Bishop of Broome, Christopher Saunders
In a remote Town in northern Australia a teenage girl learns of the death of her best friend in a motor accident. Within a few hours she too is dead and her body is found by her brother.
In another larger regional town a young man is drinking into the early hours of the morning with two male relatives. In between drinks they share some cones of marijuana, as they did earlier in the day, and pass the hours in small talk or sometimes in silence. Before dawn the young man, in his mid-twenties, leaves the room without a word. After some time one of the others goes out to look for the missing young man. He finds him and with the help of the third person cuts him down from the tree.
A clergyman, experienced in ministry to Aboriginal people in rural Australia, speaks to an assembled group of priests about the strains and stress often encountered in such ministry and the hurt that often emerges when faced with the senseless tragedies of self harm in rural towns and settlements. He emphasises that people who work in those environs need useful and carefully placed support, if they are to survive the rigours and sorrows of almost daily living. Continue reading
Group registrations are now open for the Australian Catholic Youth Festival being held in Adelaide in December.
Calling for a more personal human culture based on care for others and walking lightly on the earth is not a green-left agenda — it is Christianity 101.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday statement 2015
