ELM
Education for Life and Ministry
MAY MACLEOD LECTURE
2002
PROFESSOR LOWITJA O'DONOGHUE
Our
Father's business
an agenda
for the Church in contemporary Australia
I'm delighted to be here this
may evening. It's a great honour to be invited to present
the May McLeod memorial lecture.
Especially when I look at the past list of distinguished
lecturers and I see that I follow two people whom I greatly
admire- Sir Donald Wilson and the reverend Tim Costello.
It is important to keep memories alive.
The endowment which supports tonight's lecture honours the
memory of May Macleod. It honours her dedicated work for
both the Presbyterian and the Uniting Church and the
constant support she gave to her husband, the Reverend
Malcolm McLeod.
Her spirit and work lives on through occasions such as
this.
The title of my lecture tonight is: "Our Father's
business: an agenda for the Church in Contemporary
Australia."
My inspiration comes from St Luke, chapter 2 and refers to
an earlier incident in Jesus' life when he was only twelve
years old.
Let me just read you a little:
Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the
feast of the Passover.
And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem
after the custom of the festival.
And when the festival was ended and they started to return,
the child Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and
his mother did not know it.
Supposing him to have been in company, they went a days
journey; and sought him among their relatives and
acquaintances.
When they did not find him, they returned again to
Jerusalem, to search for him.
After three days they found him in a temple, sitting with
teachers, both hearing them, and asking questions.
And all who heard him were astonished at his understanding
and answers.
And when they saw him they were amazed: and his mother said
unto him, Son, why have you treated us like this? Your
father and I have been looking anxiously for you.
And he said How is it that you sought me? Did you not know
that I must be about doing my Father's business?
And they did not understand what he had said to them.
And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was
obedient to them; but his mother treasured all these things
in her heart.
And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour
with God and the people.
I have chosen these versus as my topic tonight because I
want to explore what our Father's business actually is.
I want to discuss the ways in which I believe the Church
needs to serve both God and the people.
I want to outline an agenda for the Church in contemporary
Australia.
And I want to suggest that as Christians we need to have
the courage to sometimes fly in the face of convention.
Jesus was surely a social activist as well as a spiritual
leader. And activists will sometimes incur the displeasure
of others.
This leads me to considering what the Church's agenda is.
What is the role of the Church in contemporary Australia?
How does the Church relate to the State?
At various times in European history there have been strong
connections between Church and State?
At some points, in fact, the Church took on all the
political and administrative functions of the state.
Today, in western societies at least, there is a separation
of the roles of church and state.
Interestingly, traditional Aboriginal culture acknowledged
no such distinctions between government and religion,
between secular law and spiritual and moral beliefs.
The laws and customs governing traditional Aboriginal
people were (and still are, for many) derived from the
whole complex interplay of the Dreaming, the absolutely
central relationship of the people to the land, the kinship
system and the authority of the elders arising from this.
Distinctions between the spiritual and the material simply
made no sense.
I allude to this to emphasis that there are different
cultural ways of thinking about Church and State.
So while the Christian Churches in contemporary western
society have been distanced from government, does this mean
that they have no role to play politically?
Surely, if the teachings of Christ are to have any meaning
for us today, they must be applied to contemporary social
and political life.
The Church must have a social and political agenda. And the
basis of this agenda must surely be social justice.
If we as Christians are to be about our Father's business,
I believe that we will inevitably get embroiled in the
politics of contemporary life.
This may mean leaving the comfort zone of the purely
spiritual and theological.
But if Christ is our role model, then the Church's mission
is also Christ's mission. This was expressed many centuries
ago by the prophet Isaiah:
He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to
bind up hearts that are broken, to proclaim liberty to
captives, freedom to those in prison. (Isaiah 61, 1)
This is later echoed in Christ's own works as told by Saint
Matthew:
For I was hungry and you gave me food, thirsty and you
gave me drink: I was a stranger and you made me welcome;
naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in
prison and you came to see me. (Matthew, 25, 35 - 36)
It is this social agenda that has relatively recently made
Christianity a possibility for me.
I had to be able to reconcile my commitment to social
justice with my growing belief in Christian spirituality.
I could not belong to a Church that did not practise what
it preached.
I have no interest in a Church that is not committed to
what I had devoted my life to - justice for my people and
reconciliation between Indigenous and non - Indigenous
Australians.
What then can be the Church's role in the reconciliation
movement?
And what does this word reconciliation mean?
