AMPJP Council meeting 08 Feb 2023
National Catholic Safeguarding Standards 2nd Edition
The Council heard from various MPJP who have either adopted the National Catholic Safeguarding Standards 2nd Edition (NCSS) or are working with their ministries on this issue. MPJPs may be assisted in this process by the Australian Catholic Safeguarding Ltd’s (ACSL) recently released NCSS Implementation Guide. It was agreed that AMPJP will organise a webinar for MPJPs to look at the NCSS context and implications for MPJP.
ACSL Subscriber model
The Council discussed the ACSL paper on options for the Subscriber model and ongoing funding of ACSL. The Council agreed that an overall review of AMPJP and MPJP engagement with ACSL should be held before a decision on the Subscriber model. To that end, the Council established a working group to develop a brief by March 2023 for such a review.
“Our Common Mission”
For some years, the Church has had national documents guiding codes of conduct (Integrity in Ministry (2004) Integrity in the Service of the Church (2011)). These documents needed revision in light of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the National Response Framework/Protocol and NCSS. ACSL established a work group to draft a replacement document and AMPJP provided a member (Dr Jane Comensoli from Good Samaritan Education).
In August 2022, the work group’s draft document “Our Common Mission” was circulated and ACSL held consultations to seek feedback. In November 2022, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference voted to endorse “Our Common Mission”.
The Council asks each MPJP and its ministries to discuss adopting “Our Common Mission” as a basis for their code of conduct and to inform AMPJP of their decision.
Safeguarding and associated policies
The Council approved the following new or amended policies (these policies apply to AMPJPs and not to its member MPJPs):
- AMPJP Safeguarding Policy;
- AMPJP Code of Conduct;
- AMPJP Complaints Handling Policy;
- AMPJP Human Resources Policy; and
- AMPJP Organisational Decision-making Policy.
The AMPJP Safeguarding policy, AMPJP Complaints Handling Policy and Code of Conduct will be publicly available on the AMPJP website.
AMPJP-CRA Dinner and Extended AMPJP Council meeting 14-15 March 2023
The Council finalised the details of its 14 March 2023 meeting and dinner with some members of the Council of Catholic Religious Australia (CRA) and of the extended AMPJP Council meeting on Wednesday 15 March 2023.
Other reports considered by Council
- verbal report on the work of CORMSAA;
- verbal report on the work of the AMPJP Committee for MPJP Canonical Steward Formation;
- Written report on AMPJP’s collaboration with CRA and the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference;
- Written report on AMPJP Strategic Plan progress report, July – Dec 2022 (The Council agreed that AMPJP’s current Strategic Plan be extended until mid-2024);
- Written report on AMPJP’s Plenary Council Implementation progress report, July-Dec 2022;
- Written report on AMPJP’s Anti-slavery webinar to take place on 20 February 2023;
- Written report on AMPJP’s cyber security assessment; and
- AMPJP Executive Officer’s Report, Financial Reports and Correspondence Report.
Next Council meeting: in Sydney, Wednesday 15th March 2023, 8.30am – 4.00pm (AEDT)
Featured image courtesy of: calendarprintables
