Parliament of Worlds Religion 2009 Melbourne Australia

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

Page 228

PROORAT
Sunday, December 6, 2009
9:30-11:00am INTRARELIGIOUS SESSION
Creators of Peace Pari Sanyu Jean Brown Jane Mills Trish McDonald-Harrison Room 103 Interactive Workshop Creators of Peace (COP) is an international network of women committed to the pursuit of a radical peace in which personal honesty and integrity form the basis of reconciliation. Launched in 1991 at the Initiatives of Change centre in Switzerland, CoP operates globally through conferences, workshops, personal encounters. community building activities and COP Circles. CoP specifically challenges women of all faiths, cultures and backgrounds to discover their unique capacity in creating a culture of peace in their homes and communities. This interactive workshop will provide a transformative space for interpersonal, interreligious and interethnic dialogue. Participants will work together through material and exercises that explore the personal challenges and cost of creating peace; allow deep reflection and inner listening to the voice of truth, or God, as a source of inspiration; promote a change of heart, starting with oneself as a primary tool of peace creation; and aid women to act on their particular concerns through effective social action. Participants will have the opportunity to share life stories in an atmosphere of trust and respect through active, compassionate listening and engagement. Pari Sanyu is a social worker by profession Coming from a situa personal and political conflict in Nagaland, she is committed to building the capacity of individuals as peace creators. She engages in the programs of Initiatives of Change and is a skilled facilitator of their training programs. She is also a member of the Whitehorse Interfaith Network and International President of Creators of Peace. Jean Brown is the International Coordinator of Creators of Peace. She is responsible for designing and developing the Creators of Pea program and manual and is an Elder with the Initiatives of Change program and Faculty with the Tools for Change program. Jane Mills is a trainer for Creators of Peace and International Conference Coordinator for Initiatives of Change. Trish McDonald-Harrison is Regional Coordinator and Trainer for Creators of Peace.
of the immigrants. This will lead to a discussion of the formation of Orthodox communities from the late 19th century to the present. A discussion of Orthodox identity in Australia will provide the basis for examining some futures for Orthodoxy in Australia. The second presentation will illustrate some of the above elements through a case study of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Australia. The third presentation will focus on a specific aspect of Orthodox Christian tradition: that of theosis or divinisation. Some of the socio-ecological consequences of this teaching will be articulated, namely, the praxis of social justice and environmental concerns. The Orthodox tradition also provides rituals and meditation techniques to facilitate the realist purpose of religion. Following the three presentations there will be a panel discussion and participant questions. Trevor Batrouney is an Antiochian Orthodox by faith and a historian and sociologist by profession. He has written extensively on the migration and settlement of Lebanese and other immigrant groups in Australia. He has also written and lectured on Orthodoxy in Australia in both national and international forums. Dr Batrouney is currently an Adjunct Professor at RMIT University. Melbourne. Zvjezdana Peuraca was born in Croatia. In the 1990s she moved to Serbia where she studied at Belgrade University. In 2000, Zvjezdana migrated to Australia. She completed a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in International Studies at RMIT University, Melbourne, Currently, Zvjezdana is undertaking a Master of Arts degree in International Studies at RMIT University with a particular focus on the Serbian Orthodox Church. Reverend Dr Keith Morrison is the superior of the St Isaac House of Prayer and director of the Sustainable Community Development Research Institute. Keith has been an academic human ecologist at the University of the South Pacific, Lincoin University and the University of Canterbury. and now directs an independent research institute grounded in interdisciplinary and intercultural collaborative research. Keith is also a deacon of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Australasian archdiocese, providing spiritual retreats
Orthodoxy in Australia: Current and Future Perspectives Trevor Batrouney Zvjezdana Peuraca Keith Morrison Room 104 Seminar This program will include three presentations. The first will explore the origins and current situation of Orthodox Christian churches in Australia. In particular, it will examine the immigration and settlement of Orthodox Christians in Australia including waves of migration and the birthplace, ethnic origin and geographic distribution
Changing the World from the Inside Out: Making a Difference through Evolutionary Enlightenment Andrew Cohen Room 106 Lecture Nowadays, with the advent of global warming and the palpable fear of conflict and upheaval, we have become focused on the question of survival. But there is a significant difference between being concerned with how we are going to survive and thinking seriously about how we are actually going to evolve at the deepest level. It's far more common to experience concern about our survival, but to experience the urgent necessity for higher development in the deepest part of ourselves in the soul, is another matter altogether. That soul-level transformation is essential if the future that we seek is to become a reality. In this lecture, spiritual teacher Andrew Cohen offers a dramatically new spiritual solution to the problems we collectively face. Placing the human predicament within the context of the vast, unfolding Kosmos, Cohen awakens us to the evo
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