The Professionalisation of Australian Catholic Social Welfare, 1920-1985
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The Professionalisation of Australian Catholic Social Welfare, 1920-1985 Damian John Gleeson PhD Thesis School of History Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences University of New South Wales November 2006 i PLEASE TYPE 1 THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES 2 Thesis/Dissertation Sheet Surname or Family name: Gleeson First name: Damian Other name/s: John Abbreviation for degree as given in the University calendar: PhD School: History Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences Title: The Professionalisation of Australian Catholic Social Welfare, 1920-1985 Abstract 350 words maximum: (PLEASE TYPE) This thesis explores the neglected history of Australian Catholic social welfare, focusing on the period, 1920-85. Central to this study is a comparative analysis of diocesan welfare bureaux (Centacare), especially the Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide agencies. Starting with the origins of professional welfare at local levels, this thesis shows the growth in Catholic welfare services across Australia. The significant transition from voluntary to professional Catholic welfare in Australia is a key theme. Lay trained women inspired the transformation in the church’s welfare services. Prepared predominantly by their American training, these women devoted their lives to fostering social work in the Church and within the broader community. The women demonstrated vision and tenacity in introducing new policies and practices across the disparate and unco-ordinated Australian Catholic welfare sector. Their determination challenged the status quo, especially the church’s preference for institutionalisation of children, though they packaged their reforms with compassion and pragmatism. Trained social workers offered specialised guidance though such efforts were often not appreciated before the 1960s. New approaches to welfare and the co-ordination of services attracted varying degrees of resistance and opposition from traditional Catholic charity providers: religious orders and the voluntary-based St Vincent de Paul Society (SVdP). For much of the period under review diocesan bureaux experienced close scrutiny from their ordinaries (bishops), regular financial difficulties, and competition from other church-based charities for status and funding. Following the lead of lay women, clerics such as Bishop Algy Thomas, Monsignor Frank McCosker and Fr Peter Phibbs (Sydney); Bishop Eric Perkins (Melbourne), Frs Terry Holland and Luke Roberts (Adelaide), consolidated Catholic social welfare. For four decades an unprecedented Sydney-Melbourne partnership between McCosker and Perkins had a major impact on Catholic social policy, through peak bodies such as the National Catholic Welfare Committee and its successor the Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission. The intersection between church and state is examined in terms of welfare policies and state aid for service delivery. Peak bodies secured state aid for the church’s welfare agencies, which, given insufficient church funding proved crucial by the mid 1980s. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am very grateful to many individuals and organisations for their support over the past six years. Firstly, I express thanks to my principal supervisor, Dr Anne O'Brien, whom I first met in mid 2001. Dr O’Brien has been an important guiding force, in combination with my assistant supervisor, Professor John Gascoigne.1 Both have challenged my examination of Australian Catholic welfare provision in a broad context and within other developments – social, political and religious and women’s historiography – impacting social welfare provision and policy. Fr John Usher, a trained social worker, the fifth director of Centacare Sydney (1983-2004), and the current Chancellor of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney2 introduced me to the possibilities of researching this topic. A statistician before entering the priesthood, Fr Usher’s career has intersected with, and shaped, the ongoing development of social work practice and policy at local, state and national levels. His interest in history led to the preservation of a large archival collection belonging to Monsignor J.F. McCosker, the second director of Centacare Sydney (1948-57) and the NSW Director of Catholic Charities (1957-87). My interest in this topic was aroused in late 1998 when I viewed some archival records at Centacare Sydney, some of which had been damaged and regrettably diminished by a fire that year. As a result a brief catalogue of extant Centacare Sydney records was prepared.3 This research rekindled an earlier interest in welfare organisations, such as the St Vincent de Paul Society (SVdP).4 Arising from this examination an initial article on the foundation of professional Catholic 1 Professor Gascoigne was my first lecturer in history at the University of New South Wales in 1984. 