Catholic Social Services Victoria

02/09/2026

CSSV is supporting St Alipius Parish with a project working with faith communities as part of the Respect Ballarat initiative - a whole-of-community response to preventing gender-based violence.

Applications are open for a Project and Engagement Coordinator - a key position in supporting this project.

If you, or someone you know, might be the right person for this role - please get in touch!

Link to more information in the comments.

06/08/2026

Catholic Social Services Victoria stands alongside people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity, working towards a Victoria where everyone has a safe and secure place to call home.

This year’s Homelessness Week theme is ‘Homelessness Action Now’. Our member organisations work day in and day out to deliver vital support to people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity through emergency relief, housing support, outreach, advocacy and community services.

CatholicCare Victoria Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand Jesuit Social Services Rosies Victoria Sacred Heart Mission St Mary's House of Welcome Vinnies Victoria VincentCare Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project Order of Malta - Australia MacKillop Family Services McAuley Good Samaritan Inn

We’re proud to stand with them to take action and campaign for meaningful solutions, including investment in social housing across Victoria.

Together, we can help build a Victoria where everyone has a safe, secure and dignified place to call home.

17/07/2026

Thank you to all the friends and colleagues of CSSV who attended our Annual Dinner last Friday night. It was a wonderful gathering to celebrate a significant anniversary year.

A particular thank you to Bishop Joe Caddy and Marcelle Mogg for the thoughtful words they shared on the past, present and future of Catholic social services, and for the challenges they presented to the room. Thank you also to Newman College for their generous hospitality - the Newman Choir was a highlight of the night - and to our sponsors, Catholic Development Fund and Australian Catholic University (ACU).

We look forward to continuing to collaborate with everyone in the coming months and years as we keep working towards a more just and compassionate society.
MacKillop Family ServicesJesuit Social ServicesSacred Heart Mission@ACRATH Asylum Seekers Project Victoria Edmund Rice Community Services VIC Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand Sisters of Service Australia Exodus Community, Olympic Village, West Heidelberg Pregnancy Assistance Frankston Balnarring Beach St John of God Accord Mary's House of Welcome Victoria VMCH Wellsprings for Women Inc.Catholic Diocese of Cairns

15/07/2026

Catholic Social Services Victoria is marking the dual milestones of 25 years since its formation as a state-wide body, and 45 years since its inception as a peak body for Catholic social and community organisations.

CSSV’s annual dinner, hosted at Newman College on 10 July, featured former Episcopal Vicar for Social Services, the now-Bishop of Cairns Joe Caddy, who looked back at what's been achieved, and forward at what is to come.

📷 Henning Kallies / Catholic Social Services Victoria

Find out more: https://melbournecatholic.org/news/catholic-social-services-victoria-celebrates-decades-of-service

09/06/2026

2026 marks a number of anniversaries for CSSV – 25 years since Catholic Social Services Victoria formed as a state-wide body, and 45 years since its inception as a peak body for Catholic social and community organisations.

Please join us at our 2026 Annual Dinner for a night of connection and stimulation as we celebrate these anniversaries and look to the future. All are welcome!

We are pleased that the Most Reverend Joe Caddy AM, Bishop of Cairns, will be joining as guest speaker. Bishop Joe is well known to CSSV, having served as both a staff member and on Council in his capacities as CEO of CatholicCare (Greater Melbourne, Geelong and Gippsland) and as Episcopal Vicar for Social Services in the Archdiocese of Melbourne. Bishop Joe will reflect on the imagination and work of those who have contributed to CSSV over the years and what we are called to consider for the next 25 years.

Tickets: https://www.trybooking.com/DMKED

DATE: Friday, 10 July 2026
VENUE: Newman College Dining Hall, 887 Swanston Street, Parkville VIC

22/05/2026

In National Volunteer Week, we'd like to acknowledge the thousands of volunteers at Catholic social and community services in Victoria who give their time and efforts to serve others in their communities. Thank you for all that you contribute and the care you provide ❤️

20/05/2026

How are we shaping the future of our planet?

In Laudato Si' Week (17-24 May) we remember the words of Pope Francis: "I urgently appeal, then, for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenges we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all." (Laudato Si', 14)

Such conversations are happening at places like Jesuit Social Services' Ecological Justice Hub. Read more:

Through our various ministries and agencies, we exist to serve the people of God, enabling the Gospel of Jesus Christ to come alive in our local community.

01/05/2026

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference's Commission for Justice, Mission and Service has released a statement this Feast Day of St Joseph the Worker urging attentiveness to seeing workplaces as spaces for human flourishing, particularly for younger unemployed and underemployed workers.

It urges us all to build a future of work that is just, dignified and full of hope: they say "work needs to truly reflect the dignity of every person".

It is a challenge to all of us to ensure our workplaces to young people who are perhaps having a hard time of it and put in place the supports that will allow them to flourish.

Happy May Day!

Read the full statement here:

https://cathnews.com/2026/05/01/employers-and-governments-urged-to-give-young-people-a-fair-go/?

Thanks to all the work that Australian Young Christian Workers (AYCW) do to attend to these issues across the country. The YCW's work over time has much to teach us about how we can engage in a positive way forward with younger workers.

Australians have been urged to use today’s Feast of St Joseph the Worker to reflect on young peoples’ struggle for secure work. Source: ACBC Media Blog.

16/04/2026

Are you a senior leader or board member of a Catholic social service organisation interested in a space to learn with peers and reflect on and deepen your approach to mission-aligned leadership?

CSSV's professional development and formation program, Mission Inspired Leadership, is now open for registration. The five-part program will be available online Australia-wide.

It's sure to be a great program this year, with a lineup of expert facilitators guiding each session.

Find out more and register here: https://css.org.au/events/mission-inspired-leadership-program-2026/

09/04/2026

Truth-telling is fundamental to reconciliation and justice.

The Australian Bishops, in their 2023-2024 statement 'Listen, Learn, Love', particularly acknowledged the need for injustices to be recognised, and for deep listening and change to occur, urging ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples need to be welcomed from the margins into the centre so that they can lead the discussions about change and implementation of actions to bring about healing and justice’.

Following the work of the Yoorrook Justice Commission in Victoria, which has by many accounts been a significant milestone in truth and healing for First Peoples, CSSV supports the upcoming National Walk for Truth and the calls for a national truth-telling process.

Alongside the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council, Opening The Doors Foundation and the Catholic Education Sandhurst Ltd Fire Carrier Program, we encourage the Catholic community to join the National Walk for Truth to demonstrate support for a national truth-telling process – in solidarity for a healed and reconciled country.

Find out more on our website: https://css.org.au/events/support-the-national-walk-for-truth/

https://cathnews.com/2026/04/08/catholics-urged-to-step-up-for-national-walk-for-truth/

Catholic Social Services Victoria has thrown its support behind a national truth-telling process and is urging the broader Catholic community to join it in taking part in this month’s National Walk for Truth.