Sally Neaves, 14 December 2023
When we think about ‘liturgy on the margins’, it is usually people that come to mind. But Sally Neaves also challenges us to think about the margins of creation. After all, in the Mass the priest proclaims, “all creation rightly gives you praise” (Eucharistic Prayer III). Sally truly experienced that recently while attending November Masses for the dead, held in cemeteries on remnant bushland. These outdoor Masses were celebrated within small pockets of land that were preserved from agricultural clearing. Sally became aware that the natural world was joining in praise, and she thanked God that the cemeteries had enabled their protection.
Sally’s understanding of spirituality and place has been growing and developing over many years. She grew up with the Catholic church and a big part of that was music ministry, including a paid role in a Melbourne parish. However, Sally’s main profession was secondary school education, which included 10 years teaching in Asia. Later, back in Australia, she was employed in a Josephite school and started formation as part of a Josephite Covenant Community. The Earthsong community was also a “massive influence” on Sally’s life – a collaboration of religious orders inspired by Thomas Berry CP to tell the universe story and embody it in ritual.
Then, in 2015, Sally was offered a job as an eco-education coordinator for the Rahamim Ecology Centre in Bathurst, NSW, which was founded by local Sisters of Mercy. Sally became “fully immersed” in the Mercy charism, as well as becoming involved in the Bathurst Catholic parish and diocese. In 2020, with the closing of Rahamim, Sally’s role was absorbed into the whole Institute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea. As well as education, she worked with reference and advisory groups to create an Integral Ecology Policy. Currently, she is also helping to form a diocesan Laudato Si’ group.
Sally reflects that while she used to value the freedom of religious structures that were national or international, she has come to appreciate the importance of place. People, plants and animals are intimately connected to bioregions, which experts say hold the solutions to Earth’s crises. So now Sally sees dioceses and parishes as key: grassroots communities are the future. She values “radically committing to a place” and being “totally immersed”.
Sally sees the opportunities for parishes to really understand their rivers and mountains, to protect their natural environments and to ensure food supplies during crises. They are “also doing the work to maintain the human spirit, to guide our lives and ethics for making decisions. They help us remember that we are in an eternal divine mystery that is beyond ourselves, but also within and around us.” These communities of faith will help the adaptations and responses needed in climate crisis and the unravelling of ecosystems. Sally is clear that they can’t be groups of like-minded people, but the sacraments “bring people together from across the spectrum.” Parishioners, as in all diverse communities, need one another as they are the ones who will face “the most meaningful and impactful times together”, including disaster situations or when they are sick and vulnerable.
This all became very real for Sally’s community as they faced heavy flooding in 2022. In particular, the small town of Eugowra, near Bathurst, suffered an “inland tsunami”, where up to 80% of homes in the town were damaged, 159 people were evacuated by boat or helicopter, and 2 people lost their lives. A few months later, the local priest spoke to Sally about trying to move people away from the flood zone. However, she asked, “But who is doing the work to slow the water down?” At the time, the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy were wanting to act on their Integral Ecology Strategic Plan. So, with the support of the priest, Sally began a major project to slow the flow of water by restoring the landscape.
Now she is well occupied by meeting with many farmers, networks and stakeholders to make Laudato Si’ come alive, to preserve life for the land as well as its people. The parish of nearby Blayney has also supported the establishment of an ecological learning centre in the presbytery. In all this she sees the potential of liturgy to “explicitly honour not just creation’s beauty, but also its pain and extinction.” Sally says that the Mass connects a diverse community with its roots, and with an ancient tradition that provides meaning and holds us in times of joy and despair. There are opportunities to be “deeply rooted in place” – for the presider to serve and intimately know the local bioregion, and for elements such as wheat, wine and wool to be sourced locally and celebrated.
The outdoor November Masses made Sally wonder about what happened to the rest of the bushland. Worshipping on a remnant brings to mind all the margins and suffering of the world. It is about “sustaining the human spirit within divine mystery, helping adapt and respond to disaster and supporting one another.” What a vision of church – Amen to that!
Liturgy on the Margins 