pathways, SEPTEMBER 2007
Margaret Silf to visit Australia
Dominicans to celebrate 140th anniversary of arrival
Denis McBride down under: Where does the Jesus story begin?
Reinventing schooling - in action
How responsible is Australia as a global citizen?
Indigenous peoples vote on September 13
Vocations Directors to meet
Can WYD08 be a catalyst for adult education?
Students to bring missionary familiarity to the lecture room
Some links of interest
Walking the labyrinth
The Blake Prize
60th anniversary of Pax Romana
Pope attends eco-friendly youth festival
Margaret Silf to visit Australia
A woman renown for her ability to connect the spiritual with the everyday will visit Australia early in the new year.
Popular author on Ignatian spirituality and retreat-director Margaret Silf, from the United Kingdom, will make her first professional visit from January - March, 2008. Among her many books are
Close to the Heart: A Practical Approach to Personal Prayer;
The Gift of Prayer: Embracing the Sacred in the Everyday;
Wayfaring;
Landmarks and
Inner Compass.
Dates already confirmed are:
Dominicans to celebrate 140th anniversary of arrival
The Dominican Sisters of Eastern Australia and the Solomon Islands will celebrate the 140th anniversary of their arrival in Australia on September 9.
A Eucharist, at which the Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle Michael Malone will be the principal celebrant, will be celebrated at 2pm in St Mary's Chapel, Maitland. Refreshments will be served in the Town Hall after the Mass.
On September 10, 1867, eight Irish Sisters - led by Mother M. Agnes Bourke - arrived on the
Martha Birnie, in Maitland to establish a convent and schools for the children of the new diocese - which stretched to the Queensland border and as far west as a person could travel.
Between 1867 and 1885, 35 young women arrived in this new world: 13 of them had been professed for less than a year and 18 were under the age of 25.
From their commitment has grown the Congregation of Dominican Sisters of Eastern Australia and the Solomon Islands and an 'extended family' of former students and friends. Today, this branch of the Dominican Family ministers in the Solomon Islands, Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and Tasmania.
In 1988, the
Federation of the Dominican Sisters of Australia was formed. Its members are Dominican Sisters of Eastern Australia and the Solomon Islands (the Provincial Office is in Strathfield, Sydney), the Holy Cross Congregation (Cumberland Park, SA), the Dominican Sisters of North Adelaide (SA) and Dominican Sisters of Western Australia (Doubleview, WA). The Dominican Sisters of New Zealand are closely associated with the Federation.
The Dominican Sisters of the Rosary (the Pamplona Sisters) in Darwin and the Dominican Sisters of Malta (Sydney and Melbourne) also have a presence in Australia.
Several weeks ago the General Chapter of Provincial of the Dominican Fathers was held in Bogota. For details, visit the
English language home page.
Denis McBride CSsR down under: Where does the Jesus story begin?
"WHERE DOES THE JESUS STORY BEGIN?" was the programme title of recent Perth workshop given by renowned Scripture scholar Denis McBride CSsR, from
Hawkstone Hall, England.
Fr McBride responded to this question - also the title of his most recent
book and
CD set - with teachers from Catholic schools and presenters from Perth's Maranatha Institute of Adult Faith Education.
As they spent a week exploring the beginnings of the four gospels, they came to see the ever-widening 'frame' of each evangelists rendering of the Jesus story: Mark going back to Isaiah; Matthew to Abraham; Luke to Adam, and John, with no frame at all, as Jesus the Word-made-flesh comes beyond history and the cosmos itself.
A startling aspect of the presentations was the skilful way in which Fr McBride merged the historical settings of the gospels and the pastoral concerns that brought them to birth with contemporary faith issues impacting on our personal and social and religious lives today.
Reinventing schooling - in action
Several years ago, Loreto Normanhurst (Sydney) committed to reinvent itself, to change the paradigm of schooling in order to live out its 400 year old values and tradition while meeting the needs of its 21st century students.
There were two major outcomes:
Development of the Loreto Normanhurst Student Growth Model which starts with the student and builds schooling around her holistic needs; and
A cultural change, a commitment to ongoing learning and adaptation resulting in an ongoing learning community.
In 2006, the school was awarded a National Quality Schooling Award for reinventing schooling.
A conference, "Reinventing Schooling for the 21st Century" on September 3 and 4 will offer an opportunity for participants to experience a 'reinventing' school in action.
