Homily for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Jeremiah 20:7-9; Psalm 62; Romans 12:1-2; Matthew 16:21-27
3 September 2023
I’m back on air after a month away. Approaching the biblical three score and ten, I have always enjoyed good health. A few months ago I went for my annual blood test and all was not well. For the first time in my life I got on to the medical treadmill of all this amazing new technology – MRIs, PET scans, and biopsies. Three weeks ago I underwent robotic surgery. I then recuperated with family. How blessed I was to have access to the best medical technology, the most dedicated doctors and nurses, and loving family to pamper me and nurture me back to robust spirits to take on whatever the next stage of the journey might be.
For the first time in my life, I’ve had to really confront those all too common human realities of ageing, diminishment and mortality. Hopefully all will be well and I can return to a fairly normal and productive life. But such an experience gives a whole new edge and dimension to Jesus’ declaration in today’s gospel that following him is not a bed of roses. It’s not an instant path to glory, success and achievement. It’s not a recipe for perpetual good health and constant reward for good deeds. Jesus was destined for Jerusalem – to suffer grievously and to be put to death. Peter remonstrated: ‘Heaven preserve you, Lord. This is not to happen to you.’ Jesus saw Peter as an obstacle to the real path of passion, death and resurrection.
Listen at https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/homily-3923
Hopefully none of us is to suffer too grievously or be put to death. But every one of us needs to walk the path of ageing, diminishment and death. It’s all part of the human condition, and thus it is all part of following Jesus. The question is: how are we to respond? The one who surrenders himself to the Lord is the one who loses life for the sake of the Lord, the one who finds life – life to the full. ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let her renounce herself and take up her cross and follow me.’
I returned from my hive of recuperation just in time for the Prime Minister to announce the date of the referendum on the Voice. What to do? What to say? The first thing to do is: Listen. Listen to the Indigenous voices. A good starting point for us Catholics is to be attentive to the voice of NATSICC – the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Council. The day after the prime minister’s announcement, NATSICC repeated their plea:[1]
Australians have an opportunity to begin a new chapter this year with the referendum on the Voice to Parliament. We in NATSICC know there are criticisms, even from Aboriginal people, but most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people support the referendum.
Just as the churches strongly supported the 1967 referendum, we hope that Catholics, along with other people of faith, will support the Yes campaign.
It is a commitment to recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Constitution and promoting healing and unity. It will be the next step in a process of empowering us to participate in the decisions that will make a difference for the better for our people.
We, NATSICC, feel that the referendum is too important to fail. The consequences for our people and the whole nation would be devastating.
Some Catholics have been hoping that the Catholic Bishops would come out as a bloc and urge a YES vote. But given the imperfections of process and wording thus far, and the brazen abandonment by both sides of any commitment to bipartisanship in our Parliament, I think the bishops were right to say:[2]
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference will not tell Catholics or their fellow Australians how to vote in the referendum. Instead, we ask all Australians to seek out information on the referendum proposal, especially from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
We encourage you to participate in opportunities for dialogue about the referendum with respect for different views….
Weigh up all the arguments and information carefully and make a choice which you think respects the hopes and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Choose the option which you believe offers the best chance of healing and justice for the First Peoples of our land.
The whole affair could have been less divisive and conflicted if political leaders on both sides of the political fence had been more committed to working together, crafting a set of words for the Constitution that could lead the country to YES.
It’s now ten months since I wrote to the Prime Minister saying: ‘As a non-Indigenous Australian with a longtime commitment to constitutional recognition, could I put two suggestions:
(1) Now is the time to set up a parliamentary committee process allowing anyone and everyone to have their ‘say’ on the proposed words of amendment to place in the Constitution;
(2) Now is the time to return to formal bipartisan co-operation between the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition so as to maximise the prospect of Coalition support for the referendum.’
That was never done. By the time a parliamentary committee process was set up five months later, both the National and Liberal Parties had committed themselves to a ‘No’ vote. And by that time, the proposed wording of the constitutional amendment was set in stone. The Referendum Working Group, the government and the opposition had all committed themselves to a ‘crash or crash through’ strategy.
This has left us the voters with an invidious choice.
The wording of the constitutional amendment could have been improved to enhance the prospects of a ‘Yes’ vote. The government’s continued attempts to limit the practical scope of the wording demonstrate the problem with the final wording. But we all now have a stark choice: ‘Yes’ to an imperfect constitutional formula, or ‘No’, thereby placing on hold for another generation any form of constitutional recognition of First Australians. Once parliament declined to change the wording, I unequivocally committed myself to ‘Yes’, and did so within hours. Let’s hope we can get the country to ‘Yes’ despite the failings of process.[3] Folk singer Paul Kelly asks rhetorically: ‘If not now, then when? If not us, then who?’[4]
Many voters who will vote ‘Yes’ will be convinced that the constitutional amendment is perfect, or they won’t much care. But for the referendum to succeed, there will need to be a whole other cohort of ‘Yes’ voters – those who are not convinced that the wording is perfect but who nonetheless think it better for the nation and better for First Nations peoples that the change be made.[5] I am one of those voters, and I would be happy if my example were to assist other voters who might be undecided to take a similar course. Sadly the country will be divided whatever the outcome of the vote on 14 October 2023. Let’s pray for justice and reconciliation in our ancient land. ‘If not now, then when? If not us, then who?’
Fr Frank Brennan SJ is the Rector of Newman College, Melbourne, and the former CEO of Catholic Social Services Australia (CSSA). He was appointed a peritus at the Fifth Plenary Council of the Australian Catholic Church. Fr Frank’s latest book is An Indigenous Voice to Parliament: Considering a Constitutional Bridge, Garratt Publishing, 2023.
[1] See https://cathnews.com/~documents/media-releases/media-releases-2023/230830-natsicc-natsiccs-statement-following-the-prime-ministers-referendum-date-announcement/?layout=default
[2] Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Listen, Learn, Love: A New Engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, Social Justice Statement 2023-4, p.18, available at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M1Zu36K9innosigfuoZS9ykMiIXxc3ms/view
[3] See Frank Brennan, ‘The Voice Referendum: Bringing the Country With Us’, in Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Engage, August 2023, Volume 13, pp. 5-7, available at https://cdn.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/4233309/ACCC-Engage-Newsletter-Issue-13-WEB.pdf
[4] Paul Kelly, ‘If not now’, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6z6ebjIqlw
[5] Listen to Frank Brennan, Dare to be Different Forum, Xavier College, 31 August 2023, available at https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/xavier-social-justice-network
