Unit Overview

This unit explores the story of the Catholic Church in Australia. It focuses on the challenges faced by Catholics in their early years in Australia. Students will investigate key events and people that have shaped the identity and growth of the Catholic Church in Australia. Students will explore the school history and charism that shaped the identity of their school.

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Enduring Understanding

The Catholic Church in Australia has been shaped by the impact of key people and significant events.

Objectives

A student will

value and appreciate and become aware of their religious identity and their spiritual heritage; appreciate the richness of the tradition and the need for community; be open to participation in the mission of the Church
develop an understanding of the nature and mission of the Church, both local and universal, and its history and teachings from its beginning to the present
analyse and communicate informed viewpoints on the nature and mission of the Church; review their experience in the light of its teachings; evaluate their participation in its undertakings

Outcomes

A student

appreciates that Catholics faced many challenges in establishing the Catholic Church in Australia. (RECVB5)
recounts and describes the story of the Catholic Church in Australia. (RECKB5)
uses a range of sources to investigate and communicate the contribution of key people and significant events that shaped the Catholic Church in Australia. (RECSB5)

Essential Questions

How was the Catholic Church in Australia shaped by challenges, key people and events?
What impact did significant lay people and organisations have on the growth and development of the Catholic Church in Australia?
What impact have significant priests, Religious Orders, individuals or groups had on the growth and development of your school?

Learning Focus, Statements of Learning & Course Content

Students deepen their understanding of the many challenges faced by Catholics in their early years in Australia by

- exploring the concept of exile and examining people’s experience of exile.
- Define the concept of exile and examine a group of people who have experienced exile.
- Examine exile in relation to the early Catholics in Australia, including the first Irish convicts.
- describing the struggles faced by the Catholic Church in its early years in Australia.
- Explore Jeremiah 29:4-14 Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles in Babylon and reflect on the advice given by Jeremiah to the exiles in Babylon and how the early Catholic Church in Australia could have put this advice into practice.
- identifying the key people, dates and events in the story of the early Catholic Church in Australia.
- Explore The Catholic Church in Australia Part 1 (storytelling).
- Read KWL Book 5 Chapter 12 Our Church in Australia p116-120 and investigate using a range of sources the significant dates, events and people associated with the development of the Catholic Church in Australia.
- Explore how the early Irish Catholics in Australia prayed when they were not allowed to gather for the Catholic Mass.

Students recognise the impact that significant people and organisations had on the growth and development of the Catholic Church in Australia by

- investigating the life and mission of particular people and their contribution to the Church and Australian society.
- Explore The Catholic Church in Australia Part 2 (storytelling).
- Investigate using a range of sources the significant dates, events and people during the development of the early Catholic Church in Australia.
- recognising hardships that some people can face living in foreign lands and how they can overcome adversity.
- Explore Ruth (storytelling).
- Identify the hardships faced by people living in foreign lands and overcoming adversity.
- Identify people who are displaced in our global community.
- Read KWL Book 5 Chapter 12 In Tradition and discuss the implications for the 1950 Australian Catholic Bishops Pastoral Letter on Immigration.
- Read KWL Book 5 Chapter 12 Caroline Chisholm p123 and explore the life and mission of Caroline Chisholm.
- Explore the life and mission of Mary of the Cross MacKillop and her contribution to the poor and to Catholic Education in Australia.
- exploring the two patron Saints of Australia and the history of St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney.
- Examine the term ‘patron saint’.
- Identify Our Lady, Help of Christians, and St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, as Australia’s two patron saints.
- Discuss St Mary’s Cathedral as being both a Cathedral Church of the Archdiocese of Sydney and a Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Mother of God, Help of Christians.
- Appreciate the history of St Mary’s Cathedral.
- identifying significant organisations.
- Identify how Catholic organisations continue the Church’s mission in the Australian context, including St Vincent de Paul, CatholicCare, Catholic Mission, CARITAS and the Charitable Works Fund.
- Read KWL Book 5 Chapter 12 Our Prayer p122 and create prayers for God’s protection of Australians.

Students deepen their understanding of Religious Orders and their school charism by

- identifying significant Religious Orders who helped the growth and development of the Catholic Church in Australia.
- Identify the Religious Orders who contributed to the growth and development to the Catholic Church in Australia.
- explaining the history and charism that shaped the identity of their school.
- Investigate the life and mission of significant priests, Religious Orders, individuals or groups, who contributed to the growth and development of your school and parish community. This may include the patron saint, founders, history, charism, vision, motto, values and their ministry.
- Explain how this charism is actively expressed in the Catholic life and culture of your school today.
- Celebrate a prayer service using Scripture and prayers from the unit, to reflect on the Catholic history of Australia and to give thanks to God and Our Lady, Help of Christians, for their protection.

Compulsory Scripture

Unit Content 1:
Jeremiah 29:4-14 Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles in Babylon

Unit Content 2:
Ruth 1:5-18, 22 Women Living in Foreign Lands

Storytelling

Unit Content 1:
The Catholic Church in Australia Part 1

Unit Content 2:
The Catholic Church in Australia Part 2
Ruth 1-3

Church Documents

Catechism of the Catholic Church

854 – By her very mission, “the Church . . . travels the same journey as all humanity and shares the same earthly lot with the world: she is to be a leaven and, as it were, the soul of human society in its renewal by Christ and transformation into the family of God.” Missionary endeavor requires patience. It begins with the proclamation of the Gospel to peoples and groups who do not yet believe in Christ, continues with the establishment of Christian communities that are “a sign of God’s presence in the world,” and leads to the foundation of local churches. It must involve a process of inculturation if the Gospel is to take flesh in each people’s culture. There will be times of defeat. “With regard to individuals, groups, and peoples it is only by degrees that [the Church] touches and penetrates them and so receives them into a fullness which is Catholic.”
863 – The whole Church is apostolic, in that she remains, through the successors of St. Peter and the other apostles, in communion of faith and life with her origin: and in that she is “sent out” into the whole world. All members of the Church share in this mission, though in various ways. “The Christian vocation is, of its nature, a vocation to the apostolate as well.” Indeed, we call an apostolate “every activity of the Mystical Body” that aims “to spread the Kingdom of Christ over all the earth.”
910 – “The laity can also feel called, or be in fact called, to cooperate with their pastors in the service of the ecclesial community, for the sake of its growth and life. This can be done through the exercise of different kinds of ministries according to the grace and charisms which the Lord has been pleased to bestow on them.”

KWL

Unit Content 1
KWL Book 5 Chapter 12 Our Church in Australia p116-120

Unit Content 2
KWL Book 5 Chapter 12 Caroline Chisholm p123
KWL Book 5 Chapter 12 In Tradition p121
KWL Book 5 Chapter 12 Our Prayer p122

Prayer

Prayers of Tradition
The Rosary

Eucharist and Liturgical Rites
Collect for Australia Day Mass

Praying with Scripture
Reflection through Jeremiah 29:4–14

Other Prayer Forms
Prayer of petition, thanksgiving and praise

General Capabilities

Australian Curriculum
Cross Curriculum Priorities		The General Capabilities
	Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures		Critical and creative thinking
	Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia		Ethical understanding
	Sustainability		Information and communication technology capability
Other important learning identified by the NSW Educational Standards Authority (NESA):			Intercultural understanding
	Civics and citizenship		Literacy
	Difference and diversity		Numeracy
	Work and enterprise		Personal and social capability

B5 – The Story of The Catholic Church in Australia