Executive Director’s report for October 2023
There is still much to learn in this new role.
It was good to have a long chat with Gabrielle McMullen who was one of the founders of AMPJP. She gave me some interesting background on the history and it is a story of goodwill and co-operation. AMPJP is still the only association of MPJPs in the world and therefore is an experiment in lay leadership upon which the rest of the world will look over time.
I recently attended a seminar put on by our friends at Catholic Religious Australia which featured Fr James Alison who gave an enlightening understanding of the key verses regarding homosexuality (or in some cases perhaps not) in the Bible.
This is becoming the Age of Accountability for the Church. Every sector is under scrutiny. Are our schools performing well in literacy and mathematics? Are we carrying out our mission? Do we have our safeguarding in place? Are our central office service fees and rentals appropriate? Do we have appraisal processes and compulsory professional development in place for all our workers, including clergy? How are our services responding to people with a disability? Its not all bad, it’s often very good to see, but it is challenging to meet all the requirements. This will be much of the Agenda of AMPJP activities in the next 12 months.
I completed NATSICC’s Cultural competency course as part of my onboarding. I have completed quite a few cultural competency courses and this one was very impressive and I learnt a lot,
My reason for supporting constitutional recognition and the Voice in the upcoming referendum is simply that we have to give some recognition to the fact that our first People’s have been incredibly impacted by colonisation and by racism, and we need to have every opportunity in place to recognise that and listen to their wisdom. At the same time there is a need for dialogue and we do need to listen to the arguments of the No case respectfully as well.
Martin Teulan
An interesting outcome of Vatican II which is an inspiration for the upcoming Synod…
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