Parliament of Worlds Religion 2009 Melbourne Australia

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

Page 198

| PROGRAM
Saturday, December 5, 2009
11:30am-1:00pm INTERRELIGIOUS SESSION
Abd Malak, AM, has worked in the fields of health and social welfare for the past thirty years. He is the Director of the Diversity Health Institute, Honorary President of the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia, and the Convenor of the Australian Partnership of Religious Organisations. In 2002, he was included in the Australian Honours List as a Member in the Order Of Australia for his service to migrant communities. Malak is the Executive Director of Workforce and Organisational Development for Sydney West Area Health Service and an Associate Professor at the University of Western Sydney School of Medicine. Josie Lacey was the Foundation Convenor of the Women's Interfaith Network. She is a lifetime member of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and an executive member of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies. Mrs Lacey is the Interfaith Adviser to the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia and to the Australian Partnership of Religious Organisations. She is also an NSW Executive member of the World Conference of Religions for Peace. Gary Bouma is the Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Monash University and an Associate Priest at St John's East Malvern. His research has primarily focused on the interaction between religion and society in Western societies including Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. He has been named the UNESCO Chair in Interreligious and Intercultural Relations. Professor Bouma is one of the leading academic and community leaders of interfaith activity in Australia. He is chair of the Board of Management of the Melbourne Parliament of the World's Religions Therese Sussmilch is a teacher and community worker, living in Hobart, Tasmania. She has been involved in the organisation Religions for Peace since 2001 and currently convenes the Tasmanian Group. Ms Sussmilch has learned firsthand the difficulties and discrimination faced by minority groups in our communities. She has been studying Raja Yoga meditation with the Brahma Kumaris for over twenty years and has experienced its power to heal at both an individual and group level. Brian Ashen was born in Melbourne and became interested in Buddhism at age sixteen. He is the co-convener of both the Buddhist Council of Victoria and the Federation of Australian Buddhist Councils
the interreligious community and provides inspiration for engaged action on social, environmental and interfaith issues. Rev Ellen Grace O'Brian is the Founding Minister and Spiritual Director of the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment, a ministry rooted in the spiritual tradition of Kriya Yoga. She was ordained in 1981 by Roy Eugene Davis, a direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda. She serves on the board oltrustees of the Parliament and is the President of Meru Seminary as well as leading a thriving congregation and maintaining an international teaching outreach Girish Shah is a member of the Silicon Valley Partner City Committee for the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions. He is currently on the Board of Directors of the Interfaith Committee of the Jain Center of Northern California and a co-founder of the Federation of Jain Associations In North America IJAINAI. He co-chaired the National JAINA convention in 1991 and in 2005. Joy-Ellen Lipsky holds a Master of Divinity degree and is a Ministry Intern. She is a member of the First Unitarian Church of San Jose. California, the Silicon Valley Partner City Committee, South Bay Interfaith, the Interfaith Council, and is the Marketing Committee manager for the Pacific Central District of the Unitarian Universalist Association's Lay Leadership School. She works in the high tech industry and has coauthored books and articles on time and life management Rev D Andrew Kille is founder and director of the Interfaith Space in the South San Francisco Bay Area. A participant in interfaith dialogues for over 30 years, he is currently the editor of the Bay Area Interfaith Connect and served as Coordinator of Interfaith Relations for the local National Conference of Christians and Jews. He is ordained in the American Baptist tradition and holds a PhD from the Graduate Theological Union Dave Cortese is the Supervisor for Santa Clara County, California, a former San Jose, City Council member and 2008 Vice Mayor of San Jose. He is a leader in promoting interfaith activities. His core values include spirituality, family and individual empowerment. For the past five years his office has been instrumental in offering a community-wide interfaith nonviolence conference that brings all sectors of the community together for a common purpose: to build a culture of peace and nonviolence. Philip Boo Riley is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Santa Clara University. where he has been active since 1978. His teaching and research interests focus on the Silicon Valley faith communities and how such organisations are shaped by regional dynamics. He lives in Santa Clara with his wife Mary Beth. Rev Bruce Bramlett is Staff Coordinator for Interfaith Relations for Silicon Valley FACES, an agency with a long history of promoting regional interfaith relationships. Fr Bramlett is an ordained Episcopal priest and a scholar in religious studies. He is a facilitator for intergroup relations and facilitates several Silicon Valley dialogue groups, promoting interfaith community cooperation and conversation. He provides workshops, facilitations and classes on issues of diversity and appreciative community building
Developing an Interreligious Community: How Silicon Valley Used the Partner City Process Rev Ellen O'Brian Girish Shah Joy-Ellen Lipsky Rev Andrew Kille Dave Cortese Dr Philip Riley Rev Bruce Bramlett Room 104 Panel Discussion The demographics of Silicon Valley, shaped by rapid expansion in the technology industry and exponential growth in cultural and religious diversity, have necessitated greater interreligious understanding and cooperation. The interreligious core team from the Silicon Valley Partner City project will discuss the process they followed to build a community engaged around hope and action. This program will share stories about the history of interreligious challenges and breakthroughs in Silicon Valley, including the participation of religious and spiritual communities with other guiding institutions (education, government, nonprofits and business) to facilitate social cohesion. Learn about the philosophy, structure and tools used to create and manage the process of becoming a Partner City and how the process itself enhances and strengthens
Men Who Love the Goddess Drake Spaeth Patrick McCollum Michael York River Higginbotham Don Lewis Room 105 Panel Discussion Notable among contemporary Pagan traditions is the reawakening and re-emergence of the Goddess as a feminine manifestation of the divine. While Pagan women have undeniably been instrumental in bringing the Goddess back into common awareness and spiritual practice within contemporary western cultures, Pagan men have a unique perspective on the divine feminine, as well as a
194 PWR - Parliament of the World's Religions