The Joy of Hope

Since returning from Fr McKelson’s funeral in Melbourne last week, people have been asking how it went. My answer of “Great” has been a little unsettling to some, as funerals are not meant to be great. But Fr McKelson’s funeral was great. It was a celebration of the faith, hope and perseverance of a person who was, like most of us, far from perfect, but as Mary his niece told us: My Uncle Kevin was a good man. I have to agree with her, as many of you here today would agree. However, what is more is that he was a man of advent, and in being so his life pointed to something outside himself that he humbly acknowledged. The reasons are the same as those that drove John the Baptist in his ministry.

John the Baptist was aware of who he was and who he was not. He was not the one who could answer all questions, who could cure all ills, who could help all people. In short, he was not the Messiah. But safe in this knowledge, he was free to identify and name the Messiah when he appeared. His role was that of precursor, to name the Grace, to be the prophet of hope and to persevere to the end.

Today is Gaudete, which means ‘joy’, Sunday. The joy lies in the recognition of what is, what has been so far, and what will be in the future.  For committed Catholics, Advent is not a frenzied time of shopping, eating and drinking. We may partake and enjoy the festivities, but the main game is ahead as well as behind. Like John the Baptist, we look around us for the birth of grace and name it when we see it. Like Isaiah we try to identify Christ in our midst and acknowledge his power to change the world, stating with ourselves.  

We are very familiar with many prophets of doom in our society. On the other hand, Isaiah was a prophet of hope for the people of Israel, as he is for us today. He tells us: He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favour from the LORD. Advent is the time when we are able to wait with a smug grin on our face, knowing that our God is among us and knowing our co-operation in allowing God’s grace to permeate the world.

As Advent people we can wait in hope, we are able to test everything that comes our way, not being content to be led by a materialistic society into a dead end of consumerism, selfishness and instant gratification. We are people who are able to persevere in humility, people who like John the Baptist, don’t have all the answers, but know where to look.

As people of hope, we are able to rejoice in situations others find tragic, such as the funeral for Fr McKelson.  Last week in Melbourne we buried a humble man who guided the people of the Broome and Bidyadanga over many decades to live the faith, to persevere in trust, and to hope in the promises made to us by Christ.

We are all called to be advent people, prophets of hope and bearers of good news. May we encourage one another in joy during this wonderful time.

Homily 3rd Sunday of Advent Year B 11th December 2011

Rest in Peace Japulu

Fr McKelson used to speak of coming home to Melbourne, and did not like me pointing out that he had spent twice as long at Bidyadanga as here! In there lies a great truth, because for all the years he was away he carried a lot of the local church and his family with him.

After hearing and answering God’s call he was sent to Rome where his inner linguist emerged. He lived in a German speaking house, in an Italian speaking city, attending lectures in Latin and spent his holidays in France. He loved being able to smuggle newspapers and cigarettes to other Australian students who lived under stricter regimes.

In 1954, the newly ordained 24 year old Kevin McKelson arrived in Broome to assist the legendary Fr Worms, the Pallottine missionary anthropologist. Worms taught him to tread very gently on the Kimberley earth, as it belonged to another people, many of whom had had their spirit broken. Kevin listened and then was able to learn, live and teach the art of reconciliation. This required a great humility so that he would be able to say, with Isaiah “See, this is our God in whom we hoped.”

In Broome he implemented the tried and true pastoral strategies of his youth. He built a faith community with lots of social activities and sport. With Donnelly McKenzie he started the basketball competition in 1955, building a court by crushing ant bed retrieved from the bush. Later they collaborated and started the Broome Saints Football Club. He encouraged marriages between local women and the Malay or Japanese pearlers. He taught the men English, learning Japanese and Malay on the way, and blessed their marriages. A relationship with God started with relationship with others.

Lagrange Mission became his home in 1961. He would remain through joys and frustrations for 34 years.  Not long after his arrival Cyclone Bessie destroyed the Mission. Madelene Jadai, here with us today, was born during that cyclone, as is Margot Toohey, the nurse who delivered her. Fr McKelson rescued her and her mother from the collapsing hospital during the eye of the storm. He was far from being an adventurer, but history made his life a huge adventure. Lagrange taught him the primacy of relationship, of connecting people with each other and God. Many a dinner at Lagrange ended with the salt, pepper, knife and fork being used to teach the ‘skins’ (the aboriginal kinship system). If you don’t know the skins, he would say, you will never understand local people. It is all about relationships.

A key to relationship is language, enabling is to relate to God and each other in a context of mutual respect. After the Mission was rebuilt, Kevin concentrated his efforts on inculturation, the translation of the Christian message into forms and idiom accessible to the people of the five local language groups. This necessitated the learning, recording and understanding of languages and culture, which became the work and love of his life centred on the Missa Bidyadanga and Aboriginal Our Father. He was trusted by the senior men, who shared their cultural secrets with him and acknowledged that he understood more about the aboriginal law than most local people.

