As we approach this holiday season, I wish you best wishes for a happy Christmas and New Year, and thank you for your support during 2009.

Below is a photo which, I’d like to think, represents what the Multifaith Chaplaincy at Flinders stands for as we have endeavoured to “nurture spirit, build community” within the university and beyond.

It is the launch of the book Coming to Terms: Aboriginal Title in South Australia at the Mortlock Library on Monday by the Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG.

What saints and heroes are assembled here! What an aggregation of respect and understanding gathered in these lives! And what heartache at the hands of the narrow and mean-spirited!

The pain and the glory…

Our method at Flinders has been simple: first pay attention to our own religious traditions to nurture our own spirit, then nurture the spirits of our colleagues, so that together, we may consistently offer hospitable space to others, encouraging and building wholesome connections between people.

A dear Hindu student once challenged me: “If you do not have peace, we have nothing!”

We look forward to a new year using all our resources to support faith-friendliness and human flourishing.

“The glory of God is a human being fully alive.” Irenaeus