Today’s adventure was an over two and a half hour train trip to the Diocese of Maitland – Newcastle. This diocese is about 150km (90 miles) north of Sydney and is easily reached by 
“CountryLink”, the rail service that connects the city with the far suburbs and beyond. The trip began at 6am as Dan and I traveled to Central Station to catch the 7:18am train to Newcastle. Sr. Judee had set up appointments there for Dan to meet with their Interfaith Officer and for me to meet with the IT department team. It was a wonderful trip which took us beyond any of the rail lines that I had ridden before. We arrived precisely on time (10:08 am where a member of the IT team was waiting to “fetch us.” Tracey whisked us off to the Chancery where we went our separate ways, Dan with the Deacon in charge of Interfaith Affairs and me to meet the IT Team.
After attending a Mass for Catholic Schools week, we had lunch together and began the business of sharing our interest in and commitment to putting the gifts of technology and media at the
service of the Gospel. The Team in this diocese is headed by Tracey, Lindsay and Cathy, all experts in their respective fields. It was a terrific sharing and a great opportunity to “cross fertilize” what each of is doing. After lunch I had the opportunity to meet with the IT folks in the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Schools Office. This too was informative. I continue to be impressed with the IT infrastructure that Catholic Schools regularly use in the Diocesan School Systems in Australia. They have the fantastic blessing of being funded by the government here in much the same way as nonpublic schools are supported in Canada. Amazing what you can do with a help from the government! In fact, the federal and state governments provide to Catholic schools in Australia about 80% of the per pupil cost in public schools. The difference is made up by fees and other charges to parents (not parishes).
The day ended with a wonderful train ride home through the Hunter and Hawkesbury River
Valleys. Here's a picture taken through the train window as we ascended from the river valley on our way back home to Sydney. Five tunnels just came after this shot was taken. It was a delightful day of seeing new things and learning more about how technology can help proclaim the Gospel. It reminds me of an old saying from my seminary years in which one professor told us “to perfect your instrumentality.” The use of technology is one great way to do this very thing for the sake of the Good News!
“CountryLink”, the rail service that connects the city with the far suburbs and beyond. The trip began at 6am as Dan and I traveled to Central Station to catch the 7:18am train to Newcastle. Sr. Judee had set up appointments there for Dan to meet with their Interfaith Officer and for me to meet with the IT department team. It was a wonderful trip which took us beyond any of the rail lines that I had ridden before. We arrived precisely on time (10:08 am where a member of the IT team was waiting to “fetch us.” Tracey whisked us off to the Chancery where we went our separate ways, Dan with the Deacon in charge of Interfaith Affairs and me to meet the IT Team.After attending a Mass for Catholic Schools week, we had lunch together and began the business of sharing our interest in and commitment to putting the gifts of technology and media at the
service of the Gospel. The Team in this diocese is headed by Tracey, Lindsay and Cathy, all experts in their respective fields. It was a terrific sharing and a great opportunity to “cross fertilize” what each of is doing. After lunch I had the opportunity to meet with the IT folks in the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Schools Office. This too was informative. I continue to be impressed with the IT infrastructure that Catholic Schools regularly use in the Diocesan School Systems in Australia. They have the fantastic blessing of being funded by the government here in much the same way as nonpublic schools are supported in Canada. Amazing what you can do with a help from the government! In fact, the federal and state governments provide to Catholic schools in Australia about 80% of the per pupil cost in public schools. The difference is made up by fees and other charges to parents (not parishes).The day ended with a wonderful train ride home through the Hunter and Hawkesbury River
Valleys. Here's a picture taken through the train window as we ascended from the river valley on our way back home to Sydney. Five tunnels just came after this shot was taken. It was a delightful day of seeing new things and learning more about how technology can help proclaim the Gospel. It reminds me of an old saying from my seminary years in which one professor told us “to perfect your instrumentality.” The use of technology is one great way to do this very thing for the sake of the Good News!
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