About COSDU

The Catholics of One Spirit Down Under (COSDU) Catholic Society was founded more than 25 years ago by a group of students from the University of Melbourne. It aims to support the faith formation of youths and to encourage fellowship among university students. Over the years, COSDU Catholic society has forged a network with the Archdiocese of Melbourne, and continues to reach out to both local & international tertiary students around Melbourne. COSDU Catholic Society also serves the community through various social justice programs.

Committee 2015-2016
President: Celina Dayrit
Vice-President: Christabelle Cheah 
Secretary: Maria Galapon
Treasurer: Christine Tee
Liturgy Coordinator: Nicole Torres
Sessions Coordinator: Jessica Schmidt
Music Coordinator: John Ocampo
Social Activities Coordinator: Patrice Peñas
Social Justice Coordinator: Jaz Ocampo
Publicity Coordinator: Bryan Phun
COSDU activities
Weekly Friday sessions covering topics relating to the Catholic faith
Fellowship dinner after Friday sessions
Welcome BBQ
Welcome Food and Games
Monthly Masses
Exam Mass (Mass offered for students who are having exams)
Graduation Mass (Mass offered for those who are graduating from University)
Scavenger Hunt (Semester 1)
Annual Easter Camp (Semester 1)
Annual Visit to Little Sisters of the Poor in Northcote (Semester 1)
Sports Day with BBQ (Semester 2)
Trick or Eat (Semester 2)

