Association President In this year’s President’s Report, the Hon Justice James Sholto Douglas KHD highlights the achievements of the Australian Association of the Sovereign Order of Malta and shares a reminder of the Order’s commitment to the sick and the poor.
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he election of the new Executive Council, declared on 31 August 2019, initiated the next chapter in the story of the Order in Australia. The executive members are as follows: President Confrère the Hon Justice James Sholto Douglas Vice President Consoeur Professor Michelle Campbell Chancellor Confrère Scott Robert Samson Treasurer Confrère James Gurry National Hospitaller Confrère John Murphy Hospitaller North Eastern Region – Confrère Danny Higgins Hospitaller Central Eastern Region Confrère Dr John Stephen Quain Hospitaller South Eastern Region – Confrère David Blackwell Hospitaller Northern Central Region – Confrère Seán Clement Parnell Hospitaller Southern Central Region Confrère Noel Mifsud Hospitaller New Zealand – Confrère Dr Gregory Coyle Confrères Daniel Kwok and Anthony Gerada continue as the appointed Delegate and Vice-Delegate of Communications and provide the element of continuity between the Transitional Council and the new Executive. Their energies provide vital contributions to the continuing work of the Order. We are all deeply indebted to the members of the Transitional Council, particularly the former President, Dr Ian Marshall; the Pro-Chancellor, Mr Sean Farrell; the Pro-Treasurer, Dr Stephen Christie; and the National Hospitaller, Dr Robert Costa, as well as to the regional hospitallers. Dr Marshall in particular has worked tirelessly for the Order for many years and has been valuable as a resource to be consulted in helping maintain the Order’s continuity under our new Executive. Significant developments This is a time of change and opportunity for the Order. May we listen to each other carefully and embrace the future with hope and glad hearts. 12
The new regional structure, designed to emphasise our national nature and to help us cooperate more effectively within Australia and with our neighbours in the Asia Pacific region, is beginning to have effect. This was particularly obvious in the successful Asia Pacific Conference held in November 2019, principally outside Geelong in Victoria. I have reported about the conference more fully previously, and this magazine addresses it in more detail. Our engagement in the conference was truly national. Its organisation depended heavily on the co-operative work of the National Hospitaller, John Murphy, and his team from across the country. John and Daniel Kwok led much of the preparation, as well as the organisation during the conference. The most important message from our discussions was that the Order’s members should become more actively involved in continuing to help the poor and sick. This is the appropriate way to develop the spiritual side of our activities, and indeed our own spirituality. That was the lesson from the Grand Master, which I conveyed from my meeting with him in Rome in late October. The Grand Chancellor, Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager, who was present at the conference, also emphasised that we should go beyond the giving of handouts and develop a continuing relationship with those we assist in the everlasting task of reducing misery in the world. This is consistent with Pope Francis’s core message about what we need to do as followers of Christ. It is beautifully expressed by St Teresa of Avila: “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world…” There was much discussion at the conference about how we could provide better access to palliative care, especially in Australia, as our particular contribution to the work of the Church. Should we focus on that as our area or on some other desirable object? It is for us all to consider. Key goals In identifying some of the many gaps in caring for the most vulnerable in Australia,
which the Order can help fill, it is evident that we need to increase our membership, as well as increase the proportion of members in obedience, deepening their spiritual lives in the Order. We also need to be active in attracting volunteers. Those dual aims of better defining the work we do and increasing our member numbers are inextricably linked. A clearer identification of our work will help us to answer the question posed by most prospective members: what does the Order do? We answer that question today by reference among other things to our work in palliative care, relief of drug dependency and in providing assistance to the homeless. We also help support the international Order’s clinic in Dili. But much of that assistance is provided by our fundraising more than by our members’ direct personal involvement with the poor and sick. That is where the challenge lies. How can we rise to the challenge? One unexpected opportunity presented itself to our members from the terrible bushfires that have afflicted south-eastern Australia since the end of 2019. Fortunately, the Order had some funds in reserve earmarked for use in natural disasters. Our enterprising national and regional hospitallers in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia have used those funds and money raised from members and friends of the Order, including branches in the United States and Canada, to provide direct help to families and individuals worst affected. Members of the Order delivered help in the form of fuel and food vouchers directly to parishioners identified by parish priests in the hardest hit areas. We expect to provide continuing assistance and moral support to those who need the help over the coming months and possibly years. The generosity of our consoeurs and confrères here and overseas has been particularly encouraging. We hope to thank our American and Canadian friends in person at Lourdes. At the time of writing, Malteser International launched a fundraising campaign for bushfire affected communities on its website. Our other major focus as an Order is defence of the faith. Members of our Defence of the Faith panel have provided us with useful working papers on religious freedom, euthanasia and the seal of the confessional to assist individual members who make 2019 Australian Hospitaller
