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CULTURE OF PRAYER WORKING PARTY

REPORT TO ARCHBISHOP DENIS HART

30 July 2015

‘To be sure, there are as many paths of prayer as there are persons who pray,

but it is the same Spirit acting in all and with all.’ Catechism of the Catholic Church #2672

Dr Paul SharkeyDirector, Catholic Education ServicesChair, Culture of Prayer Working Party

Catholic Education Melbourne – Culture of Prayer Working Party Report to Archbishop Denis Hart – 30 July 2015 1 | P a g e

STRATEGIC INTENT

Our schools and Catholic Education Melbourne reflect our society’s growing multiculturalism with its diversity of faith backgrounds and experiences, even the absence of formal religious experience or inclination.

The Church’s mission has always been to engage with the world, to sanctify it in the name of Jesus Christ and his Church, bringing it in a perfected state to the Father through the power of the Spirit. To be effective agents of this mission, those charged with leading our schools and services, need to be committed, confident and supported in their very public roles as faith leaders.

Maintaining and developing prayer and liturgical practices in the Catholic Education Melbourne and the schools of the Archdiocese of Melbourne is a vital way to preserve and strengthen the Catholic identity of schools and of the Office.

BACKGROUND

The Culture of Prayer Working Party was established in March this year.

The Working Party's brief was proposed as a way to honour and recognise what schools were doing already, while learning from the experience of others and identifying ways to build on what has been achieved. The Working Party was asked to develop recommendations to the Archbishop in relation to the following:

Terms of Reference

To develop recommendations regarding the maintenance and development of practices of prayer and ritual that support and celebrate the Catholic ethos of the CEOM and of schools in the Archdiocese that are pastoral, invitational, formative and inclusive of all staff and students, taking into consideration the following:

The existing culture and practice of prayer in the Office and schools in the Archdiocese;

The effectiveness of initiatives to promote a culture of prayer introduced in other Australian Dioceses in recent years; and

The issues that need to be considered and addressed to ensure the efficacy of advice and directions provided to schools.


WORKING PARTY MEMBERS

Dr Paul Sharkey (Chair)Director, Catholic Education Services

Mr Anthony McCluskeyPrincipal St Mary MacKillop School Keilor Downs (VACPSP representative)

Rev Brendan Reed,Parish Priest Deepdene

Mr Christopher DaltonPrincipal, Sacred Heart Girls College, Oakleigh (PAVCSS representative)

Rev Justin Ford, Parish Priest, Ascot Vale

Mr Tony Byrne, Coordinating Manager Religious Education & Catholic Identity

Dr Peter Casey, CEOM Consultant

Ms Julie Fewster, Formation Officer, Catholic Identity, Mission and Culture

Ms Lucy Carroll, Team Leader Religious Education & Catholic Identity

Ms Florida NugaraMinutes Secretary

CONTEXT

The following points have been important touchstones for the Working Party in undertaking its work.

Maintaining and strengthening a culture of prayer provides the bedrock for the Catholic identity of our schools.

Catholic Schools exist to provide an ecclesial educational community for students to be evangelised into the Catholic faith. An essential element of the formation offered to students is the relationship with Jesus they are invited into through good liturgy and prayer.

Catholic Schools do not exist in isolation – they draw their life from the wider Church. Parishes and the home life of our students play a vital role in fostering the prayer life and liturgical formation of our young people.

Schools are shaped and directed by their governing authority - Parish Priests, Canonical Administrators and Religious Orders.


The evangelising mission of the Church is unchanging; yet, as Pope Francis says, she is called to find new ways of bringing the gift of Jesus Christ to the world.

New cultures are constantly being born in these vast new expanses where Christians are no longer the customary interpreters or generators of meaning. Instead, they themselves take from these cultures new languages, symbols, messages and paradigms which propose new approaches to life, approaches often in contrast with the Gospel of Jesus. A completely new culture has come to life and continues to grow in the cities. The Synod noted that today the changes taking place in these great spaces and the culture which they create are a privileged locus of the new evangelization.[61] This challenges us to imagine innovative spaces and possibilities for prayer and communion which are more attractive and meaningful for city dwellers.

What is called for is an evangelization capable of shedding light on these new ways of relating to God, to others and to the world around us, and inspiring essential values. It must reach the places where new narratives and paradigms are being formed, bringing the word of Jesus to the inmost soul of our cities. Francis, Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, 73-4.

