THE story of the violent death last year of a young Irish tourist in Sydney and his mother’s compassionate response to his assailant opens next Sunday’s Australian Catholic Bishops’ Social Justice Sunday Statement.
The bishops, in the statement, also oppose other forms of violence in Australian society including the “demonisation” of asylum seekers, bullying in the schoolyard and online, divisive political rhetoric, and sensationalist media reporting.
The bishops’ statement Violence in Aust-ralia: A message of peace, was launched by NSW Governor Professor Marie Bashir on Tuesday morning at Mary MacKillop Place, North Sydney.
Brisbane archdiocese’s Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (CJPC) is running meetings throughout the archdiocese to help parishes respond to the statement.
CJPC executive officer Peter Arndt said the meetings in the archdiocese’s deaneries were helping Catholics explore the issues and insights contained in the statement.
“The CJPC is also providing information on what resources are available to promote and use the statement in schools and parishes,” Mr Arndt said.
Violence in Australia: A message of peace contrasts current high levels of violence at all levels of modern society from the home to social structures with the message of peace carried in the Gospels.
Australian Catholic Social Justice Council (ACSJC) chairman Bishop Christopher Saun-ders of Broome said “for Christians, Jesus Christ is the strongest example and source of strength in our long journey towards the peace of God”.
“The mission and resurrection of Jesus are both a message of hope to humanity and a call to conversion: to renounce the sources of violence and to look for new and constructive ways of addressing the pain and anger we see in our world,” Bishop Saunders said.
The bishops’ Social Justice Sunday Statement opens with the story of 23-year-old Gearoid Walsh who died after being punched and hitting his head on the ground during a dispute at a takeaway shop.
It continues: “But the way in which his mother, Mrs Tressa Walsh, responded to the death of her son made this a remarkable story.
“She felt for the man who struck Gearoid: ‘I am heartbroken for him because we don’t blame him, we don’t want him to serve time in prison’.”
Bishop Saunders said gratuitous violence such as that which killed Gearoid Walsh was “not the only kind of violence that should concern us”.
“Many people are affected by violence in their own homes, and their lives can be damaged for decades,” he said.
“Young people’s lives can be ruined by campaigns of bullying and humiliation by their peers.
“And we see the culture of abuse that at times infects our politics and our media.”
Mr Arndt agreed and said the Justice and Peace Commission was also discussing possible collaboration with the Franciscan organisation, Pace e Bene.
“This is in order to offer Catholics concrete opportunities to develop skills for living non-violently,” he said.
“We are aware of the many faces of violence in Australia from bullying in schools, violent video games, domestic violence and road rage to the so-called structural violence of poverty and racism.
“The bishops ask us to do more than shake our heads at the growing presence of violence in our country and to take up the challenge to be active in making peace in our hearts, our homes, our communities and our nation.
“As Christians, we are challenged to focus on the many forms of violence in contemporary Australia, to understand the causes and to take action in the spirit of Jesus’ teaching.
“The bishops’ statement presents us with a whole series of questions to help us to consider how we might become messengers of peace in our families, our communities, our nation and our world.”
Mr Arndt will continue his program of deanery meetings to discuss the bishops’ statement today (September 19) at Siena College, Sippy Downs, with other visits planned for Burleigh Heads, Graceville, Ipswich, Victoria Point and Maryborough.
The resource list in support of the bishops’ Social Justice Sunday Statement can be found at http://cjpcbrisbane.wordpress.com/
For more information contact Peter Arndt on (07) 3336 9173 or 0409 265 476.
