Parliament of Worlds Religion 2009 Melbourne Australia

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

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PROGRAM Sunday, December 6, 2009
4:30-6:00pm OPEN SPACE
HH Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswati is the president and spiritual head of Parmarth Niketan, one of the largest spiritual institutions in India. He is also the founder and chairman of the India Heritage Research Foundation IIHF), sponsoring a wide range of humanitarian and educational programs. Swami Saraswati has been a long-time participant in international interfaith conferences. In 1991, he received the Hindu of the Year' award. HH Swami Amarananda is the senior monk of the Ramakrishna Order and president of the Centre Vedantique in Geneva. He is a former residential school headmaster and expert on disaster management. He has participated in numerous multireligious programs, including the World Faiths Development Dialogue, meetings of the Community of Santo Egidio, the Interreligious Platform in Geneva and the World Council of Churches
the question of 'The Future of Religious Leadership Those discussions were informed by an international survey, prepared by the Elijah Interfaith institute, on the theme of religious leadership. The survey measured satisfaction, expectation and trust that different communities worldwide have in their religious leaders. It contrasted how local religious leaders are doing in relation to international leaders and heads of large organization. It sought to identify the qualities that people feel are most important to the vocation of a religious leader and it suggested what it is that the faithful of different religions are expecting of their leaders. The present panel will feature religious leaders reflecting upon the findings of this survey. It will include religious leaders of those traditions surveyed. What have leaders learned from the survey? How have they been challenged? What practical conclusions and consequences might they implement in light of this survey? Join us in order to receive the answers to such questions from these renowned religious leaders. Alon Goshen-Gottstein has been director of the Elijah Interfaith Institute and lecturer and director of the Center for the Study of Rabbinic Thought, Beit Morasha College, both in Jerusalem, since 1997. Ordained a rabbi in 1977, he holds a PhD and BA from Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His nearly three dozen articles have appeared in edited collections and in such scholarly journals as Harvard Theological Review, Journal for the Study of Judaism, and Studies in Interreligious Dialog. Dharma Master Hsin Tao was born in Burma in 1948 and came to Taiwan at age 13. He became a monk at age 25 and established the Wusheng Monastery on Ling jou mountain in 1983. He founded the Museum of World Religions and is president of the Global Family of Love and Peace. The series of Buddhist -Muslim dialogues he initiated in 2001 has been conducted in ten countries, including the UNESCO Paris and UN in New York Venerable Professor Jinwol Lee is a Buddhist monk and Seon (Zenl Master of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism. He received a PhD in Buddhist Studies from UC Berkeley and now teaches at Dongguk University in Korea. He is a Steering Committee Member of the Coalition for the UN Decade for Peace, an Executive Committee Member of the World Fellowship of Buddhists, and a Global Council Member of the United Religions Initiative. Cardinal Theodore E McCarrick, PhD, DD, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, has visited many nations as a human rights advocate and to survey humanitarian needs. He has travelled to areas affected by major natural disasters, such as Central America, Sri Lanka and Louisiana and Mississippi post-Hurricane Katrina, to ensure people in need would receive assistance, and to bring prayer and financial support. He has been a member of the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is chairman of the Cordoba Initiative, a multinational, multireligious project that works to improve relations between the Muslim world and the West. Author of "What's Right With Islam Is What's Right With America: A New Vision for Muslims and the West, he is also founder of the American Society for Muslim Advancement Imam Feisal is a graduate of Columbia University, New York and holds a Master's degree from Stevens Institute of Technology. Bhai Sahib Dr Mohinder Singh comes from a line of spiritual leaders. and is Chairman of Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha. He is a retired civil and structural engineer, with two honorary Doctorates for work in faith, community and education. Bhai Sahib is also a recipient of the Juliet Hollister Award from the Temple of Understanding. Rabbi David Rosen is Director of the American Jewish Committeel's Department for Interreligious Alfairs 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.
Come into the Presence of God! A Celebration of the Divine in Words. Music and Silence Rev Dr Stephanie Dowrick Dr Kim Cunio Robin Ramsay Room 201 Artistic Performance Various musicians and spiritual leaders will contribute to this multi-art form program. In celebration of the Divine and the human relationship to the Divine, we will move from the meditative to the ecstatic through poetry scripture, music and guided and silent meditation. We will emphasise the universal teachings from East and West, especially those that lead us to appreciate love as the centre of our lives, the source of our wellbeing, a unifying and healing force for humanity, and the most profound expression of the numinous and Eternal. We will highlight short, inspirational passages from the major scriptures both in English and in their original languages, sometimes accompanied by music. Poetry selections will range from Rumi to Thich Nhat Hanh, from Rilke to Mary Oliver. and from Owl Woman to Miguel Hernandez. A range of fine musicians will represent Islamic, Jewish, Christian, Hindu and Buddhist traditions. Rev Dr Stephanie Dowrick will devise and moderate the text for the program. Dr Kim Cunio will provide musical direction, and Robin Ramsey will provide artistic direction. Rev Stephanie Dowrick, PhD is an ordained interfaith Minister and Australia's best-known writer in the areas of personal, social and spiritual development. She is in demand both nationally and internationally as a workshop and retreat leader and has been writing the Inner Life column for Good Weekend Magazine Sydney Morning Herald and The Agel since 2001. Since 2003. Stephanie has given regular interfaith services at Pitt Street Uniting Church in Sydney Dr Kim Cunio is Australia's leading composer and interpreter of sacred traditional music. He has been commissioned to investigate the music of many sacred traditions by organisations around the world and in Australia. His most recent commissions have included The Sacred Fire: The Music of Hildegard of Bingen, the Temple Project Imusic in the time of Jesusl. and The Thread of Life, a reuniting of Arabic and Jewish musicians, Robin Ramsay is an inspirational figure in Australia's theatre history and has performed in theatre, television and film for over forty years. A longtime meditator and spiritual scholar. Robin recently completed his debut feature film as director, Tao of the Traveller, a mystical exploration of the journeys of the human soul. The film won Best Film in its category at the South African International Film Festival and is an Official Selection at the Thailand International Film Festival
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