「明日領袖」工作坊   二零零七年六月五日

Workshop on “Leaders for the Future”   5^th June 2007

天主教教育事務處於六月五日為校監、校長們舉辦工作坊。特地從悉尼邀請了當地天主教教育事務處人力資源總監 Ms. Natalie McNamara 以「未來領袖」為題，詳細詮釋培育平信徒作為天主教學校接班人的急切性。她引述教會文憲：教會憲章、聖教法典、天主教教理及天主教學校教育的宗教幅度，指出平信徒有使命肩負起福傳的責任。

撿視兩地的問題，講者指出悉尼與香港面對的挑戰及困難大致相若，但前者的問題較早發生，而同樣的問題，在香港亦已逼近眉睫。目前主要工作範圍包括：發掘和遴選人材、持續專業發展及恆久支援。香港必須策略性的面對這些問題，培訓及吸納一些熱心、名符其實的天主教徒，做好接班人的準備，使天主教教育的精神可以薪火相傳，延續下去。

The Catholic Education Office organized a Workshop for Supervisors and Principals of Catholic Schools on 5^th June 2007.  This Workshop on “Leaders for the Future” was conducted by the Director of Human Resources of Sydney Catholic Education Office, Ms. Natalie McNamara.  She emphasized the importance of preparing leaders for our Catholic schools.  She quoted from the Church documents, Lumen Gentium, Code of Canon Law, Catechism of the Catholic Church and The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School to explain that it was the mandate of the laity to respond to the call of God to build His kingdom through our Catholic schools.

Reflecting on the similarities and differences between the situation in Catholic schools in Sydney and Hong Kong, Natalie noted that many of the problems were very much the same but the problems occurred earlier in Sydney than Hong Kong.  The key challenges would be: identification of personnel (recruitment/selection), development/formation and ongoing support.  She advised her counterparts in Hong Kong that School Sponsoring Bodies and Principals should derive concrete strategies to nurture potential successors so that the Catholic identity of our Catholic schools would not diminish.