WITH the tragic loss of life in the Bourke Street Mall, some gloomy omens already emerging from the new White House (USA), the imminent wind-up of the Royal Commission into Institutional Sexual Abuse, it is worth reflecting on a bright note with Australia Day.
As usual (since I have been at Greythorn) we celebrated Australia Day with Mass, prayers and our best effort at singing the National Anthem last Thursday.
The prayers for the Day were so good that I will repeat them at Masses this weekend. In an often criticized translation of the Missal, these prayers stand out as an exception.
We will also recognise our Australian saint, Mother Mary MacKillop in the Eucharistic Prayer. I will personally read the prayers of the faithful that I composed in the early hours of Thursday morning.
It was a dull day weatherwise (what else is new?) but 16,000 Australians took citizenship and embraced our country and its basic values of a fair-go for all. Speakers at citizenship ceremonies repeated this message and, overall, it was one of hope and optimism that chimes with our Christian vision.
I hope that you enjoyed the day. There are always calls for a change to the date and day based on the historical fact that it is also the day that the First Australians were to experience the trauma of a foreign and alien culture and people cohabitating or taking possession of their lands without treaty or legal process. And it would be both unwise and unfair to dismiss this collective historical recollection.
At some point, and it should not be delayed, some justice and reason, needs to be negotiated and, I believe, that it will. In the meantime, we can enjoy, with our Aboriginal brothers and sisters, all that is good about Australia