As the year enters its final quarter, we continue our efforts at building connections and communities.
By now you should all have seen the news about the events we have coming up.
We are running dinners throughout regional Queensland and Victoria. These are opportunities to come together, to share experiences over food and drink, and reconnect with one another.
In Victoria, we’ve taken the extra step of emphasising the role of the Thomas More Centre. TMC executive director Anna Krohn is headlining our Victorian dinners, ably supported by NCC state president Tony O’Brien, to focus on the need for foundations and principles. Anna has been working hard on looking at ways of dealing with the reality of the world around us.
The world is very different from the time the Thomas More Centre started operating in the 1990s. It’s different from the heyday of the university groups and the Democratic Clubs. While parts of the world of today resemble the 1930s of the original Campion Society, in fact it is drastically different.
Lost Time
One major difference is the change in civil society and the general community. Remember when church-going, community groups, sporting clubs, and volunteering were the norm? As the economy and employment changed because of government policy, it has become harder and harder to have the time and energy to do more than your paid work and support your family. It’s certainly not impossible, but it is definitely more difficult.
It’s worse in the universities, where time is chewed up by paperwork and administration, racing from one anonymous classroom to another so far away that it may as well be in another suburb. And the powers that be barely seem happy with teaching and learning taking place – let alone community-building.
This worsened with the lockdowns. Anecdotal reports from teachers and parents are clear – lockdowns damaged teaching and learning, damaged community-building and maintenance, and damaged personal development. Administration skyrocketed while personal initiative cratered. People weren’t able to act as communal beings for some time, and as a result their skills and attitudes in those and many other areas wasted away.
Rebounding
Thankfully most people have been able to rebuild, showing that human beings are nothing if not resilient. But it has been hard. Anyone running events or programs if any sort has found this. Churches and religious groups are still finding this in the diminished numbers in the pews.
Now that that time has passed, we have decided we need to focus on bringing people back together. There have been more challenges than we anticipated, but it’s working. The success of these efforts is down to each and every one of us.
The NCC is different from other groups. We focus on the human and the humane, on the personal and the local. We are a Movement made up of all of you. It is all of us working together, by doing what we alone can do, that allows us to bring about positive change and make the world a better place.
Thank you for all your support, be it financial, spiritual, or moral.
