serving the faith communities of the Goulburn Valley
“Ambassadors of Hope: Together Against Human Trafficking” is the theme chosen for the 11th edition of the International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking, which is celebrated every year on February 8. There will be an online Marathon of Prayer (Friday, February 7 from 11:30 am to 4 pm) CET – people are invited to join in this prayer, especially in their own Region.
Faith Ecology Network will conduct another of their Ten Ways to Care workshops on Wednesday 26 February. This event will be online. The focus will be on Forest Ecology and collaboration with groups who are helping protect forests, especially for the Great Koala National Park. Presenters come from Uniting Church Forest Chaplaincy and a Prominent Ecologist.
The annual Victorian Mosque Open Day will be back on the 15th of February from 10:00am. Mosques in Victoria look forward to hosting visitors with dozens of local mosques ready to open their doors to the whole Victorian community.
Just released: Australia Day 2025 Reflection and Discernment Guide from the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council.
The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council urges the nation to engage in deep reflection and prayer as Australia Day 2025 approaches.
The Guide is filled with hope and extends a warm invitation to embark on a journey together, fostering respect and appreciation. Its goal is to inspire meaningful action and a commitment to reconciliation
Federal authorities have confirmed they suspect “criminals for hire” may be responsible for some antisemitic attacks in Australia that have seen synagogues, cars, buildings and a childcare centre targeted with arson, graffiti and vile abuse.
But the question of who might be paying any such alleged criminals, and why they want to target the Jewish community in Australia, remains unanswered as police and intelligence agencies continue to investigate the attacks.
Human prosperity depends as much on social, moral, and relational factors as on technological, material, and financial ones, says the Bahá’í International Community (BIC) in a statement released ahead of the upcoming 63rd session of the Commission for Social Development, which will be held in February at the United Nations headquarters in New York City.
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Human Rights Watch, Jewish Council of Australia, Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, Australian National Imams Council, Human Rights Law Centre and Amnesty International condemn a recent spate of antisemitic hate crimes in Australia. A joint statement from these faith bodies and human rights bodies has been issued.
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The Family of Michael Leunig and St Paul’s Cathedral will hold a Memorial Service to Honour and Celebrate the life of Michael Leunig on 30 January 2025, at 2:00pm. Entry to the Cathedral will commence from 1:00pm. This Memorial Service will provide an opportunity for family, friends, and the Victorian Community to come together to remember Michael’s remarkable life and the lasting impact made on us all.
The Victorian Council of Churches has issued a statement on the Hamas-Israel ceasefire deal. Previously, the Victorian Council of Churches has told, inter alia, “In the land sacred to the three great Abrahamic religions, the ongoing cycle of violence and revenge must be broken, or the children of today’s children will still suffer in the same way. Justice and peace can only come about when those involved look in their enemy’s face and see a fellow human, whose dignity is no less than theirs and whose life has the same value as their own.”
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A healthy approach to religion highly values aesthetics and the role of creativity in spiritual expression. The aesthetic dimension of religious traditions can profoundly shape individual and communal experiences of the divine. Art, music, architecture, and literature have historically served as powerful vehicles for conveying spiritual truths, fostering emotional connections, and enriching worship practices. Here, a progressive Muslim theologian addresses critera for spiritual growth and inclusivity.
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Simon Critchley, who teaches philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York and has long been intrigued by mystics, tells readers what he has learned through his studies in the new book Mysticism. Late in the book, after too many efforts to say why he wrote it, Critchley emerges with this useful phrase: Mysticism is the “fiery core and beating heart” of religion.
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Spiritual reflection can be a part of many traditions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Sufism, and Shamanism. Spiritual traditions are a collection of beliefs and practices that help people connect with the divine or a greater truth. They can include rituals, meditation, prayer, and moral teachings. Here, Jackie Bailey, a Funeral Celebrant, speaks of her spiritual traditions.
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In his famous work, “Anonymous Christianity,” the great Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner claims that the benefits of Christ’s redemptive sacrifice are not confined to the boundaries of any particular religious tradition or by our awareness or acceptance of Christian doctrine. To which German theologian Hans Küng responded by saying that “any sincere Jew, Muslim, or atheist would assert it is presumptuous to claim that he is an ‘anonymous Christian.’” In his message to the youth of Singapore, Pope Francis called for unity among the faiths, saying, ‘all religions are paths to God’.
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From January 1 – 7, all are invited to join in co-creating a global field of care , coherence and healing as we gentle ourselves into the loving embrace of Rest.
As we attune together to the frequency of Rest, we support a collective release of that which is not in service of Life. In re-turning to rest, we enable a profound re-calibration with nature’s primordial rhythms and regenerative intelligence.
Slowing down, we nourish a deepening connection with ourselves, each other and all of Life, and seed the New Year with a profound gift of healing and regeneration.
This year, the first night of Hanukkah falls on Wednesday, December 25 – Yes, Hanukkah begins on Christmas Day for 2024. Appearing in Jewish art from antiquity until today, this ever-burning, seven-branched candelabra symbolized the permanence of the people of Israel’s connection to God, and God’s continual presence among the Jewish people. And so it is with the Ner Tamid in synagogues today.
Christian leaders from around the world share their Christmas messages. The children in Bethlehem and Jerusalem, in Beirut and the Gaza Strip, in Syria, Ukraine, and Sudan are the ones who suffer most in violent conflicts. And so are some children in homes in our own country, where they experience violence behind closed doors instead of safety, despair instead of hope. So write Church leaders as we come upon Christmas 2024.
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Every year, hundreds of thousands of Muslims undertake the Hajj –the sacred pilgrimage to Mecca. In 2024, the pilgrimage took place in mid-June, the start of the Saudi summer. But this year, more than 1,300 pilgrims never made it home. Lethal heat combined with humidity proved deadly. New research shows the upper limits of human heat tolerance were breached for a total of 43 hours over the six days of Hajj. During these periods, heat and humidity passed beyond the point at which our bodies are able to cool down.
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Former President Barack Obama at a forum on democracy pointed to the partnership of houses of worship and the success of megachurches as examples of ways to build bridges and foster pluralism. “The pluralist ideal is what allows a Christian church and Muslim mosque to sit side by side on the same city block — and then maybe agree to share a parking lot,” Obama said at the Obama Foundation’s Democracy Forum in Chicago.
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FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — Just off a state highway in New Jersey, one of the largest statues of the Buddha in the United States appears unexpectedly in the middle of a backyard. It rises 30 feet high from the woods in Franklin Township, near Princeton, where it was built a decade ago under the leadership of a Sri Lankan monk ordained in Theravada, one of the oldest forms of Buddhism. His dream? Uniting people of all faiths.
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Mahmoud Muna is the owner of the Educational Bookshop in East Jerusalem and one of the editors of “Daybreak in Gaza: Stories of Palestinian Lives and Cultures”. The book collects testimonies and stories from over a hundred Gazans, documenting their lives before and during Israel’s ongoing war on the enclave.