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WA’s only Catholic weekly newspaper Perth: 18 September 2003 Price: $1
All should be welcome: Bishops T
he Catholic Bishops of Australia have aimed their 2003 Social Justice Sunday Statement at combatting racism. Entitled A Generous Heart in the Love of Christ: Challenging Racism in Australia the statement was launched on Wednesday September 17. It traces Australia’s story of welcome and exclusion, from the impact of white settlement to the development of a multicultural nation. The statement precedes Social Justice Sunday which is due to be celebrated on September 28. Launching the statement, Australia’s former Governor General Sir William Deane said it was significant to the Catholic Community and the nation as a whole. He said, “One reason why that is so is its subject matter, namely, our attitude to racism and the importance of the inclusion, rather than the exclusion of those who are particularly vulnerable through racial, religious or cultural difference. That subject matter lies at the heart of our national worth and decency in these difficult times.” Responding to the Statement’s rejection of racism, Sir William said, “In its frank and honest acknowledgement of past injustices in our land, the Statement seems to me to provide convincing moral support for the mutual respect and acceptance which lie at the heart of our
Australian multiculturalism. That moral support comes at a most appropriate time since, as the Statement points out, that multicultural respect and acceptance are currently being subjected to extraordinary pressures in our community.” Bishop Christopher Saunders, Chairman of the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council, said “While the Bishops note the recurrence today of racial hostility and rejection in aspects of the nation’s life, we also recognise Australia’s proud history of welcome that, more than ever, needs to be harnessed for a more inclusive society. “Poor progress towards national reconciliation with Indigenous Australians, our treatment of asylum seekers and the racial hatred experienced by Arab and Muslim Australians are particular challenges we must all address for the health of the entire community. “Based on the teaching and example of Christ, the Statement suggests ways we can ensure people of every race and background are welcomed in our parishes, schools, local communities and in public life”, Bishop Saunders said. “We have a long tradition in Australia of giving people a ‘fair go.’ In the post-war migration the term “the new Australians’ was coined. “We have that tradition of being a welcoming community and we should look for opportunities to grow as a multicultural community,” he concluded. Copies of the Statement and related resources can be found at: www.socialjustice.catholic.org.au.
Photo: CNS/Reuters
Australia’s Catholic Bishops speak on racism
Bishops’ full statement: see pages 7-10 Don Willesee honoured by many Muslims: He might also have been the father of a media dynasty, but Clarkson parish priest Father Philip Perreau said it was some time before he realised the elderly member of his congregation had been a prominent politician. Father Philip said he had got to know the man as friendly, co-operative and generous. Yet when he celebrated the Mass of Thanksgiving at a State Funeral for his parishioner at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church in Woodlands last Monday (Sept 15), the mourners included former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, Foreign Minister Alexander
Donald Robert Willesee Downer and many other current and retired politicians. And His Grace the
Archbishop presided. Donald Robert Willesee, who died earlier this month aged 87, was elected to the Senate in 1949. He retired in 1975 after serving as Special Minister of State and then Foreign Minister in the Whitlam Labor Government. The prominent journalist Michael Willesee, one of Mr Willesee and his wife Gwen’s six children, told more than 200 mourners at the Mass that his father had inherited both prudence and a great love of the Catholic faith from his mother, Ethel. Michael Willesee said that the Labor Party split in the 1950s – which gave rise to the Democratic Labor Party –
and the anti-communist hysteria of that era, had been a difficult time for his father. Unlike many other Catholics in the Labor Party, his father declined to join the DLP. “The wounds that had been opened at the time were like third degree burns – they healed slowly,” Michael Willesee said. His father lost his Catholic faith, a fact which had effectively torn a hole in his heart. Don had later wrestled with returning to the Church. When he eventually took the step, he was far more at ease. Michael said his mother
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Christians’ greatest allies?
Paul Gray page 4