Building Linking Community: Maroondah Interfaith Network

Maroondah Interfaith Network invites you to:

Building Linking Community | Building Community seminar series

Date: Saturday 20 February 2021      Time: 3pm to 5pm
Location: Online event https://alphacrucis.zoom.us/j/98049836654

Speaker:

• The Ven Chang Ji will speak from her experience as a representative of the Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhists at an international level and in the United Nations. Dr Bob Dixon will be with us again. He has been doing a special study of the Catholic Church and the lack of confidence that has arisen from sexual abuse issues. Fleur Creed will also be speaking. She is one of my students and is close to finishing her PhD on the ways in which local churches can build social capital in their communities. All three speakers will make important contributions to our thinking ... and to how our local religious organisations can build connections with our communities.

As we reconstruct our communities following the COVID-19 crisis, we must reflect on what sort of community we want to build. These seminars will help us in this process. 

It will be addressing how we build those bonding relationships with family and close friends which are the essence of supportive community life.

In each seminar four speakers from different traditions and contexts will speak to the topic, followed by discussion. The speakers will include:

• Chang Ji Fa Shi (Chen Buddhist)
• Assoc/Prof Bob Dixon (former director of the Catholic Pastoral Research Office)
• Ps Scott Hawkins (Urban Life, Ringwood)
• Rev Glenn Loughrey (National Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Anglican Commission and vicar St Oswald’s, Glen Waverley)
• Swami Sunishthananda (Vedanta Hindu Centre

Through these seminars we will seek to find what is common between our different traditions and backgrounds and understand our differences.

Building Linking Community

People also need links with organisations and institutions so that they are able to access the resources they offer. These include health, education, financial, emergency, retail and many other services. People need to be confident that these organisations will serve them well with their interests at heart. This seminar will explore how religious institutions can contribute to building communities in which there are strong links and trust in organisations.

For the link to join our Zoom discussion, email the chair of the Maroondah Interfaith Network: Prof Philip Hughes at maroondahinterfaith@gmail.com

The seminar series has been made possible by a grant from the Maroondah City Council.