Poverty kit launched for congregations
Poverty is about a lack of means to live a decent life. It’s about not having enough money to eat healthy food. Poverty is not being able to take your kids to the doctors or dentist. Poverty is never having new clothes, or holidays. Poverty means standing in supermarket queues, quietly praying you’ve added up your handful of items correctly. If you haven’t, you'll face the embarrassment of having to put something back.
Poverty is about always having to say “no” to school camps and excursions. Poverty means never going to the movies, or out for a casual coffee with friends. Poverty means putting up with rotten teeth and a bad back. Poverty means standing in the rain waiting for busses that never run on time. Poverty means having your name on an endless Government list for somewhere safe to live. Poverty means that other people make decisions about your life most of the time.
Could you and your family live on $400 a week? Four hundred dollars for everything? Four hundred dollars to pay the rent, food, transport, clothes, the doctor and chemist, school and kids sports…. This year more than 3.6 million Australian households are struggling to survive on four hundred dollars a week.
Poverty exists. It’s bad for everyone. Together, we can make a difference.
A new UnitingCare Australia action kit targeting Uniting Church congregations and UnitingCare agencies and missions was launched recently to coincide with National Anti-Poverty week and to help the Church meet its aim of getting poverty, especially child poverty, on the National agenda.
Developed in partnership with congregations and agencies the Not Enough poverty kits aim to enable local mission, by empowering UCA members and UnitingCare staff and supporters to use their gifts, skills, and local connections to act for change for those whose lives are less rich and more troubled than they need to be.
The action kit has four sessions developed in cooperation between congregations, agencies and Assembly Agencies UnitingCare Australia, Uniting Justice and Uniting Education. It aims to develop conversations about how Christian tradition and experience can be brought into focus to encourage us to work together.
UnitingCare Australia National Director, Lin Hatfield Dodds, said each session is designed for a small group to work through in one meeting and there are a range of activity choices available in each session, both for those who would describe themselves as people of faith, and for those who work or volunteer in our agencies and share our passion for justice.
“The action kit was designed by people in congregations and agencies for congregations and agencies. If you want to produce resources that excite and engage people you need to have them help shape the project,” she said.
The kit follows on from UnitingCare Australia’s on-going advocacy work on poverty at the Federal level and the recent decision of the UnitingCare National Conference to commit the 450 strong network of service providers to getting child poverty on the national agenda.
“We deliver children’s services, child protection, out of home care, programs for homeless young people, family support and early intervention. Our credibility lies in our direct and daily contact with families, the work that we do and the outcomes we achieve.
“As a nation, we have the knowledge, the skills, and the resources to tackle the causes and impacts of child poverty. As a network, UnitingCare has the experience and knowledge to work with Government to do that.”
Lin said one of the ways to achieve change at a Government level was to mobilise local congregations, UnitingCare providers and communities to act and agitate for change. “Imagine if every Federal politician was contacted in their own seat by locals with the same message about serious, well resourced national action on poverty.”
Poverty exists. Its bad for everyone. Together we can make the difference.
“Working together, we can transform our neighbourhoods, our communities, and our country, one choice and one act at a time, to be places of hope and belonging for everyone”.
‘Every day, UnitingCare community service providers see the tragic effects of poverty and financial hardship and the way these compound for the most disadvantaged in our communities—people who are homeless, those with poor mental health, people living with a disability. We need to turn around Australia’s poor record on dealing with poverty. Working locally through this action kit provides a way for national action and transformation to begin at a grass roots level.”
Want to know more? You can download the kit from the UnitingCare Australia website (www.unitingcare.org.au) where you will find lots of information about poverty and inequality.
South East Asia is hit by a series of natural disasters
Uniting Church Overseas Aid is urgently seeking donations to assist a number of countries in South East Asia that have been hit by natural disasters in recent months.
Donations will be used to assist the work of our partner Churches to provide emergency support in disaster affected regions of the following countries.
