Catholic Social Services Australia (CSSA) advocates for the Church’s social service ministry. It is the peak body for Catholic social service providers.
We are committed to advocating for compassionate socio-economic policies that uplift the lives of vulnerable people in our society. We are the conduit for enduring social change.
Our Team
Monique Earsman
Monique Earsman
Executive Director
Monique brings nearly 20 years of experience in politics and strategic communications to her role as Executive Director. She has worked as an Electorate Officer and later Ministerial Adviser to both Federal and ACT Ministers, as National Organiser at a major political party, and as a senior communications professional in the public and private sectors.
She started her career as a Research Assistant in the Policy Department at the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and has enthusiastically returned to the sector to advocate for the work of Catholic social service providers and their clients across the country.
Monique holds a Bachelor of Laws from Australian National University and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Anne Aziz-Parker
Anne Aziz-Parker
Communications Director
Anne has over 20 years’ experience in the marketing communications ecosystem, including public relations, events management, solutions innovation, and stakeholder engagement. She has worked in Tertiary Education, Tourism, Aviation, Telecommunications, the ACT, and Federal governments.
In aviation, Anne served as head of corporate communications and was instrumental in setting up an airline crisis management communications program. She later worked in a strategic operational role, leading a team of 570 staff. She has delivered successful corporate communications, PR and branding programs across a range of organisations.
She holds an Honours degree in Bachelor of Arts (Linguistics) from the University of New South Wales and a Postgraduate Diploma in Management from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Macquarie University.
Anne shares CSSA’s vision of a fairer and more inclusive Australia.
Spending time with her family is important to her, and she has a keen interest in music and living sustainably.
Ron Johnson
Ron Johnson
Government Relations and Policy Officer
Ron Johnson commenced in June 2023 as the CSSA Government Relations and Policy Officer. He has qualifications in industrial relations and political economy. Over the past 30 years, Ron has worked as an advocate and negotiator with trade unions and as an educator in the university sector. He has a strong personal commitment to working for social justice and believes that prioritising the improvement of conditions and opportunities for the most disadvantaged and marginalised persons is the surest way to secure social justice for all.
Ron was attracted to working with CSSA because of the important work undertaken by our Member Agencies on behalf of Australian families and the community. He is excited to join the CSSA team and to work towards realising the CSSA Vision for “…a fairer, more inclusive Australian society that reflects and supports the dignity, equality, and participation of all people”.
Tania Ladyzhynsky
Tania Ladyzhynsky
Membership & Administration Officer
Tania joined the CSSA team in February 2022 in the role of Administrator. Tania’s background is community services focused, particularly in the area of early childhood where she spent 30+ years in various roles, from teaching music and educating educators, to managing programs. She spent 11 years directing the YWCA Canberra’s Family Day Care Scheme. Tania has also worked in hospitality and various administration roles.
She is excited to be contributing to the important work of the CSSA Team.
Our Board
The Catholic Social Services Australia (CSSA) Board is entrusted with the stewardship and trusteeship of advancing our work towards a fairer, more inclusive society that reflects and supports all people’s dignity, equality, and participation.
Members of the CSSA Board include persons elected by our member organisations, representatives from the Australian Catholic Bishops, Catholic Religious Australia, and those with expertise in the social sciences or related disciplines.
Mr Peter Monaghan
Mr Peter Monaghan
Chair
CEO, Marist180
CSSA Member Organisation Elected Representative
Appointed as Chair, November 2023
Peter has worked extensively in the community and social services sector for more than 29 years from frontline roles to management.
He has senior management experience across policy and legislation, program and service delivery within Government, and more recent executive appointments within Catholic social services as Executive Director Centacare North Queensland (2014-2019) and Marist Youth Care Ltd (Marist180). He has been the CEO of Marist180 since 2019 leading it through a significant period of growth and transformation across its service platforms.
Peter has an established track record of transforming agencies, challenging the status quo, building performance, activating contemporary corporate governance, and ensuring mission is congruent with the heart and soul of the agency.
He has postgraduate qualifications in Psychology, Counselling, Canon Law and Business Administration and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Ms Anita Veivers
Ms Anita Veivers
Deputy Chair
Executive Director, Centacare Far North Queensland
CSSA Member Organisation Elected Representative
Appointed December 2019
Ms Veivers is a highly experienced executive professional within the community services sector including a five year appointment as CEO of ARC Disability Services Inc. She is a dedicated and enthusiastic leader, recognised by peers as responsive to the diverse needs of a highly changeable political and economic landscape, and the impact on the broader health and community services industry.
Centacare FNQ delivers a broad range of social services across mental health and wellbeing, aged care, disability services, multicultural services and family support services. Ms Veivers brings firsthand knowledge, and deep experience of social service delivery in regional Australia and the importance of responding to community needs with innovative programs underpinned by a strong evidence base.
