It’s Time for a Humane, Bipartisan Approach to the Treatment of Asylum Seekers: NCCA
Asylum seekers are people in need of care and not to be feared, say Australian Churches.
At the recent National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) triennial Forum, the Churches affirmed the Australian Government’s right and responsibility to ensure legitimate border protection but also expressed grave concern over the treatment of asylum seekers.
The Churches believe that it is time for the major political parties to work toward a humane, bipartisan approach to the treatment of asylum seekers. To look to an approach that fulfils our international obligations and enhances Australia’s reputation as a just and humane global citizen.
Reverend Tara Curlewis, NCCA General Secretary, said, “It is time that both political parties stop misleading our community by painting pictures of asylum seekers as people to be feared. Asylum seekers are vulnerable, often traumatised people fleeing conflict and persecution. As a safe and secure country we must treat asylum seekers with compassion rather than placing them in detention in enforced limbo. Continue reading ‘It’s Time for a Humane, Bipartisan Approach to the Treatment of Asylum Seekers: NCCA’
Ecumenical delegation expresses solidarity towards Haitians
In an effort to express solidarity and learn of the churches’ work in providing support and relief to victims of the Haiti earthquake, the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), is visiting Haiti accompanied by an ecumenical delegation of six church leaders from different parts of the world.
“I feel honoured to be here”, said Tveit. “For me, it is important to see and listen to the Haitian people and to see how the churches can respond to their needs in a meaningful way.”
Aid and international solidarity have been flowing into Haiti since the earthquake in January.
“The presence of the ecumenical delegation here in Haiti is one sign of that solidarity,” observed Mr Sylvain Exantus, the president of the Haitian Protestant Federation. Continue reading ‘Ecumenical delegation expresses solidarity towards Haitians’
Edinburgh 2010
The Council of Churches of Western Australia invites Christians with a passion for mission to join in worship to mark the centenary of the World Missionary Conference. The service will feature participation by people from a range of Christian churches and diverse cultural backgrounds. The Speaker will be Dr John Shepherd, Dean of St George’s Cathedral. Dr Shepherd is renowned for his engaging style and his thought-provoking approach to being a Christian in the 21st Century. Continue reading ‘Edinburgh 2010′
Invitation for Sumbissions to UNHCR-NGO Consultation
The Australian Refugee Rights Alliance (ARRA) is calling for brief submissions from individuals and refugee community groups regarding curent issues of concern to refugee populations in and from the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa regions.
ARRA is a coalition of Australian NGO’s, refugee advocates and academics. Organisations involved in ARRA include the Centre for Refugee Research of University of NSW, Refugee Council of Australia, Amnesty International and Act for Peace (National Council of Churches). Each year, representative from ARRA travel to Geneva to participate in the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ NGO consultations. Continue reading ‘Invitation for Sumbissions to UNHCR-NGO Consultation’
Ecumenism is antidote to credibility crisis, Anglican peace advocate says
“We need to emphasize time and again the sense of mutuality and interdependence as the basis of relationships between Christians”, said Dr Jenny Plane Te Paa, convener of the Anglican Peace and Justice Network (APJN). This is especially important at a time when “denominations are increasingly worried with internal, identity-centred issues and therefore risk a credibility crisis”, she added.
Te Paa was speaking at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland, after a meeting of the APJN members with staff of the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation and the World Student Christian Federation on Monday, 15 March.
“We all tend to claim our differences in ways that prevent us from acknowledging our commonalities, so that within the churches, the fidelity to our denominations becomes more important than our higher fidelity to our oneness in Christ”, said Te Paa. “Only a theology of mutuality can help us to transcend this through a truly ecumenical attitude”, she concluded.
In welcoming the APJN representatives, the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit stressed the deep commitment of the Anglican Communion to conciliar ecumenism, “which is not about lofty words, but is rooted in worship and witness so as to inspire our common service to the Lord who calls us to be one”.
Tveit highlighted the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) taking place in Kingston, Jamaica, in May next year as an opportunity for “bringing unity to churches in our struggle for peace”. Convened by the WCC, the IEPC “belongs to the whole ecumenical family, as well as to many others concerned with peace”, Tveit said.
