INDIGENOUS EDUCATION: (Conference day3) Torres Strait Theological Islands Educator, Mrs Lala Leftwich, and Aboriginal delegate, Rev Gloria Shipp, facilitate the mornings sessions. Each of them reporting on the current state of the institutions dedicated to providing indigenous theological training. The conference also took time to begin discussions and thinking of ways they might help or contribute to aiding the under resourced ministers and unpaid clergy.
TALKING CIRCLES: (Conference day2) delegates spend day two of the conference discussing and delving into their indigenous struggles. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island participants launched the days sessions with morning dreamtime. Reverends Wayne Connolly and Elemo Tapim shared some of the toils and achievements of their life journeys before retired Aboriginal Bishop, Arthur Malcolm, gave his reflections on the past 20 years of his ministry. The rest of the day was spent in deliberation as dedicated focus groups of elders, youth, women, theologians, clergy, and staff met.
BUSINESS TIME: (Conference day1) AIN delegates from the Torres Strait Islands, Australia, Aotearoa, Canada, and the USA convene the networks 12th gathering at the Collaroy Convention Centre, Sydney. Delegations were straight onto the business of delivering their oral reports after a light-hearted two hour round of introductions. Indigenous minorities dealing with issues sharing re-occurring themes of violence, alcoholism, lack of education, and the continued failure to achieve cultural recognition. Their evening session dedicated to the recent natural disasters that rocked New Zealand, Australia, and areas of the USA “Breakthrough the Earthquake, Wind and Fire,” with Bishop John Gray, Bishop James Leftwich, Elder Frank Oberly, and co.
Delegation Reports:
