Orientale Lumen Australasia & Oceania III

It is with great pleasure that I remind everyone that the third Orientale Lumen Conference for Australasia and Oceania will be held September 26-29, 2007 at St. Patrick’s Campus of Australian Catholic University in Melbourne, Australia.  Following the pattern of the US conferences, this meeting brings together many different Catholic and Orthodox traditions for prayer, education and fellowship.  The theme of the conference will be “The Life in Christ.”  Father Lawrence Cross, the organizer of this conference, does a wonderful job providing the same kind of program that we do with other OL conferences, and I commend his efforts.

One of the principal keynot speakers will be Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev of the Russian Orthodox Church from Vienna, Austria.  An original musical composition of Bishop Hilarion’s will also be performed during the conference. 

Other speakers include: Rev. Columba Stewart, OSB, St John’s School of Theology, Collegeville, Minnesota, USA; Dr. Mary Cunningham, University of Nottingham, England; Dr. Abraham Terian, St Nersess Armenian Seminary, New York, USA; Archimandrite Serge Keleher, Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, Dublin, Ireland (and editor of Eastern Churches Journal); Prof. Geoffrey Hull, University of Western Sydney, Australia;  Dr. Mary Marrocco, Canadian Council of Churches, Canada.  The moderator will be Rev. Dr. John Henderson, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, Sydney, Australia.  This stellar lineup of speakers will surely provide an exciting program of presentations and discussion.

I just wish I could be there!  Unfortunately, other work-related commitments and church events in the US during this week prevent me from making the trip, which I so very much enjoyed for the first two conferences in 2000 and 2003.

I encourage anyone interested in the Eastern Churches and the ecumenical dialogue among them to attend.

More information can be found at the conference website:   http://www.orientale-lumen.com.au/