Mother of three Carol Mitchell says she’s excited to be in charge of the newly established Justice, Ecology and Development Office (JEDO) for the Archdiocese of Perth.
The new agency, which opened last month, has replaced the Catholic Social Justice Council (CSJC), with Mrs Mitchell serving as the inaugural director.
Speaking to The Record recently, Mrs Mitchell said her experiences working with marginalised people – including prisoners, the disabled and immigrants – has prepared her well for her new role.
“Social justice is an issue that’s a personal passion and I think that’s demonstrated through some of the places I’ve worked,” she said.
“It’s something I’m really looking forward to.” Former director of the CSJC Jim Smith said establishing the new office was an important step for the Archdiocese to take.
“I was engaged in the role [of director of the CSJC] for two years and found that within the work of social justice there was a lot of opposition to actually moving forward, and felt there was a need for some significant change,” he said.
“We think the new office structure is a big step forward because it gives us a fresh start. It hasn’t abandoned social justice, but it has broadened the scope a little by encouraging closer collaboration with [Catholic] Earthcare… and also with Caritas.”
The new agency’s mandate states that it is “concerned with defending individual human dignity, promoting solidarity and fostering the common good”.
“It works to cultivate personal and social responsibility, to stand with the marginalised and to actively safeguard the integrity of all creation.”
Mrs Mitchell said she sees her role as one of directing people to the area they are passionate about and enabling them to actively engage in that area.
“There are a lot of people who really do want to be more active,”she said.
“It’s not just about awareness-raising only, it’s trying to see if there are ways that we can actually get people through parishes and other community groups that are really interested in any of these issues – social justice, ecology and development – to go from having an awareness and interest to then wanting to do something.”
The first part of that process, Mrs Mitchell said, will be building relationships and identifying gaps.
“I see my role in the first instance as linking in with some parishes where there aren’t any social justice groups and just seeing if that is something they have talked about… and offering them some assistance in how they can move forward with that,” she said. But the new director also acknowledged that there would be challenges along the way.
“Even within our own Catholic circles there can be some particular elements that might be a bit more conservative and so may not see where we’re heading and understand why we’re heading there, but that’s the journey we’ll take together,” she said.
The Perth office, which is based at the Newman Siena Centre in Doubleview, will work closely with the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference Justice, Ecology and Development Commission.