These form our identity both as individuals and as a community. Secondly, we should not ignore our responsibility for the new soil in which we are planting our roots. The future of our children and grandchildren will depend on the type of society which we are building now. All people have a right to love and value what is good in their own heritage. Our children have a right to that inheritance so that they know where they came from and know where they are going.
All people have a right to self-respect and dignity.
In order to maintain these rights, each of us must work to ensure reconciliation and justice. This message is at the heart of all that the Catholic Church has built and achieved in this country and in this Archdiocese. In this the Church tells you, without any qualification, that each one of you and your children is not only welcome, but that the Church in Melbourne needs your gifts and talents. Every generation of Christians needs to sanctify its own time, to flesh out our faith, change our society for the better. In order to do this, it must understand and share the hopes and desires of all people.