Australian National Dialogue of Christians Muslims and Jews (ANDCMJ) 1 May 2019

On 1 May 2019, the 54th session of the ANDCMJ was held in Sydney. The Uniting Church Assembly kindly hosted the meeting of clergy and lay leaders from the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA), Australian Muslims from The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC), and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry(ECAJ). 

High on the agenda of the topics of mutual concern discussed was the proper response of religious communities and their leaders in Australia to lethal acts of violent extremism of the kind we have seen recently in Christchurch, Sri Lanka and San Diego.

April and May are significant months for all three Abrahamic faiths in their religious calendars. It is at this time of the year that important seasons are celebrated; the Jewish celebration of Passover, the Christian celebration of Easter and the Muslim celebration of Ramadan. As such the Dialogue members had an enlightening conversation regarding the significance of each of these. This was not only an opportunity to share but an important step towards better understanding each other.

Among those in attendance were: Jewish - Rabbi Ben Elton (The Great Synagogue, Sydney), Rabbi's Jeffrey Kamins and Jacqui Ninio (Emanuel Synagogue), Josie Lacey, Julie Nathan, Jeremy Jones and Peter Wertheim (ECAJ) Muslim - Sheikh Dr Amin Hady (Religious advisor to Australian Federation of Islamic Councils), Zubeda Raihman, Soofia Abbas  Christian - Bishop Philip Huggins (Anglican Archdiocese of Melbourne), Sr Trish Madigan (Catholic Church), Father Shenouda Mansour (Coptic Church), Rob Floyd (UCA), Ryan Epondulan (Catholic Church) Not present for this particular meeting was NCCA Interim General Secretary, Liz Stone.

Australian Partnership of Religious Organisations (APRO) 15 April 2019

Members of the Australian Partnership of Religious Organisations (APRO) attended a dialogue meeting on Monday 15 April. The meeting was hosted by the National Council of Churches in Australia at our Sydney office. 

Australian faith groups represented in the APRO group are Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Baha'i, Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu 

The meeting discussed an event to be organised later in the year. It is hoped to hold a National Religious Leaders' Roundtable in Canberra, about the role of faith leaders and faith communities in times of crisis. The involvement of a senior federal minister and policy makers from relevant federal government departments will be explored.

Participants at the APRO meeting, 15 April 2019