17 June 2021

Faith Matters - Hospitality

Article by Mr Brendan Nicholls

Faith Matters - Hospitality

As the semester winds up we enter into the final week of school by celebrating Refugee Week. It is fitting that over the final days of Term we consider the needs of others. So much time is spent on our personal needs around assessment and exams that the final week is a refreshing change and an illuminating experience for all. We are a community of inclusion. We welcome the stranger and advocate for those without a voice. Refugee week is a key part of our year as a Catholic community.

Our Tradition centres around the concept of loving God and our neighbour. From the earliest times God revealed to the patriarchs the primacy of welcoming and caring for strangers. Including those who are unknown or different was in-fact a key component to fulfilling God’s covenant. Jesus expanded on this teaching by repeatedly encountering those in need, relying on the hospitality of strangers and clearly teaching that "just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me."

Jesus calls us to understand the complete connectedness of humanity and his desire that we view the world through his eyes. As humans we have an innate desire to view outsiders as different and engaged with caution. This can serve us well at times as we encounter those who may truly present a threat but can be a significant limitation when other than different the stranger poses no threat.

Our Country prides itself on the notion of a “fair go”, although it seems that Refugees and Asylum Seekers are treated quite a bit differently to those who come to Australia in the “right way”. We are an affluent country that has the ability to offer much more financial and material support to those in need. The primary problem for many asylum seekers is the legal definition of the terms used and the legislation that has been developed specifically over may years to “strengthen Australia’s borders” by redefining people migrating to Australia by boat as “unlawful maritime arrivals”.

In recent weeks Nades, Priya, Kopika (5) and Tharnicaa (3) Murugappan have been caught in the middle of this ongoing political conundrum and legal debate. The parents Tamil asylum seekers arrived from Sri Lanka in 2013 as a result of the civil war and have two children who born in Australia and who were well liked community members of Biloela (Queensland).

This changed in 2018 when the family, including the two children were sent to detention in Melbourne and in 2019 were transferred to Christmas Island. In recent weeks Tharnicaa was airlifted to Perth for specialist treatment for sepsis and pneumonia. Early this week the family received the news that they would be relocated to Perth. Their status has not changed however and much is yet to occur if they are to be allowed to remain in Australia.

Fr Thadayoose Lazar, parish priest of St Joseph’s Biloela, rhetorically asks us to consider “Where is our compassion, where Jesus is asking us to love our neighbours." Such a question is at the centre of our Catholic worldview. Jesus calls us to go beyond legal and political debate. He calls us to go beyond what is ‘natural’ in the way we encounter strangers. Jesus calls us to see the world through his eyes and act in response to what he sees in a situation.

As an Ignatian exercise we would do well to contemplate ourselves in the place of Jesus or the parents Nades and Priya in this situation. Attempt to look beyond the human inclination of seeing the ‘other’ what do you see? What emotions do you feel? What has been revealed that was hidden before? Who can help improve the situation? What does your new insight call you to do?

Pope Francis challenges the status quo and the apathy many in the world have toward the plight of refugees and asylum seekers in saying, “We have become used to the suffering of others: it doesn’t affect me; it doesn’t concern me; it’s none of my business! …Their condition cannot leave us indifferent.” The greatest risk we take in being indifference is missing the encounter with the other. St Paul’s letter to the Hebrews announces the great treasure we may miss in saying, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

Lord,

Help us and our nation move beyond indifference during Refugee Week.

We pray that Tharnicaa recovers swiftly and that she enjoys spending her first birthday outside of immigration detention this month!

Do not leave us indifferent Lord.

May we unknowingly entertain angels in our welcome and through our compassion to strangers like the Murugappan family.

Yours in Christ,

Brendan Nicholls  Liturgy Coordinator

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