May 9 2019

NEWSLETTER ARTICLES

Visit our election webpage for more information about Catholic education, school funding and other election issues.

Choice is a valued feature of Australian schooling

One of the most valuable features of Australia’s education system is the wide-ranging availability of genuine, affordable school choice.

Across most parts of Australia, families from all backgrounds can choose a school for their children that reflects their values and beliefs without breaking the family budget.

This is only possible because both major parties support school choice and provide funding that helps keep faith-based and other non-government schools affordable and accessible to almost every family. Without this support, families would have to pay more than $11,000 per year to educate a primary student each year, and more than $14,000 for a secondary student.

Globally, very few societies offer families this opportunity – an opportunity that has been embraced by Australian families. Today, one in three Australian students attends a non-government school.

Catholic Education supports school choice, and this is why we have always supported a properly funded government school sector. We recognise that we are partners with government and independent schools, working together to deliver quality education for 3.9 million Australian children.

It is important that families understand our position, especially when they hear claims from the Greens, for example, whose website declares that “…the substantial growth in federal funding to non-government schools has had an adverse impact on public education”.

In fact, taxpayer funding for government schools has increased every year, in line with enrolments and indexation. It has never been cut to fund non-government schools.

It is simply wrong – as well as factually incorrect – to pit government schools against Catholic and other non-government schools for political gain.

At this election, it’s important that our families understand where each party stands on issues like school funding and religious freedom. In a close election contest, every vote counts.

In their education platform, the Greens say nothing about respecting school choice. In a hung or tight parliament, parents need to understand that the Greens could exert major influence and make it more difficult for families to send their children to a school of their choice.

Jacinta Collins
National executive director, Catholic Education

Battleground states

South Australia

Catholic schools make a significant contribution to the vitality of South Australia, educating close to 20% of the state’s students. Catholic Education South Australia has a network of 101 Catholic schools with more than 6,000 staff teaching and supporting over 45,000 students.

Catholic schools in South Australia operate in a challenging environment, historically receiving the lowest levels of state government funding in the country. Schools in the region also receive very little capital funding from government. This means that South Australia’s Catholic schools have, on average, higher school fees than many of their interstate counterparts.

“We want to work in partnership with the federal government to ensure that there is an affordable choice for parents who wish to send their children to a Catholic school,” says director, Dr Neil McGoran.

Seats to watch

Come election night, South Australian eyes will be on three seats – Boothby, Mayo and Sturt.

The southern Adelaide seat of Boothby has been a long-time Liberal stronghold, but the buffer is down to 2.7%, after being won by Nicolle Flint at the 2016 election.

Centre Alliance’s Rebekha Sharkie holds the once-safe Liberal seat of Mayo. Georgina Downer is hoping to win back the seat once held by her father, former Liberal leader and Foreign Minister Alexander, but needs to achieve a swing of 5%.

In Sturt, former Education Minister Christopher Pyne is stepping down after 26 years in parliament, making the contest for the east Adelaide seat closer than the 5.4% margin suggests.

Western Australia

Catholic Education Western Australia is the second largest education provider in the state with approximately 76,000 students and 12,000 staff across 162 schools and colleges, providing a community of Christ-centred and child-focused learning. Students are encouraged to think independently, collaborate, innovate and develop skills and knowledge.

“To ensure that CEWA remains a sustainable system of schools, we need to consider our changing educational landscape and how we continue to provide all students with equitable access to the best learning environments,” said CEWA executive director, Debra Sayce.

“Central to this is an imperative for Catholic schools to keep pace with the learning needs of our diverse population now and in the future; ensuring parental choice to accessible and affordable education; and the right of Catholic schools to continue to be free to operate in accordance with our Catholic faith.”

Dr Sayce says CEWA provides significant savings to government by providing families with outstanding Catholic education.

“It is our hope that by working collaboratively with the Catholic Church, government, parents and our communities, we can provide certainty and continue to contribute to a stronger WA.”

Seats to watch

The federal election could be decided by the time polls close in Western Australia – or it could be the state that determines the outcome.

The Coalition is fighting to hold three seats with margins of less than 4% - Hasluck (2.1%), Pearce and Swan (both 3.6%), with the latter being contested for Labor by Hannah Beazley, daughter of former federal Minister Kim Beazley.

