Staff Spotlight with Executive Director Durm O’Riordan

Catholic Education Diocese of Cairns gained a new leader in 2025 with Durm O’Riordan taking the reins from Bill Dixon, who retired in 2024. In the latest Staff Spotlight, Durm shares how his education shaped him to be the person he is today, and his vision for CEDC in 2025 and beyond.

What is your vision for CEDC in 2025 and beyond?  

Coming into this role after Bill Dixon’s great leadership, I see incredible opportunities in front of us. For the short term, it’s my priority to give everyone at CEDC an opportunity to have input into the Compass project because it is such a critical step in our discernment process. The Compass project is about engaging with everyone in the organisation to give input into what we want to cherish and hold on to and what we need to change to ensure that we continue to be world class. My vision is to ensure that by 2026, we are commencing the year with a new organisational structure and new Strategic Directions that our CEDC community endorses and have felt that they’ve had input into it.  

We also have a real opportunity to grow Catholic education in our region. We educate 12,200 students and my hope is that we’ll reach 13,000 within five years. I want families to see Catholic education as the best option for them and where their children are going to enjoy the joy of learning because our way of doing education is ultimately a gift to society and the world overall through the lived experience of our graduates. Our young people in our schools are in classrooms with skilled expert teachers led by excellent principals and leadership teams. We use the words ‘world class’, so I want to continue to make sure that we are absolutely delivering on a world-class education and that our families see that happening in action. The encounters we have in Catholic schools shape us to contribute to the world and make it a better place.  

How did your education shape you to be the person you are today?  

I was brought up in a big Irish Catholic family and I’m one of 11. My mother and father really valued education. They instilled in us that education is a pathway and that’s something that still burns within me. They also instilled in us the pride of our Irish background. Being Irish was part of our identity, so that helped me to understand the importance of our heritage. I want students across our schools to feel that their identity is really valued and important.  

What motto affirmation or prayer do you live by?  

I really love the reference out of John 10:10: ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full’. It’s our responsibility as people who are working in Catholic education to facilitate an experience for our young people to live life to the fullest in every possible way. That’s why academic excellence, wellbeing and community are so important, because that’s living life to the fullest. When you come into a Catholic school, we are committed to the notion of living life to the fullest and we’re going to go out of our way to make sure that every young person has that opportunity.  

The second prayer is attributed to the Old Testament (Micah 6:8) where we are given in simple language what it means to live a good life, ‘to act justly, to love tenderly, and to walk humbly with your God’. I think that’s such a compelling way of saying who we are and what our mission is.  

What makes you most proud to be the leader of CEDC? 

I honestly feel privileged to wake up every day and be in this position and to lead an amazing community of schools. I hope that through my leadership, others feel privileged to be leading Catholic education as well, and that they also have that sense of knowing that they’re engaged in something that is just so life-giving and so good. To be the Executive Director of CEDC is an absolute honour.  

How would you describe the Catholic school difference?

As Bishop Joe articulated, Catholic schools are places where we prioritise the experience of prayer and reflection. We pray daily, and we invite our staff, the young people in our schools and families to enter into that sacred space of prayer.  Being reflective is in our DNA as a Catholic school. Through instilling in young people an ability to be self-reflective we are teaching them one of the most influential ways they can help themselves in their learning.  

The second thing is that we have purpose. Our purpose is to create the space for people in our schools to have a sense of encounter with God, with something other than the material world, and we to that through an authentic encounter with Jesus.  Our Catholic religion gives us a beautiful structure for that encounter, which is steeped in tradition and enlivened in our being open to the grace of the Holy Spirit.  

The third thing is to be fearless and honest in how we engage with the issues of the day. Our schools are places where we get to engage with our world to be fully human. Only through dialogue do we understand the other and are we understood. This becomes the precondition for how we engage in both the joys and the sorrows of our world.      

How are we offering a world-class education?  

The facilities in our schools are brilliant. We have amazing outdoor and indoor learning environments, flexible learning spaces and innovative learning environments. Our partnerships with industry, tertiary institutions, local community groups and governments provide world-class opportunities too. 

Without doubt the main reason we are world class is because of our staff. Our teachers are delivering high impact teaching in the classroom informed by the latest research in learning to ensure all our young people have the best opportunity to flourish and thrive. Our support staff and school officers provide outstanding auxiliary services to ensure our schools are organised and effective.  

The third thing is the leaders in our schools are highly competent, professional and qualified. We are gifted with outstanding leaders both across our schools and in the office. 

What is the highlight of your career so far?  

I have loved every moment I’ve had in Catholic education from my first teaching job, my first promotional position, becoming an assistant principal, then a deputy principal and then a principal, but being here right now is the absolute highlight and the proudest I have ever felt.  

What is the best thing about living and working in far North Queensland?  

We are in a part of the world where we’re surrounded by God’s creation and you can’t help but just be in awe of this incredible place because everywhere you look, God is speaking to you. You will see a beautiful Ulysses butterfly flapping by or a goanna and it’s like God is speaking to you, and this is a place where God speaks very loudly.