Lagrange was fully staffed by lay missionaries. Fr Kevin was the father figure, holding the mainly young lay missionaries in a family unit. He treated all with respect, and tried to understand, with varying degrees of success, the issues of young men and women a long way from home and family. He always looked for ways to make connections between people and groups of people, with, of course, God at the centre.

One of the greatest tests of our Christianity is forgiveness. If we can’t forgive then our faith is not deeply rooted. Fr McKelson often spoke about the cultural right to payback, and the Christian response of forgoing retribution. In 1994 I witnessed a person come to Fathers place, and he welcomed him with open arms, made him a cup of tea and spoke genially of old times. I later discovered that some years before this person had done his best to destroy the mission and Kevin’s reputation, even threatening Kevin’s life. It has been a terrible time for him yet in this he kept the faith, as St Paul wrote to Timothy, even to the end, and all of Bidyadanga were witnesses.

Kevin made courtesy an art form. Whether he was greeting visitors or growling wrongdoers, he spoke and acted with respect.  Martina Badal told me: We would milk the goats, drinking the half the milk and filling the bucket with water. Japulu found out and just told me:” Martina, you know not to do that. Don’t put water in the milk. Do you understand? He was strong but gentle.”  The same day, at the markets on Broome I was told: As a green young girl many years ago, living beyond the Spinifex Horizon, Fr Mac was my Light in the Wilderness whenever he came to Frazier Downs for dinner. (Jenny Di Marchi)

Last Monday my phone was running hot all day. Charlie Wright reminded me that when Hail Mary Bell rang Father had taught everyone to freeze with their head down to say the Hail Mary quietly. You could hear the bell from Blackrock, 3kn away! Each person ringing had a story, but at the end of each story was the quip: he really loved us, each one of us. Kevin lived, with more success than most, the Beatitudes we just heard proclaimed. 

As age and health caught up with him, a move south was necessitated. The McKelson family gave one of their own for the missions, so that others may come to know God. He returned after a long life well lived, but he was now living behind the veil of dementia. He trusted in God but was never presumptuous, so would want us to pray that his experience of purgatory be freeing as he hurries toward our heavenly resting place.

Nyamu nyina ngayu Japulu!

Homily, Requiem Mass for Fr Kevin McKelson SAC, St Brendan's, Flemington, VIC, 6th December 2011.

An Example on the Straight Track

I have been spending a bit of time lately thinking about Fr Kevin McKelson, who died during the week. He was my parish priest when as a new priest I was appointed to Bidyadanga,  (Lagrange Mission). He used to tell me that Fr Worms, who was his first parish priest when he came to Broome taught him to tread very gently on the Kimberley earth, as it belonged to another people, many of whom had had their spirit broken. Fr McKelson learned, lived and taught the lesson of the art of reconciliation. That is the message of Isaiah today when he urges: Comfort O comfort my people. This is a word of encouragement, a call to awake from sleep and to take our place in society. In my years living and working with Kevin McKelson, he never stopped urging people to stand up and take their place in society. If we do not, he used to assure people, others will stand up and take it for themselves. If we want good to happen, we have to stand up and be counted.

John the Baptist proclaimed this and provided witness by his life. The Gospel account tells us as much about what John the Baptist looked like and ate as his words. If he lived today he would be a media hit with his strange getup and alternative diet. As John the Baptist was, we are being called to be a bit alternative in Advent. There are issues about which we should stand up and being counted and upon which we can make a difference.

The time leading up to Christmas can be a time of giving and sharing, or a time of consumer frenzy and a time of extreme greed and avarice. We have the opportunity to make a difference. In the continuing question of the detention of asylum seekers, we can voice an opinion and make a difference. Yesterday I read in the newspapers about the debates on same sex marriage. Christians have the opportunity to contribute to the debate and say clearly that marriage can only be about a man and a woman who provide the safest place for the rearing of children. It is not justice or equality to have enshrined in law that two fathers or two mothers is just as good as God’s plan through the natural order.

People have been talking to me all week about how kind and loving Fr McKelson was, but also that he spoke his mind. He did not compromise the faith to be popular. I recall on occasion where his life was threatened for maintaining a moral stance when those around him stepped away. As Christians we need to have the courage of our convictions, and John the Baptist leads us in humility, courage and faith.

St Paul believed that the end of the world was imminent. In one sense he was marking time, but even within that framework he urges us to lead good lives because only then will we experience true peace.

As dvent continues let us make the decision to stand up and enter the season, to fill in the valleys and break down the barriers, to build a better and more godly world starting with ourselves.

Homily Second Sunday of Advent year B 4th December 2011, OLQP Broome.