We began by asking Ted when he started getting "holy" in his life and in this introduction he provides some background to his previous life in business and goes on to explain how he and Ada became involved with Shalom.

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LINK: Conversation 02: Brian Coyne, Amanda McKenna and Ted Mason – Segment 1 [10m08s 2.32Mb]

“Then Helen and Neville (Bowers — the founders of Shalom) felt this very strong call to go to Carcoar, to re-open the convent, and make it a place where people could come to find strength or renew their relationship with God.” …Ted Mason

Ted explains the golden years of Shalom during the 70s, 80s and early 90s … the older people have died off and younger ones are 'not remotely interested' … the charism … the support of the bishops that made it possible…

IF NO MEDIA CONTROLLER IS VISIBLE ABOVE USE THIS LINK: Conversation 02: Brian Coyne, Amanda McKenna and Ted Mason – Segment 2 [11m48s 2.70Mb]

“What has happened — and it happened from day one — is we've had a very strong ecumenical influence here as well.”
…Ted Mason

“So they then gave Bathurst to Patrick Doherty and Frank Carroll brought him up for his induction – and of course, coming up from Canberra, you come up over the hill and see this tiny little village all tucked down here in the valley. Frank Carroll said to him 'don't ever forget that building you can see there is your powerhouse of prayer for your diocese.'” … Ted Mason

Ted on how the institution has handled the social changes of the last half century … this moves into a discussion of his experiences bringing up a family … and then into discusses he sees the Church needing to tackle

IF NO MEDIA CONTROLLER IS VISIBLE ABOVE USE THIS LINK: Conversation 02: Brian Coyne, Amanda McKenna and Ted Mason – Segment 3 [9m42s 2.22Mb]

“(Q: Will the Church be able to celebrate Masses at all these little country towns?) Oh, no, no, no — it's happening here already. (Q: So what's going to happen?) It'll probably collapse — eventually — certainly in the West. I don't have any doubt in the world about that. And I think it has to … and then it'll start again. So we still play around with this nonsense of women priests and married priest and whatever — the Church has the lamest excuses in the world for not handling those issues. Having said all that — those things are not going to save the Church. They've not saved the Anglican Church, or the Uniting Church.” …Ted Mason

A lost sense of "salvation" — the approach taken to helping people who came to Shalom — the importance of listening — two churches? — differences between women and men when it comes to spirituality

IF NO MEDIA CONTROLLER IS VISIBLE ABOVE USE THIS LINK: Conversation 02: Brian Coyne, Amanda McKenna and Ted Mason – Segment 4 [9m03s 2.07Mb]

“(Q. Why is it women?) …chuckles before responding… Men are too frightened (Q. You think?) Yes, that's my answer. (Q. What are they frightened of?) Men won't go inside — will not go and face the demon's inside. Women will. And women do it very effectively.”
…Ted Mason

The prayer life of the community at Shalom — centred on the Divine Office — how that came about.

IF NO MEDIA CONTROLLER IS VISIBLE ABOVE USE THIS LINK: Conversation 02: Brian Coyne, Amanda McKenna and Ted Mason – Segment 5 [11m19s 2.59Mb]

“We're now part of the parish of Blayney. The actual Mass we only get in on the second and fifth Sundays — that's the formal eucharist for the village … on a good day there's a congregation of 25-30, which isn't bad for a little town like this. But again it's the older type — there's no kids there. Whenever we've got a priest in the place — and that's often. 'Cause you get a lot of priests who want to do private retreats here. There's no phones, no television, no one knows where they are. It's magic for them because they can just veg out for three or four days. So we have Mass then in the house on a fairly regular basis.” …Ted Mason