The role of the Parish

The culture of prayer and ritual in our schools does not exist in isolation from the culture of prayer and ritual in the wider Church community, specifically parish life. Parishes also vary in their cultures of prayer and ritual. Some are highly devotional others are more charismatic, each has a particular patron and feast day; some have a charism or spirituality influenced by the parish patron and the history of the parish itself. Similar things can be said about the culture of prayer and ritual in a secondary school depending on the founding story and charism. A healthy partnership between parishes and schools can also build up a particular culture of worship and ritual.

The parish is not an outdated institution; precisely because it possesses great flexibility, it can assume quite different contours depending on the openness and missionary creativity of the pastor and the community. While certainly not the only institution which evangelizes, if the parish proves capable of self-renewal and constant adaptivity, it continues to be “the Church living in the midst of the homes of her sons and daughters”.[26] This presumes that it really is in contact with the homes and the lives of its people, and does not become a useless structure out of touch with people or a self-absorbed group made up of a chosen few. The parish is the presence of the Church in a given territory, an environment for hearing God’s word, for growth in the Christian life, for dialogue, proclamation, charitable outreach, worship and celebration.[27] In all its activities the parish encourages and trains its members to be evangelizers.[28] It is a community of communities, a sanctuary where the thirsty come to drink in the midst of their journey, and a centre of constant missionary outreach. We must admit, though, that the call to review and renew our parishes has not yet sufficed to bring them nearer to people, to make them environments of living communion and participation, and to make them completely mission-oriented. Francis, Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, 28.


http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html#_ftn28



Factors influencing the current climate within our schools

We recognise the diverse experiences and background of our students and their families and that the Catholic faith and practice of students and staff are stronger in some than in others. Hence the challenge is for us to create Catholic spaces which are unambiguous and at the same time respectful of the different cultures.

Factors to be taken into account include:

- Increasing number of culturally and faith diverse members of our school communities.

- Increasing use of reflection (often social justice based), rather than prayer or liturgy.

- Limited availability of celebrants for school liturgies especially in secondary schools.

- Lack of spiritual and religious understanding and knowledge within a whole school community and CEM offices staff.

- Some staff lack sympathy with Church positions on certain issues and exhibit this.

- Current overall Catholic ‘brand’ damage through child sexual abuse and perceived clericalism.

- Ongoing faith leadership formation is invitational only, not compulsory for school leaders.

- Faith leadership and promotion of Catholic Identity in schools is dependent on the principal’s capacity, confidence, commitment and visible engagement.

METHODOLOGY OF THE WORKING PARTY

In the two month period from 22 April (first Working Party Meeting) and 17 June 2015 the following inquiries and consultation was undertaken:

Invitation to schools to document how they develop and maintain their culture of prayer.

Senior leadership retreat inquiry on Catholic Education Melbourne culture of prayer

Discussions with a cross section of Religious Educators, liturgists and school leaders.

Consultation with Episcopal Vicar for Religious Education Bishop Peter Elliott.

Analysis of the Leuven survey responses and School Improvement Plan data.

Review of the experiences of other Dioceses.

Resources drawn on by the Working Party included:

The 2015-2019 Catholic Education Melbourne Strategic Plan.

Enhancing Catholic School Identity Project – a partnership between Catholic Education Commission Victoria and the Catholic University of Leuven Research Project, particularly the published research Identity in Dialogue: Assessing and


enhancing Catholic school identity. Research methodology and research results in Catholic schools in Victoria, Australia. ECSIP 2012 Research – Conclusions and recommendations - Didier Pollefeyt and Jan Bouwens

Archdiocese of Melbourne Religious Education Text, To Know, Worship and Love children’s texts.

KEY FINDINGS

1. The responsibility for maintaining and developing a vibrant culture of prayer, ritual and liturgy in the school rests jointly with the school and parish / Church authority and Catholic Education Melbourne.

2. The strong commitment to maintaining and promoting a culture of prayer in so many of our schools needs to be affirmed.

3. Whilst there is strong endeavour to provide good experiences of prayer and liturgy in our schools, particularly by those with particular responsibilities in this area, the quality varies from school to school.

