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An update from Dr Gakavian and other news…
Dear Friends,
I'm not sure if it is my fault at this stage or Daniel's but the next instalment of his series has gone astray so I can't bring you the usual lead commentary today. Let me fill in with a little news via this e-Bulletin.
Update from Dr Armen Gakavian…
Firstly I received the following email from Dr Armen Gakavian yesterday providing an update on a family in Armenia he has been assisting. As most readers here might know, some of the members of the Catholica community have provided Dr Gakavian with financial assistance in his on-going humanitarian endeavours for a number of people in Armenia. The assistance is a small drop in the ocean when measured against the humanitarian needs of so many in the world. This email illustrates though how desperate the need is. Somehow this family has survived and it looks as though things might be turning around for them. Please keep Armen, and this family, in your thoughts and if you can spare some money for his endeavours I am sure it would be deeply appreciated. He can be contacted by email at: agakavian@nareg.com.au
You might also have noticed in one of the advertisements we're running on Catholica at the moment that Dr Gakavian is one of the keynote speakers at the Martin Luther King memorial to be held at Macquarie University on 5th April.
Dear Brian,
I trust you are well. It just occurred to me today that I had not updated you on the fate of the family who, as per my email below, had been evicted from their home.
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Dr Armen Gakavian |
They remained homeless for about 2 months, sleeping in the car and/or staying in whatever temporary accommodation they could find. They then rented a caravan.
In the meantime, Suzanne was offered a teaching job in the UK. They left a month ago and I just heard from her to say that they are settling in well and starting their new life there. I do not have any further details at this point, but hope to see them in May if I end up visiting the UK on my way to Armenia.
I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your sincere concern about the welfare of the Todd family. Please continue to pray that they will find peace, both outward (peace in circumstances) and, more importantly, inward (the peace that they will find only from Christ).
Warm regards,
Armen
I have a further email from Armen which I'll publish tomorrow which outlines a further appeal he is running.
Two items of a more personal nature:
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Photo of the cover to the new CD accompanying the hymnal superimposed with a photo of Amanda taken at the recent hugely successful Education Mass for the Diocese of Parramatta |
Amanda involved in As One Voice Hymnal Launch: This weekend my wife and creative partner, Amanda McKenna, is giving a series of workshops in the Broken Bay Diocese, along with a team from Willow Publishing on the new "As One Voice" hymnal which is in the process of being released. (There is a launch event for Broken Bay on Sunday which I hope to attend as well.) We do face an urgent task today in developing liturgies that really do "find the heart" of where God's people are at. For a very long time now people have been drifting away from Catholicism and I think it can be argued that a significant reason for that is that our liturgies today have simply not kept pace with the developments going on elsewhere in the world. There is enormous competition today from what I term "secular liturgies" that do somehow "express the hopes of their people" far better than Church liturgy seems to do today. The attempts of some in positions of authority to "turn back the clock" in the belief that it was Latin or Gregorian chant which was the appeal in a bygone era miss the mark by a long, long way. You cannot argue with these people though. They are not open to either the evidence, or to listening. Liturgy, if it is to work, has to somehow intersect with, and express, "the hopes of the people at large". No "central committee of any bureaucracy" is capable of developing liturgy. It has to come from artists who are given the pre-requisite freedom to "sit" with the people. Bureaucracies are very reluctant to provide that freedom. There are some in the institution though who seem to be re-discovering this key principle and we remain thankful for that. In some ways the entire "As One Voice" hymnal endeavour reflects that. It is not the officially endorsed hymnal in this nation but it has been taken up as the preferred resources in over 86% of parishes across the denominations. It has been a hugely successful endeavour for Willow Publishing over the last decade or two. I believe one of the reasons for its success is that it does better intersect with where the hopes and spiritual aspirations of the broad mass of the people are at.
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Photos of Ben and Adele. International "ambassadors" for their profession |
Two Coyne's representing their nation in a legal competition in Bangalore, India: The second piece of personal news is that my daughter-in-law, Adele Coyne (formerly Adele Nardizzi), is flying to Bangalore in India on the weekend to represent Australia in a competition for lawyers. Last year she was chosen as the Australian representative at the national competition in Canberra to represent this nation's legal profession in this competition at the international level. The competition itself, as I understand it, involves interviewing a client who has some legal challenge and preparing a legal brief based on the interview. A team of two young lawyers undertake the role of interviewing the client and preparing the brief. The process is judged by senior members of the profession as well as para-legal professionals such as psychologists, counsellors and others who might have particular expertise in the problem that is presented. Unfortunately the partner who helped Adele win the competition in Canberra is unable to make the trip to Bangalore and Adele nominated my son Ben, her brother-in-law, as a stand in as he is studying law at Southern Cross University in Lismore, NSW. After vetting by the organising committee, Ben was approved as the stand-in. Unfortunately Amanda and I are going to be the only members of my immediate family not present in Bangalore to witness the competition. We wish them all the very best for the competition. They "take the floor" next Thursday. Adele is now doing her Articles with the large firm of Lavan Legal in Perth and they have been supporting Adele in the preparations for this competition. Ben flew to Perth last Wednesday as both he and Adele have had to do much "swotting up" on the area of the law that they are told their case will be concerned with. The particular case remains a mystery to them until they meet "the client" but they are given a general guide as to what area of the law they need to be familiar with.
As I was preparing this e-Bulletin Daniel's commentary did finally turn up at 11.30 this morning. I will publish it as the lead commentary tomorrow. |
