Diocesan Leadership
Professional Development Program 2025
Welcome to the Office of Professional Standards and Safeguarding Professional Development (PD) Program for 2025. Our PD training courses have been created for those throughout the diocese who are in leadership positions, including:
Clergy
Office of the Bishop
Catholic Education
CatholicCare
Catholic Development Fund
Parish/pastoral ministries
As part of our commitment to the Child Safe Standards and the National Catholic Safeguarding Standards, the Office of Professional Standards and Safeguarding offers a variety of PD training courses that empower our leaders with information and skills to meet and exceed the national principles for Child Safe Organisations.
Attendance at training is mandatory under the direction of the bishop, and every leader within our diocese is required to complete a minimum of 10 units of PD per calendar year. Therefore, our aim is to provide a range of training options to meet your interests and needs.
The following roles have been deemed to be Diocesan leaders for the purpose of the Diocesan Leadership Professional Development Program:
Pastoral Sector
Bishop, Vicar General, All diocesan and religious clergy ministering in the diocese as a parish priest, administrator, assistant priest, deacon, chaplain, or in carrying out regular supply work and all religious appointed to carry out work in institutions of the Diocese of Wollongong.
Office of the Bishop
Chief Operations Manager, Directors, Coordinators and all staff
Catholic Education Department of Wollongong
Director of schools, leadership team, heads of departments, child protection team, team leaders, principals and assistant principals. In addition, any staff who are selected by the leadership team are required to attend.
CatholicCare Wollongong
Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer and leadership team. In addition, any staff who are selected by the leadership team are required to attend.
Catholic Development Fund
General Manager and team.
Please note the following:
The Bishop and/or Vicar General can also elect to require other persons to attend
Managers of the Office of the Bishop can elect to require any casuals that they manage to attend
Principals can also select persons that are required to attend or members of their leadership
Heads of service can also select persons that are required to attend or members of their leadership team
To support your attendance, training is offered both online and face-to-face (at the Xavier Centre, Wollongong). We encourage you to register early in order to ensure your participation in the program of your choice as our workshops are capped and positions are limited.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. For training inquiries, please email [email protected] or contact the team at our office on (02) 4222 2431.
Registration for diocesan leadership modules
To register for a diocesan leadership module(s), please complete the online registration form below. Registration will close one week before each module date, or when a module has reached capacity, whichever occurs first. Details of your module and your unique workshop link (if on Zoom) will be shared 2-3 days prior through email.
Please register for no more than 10 units to ensure that other participants also have the opportunity to enrol.
If you have any questions, or if you need to cancel your enrolment for any reason, please email [email protected] as there is a limited capacity for each module and if you are unable to attend, your registration can be allocated to another person.
Download the Diocesan Leadership Professional Development Program 2025 for full information on all the training modules, module descriptions, presenter biographies and location details.
Once you know what module(s) you would like to register for, complete the below online registration form. If a certain course doesn’t appear below, it may have already reached its maximum registration. If you’re still interested in attending, you may sign up to our cancellation list by emailing us at [email protected].
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)
The professional development opportunities in this program are opportunities provided by the diocese to help you in fulfilling the professional development requirement linked with your role’s leadership position. However, it should be noted that there are several external professional development courses available that will also fulfill the criteria for recognition for prior professional development. As a result, if you attend a workshop delivered by an external provider that addresses subjects related to safeguarding and professional standards, you may be eligible for credit points for your participation in the external course.
Pre-approved courses
If you are unable to attend any of the Diocese’s sessions, we have compiled a list of pre-approved Government Safeguarding Courses that qualify for Recognition of Prior Learning. These courses are delivered by the Office of the Children’s Guardian (OCG) as part of the Child Safe Scheme and offer a higher level of accreditation points. The OCG offers these courses multiple times throughout the year, and you will need to register, participate, and provide your OCG certificate through submitting below.
Please keep in mind that the workshop must have taken place during the same calendar year for which you are seeking credit, and evidence of attendance and completion will be required to process your application. All recognition of prior professional development is due by 28 November 2025. Click the button below to apply for recognition and credit for prior professional development learning.
Account means the account held at your financial institution from which we are authorised to arrange for funds to be debited.
Agreement means this Direct Debit Request Service Agreement between you and us, including the direct debit request.
Business day means a day other than a Saturday or a Sunday or a listed public holiday.
Debit day means the day that payment is due.
