Catholic Social Services Victoria has thrown its support behind a national truth-telling process and is urging the broader Catholic community to join it in taking part in this month’s National Walk for Truth.
Executive Director Josh Lourensz said CSSV believes that truth-telling is fundamental to reconciliation and justice broadly, and links well with the ongoing work of its member organisations and what has been said by Church leadership at the national level — the Plenary Council decrees, the Australian Bishops’ 2023-2024 statement Listen, Learn, Love, and NATSICC’s endorsement of the Uluru Statement From the Heart.
Mr Lourensz said the Australian Bishops, in their 2023-2024 statement, particularly acknowledged the need for injustices to be recognised, and for deep listening and change to occur, urging “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples need to be welcomed from the margins into the centre so that they can lead the discussions about change and implementation of actions to bring about healing and justice”.
Mr Lourensz said that after discussion with the CSSV Reconciliation Working Group, the Victorian member of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council (NATSICC), and the Fire Carrier program workers from Sandhurst Catholic Education and the Open the Doors Foundation, CSSV decided to encourage broader Catholic community support and participation in the National Walk for Truth.
The walk starts from the Victorian Parliament in Melbourne on April 19 and continues to Parliament House in Canberra, arriving on May 27, travelling through the Archdiocese of Melbourne, the Diocese of Sandhurst, the Diocese of Wagga Wagga and the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn.
Mr Lourensz said the invitation is to the broad community and Catholic schools, parishes, organisations and individuals, all of which can join various public sections of the walk.
He said that following the Yoorrook Justice Commission in Victoria, “a national truth-telling process could further this work and draw the country together into a profound spirit of reconciliation and healing”.
“We encourage the Catholic community to join the National Walk for Truth to demonstrate support for a national truth-telling process – in solidarity for a healed and reconciled country,” he said.
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Catholic Social Services Victoria supports National Walk for Truth (CSSV)
