Parliament of Worlds Religion 2004 Barcelona

Author(s): Parliament of the World’s Religions
Publisher: USA Parliament of the Worlds Religions

Page 61

Assembly
create the conditions for visceral and multivalent connections, and supporting the development of commitments by local communities and institutions to act. At the heart of the process, participants are asked to view the issues through the lens of their own traditions:
What in their own (others') tradition compels and inspires them to care about this issue?
How does the strategy for social change embedded in the teachings of their own and others' traditions shape their response?
Development and Support of the 2004 Assembly Process
For 18 months before the 2004 Parliament, under the guidance of the Council's Assembly Task Force, a Design Group of world-class professionals have worked, to develop, test and improve the design for the Assemblies at Montserrat and during the Parliament. Working with partners in Jerusalem, Israel and Kericho, Kenya, the Council hosted meetings to test and refine the process design. At these meetings, people from across the world and throughout the local host communities met, engaged in deep dialogue, and created commitments to work with their home communities on the four issues. Many of these commitments have already become active, with reports of progress coming in every day.
Throughout this time, a dedicated part of the Design Group has reached out across the world and recruited an international team of highly skilled, professional facilitators and other volunteers from every inhabited continent to support Assembly participants as they work through the process at Montserrat and at the Parliament Assemblies.
ASSEMBLIES OF THE 2004 PARLIAMENT
The Montserrat Assembly, 5-7 July, 2004 In response to feedback from Cape Town participants, the Council scheduled the 2004 Assembly to take place during the 3 days before the Parliament event opens in Barcelona. This will eliminate the tension between Assembly participation and program presentation, ensuring that Parliament participants have full access to all program presenters during the event, and enabling Assembly participants to give their full attention to the discussions of the Assembly. It also makes the commitments of this Assembly available during the Parliament.
60 Parliament of the World's Religions 2004
This gathering will take place at the world renowned Benedictine Monastery at Montserrat. The Montserrat Assembly provides the opportunity for invited religious and spiritual leaders, leaders of other guiding institutions, young people, experts in the issues, interreligious practitioners and people impacted by the issues to consider the contribution of religious and spiritual communities to a more just, peaceful and sustainable world.
The 2004 Parliament Assemblies, July 9 & 10, and July 11 & 12, 2004
Additional feedback from Cape Town indicated a desire on the part of many participants to be able to engage in the Assembly process themselves. The Council will repeat the Montserrat Assembly process for registered Parliament participants, at four Parliament Assemblies during the Parliament event.
These four Parliament Assemblies will take place on the forum site. Each Assembly will unfold across two days during the Parliament. The Assemblies on July 9 and 10 will focus on Supporting Refugees and Creating Access to Clean Water. The Assemblies on July 11 and 12 will focus on Eliminating the Burden of International Debt on Poor Countries and Overcoming Religiously Motivated Violence.
Supporting Commitments After the Assemblies The Council has already activated plans to create a Sustainability Infrastructure that will make it possible to keep in touch with Assembly participants after they return to their home communities. The Council wishes to support participants by helping them connect with others who have made similar commitments, and with resources that can help them work with their religious or spiritual community or institutional groups, to make their simple and profound acts a reality.
This infrastructure will support sharing of accomplishments and challenges across distances, and will enable Assembly participants to know that their efforts are part of a larger movement by making visible what others are doing, and sharing the lessons from one place to other places where the learnings can be adapted to other settings and circumstances. This network will also share stories of hope within its membership and beyond, so that the world will see how religious and spiritual communities in partnership with each other and with other guiding institutions can make a positive difference.
To access this network, log onto www.cpwrglobal.net.