many people each and every year get prostate cancer and get breast cancer – 19,000 and 17,000 respectively – but we have no idea how many people get dementia each year, so I’m hoping that in the future we continue to measure that number so we actually know how many people have dementia.” Behind the years of passionate contribution are the reasons Dr Judd originally swapped a career in information technology for dementia care: “because my mother had dementia and she lived with us for the last decade of her life, and I wondered whether or not we could do a better job in that space”. Dr Judd, who is a member of St Andrew’s Roseville, has also made a distinctly Christian contribution. “It does mean that you get a rare opportunity to show God’s love to his creation in very special and practical ways and continue to share with him in building his kingdom.” Other Anglicans honoured include Wendy Carver, the CEO of Lifeline (Harbour to Hawkesbury), given an Order of Australia Medal for service to community mental health, and the late Denise Bannon, a former warden of St Mark’s, Revesby, for service to the community, particularly youth and Indigenous people. Janet Kneeshaw of Pymble, a volunteer organiser and chorister at St John’s, Gordon, was recognised for service to the performing arts, and to the community. In another major award announced on Australia Day, chaplain John Kewa (below) was
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named Wollongong’s Citizen of the Year for 2021. Mr Kewa, the manager and chaplain of the Mission to Seafarers at Port Kembla, rallied the Illawarra community to help the stranded crew of the Ruby Princess, docked at Port Kembla during the COVID-19 outbreak. Hundreds of care packages and letters of support from local schoolchildren were delivered to the ship. The crew unfurled a large banner saying, “Thank You Illawarra” when the ship finally sailed out of Port Kembla. Bishop Peter Hayward is president of the Port Kembla Mission to Seafarers and Mr Kewa attends Dapto Anglican Church. Says Mr Kewa: “The Ruby Princess became the main source of COVID-19 outbreak and they were looking at who was going to be responsible but there was one thing that was missing: no-one ever mentioned the 1200 staff and crew. But [they are] human beings and, for us, if we were going to do anything to live up to our mission and our ministry that was the moment.” Mr Kewa says he posted a message on Facebook to the crew of the Ruby Princess. “The simple message was: It’s not your fault, we are thinking of you and we will do our best to reach out to you. That message reached about 80,000 people in just 24 hours.” It was difficult to get assistance through, but his persistence paid off. “Their mental health situation was one of my main concerns and I’m really thrilled with the community response,” he says. “Our ministry is not the standard kind of parish church. It’s a special ministry where we remain almost invisible in reaching out to almost invisible people. “That’s what makes us really proud as a Christian organisation in the Illawarra, that it was such a strong witness living out the gospel in action on a day when we were needed.” SC
For the good of others
Dr Glenn Davies
A
s we commence a new year in 2021, I am sure
that many of us look forward to the suppression, if not elimination, of the Coronavirus, which has threatened lives and livelihoods. We welcome the imminent distribution of some of the vaccines that have been developed and are currently in use in other parts of the world, and I am grateful for so many who have offered prayer each night at 1900hrs for COVID-19 research. Our prayers have been answered. We praise God for this, as we do for our governments – who have managed the pandemic in Australia in far more effective ways than other Western democracies. 2020 was a challenging year for many of us, as we found new rules and regulations imposed upon us. While we may have chafed at some of the restrictions, our responsibility was not to evaluate how proportionate the Government’s response was to the risk of COVID-19 spreading. Rather, our response as Christians, as well as citizens, was to follow the Government’s directions, as I have argued in previous issues of Southern Cross. This does not mean that our Government’s response is above SouthernCross
February 2021