Bronwyn’s Story

IT BEGAN WITH A PHONE CALL

My journey to Dialogue and Lavender Bay began just over a year ago, with a phone call to Father Chris Toohey at the Sydney Adult Education Centre (who previously was the Director of CAEC, now Bishop of Wilcannia-Forbes Diocese).

I was raised a Catholic but had stopped attending mass regularly at the age of seventeen, as I felt the church had no relevance in my life. From about the time I turned thirty I began to think more deeply about the meaning of life. It took me several more years before I made that call to Father Chris: I was looking for a starting point to rediscover my faith and he invited me to Dialogue, a forum for young adults to discuss issues of faith, church, society and spirituality, which are relevant to them.

At that first Dialogue meeting for 2001 Father Chris explained the Pope’s letter, ‘One true path to God’ to a group of about fifty young adults. After his presentation we broke into small groups to discuss the implications of the letter. I met many friendly, welcoming young adults that night, all with a common desire to discuss their faith and how they can live it more fully in the modern world. I remember a feeling of huge relief at having found a group of Christians, of a similar age to myself, who were interested in developing their spirituality and not afraid of asking questions.

I have been attending Dialogue for a year now, and have made many new friends of the people I’ve met there. I have also been attending mass with these friends at St Francis Xavier Church, Lavender Bay. For the first time in my life I look forward to going to mass each week-the service at Lavender Bay is joyous and alive, and the congregation welcoming. I have found a real sense of community in this church; one that I have been missing all my adult life.

This year I am expanding my spiritual horizons by attending a discussion group led by Fr Keith Comer on ‘Church in Transition’ at Randwick, which is examining the future of the church from a young adult perspective. I am currently participating in the young adult Lenten programme, ‘Hope Rings Out’. I will continue to attend Dialogue and mass at Lavender Bay, and am looking into doing some more structured courses in theology in the second half of this year.

My journey of rediscovery started with a phone call that I’m very glad I made, and I thank God for leading me to the perfect place to continue this journey.

Bronwyn Dekker was raised as a Catholic, however her ‘formal’ religious education ended when she left primary school and attended State Government High Schools. Now a solicitor in Sydney, she works in the field of continuing education for lawyers.

Julie's story

I'M BORN TO SING!

I'm born to sing! I don’t do it as a performance, but to make the people happy. I wouldn’t be as involved in church if couldn’t use my gifts. I love the crowd, and love to give something back. Community is important to me.

People help you to know yourself. I find it heart-warming to sing for people, and it’s a buzz when they tell you how much they enjoyed it.

I went to a Catholic school, and went with grandma to Mass on Saturday mornings. I like the deals of the Catholic Church; I like going to church. I find a real comfort in prayer. You feel better. Probably prayer is the main thing. And the nuns and the priests and the people involved with my school have all been lovely. I wasn’t brought up really strict Catholic. It was just my religion. I was never really a regular churchgoer until I got involved at sixteen. But I will always keep it a part of my life.

I began singing in grade eight, but became involved in the parish at sixteen.

I have heard beautiful homilies from different priests everywhere. I really appreciate when they start with a quote, or tell a story or joke. I love listening to them, and respect them for all they do.

There was also a teacher, who has really shared a mutual passion for music, and we both liked the same hymns, and we’d go in to bat to get them!! I was getting into the faith that way.

I’m not really affected by what other people do-don’t really discuss it with my peers. Church groups at uni were weird ones-born-againChristians. I’ve never really doubted. I like going and it’s my church, but wouldn’t have taken such an active part without the music. I look at the present and see what a great church, parish, community I’m in now-it’s great.

Lots of school friends were Catholic, but after school they didn’t want to have anything to do with it. Most of my other friends aren’t into church. My friends are all denominations, some atheists, but it’s not an issue, we don’t judge anyone.

I just love singing at weddings. It’s such a lovely hour, especially if it’s a Nuptial Mass. I just love helping people plan their weddings; I have lots of music to choose from.

My birthday is on the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes. I have a devotion to Our Lady, mainly because of my grandmother. She never took out car insurance she was sure Our Lady would look after her!

I believe everything happens for a reason, and when God closes a door, He opens a window! Anytime during the day, I will say a little prayer of thanks, or I will pray that things go well in a performance.

God’s given me this talent, and everyone says ‘Don’t let it go to waste!’ I certainly plan to make the most of it. One day I’ll be able to pay back my Mum for all she’s done for me.

My Mum and my grandma were great. I would never have been able to follow my dream without them.

Duke's story

Church gives me balance

I'm connected to the church because of the balance it gives me. I work pretty long hours, and it’s a good chance to look back and reflect on the week.

I travel down to the parish I went to in high-school even though I’ve moved away from there to live. You can walk into a Catholic Church anywhere, and know what it means! You feel the connection with something else-something bigger!

I came to the Catholic Church when about eight or nine years old. My parents divorced, and I went to church with my stepfather. I’ve maintained it, whereas my sister let go of it. I suppose I draw more from it.

I’m not perfect! There are a lot of things I don’t understand or control but having faith gives direction to everything, instead of drifting around aimlessly. I like being a part of ‘something bigger’. To be part of something bigger-I think that’s s good theme to have! It’s good to look back on the week and reflect on the people around me: have I been supportive, taken care of everyone?

If I was a perfect person, I probably wouldn’t go to church at all! It gives me direction; if I didn’t do it, I wouldn’t stop and think about what I’m doing, and what kind of person I’m meant to be: someone who’s balanced, who does things for the right reasons. I have no big lofty goals, just be in a stable job, raise a family.

