Office For Justice, Ecology and Peace

1970: Death of women's rights activist Jessie Street
2022-07-02 00:00 - 23:59 (Australia/Sydney)
Who was Jessie Street?
Jessie Street (1889-1970) was an activist, a feminist and a lifelong campaigner for women’s rights, the peace movement and the elimination of discrimination against Aboriginal people.

1971: Yvonne Goolangong Crawley wins Wimbledon
2022-07-02 00:00 - 23:59

2012: Commencement of the Fair Work Amendment (TCF Industry) Act
2022-07-01 00:00 - 23:59
Many of the outworkers in the garment industry are migrant women. They are often vulnerable to exploitation due to limited English language skills or lack of knowledge about their rights as workers. The 2012 amendment to the Fair Work Act aimed at ensuring fair pay and conditions for them. Find out more here.

The amendment was the result of an extensive fair wear campaign by trade unions and community groups. At the international level, the Fair Wear Foundation continues to work for safe, dignified and properly paid work in the garment industry.

Check out the website of Ethical Clothing Australia to find out how to ensure that your clothing was not made in just conditions.

Coming of the Light Festival
2022-07-01 00:00 - 2022-07-04 23:59
The Coming of the Light is a holiday celebrated by Torres Strait Islanders on 1 July each year. It recognises the adoption of Christianity through island communities during the late nineteenth century. Find out more here.

1945: Introduction of unemployment benefits in Australia
2022-06-30 00:00 - 23:59

World Social Media Day
2022-06-30 00:00 - 23:59
Can you imagine living through a pandemic without social media? World Social Media Day is a time to recognise and celebrate social media’s impact of global communication.

Here are some ideas for activities:

Revisit the Social Justice Statement Making it Real: Genuine human encounter in our digital world with your parish, school or community group.Share examples of positive uses of social media to promote social justice.Review the social media policy or guidelines of your parish or community group.Write reviews of your favorite spirituality apps for your parish Facebook page or Catholic magazines – you can submit them for our Social Justice Trends!

2009: Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth)
2022-06-29 00:00 - 23:59
“Knowing that we, as persons and communities, are part of God’s family gives us a vision and energy to serve a truly integral human development.” Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, n 78.

Read a general introduction to Caritas in Veritate here.

Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles
2022-06-29 00:00 - 23:59

International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
2022-06-26 00:00 - 23:59

1950: The Korean War begins
2022-06-25 00:00 - 23:59

Day of the Seafarer
2022-06-25 00:00 - 23:59
As the Day of the Seafarer celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, seafarers are on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read about the Church in Australia’s support for seafarers on the Ruby Princess here. Find out more about the work of the Apostleship of the Sea here.

Nativity of John the Baptist
2022-06-24 00:00 - 23:59

Olympic Day
2022-06-23 00:00 - 23:59

Sts John Fisher and Thomas More
2022-06-22 00:00 - 23:59

World Refugee Day
2022-06-20 00:00 - 23:59

1969: Affirmation by Arbitration Commission of the principle of equal pay for women performing equal work
2022-06-19 00:00 - 23:59

International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict
2022-06-19 00:00 - 23:59

World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
2022-06-17 00:00 - 23:59

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day
2022-06-15 00:00 - 23:59
Today is a good day to revisit the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Social Justice Statement for 2016–17 ‘A Place at the Table: Social justice in an ageing society’. It celebrates the value, dignity and significant contributions of older people to the life of the community. In solidarity with all generations, older people have a rightful place in the heart of community life. The Bishops consider the circumstances of those who are approaching the end of their lives and warn of the loneliness, ageism and abuse that older people can experience. In particular, the Bishops warn about implications of the current community debate on euthanasia. The Bishops call for communities of mercy and love – where people reach out and minister to vulnerable older people, where bonds between generations are built up, and where no one is cast as being a burden or as rivals to younger generations.

1988: Barunga Statement presented by Aboriginal leaders to Prime Minister Bob Hawke
2022-06-12 00:00 - 23:59
The presentation of the Barunga Statement to Prime Minister Bob Hawke was an important moment in the movement for a treaty. Learn more about how the Statement came to be presented at the Barunga Festival here.

World Day Against Child Labour
2022-06-12 00:00 - 23:59

1975: Enactment of the Racial Discrimination Act
2022-06-11 00:00 - 23:59

1838: Myall Creek Massacre, NSW
2022-06-10 00:00 - 23:59
Myall Creek Massacre (2003) by Vincent Serico (1949 – 2008)

The Myall Creek Massacre was just one example of the widespread culture of frontier violence against Aboriginal people in New South Wales in the 1830’s. Despite there being strong laws against this violence, the murder of Aboriginal people was generally accepted as part of the expansion of territory by settlers. Muswellbrook police magistrate Edward Denny Day described this ongoing conflict as ‘a war of extermination’ by some stockmen, settlers, and convicts.

When Aboriginal people killed stockmen near Myall Creek as part of this frontier conflict, an expedition from Sydney led by Major James Nunn, the Commandant of the New South Wales Mounted Police, massacred up to 50 Wirrayaraay people who were camped at Waterloo Creek. Their bodies were then burned. Nearby stockmen and settlers were also encouraged by the expedition to kill any Aboriginal people they encountered.

Breaking the conspiracy of silence around the murder of this group of Aboriginal people were a station manager named William Hobbs, local police superintendent Thomas Foster, and settler Frederick Foot. Eight men were tried and found guilty of murder in the Australian Supreme Court. They were hanged on December 18, 1838. For many in the colonial community of New South Wales there was more outrage around the execution of British citizens than the massacre of the Wirrayaraay people. Future perpetrators of violence against Aboriginal people took steps to cover their tracks and avoid prosecution.

