The Gippsland Anglican - October 2011

Volume 108, Number 9 October 2011 Published in Gippsland Diocese since 1904

The Gippsland Anglican is your award winning newspaper: Best Regional Publication Silver Award (ARPA) 2010; Item or Feature thatshows the most originality Highly Commended (ARPA) 2010; Best Social Justice Story Highly Commended (ARPA) 2004; Best RegionalPublication (ARPA) 2003; Most Improved Newspaper (ARPA) 2001.

Bullying - where isyouth responsibility?

page 4

MU contemplatessocial responsibility

Page 3

Surf movie focuseson youth and faith

page 5

Maffra appointment returning to GippslandBy Jeanette Severs

MAFFRA parish recentlyannounced the appointment ofReverend Graham Knott as thenew priest in charge. Graham andhis wife, June, are currently inWatford, United Kingdom, havingtaken up that post in 2009 afterserving in Croajingolong parish.

Graham and June returned toGippsland earlier this year for theordination of Kathy Dalton andPhyllis Andy as priests and spentsome time renewing friendships.They said at the time they wouldlike an opportunity to return toGippsland, having many fondmemories of their time here.

When Graham and June wereleaving Croajingolong, in early2009, they reflected on the peoplethey knew and work they had beeninvolved in, in Mallacoota andCann River (The GippslandAnglican, March 2009).

Then, as now, they believed thehand of God had influenced theirjourney in ministry. This journeybegan when Graham was a youngchild, moving from England toAustralia at three years old, withhis family. At 18, he left Australiafor a year in England, but did not

return for 30 years. Travelling in Australia in 1994

and then 2002, the couple believedAustralia was the place for them.Initial attempts to move theirentire family to Australia was notpossible.

In 2002, while on holiday, Juneand Graham drove through Genoaand June said: “Do you know, Icould live here.”

A year later, in England, Grahammet Brian Roberts, the thenNational Director of Bush ChurchAid. To cut a long story short,Graham expressed interest in therole in Croajingolong parish andin 2006, the couple moved toMallacoota.

This brought to a close 10 yearsof working in ministry in a coalmining town of 100,000 people inthe Midlands, England.

In Croajingolong parish, Grahamand June brought together the con-gregation to identify their giftsand looked at ways of planting thechurch in the community. Thisincluded developing ChristmasAngels which were scatteredthroughout the locality for localsand the thousands of tourists.

Other developments includedencouraging visits from LakesEntrance parish and BCA nomads

helping with maintenance to sup-port the local people’s faith.

At the beginning of 2009,Graham and June were called toserve in Watford, a town of 80,000people. They left Australia andGippsland with heavy hearts butbelieving they were going whereGod wanted them to be.

That process has now broughtthem back to Australia and theyarrive in Maffra in late October, tobe ready for Graham’s inductionon November 2.

“The pace of life and the scale ofeverything in Watford is very dif-ferent to Maffra where we arelooking forward to living andserving,” Graham said recently.

“Watford is a large, noisy townfull of activity and crowds everyhour of the day and night. It caneasily be a lonely and isolatingexperience for people, especiallythose from another country. We’veonly driven through Maffra in thepast but we get the sense this is avery special place whereChristians are working to share inmission together.

“There is also something veryspecial about being part of a com-munity where people belong,speak with and care about and foreach other.”

“We had a great time serving fora few years in Croajingolong. Wethink the Diocese of Gippsland isa great place and family to be partof and look forward to not havingto drive quite so far to get to things

that are happening. “It will be great to meet up again

with lots of our friends, meet thepeople of Maffra and celebrate thebeginning of the next stage of thejourney together,” Graham said.

The Gippsland Anglican wins awards for excellenceEDITOR of The Gippsland Anglican,

Jeanette Severs, was recently pleased toreceive a silver award and a highly com-mended award for the newspaper. At therecent Australasian Religious PressAwards, Jeanette accepted the Silver Awardfor Best Regional Publication. The judgescommented on the strong focus on localcommunity within the newspaper and thesensitive editing of a wide range of contri-butions.

Jeanette was especially pleased with thesecomments. She has been the editor of TheGippsland Anglican since December 2006and said her vision for the newspaper is tobe the primary communication tool of thediocesan community, reaching acrossGippsland and connecting Anglicans andother readers interested in the Anglican

Church.The judges commented the category of

Best Regional Publication was a very chal-lenging category to judge and the top threepublications were very professionally pro-duced. These awards recognised those pub-lications that spoke to the person in the pew,rather than to church officialdom.

Jeanette also received the HighlyCommended award in the category ‘Theitem or feature that shows the most origi-nality’ for a feature titled ‘How will you‘spend’ Christmas?’ in The GippslandAnglican of December 2010. The judgedescribed the entry as an excellent, originalway to ask the question of what con-sumerism is worth, while promoting thework of opportunity shops everywhere.

The judges stated that, although this was a

popular category for entries, the four publi-cations receiving awards showed originalideas that were creative and exceptional.

This was the first time Jeanette has enteredThe Gippsland Anglican in the ARPAawards for many years and she was pleasedwith the acknowledgment of the newspa-per’s excellence. Her role includes design-ing the newspaper’s layout, sourcing andwriting articles, photography and editingcontributions from parish correspondents,advertisers and other articles of interest.

“I really appreciate the contributions, par-ticularly those from parish correspondents,which help give the newspaper a local com-munity focus. The feedback I get from read-ers is they like to read about what is hap-pening across the diocese. This is balancedagainst articles which provide a more ana-

lytical coverage of issues relevant to ourlocal readers,” Jeanette (above) said.

ABOVE: June and Graham Knott are looking forward to returning toGippsland when Graham takes up the role as priest in Maffra parish.

2 Our Diocese - Missions and Ministries October 2011

The Gippsland Anglican

The Gippsland

AnglicanPrice: 90 cents each

$25 annual postal subscriptionMember of Australasian Religious Press

AssociationMember of Community Newspapers

Association of VictoriaRegistered by Australia Post.

Print Post Number 34351/00018

The Gippsland Anglican is the official newspaper of and is published by

The Anglican Diocese of Gippsland, 453 Raymond St, Sale, Victoria, 3853,

www.gippsanglican.org.au

Editor: Mrs Jeanette Severs,PO Box 928, Sale, 3850

Tel: 03 5144 2044Fax: 03 5144 7183

Email: [email protected] all parish reports, all articles,

photographs, letters and advertisements to the Editor.

Photographs should be jpeg files.Articles should be .doc or .txt files.Advertisements should be PDF files.

Printed by Latrobe Valley Express P/L21 George Street, Morwell, 3840

All contributions must be received bythe Editor by the 15th day of the monthprior to publication. Contact the Editor todiscuss variation to this date. The Editorreserves the right of final choice and for-mat of material included in each issue. TheGippsland Anglican and the Editor cannotnecessarily verify any material used in thispublication. Views contained in submittedmaterial are those of contributors.

Advertising Rates:$6.80/cm deep/column black & white.

Color is an extra $130.Contact the Editor in the first instance

for all advertising submissions, costings andenquiries, including about inserts in thenewspaper. All advertisements should bebooked with the Editor by the 10th of themonth prior to publication.

For Sale Classifieds:Parishes can advertise items for free, for

sale at prices up to and including $100.Send details, including contact name andtelephone number, to the Editor by 10thof the month prior to publication.

IndexAwards won by TGA 1

MU’s social responsibility 3

Helping youth with bullies 4

Color-in picture 5

MU AGM reports 6

Growing seeds of peace 7

Pioneer women 8, 9

Diocesan calendar 10

Support Defence Sunday 10

NATSIEC National Director 11

Same sex marriage 12

Literary and media reviews 13

Living with fear 14

Stop family violence 15

Desserts for mission 16

Tapestry at Buln Buln 16

The Right Reverend John McIntyreAnglican Bishop of Gippsland

GENEROSITY is always rewarded with bless-ing. This is the principle upon which all Chris-tian giving is properly founded.

I believe this principle to be grounded in a trueunderstanding of God. God, the generous giver,is blessed by the love and praise of those whobenefit from God’s generosity. Of course, it is acomplete misunderstanding to see God as giv-ing only to be blessed.

The opposite is true. It is because God givesgenerously that God is blessed.

Translating that principle to our lives is sim-ple. When we are generous we find we areblessed by God in all kinds of ways, not leastby the love and affirmation from those who ben-efit from our generosity. If, however, we giveonly to be blessed, we will be sorely disap-pointed. It is because we give generously thatwe are blessed.

This sounds good in theory but it is in fact solittle practised in our churches.

It is my observation that where churches aregenerous towards God, each other and others,churches are blessed by God. This is an unself-conscious reality on the part of those churches.Their aim is not to be blessed. Rather, theirfocus is so centred on the generous God re-vealed in Jesus Christ that their lives reflectGod’s generosity as a matter of course. Andtheir lives are blessed. There is joy, love, fulfil-ment, healing and growth.

So, generosity is always rewarded with bless-ing. This is the principle upon which all Chris-tian giving is properly founded.

The struggle to find the financial resourcesnecessary for ministry to flourish in the life ofour parishes is becoming harder and harder.Certainly, the struggle to find the financial re-sources simply to survive in everyday life is alsobecoming harder. Often this becomes the rea-son we give for our lack of generosity in meet-

ing the financial needs for ministry in thechurch.

Sadly, many of our parishes currently sufferfrom a lack of the financial resources necessaryfor ministry. Are we prepared to believe thismay be an indicator of our lack of generosity?Are we prepared to believe our lack of generos-ity may be an indicator that our central focushas shifted away from the generous God we seein Jesus?

Often our discussions about our lack of fi-nances start with a focus on things like the di-minishing numbers in church; the increasingcosts of living; the increased costs of providingfor ministry and the growing dependence inageing congregations on people with fixed andlower incomes. It is true we cannot ignore theserealities. But perhaps we have financial prob-lems because we start with a focus on them.

What would happen if we started instead witha focus on the generosity of God? We will neverknow until we try.

A simple exercise will test our capacity for fi-nancial generosity, just in case we believe weare being generous when we may not be. Con-sider for a moment how much you regularlygive in offering to the church. Now comparethat with how much you would spend withoutthinking on a cup of coffee; or a piece of cake ina café as a treat to yourself; or a newspaper; ora night out, remembering also how much thefuel costs to get you where you need to go toenjoy any of these things. Then get really seri-ous and consider how much you need to spendto buy food for a week. That is a proper andhelpful focus on the realities of finances.

Now ask yourself if what you offer for theministry of God’s church is really generous.

Remember, generosity is always rewarded withblessing. This is the principle upon which allChristian giving is properly founded.

Blessings reward generosity

If so, we’d love to hear from you!

ON CAMPUS COURSES

ONLINE COURSES

online.mcd.edu.au

PARISH BASED

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT E: T:

THOUGHT OF STUDYING THEOLOGY?

www.trinity.unimelb.edu.au/theology

THOUGHT OF

STUDYING THHHHEHE

EOLOGY?E

THOUGHT OF

SES COURSN CAMPUO

scholarly exploration of their ftraining and lay education. Wworld. We offer courses on ccourses represent a catholic bhas now broadened to includability. The founding vision w

Y COLLEGE THEOLOGTTRINI

If so, we’d love to hear f

STUDYING THH

r faith.. We also offer courses for thos

HHHE

e eampus, online, and in parish

eee

en

c breadth in theology, worshissss a

p ae the ministry of all God’s pe

,p, o

npl

E

n was originally to be a placoop

e to ee

ed offers excitin

ee ud c

e

HOOL,CAL SCGI

r from you!

gg og o

OLOGYE ?

aged in ministtrryy, and those intng rd faith centres a

rrr

eoound Australns a

no

d spirituality, in dialo

ooiu

ggue with tde

g, women and men, la

gy a

hunnnd orda, n

cate a ‘learned and dedicadt

it

d oeeed clc e

urses in theology: for every led

eed c

vv

n

eo evee

erested in a, for ordination

he contemporary ned ali

rkkee. Our

ergy’. Our

focur feel of i

s nntteerest anrl d

through the Trinity CertificatWe are committed to promot

EDSH BASARIP

theological distance educationThe Theological School, in par

SESOUR CONLINE

units in the Ministry FormatiFaculty of Theology (UFT). ThTrinity theological students n

SES COURSN CAMPUO

e in Theology and Ministryting theological education in pari

online. See ‘Theology Online’ at thtnership with the UFT, offers a flex

on Program.hey also participate in the worshi

s normally undertake a Bacheloi

r ooo

shes in mmeetrooppolitan and regiona

e Me

e

ll

te

b

p

bbou

p

r

op

ne Collegen ee ooo onff Divinityible,

b rooeec

nu

Dffmmenical, world-em cc

:lllass stae

i

uce

ip li

m

f

aal

e of the Schoool al ann ud unnddertaofp f T

n

ehe

eo

ko

klloogy or Ma

esstter of De ivviinnit

pphf lh y wl g i

al Austl A raallia

onli

i

ne.mn cdd.eeddu.audard o

kk

f

e formationae fy wi

e l t

e ft th tthe United hhh t

u

www.trinity.unimelb.ed

Dr David Gormley O’Brien, ACION TORMAFFOR MORE IN

through the Trinity Certificat

u.au/theology

tctsregis:Ecademic Registrar | CTTATAON

e in Theology and Ministry.

T:[email protected] | eddu.abl db u u

03 9348 74788

REVEREND Ken Peters and theAnglican Parish of Yarram have is-sued an open invitation to a Bless-ing of the Fleet, at Port Albert, onSunday, October 16, 2011. Theservice begins at 11am.

Bishop of Gippsland, Right Rev-erend John McIntyre, will give theblessing during a short service.

The blessing of the fleet, an an-cient practice in many cultures,was revived a few hundred yearsago in Sicily and has spreadthroughout the world.

“It is some years since there hasbeen a service at Port Albert giv-ing thanks for this wonderful assetto our community and recognisingthose who make use of the sea inso many ways; we intend to blessthem and the vessels in which theysail,” said Rev. Ken.

“We hope boat owners will availthemselves of the opportunity toget together and accept the prayersoffered for them on this occasion.”

“We are confident this will de-velop into a fun day for those whoattend and take advantage of the at-tractions of Port Albert, includingthe maritime museum and listen toentertainment from local band,‘The Unusual Suspects’.”

Port Albert forblessing of fleet

October 2011 Our Diocese - Missions and Ministries 3


Col, Pal & Brad SemmensFUNERAL DIRECTORS

~Servicing Gippsland~Maffra 5147 1954Sale 5144 1954Heyfield 5148 3354

24 Hour Service

Our Family Caring For Your Family Since 1979Brad Pal Col

PARISHIONERS from St Philip’s Cowes spentan enjoyable and informative evening with Tavisand Kate Beer during their recent visit to SouthGippsland. The Beer family were touring SouthGippsland as CMS missionaries who are soontravelling to Katherine in the Northern Territory.They were talking about their mission.

It was particularly interesting to see Tavis’ andKate’s novel demonstration of their past, presentand future, using a picture of a many-fingeredsignpost. We will certainly watch with pleasureas they travel further along their life’s pathwayfollowing this signpost.

