Reconciliation  Sunday

National Reconciliation Week is held every year between 27 May and 3 June. These dates are significant because 27 May marks the anniversary of the 1967 Referendum where more than 90 per cent of Australians voted to give the Commonwealth the power to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and include them in the national census.

On 3 June 1992, the High Court of Australia legally paved the way for native title through the Mabo decision, which recognised that Indigenous people had a special relationship with the land that existed before colonisation.

National Reconciliation Week

Common Grace website

A video for us to watch:

“Brooke Prentis on Rethinking Reconciliation” (here)

A prayers of sorrow for us to pray:

Reconciliation week prayers of lament & healing (here)

Check out Jasmin Robert’s evocative painting:

“Will you take my hand?

 Will you help me find truth?

 Will you help me seek justice?

 Will you please, please, please take my hand?”

Check out this & other great art work of Jasmin’s on her Facebook page “MyTimeForDreaming” here

 

In 2019:

St Simon’s church family contributed financially to the wonderful work of the Yeddung Mura Aboriginal Corp here in Canberra.

A number of our folk also assisted Yeddung Mura administratively, preparing grant applications from which Yeddung Mura has now received significant government grant funding for 2019/20.

Yeddung Mura:

“We are here to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait detainees released from jail and their families in the Australian Capital Territory and surrounding region.

Our guiding principle is ‘Everyone deserves another chance’.

Our aim is to bring about positive change in the lives of our clients by instilling a greater sense of purpose and value in them.”