Australian Jesuit Provincial Fr Brian McCoy has announced a project to bring together the Jesuits’ concerns for Indigenous Australians and asylum seekers, which he describes as “the bookends of rejection” in Australian history.
The first bookend, Fr McCoy said, is the arrival of the First Fleet of convicts and military from Britain in what is now Sydney in 1788.
“Notwithstanding the many decent and heroic chapters that have followed, there is no denying that our nation’s triumphs and tragedies have come at great cost to our Indigenous sisters and brothers,” said Fr McCoy in a message to the Province released on 31 July, the Feast of St Ignatius.
“The second bookend is the reality that innocent people, who have been subjected to persecution and are seeking Australia’s protection in accordance with our international obligations, have been expelled to the margins on Manus Island and Nauru, out of sight and, for many, out of heart and mind.”
Fr McCoy said that because the Society’s mission is always and everywhere to stand with the poor and marginalised, he was launching dual Province initiatives to respond to these bookends.
Background work on the first initiative – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander reconciliation – has begun. A Project Officer, Anastasia Moore, was recently appointed to promote the reconciliation initiative and has been reviewing reconciliation initiatives around Australia with a view to identifying possible strategies for the Province.
“I will soon convene a workshop comprised of Jesuits and lay people from across our ministries to assist us in further planning and implementation of our approach,” said Fr McCoy.
Significant initial work on the second bookend has also begun with the Refugee and Asylum Seeker Task Force set up last year. Its work was to look at what is already being done around the Province on asylum seeker and refugee issues; current and future needs in this area; the resources of the Province that could help address those needs, especially in partnership with others; what a Province-wide response might look like; and how it might be resourced, implemented and evaluated.
Fr McCoy said that a new initiative would take up the work of the Task Force, with a project offer based at Jesuit Refugee Service to explore potential collaborative projects, best practice, opportunities and activities that could enable a Province-wide response on asylum and refugee issues.
“The Province will be pursuing these two initiatives together, and, where possible, activities in support of them will be coordinated to maximise their effectiveness. I commend our bookends projects to you most strongly and I ask you all to engage in this whole-of-Province process prayerfully and generously.” [Australian Jesuit News]
Related article: Bookending Australia’s history by Fr Andrew Hamilton SJ