We all came to the conclusion that what everproblems they come across in their ministry,their faith and determination will see themthrough, with the help of all of our prayers.

Contributed by Gwen Petersen

RIGHT: Tavis and Kate Beer.ABOVE: Members of St Philip’s Cowes will bepraying for the Beer family and their ministry.

Photos: Robert McKay

Beer’s serve with CMS

Social responsibility inMU is across marriage,chaplaincy and wellbeingBy Bev Foster

THIS year has given me opportu-nities to be informed of current is-sues through media coverage andtime to appreciate newspaper arti-cles given to me by members. Itabled this report on the Social Re-sponsibility portfolio for Mothers’Union at the recent annual generalmeeting.

Marriage

WE are all aware of the benefitsthat a stable relationship can pro-vide for children, and the commu-nity as a whole. ‘Same sex’ unionshave been under discussion by thegovernment and many of our pop-ulation either support same sexmarriage, believe it is inevitable orare uncaring and oblivious.

Miranda Devine, Herald-Sunjournalist, has written several arti-cles of interest. One cites a lesbiancouple who conceived a child withdonor sperm from a male homo-sexual friend. Initially a compro-mise was made, allowing thebiological father’s name to berecorded on the birth certificate. Hecontributed to his daughter’s up-keep and formed a close relation-ship with her during 10 years.

Now [according to the outcomesof a recent court case; Ed.] he hasbeen deleted from the birth certifi-cate and access to see his daughteris denied. What makes it doublysad is that the birth mother and herlesbian partner are now estranged.

The fact a baby is due to the ho-mosexual partner of Senator PennyWong at the time of the AustralianLabor Party’s National Conferencein December, when same sex mar-riage is on the agenda, makes foran interesting coincidence. Pray forthe outcome of any discussion andresulting legislation.

BullyingWE can become overwhelmed as

we contemplate other things, in-cluding abuse in aged care, bully-ing in all its forms, domesticviolence, exploitation of childrenin various ways, pornography, sui-cide and the plight of asylum seek-ers and refugees. Worldwidepoverty and conflict are continu-ing. These are all issues of impor-tance to Mothers’ Union members.

After hearing a recent radio inter-view with sociologist Gail Dines, Iwas able to obtain, from my locallibrary, a copy of her book: Porn-land: How porn has hijacked oursexuality.

School chaplaincy

CHAPLAINCY in schools isbeing challenged and governmentschools may in the future befunded for a secular welfare offi-cer.

R U OK?

RUOK? In closing, I mentionthis day on Thursday, September15. Initiated in 2009 by GavinLarkin, whose father took his ownlife, the program is designed tomake us be aware of the peoplearound us. Very often we are hesi-tant to speak when friends seemtroubled whereas a concerned ‘Areyou OK?’ could perhaps make adifference.

As MU members we are requiredto uphold our fourth and fifth ob-jects and this means we should be-come Aware, Informed and takeAction.

Information about Mothers’Union and its social responsibilityfocus is available through the ex-ecutive committee and parishes.

ABOVE: Wendy Shiel and EthelArmstrong consider the jams forsale on the trading table, at the re-cent annual general meeting ofMothers’ Union.LEFT: Judy Bunting at the Moth-ers’ Union annual general meeting,held at St Luke’s Moe.

Photos: Karin McKenzie

THE deadline is looming for theopportunity for every Australian tohave your say on recognising Abo-riginal and Torres Strait Islanderpeople in the Australian Constitu-tion.

The Expert Panel established bythe government to manage consul-tations around this history makingexperience will accept submissionsfrom the public up until 5pm onSeptember 30, 2011. The ExpertPanel has been touring Australiaand meeting with local communi-ties for input to the words to use.

Have your say before time runsout – go to http://www.youmeu-nity.org.au/have-your-say

Have your sayon constitution

ABOVE: Mothers’ Union mem-bers at the trading table, at StLuke’s Moe.

4 Our Diocese - Family, Youth and Children’s Ministries October 2011


THE Australian Human RightsCommission has announced it ispartnering with the Child HealthPromotion Research Centre atEdith Cowan University and com-munications specialists, PrimaryCommunication, to develop an in-novative anti-cyber bullying cam-paign.

Commission President, CatherineBranson QC, said the campaignwould focus on helping young peo-ple to take safe and effective actionwhen they witness cyber bullying.

“We repeatedly hear about inci-dents of cyber bullying involvingyoung people and we know thedamage it causes can last a life-time,” Ms Branson said.

Cyber bullying is a growing prob-lem confronting the nation with thepotential for serious mental andphysical impacts.

“The Commission is particularlyexcited about partnering with theChild Health Promotion ResearchCentre at Edith Cowan Universitydue to its extensive expertise work-ing in the field of bullying.”

Ms Branson said cyber bullyingwas a human rights issue whichcould affect a young person’s rightto education, health and the right tobe free from violence and harass-ment whether at home, school,work or anywhere else.

She said the Commission wel-comed the recent release of theJoint–Select Committee report onCyber Safety Report High WireAct: Cyber Safety and the Youngwhich makes a range of recom-mendations to tackle cyber bully-ing and identifies the importantrole that bystanders can have in in-tervening safely when they witnesscyber bullying.

“The role of the bystander, in

standing up against bullying andharassment can be an incrediblyimportant and powerful one. Weknow it is often young people whowitness others being cyber bullied.

“This is why this campaign willbe providing young people with theskills and resources they need totake appropriate, safe and effectiveaction,” Ms Branson said.

The Child Health Promotion Re-search Centre, led by ProfessorDonna Cross, undertook theworld’s first study into strategiesbeing used by schools, families andstudents to combat the effects ofcyber bullying.

They also spearheaded ground-breaking research into covert bul-lying which has informed the cyberbullying elements of the revisedNational Safe Schools Framework.

“Young people are key stakehold-ers in identifying and implement-ing responses to cyber bullying.This project includes important op-portunities for young people to in-form the content, design andplatform for promoting positivebystander actions. This is an inno-vative project focusing on the roleof all young people in bullying sit-uations, in which we are excited tobe involved,” Professor Cross said.

Primary Communication willprovide their expertise in the fieldof innovative social marketingcampaigns in mental health and ed-ucation.

Ms Branson said the cyber bully-ing and bystander project is a pri-ority for the Australian HumanRights Commission as part of itsstrategy to tackle violence, harass-ment and bullying.

“This partnership announcementmarks the beginning of what wehope will be a major force in coun-

tering the adverse impacts andoften irreparable damage causedby cyber bullying,” Ms Bransonsaid.

Stop bulliesWHAT you can do to stop bullies:

Be a supportive bystander.If you are being bullied or know

or see someone being bullied, it isimportant that you read this factsheet to find out how to be a sup-portive bystander. If you are beingbullied and need help, please con-tact a support service.

A bystander is someone who seesor knows about bullying or otherforms of violence that is happeningto someone else.

Bystanders can be either part ofthe bullying problem or an impor-tant part of the solution to stop bul-lying.

Bystanders can act in differentways when they see or know aboutbullying:

Some bystanders take the side ofthe bully by laughing at the victim,encouraging the bully or by pass-ing on text messages or messageson social media sites like Facebookand YouTube

Some bystanders will give silentapproval or encourage the bully bylooking on

Some bystanders may watch orknow about the bullying but don’tdo anything. They may not knowwhat to do or are scared. Thisgroup of bystanders knows thatbullying is not ok.

Some bystanders will be support-ive and take safe action to stop thebully, find help or support the vic-tim

Supportive bystandersJUST as we have human rights

we also have responsibilities to re-spect and protect the rights of oth-ers. A supportive bystander willtake action to protect the rights ofothers.

A supportive bystander will usewords and/or actions that can helpsomeone who is being bullied.

If bystanders are confident to takesafe and effective action to supportvictims, then there is a greater pos-sibility bullying can stop and theperson who is bullied can recover.

People respect those that stand upfor others who are bullied butbeing a supportive bystander canbe tough. Sometimes it is not easyto work out how to help safely be-cause bullying happens in differentways and places such as online, atwork or school.

There is no one-size-fits-all ap-proach to being a supportive by-stander. For supportive bystandersto take safe and effective actionhere are some suggestions:

Make it clear to your friends youwill not be involved in bullying be-havior.

Never stand by and watch or en-courage bullying behaviour.

Do not harass, tease or spreadgossip about others, this includeson social networking sites likeFacebook.

Never forward on or respond tomessages or photos that may be of-fensive or upsetting.

Support the person who is beingbullied to ask for help. For exam-ple, go with them to a place they

Helping youth deal with bullies

Get HelpIf you have been bullied or wit-

nessed others being bullied andneed help, contact:

Kids Help Line (1800 55 1800) isa free and confidential, telephonecounselling service for five to 25year olds in Australia.http://www.kidshelp.com.au/

Lifeline (13 11 14) is a free andconfidential service staffed bytrained telephone counsellors.http://www.lifeline.org.au

The Australian Human RightsCommission (1300 656 419) has acomplaint handling service to in-vestigate complaints of discrimi-nation, harassment and bullyinghttp://www.humanrights.gov.au/complaints_information/index.html

Other useful resources

Download the Cyber-safety HelpButton, a free Australian Govern-ment initiative, designed to keepchildren and families safe online.http://www.dcbde.gov.au/helpbut-ton

To find out about cyberbullyingand how to get help you can alsogo to the Australian Communica-tions and Media Authority(ACMA) Cybersmart Program.http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/re-port.aspx

National Centre Against Bullyinghttp://www.ncab.org.au

The Australian Human RightsCommission has information oncyber racism and actions that canbe taken to report cyber racism.http://www.humanrights.gov.au/racial_discrimination/publications/cyberracism_factsheet.html

Think U Know conducts internetsafety programs and provides ad-vice for teachers, parents and car-ers. http://www.thinkuknow.org.au/site/

Bullying No Way provides sup-port and information for schoolcommunities. http://www.bully-ingnoway.com.au/

This fact sheet was developed inpartnership with ReachOut.com,2011

MMOORREE BBAANNGG FFOORR YYOOUURR BBUUCCKK !! A common expression but it describes exactly what you gain when you make a deposit with the Anglican Development Fund. You can Save your money with guaranteed security and Serve the Mission of the Church in Gippsland at the same time. Good interest rates, too. Here they are:

o 3.75% At Call o 4.75% Term Deposits to $20,000 o 5.00 % Term Deposits $20,000 +

The period for a term deposit is 12 months. There is no minimum deposit for either At Call or Term deposits. Remember, there are No Fees or Charges to operate your account with the ADF. Access to your deposit is only a telephone call away. Open an account with the ADF today. Telephone us on (03) 5144 2044 or write to The Registrar, at PO Box 928, Sale, Vic. 3850, or you can drop in to the Diocesan Registry at 453 Raymond Street, Sale, for an application form to open your account with the ADF. Note: Neither the Anglican Diocese of Gippsland nor the Anglican Development Fund Gippsland is prudentially supervised by APRA. Contributions to the Fund do not obtain the benefit of depositor protection provisions of the Banking Act 1959.

can get help or provide them withinformation about where to go forhelp.

Report it to someone in authorityor someone you trust. For example,at school to a teacher, or a schoolcounsellor; at work to a manager;if the bullying is serious, report itto the police; if the bullying occurson Facebook, report it to Face-book.

Source: Human Rights Commis-sion, www.humanrights.com.au

A COMMUNITY concert washeld on Sunday, September 11, atSt Mark’s Yarragon, where themusical talents of some localyouth were showcased. There wasquite a lot of variety in the pro-gram, with several acoustic piecesand a rock band from TrafalgarHigh School, which even had anumber of the audience dancing.It is great to see some of theyoung singers performing and de-veloping their confidence. Musicteacher, Norman Cottrell, does agreat job with mentoring hisyoung students, many who left hisprimary school programs yearsago, but still get together to makemusic. The audience enjoyed themusic, the sense of community atafternoon tea and raised somemuch needed funds for localschool chaplains.

The next opportunity to enjoymusic from the local communityis on Sunday, October 9, at theMusic Cafe which is part of theBattle of Trafalgar and will beheld at St Mary’s in ContingentStreet. Entry fee $5 includeshome-cooked afternoon tea andthe music performances. If youare a musician, why not shareyour love of music, possibly en-joying an opportunity to play withother experienced players. Tele-phone Sue, 03 5633 1021.

Kidsplus+THE Australian GFS Kidsplus+

Chairman, Kate Brewer, made anovernight visit to Moe in Septem-ber, bringing news of her priorvisit to Tasmania and plans forthe forthcoming Australian Con-ference, being held in Perth,Western Australia. A late after-noon arrival enabled Kate to par-ticipate in the Moe parishprogram for primary and second-ary aged girls, before fellowshipsupper in Newborough.

Kate’s visit gave opportunity forsome of Gippsland’s networkmembers from other parishes andGFS Kidsplus+ chaplain, Rev-erend Neil Thompson, an oppor-tunity to meet Kate.

The Kidsplus+ network, alongwith Moe GFS group, are plan-ning a Showcase of Craft on Fri-day, October 7, beginning7.30pm, at St Luke’s Hall. Entryis by gold coin donation. Exhibitsinclude ceramics, patchwork andSudanese artefacts. All welcome.

This activity will be preceded at5pm until 6.30pm by a familybarbecue and children’s activities.Both activities will assistfundraising to enable Gippslandrepresentatives to attend the Aus-tralian Council in Perth.

Contributed by Mary Nicholls

Youth showmusic talents

October 2011 Our Diocese - Family, Youth and Children’s Ministries 5


Surf movie foryouth groups

CHRISTIAN youth groups willbenefit from an Australian filmcollaboration. Heritage HM arehandling the national church andschool screening program for theinspirational movie, Soul Surfer.

Heritage HM and SONY collabo-rated on the theatrical release inMay this year, to offer localchurches and schools the opportu-nity to show Soul Surfer in theircommunities.

Soul Surfer is for youth groups,Sunday night church services,school events. In fact, the interestin this movie has been flooding into Heritage HM from all differentage groups.

This movie can also be used toraise funds.

Thirteen-year-old BethanyHamilton is a champion surfer whowas born to be in the water. Butafter a fun night out, night surfingand what should be a fun day in thewater, she is attacked by a sharkand loses her arm. Rushed to thehospital, she remains calm andmaintains her faith in God.

Now she has to learn how to doeverything with only one arm, in-cluding how to surf. It will take herfriends, family and her Christianfaith to get her back into the water,but if that is where she is meant tobe, she will find a way to get there.

Soul Surfer is rated PG for an in-tense accident sequence and somethematic material. On its openingweekend in America, the moviegrossed $10,601,862 in ticket

sales.AnnaSophia Robb plays Bethany

Hamilton, a 13 year-old girl deter-mined to continue doing what sheloves after losing an arm to a shark.Helen Hunt and Dennis Quaid areher supporting parents. The rawdisplay of emotion from herselfand the rest of the cast is mes-merising.

