Week 5 has been and gone so we are now officially past the halfway point of the year. This week we will experience and pay homage to another important figure in our Catholic faith calendar – the Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians.

Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians is celebrated every year on the 24^th May and is to recognise the patroness of our country, Australia. It is very special for all

Australian Catholics when our first Archbishop John Bede Polding announced that the Australian Church would be under the patronage of Our Lady Help of Christians. As, Australians, we can turn to Mary to help us in our need and call upon her to pray for us. In saying this, we might ask and pray this week for forgiveness, in recognising that this Sunday is National Sorry Day and we could be asking Mary to help us make amends for our past mistakes and face the challenges we have towards mutual respect, tolerance and reconciliation in Australia.

Background to the Feast

The feast of Our Lady Help of Christians was instituted by Pope Pius VII in 1915, in thanksgiving for the deliverance of the Holy See and the Papal States from the tyranny of Napoleon. What was really being celebrated was the emergence of the Church from the ‘darkness’ of the 18th Century and the very troubled years of the 19th Century in the Church’s history.

In this restoration Pope Pius VII did much to promote Marian piety among all. Mary, our Mother, has been venerated in the Litany under the title Help of Christians since at least the 16th Century. However, she was hailed as ‘advocate’ and ‘intercessor’ for many years before.

By 1844, there were only three Bishops in Australia. At their very first Synod in that year, they requested the Pope to declare, as Australia’s special patron, the Mother of God under the title of Mary Help of Christians with her feast to be celebrated on May 24th. The feast was celebrated from 1844, even though it was not officially approved by Rome until 1852.

The infant Church in Australia had a special reason for turning to Mary. In those early and mostly priestless days, it was largely the Rosary that kept the faith alive. Catholic Australia remained faithful to Mary, and was the first nation to choose her, under the title of Help of Christians, as principal Patroness.

National Sorry Day is held on 26^th May each year to acknowledge and recognise members of the Stolen Generations. Next week our classes will share a Sorry Prayer as a part of their religion lessons to help us all keep in our minds the significance of the day and help us to move forward each and every day.

 Thank you and blessings for a wonderful weekend,

Amanda