Feast Day and Reconciliation Week

Our Feast Day Mass marked the beginning of  Reconciliation Week this year (26th May). To celebrate this day we have decided to explore this year's theme "to be known and loved.". The theme sounds straight-forward, but history tells us that, at times, some people within society are neither known nor loved. Often our First Nations people have been unknown, unnamed and uncounted.

The Gospel included in our feast day Mass tells of a time when Jesus gathered with a crowd and blessed and broke 5 loaves and 2 fish to feed 4000 people. But some among the crowd were not counted: unnamed and unknown

While Matthew notes that those literally ‘counted’ in the miracle of the loaves and fishes were only the men, it reflects a bigger question - who ‘counts’ in society; who matters?

In our Religious education classes we explored how people being uncounted was also a part of Australia’s history  when our indigenous peoples were not counted? 

At the time of Federation in 1901, our indigenous people were not considered citizens of the country they had been born in. They could not vote and were not counted in any census. It is only in recent years that we have come to learn about the history and culture of our first nations people.

As this year's school theme is to be `Known and Loved’, each Religion class researched key parts of our local Wurundjeri community, such as language, sacred places and significant people. The Social Justice Team on Feast Day prepared a Wurrunderji Kahoot which each homeroom played to cement their knowledge.

The following is a prayer for Reconciliation Week from the Melbourne Archdiocese.

Lord, open up our hearts so that we may hear the message you teach of a world in which the wrongs of the past are recognised - a world in which a reconciled people walk and talk together sharing stories; a world in which all burn with the desire to have your peace and justice reign. We ask this in Jesus’ name.