For Labor to win, Anne Aly needs to retain her knife-edge seat of Cowan (0.7%) while Patrick Gorman looks to hold onto Perth (3.3%), the seat he won in a July 2018 by-election.

Tasmania

Tasmania has 38 Catholic schools educating 16,000 students across the Archdiocese of Hobart. The Catholic Education Commission Tasmania (CECT) is appointed by the Archbishop and is the state’s overarching strategic planning and policy making body for Catholic education.

Director of Catholic Education John Mula believes Tasmania’s size is its advantage, calling it a “community of communities”.

With a strong interest in national Catholic Education and Tasmania being part of a national approach, Mr Mula believes that the key to successful Catholic Education is focussing equally on two fundamentals - mission in the context of Jesus’ mission for the Church and quality education.

Seats to watch

For a state with only a handful of seats, Tasmania draws plenty of attention every federal election because most of its seats are often in play.

Historically, its three northern/central seats – Bass, Lyons and Braddon - are extremely volatile. At the 2010 federal election, all three were held by Labor, then all lost in 2013 to the Coalition – before all being won back by Labor in 2016.

With such volatility, all three seats have been a focus for both the Coalition and Labor with visits by the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader in the first week of the campaign.

The Coalition requires a swing of 5.4% to win Bass and 3.8% to take Lyons.

Its best hope is Braddon, where a 2.3% would unseat Labor’s Justine Keay (who recontested and won the seat in a 2018 by-election).

Clark (previously Denison) and Franklin in the south of the state are relatively stable with incumbents Andrew Wilkie (Independent) and Julie Collins (Labor) holding healthy majorities and likely to be returned.

There are no federal seats regarded as marginal in Northern Territory or the Australian Capital Territory. However, Catholic education is a vital part of schooling in both territories.

Australian Capital Territory

Catholic Education Canberra and Goulburn’s Archdiocesan landscape spans 88,000 square kilometres with 56 schools across and close to 2,000 teaching staff supporting over 21,000 students. Our purpose is to be faith-filled Catholic learning communities of hope, joy and wonder where all are welcome and inspired to grow to their potential.

"The 2017 funding changes would have had dire impact on ACT Catholic schools," director Ross Fox said.

"The changes to the model announced by the Morrison Government in late 2018 were welcomed by the Catholic community. As a result of the changed policy and decisions made by the National Catholic Education Commission, significant issues remain for Catholic education in Canberra and Goulburn. As far as we can understand, the amendments deliver a temporary funding reprieve. Funding certainty remains a priority to support parent choice in school education in the ACT. We will seek to collaborate with the federal government as it reviews the model to advocate for the special considerations needed for the ACT region.

“This week we celebrate Catholic Schools Week in the Canberra-Goulburn Archdiocese. The theme this year, ‘Engaging faith minds and community’, is a good description of the aspiration of Catholic schools. We will continue to work with the federal, state and territory governments to ensure fair funding arrangements so that we can continue to provide a high quality Catholic education for families for families who seek it.”

Northern Territory

The Catholic Diocese of Darwin is diverse and geographically vast, covering 1,350,000 square kilometres, with over 80 cultures, each contributing to the tapestry of faith and tradition. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the first Australians, figure largely in the diocese, with 26.8 per cent of the Catholic population Indigenous to Australia.

The diocese’s 18 parishes form the centre of Catholic life and the diocesan community is enriched through the Catholic Education system.

The Catholic Education Office operates 18 schools, eight Early Learning Centres and four remote preschools, offering high quality education to pre-primary, primary and secondary students. Trained catechists, often volunteers, offer religious education in parishes and government schools.

“At the heart of Christ's teaching, Catholic Education is committed to developing the whole student though the creation of an environment that nurtures and respects the needs of the individual,” director Greg O’Mullane said. “In this vast diocese we are called as disciples of Jesus Christ to be active in our communities, as we work in partnership with our school families.”

Understanding where the parties stand on school choice

At this election, it’s vital that Catholic school families know where the parties stand on school funding.

Both the Coalition and Labor parties support the right of families to choose a school that best suits their children. Both have provided funding plans to ensure non-government schools remain affordable over the next decade.

The Greens have said that government schools are worse off because Catholic and other non-government schools receive some government funding. They advocate that non-government schools should have their funding cut.

