QUEENSLAND Governor Penelope Wensley has praised the commitment of Catholic schools to environmental sustainability.
Governor Wensley spoke at the launch of Catholic Education Week (CEW) at Mary MacKillop Catholic Parish Primary School, Birkdale, on July 28.
CEW celebrations saw schools hold community liturgies, open days, One Earth displays and carry out “acts of kindness” among a host of other activities highlighting the importance of environmental sustainability.
The governor said the choice of Mary MacKillop school as the venue to kick off CEW celebrations was appropriate.
“Its motto of reach out, embrace, achieve and its ongoing commitment to sustainability practices demonstrate, sets up a model, for the practical way schools and students can assist the rest of the community on our collective journey to sustainability,” she said.
The Queensland Government al-so recognised the important role of Catholic education in Queensland through a Catholic Education Week reception hosted by Parliamentary Secretary for Education Peta-Kaye Croft on behalf of Education and Training Minister Geoff Wilson.
Archbishop John Bathersby of Brisbane blessed and officially launched the week-long celebrations during a liturgy at the Birkdale school attended by Church, Catholic education and civic leaders from across the state.
Archbishop Bathersby spoke about his own love of the land while growing up in Stanthorpe and learning about how to take care of it from his grandfather, who he described as “an expert bushman”.
He told those gathered that they must take care of God’s greatest gift, the earth, and learn to look after it “as did the indigenous people before us, who have shown us how to respect and nurture our world”.
CEW ambassador and national director of Catholic Earthcare Australia Jacqui Remond also spoke to guests about the intrinsic link between sustainability and the Catholic faith.
A highlight of the launch was the presentation of the 2010 Spirit of Catholic Education Awards to six outstanding contributors to Catholic education by Governor Wensley.
The awards, initiated in 2006, recognise staff members, parents, clergy or volunteers who made outstanding contributions to the life of a Catholic school community or other Catholic education agency.
Congratulations were also extended to the 88 other award nominees from Catholic school communities across the state.
Each year during Catholic Educat-ion Week, school communities across Queensland celebrate a week of activities focused around the year’s theme.
This year’s theme “Called to be Stewards of a Sustainable Future” recognised the call Christians have to care for God’s creation through ecological responsibility.
The theme also reflected the Queensland Government’s designation of 2010 as the Year of Environmental Sustainability (YES).
