Papal Honour for Bill Griffiths as a Knight of the Order of St Gregory the Great.
From Malcolm Fyfe MSC, Vicar General, Diocese of Darwin.
Many would remember Bill Griffiths, our Director of Catholic Education (before Michael Avery).
He was “Director of Catholic Education in the Diocese of Darwin and an executive member of the National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) in 1993. His service to Catholic education in the Northern Territory from 1993 until 2007 was outstanding.”
Announcing the awards today, Adelaide Archbishop Patrick O’Regan said the Order of St Gregory the Great was one of the highest awards for lay people, bestowed on Catholic men and women deemed to have made a significant contribution to the Catholic Church.
“These two men are most worthy recipients of this high honour with their outstanding service to the community over many years,” Archbishop O’Regan said.
Bill Griffiths, Ministry in Education, Adelaide, Darwin 1993-2007, National Liturgical Council.
Dr Griffiths, a secondary school teacher by profession, joined the staff of the Adelaide Catholic Education Office in 1974, directing state-wide programs for the children of immigrants. He was also a member of the early SA Commission for Catholic Schools at a time of significant change in the Catholic school system.
He then held leadership positions in three Catholic colleges in Adelaide, including as principal of Kilmara Senior School at Thebarton and St Paul’s College at Gilles Plains, before becoming Director of Catholic Education in the Diocese of Darwin and an executive member of the National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) in 1993. His service to Catholic education in the Northern Territory from 1993 until 2007 was outstanding.
In 2008, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference appointed Dr Griffiths chief executive officer of the NCEC in Canberra. Returning to Adelaide in 2013 to retire, he has held a variety of leadership positions on parish, school and social service governance and management boards.
Dr Griffiths’ other major contribution to the life of the Church in Australia has been through liturgy and music. He chairs the National Liturgical Council and was until recently secretary of the National Liturgical Music Council. In Darwin, he was an inaugural member of the diocesan Liturgy Reference Group. Locally, he has served as an organist at St Mary’s Cathedral in Darwin and in the churches of the Cathedral Parish in Adelaide. A person of deep faith, Dr Griffiths is an Oblate of St John’s Abbey at Collegeville in the United States.
Dr Griffiths was nominated for the papal honour by the Bishops Conference.
National Liturgical Council
