Ahead of the Victorian state election in November, Catholic Social Services Victoria invited leaders from across its membership, alongside colleagues from Catholic education and health, to discuss core areas of need in the state.
These forums, which will be convened throughout the year, invite the Catholic sector leaders to reflect on their common mission to promote justice and charity in light of overlapping areas of need and concern.
Hang Vo, Sacred Heart Mission chief executive and Australian Council of Social Service president, led a reflection on her organisation’s work.
She asked those present to consider not only the needs they see daily in the people they serve who are experiencing homelessness and in aged care, but also how they might attend to unjust structures and conditions that underpin disadvantage.
She argued there was a distinction between being “ partisan political” and being a part of an engaged polis and urging work for the common good, based on the evidence base built up from experiences of service and relationships.
CSSV executive director Josh Lourensz called for solidarity across sectors where there is overlapping needs and shared areas of social policy concern.
“Part of CSSV’s task this election year is providing the opportunity for everyone to ‘lend a hand to this task’ — to stand with and serve the poor, and be a part of a more just and compassionate society,” Mr Lourensz said.
“This will mean engagement with political candidates, incumbent members of parliament and the communities they serve and will vote for or against them, but it will also mean giving space for reflection on what we need to change ourselves, at a community level, an organisational level, and at a personal level, to better be in fidelity to a faith that does justice.
“This upcoming election can be an invitation to move our thinking outside of our own immediate circumstances, and consider what is necessary to contribute to the good of my neighbour, the creation of neighbours, and what will work best for the common good.
“As is consistently stressed by Catholic social teachings, these considerations should always be in keeping with a preferential option for the poor.”
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Catholic Agency Leaders Unite for a Just and Compassionate Society this Victorian Election Year (CSSV)
