Good Grief: Stormbirds and Youth Wellbeing

Good Grief [1] has provided an update on their program Stormbirds and some resources on youth wellbeing.


The bushfires across New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and southern Queensland were unprecedented.The changes and losses experienced as a result of a natural disaster can be traumatic, complex and ongoing. Research following the Black Saturday fires in Victoria reveal that 5 years on, communities are still suffering mental health concerns at rates twice the general population.

Stormbirds is an early intervention education program that provides tailored support to children and young people affected by natural disasters. The program was developed by Good Grief in response to the Black Saturday Bushfires in Victoria and recently, the Stormbirds program has been reviewed and updated to support the children and young people affected by recent natural disasters.

Listen to our training coordinator Louise Hall discuss discuss the Stormbirds program with Simon Lauder on ABC News Radio.

With all the changes we experience in our lives, we may experience a range of emotions and reactions – we do not often recognise these as grief experiences.

Fiona McCallum, General Manager of Good Grief  presented on ‘Seasons for Growth 25 years on – Educating children to live well with change, loss and uncertainty’ on the Youth Health Forum: “A long and winding road: Navigating the journey of grief and loss”. Youth Health Forums are stimulating, half-day forums that cover a wide range of adolescent health and wellbeing issues, appealing to health, education, community, welfare professionals and students.

Additionally, Good Grief has provided a resource titled Supporting your Child’s Social & Emotional Wellbeing which includes some ideas to help children and young people in times of uncertainty.

Visit the Good Grief website here

Footnote:
[1] A former ministry of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, now part of MacKillop Family Services.

Peruvian National Days 2020

Peruvian people celebrate the national days called “Fiestas Patrias” during two days – 28 and 29 July.

Puno. Perú. Celebrating Fiestas Patrias

On 28 July we remember the day that General Don José the San Martín signed the Independence Act and proclaimed that Perú was independent from the Spanish Crown. It took place in Huaura, a small town close to Lima. Houses, private and public buildings, display the flag of Perú.

This event was, to put it, only somewhat formal because the form of government and the leadership positions at the time were assumed by people whose parents were Spanish but who were born in Peru. They were called “Criollos” and they were the aristocrats of that time. Criollos wanted the opportunity to assume power and with the differences of social classes, the subjugation of the indigenous as slaves continued.

In schools, the historical version of independence is still presented as an achievement, however, other historians currently point out, from new research, that independence was “conceded,” says Moran (2015). Moran makes this claim in a book that compiles articles produced by renowned Peruvian historians who support this thesis based on historical documents and accounts. Liberating Peru from the Spanish Crown was a result of a series of internal and external events, almost a necessary objective, to ensure the independence of the South American countries that had achieved so much leading to their Independence. It should be noted that Peru is geographically in a strategic place, which allowed important critical political, economic and military actions for Spain to control the “countries” that were part of its colonies.

Remembering this event today is a challenge. 199 years have passed and Peru is still endeavouring to build a country that embraces its cultural diversity; revalues its traditions and promotes sustainable public policies that aim to enhance such. Although Peruvians carry out activities that honor their history, every 28 & 29 July, because they are public holidays, they need to seriously address issues such as: corruption, discrimination, poverty, precarious basic health services, poor investment in education and address unemployment. The experience of the COVID 19 pandemic has exposed and highlighted all these issues even more.

Lima, Perú

The bicentennial celebration is an opportunity to strengthen progress. Until 2019, people enjoyed these days doing different activities: tourism, visiting historical centers, museums, circuses, fairs, etc. In schools, traditional “marches” were held in which children dressed up as police, military, doctors, nurses, firefighters etc. Some students dressed representing the 3 Regions of the coast, the mountains and the jungle.  They march through the streets of cities in many parts of Peru. On 28 July the President gives his Presidential speech and an account of the development of the State during the year. On 29 July, the traditional Military Parathe takes place – the armed forces, air force, the police, firefighters march and the air force planes mathe creative air demonstrations. Traditional dancing also forms part of the celebrations.

This year all these celebrations will not take place because of the current situation. The nation is still trying to get ahead due to the health crisis and the poverty in which thousands of people are submersed. This is compounded by the fact that in recent years Peru has received close to 1 million Venezuelan migrants due to the situation of poverty and internal violence in their own country. The desire to get ahead has mathe Peruvians continue to be creative. For this reason, those who are part of this country have much to do and the Sisters of Saint Joseph are more committed to the mission of caring for the most vulnerable people in schools, parishes, universities and working with other institutions in networks.

Sr Jenny Mori L rsj

Laudato Si’ Webinar: Part Four

In May 2015 Pope Francis launched his encyclical with the subtitle “On Care for our Common Home” and the title “Laudato Si’” which are the opening words for a hymn composed by St Francis of Assisi in the 1200s.

For our time, this document is both relevant and important, since it highlights the priority that respect for the environment should have in Catholic life, and integrates the notion with what is central to our understanding of humanity’s relationship with God.

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So Small a Beginning: Part 4

Sr Marie Foale speaks about the beginnings of the Institute of St Joseph for the Catholic education of poor children.

She believes that as a young Josephite growing up, she had a sense that one day Mary MacKillop and Julian Tenison Woods had made a spontaneous decision to found an order.

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Reflection on Mary MacKillop

Mary MacKillop Continues to Make a Difference.

The Story of Mary MacKillop – Holy Family Primary Granville [1]
As December 1882 drew near, once more Mother Mary had a death in her family. Her 32-year-old sister Lexie, who was a Good Shepherd nun in Melbourne, died.  Lexie had helped Mother Mary in our first school at Penola. I cried in my heart for Mother Mary.

