On Monday 20th July our McAuley staff participated in their annual Spirituality Day. All the Western Deanery staff where involved, however due to the social distancing restrictions each school zoomed the presentation, which was facilitated by Fr Richard Leonard.

Fr Richard Leonard is a Jesuit priest, an author, educator and critic of our modern culture. He was Ordained a priest in 1993. He directs the Australian Catholic Office for Film & Broadcasting, is an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Catholic University; has been a visiting scholar within the School of Theatre, Film & Television at UCLA and a Visiting Professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. 

Fr Richard has served on juries at the Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Warsaw, Hong Kong, Montreal, Brisbane and Melbourne International Film Festivals and he has lectured on faith and culture all over the world. He has been published in America Magazine, Eureka Street, US Catholics, is a regular columnist with The London Tablet and is a regular guest on ABC Radio. He is also the author of ten books 

The Topic for the Spirituality Day: “Catholic identity: How can Catholic Education form believers in a media saturated culture?” As those involved in Catholic Education, we are called upon to live out our faith - to speak and live out the Good News. A tough ask! We are sent to our culture as it is, not as we would like it to be. And whether we like it or not, the media is the modern-day marketplace where minds and hearts are won and lost. 

There were three sessions to the workshop: 

1) What is the media telling us about ourselves? What we see in our Catholic Schools is not what we get! How much do we know about the media culture that forms us, and the young people given into our care? 

2) What is on our agenda? By focusing on one critical area in our pilgrimage of life, our relationships, we will look at the dramatic shifts and changes that the media is facilitating. As a result of these changes what is on our agenda? 

3) What can we do about it in Catholic Education? What strategies can we put in place to ensure that our people are prepared to critically engage with the media saturated culture while holding true to their faith in Jesus and the Community of the Church?