Social Justice Report 1998 : Chapter 3: Church Responses

Social Justice Report 1998

Chapter 3: Church Responses

• Introduction

• Diversity of opinion

• Factors affecting church responses

• Reconciliation

• Recommendations with particular reference to the Churches

We must all face the truth of the past. It lives on in us. We must learn from it and deal with it, so that there may be justice, reconciliation, healing and hope for the future. We therefore recognise this crucial moment in the history of the Canberra Baptist Church as a God given opportunity for us:

to approach the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community and publicly express our sorrow for the hurt that has occurred;

to acknowledge that by silent acquiescence, by moral insensitivity or ignorance we are partly responsible for that hurt;

and to commit ourselves to do all we can to make sure that such things will not occur again.

Apology offered by Canberra Baptist Church to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People, December 14, 1997.

Introduction

There is a long-standing relationship between the churches and Indigenous people. Any responsible account of that relationship must acknowledge both its positive and negative aspects. The National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families came at a time when churches had already begun to grapple with issues arising from the effects of missions on the lives and cultures of Indigenous people. The release of Bringing Them Home accelerated this process by vividly confronting many church members with the details of the instrumental role played by the churches in the separation of Indigenous children from their families.

This chapter outlines various church responses to the Inquiry and the recommendations of Bringing Them Home . Resource constraints governed our research and extensive consultation was not possible. It is important to point out that the church responses identified here are Christian. This is not to say non-Christian churches or religious groups have not also made responses. Our focus on Christian churches was determined by the role they played in the removal of Indigenous children from their families and communities. The substance of the chapter is drawn from a selection of public materials, media releases, statements and apologies made by churches and church-based organisations. It is not exhaustive but rather indicates the character of responses formulated by institutions that played such a central role in implementing the laws, practices and policies of assimilation.

Diversity of opinion

One clear theme that has emerged in assessing the churches' responses is the diversity of opinions, particularly at the local level. The churches' responses must be viewed in the context of debate within their congregations.

While some groups may find their church's response minimal, others would argue that some action has been too radical. The public responses certainly reflect the overall engagement of a great number of people constituting the membership of the various churches.

There are those who do not recognise the significance or relevance of the Inquiry and Report. There are also those who are aware but who refuse to be drawn into a 'cause' for Indigenous people. There are perceptions that responses, particularly apologies, reflect too adversely on the character of the churches of previous times. There are members who refuse to have anything to do with 'symbolic acts of reconciliation'.

There are also those who express a deep concern for the plight and ongoing struggle of Indigenous Australians. Within the churches there are non-Indigenous people working for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, as well as Indigenous groups engaged in the struggle for recognition, reconciliation and social justice.

As Christians, we apologise that this happened in our country and communities and offer those affected our moral, emotional and spiritual support.

Seventh-Day Adventist Church statement on 'The Stolen Generation', November 20, 1997.

This diversity of opinion and perspective within individual churches, as well as distinctive denominational positions, has contributed to the debate surrounding the responses of religious institutions to Bringing Them Home .

Factors affecting church responses

From one perspective, churches can be seen as microcosms of society, constituted by lay and non-lay members within structures extending throughout Australia. They also possess an international dimension with values and organisational structures that transcend national boundaries. However, their responses to the Inquiry are influenced to some degree by their membership of institutions that were intimately involved in the processes of separation and removal.

The Australian Catholic Social Justice Council feels great sorrow for the pain and anguish of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families affected by the former government policy of forcibly removing indigenous children from their families. Many Catholics didn't know much about this practice until the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission conducted its National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families. We now understand that many indigenous Australians have been deeply hurt by this experience. The brave telling of personal stories at the Inquiry's hearings tore at the hearts of mothers and fathers. We are all someone's children.

Today the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council acknowledges our Church's part in these events and offers the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and especially the 'stolen generation', our sincere regret. We hope through this acknowledgement of the truth of the past to take another step together on the path to healing.

The Australian Catholic Social Justice Council of the Catholic Church in Australia, statement on National Sorry Day, May 26, 1998.

The churches are institutions with a large majority of non-Indigenous members and their responses to Bringing Them Home reflect this composition, evidenced by the overwhelming tendency toward apology. In this respect their responses can be seen as intertwined with, or forming a subset of, the broader non-Indigenous community response. However, the churches are not only comprised of non-Indigenous people, and any representation of their responses must incorporate the reactions of their Indigenous members.

