Executive Director’s Update to Principals #54 - 21 November 2023
Announcement from the Bishop - CDF Merger
Following much consultation, I am pleased to announce that the Ballarat Catholic Development Fund (BCDF) and the Melbourne, Sale and Bunbury Catholic Development Fund (CDF) have agreed to merge. This comes after an extensive due diligence process, with the merger expected to be complete in early 2024.
Both Funds have a 50+ year history of working together and sharing resources to offer customers in the Dioceses strong and competitive financial solutions. As Bishop of Ballarat, I give thanks for the contribution of the Ballarat CDF across our Diocese and have every confidence that the steadfast support the Fund has been able to provide will continue into the future.
In recent years, Development Fund mergers, such as those involving the Diocese of Bunbury and the Diocese of Sale, have proven successful in delivering a range of additional benefits to their local communities. The expanded CDF will continue to meet the local demands of the Ballarat Diocese whilst maintaining a prudentially sound and sustainable Fund into the future.
I sincerely thank all the customers who have made deposits with CDF Ballarat. By doing so they have provided a pool of resources from which parishes, schools and other Catholic organisations can draw, to serve our Catholic and wider community. This support will continue to be important from a larger Fund, as we meet the needs of our growing Diocese while delivering on the collective mission of the Church.
I would like to acknowledge Paul Foley, Ballarat CDF Committee Chair, along with the dedicated Committee Members for their careful supervision of the Fund to date. I also thank the Fund Manager, Ross Wheatland, for his dedication to the Fund and to the Diocese more broadly. To the Ballarat CDF staff, Sharyn Simpson, Claire Blewitt and Aasha Liversidge, I thank you for your ongoing commitment to the Ballarat customers, which I am pleased will continue at a local level for the benefit of our Diocese into the future.
Together with the Archbishop of Melbourne, the Bishop of Sale, and the Bishop of Bunbury, I give thanks to God for the success of the Catholic Development Fund and I look forward to the new partnership and the benefits this will bring to the communities of our Diocese.
Paul Bird CSsR
Bishop of the Diocese of Ballarat