Debit payment means a particular transaction where a debit is made, according to your direct debit request.
Direct debit request means the Direct Debit Request between us and you.
Us and we and our means the Catholic Development Fund.
You means the customer(s) who signed the direct debit request. Your financial institution is the financial institution where you hold the account that you have authorised us to arrange to debit.
Debiting your account
By submitting a direct debit request, you have authorised us to arrange for funds to be debited from your account according to the agreement we have with you.
We will only arrange for funds to be debited from your account:
As authorised in the direct debit request; if the debit day falls on a day that is not a business day, we may direct your financial institution to debit your account on the following or previous business day. If you are unsure about which day your account has or will be debited, please check with your financial
Changes by you
If you wish to stop or defer a debit payment you must write to us at least 5 business days before the next debit day.
This notice should be given to us in the first instance.
Your obligations
It is your responsibility to ensure that there are sufficient clear funds available in your account to allow a debit payment to be made.
If there are insufficient clear funds available in your account to meet a debit payment:
you or your account may be charged a fee and/or interest by your financial institution;
you or your account may be charged a fee to reimburse us for charges we have incurred for the failed transaction;
you must arrange for the payment to be made by another method
Please check your account statement to verify that the amounts debited from your account are correct.
Dispute
If you believe that there has been an error in debiting your account you should call us on (02) 4222 2444 and confirm the details in writing with us as soon as possible so that we can resolve your query quickly.
Accounts
You should check:
with your financial institution whether direct debiting is available from your accounts offered by financial
your account details which you have provided to us are correct by checking them against a recent account statement; and
with your financial institution before completing the direct debit request if you have any queries about how to complete the direct debit
Warning: if the account number you have quoted is incorrect, you may be charged a fee to reimburse our costs in correcting any deductions from:
an account you do not have authority to operate; or
an account you do not
Confidentiality
We will keep any information (including your account details) in your direct debit request confidential.
We will make reasonable efforts to keep any such information that we have about you secure and to ensure that any of our employees or agents who have access to information about you, do not make any unauthorised use, modification, reproduction or disclosure of that information.
However, we may use your contact details to provide information about the fund. Should you wish this not to be the case, please advise the fund in writing.
Disclosure statement
The Catholic Development Fund, Diocese of Wollongong (the Fund) is required by law to make the following disclosure: The Fund is not prudentially supervised by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority nor has it been examined or approved by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. An investor in the Fund will not receive the benefit of the financial claims scheme or the depositor protection provisions in the Banking Act 1959 (Cth). Investments in the Fund are intended to be a means for investors to support the charitable, religious and education works of the Diocese of Wollongong and for whom the consideration of profit are not of primary relevance in the investment decision. The investments that the Fund offers are not subject to the usual protections for investors under the Corporations Act (Cth) or regulation by Australian Securities and Investments Commission. Investors may be unable to get some or all of their money back when the investor expects or at all and any investment of the Fund are not comparable to investments with banks, finance companies or fund managers. The Fund’s identification statement may be viewed at www.cdfwollongong.org.au or by contacting the Fund. The Fund does not hold an Australian Financial Services Licence.
Our diocesan logo is theologically rich and very succinct. As a hand, it depicts our mission as a diocese and as individuals within the diocese, of bearing (bringing, carrying) Christ’s love to one another and to the world around us. In this, we are the hand of Jesus Christ, and we are offering ourselves to him so that he might work through us.
We can be the bearers of his love only as a response to his call and in the strength of his grace. We are reminded of this in two ways—through the symbol of the dove (the Holy Spirit) also present in the logo, and by the incorporation of the cross that segments the logo. The presence of the cross is a reminder that bearing the love of Christ will inevitably cost us if we live it authentically. However, in the way that the Cross is the portent of redemption and life—an echo of the tree of life in the book of Genesis—so becoming bearers of the love of Christ will also bring us to life.
The four fingers of the hand also represent the four regions of our diocese. The first is bluerepresenting the beautiful water of the Shoalhaven. The second is a blue and green combination representing the waters and escarpment of the Illawarra. The third is greendepicting the hills and plains of the Macarthur. The fourth is dark green illustrating the forests of the Southern Highlands.
Welcome to the Office of Professional Standards and Safeguarding Professional Development (PD) Program for 2025. Our PD training courses have been created for those throughout the diocese who are in leadership positions, including:
