St Mary's

Reflection on the Progressive Spirituality conference

I went to the progressive spirituality conference with Peter Terry and Helen after having coffee with Peter and Terry on Easter Sunday.

I had this question within me about where does justice fit, where does engagement with the world around us has it place in this emerging language of progressive spirituality that we are hearing.

The question of How do we have both our personal spiritual journey with who we are in the world we live, and especially in relation to those who are disadvantaged and or vulnerable  by both the structural arrangements of our society and their personal circumstances?

And

How do we recognise the different phases of our life, that influence how we engage in both our spirituality and our actions in the world?

I have read all the books that Peter and Terry have been referring and I understand there value in relation to the nature of our church doctrine and our expressions of spirituality.

However  as a person, like many of you I have been also formed in my faith as a Christian and Catholic in the traditions of social justice – tradition which placed the historical Jesus in connection with his world and the political, social, economic and religious contexts of his day.

So  I ended up with was no answers to questions but  Peter asking me to share the presentation with him … so that we could present how justice, and in particular the development of  Micah as an organisation  has been such an integral part of who we are as a community….

Would just like to add that the term progressive spirituality it one I have some difficulty with – contempory yes but I think it is so important for each of us to respect how personal, and unique each of our journey is as we live with

• the tensions that arise from our catholic tradition
• the behaviour of the  hierarchy the church
• our individual experiences of that tradition and
• who we want to be as witnesses to our faith today

We need to really value that here is no one way or one pathway – it is a combination of so many realities in our life that respect for  and the valuing of our diversity  are really fundamental principles to who we have been and who we  are as a community.

So I am sharing with you the thoughts that I presented at the common dreams spirituality conference.

Micah Projects as you know has its origins with a decision by St Mary’s leadership team in the 100 year celebration of St Mary’s as a Catholic community to follow the tradition of the Hebrew’s in Jubilee concept of releasing prisoners, forgiving debt, and especially tithing.  The decision was made to allocate 10% of the income of the community which was $10,000 to developing a collective social justice response.

Many of us were involved in our individual work and commitment to social justice, and we were being challenged about what was our collective expression of our commitment to social justice as St Mary’s. After engaging in  a process which took over a couple of years it was decided to create a not for profit organisation not to differentiate us from the community but to be independent of the social response structures of the Archdiocese which at the time were changing radically.

I have heard a lot of anxiety about the connection between Micah and St Marys’ sin exile and I really want to assure you – nothing has changed – you are integral to who and what Micah does we just don’t have the church building which gave our connection visibility.

If fact your support during the last year has been fantastic and the smooth transition would never have happened with out you and I want to thank you for that – whether it was an anonymous donation, time to assist in the move, the phone call saying you were thinking of us, volunteering— all combined demonstrated our sound foundations as a community

People who work at Micah are regularly part of the liturgy and as are some of those we work with – we just don’t have labels to identify us – and nor do we need them.

The conference

In presenting at the conference I shared some reflections of how Micah has developed as an organization in a different way to some traditional mission orientated responses of faith communities?

Right from the beginning the themes were clear

… which are also the guiding principles of St Mary’s from the prophet Micah: act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with your God

In our reflections about what we could do or would do themes emerged

Act justly: as many issues as people were identified ranging from experiences of discrimination and injustice in the church to the issues of world wide poverty, refuges, but clearly the most pressing issue at the time was homelessness – as many a time people had to walk around people to actually get into the church. There were over a hundred people sleeping in and around the church at one point in time… It is great to say that we continue to support some of those individuals today in their home.

Love Tenderly issues connected to our most intimate relationships such as domestic violence, sexual abuse, issues of gender equity, discrimination against people in same sex relationships , the horror of family members at the response of the church to their adult children who lived committed lives in same sex relationships and of course the shattering of lives by sexual abuse of priests across denominations and in church and state run institutions –

But also there was this tension amongst us about how we valued our nurturing and caring roles as acts of justice and not only valuing of the actions of justice which take us away from family  with endless meetings, protests, etc.