Let there be no mistake:

• Catholic Education supports a properly funded public education system
• We are partners with government and independent schools in educating Australia’s 3.9 million school students
• Catholic schools educate one in five Australian students
• Many Catholic families choose a public school for their children

It is simply wrong and divisive for the Greens to pit government schools against Catholic and other schools.

The Greens have called Catholic education representatives “bullies” and tried to block funding for Catholic schools in the Parliament.

If implemented, the Greens policy would mean only wealthy families could afford to have a choice.

On their website, the Greens say “…the substantial growth in federal funding to non-government schools has had an adverse impact on public education”.

This is despite the fact that taxpayer funding for government schools has continued to increase every year, as this graph (based on MySchool.edu.au funding data) shows.

Despite this annual growth, the Greens’ platform calls for needs-based funding for Catholic and other non-government schools to be “scaled down” and re-directed to government schools.

The Greens’ education policies, and remarks by their leader Richard Di Natale and education spokesperson Mehreen Faruqi, threaten Australia’s 1750 Catholic schools.

In September 2018, the federal government unveiled a fairer way to distribute government funding to non-government schools, which would benefit low fee schools and trim funding for some high-fee schools.

This change will not affect funding for government schools, who will continue to have their needs-based funding met by taxpayers.

Despite this, Senator Di Natale accused Catholic and independent schools of “leeching” money from needy public school students.

He said the government had “sold Australian students down the river to silence a powerful lobby group”, labelling Catholic education leaders “bullies”.

Perhaps Senator Di Natale had forgotten that a key element of the funding change – funding schools according to a direct measure of parents’ ability to pay fees - was something the Greens call for in their own education platform?

Ms Faruqi called the funding change a “grubby deal”, adding: “When this comes to parliament, we will use any and all options available to redirect funding from the $4bn special deals with the overfunded Catholic and independent school sector to public schools crying out for funding.”

It is important that Catholic school parents understand that the Greens’ education policies, if implemented, would strip funding from Catholic schools and force up school fees for many Australian families.

As well as reducing school choice, this short-sighted policy would simply force families to move their children to government schools, many of which are already at or near capacity.

How Catholic schools are funded (Part 2)

Last week, we looked at how governments calculated recurrent funding for non-government schools.

To recap… every school attracts a level of public funding for each student, which is then reduced in non-government schools according to parents’ capacity to pay fees.

This week we look at how that funding is distributed.

Non-government schools fall into one of two categories – independent schools and system schools.

Independent schools receive their recurrent government funding directly from their relevant state and federal governments, i.e. an amount is calculated for each independent school based on the number of students enrolled and any disadvantage funding that apply. The school receives this amount directly.

It is different for schools that are part of a “system” – such as Catholic schools owned and operated by their local diocese.

An individual amount is calculated for each school in the system based on the number of students enrolled and any disadvantage loadings that apply to that school.

The amounts attracted by each school in that system are combined and paid as a lump sum by the relevant state and federal governments to a state or territory-based “system authority”.

Lutheran, Seventh Day Adventist and most other faith-based schools each have a system authority.

In the Catholic sector, these are typically known as Catholic Education Commissions (NSW moved to a not-for-profit company model in 2017 and renamed itself Catholic Schools NSW).

These state and territory system authorities receive all government recurrent funding on behalf of the diocesan schools offices in their jurisdictions.

Each system authority has its own needs-based distribution model but, broadly speaking, it distributes the government funding to their Catholic schools offices based on enrolments and student needs.

Each schools office then determines how many teaching and other staff are required at each of their schools, again based on the number of students and their needs. The office then resources each school accordingly by assigning staff and paying their salaries.

Governments permit systems to distribute funding this way because it is well recognised that systems have a more detailed understanding of each school’s local needs.

Capital funding falls short of demand for Catholic education

Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School, Sunbury was one of two schools that opened in Victoria this year.

Demand for Catholic education continues to grow across Australia with 14 new schools opening in the past two years, and more expected to open in 2020.

In Victoria, with many existing schools close to capacity, two new Catholic primary schools were opened this year on Melbourne’s growing northern fringe - Glowrey Catholic School, Wollert and Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School, Sunbury.

A new secondary school outside Geelong, Iona College, and a primary school are set to open in 2020, followed by as many as two more secondary and nine new primary schools by the middle of the decade.

Five new schools were also opened in Wallan East, Craigieburn West, Torquay North and Bannockburn, as well as at Cowes on Philip Island in 2018.

Acting executive director of the Catholic Education Melbourne Jim Miles said there is strong demand for a faith-based education.

“Almost one in four Victorian school children – are enjoying a Catholic education in one of nearly 500 schools across the state,” said Mr Miles. “Population growth in Victoria is at rates not seen since the Gold Rush days and our data suggests enrolments in Catholic schools could increase by as much as a third if greater capital support from government that would allow us to build facilities to meet demand was available.”

“That not only offers greater parent choice in education, but an enormous financial weight off taxpayer dollars.”

St John Bosco College opened with innovative teaching and learning spaces in 2015, in the high-growth Perth suburb of Piara Waters.

In Western Australia, lack of access to capital funding has halted plans for schools in Madora Bay, Alkimos and Kiara.

In the past 10 years, Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA) has developed, on a staged basis, two primary, three secondary and four composite (P-12) schools at a cost of $380m. CEWA has also expanded 14 schools.

Federal capital grants provided around 25 per cent or $94m with the remaining 75 per cent funded through low interest loans from the state government which will be repaid from parental contributions across the CEWA system.

Executive director Debra Sayce said the lack of available capital funding has meant that CEWA is unable to keep up with demand.

“Our data tells us that we need to provide up to 19,000 enrolment places over the next seven years to meet demand for Catholic schooling,” said Dr Sayce.

“We need to ensure we are good stewards of our limited resources and remain within our debt ceiling,” she said. “We also need to ensure we do not place an unreasonable burden on families who contribute around 75 per cent of the costs of building new schools across the system.”

Using ACARA’s average school running costs, the decision not to proceed with these three new schools would eventually cost the WA taxpayer an estimated $1 billion over the next 20 years.

“Providing parents with educational choice is vital. It requires that we consider the unmet demand for Catholic education and ensure that all WA families have access to the education they seek for their child,” Dr Sayce reiterated.

St Joseph’s Coomera is located in one of the fastest growing regions in Queensland.

In Queensland, two new schools opened this year - Good Samaritan Catholic College, Bli Bli in the Sunshine Coast hinterland and St Joseph’s College, Coomera a fast-growing region between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

In 2020, Brisbane Catholic Education will also open St Ann’s School, Redbank Plains in the high growth corridor of Ipswich west of Brisbane.

Two new schools also opened in Queensland in 2018. St Benedict’s Catholic School, Shaw a Kindergarten to Year 6 school in Townsville, and the Southport Flexible Learning Centre, which is working with young people who have disengaged from mainstream schooling.

Queensland Catholic Education Commission executive director, Dr Lee-Anne Perry said support for Catholic schools through government capital funding ensured families continued to have a choice in education for their children.

“Our new schools are being built in the high-growth corridors in both south-east and regional Queensland,” Dr Perry said. “The strong enrolment we are seeing in these new schools demonstrate that families want the option of a Catholic education but without adequate government capital funding we won’t be able to meet the ongoing demand.”

St Bede’s campus, when fully built in 2023, will cater for more than 1,000 Year 7 to 12 students.

Santa Sophia College in Sydney’s fast-growing northwest, and St Bede’s Catholic College in the Maitland suburb of Chisholm were opened in 2018 in New South Wales, bringing the number of Catholic schools to 595 serving some 255,000 students.

Catholic Schools NSW chief executive officer Dallas McInerney said Catholic schools saved taxpayers almost half a billion dollars in recurrent funding and hundreds of millions more in capital expenditure.

“Without Catholic schools, most of those 255,000 (NSW) students would be enrolled in government schools where taxpayers fund 100% of the cost of educating each child,”

Mr McInerney said the NSW government made an historic capital funding pledge in March that would help Catholic schools plan for growth.

“The NSW Government’s capital funding boost gives the non government schools sector the certainty it needs to plan and meet its share of enrolment growth.”

He said CSNSW prioritises capital funding from government to the Catholic schools most in need.

“This brings a focus to needy schools serving low socio-economic communities, schools in fast growing areas and schools with an urgent need for new or improved learning facilities.”

Architects’ impression of McAuley Community School and grounds. Photo: CESA

In South Australia, McAuley Community School at Hove will open in 2020 and a special assistance school in the north of Adelaide is in the pipeline to support students with disabilities.

McAuley Community School will enrol students from early learning to Year 6. Building works are currently in progress including purpose-built learning centres, a music/art/innovation centre, creative nature learning spaces, and an ALIVE Catholic Early Care and Learning Centre.

