FAITH MATTERS
“Learn about the past and make a commitment to the future.”
Pope John Paul II identified four very important issues when he spoke to the Aboriginal people in Blatherskite Park at Alice Springs, many years ago. The message is as relevant today as it was then:
- He challenged all Australians to ensure the preservation of Indigenous cultures and to keep working for an inclusive multicultural Australia.
- He called us to seek and explore the points of agreement between Indigenous traditions and those of Jesus and all his people.
- He praised the way the Indigenous peoples had cared for the land and then challenged us to learn together how to preserve our fragile environment.
- Finally, by naming past hurts and continuing injustices, John Paul II confronted us as a nation with the need to move towards true reconciliation.
Through the Aboriginal spirituality unit taught at Year 9, students learnt about the link the aboriginals had and have with the earth, and how this link was not acknowledged by the early white settlers.
As part of the Year 9 Camp, students participated in a Welcome to Country Smoking Ceremony and made a commitment to “Learn about the past and make a commitment to the future". Students were then invited to seal their commitment by writing their name onto the cross that had been designed by an Aboriginal Woman from the Santa Monica Community, Alice Springs. It is our way of preserving the Indigenous culture and moving towards true Reconciliation.The following prayer was shared at the ceremony.
Father God,
Mother Country,
Giver of Life and Love.
Bless us all as we return to our communities.
Help us to see each other as we are:
with our own dreamings,
our diversity,
our histories,
our visions.
We are the past
We are the future
We are here today.
Lord, please provide your guidance
to lead us in our understandings of our rich
and diverse cultures and languages.
Help us to see all people as they are:
Happy, Proud and Wise peoples.
We make this prayer through Christ our Lord.
Amen.