- Indonesia
- West Papua
- The Phillipines
- How to send donations
(1) Earthquake hits Alor Island in Eastern Indonesia
At 4am on the 12 November 2004 an earthquake registering 6.5 on the Richter Scale hit the eastern Indonesian island of Alor. Around 17,000 buildings were damaged. Most of these where houses leaving 50,000 people homeless. Reports indicate that 34 people have died and there are approximately 300 people with major injuries. Living conditions are difficult with the onset of the wet season while hundreds of aftershocks have hit the island.
Our partner church in the region, the Evangelical Christian Church in Timor (GMIT) has formed a disaster response team and is distributing food and shelter to local congregations. Most of Alor Island are members of GMIT. The island is very mountainous and the only airfield on the island is out of action. Roads are cut due to landslides. Financial support can be sent to the GMIT Synod in Kupang through Uniting Church Overseas Aid
(2) Earthquake hits Nabire in West Papua
On Friday 26th November 2004 an earthquake registering 6.4 on the Richter Scale hit the town of Nabire in West Papua. This was the second earthquake to hit the town in the past nine months and at least 17 people have died and 180 people are injured. Over 300 buildings in the town have been damaged and Nabire's airport has been severely effected. Planes are not able to land. Some 89 aftershocks were experienced during the following day with a total of 368 aftershocks being measured since the earthquake (some aftershocks measuring up to 5.4 on the Richter Scale). People have been living outside because they fear their houses will collapse. Electricity and water supplies are out of action while bridges have been damaged and roads are cut.
Our partner church, the Evangelical Christian Church in the Land of Papua is preparing to provide emergency assistance in the area. Financial support can be sent to the GKI di Tanah Papua Synod in Jayapura through Uniting Church Overseas Aid.
(3) Typhoons hit Luzon, Philippines
Six hundred people are dead or missing in the eastern region of Luzon due to a series typhoons that have hit the region. Winds of up to 240 kph and heavy rain have swept away roads, bridges and villages. Mudslides together with huge logs that have been washed down from the mountains and are causing extensive damage. The town of Real (population 30,000) is isolated by floodwaters and many tens of thousands of people are affected in other areas.
Typhoon Nanmadol is now approaching Luzon with 185 kph winds. This will be the fourth storm to hit the region in a week. Uniting International Mission is contacting our church partner in the Philippines, the United Church of Christ (UCCP), to seek further information. It's highly likely that our church partner (UCCP) will be seeking support to provide emergency aid to the region. Financial support can be sent through Uniting Church Overseas Aid.
The above information on the current situation in these countries was current at December 2. For more detailed up to date information can be found via the world news section of the BBC website at http://news.bbc.co.uk/
How to send donations
Please send donations to:
Uniting Church Overseas Aid
Donor Liaison Officer
PO Box A2266
Sydney South NSW 1235
Cheques should be made out to “Uniting Church Overseas Aid”
For receipt purposes please enclose a name and address with the donation.
Contact telephone number – 02 8267 4266
All donations to Uniting Church Overseas Aid are tax deductible
Spiritual Assistance for the Soloman Islands
In the wake of the turmoil and instability in the Solomon Islands, a spiritual assistance mission was organised with the help of Methodist Churches in the region and the Uniting Church in Australia.
With the help of Uniting International Mission Rev Sarah Williamson from New South Wales and Bruce Mullan from Queensland joined the Mission in the Solomon Islands recently.
"A jewel of the Pacific still reeling from devastating conflict," was how Queensland Mission Consultant, Bruce Mullan, described the Solomon Islands on his recent return.
In 1998 Guadalcanal, the island scene of so much violent warfare during World War Two, became the centre of a lawless conflict between the locally organised militias and the rival Malaitan Eagle Force. The fight was over land holdings but the ensuing warfare saw almost total collapse of government and society in the Solomon Islands.
"I spoke with one family whose son had been killed in the fighting," said Bruce. "His grave was in the village of Koleasi where I spent a weekend." Originally the young teenager had been airlifted to Honiara's main hospital with a gunshot wound and was recovering well when the opposing militia broke into the hospital and killed him.