Indigenous people's position within the churches is distinctive for a number of reasons. First, it was Indigenous people who were so devastated by the policies of forcible removal. In many cases Indigenous members of churches were themselves the subjects of removal. Second, Indigenous people are parishioners and members of church communities that are endeavouring, as institutions, to come to terms with the history of involvement in these practices. Third, Indigenous people have reported that within the churches they are often seen, somewhat unrealistically, as representing all Indigenous Australians and are therefore expected to be experts on drafting apologies and developing policies regarding the recommendations of Bringing Them Home . In combination these factors result in a complex and sometimes difficult dynamic of personal responses by Indigenous people within the churches.

The churches hold a unique position as contemporary social institutions and custodians of ethical values. As such, their responses hold a particular significance and carry a special influence. Regarded from an institutional framework, the position of the churches in some ways parallels the position of governments. The instrumental role of the churches in carrying assimilation policies into effect on behalf of governments creates an interesting point of comparison between church and some government attitudes towards acknowledging institutional responsibility for past practices. It throws light on different understandings of the issue of accepting contemporary corporate responsibility, and the appropriateness of making a formal apology.

...We regret that the government has not found room in its heart to apologise, or to pay any specific compensation to groups and individuals for the damages caused by the past policies. We appeal to the government to reconsider. No sum of money has the power to heal the wounds caused to individuals and to the Indigenous peoples as a whole, if not accompanied by an apology. While the government refuses to apologise this issue will continue as a cancer in the nation, and the whole nation - Indigenous and non-Indigenous - will continue to suffer. What was done cannot be undone, but we can end the silence. We can stop turning our heads away.

Open letter to the Prime Minister from leaders of the Uniting Church in Australia, December 19, 1997.

Reconciliation

Since 1988, the bi-centenary of first settlement, or Governor Philip's arrival in Australia, churches have been dealing seriously with the dispossession and marginalisation of Indigenous peoples. In some ways, the churches were better prepared than the rest of society to respond to the issues raised by the Inquiry regarding the effects of past policies and the treatment of Indigenous Australians. The negative impacts of native missions on Indigenous people had already been recognised, as were the complexities of reconciling good intentions and genuine concern for the welfare of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with actions which resulted in the denial of their human rights. Dealing with the past, while continuing to play a major influence in the lives of many Indigenous people, seems to have sharpened the conscience of many church leaders and members of church communities.

In dealing with issues of the past, present and the future, placed in the context of a broad societal discussion of the rights of Indigenous people, the churches have become major participants in the process of reconciliation. There is an awareness that active engagement with Indigenous people as partners is essential to the process. For many non-Indigenous church members there is a merging of broad themes. The specific matters reported on in Bringing Them Home are seen as connected with the historical dispossession and general marginalisation of Indigenous people which transcend the particular recommendations of the Inquiry. The issues of dispossession, marginalisation, disadvantage and the recognition of contemporary rights can only be met by a wider response.

We are ashamed that we have failed to recognise the extent of dispossession, deprivation and trauma over the past 200 years. We have been and are part of the culture that has dominated, dehumanised and devalued Aboriginal religious, cultural and family life. For this we are deeply sorry and express our heartfelt apology to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. We commit ourselves to working towards a reconciled Australia.

Quaker Sorry Statement to the Indigenous People of Australia. January, 1998.

Churches are involved in the education of the broader community as well as educating their parishioners. A great deal of church action occurs through local groups. Such groups may be made up of different denominations gathering to show ecumenical, or at least trans-denominational support for Indigenous people. A significant leadership role may be taken at a higher level or through special interest groups within a denomination.

...We, the Catholic Bishops of Australia, wish to take the opportunity offered by this occasion of remembrance to ask the victims of the policy of breaking up indigenous families their forgiveness for any part the Church may have played in causing them harm and suffering. We note with regret that lamentable chapter of Australian history which saw the unjustifiable separation of Indigenous children from their families. We express our deepest sorrow for the suffering and hurt inflicted on Indigenous Australians which have consequences still in evidence today - social dislocation, loss of culture and identity, and a continuing sense of hopelessness in the lives of many of the First Peoples of our nation...In the spirit of sorrow and forgiveness, we, the Catholic Bishops of Australia, wish to record our commitment to continue the healing process for the benefit of the victims of the unjust policies of the past, to support the needs of indigenous peoples today, and to contribute to the quest for national reconciliation.

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference Statement on National Sorry Day, May 26, 1998.