Sometimes when works are used in a particular way or in a
special context they can carry real power within them.
This has been true of the word "sorry" in relation to the
reconciliation movement.
It took real power when so many church leaders said it.
It had enormous impact when it was written by thousands of
people in Sorry Books around the nation.
It had a magical feel when it appeared in the sky during
the reconciliation walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
And it has been significant in its absence from the Prime
Minister's vocabulary!
In preparing for this lecture, it was interesting to
re-visit some of the words in early writings about
reconciliation.
And what I found was that many of them conveyed a sense of
the spiritual as well as the practical.
Take for example, Patrick Dodson's vision that he presented
at the 1997 Reconciliation Convention. He saw the task of
reconciliation as creating among other things:
- A nation at peace with itself because it has the courage to own the truth of its past, to heal the wounds of its past, and thereby free itself from the shame of the past.
- A nation, one part of which apologises for the wrongs of the past, and the other part of which accepts that apology and forgives.
- A nation which commits itself to address the disadvantages which afflict indigenous citizens, a nation which lives out the values it proclaims.
What we have in these words are concepts of courage - to admit wrong - doing.
Of peace - that comes with forgiveness.
And of commitment - not to repeat the wrongs - but to live life according to the highest values.
To me, these concepts fit exactly with my understanding of what is asked of Christians.
For our focus this evening, it is important to remember what the 'wrong doings' towards Aboriginal people was.
And to recognise that it occurred as a result of the social and political attitudes of the time.
I make this point partly because it is important to see thinks in context.
But also, because people should not think that such things could never happen these days.
I believe that terrible things can occur if the social and political climate makes them seem 'normal' and acceptable. (We only have to look at Germany in the 30s for a ghastly example of ordinary people being made monstrous in this way).
And so at the time of settlement - or invasion as my people experienced it - what were the sorts of things that were considered normal and acceptable?
Well, for example:
The scientific interest of the day was in trying to demonstrate that Aboriginal people were not really human beings at all - but some sort of sub species.
It was assumed that land could not possibly belong to anyone - because after all, there were no fences, no boundaries marked and no deed of title.
It was thought that the original inhabitants had no culture because there was nothing about them that the white settlers could identify with.
And, perhaps most devastating of all, it was considered acceptable to disperse them from their lands and commit brutal violence and killings - simply to be rid of what they regarded as a "problem".
Early Church thinking was that the 'natives'…needed saving from superstition, ignorance and vice.
Legally, Indigenous people were not even counted as citizens and therefore by definition could not have citizens' rights.
By 1901 the Constitution specifically stated that Aboriginal people should not be counted in the Commonwealth Census, and this was not amended in fact until 1967 when Aboriginal people were formally recognised as Australian citizens.
This is recent history indeed…. It is history played out in our lifetime.
Clearly attitudes have changed over time. However, assumptions about the superiority of the settle culture remained and can often be seen even to this day.
The simple truth is that Indigenous peoples, and our cultures, were ravaged by white settlement.
We were forced to live a life on the sidelines of white culture and we were treated in every way as being less than human.
Consider for a minute:
- If violence is committed against a groups of people
- If their children are taken away for reasons they do not understand
- If they have no power to access the resources and services of a society
- If they have no power to make choices and know that these choices will be acted upon.
- If they have limited opportunities in education and employment
- If housing is not adequate…
Then it is hardly surprising that their physical and social health suffers.
What people have to understand is that we are not talking here about a single one-off event that happened two hundred years ago.
We are talking about an ongoing history and experience of a set of inter-related oppressions.
And all of them are based on the racism that characterised the past - and still exists in some quarters today.
I am not simply talking here about the overt racist behaviours that can occur between one individual and another - but also of the deeply entrenched racism in our social systems.
Being able to understand the ways in which inequality is systemic is important, I think.
Many people believe that each individual is responsible for their own destiny.
Such thinking respects the privileged and blames those who are in trouble.
The key here of course is that the playing field isn't level in the first place.
It is not enough tot say that there is equality of opportunity…we also have to ask who is positioned to take up the opportunity!
We have to look at outcomes, and if they are not equitable we have to examine why not.
A snapshot of outcomes, in the social profile of Aboriginal Australians is alarming.
The disproportionate numbers of our people who are in custody is but one example.
We could equally look at education and health and see the same discrepancies between Indigenous and non Indigenous profiles.
