Faith communities have an important role to play in helping Australia to recover from the shooting of 15 people at Bondi Beach in December last year and in strengthening social cohesion, two experts in ecumenical and interfaith relations have said.
By Debra Vermeer
Two gunmen opened fire at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration in Bondi on 14 December, killing 15 people and injuring dozens of others. One man, Naveed Akram, has been charged with 59 offences over the mass shooting, including murder and terrorism charges. His father and alleged co-conspirator, Sajid Akram, was shot dead by police at the scene.
Father Patrick McInerney SSC is the Columban Regional Director of Oceania and the Director of the Columban Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations, as well as a Consultor for the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. He said that as the entire community seeks to rebuild after the unprecedented event in Australia, people of faith can play a special role.
“I think that the faith leaders have a very big responsibility to lead their congregations and to educate their congregations and to give public witness, and I think that’s what they did in the immediate aftermath of the shootings,” he said.
“So many of them, including myself, issued statements in the days after the Bondi killings. Many of the faith leaders came together on the steps of St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney as a sign of unity and solidarity.
“So, the first thing that people of faith need to do is to reach out and to listen.”
Good Samaritan Sister Elizabeth Delaney, who is a former national director of the National Council of Churches Australia and currently serves on the Archdiocese of Sydney’s Commission for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, said that deepening understanding of different faiths was crucial to rebuilding the fabric of society following the shootings.
“There’s a wonderful thing, of which I’m part, where we have a prayer service each year on the first Friday of March. We pray for a particular country, we learn about that country, and we contribute to support a project in the country,” she said.
“I’m hoping that somewhere in all of this we can focus on those three things – that we can all learn a bit more about the other faiths, that we pray with them, and if we can’t pray with them, we pray for them, and we see what we can do to help in a practical sense.
“I think that the World Day of Prayer message is a wonderful approach for so many situations, and particularly at this time, I see how important it is.”
The faith leaders who stood united on the steps of St Mary’s Cathedral the day after the shootings included Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP, NSW Faith Affairs Council chair Rev Dr Michael Stead of the Anglican Church of Australia, Imam Shadi Alsuleiman of the Australian National Imams Council, Rabbi Benjamin Elton, chief minister at Sydney’s Great Synagogue, and Buddhist, Hindu and other Christian leaders.
They reiterated a statement of the council and the Multicultural NSW Advisory Board extending sympathy to the victims and the Australian Jewish community.
“In the face of this tragedy, we call on the people of New South Wales to remain steadfast in our commitment to peace, humanity and to each other as Australians,” it read.
“We will not let hatred and violence divide us. Across all our cultures and faiths, will stand united in sympathy, compassion and solidarity.”
Father Patrick said that amid the carnage at Bondi Beach on that day, many people, from passers-by to first-responders and lifeguards, responded by doing good, with some losing their life as a result.
“Despite the horror of what happened, there was an enormous good that was also happening in the middle of that, which I think is very important to remember and to acknowledge,” he said.
“Then there was the tsunami of goodwill messages from all sectors of society, including from Muslim community leaders and Muslim organisations – an enormous tidal wave of support and sympathy for the Jewish community.
“At the same time, it’s important to acknowledge that the subsequent politicisation and divisiveness is disappointing. It’s not unexpected, but it is disappointing.”
Both Elizabeth and Father Patrick said that while support for the Jewish community in the wake of the attack was crucial, Australians should not blame all Muslims for the actions of two men.
“It’s really easy to label people, and I’m inclined to think that all might be condemned when it was the actions of two people that caused this,” Elizabeth said.
Father Patrick said that as the national conversation continues to unfold it is equally important not to identify all Jewish people with the Israeli government’s military actions in Gaza following Hamas’ attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.
“People talk about the rise of antisemitism since 7 October, and there is context to that,” he said.
“The world was horrified at what happened in Gaza. But it is wrong, completely wrong, to identify what happened in Gaza with the entire Jewish community and make them targets. It is guilt by association.
“There has also been a similar rise in Islamophobia in that same period, and I don’t think that was ever given the same public treatment.”
Father Patrick said religious voices can speak into the silences that have been created by mutual mistrust and continue to build strong relationships among faith communities.
“Some Jews would say that their concerns were not heard, including immediately after 7 October, why that attack was so horrendous to them and considered an existential threat. A lot of the world just did not understand why that was so, and they didn’t listen,” he said.
“And, of course, there’s also a parallel silence about the suffering of the Palestinian people that has not been heard and has not been listened to and therefore has alienated another section of the community.
“So, into that silence the miscreants create evil, and that’s why religious voices, first of all, need to listen and build the understanding that’s so necessary to heal the relationships. But also, not just to be silent. To listen is foundational, but also to speak, to speak up for the voices, to speak up for the victims, to speak up for the powerless, so that the miscreants can’t claim that space.
“It’s vital that the voice of the victims is heard, so then there can be an end to victimising, so that there won’t be further victims, which is all that the killers on Bondi created, another instance of victimisation, which is happening backwards and forwards.”
He said that as the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion unfolds this year, and protests continue in Australian cities, the careful use of language is required, especially given that so much of the language in the public debate is contested.
Elizabeth said that despite the challenges, there were signs of hope, as evidenced by the theme chosen by the Chabad Community in Bondi for the National Day of Mourning on 22 January: ‘Light will win, a gathering of unity and remembrance.’
“That was a beautiful theme and the image of light features in so many faiths,” she said.
“The invitation to place lit candles in windows and to perform a ‘mitzvah’, or good deed, can help shape the path forward.”
“I’ve got three windows, so I put a candle on each windowsill and I’m leaving them there, just as a reminder, so that this is not something that’s over and done with and we can just forget about it. Let’s keep turning to the light to overcome darkness.”
Further reading
Doing good is not for the faint-hearted as we ‘seek peace and pursue it’ by Congregational Leader Sister Catherine McCahill SGS in The Good Oil, February 2026.
This article was published in the February 2026 edition of The Good Oil.
