Airport chaplaincy has a long and varied history in Australia and New Zealand. The first chaplaincies began in Melbourne and Sydney as part of industrial mission then spread to the other airports around Australia and across the Tasman to Auckland and Christchurch in New Zealand. Since the early 1970’s Australian airport chaplains have regularly attended IACAC conferences and played an active part in the Association hosting a total of five conferences to date. This year the October conference will be the sixth held in Australia and fifth in Melbourne.
Continue reading “Airport Chaplaincy Down Under”January 2019 Newsletter
Happy New Year! (If January 1st is where you mark the beginning of a new year, of course). I could equally use the same greeting in February for Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese New Year, in March for those celebrating the new Hindu year – Vikram samvat, those Balinese Hindus observing Nyepi, or those celebrating Nowruz, the Persian New Year (originating in Zoroastrianism, but widely celebrated by those of different faiths across Western and Central Asia, the Caucasus, Black Sea Basin, and the Balkans). Or, we could wait until April for Vaisakhi, the Sikh new year and Songkran the new year festival in Thailand, Laos, and some other parts of Southeast Asia. Or, if your resolution fails midsummer, you can celebrate the Muslim new year in August or observe Rosh Hashanah in September with our Jewish brothers and sisters. Of course, maybe you never converted from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian – in which case I shall wait until March 25…!
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