Religion teachers reap rewards through Knights’ scholarship

21 Dec 2016

By The Record

University of Notre Dame Australia Dean of Education, Professor Michael O’Neill congratulates scholarship recipient Rodney Dowling. Photo: Supplied
University of Notre Dame Australia Dean of Education, Professor Michael O’Neill congratulates scholarship recipient Rodney Dowling. Photo: Supplied

By Caroline Smith

More than 40 teachers from schools across Western Australia were recently honoured with a scholarship offered by Catholic lay organisation, The Order of the Knights of the Southern Cross (KSC).

The scholarship – which enables teachers of religious education to further their knowledge with a choice of related subjects from the University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA) – was presented at a ceremony held at Leederville’s Catholic Education Office on 13 December.

KSC State Chairman, John Dwyer, addressed the group of teachers in addition to representatives from the Order, along with representatives from Catholic Education WA (CEWA) and of UNDA.

Order of the Knights of the Southern Cross State Chairman John Dwyer, who addressed the 42 recipients of an education scholarship offered by the order at a recent ceremony held at the Catholic Education office in Leederville. Photo: Supplied

The teachers came from Catholic primary and secondary schools both in metropolitan and country areas, and were selected with the help of Catholic Education and UNDA representatives.

Catholic Education Executive Director, Tim McDonald, also spoke, along with Dean of Education at the University of Notre Dame Australia, Michael O’Neill.

Mr Dwyer said he had been impressed by the high standard of scholarship recipients and the original pool of applicants.

“Altogether we had 80 applicants for the scholarships, with CEWA and UNDA representatives helping us to select 44 from those,” he said.

“Each applicant had to have a letter from their Parish Priest in order to apply. Our recipients came from across WA, with a number in country areas.”

Mr Dwyer added that the scholarship funds are awarded directly to Notre Dame University for allocation to the winners. The scholarships are for study at the Colleges of Theology and Education within Notre Dame University’s Fremantle or Broome campus.

The Knights of the Southern Cross WA have been offering scholarships since 1992 through their KSC Education Foundation, which includes board members recruited from within the Order and across the Catholic community.

The scholarships are advertised through the Catholic Education website and The eRecord, as well as through Catholic schools across WA which are sent application forms during the last term of each year.

For more information, please visit http://internet.ceo.wa.edu.au.