Fr Chris de Souza, General Secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishop’s Conference and former Vicar General of the Diocese of Parramatta shares his homily for Australia Day 2025.
The lyrics from the Seekers Song: “I am Australian” are:
“I came from the dreamtime, from the dusty red soil plains. I am the ancient heart, the keeper of the flame. I stood upon the rocky shores. I watched the tall ships come. For 40,000 years I’ve been the first Australian…… We are one but we are many, and from all the lands on earth we come. We’ll share a dream and sing with one voice. I am, you are, we are Australian.”
WHAT IS THE DREAM WE SHARE?
I want to take you to Jabiru, Northern Territory, 1986. I was in my fourth year of studies at the seminary at Manly. I was 28 years old and feeling jaded by the studies and the institutional grind. So, in July 1986, I booked a bus trip through central Australia.
I spent a couple of nights at the Ranger Uranium mining town of Jabiru, in the Northern Territory. (Uranium mining ceased in 2021 and the site is now being rehabilitated).
WHAT IS THE DREAM WE SHARE FIRSTLY WITH THE INDIGENOUS OF OUR LAND?
I got up one morning to look around the town and came across an Aboriginal elder sitting in a roundabout nearby. He asked me what I knew about the East Alligator river and Ubirri Rock in Kakadu National Park. I said, “very little.” He spoke to me of when the lotus flowers and the barramundi run in their rivers. He was clued into the signs of creation around him. I got really interested in him because his storytelling embraced the memories of his ancestors from 10,000 to 20,000 years before. During the glacial period 20,000 years ago the north coast of Australia stretched another 250km to the north and the sea-level was 100m lower than it is today. 10,000 years ago the sea-level rose to its present boundary but our first peoples lived through these incredible changes of climate and changing coastlines.
“Now,” he told me, “when my community goes fishing off the coast, we tell the stories of where our ancestors used to live and we have, from our story-telling through time, the ability to speak and locate under the sea the places that used to be the old coastline of Australia during the Pleistocene era over 10,000 years ago. When Moses was leading the exodus from Egypt, Aboriginal occupation of the Kakadu area had been continuous for 20,000 years. When Jesus embarked on his ministry in Galilee, Aboriginal people had occupied the Alligator rivers for 18,000 years.
I didn’t know who this Aboriginal elder was until I later walked into a bookshop in Darwin and saw numerous books with this man’s photo on them. He was Bill Neidje, Kakadu Man. That was July 1986. In November 1986 Pope John Paul II came to Alice Springs. This is what the Pope said to the Aboriginal people:
n.4 “Through your closeness to the land you touched the sacredness of man’s relationship with God, for the land was the proof of a power in life greater than yourselves. You did not spoil the land, use it up, exhaust it, and then walk away from it. You realised that your land was related to the source of life. The silence of the bush taught you a quietness of soul that put you in touch with another world.”
And the Pope went on:
n.13 “You are part of Australia and Australia is part of you. And the church herself in Australia will not be fully the church that Jesus wants her to be until you have made your contribution to her life and until that contribution has been joyfully received by others.”
WHAT IS THE DREAM WE SHARE?
Probably the most beautiful thing the First Peoples of our land offer our techno-busy Australian culture today (and also can contribute to our church) is the gift of a quiet heart and soul which is in tune with Creation.The silence of the bush taught you a quietness of soul that put you in touch with another world….what is that other world? It is the world of God’s Spirit. It is the silence that embraces the message of today’s Gospel of the Beatitudes.
How blessed are the poor in Spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven; blessed the gentle, they shall have the earth for their heritage; blessed the pure in heart, they shall see God.” (Matt. 5.1-12).
WHAT IS OUR DREAM FOR AUSTRALIA DAY 2025?
The world says, “Blessed are the tough and strong”. But Christ says, “Blessed are the gentle.” Gentleness is not a form of weakness as many think. It is a form of strength. There are many vital tasks that only gentleness can accomplish.
The world says, “Blessed are those who hunger for power, status, and fame.” But Christ says, “Blessed are those who hunger for what is right.” Let us thirst for what is right. Let us seek justice in the workplace and family.
The world says, “Blessed are those who show no mercy and who take no prisoners.” But Christ says: “Blessed are the merciful.” The world says “ Blessed are those with clean hair and clean teeth.” But Christ says, “Blessed are those with clean hearts.” The world says “Blessed are the trouble-makers and war-mongers. But Christ says “Blessed are the peacemakers.” Blessed are those who spread understanding among people, those who welcome the stranger, and who work for a more just society. They are true children of God. Let us not live life by blindly following the world; rather, let us immerse ourselves in living out the Gospel Beatitudes…. “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