Such reprisal violence was endemic in the villages, and people who had lived in peace since the missionary days in the first half of the 1900s found their communities reverting to the "old ways". "We were dying in spiritual death," said Rev Bromley T Chuchu, minister of the Koleasi Congregation in the Guadalcanal mountains. Revd Chuchu told how villagers were affected spiritually, socially, physically and mentally by the ethnic unrest and warfare. "It was all fear and panic," he said.
Led by Australia and supported by nine South Pacific nations, the RAMSI intervention force arrived in July 2003, deploying more than 2,000 men and women in the first wave to restore peace. Calling the operation "Helpem Fren" this Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands quickly restored hope to a country on the verge of political and economic collapse. Now over 3,800 people have been arrested, including militia leaders, suspected murderers and extortionists.
When Revd John Mavor from Uniting International Mission visited the Solomon Islands a year ago the United Church leaders praised the RAMSI but expressed the need for a spiritual assistance mission. The Methodist Consultative Council of the Pacific adopted this idea when it met in Samoa early in 2004.
In November 2004 ten church leaders from the Methodist churches in Fiji, Tonga and Samoa and from the United Church in PNG and the Uniting Church in Australia visited the Solomon Islands to bring encouragement and express solidarity with the United Church. The UCA representatives were Rev Sarah Williamson from New South Wales and Bruce Mullan.
"Just knowing that other churches had not forgotten them was a huge encouragement to the church there," said Mr Mullan. "There is a lot left to do, but God will use the church in the Solomons as an agent for the ongoing peace and stability that will be required after the RAMSI has returned home."
Moderator of the United Church in the Solomon Islands, Rev Philemon Riti expressed deep gratitude for this expression of friendship by other churches in the Region. "We thank God for this bond and the common concern for each other as brothers and sisters in Christ," he said.
South Australian Bushfires
Please pray for people on the Eyre Peninsula. We particularly pray for those who have lost loved ones. Please also pray for the small congregation at Wanilla, and for the ministry teams at churches like Port Lincoln, and Tumby Bay as they offer pastoral care.
The Moderator of the Uniting Church SA, Rev Dr Graham Humphris, has Written a pastoral letter to church members in the affected region in which he says: "It is in this awful situation that we, as part of your extended family known in the Uniting Church in South Australia, want you to know that we are grieving with you, praying for you and wanting to stand by you and support you in any way that we possibly can."
The President says that in this Sunday of mourning he makes the sad request to our congregations to now include at least one member of the Uniting Church who died in the fires and remember the many other families who are grieving in Southern Eyre Peninsular and beyond.
President meets Immigration Minister
This is a statement by the National President of the Uniting Church in Australia, Rev Dr Dean Drayton, following a meeting with the Minister for Immigration, Senator Amanda Vanstone, in Adelaide on Friday, January 7, while he was attending the National Christian Youth Convention.
A baptised member of the Uniting Church was forcibly deported from Baxter Detention Centre on the night of January 3, the New Year’s Day public holiday.
I immediately emailed both Senator Vanstone and the Prime Minister to express the Church’s disappointment at the decision
I was able to meet the Minister Vanstone personally while I was in Adelaide for the National Christian Youth Convention to personally explain the concerns we had.
I was encouraged by the meeting. The Minister was gracious, warm and open to our concerns.
Neither the Minister nor the immigration authorities will reconsider material which has already been examined in any case. But we have authenticated and documented the conversion of some asylum seekers who are baptised members of the Uniting Church.
We believe this should be considered ‘new information’ and so allow a new stage in their applications for humanitarian visas, permitting the Minister to consider them on a case by case basis.
The Minister also left the way open for further communication between us, which we appreciate.
It is my fear that members of the Uniting Church who are forcibly returned will face persecution and possible death at the hands of fundamentalist Islamic governments or groups.
Religious persecution is a reality in many parts of the world. It is expressly prohibited under the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, and as President of the Uniting Church in Australia, I have a duty to see that members of our church are not persecuted for their faith. This is not matter of choice, but one of deep pastoral responsibility.
As I said at the National Christian Youth Convention: “We are most concerned about former Muslims who have converted to Christianity being forcibly returned to fundamentalist Islamic countries.
“It’s hard for Christians in these countries. It’s even harder for people who have converted from Islam to Christianity. Under Islamic law they are seen as apostates – people who are traitors to Islam. In some countries this may be punishable by death.