4. Whilst each student’s free response and their diverse backgrounds, capabilities and outlooks are always respected, the educational process they experience must always remain distinctly Catholic.

5. There is a diminished capacity of some staff in the Catholic knowledge, understanding and experience required to engage in and deliver good practice.

6. The diverse and changing cultural context for schools presents us with a rich opportunity to present our Catholic tradition in new ways, ensuring the tradition is kept alive and relevant in today’s world.

7. A visible and embedded prayer life in schools depends on school leaders such as Principals and Religious Education Leaders to confidently:

model leadership of prayer within the Catholic tradition.

encourage staff to bring a commitment to Christian spirituality, willingness to deepen their own formation, and ability to witness to their faith through prayer.

encourage students, especially secondary students, to reflect on their lived experience and to deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ.

encourage professional development of staff.

8. The spiritual and religious formation of our staff in schools is a critical element in the realisation of the mission of Catholic schools.

9. While Catholic Education Melbourne provides some face to face formation to complement web based resource support through Liturgy Help, RESource and CEVN, further more personal, experiential support is necessary.

10. Not all secondary schools have consistent access to a priest.

11. The Forum for Parish Priests and Principals led by the Office encourages an honest dialogue about the shared responsibility of Priests and Principals for faith leadership


of the school community and the importance of good relationships and open dialogue between the school and the wider parish.

12. The role of parish in catechesis is invaluable especially in primary schools particularly with the sacramental program and the engagement of the wider parish community.

13. The quality of prayer and liturgy in schools, particularly in the primary years, can be dependent on or influenced by the prayer and liturgy life of the parish, and the presence, personality and priorities of the parish priest.

FINDINGS

SCHOOLS

There is a clear commitment to providing prayer and liturgy within the schools of the Archdiocese.

Schools were invited to provide information on the culture of prayer within their school: 23 primary schools and 17 secondary schools responded. It was clear that in these schools, and anecdotally from all schools, that:

- structures exist for celebratory masses: feast days/whole school/class groups.

- regular formal prayer times and practices are in place.

- an increase in the use of Christian meditation is evident.

- prayer is used to start the day.

- student led prayer is encouraged.

- staff prayer is practised.

- sacred spaces are present.

- the depth and creativity of practices vary from school to school.

These practices were confirmed through further consultation with school representatives.

The responsibility to resource and model prayer and liturgy falls mainly with the Religious Education staff in both schools and offices.

‘Good’ prayer and liturgy is dependent on the leadership of a school and involvement of and relationship with the Parish Priest.

‘Good practice’ is dependent as well on the formation and training of staff.

Formation in faith leadership of principals is necessary to help them further engage their staff in their own formation as part of their ministry as teachers.

Strategic investment in ongoing spiritual and religious formation of staff and appropriate resourcing are desired and valued.

SCHOOLS


The prayers and responses to parts of the Mass are listed in To Know Worship and Love texts to be learnt and reinforced. This instruction is followed in the schools.

FINDINGS cont.Catholic Education Melbourne – Culture of Prayer Working Party Report to Archbishop Denis Hart – 30 July 2015 8 | P a g e

SCHOOLS

The School Improvement Process now in its 3rd four year cycle) started collecting Catholic culture data using outside reviewers with specific questions on ‘culture of prayer’ behaviour, importance and opportunities. The Enhancing Catholic Schools Identity (ECSI) research survey (in its 2nd four year cycle) data is now referenced in the school self-reflection reports as part of the School Improvement Process. Clear measurable data is now evident enabling reflection and prompting formal discussion and reporting. From the School Improvement Data below, there is clear evidence from specific questions asked across all school community stakeholders that a visible prayer life and opportunities for prayer are valued within school communities.

Range of Catholic culture scores: 2-13 versus 2014 (below p. 47)

This data representation is important because it clearly indicates the wide spread of staff, student and parent perceptions of Importance and Opportunity. While the range of the top 75% of schools is high, there is a broad spread of schools in the bottom 25%. It is important to remember that these bars represent the range of actual scores of schools with the top and bottom representing the highest and lowest scores and that schools are not evenly distributed across the bars.

Interpretation:

Staff in 75% of our schools feel that they have a high opportunity to reflect on their faith, pray together and celebrate liturgies and sacraments together, achieving scores between roughly 82 and 97 (out of 100).

