While essentially a sample of biographies drawn across the two hundred years since the establishment of the first continuously operating Catholic school in Parramatta, Not Forgotten is also a history and a tribute. A history that details growth, struggle, threat, success and, occasionally, tragedy. And a tribute to the people who made that history - the lay teachers of colonial times, the early Irish and English priests and bishops, and the vast numbers of religious men and women who established, staffed and managed the schools in times of severe financial constraint. The book also records education's local connection to parishes, the sense of Catholic identity that was formed and reinforced by sacrifice and a sense of deep and lasting belonging.
It is also a story of change, in Church and State. Periods of exclusive leadership from priests, bishops and religious congregations gave way to the emergence of lay people at all levels of Catholic education.
Not Forgotten celebrates the lives of our forebears, the flesh and blood people who passionately believed that what they could bring to Australian children was worth the struggle. In celebrating their lives, today's teachers, clergy, administrators, parents and students are called on to emulate their courage and commitment in shaping Catholic education now and into the future.