By Fr Matthew Moloney
SOME Sundays, travelling up to four or five hundred kilometres on a round trip to celebrate Mass in some of our furthest small faith communities, you see a lot of country and wide open spaces.
These faith communities sometimes only celebrate Mass once a month or for others, only two or three times a year.
Living in Western Queensland is very different to living in a suburban or city parish where a church is just around the corner. Sometimes, to celebrate Mass can be taken for granted and we do not realise how fortunate some urban faith communities are. These small, but very significant, communities are just as important as any urban faith community and parish.
To celebrate with maybe 10 or 15 people in the church, CWA or town hall, or in somebody’s home on a property, is a sacred experience for me as a priest. There is nowhere to hide and “duck in the back door” so to speak. The people who gather are neighbours, friends, townspeople and sometimes tourists from down south as well. All are welcomed with warm hospitality and conversation.
The celebration of Eucharist begins well before the vestments are put on. The sacrament and celebration of Eucharist extend too, far beyond the final blessing and often ends up around the dining table with a cuppa and conversation, which inevitably follow when these gatherings occur.
The celebration of Eucharist becomes a sacramental presence with each other, which I believe is at the heart of ministry in our small western communities. Eucharist becomes the lived and shared lives of those who gather and continue to share their hardships, joys and day-to-day activities. People of all faiths come and we share God’s presence among us.
This sacramental presence is what makes life as an ordained minister in these communities, both challenging and life-giving in so many ways. The challenge is to actually be present to people, in the moment, and to try to understand and listen to what is happening in their life here and now.
At the present time, the lives of many are under the tremendous pressure of drought. This affects not only the rural people on farms but businesses, local schools and neighbours in the many small towns as well, and the families of all the community can feel the pressure of isolation, financial burdens and loneliness at times.
The life-giving moments more than compensate for the difficulties and struggles, which, while normal, can be extreme and ongoing when relying on “mother nature” for something like rain. The times just sitting and listening to people, seeing the resilience and determination to simply take another step in the day and sharing with each other life in this harsh and beautiful place of “Outback Queensland” are life-giving.
When people gather for these occasions, I think there is an innate human character and sense of God that is lived and becomes real, which is also central to our faith: a sense of community. This is a sense where the gathering of the whole is as important as the single individual – they go together.
There is an intimacy of the lives which is shared with each other “warts and all”, but it is done knowing that in the isolation, people need to support each other. There is nowhere else to go and when the chips are down people reach out and support each other. It is a joy and gift to share these times and ministry together. It is a shared ministry, as I receive much more than I, at times, am able to give.
With people of the land and our rural communities, ministry in the West comes with many blessings and struggles. I am blessed and thankful that I am able to share them with the people of the outback who are “salt of the earth”.
Fr Matthew Moloney ministers in St Brigid’s Parish, Longreach, and the Western parish communities of Rockhampton diocese.
