Tasmania – March 2022 – Religions for Peace Australia

Tasmania Logo

We know the thoughts and prayers of all of you are going out to everyone who is suffering in our wounded world just now, both internationally and here in Australia. The power of interfaith prayer is needed as much as ever to support all those facing loss and difficulties. Religions for Peace will be conducting online prayer in the near future.

Greetings of Peace!

Messages from Religions for Peace International and from the Parliament of the World’s Religions are below.

Religions for Peace Australia will hold a national prayer/meditation session online very soon, in March, at a date and time to be announced. I’ll let you know details as soon as I know them.

Sending loving thoughts of peace to all of you, and with all of you to everyone in need.

Holy Days in March 2022

Date	Event	Faith/religion
2 March	Ash Wednesday/Lent	Christianity
2-20 March	Month of Fasting	Baha’i
3 March	Tibetan New Year	Tibetan Buddhism
7 March	Great Lent	Orthodox Christianity
17 March	Purim	Judaism
18 March	Holi	Hinduism
18 March	Hola Mohalla	Sikhism
19 March	Lailat al Bara’ah	Islam
21 March	Naw Ruz (New Year)	Baha’i
3 April	Ramadan	Islam
10 April	Holy Week	Christianity

Brahma Kumaris Meditation Centre

Celebrating Women for Sustainability: an online event for International Women’s Day

Tuesday 8 March 22 7.00-8.00pm
Zoom Link:
www.tinyurl.com/IWDsustainability

This year UN Women will be recognising the contribution of women and girls around the world who are working to change the climate of gender equality and build a sustainable future.

We hope you will join

Kris Schaffer (Tas), our local indigenous horticulturalist, bushfood expert, educator and artist

Rosemary Morrow (NSW), International Permaculture Teacher

Dr Sue Ennis (Vic), Secretary of Religions for Peace Australia and Co-Founder of Align your Finances with your Faith to Protect the Planet

Vasundhara Kandpal (Vic), Founder of Green Karma

Caroline Bader (Germany), Co Director of Living the Change

Sustainability and Women

Religions for Peace International and the UN Commission on the Status of Women:

It is our great honour and pleasure to invite you to a parallel event, “Multi-Religious Collaboration: The Tipping Point for Engendered Climate Change Policies” which is to take place as a hybrid event Tuesday, 15 March 2022 at 10:00 am EST(local time here).

The theme of this year’s session of CSW is focusing on achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies, and programmes. This corresponds and links two of Religions for Peace’s strategic priorities: “Nurturing a Sustainable Environment” and “Advancing Gender Equality” by recognising the intimate connection between protection of the environment and empowerment of women and girls as a foundation for securing a more peaceful and inclusive world for all people.

In this official parallel event, leaders from diverse sectors of society, religions and regions, will come together to discuss the importance of multi-religious collaboration to protect the environment, end tropical deforestation and to highlight the multiple roles women play in this field.

Please register by clicking on this link. You will receive the link to join the Webinar after your registration.

For those in New York, we would be delighted to welcome you in person at the Church Center of the United Nations, 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017. Kindly RSVP to Ms. Liliana Ashman, lashman@rfp.org

Soul Food

Dear Friends,

Soul Food is hosted at the Baha’i Centre of Learning for Tasmania, 1 Tasman Highway Hobart (behind the ABC Ample free parking) on the first Sunday of each month at 3 – 4 pm with delightful musical interludes.

The theme for this program will be “The Rays of the Sun of Truth”, exploring the power of words, speech and sound and how their inspired usage can touch and transform the human soul.

