The Annual McCosker Orations

A significant event on the Catholic Social Services calendar is the delivery of the McCosker Oration. 

This presentation forms part of the Catholic Social Services Annual Conference or Annual Awards agenda and provides an opportunity to pay tribute to the man who played a leading role in moving the church into the organised provision of welfare.

Monsignor James Francis (Frank) McCosker believed Catholic welfare was about inclusion, rather than exclusion of all people; about critical analysis of Government agendas rather than subservient compliance to them; and about professionalism in welfare rather than well meaning benevolence and dependant charity.

His obituary in the Australian in 1996 declared he was devoted to those people who were mostly unable to help themselves and though he was awarded the OBE, worldly honours did not change him.

In the late 1940s, as director of the Catholic Welfare Bureau in Sydney - later Centacare - McCosker built on the foundation laid in Australia by four professionally trained Catholic lay women social workers: Norma Parker, Connie Moffitt, Eileen Davidson and Mary Lyons.

McCosker ‘s vision and determination led to services like Meals on Wheels, Foster Care, Adoption Practice, the Council of Social Services, Marriage Counselling as part of Matrimonial and Family Law, Child Endowment and National Catholic Welfare.

Each year a member of the community is chosen to present the McCosker Oration which honours Monsignor McCosker who played a significant role in church-state relations in Australia and was truly a founding father of Catholic social services in Australia.

• The 2008 McCosker Oration, delivered by Monsignor David Cappo AO, Vice Chair Australian Social Inclusion Board, Vicar General Archdiocese of Adelaide, Commissioner for Social Inclusion South Australia, is available here.
• The 2007 McCosker Oration, delivered by Bishop Pat Power, Auxiliary Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn is available here.
• The 2006 McCosker Oration, delivered by John Warhurst, Professor of Political Science, Australian National University is available here.
• The 2005 McCosker Oration, delivered by Professor Julian Disney, National Chair, Anti-Poverty Week, and Director, Social Justice Project, UNSW is available here.