The Catholic Leader - July 2

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The Catholic Leader, July 2, 2017
News
Eating like
a refugee
FROM PAGE 1
She said as a Catholic, it was her respon-
sibility to see Christ in refugees because
“they’re still children of the Lord and the Lord
made them”.
“I would always welcome refugees,” she said.
“As a Catholic, it’s just being kind to others
and, just like the Bible says, if I’m hungry, feed
me, if I’m with no clothes, clothe me – seeing
them as Christ himself.
“It doesn’t matter who they are, either a refu-
gee or the poor or the sick.
“They are still children of God.”
Since the Ration Challenge began three years
ago, more than $3 million has been raised,
money that has fed 10,700 refugees for a year.
Brisbane archdiocesan employee Donna
Longland, who completed the challenge with
her housemate Andrea Barton, is another Catho-
lic who has contributed money to help feed a
refugee in Jordan.
Along with the 1.5kg box of food, the pair
also redeemed a voucher for a 400g bag of flour.
Ms Longland and her housemate cooked all
their meals from scratch using the recipes writ-
ten by refugees.
“It was interesting to have to cook every-
thing from scratch and to try new things,” Ms
Longland said.
“You can understand that it’s so much easier
to do this for just a week, but to know the refu-
gees have to live with the rations day in day out,
or not even know if the next ration is coming, I
now have a bit of an understanding and solidar-
ity with the refugees.”
While Ms Longland said she had not exactly
walked in the shoes of a refugee, the challenge
helped her to “walk alongside them”.
July 4: Episcopal Coun-
cil meeting; 5.10pm
Mass, St Stephen’s
Cathedral
July 5: 12.30pm
Mass, St Stephen’s
Cathedral
July 6: Bible Society Aus-
tralia, United Bible Societies Confer-
ence, Sydney; Keynote at the Australian
Catholic Biblical Association Conference,
Sydney
July 8: 6pm, Mass of Installation of Fr
Alex Vickers OP, Our Lady of Graces,
Carina
July 9: 8am, Mass, St Stephen’s Cathe-
dral; 10am Australian Catholic Students
Association Conference, St Leo’s College.
Official engagements for
Brisbane’s Bishops
Archbishop Mark Coleridge Bishop Ken Howell
July 4: Episcopal Council
meeting
July 9: 9am Mass,
St Patrick’s, Fortitude
Valley.
“It was difficult, and there is no fruit or
vegetables, or all the other luxuries we have,
like coffee or tea,” she said. “The highlight for
me was talking to people openly about refugees,
especially when people offered me foods and I
had to explain why I couldn’t eat that.”
The challenge also showed Ms Longland
that Australia “has a duty to assist refugees in
whatever way we can”.
As a Christian, it is also important to un-
derstand the needs before reaching out with a
helping hand.
“One of the things we believe as Catholics
and Christians is to help people where we can,
but to help them you have to understand their
situation, otherwise it’s just your own self-
gratification,” Ms Longland said.
“It’s just affirmed for me that we need
to have an understanding that when a new
refugee arrives in Australia, they will need
to change to our way of life and even chang-
ing their diet for one week has a big impact.
You realise that it’s not an easy thing they are
doing.”
Ms Longland said the challenge inspired her
to speak out more about refugees and to stay
informed about policies that could impact their
lives.
“There’s a limited amount we can do but
it’s just about raising awareness and stopping
the fear mongering that the media and politi-
cians portray about refugees and how they will
change the way we live,” she said.
Warning over
fee increases
By Mark Bowling
THE Federal Government has
warned Catholic schools not to raise
fees after passage of its Gonski 2.0
education funding reforms.
Catholic school leaders are uncertain about
how the new funding will operate and can’t rule
out fee changes. There are also concerns students
with disability will lose out.
The Federal Opposition and the powerful
national education union are vowing to fight the
reforms even after the Government adding an
extra $5 billion to the plan, boosting it to $23.5
billion over the next six years.
Gonski 2.0 reforms will force a major shake-
up to Catholic school systems across the country,
and have drawn sharp criticism from Catholic
school leaders, concerned at a lack of consulta-
tion and the uncertain future of the system-
weighted average which, they claim, has allowed
Catholic schools to operate in rural and remote
Australia and keep Catholic schools affordable
for low and middle-income families.
“The uncertain future of the system-weighted
average, as well as radical changes to the fee
expectations for Catholic primary schools, means
principals and families are increasingly worried
about the affordability of Catholic schools in com-
ing years,” National Catholic Education Commis-
sion executive director Christian Zahra said.
After Gonski 2.0 passed through parliament
with crossbench support on June 23, Govern-
ment frontbencher Christopher Pyne said Prime
Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Education
Minister Simon Birmingham had done enough to
end the “school funding war”.
“Now we can focus on getting our outcomes
up,” Mr Pyne told Sky News.
He recharged a battle with the Catholic school
sector with further comments.
“I think they have been dishonest,” he said.
“They have pretended to have commitments from
previous governments that were never funded.”
Catholic education bodies have suggested fees
may rise in low-income areas under the Gonski
2.0 plan.
“If fees go up in the Catholic Church, it’s got
nothing to do with a lack of money from the
Commonwealth Government,” Mr Pyne said.
Queensland Catholic Education Commis-
sion executive director Dr Lee-Anne Perry said
Queensland Catholic schools would now be
able to plan for the 2018 school year with more
certainty.
However, Dr Perry said there remained uncer-
tainties about how Gonski 2.0 would operate.
“We still hold concerns that, once the inter-
twining elements of the new funding package are
fully implemented, the affordability of our low-
fee Catholic schools may be at risk,” she said.
“… Our schools and authorities will be work-
ing very hard to ensure the continued affordabil-
ity and quality of our schools for those seeking a
Catholic education for their children.
“Our concerns about funding for students with
disability are also unanswered.
“The new model will base the funding for
these students on data which the education
sector, and even the Minister, do not believe is
reliable at this stage.
“As it stands, students with disability in
Catholic schools stand to lose out and we will
continue our discussions with the Minister over
this and a number of other issues.”
Dr Perry said the sector also had questions
about other aspects of the package.
“We have no detail about how the National
School Resourcing Board will work and what its
role and functions will ultimately be,” she said.
“Now that the legislation has passed we look
forward to a productive working relationship with
the Federal Government to implement the changes
and to resolve our remaining ongoing concerns.”
Ration challenge: More than 14,000 people
received a 1.5kg box of food typically eaten
by a Syrian refugee in a camp in Jordan.
Photo: Act for Peace
It doesn’t matter
who they are, either
a refugee or the poor or the
sick. They are still children
of God.
In solidarity: Mira
Tedjo during the
Ration Challenge.
Photo: Emilie Ng