BUILDING BRIDGES
Building Bridges Inter-Faith Dialogue in Schools Program 2009
‘Building Bridges creates an opportunity for young people from different schools to share their experiences of faith and life values with each other, and thereby grow in trust, understanding and respect for each other, enabling a more hopeful and peaceful future’. The Building Bridges through Inter-faith Dialogue in Schools Program involves Year 10 students from Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Islamic schools discussing issues of common interest, sharing personal stories, and comparing values and beliefs. The program is coordinated by Dr. Tim McCowan, the Director of Reconcilliation at the Wellsprings Centre in Ashburton and is supported by both the State and Federal governments.This highly successful program of interfaith dialogue is in its seventh year of operation and Kilbreda students have been participating in it since 2006.
The Year 10 students who are involved in 2009 are Mathilda Burton, Charlotte Gregory, Saihini Naidoo, Nikita Rodriguez, Nadia Russo, Kirrilly Simons and Megan Underwood.
The participating schools in the Southern Region this year are Caulfield Grammar, Kilbreda College, Kilvington Grammar, King David School, Mazenod College, Mt Hira Islamic College and Scotch College.
Students meet on six Tuesday evenings during Terms 2 and 3 at a different school each time, which allowed them to gain some insight into the structure and character of each of the participating schools. Each meeting involves informal and formal sessions and a light meal
and runs from 5 pm to 7.15 pm. Participants have a chance to share ideas and to compare beliefs and values through a range of activities, games and group discussions as well as during a vegetarian pizza meal. At the final all day gathering in Term 3 students from the region gather at Mazenod College and use creative writing, art, music, dance, and multi-media production to give expression to their belief that ‘what unites us is greater than what divides us'. The Interfaith program offers an enjoyable, sometimes challenging, and eye-opening experience for students. It often leads to genuine friendships with male and female students from different faiths in other schools and hopefully it succeeds in giving our students a clearer appreciation of their own faith and the Brigidine tradition.
Vince Beirne
RE Coordinator
Building Bridges Interfaith Group gathering at Kilbreda
Tuesday 26 May 2009
Kilbreda students recently played host to over 40 students from different faith backgrounds as part of our ongoing involvement in the Building Bridges Interfaith Dialogue In Schools Programme. A mix of Jewish, Muslim, Protestant and Catholic boys and girls from 6 different schools met as part of a series of discussion evenings in Terms 2 and 3.
It was certainly a lively gathering with large group activities in the Meeting room and small group discussions in the Year 11 classrooms. As usual, dinner was a high point, with pizza, sliced fruit, and ice cream going over very well indeed. It was great to see students from different faith backgrounds mixing in such a relaxed way, as they shared their values and beliefs and chatted about music, movies, school, and life in general.
Our future meetings are at the King David School (Jewish), Mt Hira College (Islamic), Caulfield Grammar (Protestant) and Mazenod College (Catholic).
Previous Articles
- Building Bridges Inter-faith Dialogue Final Meeting for 2008
The final meeting of the Building Bridges Inter-faith group was held on Thursday October 16 at Hawthorn Town Hall. It brought to a successful conclusion a program of evening meetings spread over two terms in which students from Jewish, Muslim, Protestant and Catholic schools met to discuss issues of interest and learn about other faiths and cultures. In the process strong friendships were formed and it is no exaggeration to say that our students learnt a great deal about themselves, their values and their own beliefs in the process.
Shruthi Mohanmurali, Alisi Falevan, Raychel Barailon, Priscilla Truong, Amruta Nandi, and Naomi Edirisuriya are to be congratulated for their involvement in the programme and their enthusiastic commitment to the Inter-faith dialogue.
Naomi Edirisuriya was asked to represent the Catholic schools involved in the programme by giving a short address to the audience at the public meeting on October 16. She did a terrific job and her speech is presented below. It really gives an insight into the benefits of the programme for all concerned.
‘This year our school theme has been “Celebrate God’s abundant goodness,” I can think of few better ways than Building Bridges Through interfaith Dialogue (in school program) to live out that theme. In a world torn by strife of all kinds, including religious extremism and cultural suspicion.
I knew little about Judaism, Islam and of the different branches of Christianity but I have learnt that we are all part of one society. I even leant we also have many things in common. For example: our conversations, the delicious vegetarian pizza was always the highlight of the night. Just the idea of coming together and eating is a simple but fabulous one. But apart from the food we found many other common interests including music, hobbies and maybe even crazy dance routines.
We look forward to continuing Kilbreda’s involvement in the Building Bridges Inter-faith program for a fourth year in 2009.
Vince Beirne.
(Yr 10 - 12 REC)
- Building Bridges Inter-Faith Dialogue in Schools Program 2008
The Building Bridges Interfaith Dialogue In Schools Program creates an opportunity for young people from different Melbourne schools to share their faith and life values with each other, and thereby grow in trust, understanding and respect for each other, enabling a more hopeful and peaceful future for all.
The program involves Year 10 students from Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Islamic schools discussing issues of common interest, sharing personal stories and comparing values and beliefs. It is coordinated by Dr. Tim McCowan, the Director of Reconciliation at the Wellsprings Centre in Ashburton and is supported by both the State and Federal governments.
This highly successful program of interfaith dialogue is in its sixth year of operation and Kilbreda students participated for the first time in 2006. The participating colleges in the Southern Region in 2008 are Kilbreda College, Mazenod College, Scotch College, Kilvington BGGS, King David School, and Mt. Hira School.
