Dear Friends,

As you receive this edition of In the News we are preparing soon to celebrate NATSICC’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday and NAIDOC Week under the theme “Sent Forth in Strength and Hope’.

In this Jubilee Year of Hope it is wonderful to reflect on this theme, realising that it invites us to action in walking together with our Indigenous brothers and sisters anchored in the strength and the hope of Jesus Christ.

In their notes on the theme, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council tells us it is Christ who sends us to walk together in faith, grounded in the deep spirituality and culture of First Nations Peoples, strengthened by the Gospel, and filled with hope for the future God is leading us into.

 “Our Catholic Church is a tapestry woven from many cultures,” NATSICC says. “From the enduring wisdom of the world’s oldest continuing cultures — the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples — to those who have journeyed from distant lands, we are one Body in Christ. In our diversity, we discover richness. In our unity, we find strength. And in every heart, we see the Spirit of God at work. Saint John Paul II once reminded us: ‘The Church herself is enriched by the development of different forms of culture… she takes them up in her evangelising mission and adopts them.’”

NATSICC says that on National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday on July 6, we celebrate the living story of faith and culture walking hand in hand — of ancient traditions alive in Christ, and of a Church made more whole when all are welcomed, seen, and heard.

As Divine Word Missionaries working pastorally in a number of Indigenous communities, we are committed to walking with our Indigenous brothers and sisters, opening our hearts to them and their ancient culture and spirituality, sharing our faith together, listening, learning and where needed, being a presence of the healing love of Jesus Christ.

I encourage all parishes, schools, religious communities and the whole Church to take up NATSICC’s invitation to us all to enter into the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday liturgy with open hearts. May it “deepen our appreciation of First Nations spirituality, draw us closer in Christ, and renew our shared calling toward reconciliation, justice, and love”.

To learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday or to access liturgy resources, click here to visit the NATSICC website.

 Yours in the Word,

Fr Asaeli Rass SVD,

Provincial.

ARTWORK: By PollyAnne Carter.