Christian Co-chair's Report
- The ratification of the Constitution and the Vision, Mission and Objectives (VMO) Statement were important tasks for the first part of 2006. The VMO Statement is a concise, helpful statement that will help us to publicise and promote the work of the Council. A special thanks goes to Michael Trainor for his careful drafting after much good listening to the broad discussions held on the Statement's content.
- The Forum Meetings planned for 2006 were particularly successful. We drew good numbers at every meeting with excellent discussion following the presentations. We were able to add numbers of interested people to our listing for public events participation. Thanks goes to Ron Hoenig for the extra efforts he put into the publicity of each event.
- In May, at Beit Shalom Synagogue, Ms. Geraldine Hawkes from the SACC and Sr. Kathy McEvoy described "Some Recent Experiences in visiting Israel".
- In June, at the Brighton Uniting Church, Dr. Lee Levett-Olsen and Ron Hoenig presented papers on "Fundamentalism in different Faiths: Building Fortresses of Fear".
- In August, at The Adelaide College of Divinity Campus, Dr. Leen Ritmeyer presented a visual presentation on "Archeology of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount".
- In October, at the Marion Churches of Christ, Mr. Stephen Watkins presented a paper on "Trancending the Story – informing and reflecting our diversity; breaking a good story is a journalist's dream, but is the story all we need from today's media".
I was pleased to write special letters:
- of thanks to Dr. Evan Zuesse on his move to Melbourne expressing again our gratitude for his great contribution to the formation and development of the Council
- congratulations to Dr. Michael Trainor on his recognition in the Australia Day Awards; and,
- condolence to Mr. Jack Hines on the death of his mother, Mrs. Hilda Hines, our esteemed Jewish Patron.
I believe 2007 offers us the opportunity to grow our Forum events even further by inviting people now on our e-mail/ postal contact list to continue their participation. Also, to present informative and helpful dialogue through the topics planned so as to consolidate both interest and understanding in the role of CCJ. And thirdly, such topics should be planned that develop further our study and reflection on faith and life issues and their contemporary relevance to our dialogue.
Finally, I would like to express my appreciation to Ron Hoenig and members of the Executive for the interest and commitment they have shown to CCJ activities in the past year.