......

Introducing….

Augustinian Volunteers Australia

“For an Augustinian, no one is a stranger.”
Motto of U.S. Augustinian Volunteers

Beginnings

Augustinians value friendship as an essential element of their way of life. Fellowship with friends motivated Augustine in part in his establishment of a lay community of friends which strove to live the Gospel. Relations between people were central to Augustine’s life. The same love which motivated him in his monastic community was the genesis of the acceptance he showed to all in his life as bishop of Hippo in North Africa.

From slaves to suffering free men and women, from heretics to abandoned women, children and the poor, Augustine was required to provide comfort, financial assistance, reproof when needed and guidance for troubled marriages. He knew, for much of his life, the earthy threads of human existence which slowly grind at peoples’ capacity to live full and healthy lives. In the face of these daily troubles, Augustine displayed the compassion considered a hallmark of the Christian from the time of Jesus.

Ministry in the 21st Century

In the United States today, where the Augustinian Volunteer movement has flourished, Volunteers live in lay communities and assist in Augustinian ministries which nourish those in need. In poorer schools and downtown parishes in the States, in AIDs related ministries in Africa, Volunteers attempt to emulate Augustine’s friendly concern for the needy and the stranger. And they return at day’s end to a community of peers who live Augustine’s way of life that is still centred on the friendship of the followers of Jesus. 

The year 2008 has seen the introduction of Augustinian Volunteers, already so well-developed in the United States, to Australia. The movement promises to be just as enthusiastically received in Australia. The group has had an auspicious beginning in the suburbs of Western Sydney in providing service over a number of volunteer agencies.

Australian Volunteers in 2008

In February 2008, Augustinian Volunteers Australia was launched with a group of five part-time co-workers. These three women and two men offered their assistance to Church ministries in the poorer suburbs of Western Sydney. This was subsequent to a formation course which included an immersion experience in that same region of Sydney.

Already other agencies in that area have requested the service of Augustinian Volunteers. Eventually the Augustinian Volunteers foresee a time when they will develop a ministry which is uniquely theirs, and when Augustinian Volunteers Australia will also operate in other parts of Australia.

Your Assistance

On behalf of Australian Augustinian Province, Mr Paul Wilson is the executive officer of the Augustinian Justice and Peace Office in Sydney. He has recently issued a survey for young adults about what ministry and living arrangements they would prefer for Augustinian Volunteers Australia.

To participate in this survey, you are invited to click here.

For Survey results, click here.

Further news

To read news of the progress of the present group of Augustinian Volunteers Australia, click here.

There is always social justice material available on the Augustinian international website. Go to www.osanet.org

Contact:

Paul Wilson, c/- St Augustine’s Priory, P.O. Box 679 Brookvale NSW,  2100, Australia. Mobile phone: 0438 646 294.

Email: paul.wilson@augustinians.org.au

Website: www.augustinians.org.au

Fr Brian Fitzpatrick O.S.A.
Province Social Justice Coordinator.