In fact, most of the profiles of the state of Aboriginal health and wellbeing in Australia today can only be described as shameful.
Many of these inequalities are deeply rooted in past histories and painful memories, many of them unfortunately connected to the Church's interventions.
I myself was reared in the Colebrook Home, an institution established by the United Aboriginal Mission, first in Quorn and later in Eden Hills in Adelaide.
Approximately 350 Indigenous children were taken to Colebrook between 1944 and 1971.
We tji tji tjuta - Colebrook kids - were expected to be grateful for being saved.
In a book about Colebrook written in 1937 called Pearls from the Deep, we were seen as (and I quote) " waste material"…"rescued from the degradation of camp life"…"brought up from the depths of ignorance, superstition and vice"…"to be fashioned as gems to adorn God's crown".
It is now widely admitted that, even by the standards of the time, these interventions were contrary to common law and in breach of international human rights obligations.
My most lasting memory of Colebrook is that it was a time of rigid-bound discipline, joyless religious observances, lack of privacy and a stultifying denial of autonomy.
It seems to me that no compassionate citizen of this country can ignore Bringing Them Home - the report on the stolen generation.
Certainly no one who calls him/herself a Christian can fail to be moved and persuaded by its conclusions.
And, I suggest with respect, that all Church leaders have a responsibility to publicise its findings and to work actively to implement its recommendations.
There was scarcely an indigenous family that was not affected by the policies of forcible removal.
The entire fabric of communities was destroyed. Many families lived in constant grief and fear that children would be taken.
The effects of such dislocation and deprivation have been profoundly disabling, threatening the very cor of my people's wellbeing.
And the effects are ongoing, setting up a vicious cycle of damage from which these children, and their children, have had difficulty escaping.
Many of the church and state officials implicated in the removal and placement of children may have been well intentioned.
But it is nonetheless true that an extraordinary ignorance (and sometimes arrogance) underpinned their actions.
Most Christian Churches have made eloquent and comprehensive apologies. In fact they provided the leadership on this issue.
Even the Pope has recently issued an apology.
It seems to me that it is absolutely vital for the Church to be actively involved in the reconciliation movement.
To lead in public debates. To be proactive. To be an example of the ethical response.
I want now to turn to some of the key recommendations of Bringing Them Home. And to talk about one of the very practical ways in which the Churches can become involved.
The Bringing Them Home Report was tabled in 1997 and it was of crucial importance because it allowed Aboriginal people for the first time to tell stories of their removal from their families, in their way.
It was the beginning of a process of healing for those involved and it also revealed a history that had not been understood before by most non-Indigenous people.
One of its powerful outcomes was that Aboriginal people had their experiences validated.
The truth was now known and out in the open.
And thousands of people expressed their sorrow about it.
This process - of having the truth acknowledged and receiving apologies for it - was indescribably significant.
Apart from anything else, it brought the amazing relief of being believed.
It planted new seeds of real hope for understanding, forgiveness for past wrongs and a new trust that we could now move on together.
It has been devastating to discover after this initial optimism that the Government's response was to deny the need for any apology and to ignore many of the recommendations of the report.
There has even been a converted campaign to attempt to discredit both the report and people's stories.
And the Government has spent huge sums of money on legal fees to prevent any claims for compensation being successful in the courts.
A number of the recommendations of Bringing Them Home concerned provision of access to records from Institutions which cared for forcibly removed Aboriginal children.
Many of these children are today adults who are still trying to find their way home.
Finding and having access to records of their removal from institutions is of critical importance to them in their search for family and identity.
And the Churches can play a big role in assisting this process. Already work has begun.
From a national perspective the task is a massive one. But, if taken state by state, Church by Church and order by order, it is eminently achievable.
Some of you here today may be from Christian denominations or religious orders that have had no involvement with stolen children.
But for any churches that do have archival material, I cannot emphasise strongly enough, how important it is that you give a high priority to the retrieval, sorting, collating, managing and accessing of this data.
Not only is it important to document this part of our history for future generations.
But access to these records could provide that crucial missing link for Indigenous people searching for the families and communities from which they were removed.
It could help to bring just one person back home.
In this very specific way, as well as in your broader advocacy work and commitment to reconciliation projects, you can make an important difference.
I believe that our present government is not committed to making a difference.
For example, this Government, which was so happy with the image of being an international player during the Olympic Games, is not now willing to listen to what is being said about it in the international arena.
