Keeping the Faith in a Secular World

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
19 May 2009

One of the key challenges for teachers today is to interest students in Catholic culture and religious practice, says Br Kelvin Canavan who recently-retired as Executive Director of Schools for the Sydney Catholic Education Office.

Visionary, teacher, broadcaster and one of Australia's leading educators in a career that has spanned more than 50 years, Br Kelvin says there is a great deal of spirituality among school students.

"They are interested in learning about God," he says. "But in today's world although they attend special prayer services and religious retreats, they generally do not worship within their Parishes and do not see regular church attendance as important."

According to Br Kelvin, the percentage of school students going to Mass has decreased over the past 30 years, as has the percentage of the number of parents attending Mass.

To counteract this, what is needed is high quality religious education in classrooms that can help counter the current culture in society that has become increasingly secular.

"The challenge is to interest young people in the Catholic culture as well as their Catholic identity," he says. "We saw young people who were proud of their faith throughout World Youth Day last year. Now we need to help them see the importance for them to practice their faith in every day life and to worship God by attending church on a regular basis."

The 71-year-old Marist Brother, who began his work in education back in 1960 as a teacher at a Sydney primary school, says as Australia has become more secular, people have generally become less interested in things religious and more materialistic.

"It's a problem faced by many Western societies," he says.

Taking charge of Sydney's 147 systemic Catholic primary and secondary schools in 1988, Br Kelvin spent the next 22 years steering them to academic excellence as well ass making them affordable to all Catholics, whatever their income or status in life.

Last October as the economic downturn began to hit, Br Kelvin announced that schools across the Sydney Archdiocese as well as in the dioceses of Parramatta, Wollongong and Broken Bay, would cut their fees for families experiencing hardship in wake of the financial meltdown.

"We need to reduce the cost of Catholic schooling to families without impacting on the quality of teaching or learning," he said at the time.

Making a Catholic education affordable and accessible to everyone, particularly to the  poor, disadvantaged or unemployed is a legacy of Br Kelvin's time with Sydney's Catholic Education Office.

His other legacies include the high level of literacy and numeracy at Sydney's Catholic schools which are well above the State average. The proportion of HSC students who out-perform the State average is also high.

Under his leadership, Br Kelvin also transformed teaching staff at the schools.

He oversaw the transition of a collection of schools that relied almost entirely on the sacrifice of Religious Brothers and Sisters to a highly-organised school system that is now made up almost entirely of lay staff, the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell told the congregation at a special Mass at St Mary's Cathedral, held earlier this month, in recognition of Br Kelvin outstanding services to education.

But it was in helping persuade state and Federal Governments to fund Sydney's Catholic schools that is perhaps Br Kelvin's most extraordinary achievement.
In 1967, the year before he gave up teaching to join the Catholic Education Office, there was no government funding for Catholic schools.
 
"Schools were under resourced and when I taught, classes of 68 or more were the norm," Br Kelvin says.

A grass roots campaign spearheaded by Br Kelvin the following year changed all that. Made up of parents, the campaign lobbied politicians for funding and became such a powerful national movement by the end of 1968, state and Federal governments had agreed to a combined grant of $18 for each Catholic high school student in Australia.

Since then, direct funding has continued to increase and has enabled Catholic schools to keep abreast of technology and educational resources. It has also meant that fees can be kept at affordable levels, with the average cost per year for primary school at $1400 and $2400 for secondary school.

Br Kelvin has now stepped down as Executive Director of Sydney's Catholic Education Office and passed the mantle to new director, Dr Dan White, a former director of Catholic education in Tasmania who holds a doctorate in Education and a masters in Relgious Education.

But while he has given up what he calls "my main job," Br Kelvin will continue to be involved in education and says he is looking forward to his new role as visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame Australia and the Australian Catholic University (Sydney).

"It is time to move on," he says with a smile, adding that he is looking forward to the challenge of academic research and teaching.

Br Kelvin is leaving for overseas this week for a much deserved break before he begins his new role as Visiting Professor in late July at the start of the universities' second semester.

In addition to his work with ACU and the University of Notre Dame, Br Kelvin will continue as a member of the Board of Studies NSW as well as his roles as chairman and member of a variety of other key boards and committees.