Compassion, solidarity and our core purpose
It’s beautiful and scary at the same time!
As I sit at the desk the window is open, the breeze warm, the eucalypts framed by a bright blue sky; but its Melbourne, its mid-May and winter looms but remains seemingly out of reach. Both the European and our first people’s sense of seasons are challenged.
Our political bent, our religious tradition (including rejection of same) and our personal journey or life experience will each shape how we individually view the challenges of our times and in turn, our personal and collective responsibility going forward.
A founding value of Mercy Ministry Companions is Justice. To quote:
“we treat everyone with fairness and advocate for the rights and responsibilities of all, especially those who experience disadvantage, marginalisation and vulnerability”.
The Mercy Ministry Companions values (compassion, hope, hospitality, justice and respect) and our founding story locate us clearly in the prophetic tradition of the church. What does that mean? Well, the prophetic and ecclesial traditions in the Christian church represent two complementary, yet often tense, dimensions of its life and mission. The ecclesial tradition focuses on continuity, structure, and the preservation of faith through established practices, doctrines, and apostolic succession. The prophetic tradition on the other hand emphasises dynamic, Spirit-led, and often critical engagement with the world and the church itself. (Boston University Centre for Practical Theology).
I think this critical engagement is very important – in fact I think it is core to our purpose and our future as we mature as a Ministerial Public Juridic Person (MPJP).
Walter Brueggemann, the biblical scholar and theologian, who died last year at the age of 92, spent his remarkable career urging Christians to think beyond what is and to imagine what could be – he believed the future was unwritten. Even with reference to a Mercy Ministry Companions value, Compassion, he pushed us beyond the emotional response to a critique which demands action:
“Compassion constitutes a radical form of criticism, for it announces that the hurt is to be taken seriously, that the hurt is not to be accepted as normal and natural but is an abnormal and unacceptable condition for humanness.” (from The Prophetic Imagination)
Not long after Brueggemann’s death Gershon Nimbalker of Common Grace wrote a piece reflecting upon Brueggemann’s understanding that ‘prophetic imagination’; quoting Bruggemann, we are called:
“to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us.”
Put more simply he saw it as ‘the gift of seeing beyond what is, into what God intends’.
And if there is (and I contend that there certainly is) a difference between what is and what is intended, where do we start? How do we begin to act? Well, just when it all seemed too much Catholic Social Teaching comes to our aid!
As the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference 2026 Social Justice Statement, The Cost of Our Living: Economic and Social Justice for the Common Good puts it:
“The principle of solidarity encourages us all to accompany those who are struggling to cope with the crisis. Solidarity is a firm and persevering commitment to the common good. It is not just a vague feeling of compassion. When we exercise solidarity, we see other people and groups as sisters and brothers whom we are called to love, care for and stand with. It is not only a matter of recognising our common humanity, but also of accepting and valuing others in their differences from ourselves”.
In a formation session with the Directors of Mercy Community Services Australia Fr Bruce Duncan shared with us the work of the Common Good Project (auspiced by the University of Divinity, Religion and Social Policy Network).
On following it up, I was introduced to a reframing of the context that our work is conducted within. Somethings (‘concepts’) I knew well, e.g. Post Christendom, Neo Liberalism and Post Christian; but others challenged me, i.e. Post Liberalism and Post Secular; and then there were ‘red tories’ and ‘blue labour’! It’s worth a look, especially the article by Stephen Duckett (‘Subsidiarity, solidarity and challenges for faith-based social sector provision in Australia’, Theology, 128 (3), 173-83)
Anyway, I digress – it’s time to wrap this up! The afternoon is passing into evening, the shadows that remain are long and the seasonally appropriate cool is claiming the air – appropriate seasonal change is again within reach!
And for me another season will soon pass, as at the end of the month I will conclude my term as a Mercy Ministry Companions Trustee Director. It’s been a privilege to serve alongside my fellow Trustee Directors and our small but impactful team; even more so to companion each of our ministries – I am in awe of how well you navigate ‘what is’ in the hope of realising ‘what God intends’; compassion and solidarity are your friends in that struggle!
But let’s give Catherine the last word:
“I have great confidence in you to do what you think best.
State your opinion and always act with courage.”
Paul Linossier, Trustee Director