COSDU's History
1986
Sister Carol Hogan, a Blessed Sacrament Sister formed Overseas Students Down Under (OSDU) that brings international students together every year. OSDU provided support to international students studying in various colleges across Victoria and organized activities such as annual camps, BBQs, trips and outings for fellowship.
1987
On 13th of March 1987, while there exists a Catholic society on campus (Newman Society), the Catholic Overseas Students Down Under (COSDU) society was formed to assist in the faith formation of international university students from an overseas students' perspective. Sister Carol was then the university's Catholic chaplain and so became the chaplain for COSDU as well. The first official meeting took place in St. Mary's College West Hall.  Through COSDU, students received instructions and teachings regarding the many great facets of the Catholic faith every Friday evening. Eucharistic celebrations (Mass), Rosary prayer sessions, key note speakers and retreats were among the many activities organised by COSDU under the guidance of Sister Carol. There was also an end-of-year mass where we prepared mass for the public at St. Carthage's Church which was celebrated by Fr. Michael Elligate and followed by dinner in St.Mary's West Hall. Today, this end of year mass is replaced with the Semesterly Graduation Mass where we celebrate the graduation of COSDU members as they begin a new phase of life from tertiary education to the working life. The first committee was led by James Chin and Jennifer King as President and Vice President respectively.
1990
COSDU was enlisted into the Melbourne University Student Union Clubs & Society to help fund for activities and fellowship as COSDU grew to accommodate more students including those from Monash University and RMIT. COSDU activities now include Praise & Worship, Prayer sessions, Bible sharing, Group Discussions, Personal explorations. Social gatherings such as Sports Day and BBQs were organised to further encourage fellowship with other members.
1997
Melbourne University and RMIT students put on a musical called "Witness: The Night After The Day Before" led by Dominic Wong (RMIT). This musical graced the Prince Philip Theatre of Melbourne University on 27th September 1997.
1998
In September 1998, inspired by a Marist Brother, Mick Sexton, Sister Carol started the "Being There Program" to increase international students awareness in social justice. Brother Mick coordinated the program with Australian students and Lynda Suryadi organised the first "Being There". Students were encouraged to visit and volunteer in either old folks home, community centres, soup kitchens and/or religious communities for one day to bring Christ to others. To this day, COSDU continues to organise annual visits to the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Elderly in Northcote as a Social Justice program in collaboration with the All Saints Youth Choir in Fitzroy.
2001
Sister Carol started the Annual Easter Retreat to bring students together for 3 days away from the city to relax and learn more about the importance of their Catholic faith in everyday life. These annual retreats aims to help students to unwind from university life and encourage faith formation as well as fellowship to a level beyond that from Friday sessions. Venues for the retreat range far and wide around the state of Victoria including: the Mercy Convent, Mornington, Silver Creek, Marist Brothers, Drusilla Mount Macedon, Passionist Fathers Retreat Centre, Templestowe, ‘Greyfriars’, Mornington, Christian Brothers, “Amberley” Lower Plenty, Sunnystones Camp, Lake Eppalock and Forest Edge. Today, this Annual Easter Retreat has developed to become the COSDU's Annual Easter Camp organised by a separate Easter Camp committee and held during the Easter break.
Over the years, COSDU have been using and moving through many venues for its' Friday sessions. Some venues became too small for the group and the availability of these venues varied from week to week. Fortunately, this limitation was overcome through the kindness and help from Sister Carol and Newman College. Since July 2001, Kenny Lounge became the new venue for COSDU sessions and St. Mary's Chapel was used for the monthly mass. Friday sessions have also included more variety of ideas such as Stations of the Cross, weekly Church Tour, Meditations, Biblical Quiz and Nature Walks.
2002
On 27th July 2002, Sister Carol decided to retire. COSDU celebrated for one last time the commitment, generosity, kindness and chaplain life of Sister Carol Hogan. In August 2002, Sister Theresa Ryan, a Franciscan Sister, was personally chosen by Sister Carol to continue her work with the international students in Melbourne. In addition to Sister Theresa Ryan, in 2002, COSDU was also blessed with another University of Melbourne chaplain, a priest, Father Robert McKenna.
2003
In this year, the Chaplaincy on Cardigan St, is provided by the University of Melbourne to house the offices of University Chaplains. This became a major event for COSDU as the Chaplaincy has a community hall that is readily available and big enough for COSDU to use on Fridays. To this day, the Chaplaincy is home for COSDU where COSDU meets and stores all its things as well as where COSDUans can approach the chaplains for guidance and even study. COSDU also began to be simply known as a 'Family away from home growing together in Christ'.
2007
Sister Delma Lamb, a Salesian Sister, replaced Sister Theresa Ryan as the University of Melbourne's international students chaplain.
2009
Fr Robert McKenna is replaced by Fr Thinh Nguyen as the Catholic chaplain for the University of Melbourne and COSDU due to his promotion to Bishop.
2012
On October 11th, 2012, COSDU's name was changed from "Catholics Overseas Students Down Under" to "Catholics of One Spirit Down Under". The acronym was kept due to its familiarity around the world. The new name was a result of COSDU members' collaborative brainstorming and was voted on. The name was changed to open COSDU to all students, both local and international.
2013
Sign Language Creativity was introduced by Emmanuel Tan whereby one uses Sign Language and Music to express and praise God as well as evangelize. It was first presented during the Graduation Mass in Semester One.
The committee also introduced a Catholic Trivia Night to encourage students to know their faith and the Bible in a fun way.
Kimberly Ngu also launched cell groups where COSDU members can form smaller sharing groups to meet once a week to further deepen their faith, share their experiences as well as help each other grow. 3 groups were formed with about 5 members each and they started off with the Introduction to Theology of the Body series by Christopher West. Once completed, these groups would then independently choose their own studies and sharing to accommodate the members of the group.
Lastly, Ellie Ngu also launched a new Social Justice Program called "Trick or Eat" which is a Canadian charity program for the first time in Australia. Through this program, volunteers visit house to house to collect non-perishable items or food (instead of candy) for the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre on Halloween.
2014
In June 2014, COSDU participated in the Youth Groups Sports Day organised by the Archdiocesan Office for Youth. The event was held for youth groups to get to know each other.
In July, Fr Thinh Nguyen takes on a new role as assistant to the Catholic Vocations director and is replaced by Fr Andrew McCarter for the role of Melbourne University Catholic Chaplain.

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