Ted Lovett at St Paul's : a footy great tells us stories of Lake Condah, harsh treatment, life achievements and eels

 

Ted Lovett at the pulpit at Saint Paul's, Bakery Hill, Ballarat

 

 Ted Lovett, Father Constantine Osuchukuwu ,

with The Chair of Advocacy @ St Paul's,

Hedley Thomson 

Yesterday at St Paul's, we celebrated NAIDOC Week by having as our guest Aboriginal Elder Ted Lovett.  (For further NAIDOC week events in #Ballarat, please see the program embedded below.)

Ted, now in his seventies, is a Gundjit-Mara man from south-west Victoria - down closer to the Victorian-South Australia border. Ted said he hadn't been in an Anglican church in a very long time. He was raised on Lake Condah mission - a mission run by the Anglican church. He grew up in the very harsh conditions that modern Anglicans remember in shame.  This land was regained and taken back by the Gundjit-Mara under native title. The story of The Gunditjmara Land Justice story is embedded below.

The Budj Bim landscape in southwest Victoria is a traditional homeland of the Gunditjmara people, and is on Australia’s National Heritage List as well as in the process of being nominated for the World Heritage List. The area in and around Mount Eccles National Park has great cultural and historical significance to the Gunditjmara people, with evidence existing that their people once had a settled aquaculture society and engineered the stony wetlands around Lake Condah and Darlots Creek.  To read of the restoration of the wetlands around Lake Condah please go here.

This partnership is designed as a way of continuing the traditional land ownership strategies practiced by that society, as well as their contemporary techniques, as part of a broader view that Indigenous communities have the potential to provide new and unique viewpoints on land management. Read more here.

Uncle Ted spoke of the regeneration of the water and the lake.  I think that Uncle Ted had us in the palms of his hands as he spoke of these things.  At Cuppa Time after the service, he was warmly greeted ... and a few of us are thinking that we would like to see this country too.  And stories of the eels got our attention as well.

If readers would like to join us, should we finish up with a plan to go to Lake Condah, please be in touch with Advocacy at our email address in the side bar.

The Bishop came seeking reassurance ....

On the last Sunday of June each year in the church calendar, we remember the giants of the Christian tradition, Peter and Paul.  There are many churches name for one, other or both men.  As Advocates will understand, we are named for St Paul.  The Editor of this blog picked up this morning the Facebook post from St Peter's, Eastern Hill in Melbourne - one of that city's oldest churches. St Peter's website tells us this about themselves:

St Peter's is a place of soul-stirring liturgy, challenging preaching, fine music,
concern for issues of justice and peace - and it is a place of warm care
and welcome: a community gathered in the name of the Lord.

So The Editor wondered on Facebook if an old friend from St Peter's, West End in Townsville had a comment to make.  She did.  Below is the Facebook post with Jenny's comment.

Brigid O'Carroll Walsh

2 hrs · 

Constantine Osuchukwu should like this. While we were celebrating our Patronal Feast at St Pauls Anglican Church, Bakery Hill in ‪#‎Ballarat‬ yesterday on the Feast of Sts Peter and Paul. They were celebrating too at St Peter's Eastern Hill in Melbourne. My friend, Jenny Stirling, might like to update on goings on at St Peter's, West End, Townsville.

St Peter's Eastern Hill added 3 new photos.

Savouring the moments at yesterday's St Peter's Patronal Festival . . .

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  Jenny Stirling Yes we celebrated St Peters patronal feast yesterday- the bishop came seeking reassurance that at least one church understands the importance of children in the congregation. Things are dire in NQ. I cannot but think that new wine needs new wine skins.

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Three things are important from Jenny's comments:

1. The importance of children in the congregation.  The presence of children means younger parents - not merely the presence of the aged and ageing.
2. Things are dire in NQ.  Well, Jenny, I won't contradict you there except to say that you are not alone. There are hosts of locations across this continent where the presence of Anglican Christians can be said to be dire - in churches and in communities.
3. New wines need new wine skins.  All communities - whether of faith or not - need regeneration and refreshing to be alive and survive and continue into new generations.  Christians profess that they have a fresh message to give and to live - but how often do we seem to be trotting out the same old wine skins week after week; trotting out ancient platitudes instead of seeking new ways of speaking to the hearts and minds of the 21 Century. 

As a postscript The Editor takes the liberty of reminding fellow Christians of the famous words attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi ---

Preach the gospel, 

and - if necessary - use words.

Generations of Anglicans can't regenerate in the 21st century?

One million Britons stopped identifying as Anglican between 2012-2014. Anglican church one generation from extinction http://t.co/1PxdpHOsRu

— adam brereton (@adambrereton) June 1, 2015