KCP - Catholic Diocese of Broome

If you read newspapers you could be left with the impression that remote Aboriginal communities in Northern Australia know only violence and abuse and while the situation is far from perfect in many of these places the fact is that there is a lot of good happening there too. Some wonderful people are struggling to live honourable lives often with outstanding success and sometimes against formidable odds. In the rush for negative headlines these people and their positive efforts often get little credit.
The problem with newspapers is that they survive because of sales and their most lucrative product – sensationalism – is sometimes keenly manufactured for the benefit of a public who are hungry mainly for the sensational. The hurt being suffered by victims of injustice is often over-powered by the publication of lurid details. It is almost as though some kind of voyeurism is at work among the pedlars of present-day sensationalism. As for employing the skills of investigative journalism to discover the causes of depravity and poverty and ill-health there is obviously a noticeable absence of such willing correspondents.
Standing up for what is right means we need to be actively opposed to the wrongs that assail members of our society – particularly those who are least able to defend themselves, but it also means recounting the bravery and determination of those who work hard to make a difference.
Not all the ills of today ‘s society are to be found in every remote Aboriginal community but you could be forgiven for thinking it was so if you read newspapers. Priests, teachers, nurses and lay missionaries are among those who work closely at the difficult end of community development. Those who are involved in pastoral care appreciate the challenges that remoteness and cross-cultural identity issues can bring. They see that daily care-givers work on in collaboration with the many good and not so good citizens of these communities labouring to build their future and establish some direction. Teaching assistants, health assistants, wardens, rangers, community-patrol people are some of the care-givers that are owed a great deal for their perseverance and valiant efforts. Their story
needs to be told too.
Jesus Christ lived his life of ministry on this earth face to face with society’s outcasts and the marginalized. He didn’t bag them, nor did he close his mind to their needs. He didn’t overlook anyone and he found in the most despised people a cause for great love and unbounded care.
In a secular country it will be difficult for Government agents and community operatives to realize that they will be most effective when they take on the mantle of Christ and their efforts will be most sustained if they assume the caring manner of Jesus. Present day media see only the scourging at the pillar and the crucifixion. It takes faith to see the hope of the resurrection in the mess of daily living and just as much faith to recognize simple good things when we see them.