The national Catholic social services conference, Serving Communities with Courage and Compassion, covered a range of topics that impact those working in the sector, and those we serve.
"Taking the side of impoverished and disenfranchised people is not an option for Gospel-inspired organisations. It is a mainstay of the mission," said Francis Sullivan, former CEO of the Catholic Church's Truth Justice and Healing Council for the opening keynote address of the biennial Catholic Social Services national conference.
The roll-out of the National Catholic Safeguarding Standards for the protection of children, as presented by CEO of Catholic Professional Standards Limited (CPSL) Sheree Limbrick at the Friday morning session of Serving Communities with Courage and Compassion, a national conference for those working in Catholic social services, was an interesting and topical subject.
Chaos. War zone. Domestic terrorism. Lost childhood. Uncertainty. Is there a way out? These were just some of the words used to describe family and domestic violence by participants in an interactive workshop hosted by CSSV with Sr Nicole Rotaru rsm.
The Victorian Bishops released a statement on 29 November 2016 condemning domestic and family violence in the strongest possible terms, and have called on the whole Church community to work together in preventing violence.