Recommendations with particular relevance to the Churches:

The recommendations particularly relevant to the churches cannot be exhaustively stated. In one sense they may all be supported by the churches. None lie within their exclusive providence. There have been specific responses made at many levels with varying degrees of involvement and commitment to specific action.

We will continue to be in solidarity with the Australian Aboriginal peoples as they seek a 'fair go'. We stand also with the churches in Australia as they play their part in addressing these issues where basic human values are at stake.

Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), March 4, 1998.

Churches have responded at a national level with apologies from all major denominations.

On behalf of the Anglican Church of Australia the General Synod apologises unreservedly and seeks forgiveness for any part played, knowingly or unwittingly, by the Anglican Church that has ever contributed in any way to that hurt or trauma by the unjustified removal of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander children from their families, and for our past silence on this issue.

Anglican Church of Australia, passed at General Synod meeting, Adelaide, February 1998.

Churches have expressed apology at state and regional levels.

We confess that our failure to see what we were doing denied our common humanity, degraded us all, and was not Christian. For all this we are truly sorry and apologise unreservedly.

Apology from the Victorian Baptist Union, presented March 13, 1998.

Local congregations, particular communities and specific interest groups have responded directly.

Today the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council acknowledges our Church's part in these events and offers the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and especially the 'stolen generation', our sincere regret. We hope through this acknowledgement of the truth of the past to take another step together on the path to healing.

The Australian Catholic Social Justice Council of the Catholic Church in Australia, statement on National Sorry Day, May 26, 1998.

In many local congregations there was a desire to express a broader message of sorrow and regret for the historical position of Indigenous people. Apologies addressing the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children acted as a catalyst for wider apologies as the contemporary representatives of a people who dispossessed another people. There is an interest in a broad re-evaluation of the past and a desire to set a new framework for the future. This sincere grassroots community response recognises the deeper significance of Bringing Them Home .

We, the people of the Rosanna Baptist Church, acknowledge the pain and suffering of Indigenous Australians that occurred as a result of European settlement. We further confess our ignorance of Indigenous cultures, and our lack of compassion for Indigenous people in their plight. By our silence we have allowed this suffering to occur and continue, through the removal of children from their natural parents and environment, and by taking over the land without recognition of the nature of the relationship of Indigenous people to the land, or proper consideration of the impact on Indigenous people and their culture. We confess also the attitude of cultural superiority which has undergirded all these actions and attitudes.

For these things, we unreservedly apologise.

Apology from the Rosanna Baptist Church presented to representatives of the local Indigenous community and from the Baptist Church

Apologies aside, there have been other initiatives that represent movement towards restorative justice. The Uniting Church in Australia has taken steps towards the restitution of land, and other churches are engaged in discussions to this end, consistent with recommendation 41. Various statements of apology, moreover, contain commitments to other forms of specific action. These statements have emerged from a process of sharing, learning and confronting the reality of the churches' involvement in the separation and removal of Indigenous children. They are based on an insight into the experience of loss and its full human implications. This entry into the perspective of Indigenous Australians and the recognition of responsibility to redress the aftermath, speaks of a genuine resolve common to the responses of Australian churches.

I wish to offer a heartfelt and unreserved apology to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on behalf of the Religious Orders of sisters, brothers and priests of Australia. We are sorry for the pain you have suffered because of the forced separation of your children which took place over many decades. We are deeply sorry for any pain that you and your children have felt by being placed in our Catholic institutions. In the light of the National Inquiry Report, we are beginning to understand some of the devastating effects that government policy had on your lives and the part we played in implementing these policies. Children suffered the shocking experience of losing their present and their past - they lost their parents, families, their language, spirituality, land and identity. In having their children taken from them, Indigenous communities were deprived of their future and their hope.

We undertake to offer help where possible for people to trace their records, so that they may recover their identity and hopefully find their way home again.

We commit ourselves to be part of the national process of reconciliation in dialogue with you. We know an apology cannot undo past sufferings. We want to be part of healing the deep wound which affected Australia because of past practices. We pray that, walking together, we can find a new way forward in this land we call home.

Apology to Indigenous People from the Religious Orders of Australia, June 11, 1997.

Nonetheless church action so far, with few exceptions, has been primarily in the area of awareness and apology. While this is a positive first step, there is still much for the churches as institutions, communities of faith, and as distinct sections of society, to initiate. The apologies are a response to one of the recommendations of the Inquiry report. There are several others that remain to be addressed.

3 April 2003.