Acknowledging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday, July 5th

In these days of ‘Black Lives Matter’, of ‘Closing the Gap’ discussions and proposals for the National Cabinet, we support and promote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday.

Bishops Commission for relations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders

Dear to the heart of the early Missionaries was the desire to make Jesus Christ and his saving love known to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people and to draw them into his Kingdom of love and peace.

The full inclusion of Catholic Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples into the life of the Church is still incomplete. This Commission seeks their fuller participation in every aspect of Church life and commits itself to promoting their dignity as brothers and sisters in Christ and to addressing the challenges that face them.

Torres Strait art

The Commission also wishes to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait lslander people to achieve their rightful and proper place in the mainstream of Australian society while preserving precious elements of their own culture.

An MSC symbolic photo

OLSH Australia Statement of Acknowledgement and Support for Our First Nations People

Any Catholic who claims “to defend the sacredness of every human life” must combat racism and exclusion in all its forms. - Pope Francis ‘In This Together 2020’

For over 100 years we, Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, have stood respectfully with our Indigenous brothers and sisters in their suffering and struggle for justice. We have shared their life and land, worked with them, talked, laughed, cried and worshipped with them. We recognise with sadness that we have been insensitive at times and have made mistakes, but it is our privilege and joy to have always known and loved them and to recognise them as Australia’s First Nation People.

We, with the rest of the world, have watched in horror and have listened to George Floyd's dying words, 'I can't breathe'. Let us not forget our nation's own history and the lessons we must learn as we join our Indigenous sisters and brothers in their struggle for justice, change and reform.

May the love of God breathe afresh in us as we stand in solidarity with our First Nations People. May we continue to have the integrity to walk together in the ways of love, reverence, deep listening, respect, healing, reconciliation.

- Philippa Murphy fdnsc on behalf of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart

June 5th, 2020