by Nicholas Kerr
Australia cannot mature as a nation until there is true reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, Rev Professor James Haire said.
“The churches must do all they can to promote reconciliation in Australia,” he said.
“But, while we must speak out, we must be humble about this issue.”
Professor Haire is President of the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) and Director of the national Christian centre - the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture in Canberra.
“A lot of the things the churches have done weren’t beneficial for the Aboriginal people,” he said.
“Many churches have acknowledged the mistakes of the past.
“Following the ‘Bringing them home’ report on the Stolen Generations, many churches have apologised for our part in helping to break up families.
“So, on the one hand, we are conscious of our own mistakes.
“On the other hand, we are very aware that God has called us to be a prophetic voice for justice, integrity and compassion.
“It’s good that, as a nation, we acknowledge the need for reconciliation and healing.
“As we acknowledge that need, we must also acknowledge that we still have a long way to go.
“Reconciliation calls for a change of heart, a change of attitudes and a determination to bring about social change.
“We cannot say that the work of reconciliation is really under way until we see a change in people’s lives and in the terrible statistics that describe the life of Indigenous people in Australia.
“The statistics about Indigenous people and their poverty, health, unemployment, infant mortality, life expectancy and imprisonment are unacceptable.
“When they change dramatically for the better, then we can say that we are a mature and responsible nation.”
Professor Haire said it was extremely significant that the Federal Government and the National Sorry Day Committee have announced that new artwork will be unveiled in Reconciliation Place in Canberra on National Sorry Day, May 26.
He said that, for 150 years until the late 1970s, thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were removed from their families, with the authorization of Australian governments.
Hundreds of people from the Stolen Generations are expected to be at the unveiling in Canberra.
“It will be a memorial to the Stolen Generations,” Professor Haire said. “But it will also be an expression of gratitude to those Australians who took these children in.
“They have often been excluded. It was not their fault. It was government policy.
“The people who fostered these children need some form of memorial, some form of recognition.
“And the Aboriginal and Islander people want them to be remembered. Often they have deep affection for the individuals.”
Reconciliation is high on the churches’ agenda
Professor Haire said reconciliation is definitely on the Australian churches’ agenda - and it will be high on the agenda of the NCCA’s fifth national Forum in Adelaide from July 9 to 13. The forum is held every three years.
The Forum’s theme will be “At the cross roads; Living in a world of change”.
“We want the Forum to embrace the wider community,” Professor Haire said.
Aboriginal leader, Professor Lowitja O’Donaghue, will speak on peace and reconciliation.
“We want to push reconciliation in this country a bit further,” Professor Haire said.
The Forum will deal with the Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV).
Rev Sam Kobia, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, will talk about changes, challenges and celebrations.
Part of the Forum will look at trends and directions in Australian society, and the place of the churches and the faith.
There will be a session on “Australian Christianity - what does it look like?” with a Pentecostal and Charismatic leader.
Professor Haire said the Bible studies will be on the theme, “Beneath the Cross”.
“They’ll be presented by Bishop Michael Putney, Catholic Bishop of Townsville,” Professor Haire said.
“This is an ecumenical first, in its way - a Catholic doing the Bible study. It’s normally the sort of thing you’d expect a Protestant to be doing.”
A Sunday celebration at St Peter’s Anglican Cathedral will involve some recognition of the covenanting arrangements churches in Australia have already made with each other.
“There is a wide variety of covenanting arrangements,” Professor Haire said.
“Some churches have agreed to share their buildings, for example. Some have agreed to share the Eucharist.
“We want to ritualise those agreements at the service in the cathedral.”
The NCCA was formed 10 years ago, replacing the old Australian Council of Churches.
“There’ll be a review of the NCCA in a session called ‘At the cross roads: Ten years of travel.’
“And we will look at what the council needs to do in the future in a session called ‘At the cross roads: Setting our direction.’
“We’ll be using this phrase, ‘At the cross roads’ - meaning at the foot of the cross -