For more information please call 62347654 or Val mobile040408078

We do hope you will join us.
The Soul Food Team
O My brother! A pure heart is as a mirror; cleanse it with the burnish of love and severance from all save God. Bahá’u’lláh

Hobart Buddhist Meditation Centre

Calm Abiding

A Meditation Retreat
15- 21 April 2022
At Dorje Ling, Lorinna Tasmania

Book here

Settling into mindfulness nourishes the whole bodymind. Relaxing, finding ease, softening and opening supports a steady, alert attention. We become clear and calm and present with experience. This may become very pleasant, very enjoyable. The unifying process of concentration unfolds quite naturally, leading to states of joy, tranquillity and peace. These are healing states in themselves and they also support wise seeing and understanding. We learn to let go of what is unhelpful and receive what is beneficial. Welcoming and disentangling from the hindrances is all part of the process. Coming home to our innate nature becomes possible. This is the beautiful practice of calm abiding and is what we will cultivate in our time together.

This silent retreat is an opportunity to deepen one’s practice and is suitable for both beginners and more experienced practitioners. The schedule includes guided meditations, sitting and walking meditation, Dharma talks, inquiry and somatic practices.

“The root of all desires is the one desire: to come home, to be at peace.”—Jean Klein

Teachers
Lizzie Turnbull (sister) http://www.lizturnbull.com.au

Guy Turnbull(brother)
Arrival and departure times: Arrive by 2pm if possible April 15th (Good Friday)
Depart morning Thursday 21st April
Cost:$660 full fee
$510 Concession
For further details and to book, Book here

Got a question? Please contact info@tashicholing.net

Email info@hobartbuddhistmeditationcentre.com
Website https://www.hobartbuddhistmeditationcentre.com

Contemplative Studies Centre

A conference in Melbourne and online, organised by the Contemplative Studies Centre, University of Melbourne: Contemplative Practice for the 21st Century

Summary – International Conference of Mindfulness – Asia Pacific 2022 (cvent.com)

Religions for Peace International:

United in the dignity of our diversity, every member of Religions of Peace from across the world sends their prayers and love to all those caught up in the latest senseless round of violence and conflict currently taking place in Ukraine.

As an organization founded on a deep religious conviction for peace, inherent in all our traditions, we unreservedly reject any form of violence. We know in our hearts and minds, and from bitter experience, that violent conflict can never result in any positive outcomes.

We reject the invocation of defending religion or tradition as a pretext for war.

We pray with all our strength for every single person involved in the conflict.

We pray for the citizens of Ukraine and Russia, who through no fault of their own will now suffer both spiritually and materially for decades to come. Violence breeds violence, and they will need much support to recover from the fear, insecurity, bitterness, and trauma that inevitably follows violent conflict.

We pray for our brothers and sisters in the Russian Orthodox Church, the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (UCCRO), the Interreligious Council of Russia (ICR), the believers of their religious denominations, and for people of every religion in the region, and call on them to remember the fundamental purpose and nature of all religions and stand up and speak out for peace.

Parliament of the World’s Religions:

Since 1993, the Parliament of the World’s Religions has maintained through its Global Ethic that the involvement of people of faith and good will “for the sake of human rights, freedom, justice, peace … is absolutely necessary.” The invasion of Ukraine, a sovereign democracy, is a violation of human rights, freedom, justice, and peace. Therefore, the Parliament unequivocally condemns the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

We mourn the lives lost and the continued suffering of those involved in the invasion; including those who remain in Ukraine and those displaced by the invasion. We ask that the human rights and humanity of all refugees and displaced people in this crisis be respected and upheld, regardless of their country of origin.

We pray and call for an immediate cessation of violence and for Russia to withdraw all of its forces from Ukraine.

We stand with the Ukrainian people and we call upon all people of faith, conscience and good will to do the same. The Parliament implores the interfaith movement around the world and individuals of faith, conscience, and good will to stand in resolve against all acts of war and violence and advocate for peaceful diplomacy.

Religious Discrimination Bill from the Public Interest Advocacy Centre

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre has expressed its extreme disappointment that two Parliamentary Committees have failed to adequately address any of the fundamental problems in the Government’s proposed Religious Discrimination Bill 2021.