ACBC-ACU Office of Pastoral Research
1. Historical background to the development of the ACBC-ACU Office of Pastoral Research
Developing structures for ACBC's endeavours in the field of pastoral research 1975 – 2002.
1.1 National Catholic Research Council(NCRC)
The Council was established by ACBC in 1976 in response to a proposal by Redemptorist priest and sociologist, Michael Mason. Its objectives were:
-to assist in the planning, cumulation, communication of pastoral research; to encourage collaboration between agencies and researchers, to assist in the staffing and funding of pastoral research;
-to advise the Bishops on the research needs of the Church (especially in the area of social sciences);
-to make known research done by others relevant to the Church's mission;
-to discover and contact Australian researchers whose work was relevant to the Church or who might be able to undertake projects of interest to the Church
The Council was served by a chairman and executive officer and five or six coopted members. The NCRC Newsletter appeared three of four times a year carrying reports of research relevant to the Church.
The bishops were consulted about needed research, eventually polled, and a report produced on research which bishops felt was needed, and the priority they assigned to each topic. ACBC never commissioned any of these projects, mainly for lack of an appropriate structure to undertake the work. As a contribution to cumulating past research, Michael Mason edited (with Georgina Fitzpatrick, compiler) Religion in Australian Life: A Bibliography of Social Research (Bedford park SA: AASR and NCRC, 1982. Pp. x, 254), which included books and articles relevant to pastoral research from 1945-1977, by which time the computerised databases were covering the field. A later Chair and Executive Officer of the Council, Dr. Carmel Leavey O.P., directed a project called Pastoral Investigations of Contemporary Trends, resulting in the publication by Collins Dove of six booklets on aspects of the Australian Church.
Funding of NCRC was provided throughout by ACBC through the Bishops Committee for Education. The Council continued with various Chairs and Executive Officers until about 1985, and was then dissolved.
1.2. Office of Research within the ACBC Secretariat
In place of NCRC, the Bishops' Conference established a Research Office within the ACBC Secretariat in Canberra. Its first incumbent was Dr. Nick Tonti-Filippini; its work was mainly in the field of medical ethics. The current Director is Dr. Warwick Neville, who has a doctorate in moral theology. The Office continues to be heavily involved in the scrutiny of draft legislation on health care, welfare and family issues, and in providing advice to parliamentarians. It does not have a particular focus on social research.
1.3. National Catholic Census Project
Most dioceses used to order their own Census data piecemeal. In 1990, when Bob Dixon was working with the Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Research Office for Pastoral Planning (CROPP), Michael Mason worked with him on obtaining Census tables for Melbourne, and conceived the idea of ordering more elaborate and useful Census tables for the whole Church and supplying it to those dioceses and parishes who wished to collaborate. Abp. Faulkner suggested that it should be a national project, supplying data to all dioceses, and funded by ACBC. The cost savings were very large. The project was taken to ACBC and adopted. It was first implemented at the 1991 Census and continues within the ACBC Office for Pastoral Projects, directed by Bob Dixon.
1.4. Catholic Church Life Survey, 1996
NCLS approached some individual bishops in 1991, inviting Catholic participation in the National Church Life Survey to take place later that year. Because of the proximity of the survey, the differences between the Catholic situation and that of the Protestant churches, and the very limited possibility of adapting the survey to Catholics, the offer was not taken up.
The invitation from NCLS was repeated in 1994, with reference to the NCLS 1996. Secretary of ACBC at the time, Fr. Michael McKenna, was advised that it would be preferable to compose questionnaires more suitable to Catholics, but collaborating to the greatest degree possible with NCLS. In December, 1995, ACBC accepted the proposal. Funding was obtained to conduct the survey and to employ Bob Dixon in January 1996 as the Project Officer. Michael Mason was later appointed Project Sociologist. The project was called the "Catholic Church Life Survey".
1.5 Board of Management of ACBC Pastoral Projects
ACBC was still seeking a "management structure" to integrate the various enterprises undertaking research, provision of Census data, etc. The Pastoral Projects Office and the ACBC-ACU Office for Pastoral Research were still under the direction of the Secretary of ACBC. Fr. McKenna had been succeeded in that office by Fr. Brian Finnigan early in 1998. Since the projects were receiving significant funding from ACBC, but were not responsible to a Bishops Committee charged with their oversight, and able to present their funding requirements as part of the normal ACBC process, it seemed appropriate to seek a more normal structural arrangement. The Central Commission of ACBC decided in March, 1999 that a subcommittee of Bishops be formed to investigate the issue and make recommendations.
After consideration and wide consultation, the Committee recommended the present structure: a "Board of Management of ACBC Pastoral Projects," which reports to the Central Commission of ACBC through its Chairman, and consists of a(n) (arch)bishop, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research of ACU, one or more representatives of ACBC, a representative of NCEC, and an outside expert. The Board met for the first time on October 13, 1999.
1.6 ACBC-ACU Office for Pastoral Research
Prof. Wolfgang Grichting, then ACU Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, was commissioned by ACBC to review the Pastoral Projects, particularly the CCLS Project, and to suggest a management structure for the future of these endeavours. He presented his draft report to the plenary meeting in May, 1998. He suggested linking ACBC and ACU in the research effort, citing the kinship between the two institutions, the advantages of involving post-graduate students, the possibility of seeking ARC funding etc. Abp. Eric D'Arcy was deputed by the ACBC Central Commission in July, 1998 to negotiate a Memorandum of Understanding between ACBC and ACU, which was signed by himself and Prof. Grichting in November, 1998. Under its terms, Michael Mason was employed to conduct "Analysis, Interpretation and Communication of the Catholic Church Life Survey". The MOU was initially for a term of a year, and was renewed on 24 December, 1999 in substantially unchanged terms.
1.7 ACBC Pastoral Projects Office
The ACBC Board of Management for Pastoral Research Projects also assumed oversight of the ACBC Pastoral Projects Office, whose main responsibilities continued to be:
-the National Catholic Census Project, which included a plan to digitise parish boundaries for the whole of Australia,
-and liaison with dioceses, especially through contact persons nominated by the bishops and through the National Pastoral Planning Network.
It was also through this office that Catholic participation in NCLS 2001 was coordinated.
The following diagram summarises the relationships between the various bodies.
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Lines to sides of boxes represent collaboration; lines to top or bottom of boxes represent reporting responsibility.
1.8 National Church Life Survey, 2001
In 1999, Bob Dixon presented to the Board of Management of ACBC Pastoral Projects at its first meeting a proposal for the Catholic church to participate in the NCLS survey planned for 2001, this time as a full participant. The (new) NCLS was formally initiated on 5 December 2000 through a signed "Memorandum of Understanding" between the Sydney Anglican Home Mission Society Council [Anglicare NSW], the Board of Mission of the NSW Synod of the Uniting Church in Australia [Uniting Church] and ACBC. Fr. Finnigan became a member of the NCLS Steering Committee. The Board of Management nominated Bob Dixon to collaborate with NCLS on the working level. Michael Mason assisted as a consultant on the content of the four questionnaires which were designed or modified specifically for Catholics, and on the interpretive documents intended to accompany the initial reports to parishes. He also conducted a separate survey of a sample of priests, using a questionnaire appropriate for a follow-up to the 1996 CCLS survey of priests.