One of my sons worked in the school on Christmas Island about four years ago for two years. So news about Christmas Island is always topical in our family. We pricked up our ears when we heard that the Catholic Education Office in Western Australia (CEOWA) had announced the opening of the Christmas Island Learning Centre on contract to the Department of Immigration and Border Security from term three this year.
To Catholics, the decision may seem to be a no-brainer. The parable of the 'Good Samaritan', after all, presents a simple plan for followers of Jesus. When you see a person in trouble, and when all those who should provide help avoid their responsibility, we are called to intervene, go out of our way to help. The asylum seeker children now stranded on Christmas Island are 'our injured traveller'.
In this spirit the executive director of CEOWA, Dr Tim McDonald (pictured) said at the announcement: 'I strongly support the [Catholic] Bishops' stance and believe that providing education to children in detention is a moral obligation as education is a fundamental human right and in keeping with the Church's long tradition of supporting the poor and marginalised.'
The chair of the Catholic Social Justice Council, Bishop Christopher Saunders of Broome, also commented: 'There's not much we can do to help children get out from behind the bars of detention, but we can make their time a little more pleasant and a little bit more useful.' When everyone else has crossed to the other side of the road seeking to 'not see' this seems the appropriate response.
So we should all be grateful that these helpless children will benefit from dedicated teachers. But we should also ponder deeper questions about the part church agencies should play when cooperating with government in its implementation of an unjust policy.
Should not the focus of Catholics be on ensuring these innocent children are not imprisoned? The photographs accompanying the announcement depict the children on Christmas Island behind high razor wire fences. Child psychologists have reported endlessly the harmful effects of detention for children.
There is no justification for holding innocent children behind razor wire, as the Australian Catholic Bishops have declared. We must ask whether Catholic cooperation in providing education services in places where children should not be will make the evil of imprisoning children seem more normal and acceptable to Australians.
In the terms of Catholic moral principles, will it give scandal, in the sense of making immoral behaviour on the part of the Government seem morally acceptable? Would it be better to refuse to cooperate, to denounce the internment of children, and to leave it to the Government to find others who will provide education?
Christians will naturally shrink from this conclusion because it seems in such conflict with the story of the Good Samaritan. But when looked at in closer detail the story of the Good Samaritan is about the people who did not help as much as the one who did. Jesus' story is also about the priests and Levites who were representatives of power in Judaic society, and is addressed to them.
From this perspective the story says more than that we should be kind to the desperate. It shows that those in power are not there for their own good. They are placed in positions of authority to look after others, especially the injured, the lost, the lonely, the suffering ones in the community. The story condemns those who have been given power for their lack of oversight. Their responsibility is to keep a good lookout, to anticipate need, to plan for problems, to conduct an ongoing risk assessment and be ready at all times to respond.
The implications of the story are clear on Christmas Island. There should be no children in detention. The evil of child imprisonment is of the Federal Government's own doing. It must be shamed into remedying it.
Jesus' praise for the Good Samaritan underlines this message. The Government argues that asylum seekers are not members of the community — they are not Australians, they are 'irregular maritime arrivals'. The story of the Good Samaritan says that, because we are all human, we are all members of the human community. The Samaritan, a man from a neighbouring, hostile, enemy nation acted in an ethically correct manner in caring for a stranger, while those responsible for acting justly and compassionately traded off justice for convenience.
In the modern world Jesus would address his story to those who hold power. He would call them back to the principle of justice and care for the stranger that are integral both to religion and to politics. His story would roar out Injustice! to those who walk on by.
So the Catholic response to the children on Christmas Island should amplify the distant roar of injustice. It should make the Government ministers face up to their responsibilities to their brothers and sisters in need. Catholic agencies that rightly alleviate the harm done to those imprisoned should also make clear their condemnation of the evil of that imprisonment.
As Moses said to Pharaoh in the Spiritual, 'Let my people go', so we should all say: 'set the children free'.
Mike Bowden has worked as a teacher and community worker in Alice Springs and Aboriginal communities in the Top End.