the sisters to disobedience and defiance'.

When Mary MacKillop was excommunicated on the 22nd September 1871, she and 47 sisters also expelled from the Sisters of St Joseph, were forced to find accommodation and employment where-ever they could. During this time Mary dressed in street clothes. She had been ordered not to communicate with any of the sisters and anyone associating with her was liable to excommunication. Priests too were threatened with suspension if they supported any of the sisters, however, a few of them remained loyal friends. Most notable among them were Jesuits Fathers Hinterocker and Tappeiner from Norwood, South Australia.

Mary found accommodation with friends at various locations including Flinders St City, Walkerville and George St, Norwood. For a time she and some sisters rented rooms on the corner of Queen and William Streets, at the rear of the shop diagonally opposite St Ignatius Church at Norwood. While there the Jesuits encouraged and supported Mary and allowed her to pray and receive the sacraments because they believed her sentence was invalid and unjust.

After five months, when Bishop Sheil lay dying, he realised his mistake and revoked the excommunication. Later, an Episcopal Commission completely exonerated her.

The Josephites were reinstated in their habits during a ceremony, which took place in St Ignatius Church, Norwood on Tuesday 19 March 1872. It seemed fitting that this date was chosen as it was on the feast of St Joseph 1866 when the Sisters of St Joseph officially began at Penola.

Twenty-four sisters, including Mary MacKillop, resumed their habits. As well, four postulants received theirs for the first time. During subsequent weeks further reinstatements brought to at least 35 the number of sisters who had renewed their allegiance to the Institute.

Mary’s Later Years

When she returned from Rome in January 1875, after an absence of nearly two years, she brought approval from Rome for her Sisters and the work they did, materials for her school, books for the convent library, several priests and, most importantly, 15 new Josephites from Ireland. Regardless of her success, she still had to contend with the opposition of priests and several bishops. This did not change after her unanimous election as Mother General of the Josephites.

By 1877 the Order operated more than forty schools in and around Adelaide, with many others in Queensland and New South Wales. With the help from Dr Benson, Barr Smith, the Baker family, Emmanuel Solomon and other non-Catholics, the Josephites, with Mother Mary as their leader and Superior-General, were able to continue the Religious and other good works, including visiting prisoners in gaol.

After the appointment of Archbishop Vaughan of Sydney in 1877 life became a little easier for Mary and her Sisters. Until his death in 1882 Father Joseph Tappeiner had given Mary his solid support and until 1883 she also had support of Bishop Reynolds of Adelaide. However, after the death of Vaughan, Adelaide Bishop Reynolds changed and had only one aim and that was to destroy Mary and the Josephites. If that could not be done he would at least try to bring them under his control. Reynolds was successful in exiling Mary and her removal as Superior-General but in no way did he succeed in crushing her, her Sisters or the Josephites and bring them under his control.

Although still living by begging, the Sisters had been very successful. In South Australia they had schools in many country towns including, Willunga, Willochra, Yarcowie, Mintaro, Auburn, Jamestown, Laura, Sevenhill, Quorn, Spalding, Georgetown, Robe, Appila and several others. Mary MacKillop continued her work for the Josephites in Sydney and tried to provide as much support as possible for those in South Australia. In 1883 the Order was successfully established in New Zealand, where Mary stayed for three years, and in 1889 in Victoria.


During all these years Mary assisted Mother Bernard with the management of the Sisters of St Joseph. She wrote letters of support, advice and encouragement or just to keep in touch. By 1896 Mary was back in South Australia visiting Sisters in Port Augusta, Burra, Pekina, Kapunda, Jamestown and Gladstone. That same year she travelled again to New Zealand to establish the Sisters and a school on the South Island.

After the death of Mother Bernard, Mary was once more elected unopposed as Mother Superior-General, a position she held until her own death. During the later years of her life she had many problems with her health which continued to deteriorate. She suffered from rheumatism and after a stroke in New Zealand in 1902, became paralysed on her right side. For seven years she had to rely on a wheelchair to move around but her speech and mind were as good as ever. Even after suffering the stroke, the Sisters had enough confidence in her to re-elect her in 1905.

Mother Mary MacKillop died on 8 August 1909. After her burial people continuously took earth from around her grave and as a result her remains were transferred, on 27 January 1914, to a vault before the altar of the Mother of God in the Memorial Chapel in Mount Street Sydney. The vault was a gift of Joanna Barr Smith a life long friend and admiring Presbyterian. After her death, the Sisters of St Joseph continued with the education program and in 1911 opened a new school at Terowie.

Mary was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 19 January 1995 and canonised by Pope Benedict XVI on October 17, 2010.

Catholic Religious Orders in Australia

Catholic Religious Orders increased dramatically towards the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th Centuries. Each order had its own code of behaviour and habits or way of dressing. Their members served in fields such as education, mission, welfare and health. They have made significant impact on the Australian Catholic community and on Australian life as a whole. Australian society has depended upon and benefited from the education, wealth and mission work provided by Catholic religious orders.

Begun by the Brown Josephites with Mary MacKillop, other orders began to become involved in education. Between 1880 and 1910, the Catholic Church relied on religious orders to expand its education system as government funding to religious schools in this era was cut off. In this period the number of teaching sisters expanded from 815 to 5000. Many of these sisters worked in poor and remote areas in very difficult situations.

The Christian Brothers were also pioneers of education in Australia. They came from Ireland and established schools firstly in Melbourne, then Sydney and then throughout the colonies. They focused on educating poor boys and were responsible for giving many the educational qualifications for careers in many fields. Their work improved the image of Catholic education.

The Influence of Catholic Religious Orders in Australia

http://www.catholicaustralia.com.au/page.php?pg=austchurch-religious

Brigidine Sisters~

Today http://www.brigidine.org.au/

History (Ireland) http://solasbhride.ie/our-history/

http://www.brigidine.org.au/about-us/index.cfm?loadref=11

Mercy Sisters~

History http://www.mercyfoundation.com.au/about-us/index.cfm?loadref=13

Today http://www.mercy.org.au/


http://www.mercy.org.au/

http://www.mercyfoundation.com.au/about-us/index.cfm?loadref=13


http://solasbhride.ie/our-history/

http://www.brigidine.org.au/


Josephite Sisters~

History http://www.sosj.org.au/who-we-are/index.cfm?loadref=16

Today http://www.sosj.org.au/

Good Samaritan Sisters~

History http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Sisters_of_the_Good_Samaritan

Today http://www.goodsams.org.au/

Dominican Sisters and Friars~

History http://www.op.org.au/history.php

Today http://www.dominicans.org.au/

http://stlucys.nsw.edu.au/index.php/spirituality/our-dominican-ethos

Loreto Sisters~

History (Australia) http://www.loreto.org.au/Home/Our-Story/Loreto-In-Australia.aspx