Speakers at the conference will include:
Mr Hugh Mackay, social researcher and author, will outline the changing external (and internal) reality within which schools are situated and to which they must respond if they are to authentically meet the needs of their students and their families
Dr Leoni Degenhardt, Principal Loreto Normanhurst, will "tell the story" of the reinventing of Loreto Normanhurst, describing and analysing the process and what happened and how it impacted on people
Professor Patrick Duignan, distinguished chair and leader in numerous educational areas, including President of the Australian Council Educational Leaders, will address the range of leadership issues embedded in the reinventing process, past and present; and
Fr Frank Brennan SJ, human rights, law and social justice expert, will address the question of values and the need for soul and spirituality as a core part of life, and therefore of every school.
How responsible is Australia as a global citizen?
The Australian Catholic Bishops' 2007 social justice statement - a call for Australians to act more in the interests of people who do not share this nation's prosperity - will be launched nationally on Monday, September 17, ahead of Social Justice Sunday on September 30.
The launch, at Mary MacKillop Place, North Sydney, will be performed by Dr Michael Fullilove, Director of the Global Issues Project, Lowy Insistute for International Policy; the respondent will be Fr Frank Brennan SJ.
"The progressive development of peoples is an object of deep interest and concern to the Church. This is particularly true in the case of those peoples who are trying to escape the ravages of hunger, poverty, endemic disease and ignorance; of those who are seeking a larger share in the benefits of civilisation and a more active improvement of their human qualities; of those who are consciously striving for fuller growth."
These words from Pope Paul VI's Encyclical Populorum Progressio (On the Development of Peoples), promulgated 40 years ago, are the starting point for the 2007 Social Justice Sunday Statement, Who is my neighbour? Australia's role as a global citizen.
According to a
summary on the ACSJC website, the 2007 statement will focus on five challenges that confront Australians as global citizens. They are:
Foreign aid and development assistance. We can increase our aid budget to relieve poverty, develop infrastructure and train much-needed professionals from poorer countries.
Military alliances and interventions. Our military alliances are important to our security, but any proposed military intervention requires our own thorough assessment of the morality of the war and broad international approval.
The United Nations and international financial institutions. The UN needs reform, but the world would be a much poorer and less secure place without it. The UN and related global institutions should give weaker nations more influence over its activities.
Climate change and energy policy. Human activity is contributing to climate change that could have profound effects on life on earth. Australia is uniquely positioned to promote alternatives in energy use that can reduce carbon emissions.
Border protection and refugees. Australia accepts many people in need of humanitarian assistance, including refugees. However, we have harsh border protection policies, including the so-called 'Pacific solution'. Good global citizens should ensure protection for genuine refugees and humane treatment for all who come here.
As part of the promotion of the statement, launches will be held around the country. Details available at the time this edition of pathways was posted are:
Tasmania: Archbishop Adrian Doyle (who is also chairman of Caritas Australia) will launch the statement at the Catholic Diocesan Centre, New Town, at 11 am on Wednesday, September 26. He will be supported by Redemptorist priest, social commentator and author, Fr Bruce Duncan, from Melbourne. While in Tasmania, Fr Duncan will speak to the statement at Spirituality in the Pub, North Hobart, Wednesday, September 26; at Spirituality over Supper, at the Emmanuel Centre, Launceston, on Thursday, September 27; and at MacKillop Hill, Forth, on Friday, September 28, as well as at Masses in the north-west of the State over the weekend.
Indigenous peoples vote on September 13
Leaders of the world's 370 million indigenous peoples have reiterated their calls for the 192-member United Nations General Assembly to recognise their sovereignty over ancestral lands and resources. The declaration was expected to be adopted by the General Assembly last year, but due to fierce objections from several countries, including Australia and New Zealand, it was set aside for further negotiations.
Those unwilling to sign the declaration have expressed strong reservations about parts of the text calling for recognition of the indigenous peoples' right to self-determination and control over their natural resources. They have described the draft declaration as "fundamentally flawed", and thus have refused to accept the indigenous representatives' assertion that their people have the right to self-determination. (see last month's
pathways article
Will they ... or won't they ... sign?)
Vocations Directors to meet
Catholic Vocations Ministry Australia Biennial Conference 2007, TELLING OUR AUSTRALIAN STORY Putting Vocations Ministry within an Australian Context. will be held from September 18-21, at Mary MacKillop Place, North Sydney.
This non-residential conference is open to all engaged in vocations ministry or people with an interest in it. The three guest speakers are Fathers Gerard Arbuckle SM and David Ranson and Ms Janiene Wilson, all from Sydney.
