Welcome to your Term 2 Chaplaincy Matters – and boy, do we have plenty going on!
With Easter now in the rearview, we are looking forward to our second National Chaplaincy Week, which kicks off from May 19-26. Check out the article below to access your updated 2024 Chaplaincy Week pack.
For those unfamiliar with Chaplaincy Week, this is a special time to celebrate our incredible chaplains, increase awareness about their vital work, and raise funds for local services.
Our SU Australia marketing team will be featuring Chaplaincy Week content across our social media channels during the week, and we’d love to see how your local community is celebrating too. So please tag SU Australia in any content you post. Let’s make this the biggest and best one yet!
With that said, let’s get down to business.
Chaplaincy contracts
I am happy to share that all SU chaplains should now have received their new contracts, after we finalised all necessary details with the Department of Education, including around chaplaincy funding in schools.
LCC Fundraising Guidelines – a reminder
As you may recall, the Department of Education updated its Chaplaincy and Student Welfare Fundraising Guidelines in 2022.
The key point to remember when it comes to the guidelines is that your LCC funds, including community-raised funds, can only be used for purposes that directly relate to your chaplaincy service.
This includes:
- The engagement of a chaplain and/or student welfare worker (depending on which service the funds have been allocated or fundraised for) through an AEA,
- Approved work plan activities,
- Increasing the hours of a pre-existing chaplain or student welfare worker
This does not include:
- Transport and registration fees for students, including to community-based activities, workshops or camps that are held off-site,
- Purchase of general school resources (e.g. books, stationery)
Anything that has been approved in your chaplain’s work plan (including programs or chaplaincy fundraising dinners or events) will be suitable.
LCC name change (a change as good as a holiday?)
Our LCCs have played, and continue to play, such a crucial role in making chaplaincy a success across Queensland, which is why we’re keen to explore expanding the LCC model to other states to help bolster the work our SU chaplains are doing across Australia.
As part of these discussions, we’re looking to change the name of LCCs to
Chaplaincy Support Teams (or CSTs), which more accurately represents the spirit of what LCCs are about, while also making it clearer to potential volunteers what they’re signing up to do. Before we lock anything in, we’d love to hear from you and get your feedback on the proposed name change.
Parliamentary Friends of Chaplaincy
Late last year the National School Chaplaincy Association, which includes SU Australia, launched the Parliamentary Friends of School Chaplaincy in Canberra at Parliament House.
This initiative is bringing our nation’s leaders closer to the frontlines of chaplaincy, helping them see the positive impact that chaplaincy services like yours are making in our communities through real-life stories, and educational resources as well.
The launch was well attended by politicians across the major parties, including the Minister for Education Jason Clare, Shadow Education Minister Sarah Henderson.
Speaker of the House, Milton Dick graciously hosted the launch in his Speaker’s Courtyard, while Senator Matt O’Sullivan and his Deputy David Smith helped formalise the group.
More gatherings are scheduled throughout 2024.
Upcoming SU Camps
The school term may only just be starting up again, but it won’t be long before the mid-year break, and we’ve got plenty of camps and activities coming up.
To keep up to date with our camps, events, fundraisers, and more visit su.org.au/events. We’ve included filters on the site to help you find what you’re looking for more easily. And remember to keep checking back as more events and camps are added in the lead-up to the next school holidays.
For now, that’s all from me. Thank you again for partnering with SU Australia in supporting the wellbeing of students, staff, and families in your local community through school chaplaincy.
You are a blessing. Until next time,