2 Appointed May 2005. 3 D. J. Gleeson, Original Documents held at Centacare Sydney, 15 March 1999, [revised April 2001], Centacare Sydney Archives (CSA). 4 For example, D. J. Gleeson, 'Catholic Charity during the 1930s Great Depression', Australasian Catholic Record, Vol. 73, No. 1, January 1996. 1 welfare in Australia was published in Australasian Catholic Record.5 In mid 2001 I formally began research as a part-time candidate for this thesis. Fr Usher facilitated access with several dioceses on my behalf. In Canberra the director of Catholic Welfare Australia, Mr Toby O’Connor provided hospitality and support during my visits to the large and uncatalogued archives at Catholic Social Services Australia (CSSA), which houses the archives of its predecessors, the National Catholic Welfare Committee (NCWC) and the Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission (ACSWC) as well as a portion of Monsignor McCosker’s collection of papers, some of which Fr Usher had lent to Mr O’Connor some years earlier.6 Br Alexis Hall and Ms Pauline Garland, the former and current archivists of the Sydney Archdiocesan Archives, (SAA), Rachel Naughton, archivist of the Melbourne Diocese Historical Commission (MDHC), and Sr Frances Stipi PBVM, archivist at the Archives of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Perth (ARCAP), assisted with access to their respective archives, within the parameters of relevant archdiocesan policies. Emeritus Professor Patrick O’Farrell described the SAA as ‘the basic collection for any study of the Catholic Church in Australia, vast in dimension and very wide in scope’.7 I am grateful for the co-operation of many archival repositories. I express particular thanks to the late Monsignor John Hoare of Canberra-Goulburn; Bishop Michael Malone of Newcastle-Maitland; Margaret Phelps of Bathurst Diocese; and, Monsignor David Cappo, Vicar-General of the Archdiocese of Adelaide. Bishop Patrick Power, Auxiliary Bishop of Canberra, and a former Secretary of the Australian Bishops’ Committee for Social Welfare provided consistent encouragement. I am also grateful to the following archivists: Br Michael Naughtin, 5 D.J. Gleeson, 'Professional Social Workers and Welfare Bureaus: The origins of Australian Catholic Social Work', Australasian Catholic Record, Vol. 77, No. 2, April 2000. 6 Mr O’Connor is currently the Advocate for Children in Care - Victoria. 7 P. O’Farrell, The Catholic Church and Community: An Australian History (Fourth Revised Edition, Kensington, University of New South Wales Press, 1992), p. 453. 2 Marist Brothers, Hunter’s Hill, NSW; Olivia Delfs, Diocese of Bathurst Archives; Julie Cox, Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle; Sr Josephine Jefferies, Loreto Sisters, Adelaide; and, Dr Margaret Press, Catholic Institute of Sydney. I wish to acknowledge the co-operation of staff at the following libraries and archives in Australia and Britain. • Archives at the universities of Melbourne, New South Wales, Sydney, and Western Australia • London Metropolitan Archives • Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick • National Library of Australia • Rare Books Collection, University of Sydney • Royal Free Hospital Archives • State libraries of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, and, Western Australia • State records’ offices of New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia Relatives of the late Associate Professor Norma Parker Brown have shown much interest in this project. Associate Professor Gay Baldwin, kindly arranged an interview with her aunt, and facilitated contact with another cousin, Mr A. John Parker of Perth, who provided a synopsis of correspondence between Norma Parker and her family, during the period she studied at the National Catholic School of Social Service in Washington,1928-31.8 Mr Tony Phillips, of Perth, a relation of Constance Moffit, made available invaluable primary records. 8 A.J. Parker, (comp.), Norma Parker’s Letters, 1928-1932: Excerpts from family correspondence during the time Norma met her Parker relatives in Liverpool, England and studied for a Masters Degree in Social Work at Washington, USA. 3 Associate Professor Peter Travers of Flinders University, Adelaide, a former director of Adelaide’s Catholic Welfare Bureau, lent me his 1972 thesis and also provided other interesting information.9 Staff of Catholic Social Services Australia (formerly Catholic Welfare Australia) willingly obliged with requests for assistance. Dr Lesley Hughes of the Social Work Department of the University of New South Wales and a councillor of the Australian Catholic Historical Society, provided helpful advice, especially at critical junctures. Fr Peter Morrissey, the fifth Parish Priest of St Patrick's Parish Mortlake allowed me to borrow several church publications; likewise,