Father Rod has become something of an institution in Australia in recent years thanks to social media. He is the master of the pithy comment. Many, many love him. Many, many loathe him. I am pretty certain that to-day's comment (the Islamic equivalent of Merry Christmas or Happy New Year for Christians) will drive the fanatics and the bigots nuts. However, that doesn't both Father Rod. Go here and you will find a mass of his epigrams for people to enjoy or be driven nutty.But he won't be stopped!
If you want something a little bit longer and meatier than Father Rod's succinct signage, you can get his sermons. They are erudite and meatier and you can get a feel for the man himself in action. People sometimes wonder out aloud what Father Rod's boss, the Bishop, thinks of all this. First of all, I think everyone in the Diocese of Newcastle is used to all this. Second of all, thanks to electronic media, he has acquired as much or more fame than Jesus did in His day and - what is more - he uses it wisely and well.
So, please join me and many other Australians tonight at 9.35pm. Father Rod - or to give him his precise title the Venerable Rod Bower - when he appears on the ABC current affairs television program, Q and A.
Interfaith
Friendship Is the Boldest Way to Defy Extremists
Posted: 01/09/2015
3:46 pm EST Updated: 01/09/2015 3:59 pm EST
Its
Saturday night in Paris and a live band jams on stage, encouraging the audience
to sing and dance along with their music. A quite ordinary scene, apart from
tonight the lead singer is a Christian and his backing singers, two young men
with their arms draped over each other's shoulders, one of them is Muslim, and
the other is Jewish. As for me, I am a British Quaker dancing in the middle of
an Orthodox Christian from Romania and a Pagan from the Basque country. And I'm
grateful for the diverse globalized world which gives me nights like this one.
But that Saturday night in Paris took place at the start of last November.
Since
then, we have witnessed a very dark winter here in Europe. A steady rise in
far-right nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiments has led to violent attacks
on mosques in Sweden and anti-Islam marches across German cities, meanwhile
reports suggest that Antisemitism in Europe is higher than it's been in years.
And now, in Paris, a horrific act of terrorism. In response to the Paris attacks,
reports of grenades thrown at the city's mosques demonstrate the level of anger
some feel towards these events. And it is perfectly natural to feel angry when
faced with a situation one cannot understand. Yet when in the history of human
civilization has a violent response to violence, of hatred towards hatred, ever
created a wholly positive result?
I'm
certainly not the first, nor will I be the last, to point out that the angry,
hate-filled actions of terrorists and those of the far-right perpetuate the
same response: division and deep mistrust. In a bitter-sweet and ironic turn
the opposing actions of these two extremes continually add fuel to each other's
arguments. The good news is that these extremes remain very much in the
minority. There are over 4.7 million Muslims in France but four men were
involved in Wednesday's attacks. And whilst a handful of French people have
retaliated with violence towards Muslims, hundreds and thousands took to the
streets of Paris and other European cities in a show of defiance; in a display
of unity, togetherness, solidarity. Those who believe in finding a way to live
together, side-by-side with our diversity, remain the majority. But we need to
be a vocal majority; an active majority. Although we must also ensure that we
are an inclusive, respectful majority, ready to explore our differences with
mutual open-mindedness.
My personal response to the rise of
extremism -- of all types -- across Europe is to continue to try and build
bridges of understanding between different religious and non-religious
communities; to find a way for each person to recognize our shared humanity, as
first and beyond the other labels we take on and are given. The evening of
music I describe above was the finale to the last interfaith conference I was
involved in, and it took place in central Paris. There I met and worked with an
incredible group of young French activists from the organizationCoexisterwhich
works to create dialogue and foster solidarity between young people from
different faith backgrounds. They are truly an inspiring group, working in a
hostile environment and achieving incredible results.
You are welcome at Ballarat Interfaith Network.
You may belong to a faith tradition.
You may have an informal spirituality.
You may not be a person of faith or spirituality.
Everyone is welcome to join in the conversations & friendship
across religious boundaries in #Ballarat.
Please contact us at ballaratinterfaithnetwork@gmail.com
Social communication over the past two decades has been transformed by innovation and technology. Ballarat Interfaith Network has recently put its toe into the social media pond - and is interested in what faith figures have to say about these new forms of communication:
Here is the translation of the communique released by the Holy See explaining the theme chosen by Pope Francis for the 48th World Day of Social Communication which will be held next year.
* * * Communication at the service of an authentic culture of encounter
The capacity to communicate is at the heart of what it means to be human. It is in and through our communication that we are able to meet and encounter at a meaningful level other people, express who we are, what we think and believe, how we wish to live and, perhaps more importantly, to come to know those with whom we are called to live. Such communication calls for honesty, mutual respect and a commitment to learn from each other.
It requires a capacity to know how to dialogue respectfully with the truth of others. It is often what might be perceived initially as ‘difference’ in the other that reveals the richness of our humanity. It is the discovery of the other that enables us to learn the truth of who we are ourselves.
In our modern era, a new culture is developing advanced by technology, and communication is in a sense "amplified" and "continuous". We are called to "rediscover, through the means of social communication as well as by personal contact, the beauty that is at the heart of our existence and journey, the beauty of faith and of the beauty of the encounter with Christ." (Address of Pope Francis to participants at the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, 21 September 2013).
In this context, each one of us should accept the challenge to be authentic by witnessing to values, Christian identity, cultural experiences, expressed with a new language and shared with others.
Our ability to communicate, reflected in our participation in the creative, communicative and unifying Trinitarian Love, is a gift which allows us to grow in personal relationships, which are a blessing in our lives, and to find in dialogue a response to those divisions that create tensions within communities and between nations.
The age of globalization is making communication possible even in the most remote parts of the world, but it is also important "to use modern technologies and social networks in such a way as to reveal a presence that listens, converses and encourages." (Address of Pope Francis to participants at the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, 21 September 2013), so that nobody is excluded.
The Message for World Communications Day 2014 will explore the potential of communication, especially in a networked and connected world, to bring people closer to each other and to co-operate in the task of building a more just world.
World Communications Day, the only worldwide celebration called for by the Second Vatican Council ("Inter Mirifica", 1963), is celebrated in most countries, on the recommendation of the bishops of the world, on the Sunday before Pentecost (June 1st in 2014).
The Holy Father’s message for World Communications Day is traditionally published in conjunction with the Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, patron of writers (January 24).
