Parliament of Worlds Religion 2009 Melbourne Australia

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

Page 329

PROGRAM DESCRI
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Michael Harmer is Chairman and Senior Team Leader, Harmers Workplace Lawyers, and is Executive Member of the Australian Institute of Employment Rights (AIER).
David Carman is Founder and Director, CarmanWhite Pty Ltd.
Sharan Burrow is President, International Trade Union Confederation, and President, Australian Council of Trade Unions
Lisa Heap, is Executive Director, Australian Institute of Employment Rights (AIER).
Professor Ron McCallum AO, is former Dean of Law and Professor of Industrial Law, Sydney University and is Member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Caritas Australia - Community Development in a Multifaith and Multicultural Environment
Margaret Fyfe
Ranmal Samarawickrama
Mary Anne Collins
Room 102
Panel Discussion
As an official aid and development agency of the Catholic Church, Caritas Australia works in cooperation with Caritas International's worldwide network to alleviate poverty in the majority world. Caritas pursues the freedom of those who are oppressed by injustice, bringing 'sight' to both those who are powerless and powerful and proclaiming to the poor the good news of their human dignity. This panel will explore the living out and application of Caritas' guiding principles in the organisation's core work of long term development and advocacy. The program begins with an introduction to Caritas' mission, vision and guiding principles. Next, a case study from Indonesia will examine the work of the Caritas Australia program coordinator, a Buddhist working in a predominantly Muslim country under the auspices of a Catholic organisation. The final part of the program will focus on the Australian constituency by exploring ways to raise awareness of global injustice and create the conditions for active participation in the alleviation of poverty.
Margaret Fyfe is Programs Coordinator for the Latin American Region and Diocesan Director of the Melbourne Office for Caritas Australia. She worked as an administrator for Caritas de Xalapa in Veracruz, Mexico from 1996 to 2000. Ms Fyfe has a background in primary education in Victoria and South Australia.
Ranmal Samarawickrama joined Caritas Australia in 2005 and currently serves as team leader for South Asia and East Timor. He worked for the United Nations in Oecussi, an isolated enclave of East Timor, in 2001 and 2002, and he managed the field for Oxfam Australia in 2002 and 2003. He has a Master's degree in international development.
Mary Anne Collins is Global Education Advisor for Victoria and Tasmania with Caritas Australia. She has a background in education and international development.
The Search for Inner Peace: Multifaith Views from Women around the World [Part 1]
Michelle Mueller
Prabha Duneja
Anisa Buckley
Jessi (Jasjit) Kaur Ven Chang Wu Shi Ven Chang Shen Shi Barbara Condron Elisheva Salamo
Room 103
Panel Discussion
2:30-4:00pm ENGAGEMENT SESSION
This interfaith panel will showcase the many ways various female leaders from around the world search for inner peace. The program will begin with an historical overview of women at the 1893 Parliament and their sense of inner peace. It will then proceed into short presentations on finding inner peace by female leaders from different faith traditions. Participants will receive valuable insight on how different women religious leaders from Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Pagan and Christian traditions find and maintain inner peace. This is a special program and will include presentations from all panellists. It will extend into an Openspace session with conversation between presenters and participants.
Michelle Mueller works as the Acting Director of Religious Education at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Cherry Hill, NJ, USA. She graduated from the Pacific School of Religion in 2008. She first attended the Parliament of the World's Religions in 2004 in Barcelona after winning a Covenant of the Goddess essay contest.
Prabha Duneja is a writer, speaker and lecturer on Hindu religion. She is a missionary of the Geeta Society, Chairwoman of Women's Interfaith Circle of Service URI/CC, and an active leader of the interfaith movement in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has written numerous articles as well as the books 'Mantra and the Modern', 'The Legacy of Yoga in Bhagawad Geeta, An Introduction to Bhagawed Geeta', and 'The Gateway to Freedom: Bhagawad Geeta.
Anisa Buckley is a PhD Candidate in Islamic Studies at the Asia Institute and the Melbourne Law School at the University of Melbourne. She holds an MA in Islamic Studies from the University of New England, Armidale: a Graduate Certificate in International Development from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology; and a BEd from the University of Sydney.
Jessi Kaur, a frequent speaker at interfaith conferences, has travelled extensively, sharing the spiritual values taught by the Sikh Gurus. She believes that harmony is possible in a diverse world when barriers of ignorance are brought down. She is co-founder of the International Institute of Gurmat Studies and author of 'Dear Takuya', a children's book promoting acceptance of diversity among young children. She is also Fine Arts Commissioner for Cupertino, California.
Chang Wu Shi is a Buddhist nun in the Mahayana tradition, practising since 1995 under the guidance of the late Chan Master Sheng Yen in the Dharma Drum Mountain lineage of Chinese Chan Buddhism. She has participated in and been a panellist on international conferences on peace making, spirituality and sangha education. Currently she oversees the operation of the Special Project Department and the International Translation Department at the Dharma Drum Mountain Cultural Center in Taiwan.
Chang Shen Shi is a Buddhist nun in the Mahayana tradition, practising since 2001 under the guidance of the late Chan Master Sheng Yen in the Dharma Drum Mountain lineage of Chinese Chan Buddhism. Prior to becoming a bhikshuni, she studied in New York City and earned a PhD in
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