The above
You Tube video on Seeds of Hope
Project was prepared by Isaiah
Brookshire I(USA).
NEWS
New Zealand
ERN Reference Group meets
The New Zealand Edmund Rice Reference
group recently at St Peter's College on Friday 17th
and Saturday 18th of August. The reference group meeting
is an annual meeting for to which representatives from the
accredited Edmund Rice groups in New Zealand gather to
consider: the developments within the NZ Network; how
the various groups and institutions
can support each other; the strategic future of the
Network in NZ and the direction of
and focus for the ERN
National Support Office for the next twelve months.
Marist Brother Richard Dunleavy, a former
provincial and member of their world leadership team,
spoke to the reference group about the ERN from an
outsiders' perspective. He gave three observations, the
questions and three challenges.
The Impressions of the
Edmund Rice Network:
1 The ERN - you are "sentinels of
the new dawn in the church model of communion - a
community of communities. ERN is a beacon for us all.
The central light in the beacon, the Christian Brothers
- their vision, wisdom and
humility.
2 The heart emphasis for spirituality and
mission rather than head.
3 The word "network" is a key name,
reflecting structure and strategy - excellent
branding
The Questions for the Edmund
Rice Network
1 How do you handle conflict
resolution?
2 How do you look after the individual's
human and spiritual growth? eg the loneliness of the
long distance runner.
3 What is your relationship with the
official Church especially in the face of possible disagreements?
History is rich in examples of clashes and problems.
The Challenges facing the Edmund
RIce Network
1 Justice - need for the head and heart to
be integrated. - from romanticism to reality, justice to
solidarity. Complex issues need to be deeply analysed
and discerned.
2 Second phase leadership in the
movement- succession.Who are your future leaders?.
What about the often rejection for original founders or
possible loss of passion and vision by the next
generation?
3 You are making history - is there
a narrative of the story being recorded as you
journey.
The members of the reference group at the
meeting were:
Br Joe Lauren (Christian Brothers
NZ), Damaris Kingdon (ERN National Support
office) Kieran Fouhy (St Peter's College),
Christine O'Brien (St Thomas of Canterbury
College), Keith Yardley (St Thomas of Canterbury
College), Amelia Bressanello (ER Camps Dunedin),
Paul Tupouvea (ER Camps Auckland), Jacob
Rice (Reflection Group Auckland), Cath Ford
(ER Community Westport, ER Reflection Group Westport),
Sarah Moroney (ER Community Auckland), Jen
Martinez (World Youth Day Edmund Rice), Br Paul
Robertson (Christian Brothers NZ, ER Volunteers),
Sam Drumm (ER Justice Centre NZ), Helen Mulheron (ER
Reflection Group Oamaru, Edmund Rice Singers
Oamaru);
Oceania
Leadership Team meets
The first gathering of the new Oceania
Leadership Team was held in Gerringong, New South Wales
(August 19th - 25th). The team spent the first two days
telling their stories facilitated by Br Joachim ToRavit
who is the youngest temporary professed
Christian Brother in
Oceania.
For the rest of the time, the team worked
through a number of issues especially around how the
team might operate, governance and management, the
clusters, a novitiate for Oceania Christian Brothers,
and where the team will reside. It was a good chance to
synchronise diaries to ensure that the Team will be able
to spend a significant time living
and working together during the
first six months of the new province.
The Oceania Leadership Team: Back row Brs
Paul Robertson, Joe Lauren, Peter Dowling
Front row Brs Vince Duggan, Dean
McGlaughlin, Julian McDonald, Peter Harney.
Adelaide
Gathering
As
a preparation for the new Oceania Province which
commences on October 1st, there was a recent gathering
at St Paul's monastery in Adelaide for the new Oceania
Leadership team, the four Life
& Mission Team directors, the province executive
officer, the 12 cluster leaders and
the Implementation Group. This
meeting was a very successful induction process for all
those present as they considered their various new roles.
To read the various updates from the
week, then click on the following
With the start of the new Oceania
Province on October 1st,
the Oceania Province will be holding a pre-chapter
gathering. It is a gathering of both
elected delegates and
the leadership team to consider issues for the
international congregation chapter in March 2008.
It will also elect eleven
delegates from Oceania to the
congregation chapter. The pre chapter is from September 30th
until October 9th at Riverglenn, Indooroopilly,
Brisbane.
There will be five New Zealanders at the
gathering: the two New Zealanders on the Oceania
leadership and three New Zealand delegates elected by the
Brothers in New Zealand. The elected
delegates are Brs Norm Gillies, Ben
Scanlan and John Prendergast.
The Congregational Chapter in India will
review the developments of the past six years, elect a
world leadership team and set the strategic directions
for the next six years. A chapter is held every six
years. There will be a local Oceania Province chapter in
June 2008.
