Report on Conference: Helen Currie
Principal St John the Apostle Primary School

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I would like to thank Fr Chris and the Parish Pastoral Council for giving me the opportunity to go to the MSC Conference in Adelaide. I have been part of this Parish for over 26 years. I always believed that this community had offered something special that I had not experienced in other parishes. It was only after listening to Fr Frank Fletcher, Fr Claude Mostowik and participating with other MSC laity from all over Australia, that I realised that it is the MSC Spirituality of the Heart that makes the difference.

Following on from Fr Frank Fletcher's talks on Heart Spirituality, Fr Claude Mostowik continued the theme by offering some insights about how Spirituality of the Heart can be put into practice.

Claude works with the MSC Justice and Peace Centre in Erskineville.

Claude started his presentation with a story and I would like to share that story with you.

A mouse looked through a crack in the wall to see a farmer and his wife opening a package; what food might it contain? He was aghast to discover that it was a mousetrap! Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning, "There is a mousetrap in the house, there is a mousetrap in the house." The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell you this is a grave concern for you, but it is of no consequence to me; I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house." "I am so very sorry Mr. Mouse," sympathized the pig, "but there is nothing I can do about it but pray; be assured that you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow, who replied, "Like wow, Mr. Mouse, a mouse trap; am I in grave danger, Duh?"

So the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected to face the farmer's mousetrap alone. That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.

The farmer's wife rushed in to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see that it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital. She returned home with a fever. Now everyone knows that you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient. His wife's sickness continued so that friends and neighbours came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer's wife did not get well, in fact, she died, and so many people came for her funeral the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide meat for all of them to eat.

So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it does not concern you, remember that when the least of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

Claude spoke about how the Vatican Council and recent popes have urged us to build peaceful and just societies where people can live in safety and have sufficient food and shelter. Jesus was very clear about this matter. "If we do nothing to feed the hungry and clothe the naked we can find no place with God.

We have the resources and expertise, to eliminate hunger entirely from this world and to eradicate the worst forms of poverty within a matter of decades, if only we had the will.

Thousands of people die each day from hunger and we remain silent. Children are sold into slavery and we remain silent. First world countries have profited at the expense of many third world countries and still we remain silent. Indigenous infant mortality rate is higher than for other Australians and yet we remain silent.

An 18th century writer, Edmund Burke said "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.
Often we ask, 'but what difference can I make"?

By ourselves it may be impossible to initiate change but together we can make a difference Catherine of Sienna said in the 14th century "Speak the truth in a million voices. It is the silence that kills".

Politicians have made people fearful of engaging in conversations about refugees and how to deal with diversity and inclusion. The silence of thoughtful people creates a vacuum filled by extremism.

In 1945 the Rev Martin Niemoller, said
First they came for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me

Claude went on to talk about us listening to the stories of others because he says we cannot hate someone when we know their story. The refugees who are risking their lives coming in leaking boats to Australia's shores each have a story. They want a better life for themselves and their children. They want to be able to feed their families, to worship God as they see fit, to give their children an education, to give them a future.
If we could but listen to their individual stories.

The experience of really listening to another human being is the source of our willingness to love them.

Ours is a generous community. Let us also be a community that listens to others and who speak out against injustice.

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