The buildings will be Six Green Star rating to support the school’s focus on ecology, and will be the first Green Star rated primary school in Australia.

At the start of the year, Catholic Education SA moved Year 7 to secondary resulting in a record number of nearly 4,000 students commencing Year 7. Cardijn College at Noarlunga Downs’ enrolment jumped by 26 per cent.

Director of Catholic Education SA Dr Neil McGoran said the change was made for a number of important reasons.

“The Australian Curriculum for Year 7 is designed to be taught in a secondary context,” explains Dr McGoran. “Teaching Year 7 in a secondary setting gives students access to specialist teachers and facilities.

“A secondary environment also offers flexibility that can help students to be challenged intellectually and have a positive impact on learning outcomes,” he said. “Adolescents thrive in an environment that encourages independence and supports their social and emotional needs.

St Aloysius Catholic College in Huntingfield is one of the Hobart schools that will extend to Years 11 and 12.

In Tasmania, a review of schooling last year titled, “Blueprint for the future”, will see three Hobart Catholic colleges extend their enrolment offering to Year 11 and 12 in line with the state government’s commitment.

Catholic Education Tasmania's executive director, John Mula said students were at the forefront of the proposed changes.

“In developing these plans what remained in the forefront of my mind was to meet the future needs of students, offer a range of options for parents seeking a Catholic education for their children, and provide ongoing consultation with school communities,” he said.

Mr Mula said the proposed changes for the provision of Years 11 and 12 are in line with the Tasmanian government’s legislative and structural education reforms.

“It is our expectation that all technical requirements associated with the proposed structural changes are completed by mid-2019. The final proposed structural changes will be issued for comment along with a proposed timeline for development, following further consultation with school communities and approvals by state and federal governments regarding the extension of Catholic schools,” he said.

The Archdiocese is looking for land in the fast-growing area of Sorell for a future school, and is also exploring opportunities with Edmund Rice Education Australia to expand on the flexible learning services provided in Tasmania.

Administrator for the NT Vicki O’Halloran and NT Minister for Education Selena Uibo with students at the opening and blessing of Mother Teresa Catholic Primary, Zuccoli.
Photo: TeachNT.com

In the Northern Territory, Mother Teresa Catholic Primary School opened in Palmerston last year, and construction is progressing on the contemporary school design which features flexible learning spaces.

The school opened with around 100 students from early learning to Year 2, and this year commenced Years 3 – 6, with an anticipated enrolment of 450 students at full capacity.

Three year old preschool a stark difference

The key difference between the Coalition and Labor policies on education is early childhood education or, as most of us know it, preschool or kinder.

The difference is stark. While the Coalition will extend funding for four year old kinder for one year, plus conduct a review, Labor has an ongoing commitment to four year old kinder, plus it will extend preschool to all three year olds.

Catholic Education believes that Labor’s policy is smart and overdue, because it recognises the enormous benefits of early learning for children’s success at school.

There is long-standing evidence of the educational value of play based learning for children aged three and over.

A study by Warren and Haisken-DeNew (2013) revealed the substantial impacts of preschool on later schooling attainment and the importance of qualified ECE teaching personnel.

The study found the average NAPLAN scores of Year 3 students were 20 to 30 points higher among children who had attended preschool. Among children who had attended a preschool program in the year prior to formal schooling, average NAPLAN scores were highest among those whose preschool teacher had a diploma-level qualification in early childhood education or child care, and lowest for those whose teacher had only a certificate-level qualification.

Catholic Education operates more than 250 early childhood education services across the country, educating close to 5,000 children, with most located onsite with primary schools.

Catholic schools are excited by the opportunity to expand their early childhood education services. Co-locating preschools at Catholic primary schools makes life easier for parents and allows preschool children to be involved in the school community.

In its election responses to Catholic Education, Labor stated its commitment to respecting parent choice and that it would work with the states and territories and the non-government sector to deliver its $1.75 billion National Preschool and Kindy Program.

“We are determined to ensure this policy benefits all three and four year olds in non-government as well as government and community run preschools and kindergartens, long day care centres and school site located early learning centres,” it said.

Labor said it wanted to ensure all children can access preschool in every setting in every state and territory and that “parent choice is respected”.