Today http://www.loreto.org.au/Home.aspx

Christian Brothers~

History http://www.erea.edu.au/about-us/our-story/edmund-rice/about-edmund-rice

Today http://www.edmundrice.org.au/cbop/about-us/christian-brothers

Augustinian Priests~

History http://www.augustinians.org.au/augustinians/history.html

Today http://www.augustinians.org.au/augustinians.html

Jesuit Priests~

History http://www.jesuit.org.au/our-community/our-story


http://www.jesuit.org.au/our-community/our-story

http://www.augustinians.org.au/augustinians.html

http://www.augustinians.org.au/augustinians/history.html

http://www.edmundrice.org.au/cbop/about-us/christian-brothers

http://www.erea.edu.au/about-us/our-story/edmund-rice/about-edmund-rice

http://www.loreto.org.au/Home.aspx

http://www.loreto.org.au/Home/Our-Story/Loreto-In-Australia.aspx


http://www.dominicans.org.au/

http://www.op.org.au/history.php

http://www.goodsams.org.au/

http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Sisters_of_the_Good_Samaritan

http://www.sosj.org.au/


Today http://www.jesuitvocation.org.au/who-are-the-jesuits

Patrician Brothers~

History http://www.patricianbrothers.com.au/history/history/australia.html

Today http://www.patricianbrothers.com/spirituality/spirituality.html

Franciscan Friars and Sisters~

History http://www.franciscans.org.au/discover-us ( Franciscan Friars)

http://mficaust.org.au/past-to-present/dsp-default.cfm?loadref=26 (Franciscan Sisters)

Today http://www.franciscans.org.au/ (Franciscan Friars)

http://www.franciscans.org.au/ministry-and-mission (Franciscan Friars)

http://mficaust.org.au/ (Franciscan Sisters)

Marist Sisters, Priests, Brothers

History http://www.stpatschurchhill.org/st-patricks-church-sydney.html

Today http://www.maristyc.com.au/

Benedictine Sisters and Priests

History https://arcadiabenedictines.wordpress.com/page-one/our-history/

Today http://www.jamberooabbey.org.au/html/home.htm

http://www.benedictine.org.au/



http://www.jamberooabbey.org.au/html/home.htm

https://arcadiabenedictines.wordpress.com/page-one/our-history/

http://www.maristyc.com.au/

http://www.stpatschurchhill.org/st-patricks-church-sydney.html

http://mficaust.org.au/

http://www.franciscans.org.au/ministry-and-mission

http://www.franciscans.org.au/

http://mficaust.org.au/past-to-present/dsp-default.cfm?loadref=26

http://www.patricianbrothers.com/spirituality/spirituality.html

http://www.patricianbrothers.com.au/history/history/australia.html

http://www.jesuitvocation.org.au/who-are-the-jesuits

Founding of Religious Orders in Australia

Order Founder/ Country Year Introduced to Australia

Capuchin Franciscan Friars Francis of Assisi (Italy) 1879

Christian Brothers Edmund Rice (Ireland) 1843

De La Salle Brothers St John the Baptist De la Salle (France)

1906

Franciscan Friars Francis of Assisi (Ireland) 1879

Jesuit Fathers Ignatius Loyola (Austria) 1848

Marist Brothers Marcellin Champagnat (France) 1872

Passionists St Paul of the Cross (Ireland) 1887

Patrician Brothers Daniel Delaney (Ireland) 1883

Sacred Heart Fathers Jules Chevalier (France) 1885

Brigidine Sisters Daniel Delaney (Ireland) 1883

Sisters of Charity Mary Aikenhead (Ireland) 1838


Dominican Sisters of Australia Dominic Guzman(Ireland) 1867

Good Samaritan Sisters John Bede Polding (Australia) Founded in Australia in 1857

Little Sisters of the Poor Jeanne Jugan (France) 1884

Loreto Sisters Mary Ward (Ireland) 1875

Sisters of Mercy Catherine McAuley (Ireland) 1846

Presentation Sisters Honora (Nano) Nagle (Ireland) 1866

Religious of the Sacred Heart Madeleine Sophie Barat (France)

1881

Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Mary MacKillop and Father Julian Tenison Woods

(Australia)

Founded in Australia in 1866

Australian Catholic SchoolsMary MacKillop was responsible for creating the first school system in Australia. She and her sisters addressed many challenges in order to provide hope for many poor and marginalised children. In the late 1800s the population of Australia rose quickly sparked by the gold rushes and a desire for adventure in a ‘new land’. Schools had to be found for thousands of new children. In the old system there were national or government schools and church schools, both of which received government funding. A line of thinking arose mainly from Protestant and secular thinkers that Church and State should be separated. Catholics on the other hand argued for the continuation of government funding for church schools.

There was general agreement that there were many problems with the present schools. Most were shabby, often dark and not properly ventilated. They were run by untrained teachers who had little instructional materials. Some parents didn’t want to pay schools fees and others wanted their children to work instead of attending school. As a result the dual system was abolished and a centralised education system developed. This began in Victoria, with the other colonies following. By 1895 only State schools in Australia received government funding.

However, the change to funding did not mean the demise of Catholic schools. In fact, it made Catholic parents even more determined than ever to support a Catholic education system. The fact that religious nuns, brothers and priests taught in Catholic schools meant that wages were at a minimum. Catholics took great pride in their schools system which at times educated up to one fifth of Australian children.

The Australian Catholic system has developed into a leading educational system, as recognised by the Bishops of NSW in the document, “Catholic Schools at a Crossroads”.

“The Catholic school system is one of the “jewels in the crown” of the Catholic community in our region, with few parallels overseas. It has provided high-quality education to generations of young Australians and has been a major arm of the Church’s engagement with youth. Through our schools many others have also been positively affected…Catholic schools have contributed to the whole community through educating a significant proportion of its young people, through offering a distinctive vision and values, and through complementing the government school system and enabling choice and diversity in education.” (Catholic Schools at A Crossroads Pg 6, http://www.cecnsw.catholic.edu.au/db_uploads/catholic-schools-at-a-crossroads.pdf

The Australian Catholic Church in the Twentieth Century and into the Twenty-First Century


http://www.cecnsw.catholic.edu.au/db_uploads/catholic-schools-at-a-crossroads.pdf


In the twentieth century the early isolation of Australia diminished and world events and issues came closer to home, many of these affecting the Australian Catholic Church: Federation: When Federation happened in 1901, church and state was separated in Australia, preventing the

Commonwealth from imposing religion on its citizens.

World War 1: The church encouraged people to go to war, saying that it was a divine war against evil. However, many Catholics argued against conscription which the government tried to legislate in 1916, whilst most Protestants agreed with the idea. The Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Daniel Mannix was an open critic of conscription.

Depression: The Church struggled with less money for its operations; however Catholic organisations such as St Vincent De Paul joined the Salvation Army and other church organisations to feed the poor. The church also tried to find employment for people.

World War II: The Church supported Australia’s entry into this war which had moved closer to home. This time, there was hardly an argument against conscription. It was at this time that Australians became concerned about communism and many started to agitate against it.

Catholics in the post-war era The 1950s were a boom time for Australian Catholics. Numbers grew rapidly, increasing the proportion of Catholics in the Australian population. Many parishes were established in the new suburbs of the major cities and the number of priests, sisters and brothers continued to expand. The impact of all the effort expended on education was felt as Catholics made noticeable advances in socio-economic status, drawing near to the Australian population as a whole in educational attainment and prosperity. There was a high level of attendance at Mass and other devotional ceremonies, and many Catholics belonged to parish sodalities such as the Sacred Heart Sodality (for women) and the Holy Name Society (for men; it was reputed to have 100 000 members at one stage). At home, large numbers of families recited the Rosary every night or at least once a week, and in the community Catholics stood out because of practices like never eating meat on Fridays. The Catholic community had grown to be what the Irish bishops of the nineteenth century had worked for and dreamed of: a thriving Church based on the Irish model.