“The Minister acknowledged that the Uniting Church has been careful and thoughtful in the way we have authenticated people’s conversions.”
'One Nation Under God' Program
Date: Friday 25th of February 2005
Place: Woolley Common Room, Woolley Building A20, Science Road, University of Sydney NSW 2006
Programme
9.00 - 9.30 Registration.
9.30 - 9.40 Welcome and Introduction by seminar convenor
Dr Christopher Hartney.
Morning Session: Overviews
9.40 - 10.10 Professor Garry W. Trompf: (Professor in the History of
Ideas, University of Sydney) "The Interface of Religion and Politics in
Australia: An Overview."
10.10 - 10.40 Mr John Nijjem: (Department of Philosophy, University of
Sydney) "The Unholy Family; a Theological Critique of Christian
Exclusivisms."
10.40-11.10 Reverend Elenie Poulos (National Director Uniting Justice
Australia [Uniting Church]) "Christianity and 'Family Values' Discourse."
11.10-11.30 Morning Tea
Mid-Morning Session: From the British and American Models to the
Australian Family Movement.
11.30-12.00 Dr Christopher Hartney (Lecturer, Studies in Religion,
Sydney, Department of History, UNSW): "Owning the concept of 'family' from the American Family Foundation to Fred Nile, The Festival of Light
and on to Family First."
12.00-12.30 Dr Carole M. Cusack (Chair, Studies in Religion, University
of Sydney): "Bellah's Second Model of Religion's Future and contemporary Australia."
12.30-13.00 Ms Frances Di Lauro (Postgraduate, Studies in Religion): "On Christian Particularism and Australian Politics: Positioning the
'Secularity' of Family First."
13.00-14.00 Lunch
Afternoon Sessions: The Australian Case
14.00-14.30 Ms Amber Sparrow (Griffith University), "A New Kid on the
Block: Political Representation of the Christian Right in Australia."
14.30-15.00 Dr Marion Maddox (Victoria University, Wellington) "Religion
Under Howard and the Resurgence of Christian Politics"
15.00-15.30 Afternoon Tea
15.30-16.00 Professor John Warhurst (Professor, Political Science
Discipline, ANU) [reading a paper by] Haydon Manning (Flinders
University) and John Warhurst (Australian National University), "The old and new politics of religion [in the 2004 election]"
16.00-16.30 Mr Philip Quadrio (Philosophy, University of Sydney) topic:
TBA
16.30-17.0 Final Comments and Discussion.
Chair: Chris Hartney
2005 Lenten studies
A range of small group Lenten studies are available for UCA members to access this year, including a series from the Synod of Queensland, the Presbytery of Tasmania, a series from the NSW Synod’s ELM Centre for Lay Ministry and one from the Catholic Education Office targeting Christians from different traditions meeting together.
ELM Centre studies
Co-authored by Rev Dr Chris Walker and Amelia Koh-Butler, ELM Associate Director, these Lenten Studies are available on http://boe.resources.org.au/ They specifically seek to respond to the visit by Tom Bandy last year, so focus on the question: “What is it about my experience of Jesus Christ that this Community cannot live without?”
Anyone who would like an emailed version please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. ELM is asking for a $5 donation per copy made or $10 per hard copy.
Queensland Synod Lenten Studies 2005 series
Experiencing Jesus, is now available for use by small groups in congregations for study and reflection during Lent. They may also be used at other times during the year. The series of five studies will open up Biblical reflections on different ways people experience Jesus through change, healing, freedom, a second chance and real purpose. The studies will work best for small groups but may be used by individuals. These studies are provided free and can be photocopied for each member of your congregation or group. Congregations might encourage existing groups to study this material or plan to establish short-term groups which can meet in the time leading up to Easter. The studies are available for free download at http://www.journey.ucaqld.com.au/specialsynod/lentstudy05.php
For other questions about this study series please contact Bruce Mullan, Mission Consultant on email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call (07) 3377 9801.
