NAIDOC Week 8 - 15 November

This week we particularly pray with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander friends. The theme for NAIDOC week is "Always Was, Always Will Be". This theme recognises how our First Nations people have occupied and cared for this land for over 65,000 years and the spiritual and cultural connectivity they have to this country.   Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were Australia’s first explorers, first navigators, first engineers, first farmers, first botanists, first scientists, first diplomats, first astronomers and first artists. The very first footprints on this continent were those belonging to First Nations people. 

The Catholic Church in Australia is asking the question: How is God calling us to be a Christ-centred Church that is humble, healing and merciful?  In Australia, there is still a big divide between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and other Australians. We, as members of a Catholic faith community have a responsibility and a need to take a role in building reconciliation, by adopting positive gestures that enhance and challenge an overdue reconciliation.  This Year, NAIDOC week invites us all to embrace the true history of this country, acknowledge and learn about the first footprints on this continent and learn about the oldest continuing culture in the world that continues within our communities today.

We walk on sacred ground.

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