Hand-made help
Some homeless Tasmanians have slept warmer and drier this winter thanks to an innovative joint project between UnitingCare Tasmania and female prisoners at Tasmania Prison Service.
Initially the inmates aimed at producing soft toys from waste material collected by UnitingCare’s Op Shops. This project soon changed direction when it was realised that the Queensland-produced swags made available for the homeless ...
ARPA
The contribution of Crosslight was recognised at the 40th annual Australasian Religious Press Association conference in Canberra last month. Our publication won the gold award for best editorial. ‘Australia’s shame’, written by executive editor Penny Mulvey, was described as a “powerful, topical, and well-researched piece”.
Keynote speaker, Mark Sayers, senior leader of Red Church in Melbourne, and co-founder of Uber ...
Christians from the rubble in Gaza and the West Bank
At the memorial service for 70-year-old Jalila Ayyad, killed when an Israeli missile hit her home in Gaza, Archbishop Alexios said: “Another human being, an innocent one, has lost her life.” The historic Greek Orthodox Church where she belonged was also sheltering 1000 Palestinians, mostly Muslims, made homeless by Israel’s military assault. So her coffin was carried out by both ...
New theological college unveiled
The new face in theological education, the Pilgrim Theological College, has been launched at the current gathering of the Uniting Church in Australia’s Victoria and Tasmania Synod.
It follows a decision to close the United Faculty of Theology at the end of this year.
The UFT was formed in 1969 as an ecumenical partnership between the precursor ...
Frontier Services celebrates 102 years in the bush
Media Release –
Friday, 26 September, marks the 102nd anniversary of Rev John Flynn being commissioned to head the Australian Inland Mission.
Flynn’s vision was to spread across the Inland a ‘Mantle of Safety’, bringing aviation, radio, medicine, spiritual comfort, gladness and rejoicing to the lonely and isolated people of the outback.
Synod gathering to debate a range of issues
The 11th meeting of the Uniting Church’s Synod of Victoria and Tasmania will be held at La Trobe University, in Bundoora, from September 19-24.
Over the six days of the gathering about 300 Synod members will receive and discuss more than 50 reports as well as a range of proposals from presbyteries, congregations, and Church commissions.
Free at last
The Uniting Church in Australia joyfully welcomes the safe release of the 45 Fijian peacekeepers serving in the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) on the border of Israel and Syria.
The peacekeepers, referred to as the Golan 45, safely crossed into Israeli-held territory on Thursday, having been held captive by Islamist militants for two weeks.
This mother and daughter were among thousands to flee the Islamic State after militants overtook Iraq’s second city of Mosul, finding shelter and clean water at a temporary displacement camp next to a Kurdish checkpoint in Kalak, Iraq. This edition of Crosslight is dedicated to children both here in Australia and around the world who are innocent victims of ...
The future of peacemaking
By Chip Henriss
Pax Christi, an organisation that has for more than 40 years played a vital role in promoting issues of peace and disarmament, is looking to its future.
Its dedicated members, who have engaged with issues such as the Vietnam War, nuclear ...
‘We’ll Love Muslims 100 years’
Uniting Church leaders from across Australia joined interfaith and ecumenical friends last month in a statement of solidarity with Australia’s Muslim community.
Uniting Church in Australia President Rev Professor Andrew Dutney was one of more than 150 faith and community leaders who declared: ‘We’ll Love Muslims 100 Years.’
The statement is a reference to the banner headline in the Weekend ...
International concerns
The Uniting Church in Australia has expressed its deep concern at the continuing persecution of Christian minorities throughout the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and Syria.
The President of the Uniting Church in Australia, Rev Professor Andrew Dutney, said the communities were being impacted by war or directly persecuted to the point of annihilation.