26th May 2009
Ganawarra Centre, Essendon North Uniting Church,
132 Keilor Road, Essendon North
9:30am for 10am to 3:30pm
“For restorative justice to succeed in addressing larger issues of systemic injustice it needs people willing to exercise moral imagination and political courage.” (Elaine Enns, 2008).
Such moral imagination and political courage has been demonstrated by those proposing a new preamble to the UCA Constitution, to be considered by the 12th Assembly in July 2009. This preamble acknowledges the sovereignty of the First Peoples of Australia, summarises key points of shared history between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and confesses the historical complicity of the Uniting Church in the struggles now faced by Indigenous Australians.
This forum, coinciding with National “Sorry Day”, will discuss the final text of the Assembly proposal, alongside principles of Restorative Justice as we work for healing and wholeness for all.
The April-May issue of Edgespace News has been some months in gestation. We think that it has been worth the wait.
We have decided to give Edgespace News a focus each month on a particular expression of outreach ministry. This month’s issue focuses on the Tertiary Chaplaincy Initiative, a new project auspiced by Outreach Ministries and four inner-city congregations of the Uniting Church.
As usual, we welcome your feedback on everything we produce for Edgespace, as well as ideas for stories, articles and profiles. If you would like to get in touch, please email edgespace (at) digitalbirdy.org.
The Healthcare Chaplaincy Council of Victoria Inc (HCCVI) is offering financial support for those engaged professionally in pastoral care roles in healthcare settings in Victoria, or those wishing to enter this field of work in Victoria, to enable them to undertake accredited training and professional development. This support will be provided on a needs basis, assessed through a case-by-case process, upon application to HCCVI.
As many of those employed in pastoral care roles work in a part-time capacity, they may have insufficient resources to allow access to required development programs and courses. HCCVI is keen to facilitate the development of pastoral care professionals in this situation through a program of financial sponsorship.
More information is available at the HCCVI website
The Theatre Triple Bill is presented by Artfull Faith and offers an opportunity for pastoral carers, chaplains and ministers to reflect on their own experience of supporting people through suffering, grief and loss.
Haul Away and Prophet and Loss, two plays crafted by skilful theatre makers, present opportunities for audiences to engage with stories of human loss and grief, attending to the issues at play in our culture that work against healing. Haul Away is a poignant personal family story of a young woman’s death, exquisitely told. Prophet and Loss is an epic theatre performance that addresses themes of justice, healing and prophecy, drawing on stories told by those bereaved by work-related death and responding to the Book of Isaiah. Moving from the domestic to the epic, the audience will reconvene on Wednesday 8 July to reflect on our own stories of Pastoral Care in Tough Times. The remarkably versatile players of Melbourne Playback Theatre will facilitate audience stories and experiences and re-enact them.
The Triple Bill costs $75.00 per person for all three performances or $140.00 per double. Book your season ticket now by filling in the attached booking form, or phone 9340 8842 and leave a message. Enquiries to Christina Rowntree, Arts Development Officer, chris.rowntree@ctm.uca.edu.au
Change is not new to the Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) field. Over the years, AOD services have responded to a multiplicity of changes including shifting drug trends, policy developments, client and service user needs and changing community attitudes and expectations.
Who drives change in the AOD field? What are the current changes and challenges facing us? Is change necessary to meet client needs? What balance should be struck between change and continuity?
Conference 09 will explore what’s happening today in the AOD field and the consequent challenges. It will offer delegates the opportunity to exchange ideas, share practice wisdom, showcase good practice as well as new and innovative projects, share research findings and create an agenda for future action.
Conference 09 will be of particular interest to those working directly with AOD clients. This includes clinicians, alcohol and drug treatment services, youth and outreach workers, mental health workers, community health services as well as researchers and policy makers involved in addressing AOD issues.
Thursday 19 and Friday 20 February 2009.
Jasper Hotel, 489 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne.
Early Bird Registration Available until Friday 9 January. $320 for two days, $165 for one day.
For more information or to register visit the conference website.
The HealthCare Chaplaincy Council of Victoria (HCCVI) is inviting chaplains to enrol for its Chaplains’ Inservice Continuing Education Program in 2009.
The program features a diverse array of topics including:
How to remain safe in the Workplace Pastoral Care of Transplant Patients & Donors Specialist Formation in Aged Care Chaplaincy & Pastoral Care Pastoral Vision in the 21st century Pastoral Care in Palliative Care Indigenous Spirituality and Pastoral Care Art & Pastoral Care Movement and Dance in Prayer, and Jewish Spirituality and Pastoral Care.
Further details, a full 2009 programme and enrolment forms are available from the HCCVI website
It has been an interesting time of change over the last few months from the admin side of Edgespace, which is why it has been a little quite in these parts of late.
The dust has settled and the life of this site can begin again anew.
This promises to be an interesting year. There are still several interviews with chaplains in the queue to be edited, as well as some of Clare Boyd-Macrae’s interviews with chaplains at the Uniting Church Vic/Tas Synod meeting in 2008.
We intend to broaden our filming focus to encompass a series of roundtable discussions with chaplains from various sectors. This is intended to provide additional opportunities for you to speak back into the life of the church about issues which you confront in your respective minsitries.
There is more in the works. We will keep you posted.
A Brisbane man is taking budget airline Virgin Blue to court over claims its website unfairly discriminates against people with visual impairments.
Les Kerr, 53, has been visually impaired since contracting an “aggressive glaucoma” about three years ago. He also has suffered a loss of mobility in his fingers through an unrelated illness.
Mr Kerr, of Wooloowin, said he had logged on to more than 30,000 websites to test their accessibility for people with vision impairments.
He said Virgin Blue’s website, with its use of light grey on a white background and difficulty in enlarging the text without distorting the page, was especially difficult for him to use.
This week we feature an interview conducted with Jeanne Beale, Uniting Church chaplain at Aitken College. There are two parts to the interview. In Part One, Jeanne discusses the development of a worshiping community within the college, and the potential of this community to feed new life into the church.
During Part Two of the interview Jeanne discusses the worship life of the Aitken College community, its frustrations in dealing with the structures of the church, and the desire for the development of worshiping communities that can embrace young people after leaving the Christian community of the college.
Jeanne Beale – Building Community Through Chaplaincy (Part One)
Jeanne Beale - Building Community Through Chaplaincy (Part Two)
In October 2008, Margaret Campbell was interviewed at Cabrini Hospital as part of a series profiling the rich and diverse expressions of minstry ‘at the edges’ auspiced by the Uniting Church. If you have any thoughts on the video, remember to leave us a comment.
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