A few years ago, in preparation for an article on the importance of cultural memory, I interviewed the organisers of what has become a most impressive and effective project called simply The Biography Program sponsored by The Knights of the Order of Malta in Victoria and Tasmania.
The very full title of this very ancient Catholic order founded in 1113 is The Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of the St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and Malta but we often know them as the Knights Hospitaller or Knights of Malta.
It is a “Sovereign Order” of Malta because it operates its charitable and humanitarian work not only as an Order but also as a sovereign state which has diplomatic relations with the United Nations and over 100 countries.
From its inception the Order has been dedicated to caring for “Our Lords, the sick and poor” and to that end the Order led the way in building and running the first hospitals and hospices, thereby introducing a revolution in the care of the sick and dying.
The idea behind the Biography Program arose in the context of the dedication of the Knights of Malta’s mission to palliative care in Victoria. It was seen as a valuable arm of the Order’s centuries long dedication to what Pope St John Paul II called in more recent times “the culture of life”: the ethical, social and spiritual commitment in concrete terms to the dignity and preciousness of each human being.
The Knights saw the Program as enabling many in the preservation of the dignity, value and attention to those who are living with terminal illness or facing debilitation.
It began with a small team of trained volunteers, spending time with those in palliative and nursing care to gather their oral histories and to assist them to garner photos, poems and other artifacts from their personal histories, so as to prepare a life story unique to that person.
The results were remarkable. Many of those interviewed found renewed hope and confidence about the unique value of their lives and vocations. Local communities and relatives became involved and today the Program has assembled over 1,200 biographies. The Program was awarded by the Federal Health Minister and the initiative is now a registered charity based in Eastern Palliative Care which is partly funded by the Knights of Malta.
One volunteer biographer described the importance of her work:
Recounting one’s life has a powerful therapeutic effect, bringing back moments of joy, of success, of pain and helping people to realise how rich and full of events their lives have been. And it can serve also to reassess and give the right weight to the final stage, that of disease or old age. For many participants in this programme, their biography also becomes an instrument to transmit messages to the family, to give advice, to remember episodes and to hand down traditions. All this can help people to accept imminent death with greater serenity.
The importance of the two-way encounter, the listening, the exploration of personal memory as well as the cultural and ethical treasure that is derived from the Program indisputable.
While recently recovering the sources of the Catholic Social Studies Movement throughout the decades, it struck me that the Movement’s treasures lie not only in the printed record but in the many lives of those called to this mission.
The Thomas More Centre is also part of this valuable legacy and history that is made up of people and their dedication far more than in any material assets. Its most important role has been in bringing people together as mentors, teachers, learners and friends. It rests on a personalist “capital” or treasure.
Too much of the history of the Australian Catholic Social Studies Movement and the Movement allies has been lost with the passage of time, due to death and disconnection. Or its history is conveyed by writers who either caricature the real motives of our the grassroots movement, or who simply do not understand it.
For this reason, and because intergenerational conversation and connection is so vital to our work for an accurate and rich Australian social history, I have been working with my colleagues to propose our own oral history project called “Voices of the Movement”.
The purpose of the project is to rediscover, collect, format and preserve the social history of the Social Studies Movement, beginning with oral histories.
This will involve collecting and recording oral histories from those involved in the Movement or those who worked with it. This will, in turn, contribute to a wider archival, intellectual and educational role of the TMC and will build bridges between the generations in a personal and social sense.
We are convinced that this will enrich relationships with you, our supporters and with some of the remarkable people and events which make up our continuity with, and enrichment from,” the past. Most of all it allows us “to write our own history” rather than rely on secondary authors.
Why oral history?
Oral history is a very immediate and inter-personal form of gathering history. It is relatively technologically “light.” It has the potential to offer a textural, instructive and historically important addition to Australian social and political history.
Oral history projects also build up relationships and a sense of real community which counteracts the isolation, atomism and “presentism” of our often thoughtless digital age. It enables us to commemorate, value and connect with the earlier generations of the Movement and Movement allies This task cannot be done by artificial intelligence but by real flesh and blood people!
From the Thomas More Centre perspective, oral history also provides a highly educational setting for our volunteers and staff so that we can commemorate, honour and connect with the important principles and people in our legacy.
If you would like to support the Voices project, you may nominate a person to be interviewed (or volunteer) here, or donate to it here. You can also write to us with questions at admin@tmc.org.au.
Let us not forget.
With thanks,
Anna Krohn
Executive Director
Thomas More Centre
