GS Leader Shares Her Thoughts ...

In our last edition of Life and Justice Nesletter we introduced you to the new leadership team of the Good Shepherd Province of Australia and New Zealand. Joan Murphy rgs was on a well-earned holiday at the time the article was done, so we have kept her till last!

Joan Murphy rgs

Where were you born? Brisbane
When did you join Good Shepherd? 1961

Think globally, act locally. Is this just social justice jargon? What does it mean to you?For a long time, I have believed it very important to think, reflect and act in both the global world and in the local world.

To concentrate on the one and ignore the other is lop-sided and untrue. It can be a kind of escape too. The one always informs the other and is necessary for congruence in all we say and do. It is part of that holistic stance where, those who love God (and many who don't as well) all think and work together to build up the common good.

I remember before I joined Good Shepherd, my father chiding me strongly one morning when on return from Mass, I had a great argument with my younger brothers. "The spiritual must be part of your whole day," he said and I learnt a valuable lesson that day.

And it is a continuing learning process - Australia may be regarded by some as an appendix to the important ones in the world, but ... rotten appendices can kill! In keeping our own house (Australia) in order, we must first of all act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly ourselves, encourage others and expect it of our political and religious leaders.

Vale Amal Basry

Amal Basry died on March 18. She was a courageous woman, whose story opened the eyes of Australians to the plight of asylum seekers hoping to find safe harbour in Australia.

Amal was one of the survivors of the SIEV-X, a fishing boat that sank en route from Indonesia to Australia in October 2001. While Amal and her son, Amjed survived, 353 men, women and children drowned. Amal wanted to tell their story, and not let their deaths in the black cold sea, go unheard. Her life in Australia, once she arrived, was not easy. In fact, she did not get a permanent visa until last year.

Melbourne writer Arnold Zable paid tribute to Amal in The Age newspaper a few days after her death from cancer. He wrote: “Amal will not be forgotten. Her tale will live on and become an Australian legend. She was a woman of great humour and humanity ….She bore witness to the most tragic maritime disaster off Australian waters since World War II. Her experience is a powerful counter to the collective amnesia that has so quickly developed about the SIEV-X.”

“Yet it is the story of our ancestors writ large. It reminds us that the country has been built on the perilous journeys of our forebears, and the wisdom of the Indigenous peoples of this land. These are the two great forces that have shaped us.” Vale Amal Basry and thank you Arnold Zable for continuing to be a voice for justice.