Brigid Arthur

Last updated

Brigid Arthur

AO csb
Sister
ChurchRoman Catholic
ArchdioceseMelbourne
Personal details
Born
Brigid Arthur
DenominationRoman Catholic
OccupationBrigidine sister, Project Coordinator, Advocate
EducationUniversity education in Arts, Education, Mathematics, Science, Religious Education, Theology

Brigid Arthur AO , csb, also known as Marie Brigid Arthur, and Marie Therese/a Arthur, is an Australian Brigidine sister, educator, refugee advocate and activist on social issues.

Contents

She was co-founder of the Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project, has acted as litigation guardian for children, and has been a teacher and principal of several Catholic secondary colleges. She is also an author, trustee of Kildare Ministries, Life Member of Catholic Social Services Victoria and a winner of the 2021 Pro Bono Public Impact Award. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Early life

Brigid Arthur, eldest of eight children, grew up on the family's farm near Kaniva in regional Victoria, Australia. She credits her mother, Winnie, as being a strong influence on her; a woman who spoke her mind, valued education and made sure her daughters and sons were educated at Catholic boarding schools. Brigid attended St Brigid's College at Horsham and in her final years there was involved in the Young Christian Students (YCS) who discussed the gospel and social justice issues. The YCS had the same principles as the Young Catholic Workers (See, Judge, Act) which she applied in her later career in education and asylum seeker justice. She entered the Brigidine novitiate in Malvern in 1953 and made her final vows in 1959. The Brigidines are a teaching order so Arthur also attended the in-house teacher training college. She says she loved teaching from her first day at Kilmaire, the Brigidine school in Hawthorn. [1]

Ministry and career

Education

Arthur's first career was as a teacher then principal in a number of Catholic secondary schools in Victoria. She continued to study at university, in time obtaining degrees in arts (Melbourne University), Education, Mathematics, Science and Religious Education (Australian Catholic University, La Trobe University, Monash University and Melbourne University) and a master's degree in Religious Education (Fordham University, New York). She also studied theology at Yarra Theological Union. [7]

Educator

Arthur was principal of at least three schools, Marian College, West Sunshine, [8] St Augustine's, Kyabram, [9] and St Brigid's College, Horsham. [10] In 1972 she was a founding member of the Principals Association of Victorian Catholic Secondary Schools, later a founding member of the Brigidine Secondary Schools Council and chair in 2006 of the first Catholic Leaders Religious Congregations Victoria Schools' Committee. The Principals Association created the Sr Brigid Arthur Social Justice Fund to give financial support to Victorian Catholic Secondary Schools for nominated social justice causes in Australia and overseas. [11] [12]

Support and justice for asylum seekers

Prior to establishing the Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project (BSP) in 2001 with fellow sister Catherine Kelly (dec. 2015), Arthur had been living and working in the western suburbs of Melbourne where waves of new migrants and refugees arrived and she got to know some of the families. She was in a Brigidine sisters and allies social justice group who, in the 1990s, identified people seeking asylum in Australia as a group needing support and immigration detention as a justice issue. She wrote letters to asylum seekers and visited them in detention. One of her first visits was to Maribyrnong Detention Centre where she befriended a detainee who was on crutches, as she was (after she had a hip injury from being assaulted). [13] [14] [9] [15] From him, she learned of other detainees needing support and began to help them. Arthur also recounts in interviews another pivotal time that influenced her: In Christmas 1975, she was crossing the border from Mexico to the US, where Mexican immigrants were lined up in a queue for days trying to get into the US, some to reunite with their families. She was taken by an official to the top of the queue and her papers quickly processed, giving her privileged access over the border. [14]

The BSP provides practical support such as accommodation, food, financial support, assistance with visas, family reunions, English teaching, employment and more. Until 2015 support for asylum seekers included taking families on day trips out from detention before excursions were banned. [16] At the start of the BASP, co-founder Catherine Kelly studied and became a Migration Agent so she could act legally on behalf of asylum seekers, helping them navigate the visa and immigration system. In 2002 Arthur helped two boys, the Bakhtiari brothers, who had escaped from Woomera Detention Centre, by meeting and escorting them into the British Consulate in Melbourne to seek asylum. [17] [18] In 2015 Libby Saunders became co-Project Coordinator. [19] The BASP is co-located at the Brigidine Ministry Centre (former Brigidine Sisters convent) in Albert Park, Victoria with Kildare Ministries, and Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans. In 2018, the BASP became part of Kildare Ministries, responsible for 10 secondary schools and three community services. [15]  

Showing the relationship between faith and work with asylum seekers, the BASP takes as its motto a quote from a parable told by Jesus Christ, "I was a stranger and you made me welcome" (Matthew 25:35). Arthur said this of the connection between her faith and her social justice activities, "Catholics really do have an imperative. As part of the Gospel, we are called to stand up for these extremely vulnerable people...There are two different ways of making a difference. One way is making a difference to the people themselves who are suffering, they need someone to walk beside them and know that some people do care. The government might not appear to care but there are a number of people who do and that gives them some heart and makes a very big difference in their lives. From the other side we need people who will try to change minds, change policies, change regulations and change practices. We need to concentrate on both." [20]

Arthur is a member of the National Council of Churches in Australia, Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce [21] and has been involved in Love Makes a Way, a group which organises peaceful sit-ins and prayer vigils at politician's offices to protest asylum-seeker policies. [13] [22]

