Parliament of Worlds Religion 2009 Melbourne Australia

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

Page 173

PROGRAM DE.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Kevin Locke is a preeminent player of Northern Plains flute, inspiring Hoop Dancer, and cultural ambassador. A pivotal force in indigenous flute tradition, he has recorded 12 albums, including Earth Gift, winning Native American Music Award's 2009 Record of the Year. He has performed in 70 countries over 30 years. The National Endowment for the Arts awarded him a National Heritage Fellowship as Master Traditional Artist. In 2009 the Bush Foundation gave him their 'Enduring Visions Award".
Caring Practices for the EarthAustralia and USA Green Faith
Stacey Kennealy
Rabbi Jonathan Keren-Black
Dr Miriam Pepper
Room 218 Training Session
Many people feel powerless in the face of the grave threats posed by climate change, but there are practical things that we can do as individuals and communities to address this issue. This demonstration and seminar will equip participants with some basic tools and knowledge on ecologically sound practices and technology for homes, houses of worship, schools and other community gathering places. Participants will return to their communities knowing how to conduct a basic environmental audit and how to tinker with technology and behaviour in ways that affect a real reduction in power and water consumption, pollution and green house gas emissions. We will be linking this demonstration and seminar to examples found in faith communities locally and internationally.
Stacey Kennealy is Director of Sustainability at GreenFaith, an interfaith environmental coalition based in the United States. She directs the GreenFaith Certification Program, North America's first interfaith environmental certification program for houses of worship. This unique program provides guidance, tools and resources to help congregations become religious-environmental leaders over a two-year period. Stacey also helps US faith-based groups 'green' their operations and educate their members about sustainable consumption habits.
Ordained as Rabbi in 1988, Rabbi Jonathan Keren-Black has been at the Leo Baeck Congregation in Kew since 2003 and feels it is important to put prayer into practice His interests in environment and interfaith led to his co-founding the Jewish Ecological Coalition, the Jewish Christian Muslim Association of Australia, and GreenFaith Australia.
Miriam Pepper is secretary of the multifaith network the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change, and a member of the Faith and Ecology Network. She is a founding member of Uniting Earthweb, and worships at Maroubra Junction Uniting Church in Sydney. She has a PhD examining Christianity and sustainable consumption.
2:30-4:00pm ENGAGEMENT SESSION
The Future of Religion in Australia? Melbourne's Religious Leaders in Dialogue with Young People (Seminar 1] Archbishop Denis Hart
Ms Isabel Thomas Dobson Ven Thich Phuoc Tan Rinchen Norbu Demetrio Zema Nathan Hunter
Room 220 Seminar
This first of two parallel seminars, which will have the participation of the Parliament's senior and youth patrons, will discuss the future of religion in Australia and across the world. Recent decades have seen a very significant decline in mainstream Christianity together with a huge rise in those without a religion. In addition, new religious movements have emerged, adding to the diversity of Australia's multifaith society. This will be a discussion session in which young people, both Christian and nonChristian, will direct questions to some of Melbourne's most important religious leaders.
Archbishop Denis Hart is Chairman of the Bishops Commission for Administration and Information in the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference. He is a member of the Permanent Committee and of the Bishops Commission for Liturgy and vice-chairman of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy. In 2001, he was appointed Archbishop of Melbourne and received the Pallium in St Peter's Square, Rome at the hands of Pope John Paul II.
Ms Isabel Thomas Dobson Isabel is the Moderator of the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania of the Uniting Church in Australia, Australia's third largest Christian denomination formed in 1977 when the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational Churches united. Isabel is a lay person with wide experience in the church at local, regional, state and national levels. She has been a teacher, political researcher, religious educator and presbytery minister. She is married with 3 young adult children.
The Senior Venerable Thich Phuoc Tan was ordained in the Thien Thai tradition in 1981. He is currently the abbot of Quang Minh Temple and the president of the United Vietnamese Buddhist Congregation of Victoria. He is a vice president of the World Fellowship of Buddhists and a member of the Engaging Buddhism Committee. In 2008, Venerable Phuoc Tan was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in recognition of his services to the community.
Rinchen Norbu is a Tibetan Buddhist and Youth Patron of the 2009 Parliament of the World's Religions.
Demetrio Zema is Roman Catholic and is Youth Patron of the 2009 Parliament of the World's Religions.
Nathan Hunter is an unordained minister in the Baptist Union of Victoria. He has a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Theology (Hons) through the University of Melbourne and the Melbourne College of Divinity, and is currently completing his Master of Theology through the MCD. He lives. studies and works with his wife Janine at Whitley College, the Baptist college of Victoria.
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