At the heart of Christian faith is the God revealed to us by Jesus. This is the Trinitarian God - a God of dynamic love, a God who is to be understood as Persons-In-Mutual-Love. This theology shapes our self-understanding as Church. It needs to shape our vision of ourselves as Church here in South Australia.
Our mission as Church is to witness and also to embody the divine relations of mutual love which are at the heart of the universe. The Church is a communion existing from the Trinitarian communion. In the Eucharist, the Christian community anticipates and tastes a communion not just of human beings but of all God’s creatures in God, and knows it is itself called to the practice of inclusive love.
The Constitution on the Church of the Second Vatican Council has taught us that the Church is the people of God, a people made up of all the baptised, in which every person is called to mission and to holiness on the basis of their baptism. It also tells us that the Church is the `universal sacrament of salvation’ for our world. This means that the Christian community is called to be both a sign of God’s saving love in the world and also an agent of this love. As Jesus himself witnessed to God’s compassion by his words and deeds, so the Church is called to be a sign and agent of this compassion for the world.
The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World calls us to solidarity with the whole human family, to stand for the dignity of every human person and to work for justice and peace in our global community. It teaches us to give priority to the poor of the earth. It calls us to engage with our culture, to learn from it and to contribute to it.
The Church’s contribution to education and specifically to Catholic schools springs from its mission in the world. The Church has something of the utmost importance to say to the world. It points to the God of Jesus Christ as the centre and meaning of the universe. This message challenges all individualistic concepts of the human. It situates the person as always inter-related with other persons, as always existing from and in the Trinitarian communion.
Catholic schools are obviously faithful to this theology of Church when they work with parents to initiate children and young people into the way of the gospel and the Christian tradition, and to lead them to the following of Jesus as active participants in the eucharistic community. Catholic schools are a unique environment for this task of evangelisation. Through every dimension of school life, students are invited to integrate culture and faith: every aspect of human knowledge and wisdom is understood in the light of the gospel. The religious education curriculum is integral to the task of moral religious formation yet the task extends beyond this to embrace: the other areas of the curriculum, the formation of teachers, relationships within the school and every other aspect of school life.
Catholic schools are also faithful to the Church’s mission in the world when they fulfil other functions, such as promoting the educational good of the wider community, offering resources to those who are poor and powerless, assisting families who have recently migrated; building an authentic sense of community in diversity; promoting a sense of global solidarity; educating young people in ecological understanding and commitment. In these and other ways, SACCS seeks to develop a deeper engagement between Catholic schools and the wider community as a dimension of its participation in the church’s mission.
In accordance with Canons 116 and 118 of the Code of Canon Law, the South Australian Commission for Catholic Schools (hereinafter referred to as SACCS) is a collegial public juridical person established by the Archbishop of Adelaide
In accordance with Canon 113#2 the rights and obligations of SACCS are to:
In accordance with Canon 118 the natural persons (hereinafter called `the Commissioners’) who represent and act in the name of SACCS are:
SACCS shall establish a Standing Committee structure, including the areas of Faith Studies, Human Resources, Education, Finance and Planning, in order to receive appropriate and accurate advice from the community about matters and decisions pertaining to the work of the Commission.
Membership of each Standing Committee shall include a Commissioner, to provide a link between the Committee and the Commission.
The Executive Officer of each Standing Committee shall be an employee of the Catholic Education Office.
Standing Committees shall have terms of reference and working guidelines prescribed by SACCS.
The Office of SACCS is located in that place determined by the Archbishop of Adelaide.
The stewardship and administration of the temporal goods of SACCS is to be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Canon Law.
In the event of the suppression of SACCS in accordance with Canon 120#1, any surplus assets are to be distributed to the Catholic Church Endowment Society Incorporated and the Catholic Diocese of Port Pirie Incorporated and any other public juridical persons in such manner as may be determined by the Commissioners. Such assets are to be used solely for Catholic schools.
Any amendment to these Statutes requires a two-thirds majority vote of the Commissioners and the approval of the Archbishop of Adelaide, the Bishop of Port Pirie and the two persons appointed by the Congregational Leaders.
The rights in Canon Law of the Diocesan Bishops and Congregational Leaders, except insofar as provided herein, are in no way affected by these Statutes.
The right to authentically interpret these Statutes belongs to the Archbishop of Adelaide, the Bishop of Port Pirie and the two persons appointed by the Congregational Leaders.
These Statutes as amended and approved in accordance with Article 17 of the original Statutes of the South Australian Commission for Catholic Schools, are effective from June 16, 1998.