Yet in just a few years all this would change, partly in consequence of the enormous social change that Australia underwent in the 1960s and 1970s. One element of this change was the huge post-war influx of non-English-speaking immigrants, including more than a million Catholics from Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Germany, Croatia, Hungary and numerous other places. When it came to religion, these people had different aspirations, expectations, needs and patterns of participation from those of Catholics of the Irish mould. They needed to be able to attend Mass in their own languages and they needed schools for their children, and the Church responded in practical ways, obtaining priests from the main countries of origin of the immigrants and building new schools and churches at a phenomenal rate.

Vatican II: Like the rest of the Catholic world, Catholics in Australia embraced the changes of Vatican II. “The Second Vatican Council, also known as Vatican II, was the most significant twentieth century event in the Catholic Church. Held in Rome from 1962 to 1965, the Council was made up of the Pope (at first, John XXIII, and after his death in 1963, Paul VI) and all the bishops of the world. Its aim, as Pope John declared in announcing his plans to hold a council, was to 'open the windows of the Church'. Vatican II presented its teachings in the form of sixteen documents. These dealt with many matters such as the promotion of Christian unity, the recognition that non-Christian religions contain much that is true and holy, and the right of all people to religious freedom. But it was the four principal documents which were to bring about major changes in the practices of the Church and the lives of its members. These documents were on liturgy, Divine Revelation, the Church itself and its role in the modern world”.

http://www.catholicaustralia.com.au/church-documents

Vietnam War: In the beginning, the catholic view was to support this war as a war against communism, however as it dragged on Catholic pacifists against war began to emerge.

Changing Society: As globalisation has influenced societies throughout the world, so it has impacted upon the Catholic Church in both positive and negative ways. Women have gained greater roles in the Church. However, conservatism has begun to re-emerge as well. The church continues to live out its discipleship facing challenges of a new era.


http://www.catholicaustralia.com.au/church-documents

Today's Catholic CommunityThe outcome of all these changes in society and the Church is that today's Catholic community looks very different from that of the 1950s. Mass attendance rates have fallen; the number of priests, sisters and brothers is declining and their average age is increasing. The relationship between clergy and people has changed. Old forms of devotion are disappearing but there has been a growth of interest in alternative forms of prayer borrowed from a variety of cultures and traditions.

An array of leadership roles which were once the preserve of priests and religious -- in education, health care, parish life and many other fields -- has been filled by lay people, and lay people (by no means all Catholics) comprise virtually the entire staff at Catholic schools and the majority of students at Catholic theological colleges. Some Catholics see these changes as a tragedy which the bishops either have been powerless to stop or have conspired to promote, but most regard them as welcome evidence of a Church prepared to adapt to meet changing circumstances.

Yet the changes that have taken place have primarily been changes in rules and practices. The Church's teachings have been re-interpreted in the light of modern understandings of history, sociology, the sciences and other fields of human endeavour, and then re-expressed in language more suitable for the times. By and large, however, the teachings themselves have not changed.

Church’s Activities Today: The Catholic Church continues to be one of the biggest agents of social justice in Australia. It runs quality education, health and welfare systems and is a voice and agent for the poor and marginalised through its many social justice agencies. Though few in numbers, religious orders in Australia today have a significant role in supporting the spirituality and care of the community.

The Cultures of the Catholic CommunityFrom its earliest beginnings the first Catholics to reside in Australia were Irish convicts and a few marines. The arrival of non-English- speaking Catholic immigrants since the Second World War has added diversity to church life in Australia. Though sharing the same basic beliefs, Catholics from around the world have different ways of celebrating and expressing these beliefs. For example, the spirituality of the Italians places greater importance on the feasts of Mary and the saints than does the spirituality of those Catholics who have inherited an Irish tradition.

Besides cultural considerations the Catholic Church in Australia is made up of a number of different rites. Communities had been established at Rome, Alexandria, Antioch and Constantinople (Byzantium). These areas became major centres for Christianity. Each church evolved distinctive traditions shaped by local language, culture and history. From these traditions different rites were established. These rites have different liturgies with some have their own liturgical calendars. Most of Australia's Catholics belong to the Latin rite of the Catholic Church.

'This material is taken from R. Dixon (2005) The Catholic Community in Australia, Openbook Publishers: Adelaide. The material can also be found on the CD-ROM Australia's Religious Communities, published by the Christian Research Association in 2004. Both publications are available from www.cra.org.au

http://www.catholicaustralia.com.au/church-in-australia/history?highlight=WyJoaXN0b3J5Il0=

Student ContextT h e S t o r y o f t h e C a t h o l i c C h u r c h i n A u s t r a l i a – S t a g e 3 P a g e | 2 0

http://www.catholicaustralia.com.au/church-in-australia/history?highlight=WyJoaXN0b3J5Il0

http://www.cra.org.au/

Please adjust tasks to suit the student context of your class.

Developing the Partnership

Please make connections between the learning in this module and parents and the wider community.

Curriculum LinksIn your planning, please create links with other Key Learning Areas.

Planning a Quality Learning Sequence for your class

Quality religious education will be achieved only by deep thinking about where you are going and how you plan the learning journey to get there. Begin with the end in mind and then consider how you will build field to meet your goals. Remember that you cannot expect children to develop deep knowledge and understanding, unless you as teacher have deep knowledge and understanding yourself. According to the Quality Teaching Framework, quality teaching will occur when you ask yourself four questions: What do you want the students to learn? Why does the learning matter? What are you going to get the students to do (or produce)? How well do you expect them to do it?The suggested learning sequence has been planned through such a process. However, it cannot be written with the understanding of the student context of each class and relationship to other learning that is happening in the class. It is therefore necessary for you as teacher to plan your own unit, using this module as a support. Doing so is part of your role as an “activist professional” (a teacher who actively works to improve their professionalism).


Suggested Teaching, Learning and Assessment Experiences

These are suggested teaching and learning experiences. The essential part of teaching this module is that you, as teacher have deep knowledge and understanding of the subject matter. Reading in depth the “Background for the Teacher” and “Scripture in Context” will give you the basic understanding you need.

It is essential to use the whole module to plan your own unit. You might like to change the questions to suit your class. Your unit should be written in acknowledgement of the student context of your class. The suggested learning experiences are meant to be adapted for this purpose. You should design learning experiences for the purpose of formative and summative assessment. When designing quality learning experiences and assessments, they must address the outcomes, learning intentions and success criteria based on the enduring understandings of the module.

Australian Catholic discipleship has grown from the lives of many Catholics of the past

Key Concepts

D i s c i p l e s h i p c h a l l e n g e R e l i g i o u s o r d e r s J o s e p h i t e s V i c a r -

g e n e r a l

c o n v i c t s e x c o m m u n i c a t i o n e x o n e r a t i o n e d u c a t i o n s e t t l e m e n t

j o u r n e y i d e n t i t y m i s s i o n p i o n e e r s K i n g d o m o f G o d

g o v e r n o r s h i p l a i t y i n j u s t i c e i n s p i r a t i o n c o l o n y

m a r g i n a l i s a t i o n f a i t h r e l a t i o n s h i p c o n f l i c t C h u r c h

B i s h o p c o m m u n i t y c h a p l a i n s p o v e r t y p r i e s t s

What is Important for Students to Know and Do:

The first Australian Catholics were without priests for many years.

In the absence of priests, ordinary people became spiritual leaders.


Catholic faith developed even without priests in a very harsh environment in the early years of the colony.

Irish Catholics strongly influenced the development of the Catholic Church in Australia in the early years of the colony.

