OUR LADY HELP OF CHRISTIANS
- May 26
- 2 min read
2026
Historians tell us that our Aboriginal brothers and sisters came to Australia around 60,000 years ago.
They travelled by foot across the shallow waters of the Indonesian Archipelago.
Approximately 20,000 years ago sea levels rose by approximately 150 metres. Scientists suggest that the earth tilted a touch more than usual, resulting in warmer temperatures.
Our indigenous peoples could get in, but not out.
The next arrival of peoples to the country, continent and island that is Australia, came with the First Fleet in 1788.
Finding food would have been challenging, maintaining faith even more so.
For the first thirty years there was no priest in the Colony. Lay people catechised each other, prayed the rosary, and especially gathered around the Blessed Sacrament. If a priest happened to arrive by boat, they gathered for Mass.
Challenges call forth faith, and so in 1844 at the First Provincial Synod of Australia, the Catholic Bishops of Australia entrusted our nation to Our Lady Help of Christians.
Mary of Nazareth, Our Lady, has received many titles over the centuries.
She received the title of Our Lady Help of Christians from Pope Pius VII.
Napoleon Bonaparte had gaoled his predecessor, Pope Pius VI, in 1798. Indeed, the pope died in gaol.
In 1809, Napoleon was at it again. The pope was captured and was to spend five years in gaol and house arrest.
He promised Our Lady that he would institute a feast in honour of Our Lady Help of Christians if he was freed.
He was. The feast came into existence.
The struggles of the papacy and the Catholic faithful in France and Italy in the late 18th and early 19th centuries seemed to coalesce with those of Australia in the early years of the Colony.
The pope needed Our Lady’s help. The Colony needed her help.
We need help.
Much is changing in the world, in Australia.
Indeed, when I talk to young people who are coming back to faith or coming to faith, they speak of the fluidity of their lives and their desire for solidity.
What for many years seemed like an outdated institution – the Catholic Church – is now seen as a community with an extraordinary 4,000-year tradition, from Abraham and Sarah until now, with Christ as the Rock.
The Church is the custodian of wisdom, transcending change.
Wisdom allows us to face the future with competence and courage.
Fluidity disorientates. Solidity orientates.
Our Lady Help of Christians, Mother of the Church, watch over us, especially our young people, who like you, desire to follow your Son in the joy of their youth.
AMEN.
