CCI Annual Report 2012 - Catholic Church Insurance

16
high-yield investments. The Board’s
Investment Policy provides the limits
and controls to ensure risks are kept to
acceptable levels, while allowing sufficient
flexibility for the portfolio to be rebalanced
to benefit from any change in
the investment outlook.
While our overall investment
performance for the financial year
is negative, our flexible and prudent
approach to investing ensures the
company is financially strong. Even
though we do not expect a dramatic
resurgence of investor confidence,
we remain positive that a return to
profitability in our investment portfolio
will be achieved in the coming year.
New name reflects
true mission
For over 75 years, the Archdiocese
of Melbourne’s welfare agency
CatholicCare has provided a range of
much-needed programs and services
to the communities of Melbourne and
Geelong. Responding to the needs of
the most vulnerable and disadvantaged
in society, the agency employs specialists
in areas including psychology, social
work, counselling and mediation.
While the agency’s history of service
may be long, their association with the
name CatholicCare is not. Formerly
Centacare Catholic Family Services, the
agency made the decision to change
its name relatively recently, becoming
CatholicCare in April 2011.
Originally established in 1935 as
the Catholic Social Services Bureau,
the agency changed its name to the
Catholic Family Welfare Bureau in 1956,
before adopting the name Centacare
in the early 1990s. By the mid 1990s
the vast majority of diocesan welfare
groups across Australia had taken the
name Centacare, and while the origin
of the name itself is unclear, it was able
unify these very individual organisations
under the common banner of the
welfare agencies of the Church.
While many saw real benefit in a
universal name, CatholicCare CEO
Fr Joe Caddy says that in the
Archdiocese of Melbourne, the case for
a new name was even stronger.
“We wanted a name which more
clearly identified who we are,” says
Operations
Client Services
Catholic Church Insurances Limited ANNUAL REPORT 2012
Dedicated to providing personalised
service and maintaining strong
professional relationships, our client
services team has devoted much of its
time to reviewing clients’ portfolios and
ensuring the best possible protection of
the Church’s assets.
With many clients going through major
organisational change, including mergers,
amalgamations and the establishment
of public juridic persons, our insight into
the significance of these activities and
our ability to understand their likely
impact on insurance has been of real
Fr Joe. “From what we could ascertain
we had low brand recognition in
Melbourne. People did not identify the
name CentreCare with the Catholic
Church and we were often confused
with Centrelink.”
“There was a feeling amongst the
leadership that as this was one of the
things we were doing really well, we
ought to be able to state proudly that
it was as an activity of the Catholic
Church. The new name reflects our
mission: the Catholic mission of care. It
aligns the agency with the welfare arms
of other churches such as Anglicare,
UnitingCare and Baptcare and we no
longer have to explain who we are and
what we do.”
Changing a name is not a decision
entered into lightly and according
to Fr Joe, consultation was pivotal
to the success of the process. While
Archbishop Denis Hart, Archbishop of
Melbourne, selected the name from the
options put forward, the agency sought
input from all stakeholders including
staff, priests, donors, funding bodies,
parishioners and even clients.
“The notion of engaging with
stakeholders and including them in the
process, was a helpful one,” he says.
“Views varied widely but in the end, on
balance, it was decided that the name
CatholicCare ticked off a number of key
items that the agency wanted.”
While the new name meets the vast
majority of the agency’s criteria, there is
a risk of being perceived as an agency
that cares solely for Catholics, as
opposed to one whose mission
benefit. We are working with our clients
to coordinate their insurance programs
and make sure there is security of cover
throughout the transition period and
beyond. We believe we are in a unique
position as the Church’s insurer to
recognise some of the implications of
these developments.
The ability of our clients to afford
insurance premiums remains an area
of real concern and we are currently in
discussions with dioceses and religious
congregations in an effort to better
understand their circumstances and
develop strategies to help them address
this problem.
impels them to care for anyone who
is in trouble regardless of religion, race,
gender or sexuality.
“We need to really to emphasise this
wherever we go, through all of our
promotion,” says Fr Joe.
The adoption of the by-line
‘Strengthening families and
communities’, which accompanies
the name and logo, should go some
way towards counteracting any
misconceptions.
After more than a year operating as
CatholicCare the agency still sees it as a
work-in-progress and has been grateful
for the support of other agencies that
have already been through the process,
particularly CatholicCare in Sydney.
“I would hope that the welfare agencies
of the Church might once again have a
universal national name that will tick all
the boxes, but it is very much a decision
for each diocese,” says Fr Joe.