The film includes great cine-matography and well-done surfscenes which add to the overall ef-fect. The opening sequences to themovie include the real Bethanysurfing.

The target audience is teenagersbut the whole family can enjoySoul Surfer. You will leave the the-atre feeling uplifted after viewingthis great film.

The Soul Surfer movie events arebeing planned for the weekend ofOctober 8 and 9, so grab this op-portunity while it is available. Her-itage HM cannot guarantee howlong Soul Surfer will be availableto screen like this. This is an op-portunity to unite with peopleacross Australia to bring this filmand its inspirational message toyour community, all on the sameweekend.

Contact Kylie Haase from Her-itage HM; telephone 07 53702007, fax 07 5438 8792 or [email protected]

Owned and operated by Ray & Maree Anderson

With care & dignity, we serve South Gippsland and Phillip Island

Main Office: WONTHAGGI/INVERLOCH (03) 5672 1074 176-178 Graham Street, Wonthaggi, 3995 Fax: (03) 5672 1747

PHILLIP ISLAND (03) 5952 5171 15 Warley Avenue, Cowes, 3922 (by appointment only) Email: [email protected]

Pre-paid & pre-arranged funeral plans available.

CARING & PERSONAL 24 HOUR SERVICE

BARRY AND ANNETTE LETTFuneral Directors

67 Macarthur St., Sale 3850(03) 5143 1232

Barry, Annette and BradleyLett offer care, compassionand service with dignity for

the people of Gippsland.Caring and personal

24-hour service.Prepaid and prearrangedfuneral plans available.

Color in picture: Be a friend to others

THE Bishop of Gippsland, JohnMcIntyre, and members of theDiocesan Registry staff recentlyparticipated in a Rotary YouthCamp at the Lions Village at Li-cola. The camp is designed to giveopportunities to build self-relianceand social skills of grade six chil-dren in the Wellington Shire.

Forty-two children from 13schools attended the camp andwere challenged by a range of ad-venture and outdoor activities. TheBishop excelled at archery and ap-propriately, the leap of faith.

Diocesan staff members who par-ticipated were Brian Norris, An-nette Hollonds and KerrieSchmidt. All are members of theRotary Club of Sale Central.

The camp is run annually by Ro-tary and is funded by local busi-nesses. The diocese sponsored twoof the children who attended andprovided administration supportand adult supervision.

Contributed by Brian Norris

ABOVE left: Kerrie Schmidt andBishop John McIntyre with someof the children who participated,looking at a local monument whileon a bush walk.

Staff help atyouth camp



By Karin McKenzie, President, Mothers’ Union Gippsland

IN March, Mothers’ Union members throughout the Diocese attendedthe Anglican Women of Australia rallies at Metung, Yarram, Bunyip, Ko-rumburra and Newborough. Beth Hookey spoke of her work with An-glicord, telling stories of resilient women in Africa and Asia. Thanks mustgo to the AWA organizers of the inspirational rallies, to the hostingparishes and to Leonie Pryde and Sandra Wagner for providing the MUbookstall at each rally.

Lady day, on March 25, was celebrated at St Paul’s Cathedral, Sale. TheDean, Don Saines, and MU Chaplain, Reverend Thelma Langshaw, offi-ciated. The Dean’s message called us to attentiveness and contemplationin the busyness of our daily lives and to give homage to those who havegone before, such as Mary. Along with all the special events of the day,the commissioning of the new Executive was particularly meaningful,signifying the viability of MU in Gippsland.

Marilyn Oulds, MU Worldwide Trustee, was guest speaker. She gaveus a lively and comprehensive overview of the workings of MU interna-tionally.

The June-Join-In, on June 15, was a happy occasion as we joined thecongregation of St Mary’s, Morwell, for the Wednesday service and ex-perienced their wonderful hospitality. Bev Ovens, MU Overseas andNorthern Outreach coordinator, spoke passionately about MU projects,particularly the kindergartens on the Thai/Myanmar border and the Par-enting Program in Melanesia.

I look forward to attending my first State Council in October. It will bea pleasure to meet other diocesan Mothers’ Union presidents and mem-bers from across Victoria.

Last year, our Quiet Day was held at St Phillip’s, Cowes. Rev. GregMcGee drew us into meditative mode through the poetry of Ann Weemsand studies of corporate worship. He also spoke of our future hope andsecurity in Christ. Thank you to the MU members from St Phillip’s foryour care on the day.

This year, the Quiet Day is scheduled for October 15 at St Peter’s, Leon-gatha. Rev. Janet Wallis will lead us. It would be wonderful to have asmany members as possible attending. The day begins at 10:30am, con-cluding at 2:30pm.

The MU Gippsland Executive meets four times a year; usually Febru-ary, April, July and November. This year we have met in different loca-tions, including Bairnsdale and Mirboo North. These meetings are toorganise events, to share information and to strengthen and encourageeach other. They are also times when branches can put forward questions,ideas and issues for discussion.

Each branch runs its own program for the year and the AGM is a timeto share what is happening around the diocese. As President, I wouldenjoy receiving a copy of the program at the start of the year so I can joinbranches for special occasions. Also, the information could feed intoGippy News and for sharing at State Council [also into The GippslandAnglican].

Last year, I attended Australia Council Open Day, at Palotti College,Warburton. There was a ‘buzz’ as diocesan presidents met with MU Aus-tralia executive and observers. The stimulating program included roleplays (inviting others to MU), reports and an informative address byRobin Ray, a nursing administrator and MU member. Robin’s topic wasJourneying with Others and Ourselves. Sub-topics were Journeying withthose experiencing Challenging Times; the Benefits of Social Support;and Supporting Others. I look forward to Australia Council, 2012.

The new promotional material is both colorful and informative. As weseek to revitalize MU in Australia and attract new members, it is imper-ative we use the material. Please do not let the posters and brochures lan-guish in the bottom of a box or drawer somewhere. The executive is thereto assist and support branches in this endeavor.

A meeting was held to discuss the future of Caritas. This could be oneway to engage with people in our communities looking for a social groupto belong to. Jan has a strong interest in re-developing this friendshipgroup and she will tell us more in her report. Society has changed theway it does things and MU needs to embrace change, too, to remain rel-evant in 2011 and beyond.

Branches and others are contributing to the Mothers’ Union Abbey ofSt Barnabas Family Retreat Fund; thank you. The Abbey administrationslotted a MU Invitation Week into its July program this year. Two fami-lies were invited and MU Chaplain, Rev. Thelma Langshaw, along withCasey and Lauren Langshaw, were the host family.

It was a worthwhile time for all concerned. Due to weather considera-tions, we have suggested September as a more suitable time for a familyretreat. So, this mission is up and running and we can look forward tomore families participating next year, as the planning is fine-tuned.

Bishop John McIntyre, in his President’s Report to Synod, called us tobe an inclusive church. “I see it to be at the heart of Jesus’ ministry,” hesaid. Bishop John was talking about homosexual people in the church, inparticular.

As MU supports families and the sharing of the Gospel, we cannot avoidthe issue; rather, it is an opportunity to be welcoming and part of the lis-tening process.

MU is privileged to be a prayer partner of the Australian Defence ForceChaplaincy Unit, led by Bishop Len Eacott. Each branch has the miniand large versions of the Prayer Diary. Emergency prayer requests areforwarded by email to participating members.

Our MU Australia president and her executive are in regular contact andmessages are passed on to branches. We appreciate their articles in MiaMia. Both Mia Mia and Gippy News editors would welcome publicity ofour special events. Thanks to Jeanette Severs at The Gippsland Anglicanfor her coverage of MU news.

Our theme this year was Relationship not Rules, and the resource packgave many helpful suggestions for studies and activities. Next year, wecomplete our Relationship series with the theme, Faithful Relationships.A Bible Study has been included with the Spring issue of Gippy Newsfor branches to use to ‘kick-start’ the theme.

St Paul’s Anglican Grammar School and Gippsland Grammar are ap-preciative of our continuing sponsorship of their music awards programs.Our sponsorship is in memory of Mrs Joyce Erbs.

Several milestones were celebrated in branches, this year. Drouin had a21st birthday and Morwell marked 60 years for MU and 50 years for Car-itas. Four MU members at Morwell received their 50 year certificates andtwo, their certificates for 25 years service. Congratulations and thank you.

It is my prayer that as we seek to fulfil our mission in 2012, we “willgrow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. To Him bethe glory both now and forever. Amen” (2 Peter 3:18).

MU looking to now and the future

ABOVE: Leonie Pryde helps Mothers’ Union members make their choiceof cards and books at the trading table, at the annual general meeting.

IN tabling the Education report atthe Mothers’ Union annual generalmeeting, held in September, JulietBond commended the new Educa-tion Coordinator (Australia),Wendy Mayer. In particular, Julietcommended a mother’s prayer fora child facing exams and this hasbeen printed on the following page(page 7), in recognition of themany students facing VCE andother exams.

Juliet has also received fromWendy, some cards that can easilybe printed from the MU Australiawebsite (for those members withcomputers). She suggested thesebe used when visiting someone inhospital or at home, to help switchthe conversation from general talkand introduce a Bible reading orprayer.

There are five cards in all; Julietprinted two and brought these tothe AGM for all to see. The cardswill also be available from MU at$1 per card, plus postage.

The MU Service Book continuesto be a wonderful resource; thereseems to be prayers for every oc-casion. Juliet cited, on page 98,The Stewardship of God’s Creationand shared it with the meeting.

Juliet encouraged MU membersto take every opportunity to helpeach other grow through eachother’s faith journey and encourageothers to explore the values ofChristian belief.

Outreach aboutMU’s global links

MARION Jones tabled the Moth-ers’ Union Gippsland Overseasand Northern Outreach and Linksreport at the MU annual generalmeeting, held at St Luke’s Moe inSeptember.

This role includes informing theExecutive where money from thebranches is sent to the diocesantreasurer and then to the Australiantreasurer. She has reported on thedistribution of funds to the Dioce-ses of Northern Territory, NorthWest Australia, Papua New Guineaand the Islands in the Pacific.

This year has been challengingfor Marion because both her hus-band and son needed surgery andsubsequent recovery time.

Marion reported her periodicfrustration at not being very suc-cessful in linking branches inGippsland diocese to branches inAustralia or around the world. Shecited information which used tocome from Mary Sumner Housethat was very useful, but this helpwas discontinued some time ago.

The Gippsland MU group hasstrong links with the Bendigo dio-cese and the Diocese of Salisburyin the United Kingdom. Each year,Christmas and Easter she sendscards and information about Gipp-sland to the link groups, on behalfof all members. Marion also re-ported on links with many dioce-ses in Africa. We still pray forthese branches in the Wave ofPrayer, she reported.

This year, rather than the Wave ofPrayer service, Marion asked eachbranch to use the service printed inMU’s Prayer and Service Book.

Service bookhelpful to MU

October 2011 Our Diocese - Missions and Ministries 7


Valley Funeral Latrobe

Services

! Qualified, experienced and caring staff

! Modern chapels! Refreshments and catering

facilities available! Secure, guaranteed, pre-paid

and pre-arranged funeral plans

! Over 70 years of service to the Latrobe Valley

MORWELL 5134 4937MOE 5126 1111

TRARALGON 5174 2258

Owned and operated byPaul and Katrina McInnes

Proud member of theAustralian Funeral Directors

Association and the Australian andBritish Institutes of Embalming

MARKRIDDLEConsultant

JOHNGALBRAITHConsultant

PAULMcINNESDirector

2002900

A prayer forexaminationsTHE following prayer is provided by Moth-

ers’ Union to be said in behalf of those peoplefacing exams, particularly young people under-taking VCE exams in October and November.(Please replace her with him if you are prayingfor your son or nephew.) The prayer has beenprovided by Wendy Mayer, MU Australia Edu-cation Officer.

Lord, I’m praying for my daughter/son who is facing

exams.In the time before exams I ask that youwill help her use her time wisely, balancing theneed for studying with the need to maintain ahealthy lifestyle. Help her to find the way ofstudying that is best for her and will help herremember what she has learned. Give her de-termination and perseverance, so she puts inenough effort at a level appropriate for the im-portance of the material she is studying.

When the exams come, help her to be calm,both beforehand and as she reads the papers.Protect her from jumping to hasty conclusionsabout what the questions are asking. Help herto take time to read carefully and understandwhat is actually being asked. Please also pro-tect her from making careless mistakes such asoverlooking questions or missing pages.

Please help her to recall the work she haslearned and not to suffer any mental blocks dueto the pressure of the limited time available toanswer; and help her plan and use her time well.May she answer clearly and concisely, demon-strating her knowledge to the best of her ability.

After the exam, Lord, protect her from need-lessly replaying in her mind. Help her to learnfrom her experience and move on to the nextchallenge, whatever that may be. And help heralso to realise that, no matter how important shefeels this particular exam is, it is only a smallpart of the opportunities you have provided forher. It will be good if she passes, but there aremany other possibilities she can pursue if shedoesn’t. Help her to keep it in perspective.

Lord, there are lots of other people’s sons anddaughters facing exams, so I’m praying for mydaughter and for everyone elsewho is facing an exam, too.

Amen

Anglicare awardsTHE Chairman of Anglicare Victoria paid tribute to

staff and volunteers on Tuesday, September 6, with theChairman’s Awards. Eight new award categories en-abled staff and volunteers to be nominated. The ‘BestOutcome’ category also allowed the agency to pay spe-cial tribute to people who access Anglicare’s services,who have set out and achieved their own personal goals.Staff who had reached significant long service mile-stones were also congratulated on the night.

Damian Neylon, Chairman of Anglicare Victoria, saidthe event was “the perfect opportunity to recognise thevaluable contribution and commitment of our staff andvolunteers who tirelessly support the most vulnerablemembers of our community.

“The judging panel and I were overwhelmed with thenominations submitted and the exceptional work beingcarried out across the state,” he said.

Sarah Gover, Anglicare Parish Partnerships Worker,received the Innovation Award for beginning the mainlymusic program in Gippsland in 2009. The program pro-vides quality, innovative preschool education and par-enting support while encouraging inter-generationalrelationships for families within the Gippsland region.Initially piloted in Maffra, attracting around 20 youngfamilies, there are now mainly music groups in eighttowns within the area, with an average of 150 familiesattening a weekly session.

Benetas wins award NOT-for-profit aged care provider, Benetas, was recog-

nised at the 2011 Anglicare Australia Awards in the ‘In-novation’ category for their Happy Eating project.

Last week at the Anglicare Australia conference inWestern Australia, Benetas CEO Sandra Hills had thegreat pleasure of accepting the award for The ‘Buon Ap-petito’, ‘Kali Orexi’, ‘Prijatno Jadenje’ Happy EatingPilot Project.

The project was specifically created to improve thelives of older people from Italian, Greek and Macedon-ian speaking backgrounds who receive care servicesfrom Benetas. These clients have moderate dementiaand live at home with their families.

“A major aim of this project was to reduce any stigmaassociated with dementia by demonstrating respect forthe person while also providing helpful information forcarers,” said Ms Hills.

