Good Works - 23 June 2023

From the National President

On 20 May I was honoured to address The Ozanam Conversation, held at the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne, a free annual event in honour of the founder of the St Vincent de Paul Society, Blessed Frederic Ozanam.  

First held in 1997, the event continues to provide an opportunity to reflect on the Society’s founding mission in today’s world. 

The theme of this year’s conversation was Surviving Through Disasters: Our role in disaster recovery and what we have learned from previous experience, and I was kindly introduced by Victorian State President, Michael Quinn. 

The focus of my remarks was:

• In what ways are the St Vincent de Paul Society most effective when dealing with natural disasters?
•  What should the Society avoid or refrain from doing when responding to a natural disaster? 

Read my address.

Part of the Society’s response to Federal Budget 2023 tabled last month (see story below) was our commentary on funding, including the lack of it, for Asylum Seekers and Refugees.  

We acknowledged the allocation to continue merits review of unsuccessful protection visa applications; support for visa holders experiencing domestic and family violence; and increased mental health support for culturally and linguistically diverse communities. 

However, we are disappointed about no commitment to fully reinstate the funding of Status Resolution Support Services, a regular payment to help with basic living costs while applicants wait to hear about their immigration status. 

The Society believes that people awaiting determination of their refugee status are perhaps the most disadvantaged in this country, with almost no safety net to draw upon. This is a key concern as we approach Refugee Week (18-24 June), Australia’s peak annual activity to inform the public about refugees and celebrate positive contributions made by refugees to Australian society.  

The theme is ‘Finding Freedom’, words that certainly apply to asylum seekers who remain in offshore detention in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.  

While the number in the latter location is slowly reducing, not least because of the extraordinary cost to the Australian taxpayer of keeping them there, those in PNG number some 100 men, many in poor circumstances. 

There should be an end to Australia’s offshore detention system. More people should be able to access the humanitarian program & Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP). In addition, the family reunion program requires urgent review.

Refugee Week is coordinated by the Refugee Council of Australia and supported by our Vincentian Refugee Network. The Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office is organising an online prayer service on 20 June at 7.00pm. The Canadian film, Finding Freedom, tells the stories of four asylum seekers detained for years by the Australian government. 

Next month, 19 July, marks the 10th anniversary of then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s statement that asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat would forever be denied settlement here. Instead, they would be sent to PNG for assessment, and if they are found to be true refugees they will be resettled there. If not, deportation would occur. 

This is not an anniversary, or a policy, to celebrate. 

A new prayer for Refugee Week

Catholics for Refugees offer a new prayer for Refugee Week to be used in parish bulletins, or in prayers for the faithful on Sunday 18 June. The prayer is for people who have sought Australia's protection but were placed into detention or are living in poverty within our communities.

Lord,

No one is a stranger to you, and no one is ever far from your loving care.

In your kindness watch over refugees and asylum seekers, those separated from their loved ones, those who are lost, those who have been made destitute and those who have been exiled.

Bring them safely to the place where they long to be and help us always to show your kindness to strangers and those in need.

National Council meets in Canberra

St Vincent de Paul Society National Council convened in Canberra for its scheduled meeting over the first weekend in June. The crowded agenda included a face-to-face meeting with the Society's state and territory CEOs and subsequent networking opportunities with senior executives from around Australia. 

Below - Members of the National Council, including National President Mark Gaetani (at right), attended a Sunday morning Mass at St Christopher's Cathedral, Canberra presided over by the Archbishop of Canberra-Goulburn, Christopher Prowse. Three months earlier Mr Gaetani had been commissioned at the cathedral as the Society's National President for the next four years.

Charity in Truth

Anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth) – 29 June 

Caritas in Veritate was Pope Benedict XVI’s only encyclical to focus exclusively on social justice matters. Published in 2009, it is the first post-Cold War social encyclical. It states: ‘Charity is at the heart of the Church's social doctrine. Every responsibility and every commitment spelt out by that doctrine is derived from charity which, according to the teaching of Jesus, is the synthesis of the entire Law.’ 

Caritas in Veritate is an anniversary encyclical commemorating Paul VI’s 1967 encyclical on development Populorum Progressio. Benedict XVI delayed publishing Caritas in Veritate so that he could address the Global Financial Crisis that was emerging as he drafted it.  

Pope John Paul II issued Sollicitudo rei Socialis to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of Populorum Progressio. This indicates how important Populorum Progressio is in the Catholic Social Teaching tradition. Its major contribution was the concept of integral human development. 

Budget 2023 - towards a Fairer Australia

The Society welcomed initiatives in the May Federal Budget to improve the lives of disadvantaged Australians struggling to cope during the cost-of-living crisis. However, it regrets the lack of substantial increases to JobSeeker and Commonwealth Rent Assistance which condemn millions of Australians to continue to live in poverty and desperation. 

National President Mark Gaetani said the Budget did recognise that far too many Australians live in poverty and despair and included several initiatives that lay a foundation for a fairer Australia.  

‘However, the Society is disappointed that the Government has not listened adequately to calls from the community, advocates and its own Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee to substantially increase JobSeeker. 

‘The Budget’s increase to JobSeeker of around $2.85 a day is less than a loaf of bread and will do little to help income support recipients survive the current cost-of-living crisis. Instead, it condemns Australia’s 860,000 income support recipients and their families to continue to live in poverty. 