Students believe that they have a high opportunity to engage in faith based practices (75% of schools scoring between roughly 73 and 98),but this opportunity is not perceived to have the same level importance.

Parents believe it is important for their children to be given the opportunity to reflect on their faith, pray together and celebrate liturgies. Additionally, they believe that providing their children with this opportunity is a strength of their school, with 75% of schools achieving an opportunity score between 86 and 97.


FINDINGS cont.

SCHOOLS The Enhancing Catholic Schools Identity (ECSIP) research confirmed that

developing a prayer life in schools was essential to the maintenance of Catholic identity of school and stressed that adults need to teach by example and be authentic in modelling prayer.

What we say about good pedagogy across the curriculum must also be said about good pedagogy in RE, prayer/liturgy.

The disconnect between students and adults, based on the ECSI data sets leads us to reflect on the ways we teach, witness and model authentically, our schools’ culture of prayer.

At its heart ECSI shines a affirming, revealing light on our schools’ mission to bring the person and life of Jesus Christ to everyone in its community.

CATHOLIC EDUCATION MELBOURNE

While everyone employed is required to support the Catholic ethos of Catholic Education Melbourne, the reality is that an increasing number of positions are necessarily filled on the basis of technical merit and a required skillset, for example the staffing of the Integrated Catholic Online Network (ICON). Over 40% of Catholic Education Office staff identify themselves as non-Catholic or non-Christian

Over 2014 the senior leadership of the office identified ‘Enhancing Catholic Identity’ as a key theme and objective and developed a series of strategies and actions for implementation.

Catholic Education Melbourne has had over many years a culture of prayer and reflection through a pastoral invitation to practices that celebrate our Catholic faith while respecting the diversity of the staff of the Office. This situation has declined in recent years.

It is evident that whilst the invitation and practices are clear, understanding of ‘why we do this’ and confidence in leading prayer has weakened. Thus a dedicated formation program needs to be resourced to deepen leaders and staff members’ understanding of their role in contributing to the Catholic ethos of CEO.

Catholic Education Melbourne office staff at James Goold House and the four regional offices participate at some level in prayer but feel the practices are impersonal and need to engage “with the tradition and the world with all its diversity.”

There is not a shared understanding of what prayer is, nor its role in the organisation.

Prayer leaders and participants are inhibited by lack of time, will, context and confidence with a declared limited religious background and scriptural knowledge.

There is a need and desire for more visible Catholic symbols and meaningful communal prayer gatherings in James Goold House.

Human Resources (HR) employment practices do not reflect the importance of the culture of prayer/Catholic Identity eg in advertised positions.


Induction programs do not currently promote our mission, culture and identity well.

OTHER AUSTRALIAN DIOCESES

Dioceses around Australia have introduced or encouraged a variety of initiatives to support and promote a vibrant prayer life within Catholic schools.

Christian Meditation

Several dioceses, including Melbourne, have introduced the regular practice of classroom Christian meditation, including:

Melbourne 2009 (with Office of Evangelisation’s school of prayer and CTC Guided Meditation Certificate)

Townsville 2005 – all schools participate with resources available www.cominghome.org.au

Adelaide & Port Pirie 2015 (introducing in schools and undertaking a research project Inquiry)

Brisbane – diverse ways of meditating across various contemplative order practices

The Angelus

In recent years, a number of dioceses have introduced The Angelus into Catholic Education Offices and schools. Anecdotal information regarding the introduction of the Angelus in these dioceses suggests that the outcomes have varied from school to school. In many contexts, mandating the introduction of the Angelus is not seen as being accessible to students in its archaic language.

Examen

Several Jesuit schools have introduced the Examen into the daily life of their schools (as part of the Charism) – at Riverview, Sydney everyone on the school property stops including the ground staff.

Imposed initiatives that are “one size fits all” for every community run the very real risk of resistance and generating counter-productive responses at the local level.


http://www.cominghome.org.au/

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS

1. Catholic Education Melbourne to:

1.1Identify, affirm, promote and share the strong authentic Catholic programs of prayer, liturgy and sacramental practices in our schools through:

- network meetings.- publications/website promotion.- conference participation.- introduction of an Archbishop’s Award to address innovation and

creativity highlighting visible Catholic Identity in a) Prayer and Liturgy and b) Learning and Teaching.

