anglican focus

The news site of the Anglican Church Southern Queensland: nourishing and connecting our faith community

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander spiritualities

Justice & Advocacy Priest standing outside a Cathedral Justice & Advocacy

Now more than ever

“We need to listen to and reflect upon the stories of the ancient ones that have been passed down over generations to those living in the present. Christ has called us to this. Now more than ever we need to listen to His call to be compassionate, just and loving, so we can walk authentic Christian journeys towards Reconciliation,” says The Rev’d Canon Bruce Boase as National Reconciliation Week commences on Monday

"Torres Strait Eight" Traditional Owner Yessie Mosby showing Archbishop Jeremy Greaves the impacts of climate change, including the shrinking shoreline and where the ancestral resting places were previously located before being washed away, at his family’s property on Masig on Saturday 11 May 2024
National

Archbishop Jeremy echoes urgent call for 1.5 degree climate threshold after Torres Strait visit

Archbishop Jeremy has echoed the urgent call of Torres Strait Islander Traditional Owners to limit global average surface warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures following his recent visit to Poruma and Masig Islands

Reflections

"The first Easter I remember"

“As a community, after the Easter Day service we celebrated the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with a big kai kai (feast). People from all over the Torres Strait Islands and Papua New Guinea (which was then still administered by Australia) came via sailing canoes rather than by motor boats, bringing seafood, taro, sweet potato, casava, sago and other traditional foods. We then had traditional dancing with men wearing headdresses made of emu feathers and women wearing grass skirts,” says Uncle Milton Walit from NATSIAC and The Parish of Laidley

Resources & Research

My experience navigating the Anglican Church as a Torres Strait Islander person

“I also often invite other Anglicans to see that Torres Strait Islander Christians are Christians in our own way. We seamlessly blend our ancient sovereign ways and knowledges as Traditional Custodians with the wider Church’s ways and knowledges. For example, as part of my baptism as a baby, my mum removed my clothing and nappy and held me up in the sea breeze to be sprayed, to first be blessed, by the malu (ocean). She then took me to the church for the service,” says Aunty Dr Rose Elu

Justice & Advocacy

Seeking nourishment, healing and a way forward after the referendum

“One of the greatest tragedies of the referendum outcome is that the lives of non-Indigenous Australians who voted ‘no’ will continue on the same just as their lives would have continued on the same if they had voted ‘yes’. It is the lives of First Nations peoples who will be impacted by the referendum result — and negatively so for decades to come,” says Aunty Dr Rose Elu