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Diocesan Social Justice Group – A Trip to Canberra

18 February, 2025
Maria Oram and two Common Grace Colleagues at our meeting with MP Stephen Bates (Greens Member for Brisbane) following our meeting at Parliament House. Note he’s wearing a Common Grace scarf; the layered colours of which represent the varying temperatures as climate change occurs in creation.

Thanks to funding support from Bishop Michael and the Diocese our Social Justice Group was able to send a delegate to attend Common Grace’s national conference in Canberra. Common Grace is an interfaith Australia wide organisation that has approximately 60,000 supporters and this was their first national conference in a couple of years. Common Grace generally is involved in four areas of justice:

  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Justice
  • Creation & Climate Justice
  • Justice for People Seeking Asylum
  • Domestic & Family Violence Justice

Check out Common Grace if you want to know more about what they do and how you can get involved.

I was the blessed one chosen to attend on behalf of the Diocese; and I’m deeply grateful for this amazing opportunity that allowed me to spend three days with like-minded followers of Jesus and justice.

It was truly an inspirational weekend with the following being some of the highlights:

  • The deep and grounded connection to First Nations culture and spirituality that was the underpinning of all that was done at the conference.
  • Deep yarning circles focussed on Truth telling and the Church; the climate crisis; and indigenous youth justice.
  • The deeply spiritual welcome to country, with a smoking ceremony; and prayer liturgy – again focussed on First Nations culture and spirituality; with Jesus as the central component.
  • The sense of ecumenism that permeated with delegates from many faith traditions.
  • The opportunity to learn a lot about political advocacy and to then get to experience political advocacy in reality, with visits to Members of Parliament at Parliament House. During these visits we were lobbying regarding specific policy asks in the areas of climate change; and indigenous youth justice.

It was very meaningful for me personally; and my hope is that I can share what I’ve learnt with our local Social Justice Group and also across the Diocese as options are available. One such option is our upcoming Diocesan gathering scheduled for April 2025. Hopefully my experience and what I share of this will empower our Social Justice group and ultimately others in the Diocese to be stronger advocates for Jesus style justice in the months and years ahead.

Maria Oram