AUSTRALIAN CITIZENSHIP DAY (17 September)

Invites us to reflect on what it means to be an Australian citizen and on what as citizens we should contribute to and expect from our governments. ...Our starting point as Catholics, and indeed as human beings, is that each person in the world is precious – not because of their virtues or accomplishments but because of their human dignity. We are also joined in a shared humanity. All human beings in the world are our brothers and sisters on whom we depend and who depend on us to flourish as human beings. We are shaped by our relationships which become part of us as persons. .... In recent years politicians have used citizenship as an attempt to shape the religious and racial composition of Australia, making it more difficult for elderly immigrants and others to obtain citizenship. They have also expelled from Australia people to nations in which they have never lived and whose language they do not speak. To treat citizenship as a gift that separates dinky di Aussies from others is to divide Australians and to deny many a place at the table. (Source: Fr Andrew Hamilton, SJ -Australian Catholics)