Tasmania
This year, for the second consecutive year, the Presbytery of Tasmania has produced a 24-page booklet of five Lectionary-based Bible Studies for Lent. It is a project of our Discipleship Development and Education committee. We have already sold over 200 copies - mostly to Tasmanians, but some to mainland congregations. We charge $3.00 per copy, or $10 per set of master sheets. We also have advertising posters @ $2 for A4 size and $4 for A3 size. Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., phone 03 6331 9784, or mail Presbytery of Tasmania, 96 Margaret St, Launceston Tasmania 7250.
"One Light, Many Journeys"
The Catholic Education office in Brisbane has prepared these studies with the possibility in mind of Christians from different traditions meeting together. Participants are invited to listen to the scriptures, reflect on their experiences and share their faith journeys. The overall theme is "Communion" and the six studies are: 1. Light for the journey. 2. To shine like the sun. 3. Sharing the light. 4. Light of the world. 5. To see the light. 6. Journey through darkness. Children's materials are also available. For sample lessons and ordering go to http://www.bne.catholic.edu.au/lentprog, phone 07 3840 0599 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The Tsunami Wall
“The Tsunami Wall” is one creative response to the Tsunami being offered at the Flinders University of South Australia by Uniting Church Chaplain, Geoff Boyce.
Geoff and Rabbi Patti Kopstein, members of Flinders Multifaith Chaplaincy, invited staff and students to paint, draw or scribble their thoughts and feelings on “The Wall” during the month of March.
“Asian students, in particular, have stopped to paint and draw using their own languages and symbols,” said Rabbi Patti.
‘Some students have been touched by this opportunity and have said that they are going away to ‘think about it before returning to add their expression”.
Panels will now be hinged together to form an artistic installation as a memorial to those who lost their lives and a tribute to those who have donated their money and lives in the rebuilding effort.
“The Tsunami has had a big impact on Universities because of the number of students, past and present, who come from affected areas and because university staff and graduates are rising to the challenges in >response to the devastation,” said Geoff.
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Death of inaugural Uniting Church President
The inaugural President of the Uniting Church in Australia Rev Davis McCaughey died on March 26 at the age of 90.
Dr McCaughey, who was also Victorian Governor from 1986 to 1992, died at his North Melbourne home with his wife Jean and his family by his side. A service of Worship celebrating the life of Dr McCaughey will be held at St Michael’s Uniting Church Melbourne, at 2.30pm on Thursday, March 31.
Dr McCaughey was a theologian, master of Ormond College at the University of Melbourne, and inaugural president of the Uniting Church in Australia.
Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland on July 12, 1914, John Davis McCaughey came to Australia in 1953 to be Professor of New Testament Studies for the Theological Hall at Ormond College.
Dr McCaughey was a key architect in bringing together the Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational churches to form the Uniting Church in Australia and and was president of the first Assembly of the Uniting Church in 1977 to 1979.
He was the primary author behind the Basis of Union, the foundational theological document that led to the formation of the new denomination.
Uniting Church President, Rev Dr Deam Drayton, said Davis McCaughey has had a lasting influence on the shape of spiritual and social consciousness in Australia.
“He provided much of the vision, wisdom and intellectual strength behind the union of the Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational churches.
“We see his graceful and intellectual touch on the Basis of Union, the foundational document of the Uniting Church. His insight and commitment was in response to the real movement of the Holy Spirit to bring the Uniting Church into being.
“Dr McCaughey also served the people of Victoria with compassion and distinction as Governor of Victoria.
“His commitment to education and learning was also profound.
“He served as Master of Ormond College for twenty years, was Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, sat on the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches and was responsible for the theological formation of many hundreds of Ministers in Victoria and Tasmania.
“We give thanks to God for a man of great insight, wisdom and gentle spirit. I extend the whole of the Uniting Church’s condolences to Jean and all the McCaughey family.”
Dr McCaughey is survived by his wife of 64 years, Jean, and by five children - including former National Gallery of Victoria director Patrick McCaughey - 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
A service of Worship celebrating the life of Dr McCaughey will be held at St Michael’s Uniting Church Melbounre, at 2.30pn on Thursday, March 31. The McCaughey family has respectfully requested no flowers and asked that donations be made to Uniting Church Overseas Aid for its project to develop a secondary school in Leos, East Timor.
