IARF    U.S. Chapter Newsletter Volume 13 Issue 2                                                  Summer 2012

 

 
U.S. Chapter Board

Harold French, Chair      Orlanda Brugnola      Sarah Corbett     

Betsy Darr    Sri Kota      Francie Markham      Judy Young

 

 Liaisons

Doris Hunter- to the Council     Sue Nichols- to the U.N.

Judy HIghfill- to the IALRW 

 

 Advisors

Koichi Barrish, WA     John Berthrong, MA     Eric Cherry, MA

Budd Friend-Jones, IL  Abhi Janamanchi, FL     Roy Kaplan, FL 

Richard Kellaway, MA  Kay Lindahl, CA     Gale Maynard, MA

Nyla McCulloch, MA  Peter Richardson, MA, William Schulz, MA Robert Traer, CA

 

Website:  IARFUS.org

 A brand new format . . .
 for our chapter newsletter!  Since I am sending about 250 copies by email and fewer than 20 by mail, it makes sense to me to use an email format for the newsletter.  I have chosen a format similar to the one my church uses.  I hope you like it!     As always, your comments, favorable or critical, are very welcome. Ed.
 
IARF Council, meeting in Japan.
  

IARF Council report

The Rev. Doris Hunter, the US Chapter representative to the council, participated in the work of the council meeting. The agenda included determining the location of the coming congress in 2014 (decision yet to be finalized), budget-making, support for human rights projects, and committee formation and tasks. Two commissions were approved, Person to Person Encounters and Peace Making. President Mitsuo Miyake presided over the meeting. The Konko-kyo Shrine offered gracious hospitality for the meeting.
Hal in India
Hal and Rannie French with Thomas Matthew
IARF Surprises in India

The occasion for my eighth visit to India was to offer a Maymester course, "Treasures of India, North and South," to 14 Honors College students.  My wife, Rannie, and Pallavi from the Honors College, joined us.  Fabulous India shared its splendors with us, from spending time in Parmarth Niketan, a large ashram in Rishikesh (and white-water rafting on the Ganges above it!), to visiting the incredible Taj Mahal, to riding elephants in the South. 

But contacts with IARF people in Kochi and Madurai were splendid surprises. Thomas Mathew and his assistant, Abin Vincent, traveled 120 kilometers to meet with us in Kochi, bringing gifts and sharing accounts of the work of the South Asian Chapter of the IARF.  Rev. Mathew, who attended our conference in 2010 in Clearwater, is the former IARF International President. 

Then when we went to Madurai, site of the famous Meenakshi Temple, Brother Albert Xaviour and V. Rengapashyam had arranged a reception for us at a college there.  We were surprised to be greeted enthusiastically by a drum corps, escorted into an auditorium of some 150 people, mostly students and staff of the college, and treated to an elaborate program which involved our students with theirs, and dinner following!  Rev. Albert heads the RFYN programs in India and V. Rengapashyam is on the IARF Council. 

In each of these contacts, I was amazed to see the extent of the IARF and RFYN work in South Asia, to share in their warm hospitality, and to experience the reality of interfaith connections generally.  Our students shared with me in these two memorable evenings.  We are part of a highly significant international movement.

One further reflection: We were privileged to visit three sites connected with Mahatma Gandhi.  And when we visited a spice market where several of our group bought sandalwood products, I was reminded of the proverb, "The sandalwood tree perfumes the ax that cuts it down." Non-violence for violence: a cherished Gandhian insight that is so much needed today.

 


NAIN logo
NAIN CONNECT 2012

from Hal French.  One of our IARF U.S. Chapter's stated activities is that we "work together with other interfaith groups on common concerns."  To that end, we have been dues-paying members of the North American Interfaith Network for some years.  As our representative, I attended the annual NAIN Connect in Atlanta, held from July 15-18 this year.

NAIN, which has been meeting since 1988, is a gathering of local and national interfaith groups, which meet to share resources and to report on activities which might be of interest to other organizations.  I've been a member since 1996, and have attended most of their meetings since then.

This year, as is usually the case, the host city highlighted work being done in their locale. Particular attention was given to civil rights this year, with speakers on that subject such as Andrew Young and C.T. Vivian of the SCLC.  We also made visits to the Martin Luther King Center, the Ebenezer Church where King preached, Morehouse College Chapel, the Carter Center, noted African-American churches, and other centers of different faith traditions. Atlanta clearly has credentials to be recognized as the historic center of civil rights activity in the United States.

One of the featured presenters was one of our Advisors, Kay Lindahl, who led a group on Sacred Listening, as she had at our meeting in Hilton Head in February.  Kay, a former NAIN President, also led those gathered in a very lively interactive opening session.

Next year's meeting will be in Toronto in August, and we might cooperate with our Canadian IARF colleagues in promoting that event.  I found a great deal of valuable information from this year's session, and am glad that our IARF chapter encourages our members to be involved in this significant interfaith organization.
Unitarian Church--Marosvasahely

News of related organizations

The rather new International Convocation of Unitarian Universalist Women is holding their second convocation in Marosvasahely, Transylvania, from October 4 to October 7 this year. (Please forgive the lack of diacritical marks in the Hungarian name.) Presenters will include Margot Adler, UU of NPR fame, Barbara Kres Beach, president of the ICUUW, Kathy Matsui, president of the IALRW, and distinguished European women, among others.  Women at the 2010 IARF Congress raved about the first convocation. 

The South Asia Coordinating Council of the IARF, which does such fine work in human rights education, has proudly 
unveiled a new website.  Take a look at South Asia's updated website.
 
The Pakistan chapter has recently been quite active, and shares its activities on an active Facebook page.  You can find them on Facebook at Iarf Pakistan.
 
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