Dear Friends,

‘Together in the Spirit’ is the theme of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday this year (Sunday, July 5), and what a perfect theme it is as we all emerge slowly from this period of COVID-19 isolation.

We might still be maintaining our social distance and our gatherings are still only small, but as Australians and as Christians, we are ‘Together in Spirit’ – something my recent years as a missionary in Central Australia really emphasised for me.

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Sunday is a special day designated by our bishops, to celebrate our indigenous brothers and sisters and to ask ourselves how are we doing as a Church in honouring and including indigenous life in our parishes and communities.

We remember well the words of St John Paul II to indigenous Australians when he visited Alice Springs in 1986: “You are part of Australia and Australia is part of you. And the Church herself in Australia will not be fully the Church that Jesus wants her to be until you have made your contribution to her life and until that contribution has been joyfully received by others.”

How well are we doing in living up to that beautiful and yet challenging statement? My own personal experience tells me that important steps forward are being made, but there is much more still to do in terms of indigenous Catholics making their contribution to the life of the Church and that contribution being joyfully received by others.

That’s why I love the theme of ‘Together in the Spirit’. We can and must do all we can to make St John Paul’s statement a lived reality, but also, we have to realise that we don’t do it alone. We are all joined in the Holy Spirit and the Spirit continually breathes new life.

It used to be that missionaries were perceived as ‘taking God’ to people who had not encountered Jesus Christ. Today, missionaries know that they are instead sent to ‘discover God’ already present in the people.

I have been privileged to have listened to and learned from Aboriginal people – theologians, elders, artists and others – who have shown me, through the Dreamtime stories, how God was made known to the Aboriginal people tens of thousands of years before any missionaries arrived. The Holy Spirit moved through this Great South Land from the beginning and unites us, guides us, and energises us today.

It is my prayer that on this National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday we can truly be united in the Spirit and that through the Spirit we can continue working for the full inclusion of our indigenous brothers and sisters in the life of the Church and the life of the nation. The Closing the Gap reports continue to paint a dismal picture when it comes to the huge differences in education, employment, health, and life expectancy between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Council to rethink the ways in which it empowers Catholics to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday. By modifying resources to work in a digital setting, NATSICC is also holding the first-ever live-streamed, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday Mass from the St Francis Xavier Cathedral in Adelaide from 11am EST. They are inviting everyone around Australia - and the World - to join them on 5 July 2020, as we come ‘Together in the Spirit’ to celebrate the gifts of spirituality and culture.

Yours in the Word,

Fr Asaeli Rass,

Provincial.