Australia Day is on the 26th January. Some call it Invasion Day! I can't take sides - black armband vs white eye patch - because they made me one of many 'ambassadors' who are commissioned by a State government committee and dispatched to various State towns and 'villages' to thank the locals for their loyalty to principle and practice of community.
I go to a beaut spot called Ballan, an hour out of Melbourne on the way to Ballarat. Twenty years ago, one of my 'outfits', Open Family, had a 110-acre property in the Ballan area. A pretty strict bunch of Christians sold it to us. It had two decent houses, a solid bunkhouse for 20 people and plenty of room to run and jump.
It was also bordering the State forest so there was heaps more room for exploring and prospecting for gold.
Through fundraising we afforded to connect electricity and install a pump to get water from the humble Moorabool Creek to the bunkhouse. We had a way of getting things done in those days.
It's a long story but we eventually had to sell to pay the bills. We asked everyone, including Church and State, for help to keep the place.
I don't know if you younger people realise but 'bleeding hearts' like me, if you like, are praised for caring for the poor and excluded, but left to fundraise, awareness raise AND care for the poor and excluded. Tough call. Anyway enough about Ballan. Memories. If only we had the property now!
Back to Federation Square, last Monday, 11am. Acting Premier Rob Hulls launched the Melbourne Australia Day Programme. I was there, representing you.
Of course, the social activist in me noticed the array of 'suits', the orderly arrangements, the serious speeches about our history, our future, our diversity, our great state and our great nation. It wasn't my place to be prophetic. It was a secular occasion. I had to be civil.
Thank God for the colourful music and singing of 'the Sparks of Creation' a mix of Sudanese, Senegalese and Jewish performers. They started with the haunting sound of the shofar, used by Jews as a call to prayer.
They were dressed colourfully too, especially for a Melbourne Monday morning. I took a couple of names and contact numbers in case I can persuade Triple J to put them to air. They'd be good for church too.
Australia Day could be appropriated by Catholics as an antipodean 'carnival' on the eve of Ash Wednesday February 6th this year. Let's use our imagination. There's only a few days between Australia Day and Ash Wednesday.
Eat, drink and be merry this Australia Day, but be warned -'carnival' means 'farewell' to the 'flesh' and that again means to prepare for 40 days and nights of self-discipline. Traditionally it's called Lent by Catholics. Muslims do Ramadan. Catholics do Lent.
Lent means 'springtime'. Because, for better or worse, Catholics are global, as well as local, we mix our metaphors a lot. February in Australia is anything but springtime. No help from nature, then. Unless, perversely, you go back to an area burned out by the last bushfire and notice the new greenery sprung from the ashes!
Whoever's handing out ashes in a church near you on February 6th should intone 'Turn from sin. Follow the Gospel.' Decode that, for usefulness, to 'Turn from self and towards others.'