Catholic Identity

Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Gospel ReadingMark 3:20–35Whoever does the will of God is brother and sister and mother to me.

Family Connection

Families are places of beginnings. Within our family, we first learn what it means to be part of a community. We share a closeness and experience mutual understanding and support. We learn how to love one another, how to ask for and receive forgiveness, and how to apply all these lessons to the world outside our homes.

As you gather as a family, talk about what makes your family special. Share some of the lessons you have learned together about love, forgiveness, and understanding. Then read today’s Gospel, Mark 3:20–35. Jesus wants us to understand that by doing God’s will, we are part of a bigger family. Choosing to follow Jesus, being his disciple, means we must treat one another with kindness and mercy. We must become a family. Conclude by asking God to bless your family and to help you do God’s will by seeing all his people with the same kind of love and compassion. Pray together the Lord’s Prayer and the Hail Mary.

Taken from Loyola Press

National Reconciliation Week - Now More Than Ever

May 27 – June 3

National Reconciliation Week is an opportunity for us all to celebrate what we have done to deepen respect and trust between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and other Australians. It is also a time for us to commit to continue to walk together in the struggle for dignity and justice for Australia’s First Peoples.

This year’s theme, Now More Than Ever, reminds us that the struggle for justice must continue. While the referendum for a Voice to Parliament was not supported by a majority of Australians, the gap between First Nations Peoples and other Australians is still wide. In their 2023 – 2024 Social Justice Statement, Listen, Learn, Love: A New Engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, Australia’s Bishops tell us that, whatever the referendum outcome, non-Indigenous Australians need to keep supporting First Nations People in their pursuit of justice.

Reflecting on the Referendum

As we prepare to take the next steps in the struggle for justice, it is good to take a moment to reflect on the Voice to Parliament referendum in 2023, how the outcome affected many First Nations Peoples and what their hopes for the future are.

The Baabayn Aboriginal Corporation is a collective in Western Sydney connecting individuals and families in a culturally appropriate way, and providing them with support and links to services to heal and bring the community together for the good of all. Following the referendum, Baabayn (‘Ancestral Woman’ in the Gumbaynggirr language) issued the following statement:

We come from the missions and the riverbanks and now we hold our eldership. In Aboriginal society, we listen to elders, not elite types. Why weren’t the voices of elders listened to? Aboriginal people don’t need to be told. We just know how we’re treated. We know what colonisation did to us. Why were Australians so fearful? Why be fearful of people who have always looked after this country and made such a great contribution in the modern age? We haven’t lost the fight.

- Statement from Baabayn Aboriginal Inc.

Prayer for Reconciliation Week

Creator Spirit, All creation once declared your glory,

Your laws were honoured and trusted,

Forgive us our neglect as our country approaches

the most critical moment in its history.

Listen to our prayer as we turn to you,

Hear the cry of our land and its people,

Just as you heard the cry of Jesus,

your Son, on the Cross.

Help us to replace our national shame

With true national pride by restoring the

dignity of our First People whose antiquity is unsurpassed.

May our faith and trust in you increase.

Only then will our nation grow strong and be

a worthy place for all who wish to make their home in our land.

AMEN

Seven Catholic Social Teaching Principles

Catholic Social Teaching (CST) is rooted in Scripture, formed by the wisdom of Church leaders, and influenced by grassroots movements. It is our moral compass, guiding us on how to live out our faith in the world.

The CST principles which inspire our work are:

• Human Dignity
• Common Good
• Solidarity
• Subsidiarity
• Preferred Option for the Poor
• Care for Creation
• Participation

Our faith calls us to love God and to love our neighbours in every situation, especially our sisters and brothers living in poverty. Following in the footsteps of Christ, we hope to make present in our unjust and broken world, the justice, love and peace of God.