I got on really well with my grandmother-quite a special relationship there. I saw her faith, and thought, what am I missing out on? In year seven I was taught by a nun-she was a very amazing lady; came off as very hard-nosed, but had a very soft side. I learnt a lot from her. Family hasn’t really been a huge influence. My faith is pretty much ‘my own thing’.

I still drive out to my old parish. I minister there each week, and of course help out with the youth mass once a month. I feel I should contribute more, but…

Working in a business capitalist arena, being Catholic gives an ethical dimension; helps provide me with an ethical framework to judge things against. I think Government needs a moral framework; it just works too much out of an economic one.

Duke Badger, 21, is putting his degree in Business and Marketing to use as a management cadet with a building maintenance company.

Cathie’s Story

I NEED TO HELP PEOPLE

I’m the kind of person who feels I need to help people all the time. So I went nursing thinking that would be the answer. But of course, it ended up all too political-too few staff, no funding… I went to Sydney, and found myself with Josephite Community Aid.

We would take vanloads of stuff for refugees in government flats. Through a saucepan, some bread, a set of cutlery we were welcomed into the lives of people from Bosnia or Somalia-and that means into their families!

Walking with these people was trying to make ‘the habit of doing good’ (by doing it, not talking about it!). It was a huge change in my life, and I am still incredibly moved whenever I think of it. It could be summed up in these words.

If you come here to help me you are wasting your time, but if you come here because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.

It’s not about ‘my cup overfloweth, and I’ll give it to you what’s left over’, it’s about ‘let’s share what we have’, and I don’t think I ever felt I was better than anybody else, but I knew I had God-given gifts and talents that I had to share, not keep to myself. If you’ve got a candle don’t put a cup over the top of it! Let it shine! Still I pray everyday for the grace to accept my humanness, and to accept that from time to time I will fail!

 JCA and all it involved was a very overwhelming, moving experience, but I needed to reflect on it, so moved to the Marist Farmhouse community at Mittagong. That community’s ministry was hospitality, but it also ran retreats, helping young adults journey, to find their direction, or give them space when they needed it.

Back home in Brisbane now, working as a campus minister I see more than ever that Christianity must be a call to justice. I cannot live without acknowledging the faith that is deep within me, that pumps through my veins.

I’m here, and I really have to do something about the injustice of the world, and to make things more even. It isn’t always easy, but then, Jesus was crucified after all, so if I get dirt kicked in my face, it’s not so bad!

Four things I think are really important in justice are:
• Solidarity, living as though other people and living things matter;
• Living simply, and being with people where they are;
• Education; both educating myself to the issues of the world, and trying to do something about them, and
• Educating others.

Cathie Stone, 25, works as a Campus Minister at St. Columban’s College, Caboolture. She has lived and worked in a number of young adult communities.

Damien’s Story

JUSTICE IS A WAY OF LIFE

I went to a Christian Brothers school, and was settled into accountancy at uni!

Whilst working as accountant for the Brothers, I became involved in a number of projects, and eventually I was encouraged to work in a remote aboriginal community. There were challenges: traditional languages, no cafes, no pubs! It was an ‘otherworld’ experience up there!

Driving back from camping one day-hot dry dusty-one of the aboriginal guys in the back of the land cruiser saw white cockatoos up ahead. Nathan pointed ‘that’s me’. Not ‘my totem’ or ‘my symbol’ but ‘that’s me’. His spirituality and him are so inbuilt-not a separate thing from his life. It was a powerful thing living in Port Keats, to see through different eyes. For us westerners, spirituality is here, work is here, personal life here-all fragmented. With Nathan, it’s totally holistic.

Spirituality for me is not about the rituals, though they are a beautiful way to celebrate it. It’s not about how you should live, but about how you do live. Life is its expression of spirit. Thus spirituality is revealed in what you actually do; what drives you.

For me, justice is a way of life-not to be segregated. Justice is about honouring the divine in all creation. The Celts identified God in the world around them; Jesus spoke about God in the people, the children and lepers.

So, spirituality is trying to establish a right relationship with that divine-interact in an appropriate way with that which exists everywhere; a way of living in reverence of it. If all creation has divinity in it, then inherent in that is a dignity-if I believe that God is in everything, then how can I disrespect anything? So for me justice is about that-honouring that dignity, living in awe of all creation.

But it’s more than appreciation. If I honour that dignity, I must defend it when it is under attack. A call that we all have is the one that Jesus of Nazareth had, to compassion. The Greek word for compassion had to do with entrails, bowels-an intense gut reaction; that incredible reaction that screws up your gut and says, ‘No! It’s not right!’

Our problem always is that ego gets in the way, so Jesus of Nazareth was an incredible example, because he truly gave himself over to the power of God and let that power work its will through him. So the strength is in us, but we act by choosing to go past the ego, and in choosing, we can choose to work out of love or out of fear.

Fay White once said:

You have a power within you. Every moment you can choose whether to use it to create or destroy.

I extend that to ‘choose to work out of love or fear’.

Respecting dignity gives us an extra responsibility; we must act in an informed way. Communities suffer still from the effects of well-meaning paternalism - but working out of ignorance results in the same destruction as ill- will. Awareness is crucial to making informed decisions theoretically and personally. We must try to be as informed and aware as we possibly can. So, justice in the end is a struggle for awareness, coming from a decision to live in right relationship with the divine.

Damien Murtagh, 29, has just returned from working at Port Keats, a remote aboriginal community in the Northern Territory.