At the Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education we are passionate about reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, believing real action would be a liberating step for all Australians. This year’s theme for National Reconciliation Week from 27 May to 3 June 2021 is - “More than a word. Reconciliation takes action”.

To mark this special week, we invite you to take action by writing to Prime Minister Scott Morrison and asking him to support a referendum to enshrine a First Nations Voice to Parliament in the Australian Constitution.

A First Nations Voice to Parliament is one of 3 fundamental pillars of the First Nations-led ‘Uluru Statement from the Heart’.  A Voice to Parliament would deliver practical and meaningful constitutional recognition and would allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to have a say on policies and laws that impact on them.

Use our template email to reach out to Scott Morrison and ask him to support a First Nations Voice to Parliament. You can maximise your impact by using your own words and spreading the link to this page on your social media pages using #TimeForAVoice. Thank you very much for your support.

Seventeenth Sunday of the Year

We begin with the beautiful image in day’s psalm, ‘You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing’ to reflect God’s abundance and generosity. This gesture of welcome, open hands and sharing is in contrast to closed hands or fists suggesting individualism, negligence and violence.

The gospel shows Jesus going out and seeing a great multitude, and his compassion for them, and teaching them about peace and love. That compassion was extended to his disciples when called to come away for rest and learn about peace and love. His compassion and mercy moved him to be close to people. We see Jesus leave a boat and look out to see people like sheep without a shepherd. He left the ‘sanctuary’ of the boat and his followers could stay in the ‘safety’ of the boat and make their home among strangers. In our time, another man (Pope Francis) gets off of a plane and looks out at a people crying out for recognition and tells them God hears their cry, and like a shepherd sent, joins his voice to call for the sacred rights of land, lodging and labour. ‘May the cry of the excluded be heard …… throughout the world.’