India Immersion Programme - Tom
Hahn
I found out I was going to India a little
less than three weeks before our first flight left. I
had been interested in it for quite a while of course,
hence how Brother Rob knew to call me when William
Pollard was forced to pull out through sickness. Even
so, it never really hit me that I was going until I got
there. India is like that though, you never know what to
expect. I’ve read so many reflections on it, and thought
deeply on them and I can honestly say that not one of
them has accurately conveyed what India was like for me.
The country was like that too, it was different for
everyone. Everyone on the trip had a different
experience. Some were not quite as sick as I was, some
were sicker. We worked in different places in Calcutta.
We examined the Taj Mahal from different angles. What I
am trying to say is that reading my reflection will do
you no good if you want to know what India was really
like....... (click here for the full
article)
Photo by Paul Stevens India Immersion Trip
2006/7 - Photo taken with person's permission.
UPDATE
Bridging the
gap with a recipe for peace
A school Young Enterprise project at St
Thomas of Canterbury College, (Christchurch) evolves
into a peace mission for four teenagers, writes Jenny
MacIntyre in the Sunday Star Times.
“MIX FOUR Catholic schoolboys, some Muslim girls, four
Tampa refugees, a troop of New Zealand soldiers along
with 1000 biscuits and you have a recipe for promoting
peace in Afghanistan.
Salam – or peace – biscuits made by the boys
will be flown to the war zone in October and handed out
to Afghan schoolchildren by soldiers, to help break the
ice between locals and peacekeepers.
Typical teenagers, the boys decided food was
the best way to bridge any divide between Christianity
and Islam.”
Source: Sunday Star Times.
Debbie Frank to
Arusha Tanzania
In early September, Debbie Frank
leaves Christchurch for Arusha. Debbie has leave from
her position as the Canterbury co-ordinator of St Vincent De
Paul Society to work as a volunteer under
the ANZERVS programme with the Christian Brothers' school
and project at Arusha, Tanzania. She will be at Arusha
for twelve months and one of her responsibilities will
be co-ordinating the volunteers at Arusha. Debbie
was a participant on the ER India Immersion programme in March 2006.
For more information on this volunteer programme
click
here.
Under
the agreed review process for the
New Zealand Edmund Rice
schools the first peer review will take place between St
Peter's College Auckland and St Kevin's College Oamaru.
The principals of both schools will review each other's
schools based on the Legacy Document which defines the
nature and dimensions of a New Zealand Catholic School
in the Edmund Rice tradition. These reviews take place
this month. The other peer review will be done
by Liston College Auckland and St Thomas of Canterbury
College Christchurch. For more information on the NZ ER
Schools and the Legacy Document click
here.
If you are
interested in reading the speech given by Holy
Spirit Province Leader Br Kevin Ryan, at the closing
celebrations
of the
Holy Spirit Province (Western/South Australia)held in Perth and Adelaide, then please
click here.
Thank you all
for your presence here today. It is a source of
great energy for the Christian Brothers who are moving
forward into our new way of being and working together
as Brothers and as Brothers in relationship with our
Edmund Rice Network colleagues. It is also a source of
energy and support to those who will commence the
journey of Edmund Rice Education Australia on October
1. We appreciate the deep recognition of our past
journey and I hope at least some of you will journey
with us into the future. Today also provides an
opportunity for the Christian Brothers to recognise and
thank you and those whom you represent. Without
you, our journey would not have been possible. If
nothing else is achieved on this day, I hope that when
you leave this function you feel thanked and
appreciated. And that you also feel invited into the
next chapter of our joint story.
Thank for the comments and very positive
feed back about the previous newsletter. Just for your
information, the were 573 hits on the previous
newsletter and the follow chart shows where it was being
read. You can view the latest data at any
time by clicking on the small blue box with the red tick
on the bottom left hand corner of this page or click
here.
I performed opposite Dutch born, Antonio Snelleart
(Ton) in a gothic-punk musical in 1998. It was his
last effort as a performing artist. Two years
earlier, he had founded an Ashram just outside of
Delhi for the care and rehabilitation of those
found sick and dying on the streets. That season
of performance was left early; abandoned, consumed
by his new work.
Ten years on, and now known as Tonbaba, he has
grown into a Christian mystic that swims perfectly
in the dynamic Hindu and Muslim setting of his
life. He writes beautiful letters and communicates
in deep and honest ways about the intense
struggles that he faces everyday. The letter
below, describes what followed on from a
distressing conflict between him and some of his
long-time helpers that had once been rescued off
the streets themselves. It speaks to me of the
powerful transforming beauty that can inhabit a
single moment of forgiveness. Completely unique
and special to those involved. It has been printed
with his permission.
DRY TEARS
After having avoided my gaze for several weeks,
Omesh craned his neck upwards, above the person
next to him and caught my eye. His eye was clear,
something shone in there, the desire to be
accepted, to meet love again.
I sat on the steps leading to the clinic and felt
a sudden burning within, the desire to meet love
again. My heart drew me to where Omesh sat. I
placed myself in front of him, our gaze
interlocked, his rugged dreadlocks between my
fingers, I drew his face towards me, looked within
while closing my eyes, then slowly I lowered his
head and kissed him on his forehead, his dreaded
hair, bugs and all.
