Any Christian faith community, including an educational faith community, if it is to be a living expression of a gospel culture, must ultimately find its sense of purpose and identity in Jesus Christ, Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB has said.
In addressing Catholic school principals and system leaders from across Western Australia at a Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral on Friday 19 November, Archbishop Costelloe gave thanks for their leadership throughout a challenging year and commissioned newly appointed principals in Catholic schools as well as newly appointed Director Religious Education of Catholic Education Western Australia, Deacon Mark Powell.
Joining Archbishop Costelloe to celebrate the Mass was Perth Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton, Vicar for Education and Faith Formation, Fr Vincent Glynn, Bunbury Bishop Gerard Holohan, Salvatorians Congregational Leader, Fr George Kolodziej SDS, Nollamara Parish Priest Fr Stanislaw Bendowski and assisted by Deacon Paul Reid.
Also present for the occasion was CEWA Executive Director, Dr Debra Sayce, UNDA Vice Chancellor, Prof Francis Campbell, CEWA Deputy Executive Director, Wayne Bull and the CEWA Executive team and Catholic Education community members.
Deacon Mark Powell, who commences as Director in 2022, is currently Principal at Good Shepherd Primary School in Lockridge. An experienced leader with more than 35 years of service to Catholic education, Deacon Mark has been an ordained minister for the past 15 years.
“As a dedicated and faith-filled Catholic leader, I am grateful for the opportunity to support children and young people in Catholic schools to grow in their knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the Catholic faith,” Deacon Powell says.
Married with three children, Deacon Mark said he is looking forward to bringing about a greater understanding of the effective development religious education programs can bring to a young person’s life.
“I am confident I can make a difference in making faith a lived experience for those around me, particularly in a world that is becoming increasingly secular.”
Continuing his homily, Archbishop Costelloe highlighted that our Catholic faith assures us that in the person of Jesus, in his words, his actions and his teaching, the mystery of God is fully and finally revealed.
“Catholic faith also assures us that the truth about God which, of course, also encompasses the truth about who we are as people called into life by God, is at the heart of the Church’s teaching, life and prayer.
“The Lord who lived and died, who rose again and ascended to his Father in heaven, is the same Lord who sent his Holy Spirit upon the apostles gathered around Mary in prayer, thus giving birth to the Church of which we are members,” he said.
Archbishop Costelloe emphasised that the Church exists to speak of Christ through word and action in such a powerful and grace-filled way that Christ continues to be present to the world in and through the Church.
“This profound truth,” Archbishop Costelloe highlighted, “both reveals the exalted mission and identity of the Church and at the same time shines a blinding light on the dark places of the Church’s failures to be what God desires us to be.”
Archbishop Costelloe continued saying that the leadership and governance of any Catholic community of faith, including a Catholic school, can and should be evaluated and assessed on this basis.
“And so, we must ask: is my school community, or the team I lead at CEWA, a community which speaks of and which gives witness to Jesus Christ, both in what we do and in what we say?”
At the conclusion of Mass, newly appointed and transferring principals from the Diocese of Perth, Broome and Bunbury were presented to the Bishops for commissioning and blessing.