James Dixon was the first priest to become known in the colony. He arrived as a convict in 1800.

Philip Conolly and John Therry were the first official chaplains in the colony, arriving in 1819.

John Bede Polding was the first bishop in the colony.

William Ullathorne was the first vicar-general in the colony.

Caroline Chisholm was a lay woman who helped many young women in the colony.

The Sister of Charity were the first religious order of nuns in the colony.

Mary MacKillop started the Sisters of St Joseph with Julian Tenison Woods, and began the first system of schooling in Australia.

Mary MacKillop worked through many challenges, including being excommunicated.

Mary MacKillop is Australia’s first saint, but not Australia’s patron saint. Mary Help of Christians is Australia’s patron saint.

Enduring Understandings: The identity, growth and work of the Catholic Church in Australia grew out of the work of both significant and everyday

people in the early years of settlement. The work of people like Mary MacKillop and Caroline Chisholm against injustice have become a source of inspiration

to modern Australians. Mary MacKillop and other significant people in the early Catholic Church in Australia sought to bring about the kingdom

of God in their communities. Mary MacKillop showed us how to deal with challenge in the way that Jesus showed us. The Australian Catholic Church has a unique character which grew out of the early years. There are many religious orders who live and work to bring God’s love to the Australian people in different ways. Today as Catholics, we are challenged and commissioned by Jesus to work for the kingdom by service to others,

especially the poor and suffering. Today, the Australian Catholic Church works to bring about the Kingdom of God in society in fields such as health,

education, social justice, welfare, the environment and in parish communities.

Suggested Questions

How has our Australian Catholic discipleship today been influenced by the people of the past?

How are our l ives inf luenced by the past?

How has discipleship in the Cathol ic Church in Austral ia developed from the ear ly years?


How is St Mary of the Cross MacKi l lop a model for discipleship in Austral ia?

How have rel ig ious orders in Austral ia l ived out discipleship?

How can we continue to grow our discipleship as members of the Catholic community in the diocese of Broken Bay?

Suggested Teaching, Learning and Assessment ExperiencesHow has our Australian Catholic discipleship today been influenced by the people of the past?

Introduce and display big question. Identify key phrase from the question e.g. “Australian Catholic discipleship”. Ask students to consider what they know about:

What it mean to be a disciple of Jesus

The Australian Catholic Church

Play “Give One, Get One”. Students record five things they know about each. Students walk around the room and when teacher stops them (e.g. by ringing a bell, clapping hands or stopping music) they ‘high five’ the closest person to whom they give and idea and get an idea. At the end of the session, ideas share their ideas as a class and these are recorded on butcher’s paper, which will be used for reflection at the end of the module.

Ask if students know what Bishop David Walker (Bishop of Broken Bay 1996-2013) and the Catholic School System in the Diocese of Broken Bay say about the call to Catholic discipleship. Read the statements from the RE Curriculum (Appendix 1) and add ideas to the butcher’s paper

How are our lives influenced by the past?

Ask children to think of a person who lived in the past who may have influenced their lives and how e.g. a grandparent or great grandparent may have established a family tradition such as what happens at Christmas; had talents such as musicianship/ sportsmanship that still are alive in the family; built a house that is still in the family; told family stories that are still remembered etc. Students draw a picture of this person (or bring in a photo) and one of themselves, connect these with a string. From the string they hang cards with ideas that connect themselves and this person. These can be displayed in the classroom.

Home School Connector: Ask students to look at old family photos with their parents/ carers and discuss how people from the past may have influenced their family today.

Shared wisdom is developed as students discuss in pairs generalisations from their family and class discussions, with questions like: Do you think that we are always influenced by the past? Why/ Why not? Are all influences good? If there have been negative influences from the past, how do you think we get over them? Students next form into squares and tell the other pair what their partner had said. The group then comes to shared wisdom and one member presents the group’s views to the class. Create a mind map.

Discuss how as a society in Australia we are influenced by people from the past both in positive and negative ways. Ask if children can think of any significant Australians of the past who have influenced that way we think, we live, we are as modern Australians. Students read information from Appendix 2 about three significant Australians of the past (John Simpson Fitzpatrick, Burnam Burnam and Nancy Wake). On post it notes, students write an impact of this person’s life on Australian society today and place under the person’s name which has been displayed. From this information, students each write their own statement about how each person has influenced Australian society today.

Students listen to “I am Australian” (Bruce Woodley and Dobe Newton). Students divide into groups each taking a verse and creating a group illustration about how the people in the verse have influenced life in Australia today. Lyrics are available at http://www.alldownunder.com/oz-u/songs/i-am-australian-17.htm


http://www.alldownunder.com/oz-u/songs/i-am-australian-17.htm

How has discipleship in the Catholic Church in Australia developed from the early years?

Brainstorm all the different people, groups and organisations that exist in the Catholic Church in Australia today.

Create a mind map which groups and connects actions and activities of the Church. Ideas might include: churches; primary schools; high schools; schools for students with a disability; universities; priests; bishops, cardinals; deacons; nuns; brothers; hospitals; nursing homes; St Vincent De Paul stores; welfare organisations such as Centacare/Vinnies/ Marist Youth/ Youth off the Streets; social justice agencies such as Caritas/Catholic Mission/ Edmund Rice/ Columban Centre for Peace, Ecology and Justice; retreat centres; prayer groups; websites such as Eureka Street and Daily Prayer; liturgists; religious song writers.

Discuss how these people and groups might live out their call to discipleship. Ask students if they think all these groups and organisations would be here if it weren’t for people of the past. Why/why not?

Display statement: The Catholic Church in Australia is built on the shoulders of those who have lived before us. In pairs discuss what this statement means. Does it make sense? How do you think that this could be? Come together as a class to share ideas. Begin a timeline to show developments in the growth of the Catholic Church in Australia. Add to it as the module continues. An online timeline generator is available at http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/materials/timelines/***Introduce to students the concept of their research project which will become part of this module- they will be asked to research a significant figure from Australian Church history who has been an example of being a disciple of Jesus. As the unit progresses, students will choose their “notable” for their project based learning. As they learn about the early church, they should begin to consider who they would like to research.****

The Early Years to the Beginning of the Twentieth CenturyAsk children if it would be possible to have a Catholic Church without a priest. Tell them that believe it or not, the church in Australia began without priests. It was a difficult time for the early Catholic people, but they had great determination to build the Catholic Church, support each other and wait until priests arrived. Many were Irish convicts who brought with them prayer books, Irish religious practices and a determination to survive in the new harsh land. View the video/DVD, ‘The Early Church: Part 1 The Priestless Years’.

Give students a list of things to watch for in the movie e.g. names of significant people and what they did; characteristics of such people; challenges and hopes for the people of the time; challenges and hopes for Catholics of the time; how the call to discipleship was sometimes lived out and sometimes not.

Discuss: although the situation was vastly different in colonial Australia, can you see any connections with life today, especially in regards to our call to be disciples of Jesus? What injustices existed then? What injustices do you think still exist today? Why do you think that is so? Do you think that the Catholic Church works to eliminate injustices? Is this always so?

Complete a reciprocal reading task using the information in the Background for Teachers of this module, “Australian Catholics in the Early Years of European Settlement.

Discussion involves~ summarising, question generating, clarifying, and predicting.

