The Catholic community in the Archdiocese of Sydney challenges its schools and teachers to share with parents a sacred responsibility for the educational, spiritual and emotional development of the young people in its care. By accepting a position in a Catholic school, each teacher makes a commitment to meet this challenge of service to parents, to students and to the whole Church.

The mission of the Church is, very simply, the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ. For each person within the Catholic school, this is a message of life to the full. Our teachers are asked to be alive with the Gospel, to bring together faith, life and culture, and to share in the evangelising mission of the Church.

Teachers in Catholic schools, then, are in a most privileged position. It is they who can provide vital guidance and support to parents and students, and instil in them a sense of the Gospel challenge to acknowledge God's integral place in their lives - to believe in his Word. This challenge demands certain essential qualities. It requires careful preparation, a facility for reflection, and a constant readiness for professional renewal and conversion of heart. Such teachers bring to their task an extraordinary giftedness and a profound sense of mission which significantly impact on their school communities, on their students and on their own effectiveness.

All teachers who are people of faith, trying to live according to the values of the Gospel, can make an enormous contribution to the specifically Catholic character of the schools in which they work, and to the growth in faith of their students.