Catholic Education Week 2024
24 July, 2024
Queensland’s Catholic Education Week 2024 will be celebrated from 21 to 27 July. Catholic Education Week will see Catholic Education – Diocese of Rockhampton (CEDR), kindergartens, primary schools and college communities join in Statewide celebrations to honour their distinctive mission.
This year the theme of Catholic Education Week is Communities of Faith, Hope & Love. Over 18 000 CEDR students, along with teachers, support staff and volunteers in regional, rural, and remote centres from Mackay to Bundaberg and west to Longreach will join with their counterparts from around the State to participate in a range of celebrations. These celebrations include liturgies, award presentations,special assemblies, gatherings, fun activities, and outreach to the wider community.
Diocesan Director of Catholic Education, Michael McCusker, said Catholic Education Week was always a special date on the calendar as it gave school communities the opportunity to celebrate what is at the heart of a Catholic school.
“In Catholic Education Week we focus on our Catholic identity and the unique role of Catholic schools in their local communities. We reflect on our beliefs and values and seek to deepen our understanding of what it means to be part of the Ministry of Catholic Education within the Catholic Church, and to share that more widely with our parishes and communities,” Mr McCusker said. “We celebrate the faith dimension of a Catholic education where we seek to be true witnesses to
Christ’s message of hope and love for the world, to be the face of Jesus to those we meet in our
everyday lives.”
“Catholic Education Week calls us to reach out to those in our parishes and wider communities to say thank you for their support and, inspired by Jesus’ example, to look for opportunities to help others in need through our acts of kindness and social justice which are a key feature of our schools but especially, highlighted in Catholic Education Week. The carrying out by our students and staff of these acts of kindness and care is an aspect of CatholicEducation Week which is loved by all our communities, the opportunity to do something for someone and the sense of joy and happiness that always follows,” Mr McCusker said.
This year’s Diocesan Catholic Education Week Mass, to be celebrated at St Joseph’s Cathedral, Rockhampton, at midday on Wednesday 24 July, will be livestreamed to Catholic school communities across the Diocese.
Catholic Bishop of Rockhampton, Bishop Michael McCarthy, will preside at the Mass which will include a special presentation to this year’s Diocesan Recipient of the Statewide Spirit of Catholic Education Award, Jan Whelan OAM, well known in the Mackay region for her gifts and talents in music that she uses for the benefit of her local Catholic Parish, Catholic Primary Schools and Colleges and the wider community.
In congratulating Jan, Mr McCusker acknowledged all 32 award nomineesfrom the Diocese for their outstanding contribution to Catholic Education and for making a real and lasting difference in the lives of students and their families. “We are abundantly blessed to have such committed and dedicated people in our kindergartens,
schools and colleges,” Mr McCusker said.
Mr McCusker paid tribute to students, parents, families, teachers, staff members, Board and Parents and Friends members, volunteers, priests and religious, and parish and community members for their great contribution to, and ongoing support of Catholic education.
Mr McCusker wished everyone in the Catholic Education and wider community a joyous and meaningful Catholic Education Week 2024.