“By using a familiar activity such as meal preparationand eating together as a starting point, we can share use-ful strategies for families living with dementia to makethe overall caring experience less stressful. This ulti-mately improves the overall quality of life of everyoneinvolved, the person with dementia and their lovedones.”

Benetas trialled the program in north-west metropoli-tan Melbourne with 11 families and their Benetas CareManagers, who volunteered to participate.

“The Happy Eating Project has addressed a clearlyidentified need for relevant and culturally-appropriateinformation about dementia in Victorian communities.Its implications are far reaching beyond the scope ofmealtimes and the families and individuals that pilotedthe program,” said Ms Hills.

This program has the capacity to positively impact thelives of families from culturally and linguistically di-verse backgrounds across Australia who have a familymember living with dementia. Benetas is currentlyworking to make the program available to other organ-isations.

ABOVE: Sarah Gover with her innovation award.

By Lynne Beaty Mirboo North Parish

VISITING Gahini diocese inRwanda with her husband, Neville,to help further the Seeds of PeaceProject, Lynne Beaty went toKawangire parish, accompanied byPastor Donat and his wife, Naomi,for a meeting with the students.(Donat has moved to anotherparish.) Lynne reports on her visithere.

IF any of you who wrote lettersthought it was a bit of a chore orthat you would have rather donesomething else, read on.

About 20 minutes after we ar-rived, the students arrived. Somehad a meeting to do with school buteventually they were all there. Iwasn’t really happy about all thetime I’d spent following up for let-ter and photos (which started threemonths ago), but I too had some-thing to learn. The afternoon pro-gram began with a welcome, asong, followed by prayer. Theneach student stood and came out infront of where I was sitting, intro-duced themselves, said whatschool they attended, how old theywere and what subjects they ma-jored in. For many, this was a hugetask due to their lack of English.

As each student came forward, Iphotographed them and when theyfinished speaking, I presented themwith a letter and photograph fromtheir sponsors. I had no envelopesfor the emailed ones, so I placedthem all in plastic sleeves. I askedthe odd question and gave encour-agement as much as possible.

The second student who spokewas Thomas. I had noticedThomas singing with great enthu-siasm and confidence. His Englishwas good and what he said follows:

“Before, I just rode a bike aroundand my life was empty and withoutpurpose and meaning. But now Iam able to go to school again, Ihave a purpose, my life is good. Ihave a future and I am happy andit’s all because of you. I don’tknow how to say thank you enoughbut when I sing I am happy.”

I assured him I was very movedby what he said and his happinessdid indeed show when he wassinging.

A couple of students want to goto university; one wants to be anaccountant. I caused a chucklewhen I said, that was good becauseI am doing all this bookkeeping forthe project and I don’t like book-

keeping; and I was pleased to hearhe liked it.

Another student is doing a tailor-ing (dressmaking) course and willfinish this year. She produced twolittle garments she made to pass onto her sponsor for someone theyfitted. Violet is excited to find outthat two of her sponsors, Deniseand Geoff, will actually be herenext week and she will meet them.

The last student, Divine, a girlaged 18, named some very heavysubjects and I said, goodness thatsounds hard do you want to be adoctor?

“Yes,” she said.So, look at the opportunities you

are giving these young people withyour sponsorship.

The students then presented an-other song; I wish I could havepiped that back to you. Pastor Silasexplained the first song was allabout love because that was whatall this is about; your love for them.I said it made me think of a songcalled, ‘Love makes the world goround’ and God makes us go roundthe world so we can show His loveto each other; and with God’s en-couragement and a leap of faiththat’s how we come to be here.

There was a bit more talking,with Donat interpreting, followedby the famous ‘Fantas’. I thoughtthey had not prepared a meal oranything; famous last words.

I was wondering where the moth-ers were and when I asked Donat,he just said, quite vaguely: ‘oh,they’re around’. They certainlywere, they were all out back cook-ing a meal. While all this was hap-pening, the students were lookingat their letters and photos. Theyread and re-read, they passed themto each other to read.

I explained about a few of youand Peter and Margaret Down, yougot applause. I told them how hardyou had both worked to raise themoney for us to be here doing thisproject. Take a bow. We know Godencouraged you to take risks andstick at it. Wait until you see howGod has worked with those funds.

So, greetings to the mothers, an-other prayer and a final littlefarewell song they always sing,more farewells to the children andwe left. It was worth every minutein the preparation of the letters andphotographs to see how it has af-fected these young and a few not soyoung lives.

ABOVE: Lynne Beaty (back row)with the students.

Growing seeds

8 Our Diocese - Celebrating Ordained Women October 2011


Sally a pioneer woman of GippslandBy Jeanette Severs

THE first woman to be madepriest in Gippsland is SallyBoothey, who served a number ofyears in the diocese and is nowArchdeacon in Adelaide diocese.Sally, who served a number ofyears as lay reader in Bruthenparish, was made deacon on De-cember 17, 1995 by Bishop ArthurJones and then ordained priest onDecember 21, 1996, alongsideWarren Smith.

Sally, her husband Denis andtheir young family settled inTambo Upper in 1983 and wor-shipped at Swan Reach, Bruthenand Tambo Upper.

“Our family was blessed with anexperience of friendly, easy, happy‘country’ church where an orderedservice didn’t mean a rigid serviceand where children of all ages werewarmly included,” Sally once re-called (The Gippsland Anglican,February 2007).

In 1988, Sally became a layreader and recalled recently the in-fluence and leadership of the vari-ous clergy of the time beingsignificant in influencing and shap-ing her future ministry.

These clergy included bishopsColin Sheumack, Arthur Jones,

Jeffrey Driver and John McIntyre,alongside John White, RonChidgey and others.

“I always had a strong spiritual-ity, a strong relationship withGod,” Sally recently recalled.

“In 1978, after I was married, Isought confirmation in the Angli-can church, mainly because Denis’family were Anglican. This was ina charismatic church. After a fewyears, we moved to Tambo Upperand I met John White, who was thepriest in charge of Bruthen parish.

“I also went to Cursillo and aboutthat time John asked for lay read-ers. Part of the expectation of Cur-sillo is to be more involved inchurch, and that lent influence tome putting my hand up to be a layreader.

“With John’s support, I begantaking the readings, then sermons.

“I then began studying theologyso I could write better sermons andbetter understand scripture. I reallyimmersed myself in my studies andbecame passionate about theol-ogy.”

Sally was studying theology bydistance, working as a teacher andraising her family when RonChidgey, then rector of Bruthenparish, suggested she attend a dis-cerning conference.

“I had begun to feel God was call-

ing me to greater work in ministry.I wondered if that was youth workor something else,” Sally said.

“Bishop Sheumack spoke to meand explained if I wanted to be or-dained, I would have to settle to bea deacon. I thought I wanted to bea lay reader rather than a deacon.”

At around this time, the questionof ordaining women came up inSynod and was lost. Sally was sur-prised how disappointed she feltshe could not become a priest. Atthe next Synod, the motion was putand passed.

“I felt jubilant I could become apriest,” Sally recalled.

“I took some time for internal re-flection and then stepped up to be-come a priest. It’s a life changingdecision and I realised it was goingto be a huge responsibility.

“But by then I knew that waswhat God was calling me to.”

Sally’s path took her through se-lection in Gippsland, then Mel-bourne, then discussion withBishop Arthur Jones. At this time,she was studying and living fulltime at Trinity College, during heryear as deacon, and serving at StPaul’s Cathedral, Sale on the week-ends.

After Sally was priested in De-cember 1996, she took on the roleof chaplain at Gippsland Grammar,the second woman in this role.[Caroline Nancarrow was chaplainfrom 1988 to 1996.] Sally held thisrole for four years, with many op-portunities to assist in the Cathe-dral parish.

In 2001, she took up her first roleas priest in charge, in Westernport

parish. In Gippsland she was also,variously, Spiritual Advisor to Cur-sillo, Rural Dean and a member ofBishop in Council. In August2005, Sally was made Ministry De-velopment Officer for Gippslanddiocese, with a focus on discerningand sharing new ways of enablingministry, particularly in outlyingareas, under Jeffrey Driver’s strate-gic vision of developing ministryin remote Gippsland.

On July 30, 2006, Sally Bootheytook another step into the unknownand became the first woman in-stalled as Canon in St Paul’s Cathe-dral in Sale. She was installed inthe seat of St Priscilla, sharing theroles of Canon with Keith Southand Don Crewe.

Then Adelaide diocese beckonedand in January 2007, Sally becamethe rector of Plympton parish, arole she still holds. In 2008, shewas made Archdeacon and saysthis has enabled her to learn anenormous amount about Adelaidediocese and the various centres.

Reflecting on her path, Sally saidshe didn’t feel like a political trail-blazer but she did feel like a pio-neer and hoped she was a goodexample to others, as she was in-fluenced by good people.

TOP: Following her ordination aspriest, Bishop Arthur Jones askedReverend Sally Boothey to blesshim.ABOVE: Bishop Arthur Jones withGreg Jones, Janet Wallis, ThelmaLangshaw and Sally Boothey, afterthey were each awarded theirDiploma of Theology.

SUBSCRIPTIONto The Gippsland Anglican

Get The Gippsland Anglican posted direct to you

Name ......................................................................

Address ..................................................................

.................................................................................

Telephone ...............................................................

Yes, I would like a one year postal subscription to The Gipps-land Anglican, costing $27.50. I enclose a cheque/postalorder, made out to the Anglican Diocese of Gippsland. Send to TGA subscriptions, Anglican Diocese of Gippsland,PO Box 928, Sale, 3850. Enquiries, telephone 03 5144 2044.

ABOVE: Sally Boothey on De-cember 21, 1996, after being or-dained priest at St Paul’sCathedral, Sale. Sally is the firstwoman to be ordained priest inGippsland diocese.

By Jeanette Severs

THIS year, 2011, marks 25years since the first women wereordained deacon in the AnglicanChurch in Australia. Two priestsin Gippsland, ArchdeaconHeather Marten and ReverendCanon Amy Turner, were amongthe second group of women or-dained deacon in Melbourne in1986. They were also amongthose first women who were or-dained priest in 1992.

In this and future features, TheGippsland Anglican pays homageto the pioneer women of ministry.

In preparing this feature, there isno doubt that Archbishop JeffreyDriver of Adelaide, past Bishopof Gippsland, was instrumental inappointing a number of women tothe roles of deacon and priest. Herecently reflected it was not somuch about appointing women,as about appointing the best peo-ple for the roles, and among thosewere many women.

“When I came to the Diocese ofGippsland, I faced the challengeof a diocese in which about athird of the parishes were eithervacant or soon to be vacant,”Archbishop Jeffrey said.

“I have been a supporter of theordination of women since I firstbegan to think seriously aboutthese matters in Ridley College inthe mid 1970’s. However, I mustconfess, I was not conscious ofthe fact that I was ordaining a lotof women. I was conscious that Iwas ordaining a lot of very goodpeople for ministry.”

“While I was always grateful forthe opportunity to bring goodpeople into the diocese from else-where in the Australian Church, Iquite quickly came to realize wealso needed to look for capablepeople from within. These werepeople who understood Gipps-land, who had chosen to live thereand often had a deep love of thearea and its people.

“It was a privilege to contributeto the journey and growth of thesepeople, female and male, and tosee them develop in ministerialleadership in the diocese,” hesaid.

Ordainingwomen aboutleadership

October 2011 Our Diocese - Celebrating Ordained Women 9


The Anglican Diocese of Gippsland

takes complaints of abuse and harm

seriously.

If you may have been harmed by a Church worker, or know someone who has, please come forward. All complaints will be treated sensitively and confidentially. The Director of Professional Standards, Cheryl Russell, can be contacted on telephone 03 5633 1573, on mobile 0407 563313 or email [email protected] The Anglican Diocese of Gippsland does not tolerate any harassment or abuse in its church community.

By Bishop John McIntyre

THE delightful reality aboutthose women who are now or-dained in our church is that theirordinations pass without so muchas a murmur. Of course, each per-son’s call to ordained ministry isrightly affirmed with much joy andcelebration, but the matter of gen-der is now rightly understood tohave nothing to do with the call toordained ministry. This is how itshould be.

I have been delighted to findsince my time in Gippsland thatGod is slowly redressing the previ-ous imbalance in gender in the or-dained ministry of the diocese. Oflate, more women than men haveresponded to God’s call to ordina-tion and have been affirmed in thatcall by the church.

I like to think this is God’s way ofaffirming it is not gender but voca-tion and giftedness which is thebasis of ordained ministry.

Of course, God has been tellingus such truths since the ancient sto-ries of creation were first re-counted, long before they wereeven written down thousands ofyears ago. It is both women andmen who participate fully in theimage of God and it is both womenand men who were called to exer-cise respectful and accountable do-

minion in God’s creation on God’sbehalf.

Women and men have alwaysbeen called by God together to ex-ercise power and authority inGod’s world and among God’speople. It is a travesty we took solong to listen. Now that we have,we are able to celebrate the fullnessof our humanity, male and female,in every aspect of our life togetheras the people of God, including inordained ministry.

I give thanks for the wonderfulway in which God ministers to usthrough the ordained ministry ofthe women whose stories are toldin these pages.

Gippsland recognisedwomen’s role in ministryBy Jeanette Severs

MORE than half a century beforeit became one of the divisive andcontroversial issues within the An-glican church, Gippsland pio-neered the way with the ordinationof women. From as early as 1918,the Reverend Deaconesses tooktheir place among the Gippslandclergy, ministering to the physical,emotional and spiritual needs ofthe people in a very selfless anddedicated way.

The Deaconesses were pioneers,breaking new ground in everysense of the word, for not onlywere their status and authority adeparture from Anglican tradition,but their appointments took themto the remote outposts of EastGippsland, then still largely unex-plored.

Gippsland’s second Bishop,George Harvard Cranswick, wasconsecrated in 1917, a young fam-ily man who quickly perceived theneed for a ministry to women bywomen. Within a year of his con-secration, he had recruited and li-censed his first Deaconesses. Theirstatus was exactly equivalent toDeacons.

These women were employed tominister to women, to families, tobe involved in mission work and,for some, also to minister med-ically in remote areas of Gipps-land, in often hard workingconditions. Their duties includedconducting funerals, baptisms,morning and evening prayer,preaching, preparing and present-ing candidates for confirmation,presiding over parochial councilmeetings and assisting with HolyCommunion for a visiting Bishopor Archdeacon.

In 1920, Bishop Cranswick trav-elled to Lambeth (in England - thesite of international gatherings ofbishops and archbishops). Cran-swick advocated on behalf of thestatus of women in the church andin November 1922, he hosted thefirst conference and retreat ofwomen workers.

The pioneer Deaconesses led tothe early establishment in Gipps-land Diocese of many groups thatfostered a sense of Christian com-munity. They set up the Battalionof Gippsland Mothers, an affilia-tion of British Mothers’ Union.They established the SundaySchool Mail Bag Scheme, provid-ing Christian material for the chil-dren of isolated families. They setup Girl Guide groups and the LoneGuide network.