Australia has come to the attention of United Nations Human Rights Committees on a number of occasions in the past two years, including:
- The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
- The Human Rights Committee
- The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and
- The Committee Against Torture
And it has been found wanting.
The committees expressed several concerns about Australia's compliance with its existing human rights obligations. These concerns related to:
- Slow and inadequate response to the recommendations of the Bringing Them Home Report.
- Lack of success with the resolution of Land Rights and Native Title issues.
- Its treatment of asylum seekers, and
- Mandatory sentencing and high levels of Indigenous people in custody.
The Government has not acknowledged an understanding or acceptance of international principles - which dictate that there be reparation for gross violation of human rights.
In fact, it has not even accepted that forcible removal policies constituted such a violation.
Is it any wonder that the reconciliation process falters in spite of the goodwill of so many people?
The Government speaks of 'practical reconciliation' as its alternative.
But firstly, there is little evidence that the material circumstances of Aboriginal people have improved.
And secondly, attending to the living conditions of citizens - matters such as health, housing, sanitation, education, employment and so on- is exactly what any government is supposed to be doing!
Surely these matters are its core business. They cannot possibly be claimed as special initiatives.
In my view there are still two key issues on the reconciliation agenda.
1. It is still extremely important to Aboriginal people that there be an official national apology on behalf of all Australians. There are deeply held feelings that we cannot progress without this acknowledgment being put on the table.
2. That there needs to be some form of Reparations Tribunal (or Healing Commission) as an alternative to litigation. And that reparation measures might include a whole range of things such as family reunions, regular visits to family rehabilitation, community projects and land.
Such a Tribunal would have the ability to:
- Hear people's stories
- Grant reparations, including compensation
- Make recommendations about policies and practices of the past. For example: deal with access to records, and
- Make recommendations about the contemporary situation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth who are separated from their families through "Care and Protection" and the juvenile justice system.
It is possible to achieve reconciliation - this has been demonstrated in the Canadian response.
Canada had similar policies of forcible removal as Australia - and these too were based on ideas of assimilation.
As in Australia, Indigenous children were placed in church-operated residential schools and these schools failed not only to educate the children, but often also failed in the most basic duty of care.
As in Australia, sexual abuse was common, punishments were severe and indigenous culture and language were actively suppressed.
The Canadian government established the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and committed $350 million to its programs. This was separate from settlement negotiations for those who had suffered sexual assault, and who were paid almost $30 million.
I give these monetary figures, not because money is the most important factor, but rather, because it is an indicator of the seriousness with which the Canadian Government has responded.
When I think about the Australian situation, there is one thing that is consistently true.
And that is that the inherent goodwill of the Australian people is emphatically there, and ready to be mobilised.
I believe that the Church has a key role in harnessing the energies of this goodwill.
People sometimes scoff at the notion of 'taking the high moral ground'. But I believe that it is incredibly important.
People want leadership. They seek guidance and direction. They seek confirmation of their ethical positions and instincts.
The Church has an ideal opportunity to provide this leadership, to affirm and legitimise the people's goodwill.
I mentioned before that I have no interest in a Church which is not committed to reconciliation.
I also have no interest in a Church which does not wholeheartedly embrace the ideal of Australia as an inclusive, compassionate, tolerant and equitable nation.
And I have no interest in a Church which does not show compassion for asylum seekers.
Jesus himself was rejected by many of his own people because he identified with the excluded and the marginalised.
The Gospel tells us that Jesus make love for strangers and enemies a hallmark of his life on earth.
And the Bible calls upon Christians to also identify with the oppressed, the persecuted, the marginalised and the excluded.
To have empathy with their suffering, their struggles and their hopes.
As Christians, we cannot desert the needy. We cannot set boundaries to compassion.
We cannot, in my view condone a Federal Budget which puts a higher value on border protection than on the needs and rights of people with disabilities.
Nor can we, in my view, put a higher value on border protection than on the protection of innocent children in detention centres.
I especially want to highlight the issue of asylum seekers - partly because it is important to me that people know that my social concerns are not exclusive to Aboriginal issues.
And partly, because I strongly believe that if Australia is truly to become a reconciled nation it must provide justice and equity for all.
I believe that the Government has manufactured a crisis in relation to asylum seekers.
Let's look behind the government talk of queue jumping, and the media hype about the hordes of invaders on our shores. What are some of the facts?
