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Chapter Meeting Victor Harbor
Father Kelly's 'idea' explored

An exploration of the relevance of Father Kelly's 'idea' (as he called SSM and its work) that began at the Chapter Meeting in the Barossa Valley earlier in 2010, continued later in the year at the Chapter Meeting at Victor Harbor.

Geoff Pridham led a discussion around taking Father Kelly's thinking, and seeing how it applies to the present time, using Margaret Dewey's publication, 'An idea whose time has come'. Geoff posed 10 questions for the group, and two were addressed, with the remainder to be topics of study at future Chapter meetings.

More broadly, this meeting was another important step in the process of redefining Sacred Mission Australia and the core of its work.

'There is no doubt we're infused with a new sense of purpose as we chart our course for the next decade', says Christopher Myers/ 'The seeds of the future are in our hands.'

 

Provincials meet
Global links strengthened in 2010

Meetings between the Provincials in 2010 further strengthened links between the three Provinces of SSM. The first meeting took place after the Chapter Meeting in March. The second was a serendipitous coming together on the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels, called Michaelmas, in Lesotho, Southern Africa, in September. Michaelmas is the day when the brothers gather to honour their commitment to God and to each other and when new companions are formally welcomed.

 

Christopher Myers with the Bishop of Lesotho, the Right
Reverend Mallane Adam Taaso

 

2011 Chapter Meeting 11-17 July

Honouring John Lewis' Ministry as Bishop of North Queensland

 

Meetings, Victor Harbor
South Australian Chapter and Provincials

An evening mass celebrated at St Jude’s Port Elliot followed a local Chapter meeting at Victor Harbor on 11 March. Michael Lapsley, Provincial of the South Africa Province and Jonathan Ewer, Provincial of the European Province attended. The group then gathered at the Flying Fish seaside café, where conversations continued.

On the following day Father Christopher Myers, Provincial of the Southern Province (Australia), hosted a Provincials meeting also at Victor Harbor.

23–27 November 2009 Chapter Meeting,
Barossa Valley

Father Christopher Myers was elected Provincial at the Chapter Meeting in the Barossa Valley. He takes over from Father Matthew Dowsey who has served in the role for the past five years.

A session by the Right Reverend Dr Steven Pickard was a highlight of the meeting. Bishop Pickard spoke at length on Scott Cowdell’s book, Abiding faith: Christianity beyond certainty, anxiety and violence, which he reviewed recently. At the meeting he spoke of the book as ‘a deeply reflective and remarkable book on the nature of Christian faith, exploring how “having faith” has changed under the influence of modernity and post-modernity’.  He said the scholarly work ‘resonates with truth’, and went on to make special reference to Cowdell’s examination of ‘the homeless heart’, which he said touches a raw nerve, and the transforming reality of ‘abiding faith’.
 
After the session, Sacred Mission Australia members called for more discussion at a future meeting of these and other concepts examined in Scott Cowdell’s publication.

Cowdell, S 2009. Abiding faith: Christianity beyond certainty, anxiety and violence. Cascade Publications, USA.

A trio of launches
Right Reverend (Hurtle) John Lewis

Bishop John Lewis’ extended thesis Finding them where they are was launched in three states—South Australia, Victoria and Queensland, at which the Bishop of North Queensland, the Right Reverend William (Bill) Ray, officiated. This launch was the occasion for friends new and old to celebrate, as Bishop Hurtle John Lewis AM had served as Bishop of North Queensland from 1971 to 1996. The Very Reverend Archbishop Pillip Freier officiated in Melbourne and the Right Reverend Bishop Steven Pickard in Adelaide.

Finding them where they are details Bishop Lewis’ efforts in enlisting community and Indigenous leaders in the service of the church. It goes on to describe the personnel he engaged and the legacy left to the church at a time when there is a definitive crisis in seeking leadership and new values.

Book Launch Photos


(L)The Right Reverend John Lewis at the St James Cathedral, North Queensland. (R) William (Bill) Ray, Bishop of North Queensland and John Lewis

Publication Sales

Townsville Bulletin Article

An idea whose time has come?
Margaret Dewey

In this small publication, member Margaret Dewey (long-serving editor of the Society of the Sacred Mission) explores the relevance of Father Kelly’s thinking in the postmodern world of quantum physics. ‘It seems that Father Kelly’s idea of theology is an idea whose time has come. And his willingness to live with uncertainty and paradox, in loving trust in the God of paradoxes, is a way of discipleship for the post-modern age’, she writes.

An idea whos time has come was released with the March 2010 issue of Missio.