Reflections on the dream job

The past five and half years at AMPJP have been the richest and most rewarding of my working life.

The AMPJP Executive Officer/Director is a position with amazing diversity. There are:

• Complex elements, such as writing meeting papers on topics as: safeguarding and responding to the Plenary Council or The Light From the Southern Cross report.
• Interesting elements, such as developing an understanding of the new Church structures that are the different MPJPs.
• Affirming elements, such as a camaraderie among MPJP Canonical Stewards and the people that work with them.
• Creative elements, such as organising the annual forum of all MPJP Canonical Stewards and developing written and audio-visual resources.
• Social elements, such as networking with agencies and meeting with Church leaders and the people that work with them.
• Collaborative elements, such as participating in work groups to develop formation resources, conference presentations, and strategic plans.
• Spiritually rich elements, such as writing prayers/reflections, participating in liturgies/retreats.
• Mundane elements – such as circulating information, recording correspondence, and writing minutes.

My previous work history was eclectic so it was not much of a stretch for me to brush up my skills/knowledge in book keeping and website maintenance. The AMPJP Council appreciates that my successor may not have an interest in those roles and is open to these and other roles being subcontracted.

I was the AMPJP’s inaugural Executive Officer and the AMPJP had only just formed in the year before I employed. There was a sense that we were starting with a blank canvas. Internally, the member Ministerial PJPs needed to develop the mutual trust and understanding to enable them to identify and collaborate on common issues. Externally, there was an educational task as many people within the Church were unaware of or had an under-developed understanding of Ministerial PJPs. I can see that we have made tremendous progress in these areas.

When I look back, I have great satisfaction in having played a part in some of the AMPJP achievements, such as:

• developing the document ‘Governance Principles, Foundations and Applications’ (as part of the AMPJP’s response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse);
• reporting annually on gender equity in MPJP governance (and finding that an average of 55% of these people are women);
• establishing an Accord with the ACBC and a Covenant with CRA to articulate and guide the AMPJP’s cooperative relationship with these bodies;
• establishing the Committee of Religious Institute and Ministerial PJP School Authorities Australia to facilitate communication and collaboration including advocacy;
• establishing the AMPJP Formation Framework, Formation Plan and Formation Committee; and
• contributing the perspective of Ministerial PJPs in written contributions to the Fifth Plenary Council of the Church in Australia and the Synod on Synodality.

I always envisioned that I would only serve two three-year terms in this role. In 2022, I informed the AMPJP Council that was still my intention. I have a sense that the AMPJP will benefit from a regular turnover of the people in this position to provide it with fresh perspectives and different approaches. I also think that I need to stretch myself in new roles.

I remember at my first AMPJP AGM, I expressed the hope that this position might enable me to contribute to building a church that I can believe in. I leave with an experience of the Ministerial PJP part of the Catholic Church as being a space of generous service of the poor, deep personal relationships with Christ, synodal processes, humble self-reflection, equal participation of women, inclusion of LGBTIQ people, and openness to engaging with God within and beyond the Catholic Church. This is a Church that I can believe in – it inspires and welcomes me. I know my successor will find this and more.