NAIDOC Liturgy 2019

During our upcoming College Assembly on 4 July, our College Community and Invited Guests will come together to celebrate our NAIDOC Liturgy. The theme of NAIDOC Week 2019, takes inspiration from the aims set out in the ‘Uluru Statement from the Heart’, these are expressed simply and powerfully, as three key goals; Voice, Treaty and Truth. These goals represent the hopes and dreams of our First Nations people for a reconciled future.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders from around Australia, have worked in collaboration to decide what constitutional reform they envision for their people. The Uluru Statement from the Heart is the document containing their aspirations for a constitutional voice; a treaty and truth telling, or, as they put it in the Yolgnu word, Makarrata.

To learn more about this process, or to hear it being read out, please visit 1 Voice Uluru

The Uluru Statement - From the Heart

Professor Megan Davis, member of the Referendum Council, read out the Uluru Statement from the Heart, on the floor of the First Nations Convention.

‘We, gathered at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, coming from all points of the southern sky, make this statement from the heart:

Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes were the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent islands, and possessed it under our own laws and customs. This our ancestors did, according to the reckoning of our culture, from the Creation, according to the common law from ‘time immemorial’, and according to science more than 60,000 years ago.

This sovereignty is a spiritual notion: the ancestral tie between the land, or ‘mother nature’, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who were born therefrom, remain attached thereto, and must one day return thither to be united with our ancestors. This link is the basis of the ownership of the soil, or better, of sovereignty. It has never been ceded or extinguished, and co-exists with the sovereignty of the Crown.

How could it be otherwise? That peoples possessed a land for sixty millennia and this sacred link disappears from world history in merely the last two hundred years?

With substantive constitutional change and structural reform, we believe this ancient sovereignty can shine through as a fuller expression of Australia’s nationhood.

Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future.

These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem. This is the torment of our powerlessness.

We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.

We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution.

Makarrata is the culmination of our agenda: the coming together after a struggle. It captures our aspirations for a fair and truthful relationship with the people of Australia and a better future for our children based on justice and self-determination.

We seek a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history.

In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.’

Voice, Treaty Truth, Let’s Work Together for a Shared Future invites us to celebrate the invaluable contributions that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have made, and continue to make, to our communities, our families, our rich history and to our nation. We pray that we may continue to work together so that all people feel listened to, valued, respected and accepted.

Year 11 Street Retreat 2019

We received a significant number of quality applications from Year 11 students who are interested in attending our annual Street Retreat Program. We wish to acknowledge and thank all these students for applying. Unfortunately, there are only 10 positions available and not everyone can participate in this opportunity.

Congratulations to the following students, who have been selected to represent Mater Dei Catholic College this year; Caolan Wealands, Jacob Ferguson, Owen Gaynor, Abbie Lewis, Isabelle Cunningham, Isabelle Cunningham, Georgie Hollbrook, Talia McPherson, Ruby Raczkowski, Kobe Priest and Lily Burge.

Our Students will be working with Marist Brothers; Br Doug Walsh and Br Harry Prout who operate the St Vincent de Paul Soup Van on Melbourne’s Streets and lead outreach programs in the Exodus Community, at the site of the old Olympic Village. We look forward to sharing the fruits of the Street Retreat experience with our College Community, early in Term 3.

Feast of the Sacred Heart Mass - 30 June 2019 at 9.00am

Next weekend, on Sunday 30 June at 9.00am, Sacred Heart, Kooringal Parish will celebrate its feast day Mass, in honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This very special Mass will bring together our three Parish Schools; Sacred Heart Catholic Primary, Mater Dei Catholic Primary and Mater Dei Catholic College, and will be led by our student community.

We respectfully invite all our families to attend and stay afterwards for Morning tea. Contributions to the morning tea would also be gratefully received. We look forward to your company.

Mrs Amelia Bright | Acting Leader of Mission

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