Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
50th Anniversary of Aboriginal Catholic Ministry

Homily

By the Most Rev Bishop Don Sproxton
Auxiliary Bishop of Perth

Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Embleton Parish
Sunday 22 September, 2024

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From the day Fr John Brady set foot on Whadjak Nyoongar Boodjar, he began to assist the Catholic people in the Swan River colony and to reach out to the Aboriginal people. He became the first Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Perth, which covered the entire State of WA as we know it today.

In the 1840s, there were more Aboriginal people living in WA than Europeans. Bishop Brady, like everyone else, realised this, as they came to also know the connection to land, waters and the sea that the Aboriginal people had. The various groups or tribes in the southwest were stewards of their country, which only now do we acknowledge.

Bishop Brady brought the message to the Church in Rome and Ireland that the gospel should be brought to the aboriginal people, as well as, to the settlers to reinforce their Christian heritage. In response, he received very generous support from the Vatican and from religious orders who sent out teachers and missionaries.

The Sisters of Mercy came to Australia arriving firstly in Perth, and eventually to other places around Australia. The Benedictines, under Bishop Rosendo Salvado, came in response to the bishop’s plea.

Catholic ministry for the Aboriginal people has continued ever since in one form or another.

In 1974, Archbishop Goody approved Aboriginal Catholic Ministry to be the official outreach to families to support their needs, especially their spiritual needs. He responded to Sister Pat who began the work of contacting and bringing together the families who lived in the Bayswater-Embleton area.

Fr Brian Tiernan, the Pallotine, accepted the appointment as chaplain, a responsibility he faithfully carried until his retirement. He became loved by the families as he was a gentle, understanding and patient father to the people. He shared the joys and the deep sufferings of the families, especially the injustices and hurts suffered by them and their ancestors, and the sad deaths of so many young people.

He was the living embodiment of the gospel for the Aboriginal people. St Mark tells us about who Jesus is. He lets us understand that Jesus is the truest image of God our Father. When Jesus asked his disciples to put aside their sense of self-importance and to approach every person as their equal, even a child, he was teaching us that we are all God’s children: from the pope to the most recently baptised; from the revered elder to the youngest child.

Fr Tiernan practised this virtue of seeing that everyone is a child of God and has left us the model of how to minister to others. We must minister from humility and acceptance, not from superiority and power. Otherwise we will not be what we are called to be: representatives of Jesus himself

ACM continues to be a special way in which the Catholic Church, the Archdiocese of Perth, reaches out to families. It will be most effective if it embodies the spirit of Jesus. Pope Francis reminded us that we are called by Christ to propose the truth, not to impose it. There can never be any force applied. Proposing the truth demands that we live according to what we have come to know about Jesus and his ways: our living example is what will draw others to faith.

The ACM staff serves the families in the archdiocese but its ministries touch people from other parts of WA. Their visitation to the hospitals means that aboriginal people from the North are supported while they stay on different country. The needs that they have are met through the care of the staff.

The children of the Nyoongar peoples are supported as they are prepared for the Sacraments. Parents are encouraged to look again at their faith and how they can pass on the faith to their children.

This fiftieth anniversary of ACM gives us the chance to bless God for all who have ministered with love and devotion: the staffs, the priests, religious and those who have volunteered and supported their ministries.

We ask for the ministry to be blessed in turn by God as we look ahead. May it be a blessing for aboriginal families and a way of welcoming people to the Table of the Lord, where their spirits with be strengthened.