Walk humbly

• Need to engage people in their own solutions, in advocacy and in developing partnerships walk with people
• Respect for the personal spiritual journey of each person, as well as the wisdom across denominations and faiths
• Balance between our own desires to create justice in the raising of children, caring for elderly in our families, being active citizens engaging in activities for social change…
• Being an organisation that is not faith based in how we work according to the doctrine of the church but rather an organisation that values and know the importance of faith in all its dimensions and expressions.

Decision making process

We came to primarily three foundational agreements to guide the formation and decisions of Micah as an organisation

A)   we wanted to engage directly with people who were affected by issues of disadvantage such as the  homeless, people living in poverty, or people presenting to the community seeking assistance by being responsive

B)   we wanted to involve people in advocacy and work with them through the democratic process in creating justice and social change rather then from a position of a charity or church

C)   wanted the involvement of St Mary’s community members in responding to the presenting issues and not duplicate existing initiatives

We have consistently been able to maintain these agreements as we grown the organisation.

The process

Creating a not for profit organisation, included  electing a board, creating  a constitution based on what other parishes in Australia had done, in Victoria, but we decided against the right of the priest to veto decisions.

We choose to name the organisation Project Micah and later re registered a name change to Micah Projects Inc.

Some of my reflections about how we have developed the organisation over time that are relevant to how a community engages with the disadvantaged or a community with the poor are:

• The words act justly, love tenderly, walk humbly go beyond any one faith tradition, doctrine or faith. They are guidance for decisions, for reflection. They challenge and they are intensely personal yet enrgerising for collective action, personal growth and social change.

• Within Catholicism there always has been tensions between spirituality and social justice.. This was again evident in the conflict between the Archdioceses when the Archbishop would say yes it is all very well to be doing good works – but is Jesus really present…

It is my reflection that slowly the integration between spirituality and social justice as emerged within our community

• the difference between ourselves and others has been lessened particularly around the Eucharistic table – the poor are not the other separate to us
• Respecting and holding diversity are principles we hold close
• A fundamental belief that we are all equal in our humanity …
  • and therefore have to make an option to seek solutions to redress  inequality
  • We have to actively work and make our option for bringing people into community rather then a challenge that we need to make a preferential option the poor, and diminish the importance of the lives we live with our families, friends, workplaces and neighbours
  • The quality of our support work and engagement with people who access our organisation is at the heart of what Micah is and what we do

What we shared for so many years was the combination of

• the church building
• the people who we are
• The words of our liturgy, the Eucharist prayer
• The music
• The open space
• The welcoming atmosphere so  full of relationships
• The pubic comment, debate and lens of faith

All these together made the connections to create something that was beyond any prescribed formation of what a parish or a community of faith should be.  We have only lost the church building – and we should hold onto what a great gift we are to each other as we move forward

As an organisation Micah Projects has positioned ourselves firmly

• within the community sector, alongside committed people and organisations in every neighbourhood across Brisbane rather then in the church or charity sector but we work with church and faith organisations
• we align ourselves with the UN declaration of Human Rights
• We acknowledge the we have the ability to create justice in how we relate to each other, those we love, and the world around us

AND we firmly believe and act on our ability

• To respond to injustice as we see it, experience it, and work to redress it with other.
• Last year we connected across Brisbane with over 2,000 people, 400 families including 1000 children who were homeless resulting in 22,000 contacts.
• We have been able to maintain our commitment over 8 years that no child would sleep on the streets of Brisbane if they presented or we came into touch with them through outreach.   This commitment has only been achieved thanks to the donations and support of this community

• 85 young families resulting in over 3,000 contacts

• We have provided over 45,000 of support to people with a disability

• In the last 10 years we have had contact with over 3,000 people who have experienced abuse in church and state run institutions as children and or in faith communities by clergy as children and or adults.

