Knight of property and Church
News
Whether it’s his involvement with the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide’s property committee or his recent induction into the Knights of the Southern Cross, Jamie Guerra is doing his bit to make a difference.
The Adelaide commercial property agent has been the chair of the Archdiocese’s property committee for the past two years and a member since 2021.
The six-person task force meets every other month to discuss everything from a leaky roof in a parish to complex planning matters or projects such as a new home for Catholic Education South Australia (CESA) on Greenhill Road, Parkside, as happened earlier this year.
The role is voluntary and getting Jamie, a man with considerable top level commercial property experience across Australia, onto the committee has been a coup for the Church.
A partner at the mid-tier and rapidly expanding Leedwell Property in Adelaide for the past four years where he specialises in the sale of retail, commercial and industrial investments, Jamie brings vast leadership experience including 10 years as the managing director of JLL Adelaide.
His role in assisting the Archdiocese via the property committee is akin to being a “sounding board” on property matters and, in particular, the growth of Catholic education within SA.
In 2023 he was appointed to the board of Southern Cross Care (SCC) and he is chair of its Environments Committee which deals with the property elements of the not-for-profit retirement living and aged care organisation.
And perhaps most impressive of all is that Jamie can now lay claim to being a knight.
This came about through his work with SCC, which was founded in 1968 by the Knights of the Southern Cross (KSC), an order of lay Catholic men dedicated to the service of the Church and the wider community.
The order operates with the support of the Australian Catholic Bishops and has Mary MacKillop as its patron saint.
The title of ‘knight’ brought a few Monty Python gags from the Guerra household (he is married to Natasha and they have a daughter, Alexis, and a son Max) but was also a genuine delight.
He was approached by the Brighton branch of the KSC and was surprised to find that rather than being a formal process, it was a “social catch up” at the parish.
“It really just involved being present at one of the monthly meetings and being inducted with the oath being read in front of the members,” he said.
“I’d met a few of the members at Southern Cross Care functions so knew a bit about them and what they represented.
“My family and friends found it a little amusing when I told them I was being inducted as a knight, with expectations of armour and robes.”
An alumnus of Rostrevor College, Jamie comes from a Catholic family with a classic Australian/Italian back story.
“Nonna was very religious, a typical southern Italian upbringing in rural Italy where church and God were very important,” he said.
“My mum was born in Australia so had a more contemporary upbringing but still has a connection to the Church and I have memories of attending St Hilarion festivals on Grange Road with lots of food and the procession.”
Jamie said being a member of the KSC was essentially about doing good deeds in the local community and there were many examples of members volunteering their time to provide social connections and networking.
“One of the activities that was discussed at my induction was the finalisation of a mobile trailer BBQ so that the members could travel to some of the aged care facilities and provide a social BBQ catch up for the residents who find it hard to get out,” he said.
“It’s not dissimilar to a Men’s Shed – it’s a nice thing, good people doing good things.”
