Kularri Region Reconciliation Award 2011 Acceptance Speech

I am honoured to be here tonight and receive this NAIDOC reconciliation award. 

I accept it representing many who have come before me and those who will come after. 

Over one hundred years ago, priests came to live and walk beside local people, sharing faith and hope, the good and the bad times. Fr Nicholas Emo was treated with contempt when he fed and protected vulnerable people in 1895. Opponents burnt his shack and chapel before he won them over by kindness.  

Some reported Fr Worms in the 1930s because he believed that apathy was the result of ‘cutting the sacred cord’ that bound people to their culture and land. He taught Fr McKelson, who taught me, to walk gently on this land, because it belongs to other people and we are here by invitation.

Fr McKelson, Wandjira Jack Mulardy and Nyakerin John Dodo taught me to love language, for it is a window to the liyan, the rayi, or as the desert mob calls it, the kururrn of the people. They taught me that Aboriginal people and culture are strengthened by Christianity, and that Aboriginal people are very blessed with connection to land culture and people. Later the Kukatja taught me about life, language and faith in a desert context. Today I am indeed very blessed to walk in Yawuru country.

The Homelessness Outreach of which we have heard continues the work of Emo, Worms, McKelson and McMahon. We have each used the talents available to us to work in a different way, each appropriate to the time. It bears the mark of each of them, and the faith of the Catholic people of the Kimberley for the last 100 years.

Liyan mapu wa-nangka-ma juyu Kukuni, Upani, Rayipuni, kalpu kapuni 

(May God bless you from heaven, Father, Son and Holy Spirit) (Yawuru)

GimiGimi Shed, Broome, 9th July 2011.

Care and caution with the Weeds and the Wheat.

When I was young one of our schoolyard crazes was this unusual design called yin and yang. This traditional Taoist design enthralled us all. For a long time we drew talked of and philosophised about the good and evil that were intertwined. In the end we would all come to the conclusion, through our Christian lens, that in every good there is some evil and in every evil there is some good.

The reason that made sense to us young Catholic men was that it resonated with our deep faith. It resonated with the parable of the wheat and darnel. We know that the world is not perfect, and that in the midst of good there are things that are not right, just as in the midst of great evil there are bright moments.

To maintain our balance, we need to be aware of the movements on our lives and society. In most things the solution is not a simple one, as it is, for instance, in the case of abortion or euthanasia. These are simple open and shut issues for people, like us Catholics, who respect life.  In the issues we confront each day, most of us tend towards pontificating and declaring our position to be correct. This is natural, but not necessarily correct. Just because I hold a position to be correct, even if I am supported by a multitude of people, it does not make that position correct. The truth is most often to be found somewhere between the extremes of opinion.

The parable of the wheat and darnel, however, takes us further than the yin and yang concept. The parable takes us to the plane of making judgements. The wheat and weeds are left together until the end because there is no way of harmlessly separating them before harvest. We are called to live out our own vocation, honestly and with integrity whilst respecting the ways of others who do not agree with us. This requires patience that is best delivered through an active prayer life.

The mood of our town at the moment gives us the opportunity to practice and show the way in this matter. During the week I was told of an argument that almost turned into a physical fight at a workplace because staff had differing opinions over the gas hub at Price’s Point. The question of the hub is an important one for our town, and one in which we Christians, whatever side of the fence we are on, can show leadership through our diligence, our dignity and our patience. The worst outcome in this debate is not whether the gas hub is built or not, but if hurt and division split families and relationships in our community. The best outcome is if we manage to keep families and relationships in our town together. This is a task for us as church.

When you stand in the middle of a young wheat field, it is hard to see what plants are wheat and what plants are darnel.  That is why in the parable the farmer waits until the end to separate them. God asks us to exercise caution, tolerance and care as we move forward calmly, and leave judgements to God.

Homily 16th July 2011 OLQP Broome

God's word on our Earth

A few years ago my brother and I walked across the north of England, just for a change. From the Lakes District to the high moors and then down to the Swaledale, deep in Yorkshire, where all those tales of “it shouldn’t happen to a vet’ occurred. After a village called Keld, just before we got to the dales, we walked through a moonscape. It was awful. No trees, no grass, just the debris left behind when the lead mines were closed in 1948. David and I tramped silently through this example of how not to treat our earth for two hours before descending again to the Garden of Eden at Reith. 

The effect of that mornings walk has never left me. 

God has given us this earth, and in Isaiah’s words, he has watered it, making it yield and giving growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eating. It the word cannot achieve its purpose without the collaboration of God’s most magnificent creation, which of course, is humankind. The responsibility we hold is enormous, as is the opportunity for destruction and preservation. 

The Kukatja have a wonderful word kaninyirninpa, meaning holding.  Just as we a mother holds her child in the womb, and god holds his people, we hold what is entrusted to us until it is time to pass it on to others. Christians do not own anything, even our own lives. We hold all that we have been given in trust for god and for future generations. Whoever financed, allowed and profited from those lead mines in Yorkshire did not live this, for if they had they would not have been able to wreak such permanent destruction on God’s wonderful creation, denying it to future generations.

St Paul reminds us that creation ‘has been groaning in one great act of giving birth’.  We are part of that birth, and we care called to hold this creation, to nurture this baby.   I our hands we hold the seed, and we can spread this seed on rocky ground, where it will not take deep root; among thorns, where it will be strangled, or in deep rich soil where it will be nurtured. The choice is ours.

 We all have a role to play in ensuring that God’s earth is protected and nurtured. None of our voices are raised in vain.  Listen anyone who has ears.

Homily 10th July 2011 OLQP Broome.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday

In this country we have been spared many of the atrocities that have befallen people in other parts of the world. We are indeed fortunate. Living in the Kimberley, this is brought home to us ever more strongly as we see around us the beauty of God’s creation. However, we cannot say that our country is, or ever has been, peace-filled. In this sense our country is still in process, it is still being formed. To be complete it needs an unwavering commitment from all of us to this end.

Twenty five years ago, in 1986, people from Broome went over the Tanami on Frank Lacey’s bus to meet the Holy Father in Alice Springs. He affirmed the extraordinary gifts that Aboriginal people and culture have brought to this Great South Land. However, he went further and told the gathering that “the Church 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 accepted.”

This challenge is one to a partnership, and it is issued to all of us who strive to follow Christ, whether we are Aboriginal or not. Of course, the Holy Father was calling us to the greatest of gifts, that if peace. Peace is the free gift that can only come through the action of the Holy Spirit. The first reading urges us to seek this gift, and reminds us that true peace may only be obtained from one source, from the one who rides on the donkey, from Christ who came among us to serve. It can only be shared by those who are open to their spiritual selves, who acknowledge the presence and power of God in their lives.

The gift of peace enables us to build community with each other. It allows us to open our hearts to views that differ from our own and opinions that diverge from ours. It allows us to see that the future is built together. The words that Blessed John Paul spoke in Alice Springs should continue to resound in our ears, so that we are constantly reminded that our God comes among us and has shared his word among us all equally. With this knowledge, we are empowered to keep moving forward with strength and determination, but also with the knowledge that the gentle Christ is with us on our journey.

Homily OLQP Broome 3rd July 2011