Parliament of Worlds Religion 2009 Melbourne Australia

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

Page 365

PROGRAM DESCEH
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
11:30am-1:00pm INTERRELIGIOUS SESSION
instrumental in revitalising Chan (Zen) Buddhism in Taiwan. Since join ing monastic orders in 1998 and prior to his current position, Master Jian Zong served as Vice Abbot of Chung Tai Chan Monastery: Abbot of Great Enlightened Monastery in Keelung, Taiwan, and administrator and instructor at the Chung Tai Buddhist Institute.
Rev Dr John Dupuche is a Parish Priest in the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne. His book, Abhinavagupta: The Kula Ritual', was published in 2003; Jesus, the Mantra of God'. in 2005; and Vers un Tantra Chretien in 2009. He is chair of the Catholic Interfaith Committee and research officer at Australian Catholic University. He has established an interfaith household together with Swami Sannyasanand and the Venerable Lobsang Tendar. Mehmet Yavuz Seker received his MA degree from Sakarya University in Turkey. He is currently a PhD candidate at Australian Catholic University and is working on the topic, The Qur'anic Origin of Sufism. He has authored several books and is a regular columnist for Zaman Australia He has written several articles in the Turkish magazine Yeni Umit (New Hope) and he is a special advisor to Turkish schools in Melbourne. Anita Ray holds a Science degree from the University of Sydney, a Licentiate in Theology from the Melbourne College of Divinity, an Arts degree from Murdoch University and a PhD in Sanskrit literature from La Trobe University. She has lived for two decades in Pakistan and India and has lectured for fifteen years in Australian Universities. She is presently a Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Catholic University, Melbourne.
The Stolen Generation and The Apology Melissa Brickell Representatives of Stolen Generation Victoria (SGV) Room 212 This presentation will focus on the ways in which people and organisations can support and address the needs of those people affected by practices and policies of removing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from family, community, country and culture. It will also highlight a personal journey that contributed to The Apology by the Prime Minister of Australia to the Stolen Generation. Melissa Brickell, a descendant of the Yorta Yorta and Wiradjeri people, resides in Melbourne. Her work and active community involvement over the last eighteen years have focused on cross-cultural awareness and reconciliation among Australians. Brickell received a Reconciliation Award from Maribyrnong City Council for advancing the rights and community life of Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. She is also actively involved in the Stolen Generations movement in Victoria and nationally The primary purpose of Stolen Generation Victoria (SGV) is to support and address the needs of people affected by practices and policies of removing Aboriginal and Torres Strail Islander peoples from family. community, country and culture,
Monastic Interreligious Dialogue: Dialogue at the Level of Spiritual Practice and Experience William Skudlarek Rev Heng Sure Venerable Jian Zong Room 210 Seminar The Benedictine Confederation established Monastic Interreligious Dialogue (MID) in 1978 in direct response to a request of the Vatican that Catholic monks and nuns dedicate themselves to an ongoing dialogue with the great religions of the East. In this program, an American Catholic monk and Secretary General of MID, the Ven Jian Zong is the Abbot of the Houston branch of Chung Tai Chan Monastery and two additional two Buddhist monks, who have participated in MID-sponsored activities, will describe monastic experience and practice. They will show how the similarity of monastic renunciation, vows, daily lifestyles and spiritual practices means that monks have a unique relationship to institutional structures. Monastics share much across religious boundaries that they might not share with other members of their own faith tradition. Monastic interreligious dialogue will be presented as a special form of interreligious dialogue that emphasises listening and hospitality and focuses on spiritual practice and experience. William Skudlarek has been a Benedictine monk at Saint John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota for fifty years. After serving as President and then Executive Director of the North American branch of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, he was appointed Secretary General in 2008. From 1994 to 2001, he lived at a Benedictine monastery in Japan, where he regularly participated in zazenkai and sesshin offered by the San'un Zendo in Kamakura. Rev Heng Sure is the Director of the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery and a former Global Councilor of the United Religions Initiative. He has been a Buddhist monk for 33 years, and holds a PhD from the Graduate Theological Union, in Berkeley, California (USA) and an MA from the University of California, Berkeley. An author and musician, Rev Sure recently released the CD Paramita: American Buddhist Folk Songs Ven Jian Zong is the Abbot of the Houston branch of Chung Tai Chan Monastery, founded by the Grand Master Wei Chueh, a spiritual leader
The Hazards of Writing About Religion Barney Zwartz James Jupp Hanifa Deen Rabbi Aviva Kipen Room 213 Panel Discussion Writing about religion is fraught with potential hazards. How does one deal with sensitive themes like religious vilification, conversions, persecuted religious minorities, conflicting beliefs, claims of supremacy and the interface between religion and politics? How can one deal with difference without falling into a crusading spirit or becoming a bland harmonist papering over' conflicts? Sometimes writers who articulate their own personal traumas provide fuel to polemics. How then does one explore religious differences and possible tensions in a way that keeps dialogue open? As a writer how do you bridge the distance between your own religious background and a religion not your own? On the other hand an author may want to harness subjectivity to create a colourful, page-turning narrative without distorting the truth. And often it's the journalist's role to write about complex issues within a 350-word limit while coping with an impatient editor. How do you stay true to yourself as a writer without censoring yourself and how do you avoid being sued? Finally, how do you engage a wider readership not necessarily interested in religious topics"? During this session, a panel of
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