Parliament of Worlds Religion 2009 Melbourne Australia

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

Page 208

PROGRAM
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Reconciliation with Land - Reconnecting Spirituality, Ecology and Human Creativity, and Reverence for Earth
Catherine van Wilgenburg
Dr Colin Hocking
Helen Rzesniowiecki
Robert Jackson
Mary Tinney
Mary Long
Room 103
Interactive Workshop
This program includes two parts, namely: Reconciliation with Land-reconnecting spirituality, ecology and human creativity, and Reverence for Earth. The first part of the program will provide an opportunity for participants to share their experiences of the connection between spirituality and the environment and what it means to take local action to protect biodiversity. They will also compare their conceptions of traditional and contemporary faith perspectives on human and spiritual relationships to land. The second part involves activities and a presentation about how reconciliation with the land means experiencing the reconnection of human creativity with spirituality and the environment. The presenter explores spirituality that envisions the Sacred as intimately embodied in the earth and the cosmos, which brings into force powerful emotions of reverence for all life and commitment to justice for the earth. A deep bonding with nature, and recognition that humankind is only one element in the interdependent web of life, underpins this spirituality.
Catherine van Wilgenburg is a practising visual artist grounded in her local community at Iramoo Sustainable Community Centre at St Albans, Victoria, Australia. She is working to develop arts programs that emerge from a reconnection with the land at Iramoo and within a community of multi-disciplined Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists, environmentalists and local multifaith communities living in the western region of Melbourne.
Dr Colin Hocking, Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Health, Engineering and Science, Victoria University, has made an outstanding contribution to the university through his critical role in establishing the Iramoo Sustainable Community Centre and Wildlife Park, St Albans; his research on threatened species; and his efforts to negotiate with local community groups and agencies to establish wildlife open spaces. His engagement with the community on behalf of the university includes a range of community education programs.
Helen Rzesniowiecki is Community Engagement Officer at framoo Sustainable Community Centre, Iramoo.
Robert Jackson is a composer, performer, improviser, painter, street performer, saxophonist and guitarist. In 2006, he was Artist-inResidence at The Hunt Club Community Arts Centre for Brimbank City Council. Since 2000, he has played the part of Weasel in the Australian Shakespeare Company's production of 'Wind in the Willows'. In 2005, he toured Northern Australia with the ASC production Much Ado About Nothing'
204 PWR - Parliament of the World's Religions Jain Education Intemational
Mary Tinney is the coordinator of Earth Link, a community environment centre at Ocean View, about an hour north-west of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Mary Long is a member of the Earth Link Core group and a co-presenter in its programs which facilitate deep bonding with Earth. She believes that this bonding is vital if we are to have a world where there is 'respect, reverence and care for earth. She brings her experience as an educator and as a searcher for the sacred in earth.
2:30-4:00pm ENGAGEMENT SESSION
Innovative Approaches to Multicultural and Interfaith Education in Schools
Walter Rapoport
Simon Oats Richard Mallaby Room 104 Interactive Workshop
This workshop will explore different approaches to multicultural and interfaith education in schools through a presentation of innovative pedagogies. These educational approaches will focus on encouraging respect for the 'other' through a process of storytelling and respectful listening and the use of gardens and nature in children's education.
Walter Rapoport is the Chairman of the Council of Christians & Jews in Victoria, Australia. He is on the editorial committees of two interfaith journals, Gesher and Dialogue Asia Pacific.
Simon Oats is a qualified teacher, gifted storyteller, songwriter and actor. Richard Mallaby directs a program on 'Children and Gardening, at Church of Christ in Victoria, Australia. Richard is a Church of Christ minister working in a Baptist church in Victoria. He has a degree in Agricultural Science, postgraduate degree in Divinity. Master's degree in Environmental Science and is currently working toward the Doctor of Ministry Studies at the Melbourne College of Divinity. Richard has worked in Community development in Indonesia for seven years.
Vegetarianism Ethics, Environmental Concerns, and Complex Realities
Rabbi David Rosen
Naresh Jain
Room 105
Panel Discussion
Vegetarianism is widely understood to be an environmentally appropriate and humane way of eating, but it is not necessarily widely embraced. Some religious traditions advocate vegetarianism as part of the teaching and practice of non-violence, and for many this lifestyle has deeply religious aspects. This session will present some of the moral religious, scientific and environmental aspects of this diet, and the implcations of this choice for the community, including the larger Earth community.
Rabbi David Rosen is Director of the American Jewish Committee's Department for Interreligious Affairs and the Heilbrunn institute for International Interreligious Understanding. He serves on several international interreligious organisations. Formerly Chief Rabbi of Ireland, he is the immediate past Chair of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, a broad-based coalition of Jewish organisations representing world Jewry to other religions.