Sharing our scriptures – a series of informal meetings

Dave Moskovitz

Sharing our scriptures: an Abrahamic interfaith dialogue

When: 7.30PM Wednesday 29 March and monthly thereafter
Where:
 Nick Polaschek’s home at 12 Everest Street Khandallah
RSVP: http://bit.ly/sos-rsvp

The Wellington Abrahamic Council is sponsoring a series of evening meetings to help foster understanding and friendship between people from the three Abrahamic faith traditions in Wellington.

We will meet in each others’ homes to reflect together on a theme expressed in a selected passage from the sacred scriptures of each of the three Abrahamic faith traditions.

Each of us will listen to the other participants sharing their understanding of the selected scripture from their faith traditions, in turn sharing our understanding of the scriptures from our own tradition.

The evenings will use Scriptural Reasoning, a tool for interfaith dialogue developed by the Cambridge University Interfaith Programme and now used in a number of countries. We will use the guidelines and text packs, available at their website.

For the first meeting we will use the first text pack, Abraham’s hospitality, which can be found in the Resources section of the Scriptural Reasoning website.

Our shared aim is to understand more deeply the perspectives of the other Abrahamic faith traditions and, in this light, to understand more deeply our own faith traditions. From this we hope to better recognize our shared understandings and values and appreciate positively our differences as faith traditions that come from Abraham, our father in faith.

Do consider coming along on Wednesday 29 March 2017 at 7:30pm, and don’t forget to RSVP.

For more information, contact Nick Polaschek, nandlpolaschek@gmail.com or (020) 479 7956

The care of our Earth

Dave Moskovitz

Public Meeting Announcement

The care of our Earth –
Three faith perspectives

Salvation Army Citadel, 92 Vivian St
Wednesday 8 March, 7pm

All Welcome.

[Update: you can listen to an audio recording below]

Speakers:

Jewish Dr Paul Blaschke, Ecologist, Otago University
Christian Catherine Gibbs, The Catholic Institute
Muslim Tahir Nawaz, President, International Muslim Association of NZ

The continuing degradation of the natural environment in which we live as human beings is a major issue in our world today.

What do the Abrahamic faith traditions affirm about our responsibility as human beings to care for the earth that our Creator has given us to live in?

Has the contemporary environmental crisis changed or developed the understandings within our faith traditions?

Do our faith traditions have a distinctive contribution to make to discussion of this issue in our contemporary secular western world?

Our three speakers will address the audience, after which we will hold a group discussion.  Light refreshements will be served.

Come to the event, and contribute to the conversation.

You can help us publicise this event by downloading, printing, and distributing our poster.
For more information, please contact Dave Moskovitz.

Update: You can either listen to or download the audio from this event.

Farewell to old friends, and hello to new ones

Dave Moskovitz

As the secular year draws to a close, we’ve had a few personnel changes at the Abrahamic Council.  Jenny Chalmers has stepped down as Christian Co-chair, as she has taken up a position as the Vicar at St Andrew’s Anglican Church in Taupo. Jenny will stay on as a member of the Council, although she will participate remotely most of the time. Taking up the position of Christian Co-chair is Ron Bennett, a Catholic Priest who has been on the Council for the last several years.

Sister Catherine Jones (Catholic) leaves us to take up a posting in London. We will miss her, as she has contributed so much to the Council over the years, and wish her well in her new position.

We also farewelled Father Aprem Pithyou from the Ancient Church of the East (Assyrian Orthodox) earlier in the year, who is retiring from the Council after many years of service. We will miss his gentle smile and keen perspective of someone who comes from a region where our religions meet in complex ways.

Nick Polaschek, a Catholic layperson who has published numerous articles in refereed journals on topics related to the delivery of health services, joins us as our newest Christian member.

We also welcome Marilyn Garson, our newest Jewish member. Marilyn has returned to Aotearoa recently from Gaza, where she worked most recently on a UN programme for creating jobs through business outsourcing. Prior to that, she established social enterprises and worked in economic development in Afghanistan, Cambodia, and American e-commerce.

So we have a number of new faces and new perspectives in the Council.

At this time, we’d like to wish all of our Christian friends a Merry Christmas, our Jewish friends a happy Chanukah, and to everyone a restful break to enjoy the summer in good spirits.

Abrahamic Council Condemns Anti-Semitic and Misogynist Statements

Dave Moskovitz

The Wellington Abrahamic Council of Jews, Christians and Muslims has totally rejected the intolerant anti-Semitic speeches of Auckland cleric Dr Mohammad Anwar Sahib. Such pronouncements are irresponsible, insensitive and hurtful to Jewish people.

“Our Council represents our religious communities in a common goal: to overcome the evils of prejudice, intolerance and discrimination between people of different religions and ethnicity,” said Sultan Eusoff, Muslim Co-Chair of the Wellington Abrahamic Council.

“Aotearoa New Zealand is a tolerant and peaceful nation. Divisive and misogynist teachings from any religious leader do not belong here”, said Dave Moskovitz, Jewish Co-Chair of the Council.

“The Council works together for religious harmony in New Zealand and therefore we stand together to unreservedly denounce statements denigrating other religions” said Mr Eusoff.

Mr Eusoff who is also the CEO of the Federation of Islamic Associations in New Zealand (FIANZ) added that Dr Sahib’s statements do not reflect mainstream thinking within the New Zealand Muslim community, and do not represent the position of FIANZ or any of its constituent organisations. “We’ve been working with Christians and Jews for years to improve relations, and have succeeded in doing so. We’re not going to let the rantings of one cleric destroy our achievement of making New Zealand one of the few countries that enjoys excellent relations between the organisations and people representing the Abrahamic faiths.”

