1. …….So now you’re working as a teacher in a Catholic School in the Diocese of Toowoomba……. What does that mean?
Tony: asking question; scenario of employment / interview
See Vanessa for Padlet – sticky notes response to the question

2. Diocese of Toowoomba The Early Church
In 2009, the Diocese of Toowoomba celebrated its eightieth anniversary. Whilst this amount of time may seem small in the history of the Church, in a land whose colonisation began in 1788, it assumes much greater importance.
Prior to the establishment of our Diocese, we came under the auspices of Brisbane. Dr James Quinn was appointed the first Bishop there in 1859.  In 1862 our first resident priest to the Downs, Fr Fulgentius Hodebourg, was appointed. We were called the Toowoomba Mission, and other `Mission Centres'  like Warwick, Roma and Charleville were gradually established.
The hardship of early mission life is difficult to imagine. Clergy on horse would travel vast distances to say Mass in homesteads and small community centers. The early families could spend many months between visits, with little faith support and very little news of the happenings elsewhere.
A New Beginning
On May 28th, 1929, the Holy See issues a decree erecting Toowoomba Diocese, and on 1st September that year, our first Bishop, Most Rev James Byrne, was consecrated in St Patrick's Church, from then known as St Patrick's Cathedral. Six Bishops have guided the Toowoomba Diocese in the consolidation of those early foundations.
When the Diocese was founded it covered all the territory in the southern part of Queensland south of the twenty-fifth degree of south latitude and west of the Auburn and great Dividing Ranges. Later a portion of the Archdiocese east of the Great Dividing Range was added. The area is four hundred and eighty seven thousand square kilometers.
At its commencement, in 1929, there were fifteen parishes and twenty priests. During the last seventy years these numbers have fluctuated greatly. At its peak there were thirty-eight parishes. Today we are fortunate in having thirty-five parishes, who are founded on the support of strong community, priests, religious and a growing ecumenical movement.
Today the physical structure of our Church is very different to those beginnings. We are now a whole made up of many parts. Clergy, religious, pastoral leaders, parish pastoral councils, youth groups, education, catechists, Care and Concern, CWL, St Vincent de Paul, Knights of the Southern Cross, home communion, finance committees, liturgy groups, SPRED, Caritas, Mission, Rosies, Centacare, Social Justice Commission, P & F and prayer groups all show the diversity of our participation.
Catholic Diocese of Toowoomba: History of the Diocese: accessed 22/2/2016

3. 31 schools
684 teachers
403 support staff

4. The Challenge
Learning how to be a teacher in a wider culture that doesn't know the difference between a vocation and a job.

5. An assignment to do work that can be quantified and evaluated.
A Job
An assignment to do work that can be quantified and evaluated.
Teaching is a job that I get paid for, a job that is assigned to me by a principal, a job that I am expected to do to the satisfaction of my employer.
Often when I am frassled, I revert back to the ‘job’ – e.g. I ‘m only doing what I am paid for….
This is often counter-cultural in terms of leadership – in society, people rise to leadership by operating very competently and effectively in the external world (i.e. techniques, skills, knowledge) sometimes at the cost of internal awareness; regarding the inner life as illusory, a waste of time, fantasy

6. ... as a profession appropriate and equitable remuneration
high quality pre-service education
appropriate and equitable remuneration
opportunities for in-service education
collaboration with colleagues in professional associations
a degree of autonomy and accountability
responsive, service orientation
One of the fundamental requirements for an educator in a Catholic school is ...a solid professional formation. Poor quality teaching .... unavoidably undermines the effectiveness of the overall formation of the student. (Educating Together in Catholic Schools, 2007, n. 21)
Teaching is a professional undertaking.
There is an expectation to develop as effective professional educators – expertise, competence, skills, knowledge, techniques (the WHAT, HOW, WHY)
Possess expertise and competence in a specific area
A person with formation and training in an area of expertise (unlike amateur)
Appointed by community and paid

7. vocatio = a call, a summons
A Vocation
vocatio = a call, a summons
A call to leadership and service in the Church
We are not defined by what we do.
Their [vocation] is a calling and not simply the exercise of a profession. (The Holy See’s Teaching on Catholic Schools, 2006, p.53)
Vocation is a religious term which has been borrowed by secular world
In Church documents you will often read about this in terms of naming teaching as a ‘vocation’ as well as a ‘profession’
Vocation – comes from Latin vocare, meaning "to call“
Vocation does not mean a goal I pursue. It means a calling that I hear.
In a culture that equates work with suffering, it is revolutionary to suggest that the best inward sign of vocation is deep gladness. If a work is mine to do, it will make me glad over the long haul, despite the difficult days. Even the difficult days will ultimately gladden me, because they pose the kinds of problems that can help me grow in a work if it is truly mine.” Parker Palmer, p.31
You are church for these people; The religion classroom should teach them the head, the heart and the hands – to go out form school and do something with it …

8. Any authentic call ultimately comes from the voice of the teacher within, the voice that invites me to honour the nature of my true self; the voice of identity and integrity.
It says things like
“ This is what fits you and this is what doesn’t”;
“This is who you are and this is who you are not”;
“This is what gives you life and this is what kills your spirit”. (Adapted from Parker J Palmer, The Courage to Teach, 2007, pp.30, 32)

9. But your responsibilities make demands on you that go far beyond the need for professional skills and competence … Through you, as through a clear window on a sunny day, students must come to see and know the richness and joy of a life lived in accordance with Christ’s teaching, in response to his challenging demands. To teach means not only to impart what we know, but also to reveal who we are by living what we believe. It is this latter lesson which tends to last the longest.
(Pope John Paul II, Address to Catholic Educators, September 12, 1984)

10. Goals for Diocese of Toowoomba Catholic Schools for 2017 – 2019
Teaching and learning
Mission and Identity
Continual Renewal
Sustainable Resourcing and stewardship