The online Reconciliation Conversation hosted by CSSV on Friday 5 August elicited much thought and discussion about the progress of reconciliation in Australia, with special guests Fr Frank Brennan and Vicki Clark providing powerful insights.
CSSV is a member group of MAG, part of the Victorian Multicultural Commission. It recently held a wonderful dinner in preparation for NAIDOC Week entitled ‘Connecting with Country, Reconnecting with Ourselves’ on July 13, 2022 at Melbourne Town Hall. CSSV Senior Policy Advisor Gordon Preece filled in for Executive Director Josh Lourensz. Bishop Philip Huggins as MC set the scene sharing a series of questions and observations.
The Indigenous Suicide Postvention Services supports individuals, families, and communities affected by suicide or other significant trauma. Service provides advocates who are experienced in listening, and providing culturally responsive support.
On 4 July the Catholic Church in Australia celebrated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday, marking the beginning of NAIDOC Week. At St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne, Archbishop Peter A Comensoli celebrated a Mass that incorporated several elements including a special Acknowledgment of Country, a traditional smoking ceremony ritual and music composed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Focussing on the theme 'More than a word. Reconciliation Takes Action', the 2021 National Reconciliation Week (27 May to 3 June) highlighted the role we all play in fostering reconciliation and in collectively building relationships and communities that value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' histories, cultures, and futures.
May 26 marks National Sorry Day in Australia, which is followed by National Reconciliation Week from 27 May to 3 June. Reconciliation is a journey for all Australians – as individuals, families, communities, organisations and importantly as a nation.
Towards the end of 2021 the University of Divinity, Australia’s oldest and largest theological school, will launch its Indigenous Studies Centre. The purpose of the Centre will be to encourage the development of Christian theologies that have their roots as much in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander imaginations as they do in the perspectives brought from Europe by colonists.
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'.
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.