1.2 Provide additional investment in spiritual and religious formation as an essential part of professional learning and formation for all staff in Catholic Education Melbourne (schools and office).

1.2a Enact a strategic increase in investment in spiritual and religious formation as essential parts of professional learning and formation for all staff in all roles because this is critical to the promotion, development and support of Catholic prayer and practices in our schools.

Such formative actions might include:

- Developing and delivering formation programs for staff by group/school cluster, eg Using mustard seed model from Catholic Education South Australia

- Reviewing the spectrum of internal professional learning modules for leaders to ensure prayer and liturgy capability and confidence.

- Using a range of media to reach staff eg use of emerging technologies to provide stimulating 20 minute CEM-made ‘TED talks’ on YouTube. https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization

- Sponsored courses for RE and other school staff eg ACU unit on planning liturgy

- Set up mentoring program as professional development.

1.2b Institute formation for principals and office leaders - currently limited to network and professional gatherings to:

- Ensure current and future professional learning and sponsored courses include leadership in a faith community formation

- Access resources from other Dioceses to help shape modules.

1.3 Review and provide further opportunities and resources for modelling and experiencing traditional and contemporary Catholic prayer and liturgy for school leaders. Including:

- Ensure modules on building and modelling a culture of prayer are embedded in all professional learning courses for faith leadership and formation.

- Guidelines for how to pray communally for each Team/school group- Induction and training of office staff in prayer and Catholic traditions- Regular ‘quiet time’ / meditation /Catholic tradition practices


- Encourage mentoring for staff preparing liturgies- Promote use of the online resource ‘Liturgy Help’- Ensure that there are visible signs of Catholic identity in James Goold

House- Ensure that the James Goold House Chapel is visible, welcoming, and

contemporary.

1.4 Review and promote the process for introducing and reinforcing the learning of prayers and parts of the Mass in the Religious Education curriculum.

1.5 Ensure the School Improvement Process addresses culture of prayer & liturgy.

1.6 Commit to interrogate and depth the current range of school survey data and follow up on a range of issues revealed in this Culture of Prayer review. Particularly the difference in culture/engagement between primary and secondary school.

2. School Principals to:

2.1 Commit long with their leadership team members, to deepening their own formation to strengthen their relationship with Jesus Christ and to foster reflection upon their leadership.

2.2 As leaders of a faith community, maintain their professional learning so as to strongly and confidently lead and model prayer with their school community – staff, students and families; and encourage the same for their staff.

2.3 Review and deliver the process for introducing and reinforcing the learning of prayers and parts of the Mass in the Religious Education curriculum.

2.4 Ensure the School Improvement Process addresses culture of prayer & liturgy.

- Support the development of prayer and liturgy in schools Annual Action Plans through dialogue and formation with the school reviewers.

- Make the formal feedback from the School Improvement Process Education in Faith Sphere, which records the various voices of the school community, are available to schools’ RE resources staff as a way of responding to engagement/non engagement.

3. Catholic Education Melbourne to:

3.1 Provide faith formation opportunities for all staff.

3.2 Review and support Human Resources Induction programs and ongoing enculturation of mission and culture programs.

3.3 Provide further opportunities and resources for modelling and experiencing traditional and contemporary Catholic prayer and liturgy for all staff. Episcopal Vicar for Religious Education Bishop Peter Elliott has been consulted and has affirmed the value of James Goold House Publishing working with Catholic Education Melbourne to develop resources for the Catholic prayer forms that we promote with schools.


3.4 Review Religious Education support and resources from CEM to schools on prayer and liturgy especially providing practical professional development of prayer formation that reflects our fundamental Catholic beliefs -Trinitarian, Incarnational, Paschal, Ecclesial.

3.5 Ensure recommendations that are endorsed from this report are placed in the Catholic Education Melbourne annual action plan and included in the Annual Report to the Archbishop.

3.6 Disseminate the endorsed recommended actions of the Working Party to schools and parish priests.

ENDORSEMENT SOUGHT

The Working Party seeks the Archbishop’s endorsement that:

1. the above recommended actions be accepted and implemented by Catholic Education Melbourne

2. the endorsed actions are placed in the Catholic Education Melbourne Annual Action Plan and included in the Annual Report to the Archbishop

3. the report is disseminated to all schools and parish priests.


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