Chaplaincy - Spirituality, Faith and Meaning
Student Life
An occasional column by your chaplains exploring areas of life and the spiritual.
Planning for one of the world's largest interreligious gatherings is taking place in Melbourne. Known as the Parliament of the World's Religions (PWR Melbourne -2009), this event will be held at Melbourne's new Convention Centre in December 2009. It will gather together the world's religious and spiritual communities with the aim of promoting interreligious understanding and cooperation.
With major sponsorship from the Australian Government's Department of Immigration and Citizenship, the State Government of Victoria and the City of Melbourne, PWR-2009 will have a special focus on indigenous reconciliation, responses to global poverty and global warming, and will promote care of the earth and sustainability.
A series of Pre-Parliament Events are already taking place. In each instance the planning committees represent a cross-section of religious traditions in Melbourne and are designed in themselves to provide a multi-faith experience, while promoting understanding and respect for interreligious understanding, mutual respect and cooperation.
One such event took place at the State Library Theatrette on March 16 when Stephen Crittenden, religious affairs journalist. ABC, and Waleed Aly, media commentator and lecturer in the School of Political and Social Inquiry, Monash University held a public conversation on the theme: 'Who am I? Religion, Identity and Public Life'. During the evening the presenters and the audience discussed ways in which religion is presented and presents itself in Australian public discourse.
These events are to be held monthly. The next public conversation in the series is scheduled for Monday 20 April at 6pm and will take place at Treacy Conference Centre, Parkville. The topic is one of the major themes for the Parliament, Healing the Earth, and the title of the evening's conversation is 'Who am I as a citizen of the Earth? Ecology, spirituality and the future'. Rabbi Jonathan Keren-Black, founder of GreenFaith, Australia is one of the main speakers. A detailed program of the whole series of ten FREE lectures/discussions is available from The 2009 Parliament of the World's Religions website in the pre-parliament events section listed as Melbourne:Who Am I?
The same website also leads to suggestions on how to become involved as a volunteer or presenter. The website reminds us that in 'today's world, understanding between people of different traditions is not optional. It is essential'. By 'calling people of faith, spirit and goodwill', the Parliament aims to use the forum to promote understanding and respect for cultural and religious differences.
Watch this space between now and the main event in December for further information and links to activities associated with PWR Melbourne-2009.
Once again, in 2009, nature and history have presented us with a stark Christian paradox worthy of our reflection. Throughout history, Victoria's bushfires have been closely connected with the Christian season of Lent, and any association with the Lenten season is incomplete if divorced from consideration of the profound mystery of the Resurrection: the essence of Christian hope!
In recent weeks Victoria's bushfires brought with them suffering and hardship. In the period immediately following the fires, the public, the media and in some cases, understandably, some survivors were quick to apportion blame ranging from slack maintenance, lack of warning, human error, environmental carelessness and ignorance, or simply, 'nature'.
Now as we begin the recovery period, we recognise that the same fires have left us with the promise of new life and growth.
In her article 'Black Saturday' published on-line in Thinking Faith - the online journal of the British Jesuits of 25 February, 2009, Associate Professor Beth Crisp of Deakin's School of Health and Social Development, explores these complexities of human reactions to the recent bushfires. In conclusion she touches delicately on the kindling in us of desirable fires at this time: fires 'that one would want to kindle' (of generosity, for example) and acknowledges the presence in our beings of 'less desirable' fires of blame and anger. The full text of her article is available at: Thinking Faith
Associate Professor Crisp reminds us that amid the devastation of such happenings, there 'is a future to be grasped': a perennial challenge for Christians and all who search to believe.