Litigation guardian

A litigation guardian is appointed by a court to represent vulnerable individuals and manage their legal affairs (for example, a child under the age of 18 or a person who cannot act in their own best interests). [23] [24] Arthur has acted as litigation guardian for children in immigration detention, children kept in adult prisons and most recently teenage environmental activists. She said in an interview in 2021 that she had lost count of the court cases she had been involved in since 2001, "I honestly don't know how many". [25] She does not seem fazed by the potential for the court to order her to pay legal costs, "I have very little money that belongs to me. They could take that, I guess." [25] Here are some court cases where she is named as litigation guardian:

Public speaking and advocacy

A primary aim of the BASP is to provide hospitality and practical support, but one of Arthur's main roles is to advocate and speak publicly for refugees and asylum seekers. At the Palm Sunday walk in 2021, she said, "We need to feel outrage. It galvanises us into action that demands change. And to collectively give voice to that outrage ... We hope that by next Palm Sunday we're celebrating that things have changed for the better. Until we do that, we place in jeopardy the kind of society we claim to be." [33] Other public speaking events have included:

Publications

Arthur often writes submissions to parliamentary inquiries on behalf of the BASP and has also co-written an education reference work, and reports about refugees and detention centres. Her publications include:

Honours

In 2022, Arthur was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours for "distinguished service to social welfare, particularly asylum seekers and refugees, and to Catholic education". [56]

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References

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  6. ↑ "Kildare Ministries Newsletter - Issue 6". newsletters.naavi.com. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
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  9. 1 2 "Nun hurt in attack". Riverine Herald (Echuca, Vic. : Moama, NSW : 1869 - 1954; 1998 - 2002). 16 March 2001. p. 11. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
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  12. ↑ "Principals Association of Victorian Catholic Secondary Schools | Our History". Principals Association of Victorian Catholic Secondary Schools. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  13. 1 2 Kleinman, Rachel (16 February 2016). "Cricket-mad Sister Brigid Arthur goes into bat for refugee rights". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  14. 1 2 "The Year that Made Me: Sister Brigid Arthur, 1975". ABC Radio National. 27 June 2021. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  15. 1 2 3 Groves, Ursula (2019). Heart and hope: A history of the Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project, 2001-2018 (PDF). Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project.
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  17. ↑ "Nun's values". Riverine Herald (Echuca, Vic. : Moama, NSW : 1869 - 1954; 1998 - 2002). 24 July 2002. p. 3. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
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  19. ↑ "About BASP". Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project (BASP). Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  20. ↑ "Q & A with Sr Brigid Arthur: Brigidine Asylum Seeker Project". CAPSA. 29 June 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  21. ↑ "About Us". www.ncca.org.au. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  22. 1 2 M, David (24 June 2014), 1-Sister Brigid Arthur , retrieved 29 July 2021
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  25. 1 2 Pender, Kieran (July 2021). "Planetary defence". The Monthly.
  26. 1 2 MauriceBlackburn.com.au. "Class action against Commonwealth and Scott Morrison over injured asylum seekers on Christmas Island - Maurice Blackburn". www.mauriceblackburn.com.au. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
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  31. ↑ "Sharma and others v. Minister for the Environment". Climate Change Litigation. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  32. ↑ Debra. "Teenagers, sister win major environment case". cathnews.com. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  33. ↑ "Standing up for the vulnerable: Palm Sunday Walk for Justice". The Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  34. ↑ "Religious leaders launch campaign to end indefinite detention". The Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  35. ↑ "Report Launch: Bridging the Department's Visa Blindspot". Eventbrite. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
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  42. ↑ "Students honour the lives of asylum seekers in moving Social Justice Statement water's edge ceremony". CAPSA. 15 September 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  43. ↑ "September 2016 Bulletin". CAPSA. 5 October 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  44. ↑ Houston, Carolyn Webb, Cameron (20 November 2016). "Springvale bank fire: Asylum seekers' lives precarious, say advocates". The Age. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  45. ↑ Social Justice in the City | 27 April 2016 - Sr Brigid Arthur, Brigidine Sister , retrieved 27 July 2021
  46. ↑ "Breakthrough: "the biggest gender equality conference in the nation's history."". Victorian Women's Trust. 30 November 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  47. ↑ "Sr Brigid Arthur #Breakthrough2016". Victorian Women's Trust. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  48. ↑ Catholic Diocese of Ballarat, https://www.ballarat.catholic.org.au/e-news/100-4dd1ad89/editions/121-37babc4b/user-assets/files/E-news/july8ASYLUM%20SEEKER%20AND%20REFUGEE%20FORUM%20Final.pdf
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  50. ↑ Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project (2020). "Submission 19". www.aph.gov.au. Archived from the original on 1 September 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  51. ↑ "The Kafkaesque world of the North West Point Immigration Detention Centre on Christmas Island". Green Left. 5 November 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  52. ↑ Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project (2012). "Submission 12". www.aph.gov.au. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  53. ↑ Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project (2011). "Submission 57". www.aph.gov.au. Archived from the original on 4 January 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  54. ↑ Arthur, Brigid (2011). "Humanising the face of the refugee" (PDF). Gesher. 4 (2).
  55. ↑ Arthur, Brigid; Clothier, Eva (1985). Developing essential learning areas: an integrated education program in a Victorian non-government school. Australia, Department of Education.
  56. ↑ "Queen's Birthday 2022 Honours - the full list". Sydney Morning Herald. Nine Entertainment Co. 12 June 2022. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
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