First conference for new mission association
Refugee Week 2008: A place to call home
Heart of Life to celebrate 25 years
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: May 4-11
Death penalty petition
Honorary doctorate for Peter Malone MSC
First conference for new mission association
The Australian Association for Mission Studies was launched in August 2006, flowing from the ecumenical mission conference that was held in Melbourne in September 2005. At that conference participants strongly supported the founding of such an organisation.
According to AAMS President, Fr Lawrence Nemer SVD, one of the strongest voices of support was that of Fr Cyril Hally SCC who had founded and was president for many years of the South Pacific Association for Mission Studies.
"He believed it was time for the South Pacific Association to come to an end and pass on the baton," Fr Nemer said. This was officially done at the launch of the Australian Association for Mission Studies.
AAMS is ecumenical in its make-up. Of the 116 members, 33 are Roman Catholic - the largest percentage of the denominations/churches in the association.
The AAMS Conference will be held in Canberra, October 2-5, under the theme
"Christian Mission in the Public Square" and the organisation of Professor James Haire of the
Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture. Talks and workshops will cover a variety of topics exploring mission in Australia and overseas.
Refugee Week 2008: A place to call home
Refugee Week 2008:
A place to call home, will be celebrated from June 15 - 21 to coincide with UN World Refugee Day on June 20.
The Refugee Council of Australia again will coordinate Refugee Week as a time to acknowledge and celebrate the amazing contribution that refugees make to Australian society.
This year's theme, A place to call home, has many aspects and facets. The feeling of being home provides security. As a secure base, home is the certainty that one has a place to return to. As home shapes a person's identity, everybody needs a home, a place to identify with.
The council is encouraging people to think about the global themes of protection and human rights by focusing on the fundamental right to a secure place to call home.
The week will ask Australians to think about their common obligations to people who have no secure home, as well as to acknowledge the 700,000 refugees and humanitarian migrants who, over the past 60 years, have made Australia their home.
The Refugee Council invites people to start thinking and planning how they could participate in Refugee Week 2008: through celebrations, fundraising for asylum seekers or activities that promote awareness of the issues, by doing something to mark Refugee Week.
photo credit: Cassandra Mathie, from the 2008 Refugee Week resource kit
further information: the resource kit or (02) 9211 9333 (NSW) or (03) 9348 2245 (Victoria)
Heart of Life to celebrate 25 years
Graduates of the formation ministry programs that have been offered over the 25 years as well as the many friends of the centre have been invited to attend the celebration at Mihalis Tavern Greek Restaurant, 24-26 Cambridge Street, Box Hill, from 6pm. Bookings (9800 1299 - or
holsc@bigpond.net ) are required by April 23.
In other news from the centre, a Eucharist of farewell to Wantirna South will be held on Wednesday, June 4, at 6pm. Although the site of a new home has not yet been announced, an opening celebration is being planned for Sunday, August 3, at 3pm.
"AECSD has granted the Heart of Life's Siloam Formation Program, recognition as a formation program which meets the council's standards for the formation of spiritual directors. We warmly commend this program and rejoice with you in the ongoing ministry of the formation of competent spiritual directors".
The website also describes Heart of Life Spirituality Centre as "an oasis for the human spirit thirsting for God".
"Ours is a way of the heart by which we are drawn into and bonded with other human hearts, the heart of humanity and, indeed, the sacred mystery at the heart of all reality," the website says. "Our way of the heart rests on the contemplative attitude and authentic discernment integral to all our ministries. This way of the heart is fundamental to the rich tradition of Christian spirituality of which we are part."
Heart of Life offers spiritual direction, spirituality seminars, the formation of spiritual directors and supervisors and supervision of spiritual directors and other pastoral ministries.
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: May 4-11
The week, with the theme,
Pray without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17) will be held from May 4-11, as a lead-up to Pentecost.
The National Council of Churches website says that the week will proviude "a wonderful historic opportunity to renew and deepen our relationships in the one God in whom we share together through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit".
The webiste also provides a variety of resources and links to assist Australians in joining more effectively "in that great wave of prayer begun by Jesus himself when he prayed 'that they may all be one ... so that the world may believe' (John 17:21)".
The 2008 resources, adapted for use in Australia, have their origin in Graymoor, USA, where the 'Prayer Octave for Christian Unity' began in 1908. They offer fresh encouragement to churches to worship together locally, to witness to their unity in Christ, and to pray and act for the greater visible expression of that unity.
The site says that the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in 2008 will be an opportunity to reflect further on the vital importance of what is sometimes called 'spiritual ecumenism', the foundation of all Christian work for reconciliation and unity.
Death penalty petition
SAO Bytes, the email notice board of Queensland's Social Action Office (CLRIQ), reports that the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission of Brisbane is campaigning to urge the Federal Government to take strong and swift action to convince neighbouring countries in the Asia/Pacific region to abolish the death penalty.
A
petition to the Australian Senate asks it to take action to promote the abolition of the death penalty in all cases everywhere and to save the lives of Australians and people of other nationalities facing execution in countries such as Indonesia.
People are encouraged to print as many copies of the petition and to approach people in the parish, school, workplace, organisation and community to sign the petition.
Petitons should be retunred to the Brisbane Catholic Justice and Peace Commission, GPO Box 282, Brisbane Qld 4001 (ph 07 3336 9351) by April 30,2008.
Honorary doctorate for Peter Malone MSC
Fr Peter Malone MSC has received an honorary doctorate from the Australian Catholic University.
The doctorate was in recognition of his work in the media - in particular as a film critic - was conferred at the university's graduation ceremony in Melbourne on Thursday, April 3.
Fr Malone is a former member of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, and was the fist President of SIGNIS, the international Catholic body for film, radio, and television. He has lectured of film and the media in many countries. He is a regular member of the Catholic Jury at international film festivals such as Cannes,Venice, Berlin as well as in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
As an associate of the Australian Catholic Office of Film and Broadcasting, his reviews are often used by
pathways. All this month's
film reviews are by Fr Malone.
(source: Missionaries of the Sacred Heart website)
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