In 1924, it was to the Order ofDeaconesses that Bishop Cran-swick gave responsibility for theestablishment of the first AnglicanPrimary School in the diocese,which became St Anne’s Church ofEngland School and eventually theprimary school campus of Gipps-

land Grammar in Sale. The Dea-conesses also introducted the girls’diocesan camps to the diocese, onland donated by Mrs AH a’Beckettat Raymond Island (now the Abbeyof St Barnabas).

One Deaconess, Sister WinifredHolton, spent some years at StAnne’s before eventually beinggiven pastoral oversight of NowaNowa, serving the Lake TyersAboriginal Settlement, ministeringto many of the women there.

Deaconess Nancy Drew was alsoa missioner to the Lake Tyers Abo-riginal Settlement, ministering inparticular to the children. Sheeventually was the first womanminister made a Rural Dean, lead-ing the Morwell Deanery from1973 to 1976.

The author, Mary Grant Bruce,herself a Gippslander, wrote aboutthe fascinating and important workof individual Deaconesses.

Bishop Cranswick, on establish-ing the Deaconess order, sanc-tioned them to be known as TheReverend Deacon. In 1949, BishopDonald Burns Blackwood also akeen supporter of the work of theDeaconesses, supported a Bill atSynod elevating the role of Dea-coness to a status enabling them tosit in Synod as full representativesof the House of Clergy.

In October 1989, the DiocesanAnglican Women of Australia rallywitnessed Bishop Colin Sheumackdedicate a memorial Cross to therole of Deaconesses in Gippsland.This cross hangs in the side chapelof St Paul’s Cathedral in Sale.

TOP: The first conference and re-treat of women workers, November2, 1922. Bishop George Cranswickwith Deaconess Winifred Shoo-bridge, Sister May Lambert, SisterMarie Sundell, Miss Warden (thefirst diocesan youth organiser) andSister Dorothy Almond (the firstbush missionary nurse).ABOVE: Deaconess Nancy Drew,the first woman to be appointedRural Dean in Gippsland, pho-tographed in Morwell, 1973.

[Extracts and photographs fromElliot, Ray (1996) The Dea-conesses of Gippsland; Sale.

Give thanks forthe ordained ministry of women

LEFT: Caroline Nancarrow is the first woman made deacon to servein Gippsland following the vote in Synod to ordain women. She wasmade deacon in 1993. She was the first ordained woman in the roleof chaplain at Gippsland Grammar and was ordained priest in 1997.

Caroline is another pioneer



Diocesan Calendar2011

TBA Blessing of Ena Sheumack House; Abbey of St Barnabas at A’Beckett Park, Raymond Island

October1 Street stall, St John’s Metung1 International Day of Older Persons1 – 2 Bruthen Parish Country Craft and Art Fair2 Opening of memorial garden, St John’s Metung; dedication by Bishop John3 – 6 Annual clergy retreat; Pallotti College; with Reverend Peta Sherlock, Dean of St Paul’s

Cathedral, Bendigo7 Family barbecue and children’s activities, St Luke’s hall, Moe.7 Gippsland Kidsplus+ network and Moe GFS Showcase of Craft; 7.30pm; St Luke’s hall.

Entry, gold coin donation.9 Bishop John McIntyre in Mirboo North parish9 Music Café, Battle of Trafalgar; St Mary’s, Contingent St; entry $5 each, includes afternoon

tea and entertainment. Telephone Sue, 03 5633 10219 ICC Hymn-fest at St George’s Wonthaggi; 2.30pm; spend time together singing hymns, bring

a plate of afternoon tea and a retiring offering for the hospital chaplaincy program.11 Anglican Women of Australia Gippsland Rally and AGM; 9.30am to 3pm; guest speaker

Mike Hansen, on the Camino pilgrim walk; enquiries, Pat Cameron, 03 5147 199011 – 14 The Abbey of St Barnabas, Raymond Island; Environment Week A. Exploring an

understanding of the interdependence of all life and our role in its nurture and practical aspects of living a sustainable lifestyle. Led by Dr Ann Miller and Environmental Taskforce.

14 – 16 The Abbey of St Barnabas, Raymond Island; Environment Week B. Exploring an understanding of the interdependence of all life and our role in its nurture and practical aspects of living a sustainable lifestyle. Led by Dr Ann Miller and Environmental Taskforce.

15 Mothers’ Union Quiet Day, Leongatha, 10.30am to 2.30pm; led by Reverend Janet Wallis16 Blessing of the Fleet, Port Albert; 11am; Reverend Ken Peters and Bishop John McIntyre16 Diocesan Ultreya, St Nicholas’ Lakes Entrance; 2pm to 4pm17 – 20 Anglican Women of Australia bus trip to Mornington Peninsula; contact Pat Cameron, tel. 03

5147 199018 – 21 The Abbey of St Barnabas, Raymond Island; Work and prayer working together. Leader,

Brian Turner.19 Mothers’ Union State Council, Melbourne19 Vocational Training Day, Growth in Ministry Training Day, Clergy Professional

Development Training (Supervision Training); Bishopscourt, Sale20 Vocational Training Day, Growth in Ministry Training Day, Intentional Pastoral Practice

Seminar; Bishopscourt, Sale21 Faith in Jazz concert with Reverend Greg Jones, Bob Sedergreen and Matt Kirsch; 8pm;

Lotus room, Warrandyte; for bookings, telephone 03 9844 5155, email [email protected]

21 – 22 Growth in Ministry Intensive; Bishopscourt, Sale21 – 23 The Abbey of St Barnabas, Raymond Island; Work and prayer working together. Leader,

Brian Turner.23 Bishop John McIntyre at St Paul’s Cathedral, Sale23 Concert for Bush Church Aid with Reverend Greg Jones and local musicians; St Nicholas’

Lakes Entrance 26 – 28 The Abbey of St Barnabas, Raymond Island; Intellectual Disability, Spirituality and

Community; Led by Eileen Glass and the L’Arche Community. A workshop, by invitation, for those people involved or interested to be involved in ministry with people with intellectual disability. Expressions of interest to Edie Ashley, [email protected]

29 Ordinations at St Paul’s Cathedral, Sale29 The Abbey of St Barnabas at A’Beckett Park; Celebration Day for people with intellectual

disability, their families and carers; led by Eileen Glass and the L’Arche Community; a day of fun, community and spiritual reflection.

29 Diocesan administration and insurance seminar for parish councillors, with Richard McDonald of the Anglican National Insurance Program and Brian Norris, Registrar of Gippsland Diocese; 10am to 2.30pm; Warragul; RSVP Registry 03 5144 2044, email [email protected]

29 – 31 (Mixed) Women’s and Men’s Lay Retreat; Palotti College, Millgrove

November2 Induction of Reverend Graham Knott as new priest in charge of Maffra parish; St John’s

Maffra5 Enthronement of new Bishop of Ballarat, Bishop Garry Wetherill; 11am; Christ Church

Cathedral Ballarat6 Defence Sunday; remember the ministry of the Anglican Church among defence personnel

and their families on this day; contact Bishop Len Eacott, [email protected] or visit www.defenceanglicans.org.au

15 – 16 Emergency Chaplaincy training course, Level 2, for clergy and pastoral ministers; Victorian Emergency Chaplaincy Network; 9am to 4pm; $25, incl catering and manual; email [email protected] or telephone 03 9654 1736

19 Bairnsdale parish fair, St John’s church grounds20 Diocesan Ultreya, 2pm to 4pm24 – 25 Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training; Latrobe Valley; $275; contact Sarah Gover,

03 5144 1100 or 0458 45037027 Advent Sunday29 Mothers’ Union Gippsland Executive meeting, Morwell; followed by lunch at Gastronomy

December3 Annual diocesan clergy family end of year gathering, Bishopscourt, Sale; 11am to 5pm4 Emergency Services Sunday, St John’s Bairnsdale25 Christmas Day25 Community Christmas Lunch, CowesDec. 28 – Jan. 3 Summer in Seaspray, Sale parishDec. 30 – Jan. 6 Scripture Union ‘Theos’ beach mission, Lakes Entrance

Dates and events as provided to The Gippsland Anglican by date of printing.

ABOVE: Young people regularly have opportunities to practice their per-formance skills and musical ability in front of appreciative audiences inTrafalgar parish. The next opportunity is on October 9, at the music cafeduring the Battle of Trafalgar, at St Mary’s, for an afternoon of enter-tainment and refreshments. See Diocesan Calendar.

Support Defence SundaySUNDAY, November 6, 2011 has

been set aside as Defence Sunday,an opportunity to remember theministry of the Anglican churchamong defence personnel and fam-ilies. Bishop Len Eacott, AnglicanBishop to the Defence Force, en-courages parishes to invite a de-fence chaplain to address theservice on that day.

“The Defence Anglican MissionPlan places a high priority in mak-ing connections, particularly en-couraging a shared ministry ofparishes with chaplains,” BishopLen said.

“Defence Sunday is an important

occasions to affirm this. In the past,where defence chaplains have vis-ited parishes, there has been re-newed mutual understanding.”

Liturgical resources and prayerpoints will be forwarded toparishes. Further information isavailable from the Bishop’s office,email [email protected] on the internet, www.de-fenceanglicans.org.au

Mothers’ Union has recentlyadded the Defence Force to itsWave of Prayer and information isavailable from MU chaplain, Rev-erend Thelma Langshaw, in Omeoparish.

ABOVE: Mothers’Union Morwell groupmeets monthly at StMary’s. In August, thegroup remembered theirhistory. MU was startedin Morwell early in 1950and Mrs Phillips was thefirst MU leader at StMary’s. At the recentmeeting, two of the orig-inal members from thattime, Mollie Burney andMarge Dickson, receivedtheir 50 year membershipbadges and certificates.Two other members,Doreen Smith and DulcieHarris, received their 25year certificates. Anotherlongtime member of MU,Lila Crowe, moved to StMary’s from St John’sYallourn. Lila was hon-ored for her long mem-bership of MU. She isnow leaving to live inMelbourne.

October 2011 Our Diocese - Clergy Ministry 11


RIDLEY Melbourne is workingon empowering workplace chris-tians. Christians in the marketplaceneed help answering complexquestions as they lead people,make decisions and manage organ-isations.

Professor Ian Harper, author ofChristian Book of the Year, Eco-nomics for Life, says he is privi-leged to serve Jesus through hisprofessional life, but it isn’t alwayseasy.

“Christians who spend their wak-ing hours in the marketplace en-counter opportunities as well aschallenges every day. They strug-gle with the Sunday-Monday di-vide, wondering how the gospelcalls them to respond to impossiblesituations,” he said.

Professor Harper (right), who isalso CEO of Access Economicsasks: “Who is reflecting on thesechallenges? Where can we find re-sources to help marketplace Chris-tians think through them, not justtempted by the ‘sights that daz-zle’?”

Ridley Melbourne has a strongdesire to better equip Christians inthe marketplace, and is launchingits Marketplace Institute to facili-tate this vision.

“Ridley Melbourne is a leadingtheological college with a vision tobridge the gap between Sundayand Monday,” says Acting Princi-pal, Tim Foster.

“In particular, Ridley wants peo-ple to see how their everyday livesare not a distraction from ministry,but the very context in which theycan be a transforming presence.”

Chair of Ridley Melbourne,Claire Rogers, a senior executivewith ANZ bank, always wanted herfaith in Jesus to be a part of theway she served at work. She be-lieves there has never been a moreimportant time to engage and sup-port Christians in secular employ-ment to be salt and light.

“It’s time we had a deep under-standing of the theology of work tohelp all of us grapple with faith and

the Sunday-Monday connection,”she said.

“Ridley is building an institutethat provides the rigour and theo-logical depth of training, engage-ment and influence to supportChristians in secular workplaces,ministries to workplace contexts,and fulltime Christian workers togain an understanding of the placeof work in God’s plan for the dailylives of those they serve.”

Ian Harper agrees.“Ridley Melbourne’s Market-

place Institute promises to be anoasis of theological reflection anddiscussion on precisely the issues Iwant to talk and think about. It isnot just marketplace Christianswho need help,” Prof. Harper said.

“Ridley’s new initiative will en-sure pastors are given frameworksto equip the saints for every goodwork. Heaven knows there’s plentyof good work to do in the modernmarketplace!”

This ambitious vision, to belaunched in October, will have asignificant impact on churches andthe everyday lives of Christians.For further information, visit www.ridley.edu.au/marketplacein-stitute

Empowering Christiansin the workplace

CongratulationsCONGRATULATIONS to Jenny Ram-

age who has now completed all the worknecessary to be awarded a Master of Di-vinity through the Melbourne College ofDivinity.

A New CanonREVEREND Barbara Logan (above),

of Lakes Entrance and Metung parish,has been elected by Bishop-in-Councilas a Clerical Canon. Her induction to thecanonical seat and the announcement ofthe saint will be at a future date.

Clergy MovesMALCOLM Wilson has been ap-

pointed Priest-in-Charge part-time forthe congregation of Nar Nar Goon. Mal-colm was ordained for the Diocese ofBunbury and has been living in Gipps-land while taking a break from stipendi-ary ordained ministry for some years.

Traralgon ordinationsFOLLOWING from the past two issues

of The Gippsland Anglican, regardingordinations at Traralgon. Robert Chris-tensen, of Berwick, writes that in the late1960’s at the old St James Church,Bishop David Garnsey ordained PeterRickards (priest) and John Harvard Lit-tleton (priest). At the time, GeoffreyRoss was rector of Traralgon.

Peter died about 10 years ago whilepriest at St Thomas, Bunyip. John Lit-tleton is the grandson of the secondBishop of Gippsland (George HarvardCranswick) and served in the Diocese ofAdelaide.

October’s lay retreatFATHER Fred Morrey is the leader of

the Gippsland diocesan mixed lay retreatat Pallotti College, Millgrove, from Oc-tober 29 to 31. This year, women andmen will together participate in the layretreat, rather than the diocese hold twoseparate retreats.

The topic of the retreat is Soul Food.The cost of the retreat is: double $300,single $170. Send your deposit of $20 byOctober 7, 2011, to Retreat Registration,11 Growse St, Yarram 3971. Chequesshould be payable to Gippsland Dioce-san Retreat Account.

THE National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) andthe National Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Ecumenical Com-mission (NATSIEC) are pleased to announce Kerry Charlton hasbeen appointed as the NATSIEC National Director.

Kerry has a background in education and training. Her skills andexperience have been further developed through employmentwith TAFE and work with Government departments and thechurch, particularly the Christian Brothers. Kerry is held in highregard as a consultant on Aboriginal issues.

She is well known for her leadership to the Gathering of theVoices Conference: a National Ecumenical Gathering for Abo-riginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Kerry is keen to con-tinue working cross culturally with indigenous and nonindigenous groups.

“I am thrilled Kerry is joining NATSIEC and look forward toher energy and enthusiasm guiding the churches’ work,” saidReverend Tara Curlewis, NCCA General Secretary.

“I believe Kerry will quickly fit into NATSIEC and contributemuch to continuing the journey of reconciliation and healing herein Australia.”

