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