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Mission Week celebrates ACU’s Catholic foundation

ACU’s annual Mission Week in August is a celebration of the university’s unique Catholic heritage and deep commitment to educational excellence.

Celebrated annually to mark the Feast Day of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, ACU’s Patron Saint and one of Australia’s most enduring educators, ACU Mission Week highlights the university’s important mission of higher education.

Being held from 11 August to 15 August, the 2025 ACU Mission Week has adopted the theme of the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year, ‘Pilgrims of Hope’, to inspire a sense of hope and optimism for the future among students and staff.

All ACU Campuses will host exciting events and activities, including live music festivals, mini-pilgrimages, tours and exhibitions, as well as Masses to honour St Mary of the Cross MacKillop (August 8) and the Solemnity of the Feast of Assumption (August 15).

ACU’s annual Simone Weil Lecture, established in honour of influential twentieth-century thinker Simone Weil, featuring Professor Stan Grant will also be held during Mission Week.

The university will also host a national online event featuring speakers from ACU’s four Faculties: Professor Rhonda Craven, director of the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education in the Faculty of Education and Arts; Patrick Langrell, director of the Governance and Public Affairs Centre in the Faculty of Law and Business; Professor Kim Foster, Eileen O'Connor Chair of Mental Health Research in the Faculty of Health Sciences; and Associate Professor Maeve Heaney, Xavier Chair for Theological Formation in the Faculty of Theology and Philosophy.

Each speaker will present how their scholarly research and work is bringing hope to Australians and beyond.

Fr Gerald Gleeson, ACU’s Interim Pro-Vice Chancellor, Catholic Mission, said ACU’s Mission and the wise words of St Mary MacKillop go hand in hand.

“Mary MacKillop famously said, ‘Never see a need without doing something about it’. The need she saw was the education of poor children, especially those living in remote parts of Australia. Our vision at ACU recognises the great needs in our day: respect for the dignity and flourishing of every person; thriving communities and an ethical future for our world,” Fr Gleeson said.

“Mission Week is a chance for us to celebrate and deepen our appreciation of what we are striving to do to realise our vision: searching for knowledge, serving the common good, acting in truth and love.”

ACU Mission Week was established in 2023 to explore the mission of Catholic universities as a place which serves society and the Church through teaching and research, preparing students for more than a career.

The 2025 ACU Mission Week is part of the ACU Catholic Mission directorate’s official Jubilee Year commemorations. This year the directorate has already hosted international speaker and Catholic influencer, Fr Casey Cole OFM, and sent out 25 students on a pilgrimage to Rome for the Jubilee of Youth.

Later this year, ACU staff will go on pilgrimage to the Jubilee of Education, joining educators from around the world to cross the threshold of the Holy Doors in St Peter’s Basilica and receive the Jubilee blessing.