NATSIEC is the peak Indigenous ecumenical body in Australia,a commission of the NCCA, which organises the Make Indige-nous Poverty History Campaign and is an advocate for the rightsof Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The NCCA has a membership of 19 national churches, includ-ing Anglican, Catholic and Uniting Churches, seven Eastern andOriental Churches and a range of Protestant Churches, the Sal-vation Army and the Quakers.

New NATSIEC National Director

Proposal to exploreministry educationoptions in dioceseBy Jeanette Severs

THE Dean of St Paul’s Cathe-dral in Sale, Don Saines, is pro-posing the Cathedral be a hub forministry education in the diocese.Dean Don (right) tabled a pro-posal before St Paul’s GreaterChapter that analysed the deliv-ery of theological education andministry training and the over-sight of clergy and lay peopleacross the diocese.

He noted the need to develop acomprehensive summary of programs offered throughout thediocese. For instance, ALPHA has been delivered in a num-ber of parishes, but how many parishes still deliver that min-istry and how many have not updated information about itsdelivery?

Dean Don also noted the large number of gifted lay andclergy in the diocese, who are experienced preachers andteachers and able trainers of women and men for ministry.He proposes developing a process within the diocese to pro-mote and strategically and proactively develop a well trainedand theologically informed and ministerially trained church.

Among the courses delivered in the diocese are aspects ofGrowth In Ministry (St Mark’s): The Diploma in AnglicanOrders, including Intentional Pastoral Practice. Dean Donhas noted people in the diocese are studying, or have studied,other distance education courses available through St Mark’sNTC, Trinity College Theological School and Ridley Theo-logical College.

Education for Ministry is another resource already under-taken by people in the diocese. Reverend Marilyn Obersby iscurrently the diocesan contact for this program.

Dean Don cites the Trinity College Certificate in Theologyand Ministry as an ideal base for an ongoing Christian edu-cation program. The course is run in small groups locally ina parish

Dean Don’s proposal is to invite the Greater Chapter of theCathedral to become a group that, with the Bishop, givesconsideration and oversight to the development of the teach-ing and training ministry of the diocese. He cites a cathedralhas been the symbolic centre of the Bishop’s teaching min-istry. The Greater Chapter could help coordinate, encourageand resource clergy and lay leaders across the diocese. Thiscould mean encouraging the take-up of any of the abovementioned courses and possibly a way of formally estab-lishing connections for TEMT.

However, Dean Don also believes there is a need for basicintroductory theological education and ministry training forchurch members across the diocese and possibly a more co-ordinated training of lay people (lay readers, pastoral assis-tants and liturgical assistants). The Greater Chapter could bea coordinating and action resource for TEMT in the diocese.This could include support for the current chaplains for layministry by either offering or arranging training days acrossthe diocese by establishing some basic training modules.

The basic training modules could include liturgical skills(Know AAPB; leading worship; sacramental ministry, writ-ing intercessions; reading aloud in the liturgy; inclusive lan-guage in the liturgy; preaching in the liturgy); pastoral skills(visiting at home or in hospitals; basic pastoral care; whereto refer); basic Anglicanism; Anglican approach to ethics;basic biblical overview; thinking theologically. Dean Donalso suggested opportunities for teachers of RaVE in localschools who would value some professional development.

I am sure we have people around the diocese gifted and ableto develop small learning communities or groups who wecould help mentor as teachers and learners, he says in theproposal, tabled in September last year.

He proposes initially to offer some basic training days per-haps at the Cathedral in one or two areas and determineneeds, training modalities preferred, what is already offeredand available in the diocese, develop local learning groupsin the Cathedral parish and explore possible ways to inter-face more with the programs available through St Mark’sNTC, Trinity CTS or Ridley TC.

Youth ministry role at CathedralTHE Cathedral congregations and Chapter plan to employ

an assistant minister for youth and community work fromthe beginning of 2012. This person would also work in adiocesan role, but principally in Sale parish.

12 Our Diocese - Features October 2011


By Dr Don Edgar

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard in-sists that her ‘conservative up-bringing’ will not allow her toaccept marriage as anything otherthan the union of a man and awoman. Presumably her conserva-tive upbringing was put on holdwhen she decided to ‘live in sin’with Tim Mathieson. She cites noreligious reason for opposing gaymarriage, being a professed atheist,merely the conventional past. Sheseems not to understand marriageunder the Act is already a civilunion not a fixed moral law or a re-ligious sacrament to be preserved.

The looming Labor Conferencedebate on gay marriage will be adefining moment not just for theLabor Party but for the whole ofAustralian society. Already severalStates recognise what they callcivil unions giving same-sex part-ners equal rights to medical deci-sions if one is ill, to statesuperannuation and property distri-bution rights if they split up. TheMarriage Act is under the purviewof the Commonwealth and PrimeMinister Gillard is being calledupon to allow a conscience vote inParliament to test the waters. Thatis what should happen.

Marriage has a long and variedhistory, of which opponents of gaymarriage seem to be ignorant.

With very few exceptions, mar-riage has been monogamous, secu-lar and personal. It was anarrangement between two familiesfor the purposes of regulating thenatural sexual instincts of youngpeople, consolidating and manag-ing family property, ensuring pro-creation and passing on of alegitimate family name and pro-tecting the rights of both partners(though more the male’s than thefemale’s) and the rights of childrenborn or raised within the marriage.

Gay marriage threatens none ofthese traditional goals. Indeed, itmay make for greater social stabil-ity and certainly ensure the equalrights of all partners who agree toaccept marriage’s legal obligationsand responsibilities.

In early Greek and Roman timesmarriage was virtually compulsory,the single man being ridiculed anddenied important public roles.Even the Spartans who openlypractised homosexuality had tomarry and have children. It wasgood for society. As Demosthenesput it: “We have prostitutes for ourpleasure, concubines for our healthand wives to bear us lawful off-spring.” The word ‘lawful’ is thekey word here. It was St Paul whowrote: “Better to marry than toburn.” (1 Corinthians 7:9) Marriagestill serves important legal and so-cial purposes. Islam enjoins its ad-herents to marry ‘for the greatercommunity’.

Early Christianity acceptedRoman law, with marriage seen asa civil and private arrangement, butstopped penalising singles becausecelibacy came to be seen as a de-sirable state. It stopped the barbaricnorthern European practice of ‘salemarriage’ (which gave us the wed-ding ring as a down payment on thefull bride price paid on delivery)and thus improved the status ofwomen and gradually civilizedmarriage customs. Indeed in Eu-rope, even after the Catholic

Church declared marriage was asacrament, it was still seen tospring from the free consent of twopartners.

Most marriages throughout his-tory were not religious, but whatwe call common law marriages;some consensual, recognised sim-ply by living together for one year;others marked by a commitmentceremony with witnesses. Up tothe 10th century, most such cere-monies took place outside thechurch door and it was not until the13th century the priest took charge.It was a practical, economic affair,a union of convenience improvingthe capacity of an individual manor woman to survive and thrive andjoined two families in mutually ad-vantageous kinship. To say mar-riage was not yet a ‘romantic’matter of love and personal choiceignores both the sexual urges ofyouth and the reality that even inti-macy after rather than before mar-riage can lead to love.

But the 16th century ProtestantReformation set the cat among thepigeons. Luther declared marriage‘a worldly thing’ that belonged tothe realm of government. Calvinagreed. So the Catholic Church’sresponse at the 1563 Council ofTrent was to denounce all commonlaw marriages, insist on havingunions ratified by a priest and twowitnesses. It imposed complex im-pediments to marriage (through the‘banns’) such as blood relations tothe seventh degree, family affinityand godparent relationships and itabolished divorce. The Catechismof 1566 spelt out the definition ofmarriage as a union between a manand a woman and indissolubilityfor life, ‘until death do us part’.This is the bottom line for thosewho oppose homosexual marriage.

The Church hung on for cen-turies, losing the battle against sec-ularism and the power of the state,but not against a broad acceptanceof that basic definition. The FrenchRevolution made civil marriagecompulsory, regardless of whethera church service was held. Bis-marck imposed state control overthe institution of marriage in the19th century, returning marriage toits traditional status as a legallybinding economic and social con-tract between two consentingadults. This was an important stepin the bureaucratic rationalising ofmodern society. The poet JohnMilton argued divorce was a mustwhen mutual love was lacking andmarriage had become a sham. Itwas that sentiment informing theno-fault divorce laws of the 20thcentury, based on the breakdown ofan agreement between two equalpartners. It is the quality of the re-lationship that matters.

This left the protection of part-ners’ and children’s civil rights asthe main reason for having alegally recognised marriage of anykind. Today, sex is easy to haveoutside marriage and long-termsexual partnerships take the placeof formal marriage for many. Incountries with an over-populationof male youth, social instabilitythreatens with bride kidnappingand hormonally riotous youth hav-ing no ready outlet.

The problem then is no longer theregulation of sexual behavior butthe legal rights and responsibilitiesof the partners and the care of chil-dren. The economic value of mu-

tual care and financial supportthrough marriage is clear from thegrowing cost of welfare support forsingle mothers. Research clearlysupports the view two parents arebetter than one in the raising ofchildren. A violent or unhappymarriage is not good for childrenbut divorce often involves ongoingconflict, unstable housing andschooling, poverty and disadvan-tage. Australia’s marriage rate hasdeclined by a quarter since the1980s. We should be encouragingand supporting marital stability, re-gardless of the sex of the parents.

Marriages are no longer arrangedbetween families. If gay coupleswant to marry and declare a life-long commitment, to make theirlove and mutual support public,what harm can there be in that? Farbetter to have a publicly declaredcommitment than an unstable sex-ual relationship lacking any legallybinding and reciprocal responsibil-ities and social obligations.

In Australia, we have already rec-ognized that ‘de facto’ couples arevirtually the same as legally mar-ried couples, with equal rights toshared property, finances, superan-nuation. Their children (natural,step or adopted) have rights of carefrom both parents in the same wayas children of married parents andthose parents have a shared re-sponsibility to care for them afterseparation. It is ironic the lawrecognises this more unstable formof relationship but denies recogni-tion to same-sex couples who wantto take on the legal obligations offormal marriage. Significantly, inrecognising the social reality ofcouples ‘living together’, the lawinsists on their responsibility tochildren and on the economicequality of the partners.

There is no reason why thisshould not hold with homosexualcouples, but the law currently doesnot recognise the rights of gay part-ners; or the rights of children whomay be born of one natural partner,with a donor parent; or even a sur-rogate parent; in the same waymarried couples can become par-ents through adoption, surrogacy orin vitro fertilisation. The law pre-vents married or de facto couplesdenying the other ‘parent’ access totheir mutually agreed-upon child.

Being a parent is not just a bio-logical fact; it is a social status car-rying responsibilities to the child.There have been traditional soci-eties where several ‘visiting un-cles’ have sex with a woman whoconceives; then one visiting male isnominated as the social ‘father’, re-gardless of whether genetics wouldprove him to be the biological sire,and he carries that responsibility tohelp raise the child for the rest ofits life. That form of social parent-ing is, in our society, made ‘legal’parenting where a child is adoptedor artificially engendered and anychild whose family is so dysfunc-tional they cannot act as responsi-ble parents is made a ward of thestate as the ‘legal parent’. Whilewe might argue that no adult hasthe ‘right’ to become a parent,every child born through whatevertechnique, has the ‘right’ to havetwo parents; we designate two par-ents as responsible for each child’supbringing. That is why it is ofmore import to resist single-moth-erhood or single-person adoptionthan it is to resist homosexual

adoption, same-sex marriage ormutually-agreed conception.

So the remaining objection tosame-sex marriage is religious andmoral. Given that church and stateare supposedly separate in a secu-lar democracy, to continue insist-ing on a religiously-deriveddefinition of marriage is an histor-ical anomaly. The law long agotook control of the marriage con-tract away from the Church, but itleft intact the notion only a manand a woman could legally be mar-ried. Legislation should keep upwith changing social norms. InAustralia, we have legislation pre-venting discrimination on groundsof sexuality, yet this is a clear caseof sexual discrimination. Socialnorms around sexuality are muchmore fluid and despite some con-tinuing homophobia there is wide-spread acceptance that sexualpreference is no-one else’s busi-ness. More than half the populationsupports same-sex marriage; three-quarters believe it will eventuallybecome a reality.

Australia is out of step with mostof the western world. Countriessuch as Sweden and Norway havelong recognised same-sex mar-riages. The British Civil RightsPartnership Act covers virtually allthe rights of marriage. Several USstates have legislated for maritalequality, the federal governmentunder Bush moving rapidly in its1996 Federal Defense of MarriageAct to deny federal recognition ofthose state laws. No US state has torecognise same-sex marriages rati-fied in other states, but the new Actdid not forbid states to allow gaymarriage. Same-sex marriage isstill discriminated against throughtaxation and social security.

Similarly in Australia, theHoward Government moved toconsolidate the ‘man/woman/forlife’ definition of marriage, despitethe fact, for 100 years after federa-tion in Australia, marriage re-mained undefined. As JusticeAlisdair Nicholson pointed out,even the Family Law Act (S43) in-junction for the court to have re-gard to ‘the need to preserve andprotect the institution of marriageas the union of a man and a womanto the exclusion of all others vol-untarily entered into for life’ wasnot really a definition at all. Itharks back, he says, to Lord Pen-zance’s 1866 definition which con-flicted with the 1857 provisionlegalising divorce. Nicholson is un-equivocal in stating discriminationagainst same-sex marriage is incontravention to the InternationalCovenant on Civil and PoliticalRights provisions relating to non-discrimination and to arbitrary in-terference in privacy and thefamily. And the High Court ofAustralia in 1996 observed theconcept of marriage was neverfrozen in time. Nor, it must benoted, was the acceptability of ho-mosexuality, even within the con-fines of religion. Social practicesand norms change and, in time, thelaws must recognise that change.

Finally, it must be noted in thosecountries that have already recog-nised gay marriage, the evidence isclear: it does not undermine socialmorality or lead to undesirable ef-fects. On the contrary, in Sweden,heterosexual marriage rates haveincreased 30 per cent; similarly inDenmark, with the added result of

lower divorce rates and fewer chil-dren born out of wedlock. Canadareports a lower divorce rate forsame-sex couples and the Ameri-can Academy of Pediatrics reportschildren with gay parents fare aswell as those with heterosexualparents on all measures of emo-tional, social, cognitive and sexualfunctioning. Studies repeatedlyfind marriage benefits the healthand wellbeing of the partners too.It is the nature of the relationshipswithin the family that matter, notits formal ‘structure’ or type.

The Churches (and Australia’sLabor Government) have to acceptmarriage serves secular needs, notspiritual goals. Marriage is a fun-damental social institution recog-nising and regulating adult couplerelationships. In the Canadian de-bate about same-sex marriage, Ot-towa Justice Laforme held a ‘civilunion’ is still an ‘alternative’ sta-tus, equivalent to the segregation ofblack and white students in pre-Brown vs Board of Education UScivil rights times. The State alreadycontrols the institution of marriageas a secular institution; it is thestate’s responsibility to guaranteethe rights and responsibilities of alladult partners and of children bornfrom or being cared for within thatpartnership.