Children record their summaries of the text

View videos/DVDs which tell the stories of significant people from the early years The Early Church: Part Two, The Unconvicted Convict and Caroline Chisholm: The Emigrants' Friend. Discuss the importance of people like William Davis who became one of the leaders of the Catholic community in the absence of priests in the colony and Caroline Chisholm, the emigrant’s friend who was a woman who introduced social justice to many in the colony.


http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/materials/timelines/

Use MP3 players to create a radio program in which Australian Catholics who lived in the early years of the colony are interviewed about their lives, including their challenges and joys. These can be turned into a podcast to be shared in the school community OR write a newspaper article/ create a character profile/ biography about them OR have children dramatise the stories and make a movie OR have a ‘Night of the Notables’ which focuses of significant figures from the story of the Catholic Church in Australia. Try to include all the significant people described in the early years/ Background for the Teacher.

Begin a cause/effect chart on wall/ IWB which shows an event/ person/ group of people in the early church with an arrow showing how they demonstrated discipleship. In another column list the challenges they faced. This should be added to as the unit continues. Use Appendix 3.

OR

Reflect about understandings about Catholic discipleship from the Diocese of Broken Bay. Create posters about how some of these significant Catholics were disciples of Jesus. Begin a discipleship ladder which shows how Catholics of each era have built discipleship in Australia.

From 1900 until nowRead information from the Background for the Teacher in this module, The Australian Catholic Church in the Twentieth and Into the Twenty First Century. Add points to the timeline which already contains information about the early years. Ask students, did the challenges for Catholics go away as time went on or did they change? If so, then how?

Home School Connector Interview a grandparent/ older friend/ older parish member about what they remember about the Catholic Church as they were growing up. Ask how it was different from the church of today. Ask if they think that the changes have helped or hindered the church. Why/why not? Ask how they would like the Catholic Church in Australia to be. Record responses and bring to class discussion.

Add more to the discipleship ladder, showing how people of the twentieth and twenty first centuries have lived out their discipleship.

How is St Mary of the Cross Mackillop a model for discipleship in Australia?

Explore the story of Mary MacKillop using a variety of resources with a focus on her discipleship as she reached out to the poor and marginalised in Australian society of the time~

Mary’s Life Story ~ Click on ‘Mary’s Story’ http://www.marymackillop.org.au/marys-story/beginnings.cfm

Learning Object from the Diocese of Brisbane ( click on the Mary MacKillop Learning Object) http://www.bne.catholic.edu.au/religious-education-mission/ReligiousEducationCurriculum/Pages/LearningObjects.aspx

Interactive Timeline http://www.bne.catholic.edu.au/religious-education-mission/ReligiousEducationCurriculum/Documents/learning-objects/mary-mackillop/bce-index.html

Behind the News video clip ( produced before Mary’s canonisation, but tells the story of her life and work effectively) http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s3031894.htm

Mary MacKillop’s Story from the Sisters of St Joseph http://www.marymackillop.org.au/_uploads/rsfil/000395_baba.pdf

The Canonisation https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL28EEF12F9E8A5609

Information and activities for senior primary students from the website of the Sisters of St Joseph http://www.marymackillop.org.au/resources/dsp-collection.cfm?loadref=255&categoryid=100&subcategoryid=104


http://www.marymackillop.org.au/resources/dsp-collection.cfm?loadref=255&categoryid=100&subcategoryid=104

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL28EEF12F9E8A5609

http://www.marymackillop.org.au/_uploads/rsfil/000395_baba.pdf

http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s3031894.htm

http://www.bne.catholic.edu.au/religious-education-mission/ReligiousEducationCurriculum/Pages/LearningObjects.aspx



School visit to Mary MacKillop Place http://www.marymackillopplace.org.au/museum/dsp-default.cfm?loadref=118

Information about Mary and her canonisation http://www.marymackillop.org.au/marys-story/dsp-default.cfm?loadref=193

Mary MacKillop Penola Centre http://www.mackilloppenola.org.au/

Information from the Background for the Teacher in this module

Watch DVDS ( available from Mary MacKillop Place)

Pavlou, Kay, Mary, Ronin Films, Canberra, ACT, Australia, 1994.

Sisters of St Joseph, Long Have I Loved You, Catholic Communications, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 1993

Listen to songs about Mary and reflect on words

Brown, Monica & Russell, Maggie, Mary of the Cross from If I Could Tell the Love of God CD, Trustees of the Sisters of St Joseph, North Sydney, NSW, Australia, 1995.

Include sayings of Mary in class prayer time . These are available in the “Little Brown Book” and the “Little Brown Book Too” by Sue and Leo Kane ( Available from Mary MacKillop Place)

Make a flow chart of Marys life, with students creating frames for the chart either individually, in pairs or in small groups.

Introduce students to core scripture. This scripture from St Pauls Letter to the people of Philippi has been called “the Christ Hymn” because it sums up who Jesus was. Reflect with students why this may be so. Then discuss how it may apply to Mary MacKillop’s life and thus her role as disciple of Jesus. Complete a Lectio Divina In Community about this passage (Directions from Bishop David available at http://www.dbb.org.au/_uploads/_ckpg/files/Lectio%20Divina.pdf (Appendix 4). A Digital clip of Bishop David explaining Lectio Divina can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqeBV3PC01g

Phil 2:6-11Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death- even death on a cross.

Assessment GRHD S3.1a, SS 3.5b From the core scripture, students complete a grid with two columns. In one column show/write what Mary did to bring about the Kingdom of God into her time by being a disciple of Jesus and in the opposing column what that meant she didn’t do. Add further ideas that aren’t in the scripture. Think of a discipleship action for your self that will apply to the ’Christ hymn’. Write a commitment to this discipleship action through which you will be participating in bringing about the Kingdom of God in your life. Appendix 5. This task may be carried out interactively.

How have religious orders in Australia continued to develop discipleship in Australia?Brainstorm religious orders that children know of…ask why if they all work to be disciples of Jesus, they formed into different congregations. The answer to that question is probably complex, however basically they all arose to meet a need in their communities and so found a particular way of seeing their discipleship. We call this spiritual gift a “charism”. Children write about their own spiritual gifts or charisms and place them in a bowl on the prayer table.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqeBV3PC01g

http://www.dbb.org.au/_uploads/_ckpg/files/Lectio%20Divina.pdf

http://www.mackilloppenola.org.au/

http://www.marymackillop.org.au/marys-story/dsp-default.cfm?loadref=193


http://www.marymackillopplace.org.au/museum/dsp-default.cfm?loadref=118

Investigate the charism of your school community, exploring

The history of how the founding order established your school

Symbols, prayers, works of this religious group

What influence this charism has on life in your community today? ***See websites in Background for the Teacher***

Invite a member of the founding order (or order to which your school community relates) to come and discus with the students how discipleship was lived out in the past on their community and continues to be lived out today. Ask what challenges their community faces and decipher the similarities and differences with communities of the past.

Find second core scripture in bibles (1 Cor 12:4-11). Explore questions:

What do you think it means~ There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.

How do you think that different religious orders share their gifts in different ways?

What does the ‘common good’ mean and how do we work for it?

How can we heal others without doing miracles in the same way we hear about in the scriptures?

What sort of prophecy (speaking the Good News) can we engage in?

If we can’t speak out in different tongues/ languages, how can we reach out to people from different cultures, especially disadvantaged people such as refugees?