The process of radical truth telling continues today in the quest for true reconciliation, justice and peace for all Australians.

Going Deeper:

https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/myall-creek-massacre

Prayer:

Prayer for Aboriginal Ancestors

Almighty God, ever-loving Father, by becoming human your Son has united himself with people of every race, language, and way of life, and through his death on the cross, mingled his blood with the blood of all Koorie people who have died unjustly throughout our history.

Hear our prayer as we remember those who died in defence of their land and traditions. Grant peace for them and all who now live in this land. May the walls which prejudice raises between us crumble beneath the shadow of the outstretched arms of him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.

Amen.

Aboriginal Catholic Ministry, Victoria.

Artwork:

Myall Creek Massacre (2003) by Vincent Serico (1949 – 2008) Music:

We Sing by Kutcha Edwards

We Sing – Kutcha Edwards

2004: Queensland Bishops issue 'Let the Many Coastlands be glad!' Pastoral Letter on the Great Barrier Reef
2022-06-08 00:00 - 23:59
“The Holy Spirit is clearly guiding us into a deeper sense ofcompanionship and care in regard to all the varied forms of life onplanet Earth. Not only is the Reef a precious ecosystem in itself, but alsoan integral part of the one web of planetary life that connects us all –the human species and all species of the land and sea, rainforest andreef, mountains, plains and inland desert.” Catholic Bishops of Queensland, Let the Many Coastlands be Glad!, 2004

Today is a great day to read Let the Many Coastlands Be Glad! again.

For Reflection

Imagine you were helping the Queensland Bishops to draft a pastoral letter on the Great Barrier Reef today. What has changed for the Great Barrier Reef since Let the Many Coastlands Be Glad! was published? Are there new issues to address? How might you take the teaching of Pope Francis into account in updating the Queensland Bishops’ teaching?

World Oceans Day
2022-06-08 00:00 - 23:59

World Environment Day
2022-06-05 00:00 - 23:59
Celebrated every year since 1974, World Environment Day is a good time to focus on the environmental dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goals. This year the theme is celebrating biodiversity.

The 2020 World Environment Day global campaign aims at highlighting how we as humans are inextricably linked to and depend on nature for our existence and quality of life. Recent events, from bushfires in Brazil, United States and Australia to locust swarms to the COVID-19 outbreak, highlights how meddling with ecosystems and biodiversity from its natural state is creating unprecedented challenges for humankind on a global scale. Human activities such as pollution, unsustainable use of land and sea, exploitation of organisms, climate change and invasion of alien species, are leading to biodiversity breakdown and the decline and degradation of natural ecosystems at an unprecedented scale. The crisis also reflects our connectedness to one another and how actions and events in one part of the world affect us all. It also brings to the spotlight the need for international cooperation and coordination in responding to the challenges posed by environmental degradation. Yet, these events are symptomatic and require us to address the decline of nature through transformational and sustained reforms with nature at the heart of decision-making. This World Environment Day, the need to heal our relationship and start living in harmony with nature, perhaps, has never been this stark in modern history. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is calling on governments, businesses and civil society to work together in building global understanding of biodiversity and nature’s key contribution to our survival… 2020 is a critical year for biodiversity. It’s a year of crucial decisions for planet and people, and all other forms of life on Earth. While 2020 also concludes the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity, the scientific community continues to sound the alarm on global biodiversity breakdown. Living in harmony with nature—a goal world leaders have set for 2050—cannot be achieved unless we stop the loss of the planet’s biodiversity by 2030. This leaves us with a decade for action, which will start with the 2020 United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in October in Kunming, China and the design of a new 10-year framework for biodiversity. UN Environment Program, Working Brief, 6 April 2020

2000: 50,000 people Walk for Reconciliation in Brisbane
2022-06-04 00:00 - 23:59

1989: Tiananmen Square Massacre, Bejing
2022-06-04 00:00 - 23:59
Today we remember the students who were killed in Tiananmen Square while protesting for democracy. For last year’s anniversary, Hong Kong Catholics organised an exhibition so that younger generations may gain insight into what happened. Find our more here.

Learn about the iconic image of a lone unarmed man confronting a row of tanks here.

The Tank Man

He will live forever in our memories.
His singular act of courage and hope
proclaimed the dignity of each person
in the face of powers and principalities.

God grant us his courage and his hope.

Sandie Cornish

International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression
2022-06-04 00:00 - 23:59

1992: High Court Decision in the Mabo Case
2022-06-03 00:00 - 23:59
Eddie Mabo – Marc Nemorin

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Mabo Decision where six out of seven High Court judges agreed that the Meriam people held traditional ownership of the lands of Mer in the Torres Strait. Eddie Koiki Mabo successfully argued that his family’s ancestral land was not owned by the Crown. This landmark decision in the High Court of Australia overturned ‘terra nullius’, an understanding that Australia was empty land belonging to no one before British occupation. The decision paved the way for native title in the Native Title Act of 1993. Eddie died before the decision was handed down in 1992 but his life leaves a powerful legacy: the traditional connection and occupation of land by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is now recognised in law across Australia.

Going Deeper:

https://digital-classroom.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/mabo-decision

Prayer:

Prayer for Unity

Creator God, may the power of Your grace transform us.

Christ, give us courage and hope to manifest the unity we have in you, and to share our life with each other and the world.

Holy Spirit, empower us to work for justice for the people of the earth.

God, in your grace, transform the world.

Amen.

The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ecumenical Commission (NATSIEC) of the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA), 2007.

Artwork:

Eddie Mabo by Marc Nemorin

Music:

Koiki by Mau Power, featuring Radical Son

Koiki by Mau Power, featuring Radical Son