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The Da Vinci Code and the 'Browning' of Christian history
For some time various people have been telling me that I must read Don Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. So I did.
It does not pretend to be a great literary work, just a novel; a thriller about a Harvard professor in search of the Holy Grail. On the surface it is just another tale that captures your attention and holds it, as well as any John Grisham novel.
Its extraordinary success and controversial content, however, have made it more than a best-seller. Some critics are calling it a ‘phenomenon’. There are a number of web sites devoted to discussing Brown’s view of theology and history. There are TV documentaries that will be aired this year to examine the books claims.
The book promises to reveal secrets about Jesus, secrets long suppressed by the church and other religious organisations; secrets that debunk traditional and orthodox views of Jesus and early Christianity. While we live in a culture that is still fascinated by the person of Jesus, there is wide spread biblical illiteracy. Fewer and fewer people are able or equipped to discern fact from fiction. Moreover, the novel’s first page declares ‘FACT…all descriptions of art, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate’. Thus, most readers are likely to think that the book contains more fact than fiction. It is possible, unless challenged, Brown’s views will become mainstream, and the credibility of historic, authentic Christian faith will be further eroded.
Without going into much detail, here is a short tour of the seven deadly historical errors in the book, drawn from Ben Witherington’s excellent book The Gospel Code.
Error 1: The canonical Gospels, that is Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, are not the earliest Gospels, rather the earliest are the suppressed Gnostic Gospels such as the Gospel of Philip or the Gospel of Mary. This claim is made several times in the book, by the fictitious experts Teabing and Langdon. There is, however, no credible evidence to support such a view. The Gnostic Gospels were written in the late 2nd or even the 3rdcentury AD, while the gospels in the New Testament were written in the second half of the first century.
Error 2: Jesus is a great man, but was never proclaimed divine until the Council of Nicaea in the 4th century. This is patently false. Jesus is called ‘God’ (theos) seven times in the New Testament, including in John’s Gospel, and he is called ‘Lord’ (kyrios) in the divine sense on numerous occasions. All the Council of Nicaea did was formalise what the New Testament has clearly taught.
Error 3: Emperor Constantine suppressed the ‘earlier’ Gnostic Gospels and imposed the Canonical Gospels and the doctrine of divinity of Christ on the church. Simply not true. Neither the Western nor Eastern Church ever accepted the Gnostic Gospels, because they were clearly fictional. It was not a case of suppression, simply one of recognising the major historical flaws in the ‘late’ (not ‘early’) Gnostic Gospels. By 130AD most of the New Testament, as we have it, was seen as authoritative. Irenaeus reports this, as does the Muratorian Canon from the second century. Constantine certainly presided over the Council of Nicaea, but there is no reason to believe he shaped its conclusions. Certainly he helped spread Christianity, but he did not engineer the canonizing process.
Error 4: Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. The New Testament is completely silent on this issue. Brown quotes the late 3rd century Gospel of Philip, but on further examination, this seems highly unlikely. The Gospel of Philip uses the term ‘companion’ which does not mean ‘spouse’. The suggestion of a ‘kiss’ in the Gospel of Mary, is the common ‘Holy Kiss’ referred to by Paul in I Cor:16. This is simply an early form of Christian greeting, not evidence of romance.
Error 5: Jesus must have been married since he was an early Jew. This argument again is flawed. Most Jewish men did marry, but several ancient Jewish authors attest to the fact that some early Jews were called to celibacy. There is no reason why Jesus could not have been one of them. (see Matt. 19. v10-12. for further reasons).
Error 6: The Dead Sea Scrolls along with the Nag Hammadi documents are the earliest Christian records. What a howler! The Dead Sea Scrolls are purely Jewish documents, there is nothing Christian about them. There is no evidence any of the Nag Hammadi documents existed before the late 2nd century, with the possible exception of the Gospel of Thomas, which is mid 2nd century.
Error 7: The Church suppressed the ‘sacred feminine’. Brown contends God was organically a female deity. Nonsense. The God of the Bible is neither male nor female, rather God is Creator and God is Spirit (John 4:v24).
