Kate Stilwell, CSSV Office Manager, reflects on four days spent at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council (NATSICC) Spirituality Retreat.
It was a privilege to attend the NATSICC Spiritual Retreat from 9-12 September where more than 50 people gathered on the lands of the Ngunnawal Peoples at St Clements Retreat Centre, Galong, New South Wales. Over the course of four days, there were many opportunities to share stories with one another, to hear from a range of speakers and to take time for personal reflection.
In contemplating the time shared together, a number of things have stayed with me – the importance of meeting together, of taking time to be still and silent and of the fundamentally interconnectedness of greater love for God, each other and creation, which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander spirituality has so much to teach us about.
Coming together from all across Australia, it was fantastic to meet people from a wide variety of places, extending from Melukerdee Country (Tasmania) in the south to Wadjigan Country (Northern Territory) in the north, and beyond. Yarning circles on day one, shared meals, campfire singing and creating group artworks all allowed us to get to know one another as we shared the retreat experience together. Coming from very different backgrounds, we were able to find connections and hear something of each other’s stories.
With the retreat theme being ‘Lord, Teach us how to pray: Proclaim the Good News’, we were given many opportunities to explore the meaning and practice of prayer. Archbishop Christopher Prowse spoke of prayer as walking with God – as an encounter. He encouraged us to spend time in meditative prayer, with silence, stillness and simplicity as the focus. In our demanding, noisy lives, it was good to be reminded of the importance of making time be still and silent, of slowing down our busy minds and bodies, of being present in the moment and being open to a deeper sense of connection.
During the retreat we were fortunate to hear from Anne Dennis, a Gamilaraay woman, elected councillor for the NSW Aboriginal Land Council, co-chair of the NSW Coalition of Aboriginal Peak Organisations and a lifetime member of the NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group. Anne shared about Aboriginal Spirituality including aspects such as the connection of identity and language to Country, respect for elders, Country being both geographical and spiritual places where kinship connections are established, sacred places and obligations to land. She also spoke about the impacts of dispossession, the trauma that has been experienced over generations, and its ongoing ramifications.
Much of what Anne shared strongly resonated with a session presented the previous day by Karan Taylor and Beth Riolo on Laudato Si, Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical letter on care for our common home. Their presentation focused on the idea of ‘ecological conversion’ – a radical change of mind and heart towards creation. They spoke of the ways in which Indigenous Peoples have much to teach us in the way we approach the earth as a gift from God rather than as a commodity, walking lightly and gently, and living in such a way as to care for our planet and each other. I was challenged to consider for myself the way the dominant, colonising culture in Australia has largely seen the natural world as a resource to be exploited – something that is separate to us, something to be controlled. As Anne was speaking, the Land Forces Expo was taking place in Melbourne – the largest trade show of weapons, defence technology and other equipment and products related to warfare, security, technology, transportation and communications ever held in Australia. The contrast in values and approach to our relationships to one another and to the natural world between the focus of the retreat and the expo in Melbourne could not have been starker. Shifting our outlook truly is a full conversion to a fundamentally different way of understanding the world and our place in it.
In returning home and back to the day to day of life, I am reminded that we alone can do very little, but there is hope in walking together and forging connections in all aspects of our lives.
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