As a matter of individual choice,couples with religious beliefs canalready opt for a church marriagethough more than 60 per cent todaychoose a non-church ceremonyusing a registered civil celebrant.The church could still insist on notconducting or recognising anysame-sex marriage (being immunefrom anti-discrimination laws) butthat would be irrelevant to same-sex couples who simply want fulllegal recognition of their commit-ment to one another. Where thestate must continue to be vigilant isin the area of mutual care and re-sponsibility for children who maybecome part of that same-sex mar-riage and in ensuring gay partnershave the same financial and legalrights as those already granted toheterosexual and de facto couples.

Legal recognition is not the sameas moral approval. The current lawis out of step with changing socialnorms which, history shows, arenever immutable as human rela-tionships adapt to new circum-stances. Indeed, recognisingsame-sex marriages as equal in thelaw to heterosexual marriages mayreinforce the ongoing historical re-ality that marriage is ‘an honorableestate’ which ‘should not be en-tered into lightly’.

What harm would same sex marriage do?IN light of the ongoing debatein secular media about samesex marriage and the AnglicanChurch in Australia’s commit-ment to a listening process,The Gippsland Anglicanstrives to offer considered ar-gument on this topic as it doeswith other issues. It does notoffer an opinion of the Editoror the Bishop on this topic.About the author: Dr DonEdgar was founding Directorof the Australian Institute ofFamily Studies and is a mem-ber of the Victorian Children’sCouncil. See www.patrici-aedgaranddonedgar.com Thisarticle is printed with the per-mission of the author.

October 2011 Literary and Media Reviews 13


By Dr Muriel Porter

Ogden S (2011) Love Up-side Down: Life, Love andthe Subversive Jesus; O-Books; $24.95

DR Steven Ogden, previouslyDean of St Peter’s Cathedral, Ade-laide, has been principal of StFrancis’ Theological College, Bris-bane, and an academic associate ofCharles Sturt University, since2009. Now he has embarked on asecond simultaneous career as theauthor of theological works.

But his are not the usual tomesthat might be expected from some-one of Dr Ogden’s academic pedi-gree. He has dedicated himself towriting theology for that ubiqui-tous person, the man or woman inthe street. Yes, the street; not pri-marily the pew.

For the sake of the people outsideour doors, he wants the Church tograpple honestly with the questionsthat agonize so many in modern so-ciety.

In his first book, I Met God inBermuda: Faith in the Twenty FirstCentury (2009), he identified whathe believes is the key question thatconcerns modern people, even ifthey do not ask it directly: How canwe reconcile suffering with a Godof love? And if we cannot, thenhow can we believe in a God oflove?

In this latest book, he returns tothe theme of love with a wide-ranging exploration from a dis-tinctly contemporary perspective.It is, he says in the preface, “an ex-ploration for 21st century thinkersand lovers”.

At the heart of his exploration isJesus, but not the “meek and mildJesus of Sunday school fame; butthe subversive Jesus of the firstcentury, who caused great scandalin the name of love”, as he puts it.

He continues: “The problem withJesus is that for him, people were

more important than venerable in-stitutions, governing principles andreligious dogma… this is not thekind of love we expected. This islove upside down.”

Not surprisingly, Dr Ogden ar-gues for a Christian understandingof love that is “courageous, big-hearted and inclusive”. It meansaccepting people as they are andvaluing difference, with a new gen-erosity of spirit.

It means, quite simply, rejecting aChurch based on harsh legalisms,with adherence to principles overpeople.

Dr Ogden has a refreshingly

frank, readable prose style. Inter-spersed with numerous anecdotesand reflections, his writing is in-tensely personal. While that will nodoubt make it attractive to youngpost-modern people outside thechurch, it makes it hard to pindown a clear well-argued theolog-ical basis for the author’s passion-ate appeals for a more generousand inclusive Church.

Dr Muriel Porter is a Melbourneauthor and journalist. This reviewfirst appeared in The MelbourneAnglican August 2011 issue and isreprinted here with permission.

The subversive Jesus of the firstcentury not about harsh legalism

Singer’s star rising fastA GIRL NAMED BEL sounds a

bit out of the ordinary, but thisartist is different, so it fits. BelMorrison is an Australian singersongwriter who is not easily la-belled, which is clearly how shelikes it.

Since graduating from theQueensland Conservatorium ofMusic in 2003, Bel has landed gigsat Easterfest, World Youth Day,New Zealand’s Parachute Festivaland toured throughout Australia.

On You Are My Destination, herthird CD release, Bel’s expressiveand poignant songs show off avoice that will stop you in yourtracks.

Joseph’s Song, her first radio sin-gle, has already made people sit upand take notice. In Time With Yougarnered first place in the 2010 Na-tional Australian SongwritingCompetition.

But it is Morrison’s ability to lether songs do the talking, untram-meled by the niceties of pop pro-duction, inspirational, yetgrounded in real life, polished butnever overwrought. It is this thatdistinguishes her pop/country/folkinspired melodies.

Very simply, You Are My Desti-nation is about the songs, storiesand prodigious voice of Bel Mor-rison.

You can see and hear Bel performat Warwick, Queensland, on Octo-ber 23; Logan City, Queensland,on November 5; and Dalby,Queensland, on December 18. Fordetails about these performances,please visit www.belmorrison.com

Forest Edgeannounces 2012festival lineup

POPULAR US rockers Ivoryline,plus a huge line up of Australiantalent, will perform at the ForestEdge Music Festival 2012, atNeerim East, next March.

The four-piece Texan band,Ivoryline, has toured with Auto-matic Loveletter, Family Force 5,and Emery and been a part of thehistoric Vans Warped tours acrossAmerica.

Australian headliners includeJonday, The Calling Of Levi, HaveYou Seen This Boy, and Vita Adam.

Festival organiser, Luke Martin,said the three-day annual eventaims to create a stress free envi-ronment where people can im-merse themselves in “positivealternative music and culture”.

“Forest Edge is an opportunity tolisten to relevant bands, hear influ-ential speakers, meet incrediblepeople and bring your friends,” hesaid.

“Young people can explore theircreativity and enjoy the excitementof a music festival without alcoholbeing served.

“It celebrates youth in a safe en-vironment,” he added.

The festival will feature a widevariety of music genres, includinghardcore, hip hop, folk, pop andindie-rock.

Forest Edge Music Festival is onMarch 9 to 11, 2012 at Forest EdgeCYC camp site, 405 McKenzie Rd,Neerim East, Victoria. For infor-mation, ticket prices and registra-tion, visit www.forestedge.org.auor Facebook www.facebook.com/forestedgemusic

Exploring creation and culture in AustraliaHobbins T (2011) Above Help: The

Intercessions; Sid Harta Publishers;$39.95. Distributed by Dennis Jonesand Associates. Released September28, 2011.

AUSTRALIAN history with a twist; inter-woven with tales of bravery, sacrifice and aSaint-in-waiting, plus asmall dose of the supernatu-ral, is tantamount to the birthof Australian culture as weknow it today. Or is it?

How will the historians, academia and reli-gious zealots react to this book by Tom Hob-bins, Above Help: The Intercessions?

Tom Hobbins’ heavily researched writings arepart-religious and non-fiction, highlighting Aus-tralia’s past, both historically and culturally,while acknowledging Australia’s first saint, Sis-ter Mary MacKillop and the contribution madeby her, the Josephite Order and other educatorsin the mid-19th century.

Their work heralded the commencement of thebirth of a unique Australian culture that wouldbecome reality as Australians fought in thetrenches of Gallipoli and the Western Front dur-ing World War One and in the jungles of New

Guinea during World War Two. The Intercessions followed; an interesting rev-

elation regarding possible influence brought tobear on events and persons by a Saint–in-wait-ing, plus all the political and social pursuits thatwere important contributors to Australia be-coming a nation.

“I was told by a high profile actor not to at-tempt such a story as there’d be too much re-

search and workinvolved,” saidTom Hobbins,undeterred bythe criticism.

“In fact, the book hangs together in a miracu-lous fashion buoyed by stories of bravery andsacrifice about the scallywags who went to war.Just like my great uncle, a machine-gunner whowas never the same after his return.

“This is a detailed and precise grand expose ofsome magnitude about the land down-under, itsprogression from a penal colony to eventuallyestablishing its own identity and cultural her-itage borne out of courage, sacrifice and plainhard work. Let the critics and sour-pusses havetheir say!” Hobbins said.

Above Help: The Intersessions was launchedat The Frances Rush Centre, St Stephen’sCathedral in Brisbane.

A Saint in Creation, A NationBuilt, A Culture Established

Opportunity foryoung peopleARE you interested in jour-nalism? Are you still in sec-ondary school? Do you wantto be published? Submit a re-view of music, film or bookto The Gippsland Anglicanand if it is published, you willsee your writing in print withyour byline. This can formpart of your portfolio in yourapplication to university.Send to [email protected] If possible, in-clude a pdf picture toillustrate the review.

14 Our Diocese - Parishes October 2011


By Carolyn RaymondMorwell parish

THE Sudanese congregation of StMary’s in Morwell held a specialservice to mark the creation of theworld’s newest state, the state ofSouthern Sudan. St Mary’s peoplejoined with the Nuer speaking con-gregation to celebrate that after allthe bloodshed and the dislocationof the people, the State of theSouthern Sudan has hope to builda life for its citizens within theirown control.

Archdeacon Heather Marten andPastor Stephen Riek led the serv-ice. Several people from the com-munity were invited to come and tospeak at the service. The principalfrom Traralgon secondary collegeand a representative from Centre-link spoke to the congregation.

Reverend Lyn Williams led thecongregation in prayer. There wasa men’s and a women’s choir whosang of the joy of this new state.

Pastor Stephen Riek prepared awritten letter which was handedout to everyone who came to theservice. With Pastor Stephen’s per-mission I quote from this letter.

“All of us here today have lostpeople and been severely hurt anddisadvantaged by this. As for my-self, I have been witness to fourwars. I have seen and tasted death.

Today I am here by the grace andholiness of God. I don’t know howI survived. The wars have cost memy parents, my wife’s parents,brothers and sisters.

The war and turmoil drove us intothe refugee camps in Ethiopia. Thecamps were just a space, some-where to go. They were not safeplaces and food and water werescarce.

Many days my family was with-out food and water. The water wascontaminated. We were forced todrink our own and other peoplesurine.

I remember the day when I leftthe camp to gather wood for cook-ing. I walked perhaps the distancebetween Traralgon and Morwell.The journey took me from 6am to6pm. It was dangerous to leave thecamp but we needed the wood.

One day I had collected a bundleof wood and was ready to return tomy family in the camp. Suddenly Iheard people behind me. I froze,standing very still.

I heard them have a discussionabout shooting me. When I turned,

one of them had a gun pointing atme.

He said: “I will shoot him now”. Others were saying: “No, you are

not a good shot! You can’t kill himwith that gun”.

He argued that yes, he could.I dropped my bundle of sticks and

walked over to them. I forced my-self to smile, although I was terri-fied for my life. I greeted them intheir own language.

“Shali,” or hello, I said. They were surprised. They

looked at me. I tried it again: “Shali gori” or

hello, how are you? At last they said to me: “Shali”These men were naked. I thought

quickly, offering the shirt I waswearing. It was my only item ofclothing. I offered them the sticks.

They said ‘No’ to this. They told me to go. I walked

away expecting a bullet in myback. This is one time among manywhen my life was spared. I knowmany people here have had similarexperiences.

Today I still carry the mental andphysical scares of those days ofwar. They will never go away. Butwe are the lucky ones. We have ourlives and live in a peaceful land.We have opportunities.

Independence will mean SouthSudan can grow and prosper. Peo-ple must put intolerance behindthem. Our people must learn to liveas one. The only way forward is fortribal tolerance.

At the same time the situation inSouth Sudan is desperate. There isthe worst famine for 60 years. Peo-

ple are surviving on nothing at all. A parent does not have the ability

to put food into the stomachs oftheir children. They watch theirchildren dying.

We are the lucky ones. We aresafe, We are warm. We have food.We have hope.

Let us celebrate independence.Let us not forget our brothers andsisters who are suffering becauseof the famine.”

This was a moving and powerfulservice. For those who can supportthe people of the Horn of Africasuffering such a terrible famine,please donate through Anglicord.

TOP: The men’s choir sings at thecelebration, at St Mary’s Morwell,to honor declaring the new State ofSouth Sudan.ABOVE: A member of the Su-dance congregation speaking dur-ing the service.

Photos: Carolyn Raymond

Living with fear of being shot

By Reverend Neil Thompson,Newborough Yallourn North parish

I WAS interested to read two responses (The Gippsland Anglican,September 2011) to my letter (The Gippsland Anglican, August2011). Both respondents seemed to think I opposed Christian med-itation, but a fair reading of my letter would show I could not seethe value in Buddhist meditation.

Let me categorically state my opinion that Christian meditationmay be part of anyone’s Christian journey and I commend bothwriters for making that point. Both respondents have made themistake, however, of taking the last two words of my letter out ofcontext.

That people have certain experiences (Reverend Bruce Charles atuniversity), that people in authority support Buddhist meditation(the Archbishop of Canterbury according to Dr Colin Thornby)does not overcome my objections. Buddhist theology cannot leadus closer to the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Nor can yoga nor transcendental meditation (which is based onHindu beliefs and neglects the Lord Jesus Christ, replacing resur-rection with reincarnation and grace and faith with human works),by itself, bring us to God.

Our Saviour is the Lord Jesus Christ, the cross of Christ is ourmeans to God. He is the one who transforms us. Here is where wefind our peace, our protection from distractions.

Paul in his letter to the Philippians gives us clear advice aboutmeditation (and, I believe, thinking in general):

‘Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble,whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever isadmirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think aboutsuch things’ [Philippians 4:8]

Christian meditation is ‘meditation with content’ (Lutheran pas-tor Keith Gerberding). Biblican passages include psalms 63:6,77:11-12, 143:5, 119:27, 147-8; Philippians 4:6-7; Matthew 6:31,33.

Let us enrich our faith by Christian meditation, not dilute it byother forms of meditation. This means to “contemplate the greatmercy of God, which in Christ sets us free to be real people, serv-ing His love to one another” (quote from Rev. Gerberding).

Yours in Christ,Neil ThompsonRector of Newborough Yallourn North parish

Perspective ... on meditation

WARRAGUL parish recentlycelebrated the opening of theDulcie Harris Centre, withBishop John McIntyre (left) andmusical entertainment (right).

Elizabeth ‘Dulcie’ Harris(above) after whom the originalkindergarten building wasnamed.

Photos: Rod Foster

ABOVE: The congregation during the celebrations at St Mary’s Mor-well to recognise the State of South Sudan.

Opening of Dulcie Harris Centre

October 2011 Features 15


THE International Anglican Fam-ily Network has released an actionplan for the Churches to tackleAbuse: Report of IAFN’s OceaniaConsultation. The Consultationwas based in Aotearoa NewZealand and brought together dele-gates involved in Anglican familyministries across Oceania, includ-ing Australia. It focused on oneissue: violence within the family,especially domestic abuse andchild abuse.

