David Spittler Parish Visit – The Asylum Seekers Centre
David Spittler will be visiting Perth in the first half of 2010, he will be available to speak on Sunday 2 May if anyone is interested in taking up the opportunity. David started working at the Asylum Seekers Centre in 6 February 1997, and since then has been working as the Facilitator for nearly 13 years. The Centre is a “wholly voluntary Christian response to the material needs of asylum seekers and refugees”. It is a ministry of faith based on Matthew 5:16 and Matthew 28:35.
David originally from Perth has a Diploma of Theology in Ministry from Ridley College, and prepares and preaches from the Lectionary. As at 1 January 2010 David has spoken in 153 Anglican Churches in the Melbourne Diocese, and has also spoken in Anglican churches in Ballarat, Bendigo, Brisbane, Gippsland, North Queensland and Perth during this time. If you are interested please contact David on his e-mail address to book/discuss a suitable date in 2010.
WCC head to tell Davos meeting, Haiti debt should be cancelled
Geneva (ENI). The head of the world’s largest grouping of churches, the Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, is to tell the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos that Haiti’s foreign debt must be immediately and unconditionally cancelled.
Tveit, a Norwegian Lutheran, who took over as general secretary of the World Council of Churches on 1 January, is due to attend the Davos summit later this week.
In a statement made available to Ecumenical News International on 25 January, Tveit said, “The time has come for the international community – politicians, business and civil society organizations – to focus on how Haiti can become sustainable”.
The WCC has announced that Tveit will take a message on Haiti to the meeting of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss winter resort of Davos, which gathers global political, financial and other leaders each year. Continue reading ‘WCC head to tell Davos meeting, Haiti debt should be cancelled’
Housing and Homelessness
From the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, via United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Regional Office for Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Newsletter, Edition 1/2010
Housing and homelessness are amongst the greatest challenges facing asylum seekers in Australia. Asylum seekers who have applied for protection can live for years in the community without stable accommodation and without access to any mainstream housing services. Homelessness is a challenge not only for asylum seekers but for many Australian citizens and permanent residents, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics reporting over 105,000 homeless people in Australia each night.
Australia wide, there are a number of not-for-profit support agencies who work with asylum seekers to address their basic welfare needs. Collectively, not-for-profit services meet the legal, health, social and basic welfare needs of asylum seekers, but all of this well-integrated support comes undone when an asylum seeker has no place to live. For all of these services, access to appropriate housing is the missing link. Continue reading ‘Housing and Homelessness’
A Century of Influence – ASCM Book Launch
The Following is the text of Rev Alan Matthew’s speech to launch the Australian Student Christian Movement’s book “A Century of Influence –The Australian Christian Student Movement 1896-1996″ by Renate Howe in Western Australia. Continue reading ‘A Century of Influence – ASCM Book Launch’
Climate Change Prayer
The Council of Churches of WA invites you to join in a prayer vigil to support the discussions at the UN Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen in December this year.
Mankind has already added enough greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to raise temperatures to a dangerous level, and this is already leading to increased incidences of drought, heatwaves and heavy storms. The purpose of an ambitious and effective international climate change deal is to avoid catastrophic climate change and to help the most vulnerable countries adapt. The world has only a very narrow window of opportunity to undertake a first dramatic shift towards a low carbon society and to prevent the worst scenarios of scientists from coming true.
The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this year will be the moment in history in which humanity has the opportunity to rise to the challenge. Continue reading ‘Climate Change Prayer’
Handing On the Ecumenical Vision
A significant new development took place at the Australian centre for Christianity and Culture in Canberra on Wednesday 9th September 2009.
During a special Day Conference on ecumenism “handing on the vision” there was a ceremony to inaugurate the association of the Centre for Ecumenical Studies (CES) with the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture (ACC&C) Charles Sturt University.
The Executive Director of the ACC&C the Revd Prof Jaimes Haire AM welcomed this association, describing the mission of handing on the ecumenical vision ‘ as part of the ‘core business’ of the ACC&C. Continue reading ‘Handing On the Ecumenical Vision’
Taize Pilgrimage of Trust
Every year young people from different parts of world are invited to come and participate in Taize’s International Meeting. They share together in their own experiences of life and faith, joining in Taize’s famous, sung meditative prayer.
February 2010 will see a new stage of Taizé “Pilgrimage of Trust on Earth”, with the 5th meeting of its kind in Asia. There was an international meeting in Manila in 1991 with 15,000 young people participating.The aim of the meeting is to support young people in their search for God and in their desire to commit themselves to the Church and society.
Trust, peace and reconciliation will be central themes of the upcoming meeting. Visit www.taize.fr/en for more information. Continue reading ‘Taize Pilgrimage of Trust’
VCC calls on Federal Government to Review Aboriginal Policies
The Executive of the Victorian Council of Churches (VCC) calls upon the Federal Government to take the opportunity provided by the reinstatement of the Racial Discrimination Act to review all Aboriginal policies to ensure that they are in line with Australia’s international obligations.
UN Special Rapporteur Professor James Anaya has pointed out that the Northern Territory Intervention, in its current form and in its delivery, “is incompatible with Australia’s obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Australia is a party to both treaties. The intervention is also incompatible with the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Australia supports”. Continue reading ‘VCC calls on Federal Government to Review Aboriginal Policies’
Annual Silent March against Domestic Violence
Approximately 300 people gathered in Stirling Gardens, Perth, for the 19th Annual Silent Domestic Violence Memorial March. Organized by the Women’s Council for Domestic and Family Violence Services (WCDFVS) the rally and march was an opportunity to honour the memory of victims of domestic and family violence.
‘I suffered violence, and so did my children, but by the grace of God I got out’ Noongar Elder Doolann Leisha Eatts told the gathering delivering a ‘welcome to country’ with her husband Walter. ‘Domestic violence affects people of all nationalities. As Noongar elders it is good to see so many different people coming together on this issue’ Ms Leisha Eatts added. Continue reading ‘Annual Silent March against Domestic Violence’
Palestinian Christians want a Peace Lamp in every Church
By Emma Halgren (*)
Its population may be dwindling, but the Palestinian village of Taybeh is striving to maintain normality in the midst of conflict, and hope in the midst of oppression.
Taybeh, 14 kilometres north east of Ramallah, is one of the few predominantly Christian villages in Palestine. Like villages all over the West Bank, it is suffering as many of its people decide to emigrate, seeing no other choice given the economic and physical hardship they suffer under Israeli occupation.
In the 1960s the town had a population of 3,400. The population today is 1,300. Unemployment stands at around 50 per cent.
But for Father Raed Abusahlia, priest of the Latin (Roman Catholic) church of Taybeh, the grim situation only adds urgency to efforts to empower the local people spiritually and economically, as he explained to an ecumenical delegation visiting the village in March. Continue reading ‘Palestinian Christians want a Peace Lamp in every Church’
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