The APJN is an official network of the Anglican Communion. Some 35 of its members representing more than 25 Anglican churches are meeting 14-20 March in Geneva to reflect on common priorities and to learn how to make their voices heard within the United Nations organizations headquartered in the city. The network will also prepare its 25th anniversary celebration during the meeting in Geneva.
Anglican Peace and Justice Network
International Ecumenical Peace Convocation
Source: World Council of Churches
Mary MacKillop to become Australia’s First Saint
Australia will have its first Roman Catholic saint after Pope Benedict approved a decree recognising a second miracle attributed to the intercession of Mother Mary MacKillop.
The approval means Blessed Mary is likely to be formally declared a saint at a canonisation ceremony next year.
Blessed Mary (1842-1909), who founded the Sisters of Saint Joseph, is revered by Catholics for her work, especially with needy children, former female prisoners and prostitutes.
She was beatified by pope John Paul II in 1995.
The miracle approved on Saturday involved the healing of a person who had cancer and was cured after praying to Blessed Mary.
Sister Anne Derwin from the Sisters of Saint Joseph says many have been inspired by Blessed Mary’s work in education and with the poor.
“It’s not only the sisters, but many other people, men and women, who love the way Mary MacKillop lived her life,” she said.
“They try and live in that spirit too, and do great things for people.”
Sister Derwin says the Pope’s decision is a significant event for the church in Australia.
“Mary herself wouldn’t have expected this sort of limelight, but it makes us feel excited that the gift she was given for the church, for the world, is being recognised as valuable,” Sister Derwin said.
“And that was a gift to focus on those most in need in our society.”
Mary MacKillop was born in Melbourne, worked throughout South Australia and died in North Sydney.
She co-founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart in 1866 but was excommunicated from the Church at one stage for allegedly disobeying authorities.
However she continued to spend her life caring for those less fortunate.
Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/19/2776743.htm
Patriarch Calls for End to Bloodshed In Iraq
DAMASCUS, Syria, MARCH 2, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The Patriarch of Antioch and of All the East is urging Arab leaders, the United Nations and the international community to help put an end to the bloodshed in Iraq.
Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, who is also the Supreme Head of the universal Syro-Orthodox Church, posted a statement today on the Web site of the Patriarchate, urging “the governments of the world to uproot the terrorism and abuses that are blooding Christians of Iraq.”
“With great pain and grief,” the patriarch said, “we follow all that is happening in Iraq and especially to Christians of Iraq, victims of persecutions, killings, looting, kidnapping and sacrilegious acts: It seems the devil has enlisted these men to spread chaos in the country and among the people.”
“We do not know why those who were always faithful to their homeland and attached to the heritage of their beloved Iraq are now being targeted. We have already published other criticisms against this inhuman behavior which is very far from religion,” continues the letter.
“Unfortunately, these criminals carry out their acts in the name of religion but Islam is completely foreign to them,” he added.
Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas asked what could be the reasons for such violence: “Is there perhaps a plot to empty Iraq of Christians who are natives of that country? Or are there projects sponsored by unknown hands that some call one day Zionism and another a feud, or perhaps a group of outlaws that has as its religion the abuse and damage of others?”
“There is nothing that convinces us on why the state is not able to arrest and dole out just punishment to these rebels and outlaws, who are far from the principles of religion, of power, of the state, of the law and of humanity,” continues the letter. “This makes us doubt the intentions of the authorities to whom we request, individually and collectively, to obtain justice for the oppressed.
“We cannot look at our innocent children while people are being slaughtered, killed, looted without any one putting an end to it.”
[Tony Assaf contributed to this article]
© 2010 Zenit. All rights reserved. Terms of Use available at www.zenit.org
Source: http://www.zenit.org/article-28519?l=english
“Truth does not fear dialogue,” says Ecumenical Patriarch
Indifference in regard to Christian unity is not an option for the disciples of Jesus, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has stated in an encyclical issued on the occasion of the Sunday of Orthodoxy.
“It is not possible for the Lord to agonize over the unity of His disciples and for us to remain indifferent about the unity of all Christians,” Bartholomew wrote in the encyclical. The Sunday of Orthodoxy is commemorated this year on 21 February.
