A BRISBANE man active in promoting the Uluru Statement from the Heart has helped Catholics and other Christians from across the city grapple with what the statement means for them.
Stephen Mam, a member of the national working group for the Uluru Statement from the Heart, was a guest speaker at an ecumenical prayer service for National Reconciliation Week 2021 hosted by Murri Ministry at St Joseph’s Catholic Church, Bracken Ridge, recently.
Mr Mam, who is of Torres Strait Islander descent, explained what the Uluru statement was about and invited members of the congregation to ponder its meaning and its possibilities.
He said in 2017, 13 dialogue gatherings were held around Australia, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, “everyday people, (invited) to come along and listen and share their thoughts on … self-determination, self-autonomy, reconciliation, how to move forward as a people, how to move forward as a nation, as a country”.
That was followed by a gathering near Uluru of a small number of representatives from each of the dialogue groups for further discussions.
“And the one thing that stuck with me when I was out there was that it didn’t matter what one person might find more important than the other and that there may be different ways of achieving it,” Mr Mam said.
“And some people even protested that perhaps it was not the right way or there was a better way.
“The one thing that was common to all of us was that we all wanted to be respected as people, as human beings, that we love and that we need to be loved; we need to be able to give our love, and in giving that we receive.
“It was about equality of wellbeing.”
Mr Mam’s understanding of the Uluru Statement developed further recently when he and a friend were discussing the meaning of justice in relation to the statement.
He asked his friend how Jesus would describe justice, and his friend said “through his life, through living his life”.
“And it suddenly dawned on me that the most important thing about the Statement from the Heart, is heart … is the love, is the forgiveness, is the creating of opportunities, but (also) allowing people to have opportunities,” Mr Mam said.
“It’s about having an open heart, listening, allowing people to have a voice.”
He said the people responsible for the Uluru Statement from the Heart “delivered a message that was about hope, about how this nation could open up and rejoice … rejoice that there’s 65,000 years of history here, even more”.
“Australians don’t have anything to lose but they have so much to gain, and I think the Statement from the Heart – which is about voice, treaty, truth and justice – is about embracing one another, acknowledging one another and working together, walking side by side in partnership,” he said.
“I think if you’re going to go out there and you’re going to learn about the Statement from the Heart, I encourage you to meet local people, have local conversations and find out their views and their perspectives, and I guarantee you won’t have anything to lose.”
Representatives from several Catholic parishes in Brisbane archdiocese where they are piloting the implementation of Reconciliation Action Plans presented their RAPs.
Two new songs were performed by their composers – one called May Peace Breathe, by Bracken Ridge parishioner Phil Halpin, and another, Holy Ground, by Centacare Indigenous Services co-ordinator Toni Janke, a member of the archdiocese’s Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group.
