Maria’s Musings—A Letter from the President
IN OUR HEARTS
WE ARE MARIST
 Dear Marist friends, After 5 years of Marist Laity Australia’s existence, I thought I’d tapped into all the lay Marists around Australia!! But, late last year, following up on a name and phone number given to me by Kevin Bates SM, I discovered a group of people who are Marist to the core. The lady I spoke to wishes to remain anonymous (truly “hidden and unknown”), but has given me permission to tell the story.
Back in the 1980s Fr Wally began a lay Marist group in the parish of Bribarrie, South West NSW. Now, over 25 years later, this group of country folk still call themselves Marist.
“In our hearts we are Marist”
The church at Bribarrie has since closed down. The story I heard is one we are all familiar with – great hardship in country Australia.
 “This is our 8th year of drought. We are handfeeding sheep on and off and are carting water in. The cost runs into many tens of thousands of dollars. There is a big burden of debt – no new cars or holidays for us. People are tired with work and the farm. There is no labour available. We feel like we’re at the bottom of the ladder!
Young people have great difficulty finding work. They are disadvantaged and feel completely left out. It is also hard on older people with medical problems. We have to travel 200 km for a mammogram. It is hard as the burden of the farm falls on older people as the young ones leave.
There is also the issue of competition with imported foods which come from countries where labour is very cheap or where the government (e.g.USA) subsidizes farmers by up to 60%. We have none of that!
Last year, we had some of our best wool production ever. China buys most of it but because of the economic downturn, they are paying far less than what it’s worth.
We’ve had some rain, but it just brings up the weeds. We need far more long-term, soaking rain.
BUT, country people are resilient! We have not lost hope! I am happy where I am. I have wonderful children and get great pleasure from my grand children I’m in good health. I’m lucky to be an Australian. I feel very blessed! My Faith, my Family and my Friends – this is what sustains me.”
Over the past few weeks our
country folk have been devasted
by fires in Victoria where whole
towns have burnt to the ground with many lives lost.
While North Queensland and
areas of New South Wales have
been under flood water.
In both cases families have lost 
homes, family members, livestock
and pets . We pray for the
survivors, the courageous firefighters
and heroes who helped. | |
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