Catholic Outlook October 2015

SOCIAL JUSTICE
Welcoming The Australian
Bishops 2015/2016 Social
Justice Statement In Parramatta
By Sr Louise McKeogh
The mission of the Church
is to care for humanity
By Elizabeth McFarlane
"Forget about being
Australian. Think of
yourself as human.
We have to treat
refugees. We have
to help refugees."
Photo credit: AP Photo/UNRWA
The Australian Bishops launched their
2015/2016 Social Justice Statement on
the 9th September at Mary MacKillop
Place, North Sydney, the same day the
Australian Government announced their
increased intake of 12,000 Syrians.
The launch also paralleled the moment
people from across the world were stopped
by the media image of deceased Syrian
toddler, Aylan Kurdi.
The Diocesan Social Justice Office, staff
and students from Bede Polding College,
Windsor, parishioners from Mary Queen of
the Family, Blacktown, Holy Spirit Parish, St
Clair, and St Bernadette’s, Lalor Park, as well
as the Parramatta St Vincent De Paul Social
Justice Network, gathered with 200 others at
the launch.
Aunty Elsie Heiss, Indigenous Elder and
past president of the National Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council,
began the launch with an acknowledgement
of country and a reflection that reminded
us that we have much to learn from our
Indigenous brothers and sisters in terms of a
broad concept of family and community.
Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen, a
former boat person and now Auxiliary
Bishop of Melbourne, launched the
statement that was authenticated by the
powerful sharing of his own personal story
of seeking asylum.
“For me the desperate plight of refugees
is particularly poignant because I came to
Australia as a boat person, fleeing from
Vietnam…I saw how tyranny and cruelty
can leave people with no choice but to seek
refuge elsewhere in any way possible. With
the increasing global movement of peoples
and our nation’s fearful response, it is timely
for us to reflect on this important issue,” he
said.
This is an extremely important social
justice statement for the Diocese as
Western Sydney is home to twenty of the
most multicultural suburbs in Australia.
It is reflected in our families, schools and
parishes and in the way that we continue
to value the ongoing contribution and
dynamic gifts that each of our diverse
communities bring to the Diocese. This
year’s Social Justice Statement challenges us
to continue finding real and practical ways
to go about this.
Sr Louise McKeogh is the Social
Justice Coordinator for the Diocese of
Parramatta.
John Cinya, refugee and Permanent Diaconate.
Photo: Elizabeth McFarlane.
Following the 2015-2016 Australian
Catholic Bishops Conference Social
Justice Statement on asylum seekers
and refugees (see article opposite),
CatholicOutlook chatted to prominent
refugee, Schools Liaison Officer for
Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta,
and Permanent Diaconate candidate, John
Cinya.
A refugee from South Sudan who fled
the civil war in 1995, Mr Cinya spent two
weeks walking through bushland to get
from Khartoum, Sudan to Ethiopia. He
then lived in a refugee camp in Ethiopia
for three years before being granted
refugee status in 1998. From Ethiopia, he
was flown to Australia to begin a new life.
Whilst welcoming the Australian
government’s recent announcement of a
one-off intake of 12,000 Syrian refugees,
Mr Cinya feels it is not enough. “A rich
country like Australia can do more. Here
in Australia, how many times a day is a
tonne of food being thrown away, while
other people in the world have nothing to
eat?
“When I was in the refugee camp, we
were just given five kilograms of dried
corn, one litre of oil, and five kilograms
of red beans for two weeks. Sometimes I
finished it early and I would go out to the
bush and I would have to collect leaves to
eat. I would boil the leaves just to fill my
stomach, so I wouldn’t feel hungry. It is
very difficult to be a refugee,” he reflected.
Having lived in a refugee camp and
being formally resettled in Australia, John
does not believe people who come by boat
are ‘jumping the queue’, explaining, “In my
culture, we say if you see a frog jumping
during the day in the hot sun, it means
there is a problem where he has come
from. The frog does not move unless there
is a problem. That is why these people are
moving. There is a problem.
“Most people who come to Australia
would not want to leave if their place
was peaceful. I would not have left South
Sudan if there was no problem. I had
no choice. I had to leave. In the western
world, people move because they are
talented. They just want to change their
life. It is different. They wouldn’t risk their
life to come unless there was a problem. I
would not risk walking through the bush
for two weeks where I could meet lions or
looters, unless there was a problem where
I lived. Due to war, drought or disasters,
people move.
“People asked Jesus why he went to the
Gentiles, but he went because they were
human. Forget about being Australian.
Think of yourself as human. We have to
treat refugees. We have to help refugees.
The mission of the Church is to care for
humanity. Australians are not called to just
help Australians.”
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6 CatholicOutlook | OCTOBER 2015
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