The Coalition will provide $453 million to extend preschool to all four year olds in 2020. It also wants to develop strategies to increase attendance among disadvantaged and indigenous children.

All parents want to give their kids the best start in life, and that includes early learning opportunities that allow children to be stimulated.

News: Labor’s investment in youth mental health should extend to children

Australia’s peak psychology body, the Australian Psychological Society (APS), said Labor’s promise to invest in youth mental health should extend to children.

In a media release, the APS said Labor’s commitment announced at their election campaign launch on Monday, to fund the trial of headspace Plus and allow access to 20 additional Better Access sessions for youth was welcome, however the additional sessions should extend to children under 12 years.

APS president Ros Knight said Labor’s announcement was “very good news” for people aged 12 – 25 years, however children under 12 can still only access 10 sessions per year and this is a barrier to care.

“An estimated 1 in 7 children and young people are affected by mental health issues, and 50 per cent of lifelong mental health issue start before the age of 14,” Ms Knight said. “We are increasingly concerned about high levels of anxiety and even suicidality in children much younger than 12, so it’s very concerning that children don’t have access to more than 10 sessions if needed.”

Labor also committed to provide $6 million to Kids Helpline to ensure that children and young people across Australia can access 24/7 free national counselling and support services.

The Minister for Health Greg Hunt said Labor was claiming the Coalition’s 2019 Budget measures as their own.

In a media release, the Minister said it was the Coalition that worked closely with the sector and has already announced, budgeted and committed funding for:

• $263.3 million for headspace
• $114.5 million for eight adult mental health centres
• $70 million for eating disorders centres and national coordination for eating disorders treatment
• $43.9 million for perinatal mental health
• $15 million to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare for improved data on self-harm and suicide
• $11.5 million to the National Mental Health Commission for the National Mental Health Workplace initiative.

“Our unprecedented $736 million boost to mental health in the 2019-20 Budget demonstrates a commitment to identifying and addressing gaps in mental health supports,” the Minister said.

News: Here’s where the major parties stand on education

Following is an ABC News summary of the major party policies on early learning and school education:

Early education

The Coalition is spending about $450 million to give children access to 15 hours of preschool education a week until the end of 2020.

Labor has promised to commit permanent funding for preschool, replacing the current year-to-year funding arrangement, and extend it to three-year-olds from 2021.

The Opposition describes the plan as a major economic and social reform, however the Coalition has criticised the price tag ($9.8 billion over 10 years) and says it is more important to improve four-year-olds' attendance rates first.

Schools

The “Gonski 2.0” funding arrangement announced by former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, replaced separate school funding deals in favour of a nationally consistent, needs-based system costing an extra $23.5 billion over a decade.

Following concerns identified primarily by the Catholic education sector over the funding formula for non-government schools, a new model based on parents' income, rather than their postcode, was identified resulting in an extra $4.5 billion over the next decade.

The Coalition's 2019 Budget also included a $30 million fund for school equipment and upgrades.

Labor has pledged an extra $14 billion for government schools over the next 10 years, $3.3 billion of which would flow in the first three years — an amount it says could pay for thousands of extra teachers.

The Opposition will not reverse the $4.5 billion funding for non-government schools. It has threatened to cap teaching degree places if universities do not do more to lift standards.

Read about the major party policies for higher and vocational education via ABCNews

Reflection for Mother’s Day

“… a good mother not only accompanies her children in their growth, without avoiding the problems and challenges of life; a good mother also helps them to make definitive decisions with freedom. This is not easy, but a mother knows how to do it. But what does freedom mean? It is certainly not doing whatever you want, allowing yourself to be dominated by the passions, to pass from one experience to another without discernment, to follow the fashions of the day; freedom does not mean, so to speak, throwing everything that you don’t like out the window. No, that is not freedom! Freedom is given to us so that we know how to make good decisions in life! Mary as a good mother teaches us to be, like her, capable of making definitive decisions; definitive choices, at this moment in a time controlled by, so to speak, a philosophy of the provisional. It is very difficult to make a lifetime commitment. And she helps us to make those definitive decisions in the full freedom with which she said “yes” to the plan God had for her life (cf. Lk 1:38). – Pope Francis

Next week’s edition

• Summary of the major parties’ policies.
• MP and candidate visits

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in the articles within this publication are those of the authors and commentators. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the National Catholic Education Commission, its Commissioners or employees, unless expressly mentioned.