Educating almost one-in-five school-aged children in a state as vast as Western Australia is an enormous but extremely rewarding journey for Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA) teachers, educators and support staff.

A religious education program that teaches children ways to respond to God, while also incorporating their life experience and helping them understand God’s plan for them, is nearing completion.

Apriority for Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA) is providing equitable access to a Catholic education for Aboriginal students. Research supports CEWA’s concern that despite many Aboriginal children and young adults achieving educational success, a significant proportion of students are still acquiring low education outcomes and school completion rates.

Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA) has recently launched a resource to develop stronger pathways for students who are preparing to leave school.

Providing a quality, accessible and affordable faith-based education, while supporting families from diverse backgrounds and financial needs, are key commitments of Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA).

Learning is a lifelong occupation. This proposition is itself a truth that we learn as we journey through the many stages of life. I like to repeat the comment of Mark Twain when discussing lifelong learning. He said that, as an 18-year-old, he was amazed at how very little his father knew, but by the time he was 23 he was amazed to discover how much his father had learned! Twain came to appreciate the lifetime of learning and wisdom his father attained, even though Twain had failed to recognise it as an 18 year old. We begin to learn from birth and never stop.

Jesus’ mission that all should have life to the full is at the centre of the mission of Catholic schools across Western Australia.

We often hear parents telling their children to study hard at school, do well, get a good job and work hard. These are certainly noble principles but how often do we hear parents telling their children to, above all else, look for God?

In just a few weeks’ time, the people of Victoria will wake up in a brave new world in which state subsidised suicide and doctor-effected dying are lawfully practiced, despite every other statute in the law book upholding a completely different rule: ‘thou shalt not kill’.

Fr Pius Noonan OSB, Prior of Notre Dame Priory Tasmania, recently came to Perth for a series of talks, outlining the history of the new Benedictine monastery.