Through the process of having a Board, having people from this community and others beyond take on the role of governance we

• have created an organisation of people who rather then “being called”   to give up everything and work for the poor – the traditional role of religious life in Catholic Church are ordinary people who through
  • employment,
  • a decent wage
  • skills and commitment can work with the disadvantaged whilst
  • Being able to  pay their rent or a mortgage
  • have a quality of life  in line with their lifestyle choice
  • have access to personal and professional development and most importantly
  • not compromise their time and commitment to family and friends.
  • Have flexibility to meet parental responsibilities

A group of ordinary people has greater capacity to achieve extraordinary change rather then searching for one extradionary person who is called to change the world and have others follow.  We see this lived out in so many organisations and alliances.

• We work and contribute to the issues and advocacy with partners and all not for profits who share a vision we have advocated not from a position of privilege or status as church but rather as citizens through the democratic process with people whose lives have been impacted on by the inadequate policy and practices of government or who are invisible in their communities and neglected by policy

• We aspire to acknowledge the human spirit in each other, and in each person   we work with, as we have the privilege to journey with people in dealing with their joys and aspirations but also the challenges of grief, loss, trauma, violence, poverty and inequality and poor health.

• We aspire to respect the beliefs and spiritual journey of each person alongside their requests and needs for practical assistance.

Our proudest achievement is that we have been able to maintain

• a whatever it takes approach
• for as long as it takes
• with no exclusion policies and
• our advocacy with people such as Forgotten Australians, Young Mothers for Young Women, and Homelessness.

We have achieved this through commitment, consistency, problem solving and a partnership approach which aims to support people in achieving their aspirations for their life, their family. We have the backing of  a network of people where we can all play our role. Not everyone can be engaged in the work we do , and the people doing the work need to support and backing of a community so it is sustainable, effective and life giving to both workers and people we work with.

The most recent outcome of our work has been the announcement of Common Ground – and our successful tendering for the support services.

It has been announced that the Federal and State government are committed to building a common ground project in Brisbane. The land has been purchased in Hope Street – just down the road where Gambaro’s Seafood Shop was.

As many of you know this has been the centre of a lot of advocacy, research and learning about how to respond to homelessness so that we can end it rather then simply manage and leave people trapped on the margins of our communities.

Without the vision of our Board over many years, the interest of this community we would never have been able to sustain our advocacy or be in the position we are in to be actively engaged in bringing the reality of this project to Brisbane.  We have enjoyed our work  alongside government, Grocon as construction company and those who have formed the board of Common ground Qld.

We thank you for you support. As I said we all have our different roles to play in creating change, and all at Micah are proud of our place within this community.  Whether people ever come or not they know that they will be always welcome… and they know without you we would be a very different organisation.

Personal Reflection :  Mothers Day

In reflecting on my journey as both a woman and a mother it has been closely integrated with my role within Micah and as a member of St Mary’s and I have had the privilege to be here over the many years.     I have shared the same joy of being a parent as many of you, as well as the challenges and the disappointments.  Of course as we all know having the opportunity to have a flexible workplace when parenting is a gift.  I have been very fortunate that my journey has been in the midst of a journey that we have made as a community in our collective response to acting with justice.

We and I  have also had to learn to balance this vision alongside that of loving tenderly those we love and who are so integral to who each of us are as a human being – our children.

In celebrating mother’s day it both honouring ourselves as mothers and those who mothered us but it is also honouring that nurturing and loving tenderly is strengthened when we belong to a community. St Mary’s has been such a community.

We need as mothers and as women  to belong to a community that can hold us with the tensions and challenges that such responsibility of motherhood brings into our lives.

The life of this community has been such an integral part of who I am and how I have experienced both the highs and lows that come with parenting

‘

I have always valued the simple connections of those of us who have shared the journey of parenthood over the years as each week passes and we connect with how our lives change as our children grow.

I have personally and professionally been sustained by our life as a community. The rhythm of life, of the weekly Eucharist with people who are also on   a journey, where faith is not simply about what we believe but also about what we do has been a gift to me.

The diversity of our community and our relationships and the words to act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly reflect what is common amongst us both in aspiration and in practice. How we do it – there has never been one way- it is personal and it is communal and I hope for all of us its continues into the future.