The spiritual similarities of Australia’s Aborigines and the early Christian desert fathers were explored in a new online retreat launched recently, reports The Catholic Leader.

The retreat is a unique collaboration between Sr Antonia Curtis of the Benedictine Abbey in Jamberoo, nestled in the southern highlands of New South Wales and Indigenous educator, Gweagal woman, Theresa Ardler.

*Spiritual collaborators Sr Antonia Curtis OSB and Gweagal woman Theresa Ardler. PHOTO: The Catholic Leader.*

It’s more than two decades since 79-year-old Sr Antonia first read an article drawing a connection between the spiritual lives of Aboriginal people and the early Christian desert spirituality.

Since then, she has dreamed of creating a retreat bringing the two together.

“Last year I saw a picture of Theresa (Ardler) presenting the ‘Uluru Statement from the Heart’ to Pope Francis,” Sr Antonia said, referring to the key document written by Indigenous leaders calling for a First Nations Voice to be enshrined in the Australian Constitution.

A referendum on a First Nations Voice is to be put to Australians later this year.

“I found out Theresa Ardler had lectured in Aboriginal spirituality at Australian Catholic University … I thought here’s my opportunity.

“I proposed the idea and she was so excited about it.”

The retreat entitled “Sacred Connections” focuses on the values of silence and listening, reverence and community.

“I knew that these values are integral to the Aboriginal way of life and of course they are key values in Benedictine Spirituality,” Sr Antonia said.

It was St Benedict who developed his own rule of monasticism based on the writings of the Desert Fathers, those early Christians who became attracted to the desert as a way of escaping the world and living a private spiritual life.

Today, Benedictine communities still thrive throughout the world and Jamberoo Abbey, about two and a half hours drive south-west of Sydney, is the home of Australia’s community of Benedictines, who live largely in silence.

Ms Ardler said she felt a “link”, particularly in the hospitality that she encountered on her first visit to the Abbey.

“What struck me then was the hospitality offered to guests and how like Aboriginal hospitality it was,” she said.

“Hospitality links right into silence and listening, reverence and community. All overlap and flow into one another.”

Sr Antonia said she believed Aboriginal people had a lot to teach about how to live collaboratively, to care for one another – values that she says were eroded in Western societies.

“We don’t have all the answers, despite our wealth, our technology and our modern ways of living and being,” she said.

“We need to ask our Aboriginal brothers and sisters to teach us how to live in harmony with the universe.”

Sr Antonia and Ms Ardler hope the online retreat will appeal to an international audience.

“I think anyone of any age and background or religious persuasion, as well as those with no religious persuasion; those marginalised from the Church; those who feel on the fringes, those who feel alienated: all would benefit from participating,” Sr Antonia said.

Ms Ardler said, “I hope this retreat might encourage people in other countries, as well as in Australia, to start communicating more with their First Nations people and encountering their spirituality and culture”.

Throughout his papacy, Pope Francis has reached out to indigenous peoples and challenging the world to show care and respect for their cultures, and particularly their land that represents a sacred space and on which they need to interact to maintain their identity and values.

In late 2022 the Plenary Council of the Australian Catholic Church recognised Aboriginal Spirituality in the Catholic context, noting that used appropriately, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander symbols and rituals enrich Catholic celebrations.

In its first decree the Plenary Council recognised that the Australian Church will not “fully be the Church that Jesus wants us to be until Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have made their contribution to the life of the Church” and “until that contribution has been joyfully received by others”.

The “Sacred Connections” retreat, held in February, consisted of six conferences plus a video-recorded conversation between Sr Antonia and Ms Ardler.

This is a slightly abridged form of an article by Mark Bowling, published in The Catholic Leader.