Compare two religious orders in Australia by comparing websites. Make a Venn diagram. This could be done interactively using http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/venn_diagrams/ or http://www.classtools.net/education-games-php/venn_intro

Discuss whether Jesus’ disciples always got it right or if sometimes they did the wrong things. Discuss how we are always learning as disciples and we don’t always get it right. Discuss whether it was right for example for religious orders to take Aboriginal children into homes away from their parents in days gone by. Discuss why they may have thought that what they were doing was right, why it was wrong and how we have learned from their mistakes as well as the good things they did.

Research Project Assessment CD S 3.3b, GRHD S 3.1a, SS 3.5b Research a significant figure/ religious group who has/have helped to build discipleship in Australia. Choose a scripture passage that captures their mission and show how. Choose a way of telling their story in light of discipleship, either interactively or not. As a class create a rubric that will set explicit quality criteria for the task. Some concepts to consider:

The story of his/her life.

The historical setting; what was happening that may have called them to discipleship?

What was similar and different about the way they viewed life from the way we view life today?

What challenges did they face? Can they be related to challenges in today’s society?

How do you think they lived out the message of the Scriptures? Do you think they may have interpreted the scriptures in a different way to us according to some of their actions?

What impact does their life story have in today’s world?

What can you learn from them about living your life as a disciple of Jesus?

How can we continue to grow our discipleship as members of the Catholic community in the Diocese of Broken Bay?Ask students what it means to belong to the Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay. Some ideas might include:

A focus on Catholic discipleship, led by our previous Bishop, Bishop David Walker


http://www.classtools.net/education-games-php/venn_intro

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/venn_diagrams/

Our patron saint, Our Lady Star of the Sea and our symbol, the lighthouse shows that we are a diocese that embraces its own country which is near the sea

Our Diocesan centre, the Caroline Chisholm Centre, named after an ordinary woman in Australia shows that the role of women in the church is valued by our bishop

Our diocese acknowledges and is learning from its three Aboriginal nations, the Guring-gai people, the Dharug people and the Darkingjung people etc.

Discuss how today, our Diocese is continuing the traditions and work of the people of the early church in Australia. Invite parish priest/ other parish members to present their opinions. Look at the symbols/ language of our Diocese in Diocesan website/ publications such as Broken Bay News.

Finish timeline and reflect on learnings. Make generalisations about how we in the Catholic Church in Australia today stand on the shoulders of people of the past.

Look at the words of the ‘Australian Creed’. Take photos and make the prayer into a photo story/ create the prayer into individual/ group artworks. Include the prayer as part of class prayer throughout the year. The Australian Creed was developed by the Australian inclusive Language Project in Toowoomba. It is available on the Mary MacKillop website. It is beautiful creedal prayer which captures the best of what it means to be Australian and connects it with faith. http://www.marymackillop.org.au/_uploads/rsfil/000460_cbea.pdf

Prepare a liturgy to share leanings / projects etc. present projects to the school/ community, perhaps in the way of the Night of the Notables. Use the Australian Creed as part of the prayer. (Appendix 6)

Appendix 1:

Appendix 1:The Meaning of Catholic Discipleship ~ Religious Education Curriculum, Diocese of Broken Bay

The centrepiece of Catholic life and mission in Broken Bay Diocese is the call to Catholic Discipleship. It calls for an individual commitment realised in active membership of the Catholic Church, demonstrated by love, compassion, hope, reconciliation, transformation, prayer, respect for life and a desire to bring about justice for all.

As disciples of Jesus we are called to love one another, to take up our cross daily, to witness to the realisation of the Kingdom of God, to respond to Jesus in the midst of the world and its concerns. In this way we give our lives over completely to the Father. Such a giving of ourselves is not likely to be a one off event. In everyday life we find the need for constant renewal of our commitment. Our relationship with Jesus deepens as our life experience broadens and we come to know ourselves and Jesus better.

What Bishop David Walker says about Catholic Discipleship (Bishop of Broken Bay 1996-2013)

Catholic schools in the Diocese of Broken Bay exist to educate and form young people in Catholic discipleship: offering them experiences of following Jesus as members of the Catholic

community. This educational activity is not simply a human activity; it is a genuine Christian journey of faith. It is within this environment of faith that children are offered an education that develops the whole person, an education in being Catholic.

(In Diocese of Broken Bay Religious Education Curriculum, http://www.cso.brokenbay.catholic.edu.au/mission/pdfs/K-12%20RE%20Curriculum.pdf, pp. 11, 3)


http://www.cso.brokenbay.catholic.edu.au/mission/pdfs/K-12%20RE%20Curriculum.pdf

http://www.cso.brokenbay.catholic.edu.au/mission/pdfs/K-12%20RE%20Curriculum.pdf


Appendix 2:John Simpson Fitzpatrick John Simpson Fitzpatrick is probably the most famous soldier from the Gallipoli campaign despite the fact that he was only a private. He landed at Gallipoli on 25 April, 1915 and quickly found a donkey which he nicknamed “Duffy”. He carried the wounded soldiers down the Monash Valley on his donkey to the dressing station on the beach, putting himself in constant danger. The Indian soldiers thought that he was so brave that they called him Bahadur which means “bravest of the brave”. He was known to be witty, funny, selfless and heroic. He became the symbol of what it meant to be an ANZAC. His work lasted for less than a month as he was shot and killed on 19 May, 1915. Australians today look to the man with the donkey as a symbol of

what it means to be Australian.

http://anzacwebsites.com/manwithdonkey/simpson.htm



http://anzacwebsites.com/manwithdonkey/simpson-1000.jpg

Burnum Burnum (10 January 1936 – 18 August 1997) was an Australian Aboriginal activist, actor, and author. He was born a Woiworrung and Yorta Yorta man in southern New South Wales. He was christened Harry Penrith but took the name of his great grandfather, which means Great Warrior.

As a child, he was orphaned at an early age and spent many of his early years in children's homes run by the NSW Aborigines Welfare Board. The Welfare Board promoted his achievements in rugby league and surf lifesaving at Kempsey and reported that he left Kinchela to become an Aboriginal pioneer in the NSW Public Service, working for the Department of Agriculture, where he remained for 13 years. He also played first grade Rugby Union for Parramatta, and both rugby league and cricket.[2] While attending the University of Tasmania in the late 1960s, he led a successful movement to reclaim the remains of Truganni from the Tasmanian Museum for cremation

He may be best remembered for planting the Aboriginal flag on the white cliffs of Dover on the Australian Bicentenary Day of 26 January 1988. This was his tongue-in-cheek way of claiming England, as Arthur Philip had done to Burnum Burnum's homeland in 1788 when arriving with the first Fleet. Burnum Burnum was known as a gracious man who worked for the welfare of Aboriginal Australians. http://www.freebase.com/view/en/burnum_burnum


http://www.freebase.com/view/en/burnum_burnum

Nancy Wake

The White Mouse ( 30 August 1912- 7 August 2011). Nancy Wake was born in New Zealand but grew up in Australia and is one of the most decorated women of WW II. She was code-named the 'White Mouse' by the Gestapo because she continuously eluded capture. Living in Marseilles, France, between 1940 and 1942 she fought with the 'Resistance' and helped sabotage the Nazis thus saving the lives of hundreds of Allied Troops! Nancy was awarded the George Medal in July 1945 and was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in February 2004.

http://www.curriculum.edu.au/cce/default.asp?id=17565



Appendix 3:

THE JOURNEY TO DISCIPLESHIP BEGINNINGIN THE PRIESTLESS YEARS OF THE COLONY

Person/ Group of People

Actions Challenges they faced

How they showed discipleship

Appendix 4: T h e S t o r y o f t h e C a t h o l i c C h u r c h i n A u s t r a l i a – S t a g e 3 P a g e | 3 3

Lectio Divina

Opening prayer “Lord Jesus, you who are the Son of the Living God, teach me to listen to what you tell me in the holy Scriptures, and to discover your face there.” (Guigo II)

Reading: Getting to know the text 1. Take in all the elements of the text 2. Be aware of context, related texts, quotes 3. Note the key characters; what are key words? 4. Don’t choose any one thing to work with at this stage 5. You are becoming familiar with the text: gathering food for thought.