In these difficult times, the Wellington Abrahamic Council calls for New Zealanders of all races and religions to rally together to build bridges across different ethnicities and help keep our country safe and secure for ourselves, our families and friends.

Mentors from our religions – as seen through the eyes of others

Dave Moskovitz

heart-iconPublic Meeting Announcement

Mentors from our religions –
as seen through the eyes of others

Temple Sinai, 147 Ghuznee St
Tuesday 20 September, 7pm

Speakers:
Rehanna Ali, Catherine Jones, and Adam Levy

Each speaker will discuss a contemporary figure from another Abrahamic religion who is inspirational to all.

All welcome.

You can help us publicise this event by downloading, printing, and distributing our poster.
For more information, please contact Dave Moskovitz.

Mercy in our sacred scriptures – audio and text

Dave Moskovitz

On Wednesday 18 May 2016, a public discussion was held at St Joseph’s Church in Mt Victoria, Wellington. There were three speakers: JoEllen Duckor from the Jewish Community, Sister Elizabeth Julian from the Christian Community, and Sultan Eusoff from the Muslim Community.

You can listen to JoEllen’s talk:

 

And Sultan’s talk:

 

Sister Elizabeth Julian preferred for her talk not to be recorded, but you can read the paper on which her talk was based: Mercy, the Beating Heart of the Bible.

 

Abrahamic Meditation Day 25 June

Dave Moskovitz

meditation

Meditation Day
Saturday 25 June 2016, 10am-3pm
Pā Maria, 78 Hobson St, Thorndon

Come join us for a day of meditation drawing from our shared spiritual kaupapa as Jews, Christians and Muslims. Facilitator Rev Erice Fairbrother from the House of Benedict Spirituality Centre will take us through a programme of silence, meditation, and shared reflection, bringing us together into places of shared faith and respect for the precious things we hold in common. We will take time to consider God as one God and Creator, followed by Creation and our response to the centrality of care of creation, and finally our shared humanity.

Rev Erice Fairbrother was part of an initial group that established the interfaith group at Otago University many years ago. In the 1990’s, together with Diane Mille-Keeley she presented a paper at the Auckland Council of Christian and Jews concerning domestic violence and the call to justice in our sacred writings. She now lives in Napier, is a published poet and teacher in spirituality in the Benedictine tradition.

Space is limited, RSVP essential to:
Sr Catherine Jones, c.jones@wn.catholic.org.nz, (04) 496 1337

Please Download a poster, and help us spread the word.

 

Two events about mercy

Dave Moskovitz

The New Zealand Catholic Bishops Committee for Interfaith Relations together with The Wellington Abrahamic Council of Jews Christians and Muslims warmly welcomes you to …

An Abrahamic Celebration of the Year of Mercy

The celebration will take place in two events:

A discussion on Mercy in our Sacred Scriptures
Wednesday 18 May, 6:30pm for a 7pm start
Pearce Room, St Joseph’s Church, Mt Victoria
Speakers: JoEllen Duckor (Jewish), Sister Elizabeth Julian (Christian) and Sultan Eusoff (Muslim)
There will be plenty of time for questions, reflections, and discussion after the speakers.
Entry by koha or donation of goods, eg flour, new winter socks, etc

After having heard the theoretical underpinnings, we have an opportunity to put this into practice at:

A Multi-Faith Service Day
Saturday 21 May, 9:30am – mid-afternoon (10am departure to outside jobs)
St Patrick’s Church Centre, 3 Childers Terrace, Kilbirnie
Lunch provided by the Wellington Islamic Centre

We’ll engage in activities such as baking some sweet treats for the Compassion Centre; preparing hygiene kits and toiletries for the Homeless Women’s Trust and Men’s Night Shelter; outside jobs – clean up and planting; possibility of visit to rest-homes.

You can help us publicise this event by downloading, printing, and distributing our poster.

For more information, please contact Sister Catherine Jones.

Prayers for Brussels

Dave Moskovitz

brussels

The Wellington Abrahamic Council of Jews, Christians and Muslims
And the Wellington Anglican Cathedral of St Paul invite you to

Interfaith Prayers and Readings for Brussels
Wednesday 30 March 2-3 pm
At Loaves and Fishes
Wellington Anglican Cathedral of St Paul
Cnr Hill St and Molesworth St

All welcome.

Feel free to download a poster, and help us promote this event.

Contact us for more info.

Religious approaches to inequality

Dave Moskovitz

Image credit: Tuca Vieira

Image credit: Tuca Vieira

The Wellington Abrahamic Council invites you to a public seminar:

What: Religious approaches to inequality
When: Wednesday 13 April, 7pm
Where: Wellington Islamic Centre, 7 Queens Drive, Kilbirnie

Speakers –
Carol Ratnam, Wellington Progressive Jewish Congregation
Bishop Justin Duckworth, Anglican Diocese of Wellington
Kerem Caliskan, Pearl of the Islands Foundation

Inequality has been around since biblical times – based on economic position, gender, race, and other factors. Our Abrahamic religions have approaches to inequality that have many similarities but significant and interesting differences. Come to this public seminar, and learn more about how religions can contribute to the public discourse about inequality.

You can also download a handsome poster to help publicise this event.

All welcome.