University of Melbourne Chaplaincy and Religions for Peace Australia – Victoria Branch, invite you to attend a you to a FREE lecture on Tuesday 4th February 2020 on ‘Pope Francis: His Interfaith and Environmental Perspectives’.
China: Interfaith Exchanges and Shared Future for Mankind
The the aspiration of all peoples is for a better future when the global community was facing unprecedented challenges. This seminar was designed to provide a platform of equal learning for the eleven nations represented. In building a community for a shared future, it was critical ‘not to talk past each other but to experience joint and fruitful sharing’. Mankind’s future depends on collaboration, harmony and shared understandings.
Read moreChina: Interfaith Exchanges and Shared Future for Mankind
Statement regarding Australian bushfires
The Australian Academy of Science has given a statement about the bushfires that have ravaged Australia in the last few months. There is need for clarity around the issues of climate change and drought, man-made changes to the planetary warming and how man has treated the environment. It is time for clarity and for respect to others in this sometimes voluble conversation in the community.
Sydney Mosque opens doors to bushfire victims
The Muslim community in the Sydney suburb of Marsden Park has invited people who have lost their homes or property in bushfires to stay in the Mosque.
‘A long time coming’: These Muslims are bringing sex abuse by sheikhs out of the shadows
Over the past two to three years, scholars and advocates say, North American Muslims have risen up in an unprecedented movement to openly confront sexual and spiritual abuse perpetrated by Muslim religious leaders.
Read more‘A long time coming’: These Muslims are bringing sex abuse by sheikhs out of the shadows
When the Drosera Blooms – A Call to Living the Change
Elders of many First Nations still maintain their lineage of understanding the ebbs and flows of the natural world and the interconnected web of all living creatures. This time of climate urgency calls us to respect and relearn the deep rhythms that hold all life in balance.
Read moreWhen the Drosera Blooms – A Call to Living the Change
Victoria: International Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemoration
The Jewish Holocaust Centre and The Jewish Community Council of Victoria join to host a commemoration of the Holocaust on the evening of Holocaust Liberation Day – 27 January – at the Malvern Town Hall.
Read moreVictoria: International Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemoration
SDG – Draft Global Biodiversity Framework Published
The draft framework presents five long-term goals for 2050 related to the CBD’s 2050 Vision for Biodiversity, and each of these goals has an associated outcome for 2030. The draft framework also includes 20 action-oriented targets for 2030.
Read moreSDG – Draft Global Biodiversity Framework Published
Bushfires and the Australian Volunteer Emergency Chaplaincy Alliance
A couple of days of light rain brought some relief to those resisting killer bushfires across southeastern Australia. Still, firefighters, residents and other responders were bracing themselves and preparing for more mayhem.
Read moreBushfires and the Australian Volunteer Emergency Chaplaincy Alliance
South Australia: Bushfires Prayer Gathering
A Bushfires Community Prayer will be hosted by Playford City Church – Anglican Church of Australia – Holy Cross Anglican Church, 91-93 Elizabeth Way, Elizabeth, 7:30pm Wednesday January 8, 2020
Australian Churches respond to Bushfire Crisis
Red and smoky skies at night and in the morning* looming in four Australian states indicate a catastrophe of biblical proportions as killer fires engulf towns and communities, leaving tens of thousands of people stranded.
Churches have been at the forefront among the responders in both their community service and disaster chaplaincy as Australians in four states including New South Wales and Victoria reel under flames, with thousands fleeing in the first days of a new decade.
A Bushfire Prayer
Courtesy of our friends at Temple Beth Israel, in East St Kilda, we have A Bushfire Prayer to share. The prayer – a Universal Prayer, it is not sectarian – prays for those who fear for the safety others, for those who have been damaged, for those with trauma and nightmare memories.
The prayer goes on to include those with concerns for the stock under their care, those who are fatigued and exhausted, and for those who have generosity and have shared. There is prayer for our harsh climate, for excellence in stewardship and for faithfulness. A rare, universal prayer directly addressing our Bushfire necessities.
Yoga – Why our fast-paced society loves it
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health found that longtime yoga practitioners don’t display the usual age-related declines in the brain’s gray matter. Yogis also had larger volume in several brain regions, including the hippocampus, critical to memory and emotional regulation, and the precuneus and posterior cingulate cortex, involved in attention and self-awareness.
China: Overcoming environmental degradation through a green growth economy: The role of religious leadership
Overcoming environmental degradation through a green growth economy: The role of religious leadership was presented to the International Seminar on Interfaith Exchanges and Shared Future for Humanity, sponsored by the China Committee for Religions and Peace, Beijing, in December of 2019 by Emeritus Professor Desmond Cahill, Deputy Moderator – Religions for Peace Asia, and Chair, Religions for Peace Australia.
Amended religious freedom bill ‘deeply flawed’, says Law Council
The nation’s peak legal body has condemned the Morrison government’s revised religious discrimination bill, declaring it remains “a deeply flawed piece of legislation” that puts freedom of religious expression ahead of other human rights.
Read moreAmended religious freedom bill ‘deeply flawed’, says Law Council
Pope Francis delivers Christmas message to the faithful
Vatican City: Pope Francis on Tuesday hailed the virtue of selfless Christian charity as he celebrated Christmas Eve Mass in St Peter’s Basilica.
The service is one of the most important ceremonies in the Catholic liturgy, marking the birth of Jesus Christ. Thousands of people flocked to the basilica and St Peter’s Square to follow it.
Read morePope Francis delivers Christmas message to the faithful
Pope Francis writes on the significance of the Christmas crèche
Pope Francis has written about the meaning and importance of the nativity scene. He signed the Letter during his visit to the Italian town of Greccio – where St Francis first created the Nativity.
Read morePope Francis writes on the significance of the Christmas crèche