anglican focus

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

First Nations peoples

Justice & Advocacy Torres Strait Islander elder and young person Justice & Advocacy

Keeping the home fires burning — a very long way from home

“I have shared something of my culture here with you — how muiy (fire) gives physical and spiritual strength to my people. I have shared this from the warmth that I have for you in my heart. I encourage you to similarly share with someone this NAIDOC Week something of your culture, speaking from the warmth in your own heart. What keeps your pride in your culture burning?” asks Aunty Dr Rose Elu

Video

Archbishop Jeremy Greaves on Torres Strait Islander 4MW (Meriba Wakai) Radio

“Seeing for myself just how serious the issue is in some places and the damage that has been done and the struggle for people to get people to listen and particularly Government to commit to proper funding to help with the…seawalls and sandbags and to do that properly…We saw the coastal erosion and heard stories about where the beach used to be and the houses that are no longer there because the land has become so eroded. In a couple of places we saw where the bones of ancestors had been washed out to sea,” says Archbishop Jeremy Greaves in his 4MW Radio interview with Aunty Jen Enosa
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

Dates & Seasons

Embracing a new beginning

“Ash Wednesday and the Season of Lent present opportunities for us to make the same sort of return. They offer us the opportunity for reflection, sifting and renewal; they are constructed so as to offer us the opportunity to embrace new beginnings,” says The Very Rev’d Dr Peter Catt

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