Ms Veivers is an experienced Board director, having held both government and community sector directorship appointments. Current appointments include Deputy Chair of the Queensland Disability Advisory Council (ministerial appointment), Member FNQ Regional Community Forum (Qld Government), Member Cairns Regional Council Independent Rates Tribunal and a Committee Member of the Social Enterprise Network for the Tropics.
Bishop Martin Ashe DD VG
Bishop Martin Ashe DD VG
Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne
Australian Catholic Bishops Conference Representative
Appointed November 2022
Bishop Ashe was ordained an auxiliary bishop of Melbourne on 31 July 2021 by Archbishop Peter A Comensoli at St Patrick’s Cathedral, East Melbourne.
Born in 1953 at Kinsale, Co. Cork, Ireland, as the eldest of eleven children, Martin Ashe studied for the priesthood at the missionary College of All Hallows Dublin, and was ordained for the Priesthood in 1978.
Later the same year Fr Martin arrived in Australia. His early appointments in the Archdiocese of Melbourne included the parishes of Hadfield, Clayton, and Blackburn.
Fr Martin served for 43 years in range of roles for various bodies within the Archdiocese, including Corpus Christi College Seminary, the Marriage Tribunal, three parishes, the Archdiocesan Personnel Advisory Board, the Archbishop’s Council of Priests and a number more. His roles included Vocations Director, Moderator, Pastoral Director, Parish Priest and Episcopal Vicar. Additionally, he completed further studies at Loyola University in Chicago.
For his own life, Bishop Ashe finds great inspiration in the life of St Therese of Lisieux and is inspired by her courage and her desire to be a missionary and to be ‘love at the heart of the Church for the world’.
Sr Karon Donnellon rsm
Sr Karon Donnellon rsm
Karon Donnellon rsm is a member of the Institute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea and has extensive experience in organizational change and facilitation. She brings a unique perspective to her work, combining her deep knowledge of the Sisters of Mercy tradition with her expertise in organisational change.
Her most recent ministry experiences have seen Karon involved in ethos formation and facilitation. She also currently works with a number of religious congregations across Australia.
Karon has extensive experience working with executive leaders and boards of Health, Education, and Social Services organisations. The two focus areas of that work are the formation of the Vision and Mission of the organisation and strategic planning.
Previously Karon served on the leadership team of the former Institute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia. This work afforded her wide-ranging opportunities to work with leadership groups across Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG). She has also worked as a secondary teacher, as Diocesan Youth Director, in Juvenile Justice, and with Catholic Social Services Victoria as Director of Mission.
Ms Clare McNamara
Ms Clare McNamara
Special Counsel, Clayton Utz
Co-Opted
Appointed September 2019
Ms McNamara, Special Counsel with Clatyon Utz, is a lawyer based in Canberra. She was previously a Senior Lawyer with the Truth Justice & Healing Council from 2013 to 2018.
Ms McNamara acts for both private sector and government clients, specialising in dispute resolution, administrative law, and regulatory compliance. Ms McNamara has managed proceedings seeking review of administrative decisions and advised on the conduct of inquiries. She has detailed experience and in depth knowledge of the operation of Royal Commissions and the development of appropriate strategy and responsive legal policy. She has also advised on the exercise of delegations and authorisations, provided training to decision makers and prepared manuals on decision making, procedural fairness and the proper exercise of legislative powers. Other areas of knowledge include stakeholder management and advocacy, workers compensation, work health and safety and general insurance.
Ms McNamara also holds a Masters in Theology.
Ms McNamara sits on the Board’s Mission and Governance Committee.
Ms Agnes Sheehan
Ms Agnes Sheehan
Chief Executive Officer, CatholicCare Victoria
CSSA Member Organisation Elected Representative
Appointed November 2022
Agnes’ senior leadership and non-executive career spans more than 25 years and is the inaugural CEO of CatholicCare Victoria since January 2021. Agnes has significant board experience with over 14 years as a non-executive director. Agnes led the integration program which resulted in the creation of CatholicCare Victoria – integrating Centacare Ballarat, CatholicCare Melbourne Gippsland and CatholicCare Sandhurst. She has served on the Mercy Health Board for 9.5 years and joined the Calvary board in 2018. Agnes is deeply committed to the opportunity of building thriving communities through disrupting the cycle of disadvantage. She is passionate about client centred and place-based responses to supporting those who are disadvantaged.
Prior to Agnes’ role as CEO of CatholicCare Victoria and her involvement with the for-purpose sector, she has held significant Executive Director roles in large publicly listed corporation both nationally and internationally.
Agnes successfully led large teams across the information and communications technology sector and managed services both nationally and internationally and led some substantial client focused transformations during her career. She has significant business and commercial expertise in developing growth strategies, business transformation, customer advocacy, ICT, mergers and acquisitions.