Parish Administration Forum fosters greater collaboration and connections

By Josh Low

Parish secretaries and volunteers from around Tasmania gathered in Hobart this month for the Parish Administration Forum at the Archdiocesan offices in New Town.

Held on Thursday 13 May, the Forum saw a range of topics covered, including work health and safety, child safeguarding, archiving, property management and insurance refreshers and updates.

It also allowed Archdiocesan staff to continue fostering strong and healthy relationships with parish staff and communities.

Glenorchy Parish secretary Sheila Gonzales has been coming to the annual Forum ever since she began her role at the parish some 12 years ago.

She said the event was always a great opportunity to network and share experiences with others involved in similar roles at different parishes.

“We share a lot of things in common with each other and we learn a lot as well, like the implementation of new policies with cemeteries for example,” she said.

The introduction of the Parish Administration Communication and Engagement Management (PACEM) system would be highly beneficial to her role, Sheila said.

“For parish secretaries, it will be a big help, especially because the Parish Priest will also be part of [the process] and allow for greater collaboration,” she said.

Nickie Keith and Rachel Sternberg both share the parish secretary role at the Kingston-Channel Parish and said the forum had been of great benefit.

“There’s just good overall information, and it has been really good to put faces to the names, especially of the Archdiocesan staff we are in correspondence with,” Nickie said.

“But also, they say, ‘Just ring us if you’ve got a question,’ which is really good; and for us to know who to contact too.”

Rachel added that learning from others who have been in the same role for much longer and possess a wealth of experience, was extremely beneficial.

“The collective knowledge and support helps,” she said.