The
Catholic Weekly
Online
Sydney
21 September 2003
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Heaven
scent floral feast
Welcome
strangers’ call
Bishops:
Fight racism
Bishop
Mayne dies at 75
Senate
‘yes’ to gay bid
Benedictine
nuns gather in Sydney
Tears
of joy at Marriage Sunday Mass
Donor
club
His
Holiness, the poet
Concert
to mark Pope’s jubilee
It’s
‘weakness of faith’
Still
a need for Catholic voice: Dr Pell
Editorial:
Spectre of fear
Letters:
Christian values
Conversation:
Amanda McKenna, Catholic singer and songwriter - ‘God’s messenger’ on a journey
of faith
Opintion:
‘Good mother of all ...’
Voice
of Youth: ‘Most wonderful day’
Insights:
Biblical ancestors?
Religious:
Spirit-ualities are everywhere
North
American, Irish, Australian sisters in historic Loreto reunion
Education:
Decade a day at school
Social
Work degree course at Strathfield
Balmain
kids hit right note
Catechism:
Daytime course
New
bishops ‘help God’s light shine in darkness’
Capacity
to forgive ...
‘Heroic
witness’ to the Gospel of hope
‘Kids
worth dying for’
Inspirations:
‘Schoolies’ faith patrol
Bishops: Fight racism
By Chris Lindsay
The Australian Catholic Social Justice Council has issued Challenging Racism, a kit prepared by the National Council of Churches, to enable schools, parishes and neighbourhood groups to participate fully in Social Justice Sunday on September 28.
The theme for Social Justice Sunday is Challenging racism in Australia today.
Introducing the kit, Bishop Christopher Saunders, Bishop of Broome and chairman of the Social Justice Council, says that for more than two centuries Australia’s story has been one of welcome and exclusion, as illustrated by the impact of the early white settlers on our first inhabitants through to the development of a multicultural nation.
“Today, we witness the recurrence of widespread racial hostility and rejection, expressed most clearly in our attitude to prospective refugees and asylum seekers, often from the Middle East,” he says.
“Perhaps the greatest cause of division is dwelling on one another’s differences, in particular racial and religious differences.
“Racism is a combination of prejudice and power and exists when a dominant cultural group assumes that its lifestyle, as expressed economically, socially, culturally or religiously, is superior to that of other groups.”
Bishop Saunders said all members of the human family are the sons and daughters of the Creator and equal in God’s eyes.
“In the Gospels, the Word of God, we see a Jesus who meets strangers, looks into their faces, engages them in conversation and reveals a God who loves all human beings,” he says.
“As Christians, we respond to God’s call by welcoming the Word of God into our hearts, being attentive to it and allowing it to change and renew us.
“Contrary to such an invitation would be self-centredness, over-protection of our way of life, the exclusion of others from ‘our nation’, and the preservation of ‘our culture’ at all costs.”
The kit suggests steps that everyone, as individuals and members of parishes, schools and local communities, can take to challenge racism in Australia today, including practical advice on getting information from the internet.
It also suggests activities that can be undertaken by individuals, parishes, schools and neighbourhood groups to combat the racism around them.
It includes a definition of racism, a recommended prayer for Social Justice Sunday and other prayers, a theological response to racism, liturgy and homily notes, suggestions on how to use the kit, and individual experiences of racism in Australia.
Copies of the kit can be ordered from the council (02) 9956 5811 or by email: admin@acsjc.org.au. Cost per kit is $5.50 plus postage.