By the end of 1882 we had a foundation in the south coast of New South Wales, Albion Park. Archbishop Vaughan asked us to take over St. John’s School in Kent Street, Sydney. The people were very poor around Kent St, which was ‘a scene of much human misery’. Every day one of the Sisters cooked a substantial meal for the children and a hot drink was ready for them when they arrived at school. Even on Sundays the sisters cooked breakfast for the children and their parents. Our sisters truly were servants for the poor.

Extract from ‘The Letter under the Pillow‘ by Clare Aherne (2016) Chapter 11, pp. 59-60. Carrowmore Publishing Ltd, Ireland.


Mary MacKillop 1882

Mary MacKillop was a woman who championed the rights and needs of the poor in the community. Mary and the early sisters worked exceedingly hard to make a difference to the lives of the deprived. It seems remarkable that the sisters were able to provide such sustenance and assistance when they too relied on Providence. No doubt they sought out donations and went begging for food to enable this marvellous ministry to the poor.

Mary and the Sisters also knew suffering and death.

Let us reflect

  • What feelings well up in you when you think of Mary’s generosity in these early days?
  • The present COVID-19 crisis paints a grim picture of hardship, sickness and death in the community.
    What has affected your life during this time?
    Have you been able to help others cope with endure their plight?
  • Are we able to extend kindness to our neighbours of all cultures?

Let us pray.

Michele Shipperley rsj

 

Image:
[1] The Story of Mary MacKillop a short film by Holy Family Primary, Granville. Obtained from Cath Family.

A Day in the Life: Ministry with Survivors of Human Trafficking

The Impact of COVID-19.

In 2005 I established Josephite Counter-Trafficking Project (JCTP) to promote, by way of holistic direct services, the spiritual, physical and emotional development of people who have undergone the trauma of being trafficked to Australia. Since then I have continued to provide culturally sensitive support and direct services to trafficked children, women and men with a view to improving their quality of life and to facilitate cultural and social integration, and rehabilitation.

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Ministry with Survivors of Human-Trafficking (PDF)

Margaret Ng rsj

Promoting the Dignity of Peoples

Dignity and Shame.

Josephite Justice Network supporting Bernard Collaery and “Witness K”.

There’s nothing very dignified about crucifixion. The indescribable pain would probably blot out the public ignominy of dying slowly as a naked criminal. Who would willingly put themselves in this place of shame? [1] Jesus did. Not to save us from an imaginary divine anger but to show us the end result of what we humans do to each other.

Who would willingly put themselves in the place of shame today? Mary MacKillop did in her day. She was with the poor, those oppressed by the powerful, the object of calumny, manipulation and intrigue. She recognised people’s fundamental rights and worked with them, championing their dignity, and in the process, claiming her own. “Of the Cross” has its own unique dignity, an inversion of the usual, a quelling of human violence from the inside.

The plight of the oppressed today must be drawn into our Christian soul, two responses could be: immediate aid to the suffering, and challenges to those wielding power.

Serious social ills which erode the dignity of people exist today and are no less confronting than those in earlier times. Australian society tolerates and even gains from the production and exclusion of non-persons. Those in power boast of the feat of “stopping the boats”. This triumph is accomplished partly by the deterrent of detaining a number of people who came to Australia by boat after a certain arbitrarily chosen date – 19 July 2013. Not one of those people has been charged with any crime against international or domestic law, yet some now detained under this regime have been there for seven years. They are innocent people who happened to approach Australia at the wrong time. The great majority are recognised as genuine refugees and have that status under international law, yet their only option for release is to return to the place of danger from which they escaped. Australia has even refused New Zealand’s offer to accept 150 of them per year. Those who claim the mantle of Mary MacKillop must ask: what would she think and do about this?

So many other assaults on human dignity exist in Australia. These affect, for example, the First Peoples, people on temporary protection visas, those suffering human trafficking, homelessness, child abuse, domestic violence, climate change, the recent fires, joblessness and Coronavirus. Many other threats to human dignity challenge our Australian response, among which the oppressed people of West Papua remain a singular weight on our collective conscience. As in Mary MacKillop’s time, glib answers to human problems can be made which generally amount to blaming those in distress––they should work harder, get a job, go back to where they came from, keep their mouths shut, she shouldn’t have married him, they’re bludgers, they must have done something wrong, etc., etc.

This man stands on the steps of the Town Hall, Sydney, every Friday from 5–6pm and has done so for years.

In Jesus’ case it was considered better for one to die than for the whole nation to face threat (John 11:50). This is the quintessential description of a scapegoat – the substitute sacrificed for the benefit of the dominant group. The very sacrifice of Jesus unveiled the mechanism of scapegoating––the blame and destruction of one for the comfort of many. Without formulating this reality, and in the context of different social and theological structures, Mary MacKillop and so many others recognised the likely candidates for scapegoating, stood beside them, and shared their place of shame. That’s our call too.

Susan Connelly rsj

Footnotes:
[1] James Alison coined the phrase “place of shame”. Visit http://jamesalison.com/

Julian Tenison Woods: A Life – Chapters 12th to 14th

Chapters 12th, 13th and 14th

Among the residents of Portland who became intimate friends of Father Woods was the MacKillop family.  Mr MacKillop was the eldest brother of Mrs Alex Cameron of Penola Station, and Mrs MacKillop the sister of Mr D McDonald also of Penola…[1]

The Catholic School in Portland required a teacher and Miss MacKillop wrote to Father Woods on the subject.  In reply, 30 August 1863 he said: ‘I think if you can take it for a time, so much the better. You might, until the school here is vacant…’[2]

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