The encyclical refutes “fanatical” challenges brought against theological dialogues among different Orthodox churches and against ecumenical contacts with the wider community of Christians by “certain circles that exclusively claim for themselves the title of zealot and defender of Orthodoxy.”
“They speak condescendingly of every effort for reconciliation among divided Christians and restoration of their unity as purportedly being ‘the pan-heresy of ecumenism’ without providing the slightest evidence that, in its contacts with non-Orthodox, the Orthodox Church has abandoned or denied the doctrines of the Ecumenical Councils and of the Church Fathers,” Bartholomew criticizes.
“The truth does not fear dialogue, because truth has never been endangered by dialogue,” the encyclical letter states. “When in our day all people strive to resolve their differences through dialogue, Orthodoxy cannot proceed with intolerance and extremism.”
“I am very grateful to the Ecumenical Patriarch for his strong commitment to dialogue and the unity of the church, despite the many pressures from fundamentalist circles among Orthodox believers” said the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in response to the encyclical on 18 February.
“This encyclical,” Tveit said, “reminds me of another famous text: the 1920 encyclical letter in which the Ecumenical Patriarch proposed the foundation of a fellowship of churches, providing a major impulse for the formation of the WCC.”
The Feast of Orthodoxy is celebrated on the first Sunday of Lent in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. Originally commemorating the defeat of iconoclasm in the 9th century, the Sunday of Orthodoxy has gradually come to be understood in a more general sense as a feast in honour of the true faith.
Church leaders voice concerns for wellbeing of asylum seekers on Christmas Island
President of the Uniting Church in Australia, Rev. Alistair Macrae and Anglican Archbishop of Perth, the Most Rev. Roger Herft have voiced concerns for the wellbeing of asylum seekers on Christmas Island following a recent visit.
A delegation of church leaders visited Christmas Island last week to see first-hand the conditions under which asylum seekers are detained, and to meet with key personnel and asylum seekers.
Rev. Macrae described the facilities as “basic but adequate for short-term needs. Accommodation overcrowding was clearly evident.” Rev. Macrae said, “It is disturbing to approach the detention centre, which is surrounded by a high fence topped with electrified wire. It looks like a high security prison.”
“Asylum seekers being processed at a reasonable speed appeared to be happy enough,” said Rev. Macrae, “however there is a high level of anxiety amongst those whose cases have taken longer to process. Those most distressed have been detained on Christmas Island for seven to eight months and more.”
The Uniting Church in Australia is a strong advocate for closing the detention centre on Christmas Island and processing asylum seekers on the mainland. While recognising the Detention Centre is unlikely to be closed in the short term, Rev. Macrae called for families and unaccompanied minors to be immediately transferred to the mainland for processing. “There is no reasonable justification for vulnerable children to be held in such a remote facility,” he said.
Archbishop Roger Herft said it was encouraging to see that asylum seekers were treated with dignity but the remote location makes it difficult to deliver the necessary services, such as pastoral and spiritual care for detainees and the staff, legal aid, translation services and regular visitation. “How we [as Australians] receive people is of utmost significance,” he said.
He said the group was concerned that, despite Australia still having a relatively small number of people seeking asylum by international standards (in 2008 Australia received 4,750 asylum seekers compared with 35,200 in France and 30,500 in the UK), there was increasing fear-mongering about ‘boat people’.
“Under no circumstances should we ever use a group of people for political point scoring. The fact that asylum seekers come to us fleeing terrible situations asking us for protection only increases our responsibility to care for them,” he said.
The delegation will now seek to meet with Minister Chris Evans to discuss specific issues arising from the visit.
The Christmas Island delegation included Rev. Alistair Macrae, President of the Uniting Church in Australia, The Most Rev. Roger Herft, Archbishop of the Anglican Diocese of Perth and Rosemary Hudson Miller, Associate General Secretary (Justice & Mission) for the Uniting Church Synod of WA and Chair of CARAD — Coalition for Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Detainees.
Free Greenhouse Audits
WACOSS is providing a fantastic opportunity for Churches to get free Greenhouse audits. They are very keen to have organisations sign up for this, and priority will be given to organisations where there might be more than one building/agency/service on site.
The audits are free, and there can be minor retrofitting done too.
Download the Information and Application Form, and contact Luke van Zeller on (08) 9430 8200.
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