Genuine reconciliation needs more than structural change – it requires inner healing where truth is named and dignity restored, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council said in a statement ahead of Australia Day. Source: ACBC Media Blog.
The statement, an extract of which appears below, was released yesterday along with a reflection guide designed to help individuals, families, and parish groups explore the significance of Australia Day through the lens of faith, justice, and reconciliation.
“As January 26 approaches each year, Australians reflect on this day in different ways.
For some, it is a time of celebration and national pride. For others, it is a time of reflection, grief, or unresolved questions about our shared history.
The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council acknowledges and respects that this day carries different meanings for different people, shaped by culture, history, memory, and lived experience.
For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, January 26 remains a day of mourning and a reminder of the ongoing impacts of colonisation.
At the same time, many people choose to come together as community in ways formed by their own journeys and circumstances, either through cultural practice, shared connection, or quieter acts of remembering and being together. These moments hold both sorrow and resilience, truth and hope.
In 1986, Pope St John Paul II addressed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples at Blatherskite Park in Alice Springs, affirming the dignity, cultural richness, and enduring place of Australia’s First Peoples.
He reminded the Church that it cannot be fully itself without the contribution of First Peoples. Forty years on, this address continues to shape NATSICC’s call to the Church to approach January 26 with honesty, humility, and a commitment to listening, reflection, and justice.
It also invites us to ask honestly whether, over these past 40 years, we have done all that we might.
NATSICC recognises and knows first-hand the persistent disparities experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in areas such as health, education, housing, and life expectancy, and acknowledges that reconciliation remains unfinished work.
At the same time, there are signs of hope. Across Australia, many local communities are rebuilding relationships through dialogue, cultural renewal, and practical cooperation on Country.
As a Catholic faith community, NATSICC recognises that genuine reconciliation is not only social or structural, but deeply personal and spiritual.
A sense of real inner healing – where truth is named, wounds are acknowledged, and dignity is restored – helps to foster true freedom through Christ. This healing does not erase pain or history but allows individuals and communities to move forward without being bound by it.
On January 26, we take up that call in Australia by choosing to listen before we speak, to stand beside those who carry pain, and to build communities where truth, justice and friendship can grow, trusting that in Christ we can become one family.”
NATSICC Australia Day Reflection and Discernment Guide can be found here.
FULL STORY
Australia Day carries different meanings for people (ACBC Media Blog)