Dr Gerard Arbuckle, SM, a graduate in social anthropology from Cambridge University, with postgraduate studies at Oxford University, is the co-director of the Refounding and Pastoral Research Unit in Sydney. The author of nine other books, he has published Healthcare Ministry: Refounding the Mission in Tumultuous Times (2000); Violent Society and the Church - A cultural approach (2004) and Confronting the Demon: A Gospel Response to Bullying (2004).
Fr David Ranson is a priest of the Diocese of Broken Bay, lecturing in Spirituality at the Catholic Institute of Sydney where he is also Academic Secretary. He is a member of the International Promotions Committee for the Society of the Study of Christian Spirituality. The author of numerous articles on spirituality and pastoral formation in both Australia and Ireland, he is the author of Across the Great Divide - Bridging Spirituality and Religion Today (2002).
Ms Janiene Wilson is an analytic psychotherapist with 20 years experience in private practice. She also lectures in Pastoral Theology at the Catholic Institute of Sydney. She has consulted to many religious congregations and dioceses in the psychological formation of those exploring a vocation to priesthood and religious life. She was formerly on the formation staff of the Seminary of the Good Shepherd for 10 years.
Workshop presenters will also include Br Matthew Beckman, Fr Chris de Souza and Bishop Anthony Fisher OP.
Can WYD08 be a catalyst for adult education?
World Youth Day & Beyond: A Catalyst for Adult Education? is the theme for the Australian Association of Catholic Adult Faith Educators
conference which will be held at St Joseph's Retreat Centre, Baulkham Hills, September 24-27.
The conference will ask: What does World Youth Day 2008 offer the Australian Church? How can our approaches to faith education be inspired by WYD08? It will consider youth spirituality initiatives in the context of the Australian Church and the advent of WYD08: How does our church engage with young people? How might our faith education approaches be developed in the light of WYD08?
Among the topics to be discussed are: The Ministry of Faith Education in the life of the Church (Sr Linda Ferrington RSC); The spirituality of generation Y (Phillip Hughes), Spirituality, religion, the church and young people (Veronica Vuletic), Personal experience of a young adult in today's Church (Daniel Ang), The evangelisation principles behind WYD08 and how they are to be carried beyond WYD08 (Bishop Anthony Fisher OP)
A panel will engage each speaker Time for small group processes and interaction with both speakers and panel members will be incorporated into each stage of the conference.
Students to bring missionary familiarity to the lecture room
Sr Robyn Reynolds OLSH will be the lecturer during 2008 for a course on missionary spirituality offered by Yarra Theological Union (YTU) Melbourne.
According to Sr Robyn, the aim of the course is to make the student aware of his/her own missionary spirituality and to reflect on it critically. The most important content will be the ministerial experiences which each student will bring. These will be studied and reflected on critically with the aid of Scripture, the social sciences, contemporary developments in spirituality and contemporary mission theology.
The course prerequisites include at least one year of full-time ministry in a Third World and/or cross cultural situation. While a student was expected to have completed a unit in Moral and Practical Theology or Church History; the phrase 'or its equivalent' allowed for further conversation, she said.
The lecturer for this course is usually Fr Larry Nemar SVD, but as he will be Acting President of YTU for 2008, Sr Robyn will deliver the course next year. She has been lecturing at YTU for two years, and has many years of 'missionary' experience in Northern Territory communities.
The course is not limited to members of religious congregations.
some links of interest
Walking the labyrinth
A recent Radio National Encounter programme focussed on labyrinths.
Walking the labyrinth (August 12) explored the modern practice of 'walking the labyrinth' through the lives of ordinary people who tread the path once a month in a local church hall in Adelaide. The programme is available in both transcript and podcast formats.
The Blake Prize 2007
The annual $15,000 non-acquisitive
Blake Prize for Religious Art was established in 1951 and is the oldest prize in Australia dedicated to spirituality, religion and cultural diversity.
60th anniversary of Pax Romana
The Australian Catholic Movement for Intellectual and Cultural Affairs (ACMICA) will
celebrate the 60th anniversary of Pax Romana and lay participation in the Church with Mass, followed by a talk and then dinner, in Newtown, Sydney, on September 15, from 6pm. Ms Kimberley Davis, from the Office of the Participation of Women, will speak on
Lay Catholics: the Reality and the Dream.
Pope attends eco-friendly youth festival
VATICAN CITY (AP): Pope Benedict XVI is taking a
new step in the Vatican's environmental campaign, leading a youth festival where participants will use recycled prayer books, biodegradable plates and backpacks made from reused nylon.
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