Peter Singer - Whose Song Sheet Is He Singing From?

David Mansfield was the speaker at our second breakfast meeting on 9 March 2010 and spoke on Peter Singer’s latest book “The Life You Can Save”. David began his talk with three questions: Who Is Peter Singer? What Does He Believe And Teach? and Why Bother With Him? The rest of his talk was addressing these issues and ended up saying “For very different reasons and from a very different songbook, we may find ourselves singing the same song as Peter Singer in saying that 24,000 children dying from preventable causes is a social evil we just cannot turn a blind eye to anymore.”

If you are interested in receiving a copy of David’s talk please email enquiries@abau.org.au.

The next breakfast meeting is on 23 March 2010 at St Andrew’s House and the speaker is Alfred Olwa, Dean of the School of Theology and Divinity at the Ugandan Christian University. His topic is Islam or Christianity, the Battle for Ugandan Hearts and Minds. RSVP by 19 March on enquiries@abau.org.au.

Archbishop of Sydney's Chile Earthquake Appeal

A magnitude 8.8 earthquake hit Chile at 3.35am local time on Saturday 27 February. Within two and a half hours of the earthquake 11 aftershocks were recorded. Five of these registered 6.0 on the Richter scale. The epicentre was 325 km southwest of the capital in the moderately populated region of Bio-Bio in central Chile.

The death toll is over 800 and countrywide about 1.5 million Chileans were affected and 500,000 homes severely damaged.

Our diocese has very close connections with the Diocese of Chile through our CMS Missionaries, Chileans who have studied at Moore College, and with the Chilean Diocesan Leadership.

Archbishop Jensen has been monitoring the situation with the Primate of the Province, Archbishop Greg Venables, and the Bishop of Chile, Tito Zavala and has launched an appeal to assist those affected by the earthquake.

Now is the time to help, and give generously to the Archbishop of Sydney’s ‘Relief to Victims in Chile’ Appeal. Your gift to The Archbishop’s Overseas Relief and Aid Fund (ORAF) will enable the Bishop of Chile to provide ongoing assistance to those hardest hit and in greatest need. Donations can be made through the website www.abau.org.au/donations or on 1800 653 903.

Office Relocation to the City

Our team has now relocated to St Andrew’s House in the city. Our new address is: PO Box Q190, QVB Post Office NSW 1230 and the new telephone number is 9284 1406. The email address stays the same.

Wishing all a Joyful New Year for 2010

As the year draws to a close we have a moment to pause and reflect on what the year has been. Like most years 2009 has had its ups and downs. On the up side David was appointed as Director and has been able to visit many Anglican parishes to talk about our work. Another positive is that we maintained our funding commitment to the projects for the 2009/10 year. On the down side our donations have dropped which will mean that we will not be able to fund as many activities as we would like in 2010/11 year.

2010 will be another interesting year full of challenges as well as opportunities. We are pleased that Bettina will be joining us as our Donor Relations Officer and it is likely that we will be moving into St Andrew’s House in the centre of Sydney. All positive!

From the staff (Suzanne, David, Joanna and Bettina) we wish all our supporters a joyful New Year.

Visit by Bernard Suwa, Executive Director of ACROSS

We were delighted to have Bernard Suwa visited us this week. ORAF has been working with ACROSS for the last few years and it was good to hear of the progress being achieved in Southern Sudan.

Across is an interdenominational, international Christian organisation focused on Sudan with an emphasis on training. It was founded in 1972 and today it operates in partnership with Sudanese Evangelical churches. The head office is located in Nairobi, Kenya and a liaison office in Juba, Southern Sudan. Its focus is Christian transformational development, mainly through training projects.

Uganda: Kyabyoma Community-Based Skills Training Project

This project is a part of a wider effort to improve the physical, socio-economic and spiritual welfare of a community in Kamwenge District, Uganda. The overriding aim of the program is to increase household income through the provision of training in skills which can be used within the community to generate income and improve the overall standards of living.

ORAF is pleased to partner with the local NGO, Toro Intergrated Childcare, for this three year project.

ORAF's Appeal - Message from the Archbishop

India’s Disabled and Desperate Children are in Your Hands.

India not only has a teeming population, but massive challenges for children with disabilities and hardship, like Mariam ….

As I’m sure you can imagine, India’s poverty is a huge barrier to a child’s future and their opportunity for an education, but one in ten children also face the added obstacle of a disability – children like Mariam, a little 8 year old girl with seizures.

Please throw your support behind this appeal for the Archbishop’s Overseas Relief and Aid Fund – and for our ongoing work through partnerships like these.

You may like to consider joining the Archbishop’s Monthly Partners in Care, regular friends who stand by our ongoing work, knowing that the love of Christ needs to be sown every month of the year!

Yours sincerely

Peter F Jensen
Archbishop of Sydney

To make a donation please visit: http://www.abau.org.au/ or phone: 1800 653 903