The Council and Members of Catholic Social Services Victoria acknowledge and celebrate that our engagement throughout Victoria takes place on the sacred land and waterways of the many cultural groups of the Aboriginal Peoples of Victoria. For over tens of thousands of years these lands and waterways have been cared for under cultural lore and customs.
Australia’s First Peoples have never ceded sovereignty and are the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent. We acknowledge that the Aboriginal People have suffered personal harm, cultural dislocation and dispossession since colonisation.
This past has resulted in Aboriginal People becoming one of the most disadvantaged peoples within our society and we are committed to action to close this gap.
Righting the wrongs of dispossession requires a commitment to truth telling about the past so justice, equity and reconciliation can be experienced by all peoples of Victoria.
We commit ourselves to listen and walk with the First Peoples in the true spirit of Makarrata: coming together after this long painful struggle for recognition, true justice and full flourishing for all Australians.
…the Church herself in Australia will not be fully the Church that Jesus wants her to be until you have made your contribution to her life and until that contribution has been joyfully received by others. Pope St John Paul II, Alice Springs 29 November 1986 Adopted by Council at Catholic Social Services Victoria, October 2018
Pope St John Paul II, Alice Springs 29 November 1986
Adopted by Council at Catholic Social Services, October 2018
20 years of addressing disadvantage among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
The Opening the Doors Foundation, which celebrates its 20-year anniversary in 2021, addresses the severe educational disadvantage still being experienced by many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families in Victoria. In a special edition newsletter, Manager of Aboriginal Catholic Ministry Victoria, Sherry Balcombe, shares her ‘great pride and pleasure’ in ‘the fantastic achievements of the Opening The Doors Foundation’.
Marking January 26
For most Indigenous Australians with a sense of their own history Australia Day is an occasion for grief. For many other Australians it is an uncomfortable day, one for rumination, for pondering the creation and the destruction of cultures. Andy Hamilton SJ helps up to reflect on this important time in history.
CSSV Services Providers that assist our work with First Nations people
Aboriginal Education
Aboriginal Catholic Ministry
Aims to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Straight peoples have their rightful place in the Church and wider community and works for reconciliation in partnership with those who believe there can be an alternative to the present order.
- 434 St Georges Road, Thornbury VIC 3071
- (03) 9401 6380
- www.cam1.org.au/acmv
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