Social Justice Sunday – A Message from Fr Mark

Welcome to Social Justice Sunday. Our Social Justice Group (SJG) has been working  across a range of issues from social INjustice for children, unfair detention of refugees and support for the homeless. It’s a hard time to be physically active yet with social distancing the group was represented at the 7 Years Far Too Long! Vigil to end refugee detention held in Civic in July.

In this time of the COVID pandemic many other social justice issues get swept under the carpet. It is up to us to help where we can and to pray for the areas where we cannot see how we can help. The Parish SJG will look at ways to assist projects such as MacKillop House and others. I would encourage you to contact members of the SJG and let them know if you have any good ideas about how we can make a difference as a faith community.

The Social Justice Group has been encouraging us to read and act upon Laudato Si. As a church and as a faith community, we are called to help our neighbour in the Parish, in the local, and wider community.

It is no coincidence that the topics covered in the SJG newsletter reflects the concerns expressed by the bishops about our mental health and its relationship with so much social INjustice.

Perhaps this year we will pledge to learn together about how best to respond to the mental illness of ourselves and others so that we can be the Good Samaritans we all strive to be. It is an area of need that requires education and empathy and if we are going to understand it and it’s influence in our society, especially in a post COVID world, then we must all learn more about it. This is our Social Justice Sunday pledge.

The Bishops observe in their introduction to the Statement that

Our society tends to draw away from, or to push away, those who confront us with our frailties and limitations.
It is a dynamic that is completely at odds with the story of Jesus.’
(page 7)

Our Church and our Parish goals must be, to share equally in Jesus’ promise
‘I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.’ (John 10:10).

The Bishops Social Justice Statement,
To Live Life to the Full: Mental health in Australia today
reminds us that we are all in this together:
The test of our society’s commitment to the common good is the care we show for the people who are most vulnerable or disadvantaged.’
(Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’)

 

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