Students meet on five Tuesday evenings during Terms 2 and 3 at a different school each time, which allows them to gain some insight into the structure and character of each of the participating schools. Each meeting involved informal and formal sessions and a light meal and runs from 5 - 7.30 pm. Participants have a chance to share ideas and to compare beliefs and values through a range of activities, games and discussion groups as well as during a vegetarian pizza meal. At the final all day gathering in Term 3 students from the region gather and use creative writing, art, music, dance, and multi-media production to give expression to their belief that ‘what unites us is greater than what divides us'.
Congratulations to the six Yr 10 students chosen to participate in this years Building Bridges Interfaith Program: Raychel Barallon, Priscilla Truong, Naomi Edirisuriya, Shruthi Mohanmurali, Amruta Nandi, and Alisi Falevai.
- Religious Education Interfaith Dialogue - August 2007
After participating in 5 evening interfaith gatherings last term, on 21 August, Blessing Mayowe, Maddie Buck, Sheridan Dunstan and I went to Mazenod Catholic College for the ‘Building Bridges through Interfaith Dialogue’
activity day.
We started at roughly 9.30am and were greeted warmly by the Mazenod College Catholic boys, King David Jewish school girls and Minaret College Muslim boys and girls.
We started with a short game then moved onto group
activities, including Photography, Creative Writing, Theatre Sports and Art. The activities ran for about an hour, then it was recess time. Mazenod kindly supplied us with
muffins, choc chip cookies and orange juice - delicious! After about 15 minutes of talking and eating, we went back to our activities for an hour and a half. Then came
lunchtime and a game of soccer, Mazenod vs Everyone Else. The final score…..’Everyone Else’ won!
As we came to the last part of our day, it was ‘show and tell’ time which involved each group teaching the others a song, dance or prayer significant to their religion. That was lots of fun, especially the dancing. At about 3pm we said our goodbyes and left to come back to school just in time to catch the train.
Interfaith Dialogue / Building Bridges has been a terrific opportunity to make new friends from different religions, learn about their beliefs and life issues and to clarify our own in the process. I strongly encourage other students to give it a go in Yr 10!
Meagan Donohoe 10/54
- Building Bridges Update - 28th June 2007
These are a few recent comments from students:
'We began pretty nervously, like strangers really, but it’s good to catch up with each other now at the sessions.'
'The warm up games are fun and very rowdy, but they kind of link into the theme of the evening.'
'Our small group sessions are pretty informal. They’ve got much more open and involve more and more sharing about life, what we believe and personal interests.'
'The vegetarian pizzas, fruit and biscuits always disappear in a flash.'
'I’ve made good friends here - it is fun and I’m learning heaps.'
'Can we meet more often? How about 5 times next term, too?'
'The others are just like us - they even listen to some of the same music!'
It is a group with a big name and with a big aim, but its success in building bridges of tolerance and understanding amongst young people of different faiths is clear for all to see.
Congratulations to our Year 10 participants: Madeleine Buck, Meagan Donohue,
Sheridan Dunstan, Blessing Mayowe and Jis Mampallil.
Vince Beirne,
Religious Education (Curriculum) Coordinator
- Kilbreda's Participation in 2006
Last year's students found it a wonderful, sometimes challenging, and often eye-opening experience which led to genuine friendships with male and female students from different faiths in other schools.
Year 10 students Lucy Williams, Caitlin Bence and Nadine Edirisuriya participated in evening meetings, held over five weeks. Four students were invited to address State parliamentarians, including the Premier Mr. Steve Bracks, and representatives of the different religions in the community, at a luncheon in State Parliament. Nadine Edirisuriya was one of these students. Each spoke enthusiastically and eloquently about the program and the benefits of interacting with students of their own age from diverse religious and cultural backgrounds. Parliamentarians were so impressed by the students' three-minute addresses that they decided to read them in State Parliament and enter them into Hansard.
On 15 August at Methodist Ladies College over 100 students from four faith groups and ten Melbourne secondary schools joined in the program's final joint session. Using creative writing, art, music, drama, and multi-media production, they gave expression to their belief that ‘what unites us is greater than what divides us'. At the end of the day, each school received an olive tree in a pot decorated by the students with symbols of peace, love and understanding.
The worth of this program of interfaith dialogue is perhaps best summed up by a line from Nadine Edirisuriya's speech: ‘We found that while there are many faiths, we all share a common humanity. '
- Inter-Faith Dialogue in Schools Program
‘Building Bridges creates an opportunity for young people from different schools to share their experiences of faith and life values with each other, and thereby grow in trust, understanding and respect for each other, enabling a more hopeful and peaceful future'.
The Building Bridges through Inter-faith Dialogue in Schools program involves Year 10 and 11 students from Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Islamic schools discussing issues of common interest, sharing personal stories and comparing values and beliefs. The program is coordinated by Dr. Tim McCowan, the Director of Reconcilliation at the Wellsprings Centre in Ashburton and is supported by both the State and Federal governments.
This highly successful program of interfaith dialogue is in its fifth year of operation and Kilbreda students participated for the first time in 2006. The Year 10 students participating in 2007 are Madeleine Buck, Megan Donohue, Sheridan Dunstan, Blessing Mayowe and Jis Mampallil. The participating colleges in the Southern Region this year are King David, Kilbreda, Mazenod, Minaret, Scotch and Xavier.
Students meet on 5 Tuesday evenings in Term 2 and at an all day gathering in Term 3. The second Building Bridges Interfaith Dialogue meeting of 2007 was held at Kilbreda College on Tuesday May 1. Each meeting involves informal and formal sessions and a light meal and runs from 5.30 - 8.30 pm. Participants share ideas through activities, discussion and a meal and while they do not have to know a lot about their own or other faiths in order to take part, they do need to be open to learning about other cultures, traditions, values and beliefs.
*More information will be provided here about the Building Bridges program when it becomes available throughout the year.