Well, first of all there are relatively few asylum seekers arriving in Australia compared to other countries. Let me give you some telling figures:
Over a ten- year period, other comparable countries have taken in refuges in the following numbers:
- Canada - 100,000
- Denmark - 50,000
- Sweden - more than 150,000
- United Kingdom - 100,000
- Australia - less then 10,000
I believe that Australia could afford to be more generous.
In 2000 for example there were some 800 potential placements within the humanitarian category that had not been filled.
The Government's recent announcements about expanding the migration program do not address the needs of refuges. It is important to remember that these are quite separate.
To put the issue in perspective:
In the 1998/1999 period, of Australia's 3000 unauthorised arrivals, less than half - only about 15000 - remained here. A very small number indeed.
Yet in the same period there were over 53,000 people who had overstayed their visas (one third of them for over 9 years!).
And of course, the real human rights issue here is that many asylum seekers have suffered appallingly in their home countries.
They have experienced torture, trauma, the destruction of their homes and the killing of their families.
The United Nations undertakes a vital role in monitoring and maintaining human rights internationally.
And they have ruled that Australia's mandatory detention of asylum seekers, including children, violates the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
And I was interested to hear just a few weeks ago that Australia's own Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission seems to agree in their preliminary findings, that detaining children and their families is a contravention of human rights.
There is a popular myth that people need to be suspicious of groups such as Aboriginal people or asylum seekers, because they may be planning to take the good life away from them.
Or that they are after something for nothing.
It's nonsense of course.
But such notions can be persuasive for people who are finding life tough - and who believe in the myth of the level playing field.
Such thinking contributes to a mean-spirited climate where the far right achieves credibility, and has an enormous impact on political life.
Our government has not, in my view taken the opportunity to lead Australia in issues of human rights and social justice.
In this vacuum of political leadership it is especially important that the Churches take up the mantle. Many Church leaders have in fact done so.
It is important that they do continue to do so - and that they do so loudly and publicly.
That they risk incurring the displeasure of those who claim that religion and politics don't mix.
That they go about our Father's business as Christ did - bravely, strongly, forcefully.
And here I would dare to disagree with the Bible. I do not believe that the meek will inherit the earth!!
I would like to conclude by reading a prayer of dedication I recently wrote for an Aboriginal Women's Centre in Adelaide.
This is a Centre devoted to assisting women who have been abused, who are seeking shelter.
To me it epitomises what the work of the Church should be. This work is surely our Father's business.
I wrote this prayer because I wanted to express some complex feelings of love and pride in my country, feelings of distress about the suffering and pain that many people endure here, and feelings about the healing power of Christ's wisdom.
I hope it touches you.
We fear to call you by name
Spirit, who abides in and through this land, Australia
You kiss your people with gentleness,
You robe Country with wisdom and wonder.
We bow before you!
The sun on red earth by day
Speaks of hope against a flow of blood
Purple mountains frame blue skies
At night they are black in a sea of stars
All we have is yours!
Water is founding most ancient places
Quenching land and spirit that's parched
Feeding the forests that reach to the skies
Breathing life, when hope is dimmed
Your will be done on earth as in heaven!
Black faces and coloured faces mark your landscape now
Deep sorrow has found us here
Where justice has not always prevailed
And cries of distress have furrowed your brow.
Give us today the bread by which we might live
Your vineyard has not always produced sweet grapes
Your holy book has been abused
Your cross on that Easter hill
Stands like a scarecrow now, forlorn and scorned.
Forgive us our sins.
In places like this we are called to hope
Where love is sought through seas of hands
Where broken hearts may find relief
Where our own furrowed faces find repair
Forgive those who sin against us.
Mark this spot on your chart, we pray
That it may feature in the shape of your smile
Here, bless and nurture the women you have made
Restore their faith in love and humanity
Tempt us not
Take the hands that paint your story
Take the breasts that feed your child
Take the courage that may have faltered
Take the hearts that seek respite
Deliver us from evil
Restore the families that are represented
Respond to penitence when it's sought
Reason with men and women in their anguish
Renew their courage and fidelity
All is ultimately yours.
Abide in the faces of the women who come here
Live large in the eyes of those who serve
Strengthen desire to find resolve from abuse
And heal the wounds of injustice and pain
We honour and respect what we know of you
We fear to call you by name
Yet we acknowledge your presence in this land
Kiss your people with gentleness always
Robe Country forever with wisdom and wonder
Amen.
I wish you courage and stamina in your future work as you go about our Father's business.
Thank you.
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