Who is melbournes archdiocese

Parish priests will be stripped of their power over hundreds of Catholic schools in Melbourne, with the archbishop to take sole authority from next year as the church responds to new laws that enable survivors of sexual abuse to sue institutions. The archdiocese is centralising control over its schools so it can meet a recommendation made by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Credit: Eddie Jim. The changes will also ensure that Melbourne's Catholic education system meets new Victorian government laws that give survivors of child sexual abuse more power to sue non-government schools. Almost all Victorian Catholic schools are run by the local parish priest who appoints principals, employs staff and signs off on financial statements in a system of governance that is unique in Australia. But the long-standing devolved power structure is set to be scrapped, with authority over primary and secondary schools to be transferred to a new company that will be headed by Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli.

A not-for-profit company, Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools Limited, will be established by July next year, with the archbishop its sole shareholder and a board in charge of governance. Catholic Education Melbourne will become the new management body, taking over many of the responsibilities currently held by priests. The new centralised governance model will be introduced by January 1, , according to a Catholic Education Melbourne document seen by The Age.

The proposed governance model will be put to priests and principals for consultation in the weeks ahead. Catholic Education Melbourne's acting director, Jim Miles, said the organisation was working with the archdiocese to develop a new form of school governance.

Michael Gray, president of the Victorian Association of Catholic Primary School Principals, said it would improve public confidence in Catholic schools. He said schools had become more complex environments, priests had become fewer and in many cases older and Catholic schools had to ensure they remained leaders in education.

Parish priests in the diocese of Sale and Ballarat have already surrendered or are in the process of surrendering their authority over schools. The royal commission said that having teaching staff employed by parish priests could make it more likely that abuse of students went unreported. Terms of Reference have been developed for School Advisory Councils and all of these documents are available via the buttons above.

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