I felt a prayer roaring within, my lips on his
head kissed the life within. I opened my eyes and
lifted his chin, big drops rolled down tear
stained eyes, eyes that lingered on, steadfast,
looking into mine and me in him.
Not many words but much has been said, understood,
the time span our eyes met, we met. My finger
traced a tear pearling down, I saw trees and sky
mirrored in it. "This is life" I whisper in his
eyes, "like a river, see the currents
intermingling; good and evil, beauty and all that
is repulsive, love and betrayal". Silence, my
hands gliding down his strong arms, kneading them
somehow, our eyes still one, searching, probing,
his eyes touch mine, fingers exploring, like a
blind man or a baby. We are so new to each other,
like chicks bursting through the eggshell and
seeing one another at first, but also so ancient,
like we knew it all, knowing we are one."
If you would like to know more about the Sewa
Ashram and the work of Tonbaba, visit
www.sewa-ashram.org
Damaris Kingdon
ERN National Support Office
Auckland NZ
ernnz@st-peters.school.nz.
Google Earth
If you enjoyed using Google Earth in the last
newsletter, this trip is through India with the ERN Immersion
programme. Access through: (http://www.googleearth.com/)
and then cut and paste these co-ordinates in to the fly to
function
Christian Brothers in
India
St Columba's School New Delhi
28°37'46.81"N 77°12'21.18"E
St Mary's School Dum Dum Calcutta
22°37'16.33"N 88°23'41.63"E
St Joseph's Bow Bazaar,
22°34'7.83"N 88°21'33.16"E
Regina Mundi School, Goa
15°23'46.08"N 73°50'23.55"E
Our Lady of Salvation School Dadar,
Bombay
19° 1'5.17"N 72°50'6.07"E
India Trip
For those who wish to relive memories or are
interested in the trip.
Little India Singapore
1°18'27.11"N 103°51'8.87"E
New Delhi Airport
28°33'32.72"N 77° 5'41.70"E
New Delhi Railway Station
28°38'33.17"N 77°13'7.77"E
Main Bazaar, Pahaganj, Delhi
28°38'28.36"N 77°12'51.77"E
Taj Mahal
27°10'30.24"N 78° 2'32.14"E
Hotel Surya - Varanasi
25°20'19.46"N 82°58'47.87"E
Murgah Sarai Train Station
25°16'34.50"N 83° 7'6.89"E
Howrah Station - Calcutta
22°34'46.70"N 88°20'28.63"E
Crystal Hotel - Calcutta
22°33'22.35"N 88°21'13.53"E
Mother House - Calcutta
22°33'10.87"N 88°21'49.21"E
YWCA - Mumbai
18°55'30.88"N 72°49'51.44"E
GDTC Hotel Margoa Goa
15°16'17.49"N 73°57'28.15"E
Colva Beach - Goai
15°16'30.38"N 73°54'49.70"E
Bogmalo Beach - Goa
15°22'15.47"N 73°49'57.23"E
St Francis Xavier - Old Goa
15°30'3.71"N 73°54'42.53"E
Christian Brothers Dadar Mumbai
19° 1'5.17"N 72°50'6.07"E
Bandra - Mumbai
19° 3'51.27"N 72°50'5.76"E
Mumbai Airport
19° 5'35.79"N 72°52'26.64"E
.
Notices
ER JUSTICE - REFLECTION DAY
Just a reminder to those on the ER Justice
Trust there is a formation day on on Sat
27th
October.
EDMUND RICE DINNER
The annual Edmund Rice Dinner which
fundraises for tertiary scholarships for St
Peter's College is being held at the College on
Thursday September 13th. Tickets are avaialbale
from the school office or contact
admin@st-peters.school.nz
LISTON COLLEGE OLD BOYS'
ASSOCIATION
Liston
College Old Boys' Association was set up to keep
contact between the college, old boys', staff and
friends of the college.
The
association holds various events in order for all
interested persons to catch up and renew old
friendships and keep links with the college. As
part of this initiative we ask all old boys to
either add
or update their personal details.
The
Listoner, the Old Boys' newsletter is a
means of communicating with past students,
teachers and friends of the college.
Liston College
Old Boys' Association 16 Edwards
Avenue Henderson Waitakere City
ST
THOMAS OF CANTERBURY COLLEGE FUNDRAISER – INDIA AND FRANCE TRIP UNDER 14
RUGBY TEAM
A
night of family entertainment with master
Hypnotist Brian Gee
(with over 20 years of
stage experience) will be held in the
Westview Lounge at the Hornby
Workingmens Club on -Thursday 6 September
2007 at 7.00pm.Tickets:$12.00.
Please support our Under 14 Rugby team
and students who will be
travelling to India next year.
Newsletter
Archive
You can
view past copies of the ERN NZ newsletter by clicking on
the links below.
