Recent Events
The Anne Roder Memorial Lecture was held on Sun 11th April
“Seeking the Sacred in our Multifaith World.” with DR. VAL WEBB, B.A., B. Sc, Honors, Ph.D. Theology.
Seeking the Sacred is a common search across religions and the world. By focusing on what we experience as human beings living in this world, rather than various humanly-constructed doctrines and beliefs that divide us from each other, we can share with those from faith traditions other than our own (or none) our questions, tentative answers, rituals and longing for transformation. Material for this presentation comes from Dr. Val Webb’s new book Stepping out with the Sacred; human attempts to engage the Divine, available at the end of 2010.
Val’s professional career spans microbiology, business, public relations, writing, art and theology. She was born and educated in Brisbane, obtaining a graduate degree in Microbiology from the University of Queensland and working there in research. She completed her Ph. D. in Theology at Luther Seminary, St Paul, Minnesota in 1996. Val has taught religious studies at the University of Minnesota and Augsburg College in the United States and at Whitley College, Melbourne, Murdoch University, Perth and United Theological College, Sydney in Australia. Her latest book Like Catching Water in a Net: Human Attempts to Describe the Divine was published by Continuum New York and London in October 2007, winning the “general religion” category of the USA Best Books 2007 Awards. Val and her husband have returned to Mudgee, NSW. From there, Val continues to write, teach and conduct workshops. In July 2009, she was a speaker at the Adelaide Festival of Ideas and in 2010 will also speak at Common Dreams 2 in Melbourne.
Brigidfest
We gathered again on February 1st to celebrate the feast of Brigid with the weaving of her crosses. Pictured are Aunty Josie Aguis, Aunty Dora Hunter and Angela Moloney. Aunty Josie welcomed us to the land in the Kaurna language and then translated so that we knew what she had said.
Launch of Robyn Cadwallader’s poetry book:
“I painted unafraid”
What a pleasure it was to be at the launch of Robyn Cadwallader’s first book of poetry on a mild Sunday afternoon at Writers’ Week.
Robyn’s manuscript, I painted unafraid won the Single Poet series competition run by Friendly Street Poets in 2009 and has been published by Wakefield Press. As I listened to Robyn read her poetry I remembered our times together in the Women’s Writing and Liturgy Writing groups at Sophia and our conversations about poetry and efforts to be published. I felt so pleased that Robyn’s distinctive perception and eloquent writing had gained wider recognition.
Robyn has recently moved to the countryside outside of Canberra where she is enjoying gardening and continuing with her writing. Let’s hope many more poems are to come. I painted unafraid will soon be in the Sophia Library.
Here is the first verse of Robyn’s poem, The moment:
in the beginning god groaned
belly deep
panted hard and pushed
legs spread limitless and long
birthing earth from black and starry womb
dividing body from body
Fiona Johnston
Unifem Breakfast
Sophia was represented at the Unifem Breakfast this year on Friday March 5th. Ten of us braved the pre-dawn chill to make our way into the city at 6.30am for a 7am start (!) and met up at the Sophia table exchanging transport and parking stories over coffee and juices.
Sally Sara, ABC foreign correspondent, was guest speaker and she is inspiring. She spoke about growing up a South Australian country girl and honoured her family, including her 90yr old ‘Pop’, who were present and told us a little of her background before becoming a foreign news journalist.
She is an intelligent, astute woman who understands the danger often around her but is not foolhardy. She displayed understanding of the political aspects of people’s lives but with compassion and respect. Along with reference to inspiring women she has met in the field, she told the story of her sister-in-law, a courageous and joyful young woman who recently died of breast cancer and how she, Sally, has been inspired by her especially.
It was an amazing start to the day—2,300 breakfasting women being energized and sent out to continue the work towards justice in every way in our lives.
Frances Clare
Millenium Development Goals: Empowering Women to End Poverty by 2015
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Achieve universal primary education.
Promote gender equality and empower women
Reduce child mortality
Improve maternal health
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Ensure environmental sustainability
Develop a global partnership for development