Meditation: Engaging with the text, making it my own 1. Here, faith life and the Word interact and seek integration 2. What does the text tell me about the God who speaks? 3. What does it tell me about responding to that God? 4. What does the text teach me about my faith life? 5. What do I need to do to transform my life? 6. We cannot do it alone; we are humbled, we turn to God in prayer.

Prayer: Let prayer emerge from your working with the text 1. This prayer emerges from our reading / meditation 2. It is shaped by our personal prayer practice 3. We seek the grace to achieve what emerged from meditation 4. Prayer commits us to transformation of life 5. All that we can do in prayer, is done here.

Contemplation: God’s response 1. What happens here, only God can give 2. Do not expect this to happen: go with it if it does 3. God does not wait, He breaks in and runs to meet us 4. There is no need to be silent to let God speak.

Action: Throughout the day 1. Now choose a word, phrase, sentence 2. Bring it to mind frequently during the day 3. Let it recapture the experience of your lectio 4. Use it especially in situations relating to your lectio 5. “Daily and hourly till the soil of the heart with the Gospel plough”.

Appendix 5:

****Note~ Children come up with own answers, ideas in red are to demonstrate how this task works. Use the blank below for students.


Mary MacKillop~ Disciple of JesusPhil 2:6-11

What she did What she didn’t doWas unselfish and never

conceitedAct with selfish ambition and

greedCared for others more Think of others as more

important than herselfWorried about the interests of

othersCare only about her own

interestsTried to act like Jesus Forget about Jesus

Acted with humility like Jesus Talk about how good she was

Mary MacKillop~ Disciple of JesusPhil 2:6-11

What she did What she didn’t doT h e S t o r y o f t h e C a t h o l i c C h u r c h i n A u s t r a l i a – S t a g e 3 P a g e | 3 5

My commitment to be a disciple of Jesus like Mary MacKillop

Appendix 6:

Celebration of ModulesLiturgy Outline

Li turgy Def in i t ion: “work of the peop le” ( i n t h i s c a s e - t h e c h i l d r e n )

A l i tu rg y t o ce le br a te m od ul e le ar n i ng us ua l l y ha s fo ur p a r t s o f w h i c h t he se c a n co nt a i n a l l o r s o me o ne o f th e su gg es t io ns .

Be fo re y o u be g i n s om e o t he r co ns id er a t i on s! ! Wh er e w i l l t h e l i t u rg y be ce le b r a t ed ? D oe s no t ha ve t o b e ce le b r a t ed i n t he c hu rc h o r t he c l as s r oo m. O u t do or s i s a

po ss ib i l i t y - w ea th e r p e rm i t t i ng .


Co ns id e r th e p l a c em en t o f ch a i r s a n d sa c r ed s pa ce . Wh o to i n v i t e ? (p a r en ts , s t a f f , p r i e s t e t c )

W E G A T H E R : Se t t i n g t he s ce ne S ac re d S pa ce ( c l o t h , ca n d le , B i b l e , i c on s e t c ) t o be c r ea te d i n t h i s pa r t . P ro ce ss i on H ym n o r so ng s o f w e l com e W el co me an d i n t r o d uc t i o n to c e l eb ra t i o n O pe n i n g p r ay e r

W E L I S T E N : St o r ie s F ro m th e B ib le O ut l i ne o f w ha t ha s bee n l e a r n t M ul t i me d ia p re se n t a t i on s D ra ma t i sa t i o n / d i a l o g ue o f s to ry H ym ns L i t u r g i ca l M ov em en t o f s t o r y S to r i es o f t he i r l i f e and f a m i l i e s R e l a t ed na r r a t i v e s ( eg Dr ea mt im e s t o r y )

W E R E S P O N D :Re sp on d in g to t he s t o r i e s H ym n o r so ng s L i t u r g i ca l m ov em en t P ra ye rs o f I n t e r ce ss ion P ra ye r M ul t i me d ia p re se n t a t i on s S ha r i ng wo rk f r o m mod u l e (e g a r tw or k )

W E G O F O R T H :Se nd in g F o r th R ec es s i o na l hy mn o r son gs L i t u r g i ca l m ov em en t P ra ye r T ha nk yo u s t a t e m en t

Liturgy can be followed by offer of hospitality

Possible Resources Th e r es ou rc es i n d i c a t ed b e lo w a r e r e c om me nd e d to as s i s t w i th t h e te ac h i n g o f t h i s mo du le . P le as e a dd o th e rs t ha t a re us ed .

Teacher

Clark, Cooper & Ferrier. 1995. The Ashton Scholastic history of Australia. Sydney: Ashton Scholastic.

Dixon, Robert. 1996. The Catholics in Australia. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.

Doyle, B. 1995. The story of Mary MacKillop Teacher & Student text. Victoria: John Garratt.

Dwyer, B. & English, G. 1988. Catholics in Australia our story. Blackburn: Collins Dove.

Kiddle, Margaret. 1996. Caroline Chisholm. Carlton South: Melbourne University Press.

McGirr, Michael.ed. c. 1993.f. Australian Catholics. Richmond: Jesuit Publications.

O' Farrell, Patrick. 1995. The Catholic Church and Community. Kensington: NSW University Press.

Edward Schillebeeckx, Church: The Human Story of God, NY, Crossroad, 1990.


Inform; Faith and Life Matters, 121 Catholic Education Centre, Silverwater, 2009.The Australasian Catholic Record. Vol. 81, No. 4 Oct 2004.

Denis Edwards, BBI Holy Spirit E-Conference.

Patrick O’Farrell, The Catholic Church and Community in Australia: A History,Nelson, Melbourne, 1977.

Edmund Campion, Australian Catholics: The Contribution of Australian Catholics to the Development of Australian Society, Viking Penguin Books, Ringwood Victoria, 1987.

Catholic Schools at A Crossroads, http://www.cecnsw.catholic.edu.au/db_uploads/catholic-schools-at-a-crossroads.pdf

Diocese of Broken Bay Religious Education Curriculum, http://www.csodbb.catholic.edu.au/_uploads/ppage/files/K-12%20RE%20Curriculum.pdf

R. Dixon (2005) The Catholic Community in Australia, Openbook Publishers: Adelaide.

LabOra Worship

LiteratureEdwards, Ian. 1989. Papa and the olden days. Port Melbourne: Mandarin.

O'Brien, J. 1988. Around the Boree log. North Ryde: Angus and Robertson.

Tonkin, R. 1997. When I was a kid. St Leonards: Allen and Unwin

MusicWoodley, B. 1997. I am Australian. Sydney: EMI Music Australia.

