Parliament of Worlds Religion 2009 Melbourne Australia

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

Page 273

PROGRAM
Monday, December 7, 2009
a graduate of this program will give an account of their efforts to address the underlying poverty and justice issues. The Honourable Bronwyn Pike is Minister for Education in Victoria, Australia's second most populous state. Victoria's government education system includes half a million students enrolled in almost 1600 schools, with more than 40,000 teaching staff. Prior to entering Parliament, Ms Pike worked as a secondary and tertiary teacher, a community services manager, and the Director of the Unit of Justice and Social Responsibility in the Uniting Church. She is also former Board Director of Greenpeace Australia.
Captain Genevieve Peterson is a social policy consultant and officer in the Salvation Army. She spent six years in a socioeconomically disadvantaged area of Melbourne assisting young people who were experiencing various levels and forms of social exclusion. It was here that she developed a passion for understanding the structures of systemic poverty and, more importantly, a passion for releasing ensnared young people. She completed a Master of Social Policy degree at the University of Melbourne in 2008.
Maria Minto-Cahill has a background as a teacher and principal in Catholic primary schools in Victoria, Australia. She is currently a member of the Student Wellbeing Unit in the Catholic Education Office, Melbourne. Her work encompasses areas such as professional learning and school improvement, community engagement, social and emotional learning, restorative justice, and student engagement.
With a background in teaching, student welfare and community health promotion, Helen Butler worked for over a decade at the Centre for Adolescent Health, Royal Children's Hospital. She held key leadership roles in the Gatehouse Project, the Adolescent Health and Social Environments Program, and the Festival for Healthy Living. Her work focuses on promoting wellbeing through social justice and inclusive schools and communities. She is currently a senior lecturer in Wellbeing in Inclusive Schooling at the Australian Catholic University.
Religion, Spirituality & Life Threatening Illness
lan Gawler
Room 211
Interactive Workshop
The great traditions all have a long history of healing. Miraculous healing is a foundation stone of the Christian story. The Hindus have yogis who have defied modern medical expectations of mind control. Buddhism has an abundance of techniques that have underpinned modern psychology and mind-body medicine. However, in an increasingly secular world, many people have an aversion to formalised religion. Life-threatening illness commonly challenges patients, families, friends and health care workers to reassess the roles of miracles and medical techniques in the healing process and to think about what might best lead to peace of mind, a deeper sense of meaning and a clearer sense of purpose. This presentation will draw upon Dr Gawler's personal experience with recovering from a life-threatening cancer. The presentation will be a deep exploration of Christian, Hindu, and especially Tibetan Buddhist healing practices. Dr Gawler will also talk about what he has learned during thirty years of working with thousands of people affected by cancer and multiple sclerosis. He will then discuss the possibility that the great spiritual traditions offer a level of experience, authenticity and stability that more secular spiritualism often lacks.
9:30-11:00am INTRARELIGIOUS SESSION
Dr lan Gawler, OAM, Founder of The Gawler Foundation, is a pioneer in the therapeutic application of mind/body medicine and meditation. A long-term cancer survivor, lan established Australia's first lifestyle-based cancer self-help group over 25 years ago. He works intensively with cancer and MS patients and conducts meditation retreats and wellness programs. He is an author and a student of Sogyal Rinpoche. Initially trained in Veterinary Science, Dr Gawler holds a Master's in Counselling.
Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding: the Case of Colombia
Fr Leonel Narvaez Joanne Blaney Jane Wells
Room 212
Panel Discussion
As a part of the Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding series, this session will focus on the efforts of the Schools of Forgiveness and Reconciliation (SRF). SRF has five centres of reconciliation in Bogota and operates in twelve additional Latin American cities. Overall, SRF has placed programs in 47 schools. Colombia is experiencing an increase in criminality, domestic and school violence, generalised anarchy, organised crime, dramatic poverty, and the harmful influence of drug trafficking. SRF increases education as a long-term solution and has created a school curriculum, Pedagogy of Caring and Reconciliation, to provide training in the promotion of peace and education on the local level, and work with former combatants towards reconciliation. It seeks to help victims of violence transform negative memories, generate new narratives, and get free of the past in order to project their lives into the future. UNESCO recognised SRF for its work in peace education in 2006 and 2007.
Father Leonel Narvaez is a Catholic missionary. He initially worked with the nomadic tribes in Eastern Africa and currently works in the forest of the South Amazon area of Colombia, In 2000, he established the Schools of Forgiveness and Reconciliation |ESPERE is the Spanish acronym]. He was a key figure in the Goldin Institute's 2007 global gathering on the topic of reintegration of former child soldiers.
Joanne Blaney is a Maryknoll Lay Missioner who has spent the last 12 years working in Brazil with urban grassroots groups on the themes of violence, conflict resolution and mediation. Since 2005, Joanne is a facilitator of the ESPERE course (Schools of Forgiveness and Reconciliation). Using a popular education model, she works with a variety of restorative justice practices including restorative circles, emotional literacy and as sertive communication. She holds a Master of Arts in Education from the University of Maryland.
Jane Wells is an American Quaker. She and her husband, Tom Sadtler, are the founders of the recently launched Forgiveness International, a branch of Schools of Forgiveness and Reconciliation that serves the US. Canada and Africa, with the key mission of creating a global learning network in forgiveness. Jane is a human resources professional with expertise in individual and organisational effectiveness. She has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and a MBA from Boston University.
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