In Shakespeare’s King Henry IV, Part Two, the king rebukes Prince Hal, who is contemplating his father’s death and his own assumption of the throne, saying ‘Have you a ruffian that will ….commit the oldest sins in the newest kind of ways?’ There is nothing very new about the religious agendas underlying The Da Vinci Code. It is simply a bad amalgam of paganism and, strangely enough, old Gnosticism brought back to life by a masterful storyteller. It can be quite entertaining, but also misleading. We need to treat this book as what it really is – not historical fiction, but almost entirely fiction, at least when it comes to its assumptions and assertions about Jesus, Mary Madgdalene and early Christianity.
A fascinating read, but riddled with historical and theological distortions. Buyer and reader beware.
Steve Francis
Prestigious award recognises innovation in care for elderly Territorians
Darwin resident Sharon Davis has been awarded the prestigious Louis Ariotti Award for her role in developing aged care services in the Territory and the Kimberley.
The award was presented at the 8th National Rural Health Conference held in Alice Springs over the last 4 days. It recognises innovation and excellence in rural and remote health in areas such as research, policy, leadership and service development.
Mrs Davis is the Northern Regional Manager of UCA Frontier Services – the organisation that was founded as The Australian Inland Mission in 1912 by another legend in innovative care for Outback communities, Rev John Flynn (“Flynn of the Inland” – who appears on the $20 note).
“We have a great example to follow in our founder, John Flynn”, said Mrs Davis. “He was not one to take no for an answer when it came to the health and welfare of people in the bush. I hope I have been able to demonstrate some small measure of his passion in developing care services for the elderly in the Territory.”
Mrs Davis was nominated by the National Director of Frontier Services, Rosemary Young. “For over a decade, Sharon has made an outstanding contribution to the development of services for the frail and aged and to training those who provide that care in the remotest regions of the continent,” said Mrs Young.
“Sharon joined Frontier Services in 1993 at a time when there were very few services, residential or otherwise, for older Territorians. She became the strongest and most passionate advocate for a variety of aged care services to meet the needs she identified, particularly for older indigenous people.”
“She has been instrumental in the development of dementia services and has taken a lead in ensuring accreditation standards are flexible enough to accommodate culturally appropriate care and remote service provision.”
“Sharon has developed partnerships with indigenous communities, developed training programs that can be delivered to remote communities and developed innovative programs that allow elderly people to remain at home even in very remote communities. She has encouraged and enthused our staff to stretch the system to its limits to ensure provision of quality care no matter where it is to be delivered.”
“I believe Sharon Davis has been instrumental in changing the face of aged care in the Northern Territory,” said Mrs Young. “Ten years ago, services for the elderly were minimal indeed in the Top End and the Centre. Today, a full range of care services can be accessed in most regions in the Territory, and that is due in no small part to the tenacity of Sharon Davis who constantly insists on ‘thinking outside the square’ when it comes to ensuring quality services for frail and aged in Northern Australia.”
Sharon Davis will take long service leave this year and plans to spend the time in Chenai, India, where she will provide advice on the development of aged care services in a very different, yet equally challenging environment.
“I hope they are ready!” said Mrs Young.
Young Ambassadors for Peace Program Conference
Uniting International Mission would like to announce the arrival in Australia of the International Coordinators for the Young Ambassadors for Peace (YAP) program.
The Coordinators are committed and enthusiastic people who have completed the regular YAP training and are now recognised as leaders, responsible for coordinating YAP within their communities. The Coordinators at the conference are from Indonesia, North East India, Sri Lanka, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Thailand.
Their main priorities on this visit include;
1. Attending the first International YAP conference for Coordinators in Canberra.
2. Scheduled meetings with the High Commissioners from respective countries.
3. Discussions with AusAID staff.
4. Nominated speaking engagements with a few congregations to conclude their visit.
The Conference aims to provide the coordinators with further leadership skills , an opportunity to network with other Coordinators and detailed reports on the progress within their communities.
If you would like further information about the conference or about the YAP program in general, please email Shobhna Bali, Promotions Program Assistant on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.