Websites

Mission and Religious Education (Lighthouse) http://missionandreligiouseducation.dbbcso.org/Church historyhttp://www.catholicenquiry.com/about-us/the-journey-of-the-catholic-church-in-australia.html http://www.sydneycatholic.org/people/archbishop/homilies/2003/2003511_112.shtml

Mary MacKillopMary’s Life Story ~ Click on ‘Mary’s Story’ http://www.marymackillop.org.au/marys-story/beginnings.cfm

Learning Object from the Diocese of Brisbane ( click on the Mary MacKillop Learning Object) http://www.bne.catholic.edu.au/religious-education-mission/ReligiousEducationCurriculum/Pages/LearningObjects.aspx

Interactive Timeline http://www.bne.catholic.edu.au/religious-education-mission/ReligiousEducationCurriculum/Documents/learning-objects/mary-mackillop/bce-index.html

Behind the News video clip ( produced before Mary’s canonisation, but tells the story of her life and work effectively) http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s3031894.htm

Mary MacKillop’s Story from the Sisters of St Joseph http://www.marymackillop.org.au/_uploads/rsfil/000395_baba.pdf

The Canonisation https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL28EEF12F9E8A5609

Information and activities for senior primary students from the website of the Sisters of St Joseph http://www.marymackillop.org.au/resources/dsp-collection.cfm?loadref=255&categoryid=100&subcategoryid=104

School visit to Mary MacKillop Place http://www.marymackillopplace.org.au/museum/dsp-default.cfm?loadref=118 Information about Mary and her canonisation http://www.marymackillop.org.au/marys-story/dsp-default.cfm?loadref=193

Mary MacKillop Penola Centre http://www.mackilloppenola.org.au/


http://www.mackilloppenola.org.au/


http://www.marymackillopplace.org.au/museum/dsp-default.cfm?loadref=118

http://www.marymackillop.org.au/resources/dsp-collection.cfm?loadref=255&categoryid=100&subcategoryid=104

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL28EEF12F9E8A5609

http://www.marymackillop.org.au/_uploads/rsfil/000395_baba.pdf

http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s3031894.htm





http://www.csodbb.catholic.edu.au/_uploads/ppage/files/K-12%20RE%20Curriculum.pdf

http://www.csodbb.catholic.edu.au/_uploads/ppage/files/K-12%20RE%20Curriculum.pdf


The Influence of Catholic Religious Orders in Australia


Brigidine Sisters~

Today http://www.brigidine.org.au/

History (Ireland) http://solasbhride.ie/our-history/


Mercy Sisters~

History http://www.mercyfoundation.com.au/about-us/index.cfm?loadref=13

Today http://www.mercy.org.au/

Josephite Sisters~

History http://www.sosj.org.au/who-we-are/index.cfm?loadref=16

Today http://www.sosj.org.au/

Good Samaritan Sisters~

History http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Sisters_of_the_Good_Samaritan

Today http://www.goodsams.org.au/

Dominican Sisters and Friars~

History http://www.op.org.au/history.php

Today http://www.dominicans.org.au/


Loreto Sisters~

History (Australia) http://www.loreto.org.au/Home/Our-Story/Loreto-In-Australia.aspx

Today http://www.loreto.org.au/Home.aspx


http://www.loreto.org.au/Home.aspx

http://www.loreto.org.au/Home/Our-Story/Loreto-In-Australia.aspx


http://www.dominicans.org.au/

http://www.op.org.au/history.php

http://www.goodsams.org.au/

http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Sisters_of_the_Good_Samaritan

http://www.sosj.org.au/


http://www.mercy.org.au/

http://www.mercyfoundation.com.au/about-us/index.cfm?loadref=13


http://solasbhride.ie/our-history/

http://www.brigidine.org.au/


Christian Brothers~

History http://www.erea.edu.au/about-us/our-story/edmund-rice/about-edmund-rice

Today http://www.edmundrice.org.au/cbop/about-us/christian-brothers

Augustinian Priests~

History http://www.augustinians.org.au/augustinians/history.html

Today http://www.augustinians.org.au/augustinians.html

Jesuit Priests~

History http://www.jesuit.org.au/our-community/our-story

Today http://www.jesuitvocation.org.au/who-are-the-jesuits

Patrician Brothers~

History http://www.patricianbrothers.com.au/history/history/australia.html

Today http://www.patricianbrothers.com/spirituality/spirituality.html

Franciscan Friars and Sisters~

History http://www.franciscans.org.au/discover-us ( Franciscan Friars)

http://mficaust.org.au/past-to-present/dsp-default.cfm?loadref=26 (Franciscan Sisters)

Today http://www.franciscans.org.au/ (Franciscan Friars)

http://www.franciscans.org.au/ministry-and-mission (Franciscan Friars)

http://mficaust.org.au/ (Franciscan Sisters)

Marist Sisters, Priests, Brothers

History http://www.stpatschurchhill.org/st-patricks-church-sydney.html

Today http://www.maristyc.com.au/

Benedictine Sisters and Priests


http://www.maristyc.com.au/

http://www.stpatschurchhill.org/st-patricks-church-sydney.html

http://mficaust.org.au/

http://www.franciscans.org.au/ministry-and-mission

http://www.franciscans.org.au/

http://mficaust.org.au/past-to-present/dsp-default.cfm?loadref=26

http://www.patricianbrothers.com/spirituality/spirituality.html

http://www.patricianbrothers.com.au/history/history/australia.html

http://www.jesuitvocation.org.au/who-are-the-jesuits

http://www.jesuit.org.au/our-community/our-story

http://www.augustinians.org.au/augustinians.html

http://www.augustinians.org.au/augustinians/history.html

http://www.edmundrice.org.au/cbop/about-us/christian-brothers

http://www.erea.edu.au/about-us/our-story/edmund-rice/about-edmund-rice

History https://arcadiabenedictines.wordpress.com/page-one/our-history/

Today http://www.jamberooabbey.org.au/html/home.htm


Maronite Catholic Church in Australia

http://www.maronite.org.au/

Famous Australians


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnum_Burnum#



General

http://www.catholic.org.au/ Australian Catholic Bishops Conferencehttp://www.australiancatholics.com.au/content/view/2/4/

http://www.catholicwelfare.com.au/ Catholic Welfare Australia

Prayer

Australian Creed http://www.marymackillop.org.au/_uploads/rsfil/000460_cbea.pdf

http://www.marymackillop.org.au/prayer-space/index.cfm?loadref=36


Lectio Divina

http://www.dbb.org.au/_uploads/_ckpg/files/Lectio%20Divina.pdf A Digital clip of Bishop David explaining Lectio Divina can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqeBV3PC01g

Teaching Tools

Venn Diagram http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/venn_diagrams/ or http://www.classtools.net/education-games-php/venn_intro

Time line generator at http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/materials/timelines/

Lyrics for “I am Australian”


Other websites

http://wallwisher.com/

http://www.wordle.net/



http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/materials/timelines/



http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/venn_diagrams/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqeBV3PC01g

http://www.dbb.org.au/_uploads/_ckpg/files/Lectio%20Divina.pdf




http://www.catholicwelfare.com.au/

http://www.australiancatholics.com.au/content/view/2/4/

http://www.catholic.org.au/



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnum_Burnum


http://www.maronite.org.au/


http://www.jamberooabbey.org.au/html/home.htm

https://arcadiabenedictines.wordpress.com/page-one/our-history/

http://www.tagxedo.com/

http://www.ning.com/

http://www.wikispaces.com/

Make short art-inspired stories http://storybird.com/

Capzles social storytelling http://www.capzles.com/

Useful Apps

Superbook Bible App The Holy Bible Bible for kids The Pope App

Educreations PuppetPals Show Me Comic Maker
