Aboriginal elder and church leaders welcome Living Letters team to Australia

[WCC NEWS: WCC media <noreply@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches - News

ABORIGINAL ELDER AND CHURCH LEADERS WELCOME LIVING LETTERS TEAM TO
AUSTRALIA

For immediate release: 13 September 2010


A Living Letters (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=c84cc22e357603e09992 ) team 
travelling on behalf of
the World Council of Churches (WCC)  was welcomed to Darwin in the
Northern Territory of Australia by a Larrakia elder and regional 
church
leaders.

"I thank you for the respect you show us, the traditional custodians 
of the
land we stand on today," elder Cathie Wilson told the international
visitors, Sunday night.

The Larrakia People are the traditional owners of the land and waters 
of
the Greater Darwin Region, she explained, "and although our boundaries
extend up to 50 kilometres in land we are often referred to as 
saltwater
people".

"We thank and praise God for the gift of this beautiful country and 
for its
first inhabitants. May we care for this land and for one another in a 
way
that is pleasing to God our creator," Wilson added.

The Living Letters team is visiting Australia at the invitation of the
National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) and the National
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ecumenical Commission 
(NATSIEC), 12
- 17 September.

The invitation was extended to show solidarity with Aboriginal people 
and
to share insights and helpful approaches to achieving just peace.
Specifically, the visitors will listen to Aboriginal people's 
experiences
of the 2007 "Northern Territory Emergency Response" – locally known as
the "Intervention" – and other social justice issues.

During the Sunday evening event, Bishop Eugene Hurley, Roman Catholic
bishop of the Northern Territory said, "We welcome the Living Letters 
team
and hope that this visit shines a light on the human rights issues 
that
Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory struggle with on a daily
basis. It is also an opportunity for the team to learn from the 
beauty of
our local cultures."

Anglican Bishop Greg Thompson agreed and said, "The Living Letters 
team is
here to listen to the voices of Aboriginal people who are so often
silenced and excluded from the decisions and debate about issues that
affect their lives. This is an opportunity to hear their voices."

Wendell Flentje, moderator of the Northern Synod of the Uniting 
Church in
Australia said, "Our hope is that this international team can stand in
solidarity with Northern Territory Aborigines and tell the world, and 
the
general Australia community, about the difficult issues they face 
here."

Living Letters teams are small ecumenical teams which visit a country 
to
listen, learn, share approaches and challenges in overcoming violence 
and
in peace making, and to pray together for peace in the community and 
in
the world, team leader Maria Chavez Quispe explained.

Chávez, a member of Bolivia's Aymara people, is the WCC consultant for
indigenous issues. "We hope our presence in Australia will show the
Aboriginal people that they are not alone and that we are here to 
listen
to them and to take their message to other Australians and the
international community," she said.

The Living Letters team will visit communities throughout the Northern
Territory. A media conference will be held on Friday, 17 September, 
at the
Harbour Room, Anglican Cathedral, Darwin at 12.00, followed by a 
public
forum at 12.30 p.m. to present the team’s initial observations.


The Living Letters team is composed of:
International delegates:
* Ms Hera Rere Clarke, WCC Central Committee member, New Zealand, 
Anglican
* Ms Renée Grounds, United Methodist Commission on Religion and
Race, United States
* Dr Hanna Grace, Egypt, Coptic Orthodox
* Rev. Dr Mindawati Perangin-Angin, WCC Central Committee member,
Indonesia, Karo Batak Protestant Church
* Fr Rex Reyes, general secretary of the National Council of
Churches in the Philippines, Episcopal
* Rev. Dr Anthony Dancer, Social Justice Commission of the Anglican 
Church
in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia (accompanying member)


Local delegates:
* Ms Georgia Corowa, coordinator, Queensland  Churches Together 
Indigenous
People's Partnership
* Rev. Sealin Garlett, deputy chair of the NATSIEC Commission,
Uniting Church in Australia


WCC and NATSIEC-NCCA staff:
* Mr Graeme Mundine, NATSIEC-NCCA (local coordinator)
* Ms Maria Chavez Quispe, WCC (team leader)



Media contact: Ms Gabrielle Russell-Mundine, NATSIEC-NCCA, 
+61-419.23.87.88
or grussell[at]ncca.org.au (Link: grussell@ncca.org.au )

More information on WCC work with Indigenous Peoples  (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=fd6461ea00a3c5c1c76a )

More information on the visit to Australia (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=17e10d8eccd93d316ddf )

Daily updates will be posted on the NATSIEC blog (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=224715d36709fec30465 )


The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, 
witness 
and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship 
of 
churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 
Protestant, 
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 
million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the 
Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse 
Tveit, 
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, 
Switzerland.



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