News Flash….
............................ Burma Crisis
News reports subsequent to Cyclone Nargis on 3rd May 2008 in military-controlled Burma indicate a burgeoning crisis. One source suggests the present figure of 20,000+ dead and hundreds of thousands missing could escalate rapidly to be one quarter million deceased before the crisis is over.
The fact that Burma has been isolated from the world by the ruling military junta in recent years makes assistance to the ravaged country that much more difficult. Military authorities did not admit outside help four years ago after the tsunami but in this case they are accepting assistance from friendly nations. So far, Australia seems to fit that category.
The Australian Commonwealth Government has promised $3 million assistance with the possibility of more to come. The European Union has offered Aus$3.50 million which might make Australia’s contribution sound reasonable but for the enormity of the crisis and the value of the package against the scale of assistance required.
The Augustinian Justice & Peace Office encourages Augustinian Ministries and Friends to contribute to the Caritas Australia response to Burma. Links on this site will take you to the Caritas press release. You can also visit the Sky TV presentation of the emerging crisis at http://news.sky.com and look for the Burma news item, or visit the Caritas website www.caritas.org.au.
So that all may have a sense of the growing total donation in our Province, Augustinian Parishes and schools are asked to keep the Brookvale Office aware of donations made. Please post Ministry contribution totals to paul.wilson@augustinians.org.au
To read a Press Release from Caritas Australia, click here.
Postscript of 9th May 2008: The Augustinian Justice and Peace Office (Sydney) has been in contact today with Caritas Australia, and was assured that donations received by them will enter Burma unimpeded because Caritas Australia assists the agencies of the Burmese church; no restrictions of the Burmese government are stopping this long-standing arrangement.
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.
Progress in Course Accreditation
An application for accreditation of two units of the Augustinian Justice and Peace Course (Volunteer Course) towards the Graduate Certificate in Theology at Broken Bay Institute (BBI), Sydney was submitted Tuesday 6th May 2008. A further two units of BBI material, possibly Theology and Scripture, would be needed before a candidate could complete the Certificate.
One of the units offered in the Volunteer Course would need to correspond roughly to a unit from BBI, possibly their Contextual Theology unit and be accepted as such. The other unit would be a stand-alone unit on Augustinian Spirituality for Justice, provided by the staff of the Augustinian Spirituality Centre at Greystanes. This unit is likely to attract other BBI students.
The units submitted to BBI on 6th May were “first draft” only, allowing both parties to make further comment. Staff of the Augustinian Justice & Peace Office will continue preparation to ensure a successful 2009 Volunteer Course.
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.
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