Step 1. Meeting and sharing Beginning in our own world

EFFECTIVE work on the issue ofviolence has to be rooted in the cul-tures and communities where it isoccurring. The consultation re-flected this by beginning with aPowhiri, a Maori ceremony of wel-come. This is concerned with theestablishment of right relationshipsand with bringing cultural and spir-itual protection to the people whoare there. A second important ele-ment is that the delegates were sup-ported in their work by localchurch leaders.Understanding our strengths

THE delegates’ accounts of theircommunity and their work repeat-edly emphasised the centrality ofcultural traditions, the extendedfamily and the community. Thereare long-established processes fordisputes to be resolved with fami-lies or, if necessary, involving tribalelders and community leaders. Inmany communities, clergy stillhave a high status and are able touse this as a force for good.Naming the problems

IT is uncomfortable to face the re-ality of domestic abuse, so it oftenbecomes an issue tacitly acknowl-edged but never named. It is par-ticularly difficult to do this whenyou are sharing your nation’s prob-lems before other nations and com-munities. The strength of thisconsultation was people did namethe problems in the confidencethey would be received with un-derstanding.

So it was acknowledged that forall its strengths, traditional culture,as currently practiced, can be toler-ant of violence against woman andchild which is no longer accept-able. Delegates said the followingof their own communities:

Violence is often tolerated; thereis a high tolerance of wife beatingand verbal abuse against women.Violence is a long-established partof society and respect betweenchildren and parents is fadingaway. Violence is inter-connected.So family violence sits in the cen-tre of circles of violence; ecologi-cal, international, national, localcommunity, religious and cultural.

Violence is very common. Mostcommon are land disputes and do-mestic violence. When the husbandpays the bride price, he thinks heowns his wife and expects to be theboss. Rape is all too common; evenof girls travelling to school. Fol-lowing colonisation, some indige-nous people continue to suffertrans-generational trauma and as-sociated problems of family vio-lence, substance misuse andself-destructive behaviors.Recognising achievements

THE creative response to thisproblem has been to use the libera-tive cultural traditions, symbolsand language to challenge and

change some of the current estab-lished attitudes to women and chil-dren.

In the Solomon Islands, there isone refuge for victims of domesticviolence, the only one in the is-lands. It is run by the church. TheAssociation for Anglican Womenin Fiji developed the House ofSarah project concentrating on pre-vention, for example, offering self-esteem programs for women andraising awareness.

Step 2. Theological Reflection

AS Christians, our response to vi-olence needs to be rooted in a deeptheological understanding of the is-sues we face. A superficial under-standing is not sufficient if we areto tackle the deep issues that faceus. During the consultation, we re-flected on God’s Word, guided byskilled theologians who focused ona theology of stopping violence.The full versions can be read athttp://iafn.anglicancommunion.org/resources

Step 3. Resources AT this stage there can be a

frightening moment when we thinkwe face these problems alone.However there are many skilled or-ganisations, both christian and sec-ular, able to provide support andencouragement. Six organisationswith particular expertise in the fieldof violence and the family madepresentations at the consultation.Each of these organisations wasalso chosen for their skill in work-ing with the various indigenouscommunities in Oceania.

For further information about thepresentations see http://iafn.angli-cancommunion.org/resources

Step 4. Separate groups formen and women

WE reached the stage in the con-sultation where it was important tomeet in separate groups. This wasnot because of any conflict, but be-cause the issue of violence is expe-rienced very differently by thedifferent genders. These separategroups enabled us to talk openlyabout our own experiences.The Women’s Group

THE women formed themselvesinto a ‘yarning circle’ and passedaround a message stick. Whoeverheld the stick was given time andspace to speak without fear of in-tervention. Gathering as women intheir own space, which is the Pa-cific way, afforded a character tothe meeting that was clearly differ-ent from that of the previous groupdiscussions.

In this space of safety and confi-dentiality and assured of eachother’s empathy and ‘co-passion’,the women were able to speakopenly and honestly from their ex-perience. As the women sharedtheir experience of family life andcommunity life, they spoke of theirown encounters with violence in itsmany forms; physical, sexual,emotional, spiritual, psychologicaland institutional. Even within andamong church leadership, churchfamilies and *whanau, in Christiancommunities, there are incidencesof spousal and child abuse andother forms of violence, to the ex-tent of murder.

As the women passed the mes-sage stick, the group was inspired

by stories of strong Pacificwomen’s leadership and tremen-dous courage, where women haveled the way to family and tribalreconciliations, thus bringing anend to spirals of violence.

In difficult, highly dangerous andoften isolated situations, Pacificwomen have literally taken physi-cal steps to end violence, even inone instance lying on the groundbetween opposing groups. In in-carnational ways that witness toChrist-like leadership, they haveput their lives on the line.

*An Australian Aboriginal termfor extended family.The Men’s Group

THIS group began speaking ob-jectively about the issue of vio-lence but as the discussioncontinued there were more per-sonal reflections on our own in-volvement in abusive relationships.There was a conscious recognitionof the sheer awfulness of violenceperpetrated on women and girlsand the way it has ruined lives.There was also an open acknowl-edgment that, as men, we can nameviolence because those elements ofthe ability to abuse power liewithin each of us.

We shared reactions to the con-sistent messages from the womenabout the extent of abuse within theChurch and beyond and deter-mined among ourselves to dosomething about it. During the dis-cussions, it became very clear theproblem of violence has to be ad-dressed within our churches and in-cludes the whole Church, clergyand laity. While many men are re-sponsible and loving fathers andhusbands, there are too many ex-ceptions. This is unacceptable foran institution that proclaims thelove of God. We need to act.

We acknowledged women haveoften carried the pain of violencein the Church and called for changewhile we, though sometimes ac-knowledging it, were slow to act ina systematic sense to end it. Dur-ing the latter part of the discus-sions, we brain-stormed variousstrategies to help our churchesgrasp the significance of these is-sues and begin an educative andmission approach with the goal ofmaking violence in all its forms un-acceptable. These were prepared ina form for discussion with thewomen.

Step 5. Coming together THE two groups came together

and shared their insights.The women’s group recorded its

deliberations, not simply as wordson a page, but in images. Oneimage was of a glass house, wherefamily life could be observed. Asecond image was a cooking pot,with children, women and menstirring the contents together. Theglass house was descriptive of fam-ily and community life as it is ex-perienced, both good and bad. Thecooking pot contained those ele-ments and strategies needed to en-sure the safety and flourishing ofall. Faith, hope and love, as trans-formative and restorative, were es-sential ingredients.

The men’s group began by stand-ing together, acknowledging andaccepting responsibility and apol-ogising for the violence that is stillexperienced in the Church. Theycommitted themselves to work tostop violence.

Ending violence on the part ofmen means:

Stepping back and steppingdown. Escalation leads to escala-tion. De-escalation invites de-esca-lation. Recognising we makemistakes, too; we are vulnerable. Itis often very difficult for us to saywe are wrong. Starting within andwith our families.

Challenging leaders to lead thetransformation. The Archbishop ofPolynesia made it clear violence iswrong and he will engage with oth-ers to help move the issue forward.

Do not fear the question, but ask:‘How are you going to followthrough?’ Training men of differ-ing cultures to become educators toovercome resistances.

The men saw they could applythis to their home situation by:

Respectful discussion looking atthese problems as a whole familyand giving each member of thefamily a chance to contribute.

Taking personal responsibility forthis issue as individuals and ex-pressing this in ways that supportsleaders. There must be no denial ofthe reality of violence.

Making a commitment to stayingconnected to women and seekingrestorative justice together.

Seeking out what is life-givingand life-enhancing; non-violentand safe for women and children inour own cultural group and work-ing on this with our leaders.

Step 6. Taking action AT the end of the consultation,

each national group worked to-gether on developing a specific ac-tion plan for when they left theconsultation. These action plansbuilt on the previous five steps butwere each unique to the local situ-ation in which people worked.

The delegates included peoplewho were at a senior level in theirchurch and others who were basedin a local community and some-times quite an isolated situation.All of the delegates were con-vinced that they could makechange happen.

The essence of the plans is thatthey are ambitious but they are alsorealistic. They do not compromiseon the view that violence must stopbut they present practical ways inwhich this issue can be tackled.The plans recognise that changingattitudes is a long-term process butthat every step will improve thelives of some women and childrenwhose lives are devastated by do-mestic violence.

The Consultation jointly will askthe Primates together to commis-sion liturgies for November 25,which is both the International Dayfor the Elimination of Violenceagainst Women and White RibbonDay and is the first day of theglobal 16 days Activism for theElimination of Violence againstWomen.Provincial leadership

CENTRAL to all the plans is thesupport of their Archbishop orBishop. In some cases this is al-ready in place. For example, Arch-bishop Winston Halapua hasdeclared he will only grant licencesto clergy and lay workers whocommit themselves to consistentlyspreading the message that domes-tic violence is unacceptable.

The New Zealand, delegates willbe seeking a commitment fromtheir archbishops and bishops to

establish a national strategy forstopping violence. They want thismessage to become part of trainingfor ministry, at every level; fromtraining for clergy through to Biblestudies to be used in parishes. Theirtarget is to have 50 per cent of thebishops approving the delivery ofnon-violence programs in their dio-ceses in the first year.

In Melanesia, the Bishops andStanding Committee will be askedto make a church-wide commit-ment to a network for stopping vi-olence. After consultation acrossthe Church, a detailed plan will goto the General Synod in November2011.

In Hawaii, the Bishop will beasked to be a spokesperson on thisissue and to implement a trainingprogram on stopping violence forall ordained people.

In Australia, there will be a Re-port to General Synod StandingCommittee in mid November withthe aim of having the Australianmembers of the International An-glican Women’s Network facilitatea session at the Bishops’ Confer-ence in March 2011.Indigenous leadership

IN Australia, there will be a re-port to the National Aboriginal andTorres Island Straits Council and tothe Northern Territories DiocesanSynod. This will be linked to thediscussions with the Bishop of theNorthern Territory about the wayforward. This will lead on to reportback to urban/indigenous ministersat St James Darwin and all indige-nous ministries in Darwin.

For delegates from the TikangaMaori of the Anglican Church ofAotearoa New Zealand and Poly-nesia, the watchword is ‘Not onemore death, our children are sa-cred’. They note there is no evi-dence Maori were violent to theirchildren traditionally. They willuse Maori models of practice to getthe message across: using narra-tive, identity and connection.Training

The delegates from Polynesiadiocese planned non-violencetraining programs for clergy, laity,youth and Sunday schools readyfor pilot programs underway inJanuary and a roll-out in thechurches in February.

Tonga already has the support oftheir Bishop and will be rolling outa similar training program.

In Papua New Guinea, training onending violence will be extended toall deaneries within 12 monthswith strong women being recruitedto take the training forward.

Samoa will have anger-manage-ment training and non-violenceawareness, including women’s andmen’s groups, youth leaders andSunday school teachers.

In the Solomon Islands, a nation-wide network to stop violencewithin one year. In particular, look-ing at support from religious com-munities and developing advocacyby men against violence.

Fiji’s training program will in-clude activities for clergy, men andwomen, plus a youth rally or campand educational and awareness ma-terials aimed at families.Other activities

IN Australia, there will be furtherencouragement of involvement inWhite Ribbon Day with the aim ofgetting giant white ribbons on allchurches and cathedrals.

Not one more child or woman subject to family violence

16 Our Diocese - Parishes October 2011


ABOVE and below: After the September meeting of Maffra parish’s com-bined Guild and Mothers’ Union group, members of the parish familytook afternoon tea to friends at Stretton Park. This is a happy time forresidents and visitors alike, with plenty of cream cakes and sponges to behad.

Photos: Jean Heasley

Ted and women of historyARCHDEACON Ted Gibson has

been visiting parishes this year,providing instruction to congrega-tions about the garments and rolesof men and women of the church.

In a recent service at St John’sMaffra, Archdeacon Ted spokeabout Christian history and thewomen who have made a differ-ence through the ages. Jean Chap-ple portrayed a Deaconess, GloriaBaker was Susannah Wesley,Jenny Toma was Mother Therese,Deirdre Crawley was FlorenceNightingale. Pat Cameron was Sis-ter Hilda, Fairlie Kermode wasMartha and Jean Heasley dressedas a Lay Reader.

RIGHT: In Morwell parish, Moth-ers’ Union members said goodbyeto Lila Crowe, who has moved toMelbourne.

Photo: Carolyn Raymond

ON Sunday, August 14, StMary’s Morwell celebrated its Pa-tronal festival. We selected theSunday which was closest to theFeast of the Assumption of the Vir-gin Mary. Reverend HeatherMarten preached a thought-pro-voking sermon on our knowledgeof Mary from the Gospels.

Rev. Heather spoke about Mary’slife as we know it, from her ac-ceptance to be the Mother of Godto standing before the cross andseeing her son die a cruel andpainful death. Even later how she,with other sons, became active inthe early church. Rev. Kathy Dal-ton celebrated the Eucharist.

It was a wonderful service to par-ticipate in, in worship with otherwomen and men who are uphold-ing Mary.

St Mary’s has been working allyear to raise money for our missionproject. This is to improve educa-tion in the Southern Sudan. Weheld a ‘Desserts for all Diets’evening. This was great fun, eatingby candlelight with wonderfulmusic provided by two of ourparishioners. The desserts were de-licious and everyone had severalhelpings.

In the previous weeks, we col-lected dessert recipes. These wereprinted in an attractive book withthe names of the contributors undereach recipe. The book has the de-lightful title of ‘Just Desserts’.Janet Harris officially launched thebook. Many people bought thebook, some buying several copies.We very quickly sold out. Allmoney was contributed to the mis-sion project.Contributed by Carolyn Raymond

ABOVE: The recipe book, ‘Just Desserts’ raised money for mission dur-ing the Desserts for all Diets evening at St Mary’s Morwell (below).

Photos: Carolyn Raymond

Just desserts for missionand honor ing Mary

ON Sunday, September 25, a tapestry worked by Isobel Simon titled‘Hands Clasped in Prayer’ was dedicated to the memory of Stella Trew-ern and Dorrie Stoll and unveiled at St James’ Buln Buln, in the cooper-ating parish of Neerim South.

In a short ceremony during the morning service, Isobel Simon spoke ofthe gentle dedication and service to the church at Buln Buln of these twowomen. Stella played the organ and set up the communion table for manyyears until failing health forced her retirement. Dorrie quietly encour-aged all worshippers with her thoughtfulness and loving care during alifetime of devotion to her Lord.

Members of both families took part in the unveiling of the tapestrywhich is now hanging in the church.

Contributed by Joy Andrews

Tapestry honors women

ABOVE: Some of the attendees at the opening of the Dulcie Harris Cen-tre in Warragul parish.

Photo: Rod Foster

The Gippsland Anglican - October 2011

Documents

Transcript of The Gippsland Anglican - October 2011