Catholic Religious Australia - briefs/dates/links

The remarkable gift of Kiribati

Called to Rome

From the Synod: Moderate line prevails

DATES

Youth leaders to gather

Churches Housing Seminar

Centring Prayer with Fr William Meninger OCSO

Walk Against Warming

Climate change with Reverend Richard Cizik

The remarkable gift of Kiribati

Good Samaritan novice Sarah Puls writes ...

Coming to Kiribati for me is a remarkable gift. One of the opportunities I was aware of before I came was that I would have the opportunity to meet Beia Aaron and Teubwaniman Akireo, who are currently in pre-novitiate and novitiate here. Being the only novice in Australia I was very much looking forward to spending some time with these peers and getting to know them and it has been a thoroughly delightful experience.

read more

Called to Rome

Loreto Sister Mary Wright has been invited by the Vatican to join the team of canon lawyers in the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. She begins her new role in this month.

more details

From the Synod: Moderate line prevails

National Catholic Reporter's John Allen Jrn writes that though the October 5-26 Synod of Bishops was hardly defined by electric theological debate, the final propositions submitted to Pope Benedict XVI nonetheless represented a victory for what might be called a "moderate" line.

"In perhaps its most surprising move, the synod recommended that women be officially admitted to the ministry of "lector," meaning a minister authorized to read Bible passages at Mass. Overall, the bishops voiced strong support for laity - endorsing lay-led liturgies of the Word in the absence of a priest, as well as small ecclesial communities (often known in Latin America as "base communities.")

read his full report and the final propositions presented to the Pope.

DATES

Youth leaders gathering

The Youth Leaders gathering for Catholic youth ministers and leaders active in youth ministry around Australia will be held from November 21-23 at Rosehill Gardens Convention Centre, Sydney. It aims to tap into the enthusiasm and the spiritual awakening among many young people after World Youth Day.

Canadian priest Fr Tom Rosica, who played a key role in transforming the spiritual fruits of Toronto's World Youth Day into ongoing legacies, will be the special guest. Fr Rosica, a Basilian priest, was National Director and Chief Executive Officer of World Youth Day 2002. A noted Scripture scholar, he is now the Chief Executive Officer of Salt and Light Media, which offers 100 per cent Catholic content through a diverse range of multi-media tools, including television production, digital television and satellite distribution and the internet. Salt and Light is a legacy of Toronto's World Youth Day experience.

The gathering is a project of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, under the Bishops Commission for Pastoral Life.

ACBC media release

Churches Housing Seminar

The NSW Housing Minister and the Sydney Street Choir will be guests at a Churches Housing Seminar in Parramatta later this month.

Topics to be covered include Housing people in your community (Bishop M. Meelis Zaia, Assyrian Church of the East), Responding to high needs clients (Sr Myree Harris RSJ, Gethsemane Community), the National Rental Affordability Scheme (Derek Yule, Churches Community Housing). The Minister, David Borger, will address the changing environment in rental housing.

Churches Community Housing (CCHL) will present the three-hour seminar in The Cloisters (auditorium) at St Patrick's Cathedral, Parramatta , from 11am-2pm on Friday, November 21. It will include the annual general meeting, at 1.30pm.

(further information/ rsvp by November 14: Collette Thatcher 02 9890 7455 or collette@churcheshousing.org.au)

Centring Prayer with Fr William Meninger OCSO

In 1974, Father William Meninger OSCO, a Trappist monk and retreat master at St. Josephs Abbey in Spencer, Mass., USA, found a dusty little book in the abbey library, The Cloud of Unknowing. As he read it he was delighted to discover that this anonymous 14th century book presented contemplative meditation as a teachable, spiritual process enabling the ordinary person to enter and receive a direct experience of union with God. From this discovery he originated the workshop on Contemplative Meditation (later known as Centring Prayer) which he now teaches worldwide along with workshops on forgiveness, the enneagram, Sacred Scriptures, and prayer.

Now living at St Benedict's Monastery in the stunningly beautiful Colorado Rockies, leaves the monastery only four times each year to do this travelling lest he lose his own monastic orientation. Fr Meninger is in Australia this month.

His itinerary includes

SYDNEY:

Wednesday, November 12, the Crypt of St Patrick's Church, The Rocks; cost $20, reservations with The Aquinas Academy preferred; 10am - noon and repeated 6-8pm

CANBERRA:

Saturday, November 15, The method of contemplative prayer according to The Cloud of Unknowing, St Benedict's Church, Narrabundah; cost, $10; 10am-3pm.

Sunday, November 16, The process of forgiveness (as above)

Walk against warming

Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC) will join with the Faith & Ecology Network and other faith groups at the Walk Against Warming in Sydney on Saturday, November 15. Walk Against Warming is a community walk and festival to call for immediate action to prevent dangerous climate change. Walks are taking place in locations across Australia. In Sydney: join ARRCC and the Faith & Ecology Network at Martin Place. The walk starts at 11am. ARRCC will meet at 10.45am at the corner of Martin Place and Castlereagh Streets. The website gives the location of other walks around the country, including some on December 6.

Climate change with Reverend Richard Cizik

Reverend Richard Cizik, a respected American Christian leader dubbed the "Earthy Evangelist" by The New York Times, will visit Australia in November to highlight the need for urgent action on climate change. Included in 2008 in TIME magazine's list of "TIME 100" most influential people for his work in bringing together scientific and evangelical communities, Mr Cizik brings a wealth of experience to advocacy on this critical global issue.

His programme includes:

CANBERRA:

Saturday, November 8, Dickson Baptist Church, Cowper St, Dickson; 7:30 - 9.30pm

BRISBANE:

Tuesday, November 11, Kenmore Baptist Church, Kenmore; 7 - 9pm.

With responses by Rev. Dr Peter Ralphs, Principal of the Bible College of Queensland, and Dr Brett Paris, Team Leader, Economics, Climate and Natural Resources Team at World Vision, followed by a panel discussion. Seminar introduced by Senior Pastor Ric Benson, Kenmore Baptist Church, and chaired by Carolyn Kitto, National Coordinator, Church Segment, World Vision

SYDNEY:

Thursday, November 13, St Paul's Anglican Church, 421 Old Northern Road, Castle Hill; 8 - 10pm.

With responses by Rev. Dr Andrew Cameron, Bruce Smith lecturer in ethics, philosophy and apologetics at Moore College, and Dr Brett Paris, Team Leader, Economics, Climate and Natural Resources Team at World Vision. Followed by a panel discussion. Seminar introduced by Rev. John Gray, senior minister, St Pauls, and chaired by Ian Packer, Director of Public Theology, Evangelical Alliance.

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