‘This will be especially hard for low-income households in the context of a Budget surplus and the Government’s refusal to abolish Stage 3 tax cuts, which overwhelmingly benefit the well-off,’ Mr Gaetani said. 

Recent modelling by the Australian National University Centre for Social Research and Methods, commissioned by the St Vincent de Paul Society, found an increase to JobSeeker of $150 per fortnight, along with a 50 per cent increase to Commonwealth Rent Assistance, could be easily paid for through minor tax changes that would only marginally affect highest income-earners. 

‘This research shows there are many ways Australia could fund a substantial boost to JobSeeker that lifts recipients out of poverty and restores their dignity, without affecting the budget bottom line,’ Mr Gaetani said. 

National Reconciliation Week 2023

St Vincent de Paul Society in Australia urged all Australians to embrace this year’s theme “Be a Voice for Generations” for National Reconciliation Week (27 May - 3 June). 

‘As we approach the historic referendum on recognition of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, it is critical that all Australians be a voice for reconciliation for the benefit of future generations and a fairer Australia,’ National President Mark Gaetani said. 

‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are over-represented in almost all of our services, reflecting the challenges they experience from historic and contemporary injustices. 

‘Government interventions have repeatedly failed because they have been developed without deep listening to First Nations people. 

‘It is time to listen and to put Indigenous voices at the heart of the Australian Government’s policies and programs that impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,’ Mr Gaetani said.’ 

He said the Society had learnt that respectfully listening to people is fundamental to understanding them and their needs, and to delivering assistance that works and maintains their dignity. 

Enshrining a Voice in the Constitution will do this on a national scale, he added. 

To support community discussion during National Reconciliation Week, the Society has released an updated First Nations Policy Platform. 

The policy platform sets out the key reforms needed to support recognition, reconciliation and justice for Indigenous Australians. 

Mr Gaetani said the Society supports:  

• the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full, including constitutional recognition 
• funding of, and commitment to, Closing the Gap targets by all governments 
• raising the age of criminal responsibility 
• community-led policies on justice reinvestment and keeping children safe, with ongoing funding. 

Free webinars on The Voice

While the referendum question will have a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer, there is complexity in understanding the process and the implications that a Voice to Parliament may have for all Australians. 

 In conjunction with broad endorsement for the Uluru Statement of the Heart by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Catholic Religious Australia, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council The Association of Ministerial PJPs (AMPJP) and the recent Plenary Council, Catholic Social Services Australia is presenting an opportunity to learn from experts and hear from First Nations Australians on their hopes and concerns for the Voice to Parliament referendum. 

 The next sessions of the webinar series, particularly aimed at helping help those who feel unsure of the way forward, will be held on 29 June and 27 July.  

Register for the Webinar Series here.

Winter Sleepouts an $8.3m triumph

Section of the Vinnies CEO Sleepout crowd at Perth's Optus Stadium on the brisk night of 22 June.

The 2023 Vinnies CEO Sleepout - held for the 18th year - has so far raised a whopping $8.3 million (and still counting) to help support the Society's much-needed homelessness services around Australia.

The Sleepouts were held in capital cities and regional centres, and were well supported by leaders from business, politics and the broader community.

Donations for the Vinnies CEO Sleepout remain open until 31 July. Participants looking to take part in the 2024 Vinnies CEO Sleepout can register now.

The Vinnies Winter Appeal is also faring well, with the support of older Australian women being a major focus for the fundraising. Donations can be made here, or at SVDP state and territory websites and at all Vinnies shops.

With the end of the 2022/23 financial year almost upon us, it's worth considering that all donations over $2.00 are fully tax deductible.

Wangaratta's new conference facility opens

In late May the new Wangaratta St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria House was opened. 

The Wangaratta conferences have a long and proud history of assisting locals, dating back to 1957. In the first quarter of 2023 alone, the two conferences provided assistance to 372 families, with more than $30,000 worth of essential support. 

After years of refurbishment, there is now a purpose-built facility to better serve the local community.  

The Society in Victoria expressed its gratitude to everyone who made the opening of the new Wangaratta St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria House possible and thanked the members of the conferences for continuing the great works of the Society throughout the refurbishment

Society mourns death of young Vincentians

Brazilian students and young Vincentians Karoline Verri Alves and Luan Augusto da Silva, from the Conference Virgem Maria, in the city of Cambé (Paraná), died as a result of an armed attack on their school.

St Vincent de Paul Society President General, confrere Renato Lima, on behalf of the General Council and the entire International Confederation, announced seven days (until 28 June) of international mourning following the death of the young Vincentians.

The teenagers died as a result of an armed attack on their school, Helena Kolody College, by a 21-year-old former student. Karoline died on the spot during the attack, while Luan died later in hospital.

'We are in prayer that the families of the dear young people may be able to bear the immense pain of this very sad moment for Vincentian youth and for our Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. Let us pray the prayer DE PROFUNDIS for the soul of the Vincentian youth in all the Conferences around the world,' Renato Lima said in a message to the global community.

God of hope, we come to you in shock and grief and confusion of heart.

Help us to find peace in the knowledge of your loving mercy to all your children,

and give us light to guide us out of our darkness into the assurance of your love,

in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

The Record

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