Employee Service Recognition Awards 2024
Happy memories recalled at northern years of service celebration
By Wendy Shaw
Launceston parish secretary Carolyn Gutteridge recalled many happy memories as she reflected back on a quarter of a century of service in the bustling northern office.
She was one of 16 Archdiocese of Hobart employees who were recognised at an awards ceremony at the Launceston Pastoral Centre on 22 August.
Staff members from the north and north west working for CatholicCare and in parish roles had provided a combined 130 years of service.
Mrs Gutteridge was the longest-serving recipient, followed by CatholicCare counsellor Pete with 20 years, Devonport presbytery staff member Digna French with 15 years and Meander Valley and West Tamar parish secretary Jenelle Gillies with 10 years. A further 12 CatholicCare staff members were recognised for five years of service.
“Looking back on 25 years … brings to mind a lot of lovely memories of working with many priests, forming friendships with parishioners and being ever-grateful to the many volunteers who have contributed to parish life and subsequently made my life in the office much easier,” Mrs Gutteridge said afterwards.
“I have considered it an absolute privilege to work with 21 priests, Religious Sisters and Deacon Paul Crowe, in addition to getting to know the priests from other parishes around Launceston.”
“Being a parish secretary has provided an interesting snapshot of parish life and the duties have changed dramatically over the years,” Mrs Gutteridge added.
Before he presented the awards, Archbishop Julian Porteous spoke about the nature of service.
The Archbishop said that Jesus’ attitude of devotion to others served as inspiration for work carried out in the Archdiocese.
“That is the exemplar we have before us; that is the inspiration for what we do.
“So when we say we are giving recognition of service, what we would like to recognise today is: how you have served the people; how you have helped people; how you have been concerned for people and their particular needs; how you have sought to advance the general mission of the Church, which is to be one of service and ultimately, we want to be of service to all Tasmanians as a Church.”
North and North West Service Recognition Award recipients
Five years: CatholicCare staff Linda, Mary, Tamieka, Caroline, Belinda, Holly, Emma, Jenniffer, Trudy, Taylah-Lee, Livia and Carol
10 years: West Tamar and Meander Valley parish secretary Jenelle Gillies
15 years: Digna French, who works at the Devonport presbytery
20 years: CatholicCare counsellor Pete
25 years: Launceston parish secretary Carolyn Gutteridge
Employees honoured at southern annual awards event
By Josh Low
Forty-two employees in the southern deanery of the Archdiocese of Hobart were honoured last month at the annual Employee Service Recognition Awards on Thursday 1 August.
Employees who have worked for five, 10, 15, 20 and 25 continuous years were recognised for their service and presented with an award by Archbishop Julian.
In his address, Archbishop Julian drew attention to the words of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew. (Mt 20:28)
“This event is called Employee Service Recognition Awards, and the word I’d like to focus on very briefly is the word ‘service’.
“Jesus said, ‘I’ve not come to be served, but to serve, and to give my life as a ransom for many’. That’s the attitude that inspires what we do,” he said.
“In one sense we aren’t just recognising the job that somebody did or achieved. We are recognising service, recognising a state of the heart.
“And for us, service is not just the achievement of particular goals or purposes. We’re serving people.
“Much of the work we do here is designed to help people in one way or another. Today, yes, we want to recognise years of service, but I want to acknowledge that we are making a real contribution to the lives of Tasmanians in all sorts of ways.”
CatholicCare Administration Officer, Denita Dean, was recognized for 25 years of service this year, having first begun a reception traineeship with Centacare in 1999.
“I started as a trainee, and then I was employed full time, and that’s been it for me ever since,” Denita said.
“I always liked the idea of the job and being somewhere with the values of the agency – somewhere where you interacted with people on a daily basis.
“Being able to do a job and know you are helping people – that’s a good feeling.”
Southern Service Recognition Award recipients
Five years: Simone Luhse,Mohsen Borazjani,Dean Fleming,Sarah Henley,Abigail George,Robert Lapolla,Travis Lincoln, Amandeep Kaur, Tania Kay, Rowena Conacher, Lorraine Davis, Rebecca Williams, Claire Johnstone, Adrian Broomhall, Gabriella Quinn, Sean Robb, Casey Day, Gavin Langham, Deborah Nethery, Phillip Williams, Emily Witt-Morrisby
10 years: Michael McKenna, Michele Pedder, David Daintree, Sallyann Calvert, Linda Buza, Margaret Coxhell, Andrew Dower, Brad James, Sarijit Sidhu, Christine Wood, Sonia Grealish, Carolina Vargas, Michael Hangan, Sean Morgan, Helen Smith
15 years: Bosede Dakowah, Paw Lei, Mandy Bobrowski
20 years: Toni Bird, Kimbra Watson
25 years: Denita Dean