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The Community Leader Awards
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cameron auld
Cameron Auld:
I live
for the moment, I see
the faces change on
those whom I help on
the streets and in the
prison release pro-
grams.
2
0
1
7
Finalist
- Community Leader of the Year 2017
What do you do in your
community?
I help with released inmates on the outside
upon their release. I help them try not to
reoffend. I also help with the
St Vincent de Paul Society at the Goodna conference. I
help with the poor and the disadvantaged
in the community and marginalised. I also
collect Bibles for the prisons in Brazil, the
United States and Suva in Fiji, and I send
them over to those three sets of prisons. I
also drive for CODI on a volunteer basis.
It’s taking disabled people and people on a
pension to and from hospital and medical
appointments. It’s a form of non-emergen-
cy ambulance transport.
How did you get started?
I started working as a prison chaplain in
2005 or 2006. I was asked by Fr Kevin
Ryan who rang me one night after he saw
my life story in The Australian newspaper
and he asked me if I’d like to work with the
prison ministry as a chaplain. So I tried
out for the chaplaincy, I studied and I did
some work with Faith and Life education
and got some certification within the
Catholic Church. I’ve been working ever
since in the prison but I retired in 2015.
What do you love about your
work?
I love Christ but I have a deep devotion to
Our Lady Mary. I even have Mary tattooed
across my chest over my former swastika
tattoos from my biker days. I ask Mary
every morning to join me in my quest to
help others around me. I love helping peo-
ple especially those in desperate need, the
marginalised, the poor, the sick, the judged
and those less fortunate than myself. I live
for the moment, I see the faces change on
those whom I help on the streets and in
the prison release programs.
Why is your Catholic faith
important to you?
Five reasons: Jesus, Mary, the saints, prayer
life and the Bible. The virtual 24-hour
prayer life that the Catholic Church offers
us is essential for communication and rev-
erence with Christ. The saints, particularly
the Maris
t St Louis de Montfort– my per-
sonal favourite, the Motherly love of Mary
and the pure love and guidance through
life’s trials and tribulations that Jesus offers
and helps us with. My own personal pain
of having a 50 per cent blindness in my
left eye, completely deaf left ear, diabetes,
arthritis of the spine, one kidney, chronic
depression and chronic post-traumatic
stress disorder has brought me closer
to the understanding of the pain that
marginalised suffer to whom I offer help. I
couldn’t ever live without the mother’s love
and consolation of Mary and the comfort
and security of Jesus in my life.
What was your reaction when
you heard you were a finalist
for The Leaders?
Absolute shock and humility I suppose. I’ve
usually shied away from recognition in the
past and only allowed my life story to be
used in the media so as to help those who
think they can connect with me. I couldn’t
believe it. I just love doing the things for
my peers less fortunate than myself that
Jesus and Mary would want me to do. As
I’m working in the community, I sleep well
at night knowing I have done the same for
Jesus and His Mother as Scripture tells us.