Dharmapeople Latest News : May 2009   NASACRE : Recruitment and Training Programme (East, South-East, South-West) Cultural : The Many Faces of Buddhism : LONDON •various venues • 25 April - 17 May 2009 Interfaith : MESSAGE TO BUDDHISTS FOR THE FEAST OF VESAKH/HANAMATSURI 2009, PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE Pandemic Flu guidelines and FCCC minutes ~ 0 ~ NASACRE : Recruitment and Training Programme (East, South-East, South-West) You may be aware that NASACRE has received funding from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Curriculum Cohesion Unit to develop its recruitment and training programme designed to build SACRE capacity.  This funding is phased over two years and the second year is about to commence. The programme will be focused principally on filling vacancies on Group A in the East of England, in the South East and the South West. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England_regions) You will find information on what a SACRE (Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education) does on the National SACRE web site : www.nasacre.org.uk You might also want to have a look at the following documents :  http://www.dharmapeople.com/ftp/SACRE_RE/NASACRE/NASACRE_training.htm, and http://www.dharmapeople.com/ftp/SACRE_RE/Lewisham_SACRE.doc If you or someone in your group would like to become Buddhist Representative on your local Authority SACRE , and you live in one of the mentioned Regions please let me know as soon as possible, sending me any details about yourself and your experience that would enable your local authority to make on informed decision about your application  : please send it to  mmarcigaglia(_at_)yahoo.co.uk where the (_at_) stands for @;   Maraiano M. , Tel 020 72520804 (evenings and weekends) Cultural : The Many Faces of Buddhism LONDON •various venues • 25 April - 17 May 2009 The Many Faces of Buddhism – a city-wide celebration of Buddhist ideas and values through the arts. It is sponsored by The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation whose new Gallery of Asian Buddhist Sculptures at the V&A opens on 29 April. A series of arts events including an International forum on Buddhism and the Arts Today and A Day of Rare Buddhist Dances will be held at the V&A in celebration of the Gallery inauguration while International Buddhist Film Festival (IBFF 2009) will take place at East London’s cultural hub The Barbican. These programmes include: 25 April: An International Forum on Buddhism and The Arts Today 29 April: Buddhist Sacred Dance Traditions - A Talk by Joseph Houseal 29 April: The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Gallery opens 1 May: A Day of Rare Buddhist Dances 7 - 17 May: International Buddhist Film Festival For more details : http://www.rhfamilyfoundation.org/manyfaces Interfaith : MESSAGE TO BUDDHISTS FOR THE FEAST OF VESAKH/HANAMATSURI 2009, PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE Witnessing to a spirit of Poverty, Christians & Buddhists in Dialogue Dear Buddhist friends, 1. The forthcoming feast of Vesakh offers a welcome occasion to send you, on behalf of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, our sincere congratulations and cordial best wishes: may this feast once again bring joy and serenity to the hearts of all Buddhists throughout the world. This annual celebration offers Catholics an opportunity to exchange greetings with our Buddhist friends and neighbours, and in this way to strengthen the existing bonds of friendship and to create new ones. These ties of cordiality allow us to share with each other our joys, hopes and spiritual treasures. 2. While renewing our sense of closeness to Buddhists in this period, it becomes clearer and clearer that together we are able not only to contribute, in fidelity to our respective spiritual traditions, to the well-being of our own communities, but also to the human community of the world. We keenly feel the challenge before us all represented, on the one hand, by the ever more extensive phenomenon of poverty in its various forms and, on the other hand, by the unbridled pursuit of material possessions and the pervasive shadow of consumerism. 3. As recently stated by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in his New Year homily, poverty can be of two very different types, namely, a poverty “to be chosen” and a poverty “to be fought”. For a Christian, the poverty to be chosen is that which allows one to tread in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. By doing so a Christian becomes disposed to receive the graces of Christ, who for our sake became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty we might become rich (2 Corinthians 8, 9). We understand this poverty to mean above all an emptying of self, but we also see it as an acceptance of ourselves as we are, with our talents and our limitations. Such poverty creates in Christians a willingness to listen to God and to our brothers and sisters, being open to them and respecting them as individuals. We value all creation, including the accomplishments of human work, but we are directed to do so in freedom and with gratitude, care and respect, enjoining a spirit of detachment which allows us to use the goods of this world as though we had nothing and yet possessed all things (2 Corinthians 6, 10). 4. At the same time, as Pope Benedict noted, “there is an undesirable poverty, a deprivation, which should be fought; a poverty that prevents people and families from living as befits their dignity; a poverty that offends justice and equality and that, as such, threatens peaceful co-existence.” Furthermore, “in advanced wealthy societies, there is evidence of marginalization, as well as affective, moral, and spiritual poverty, seen in people whose interior lives are disoriented and who experience various forms of malaise despite their economic prosperity” (Message for World Day of Peace 2009, n.2). 5. Whereas we as Catholics reflect in this way on the meaning of poverty, we are also attentive to your spiritual experience, dear Buddhist friends. We wish to thank you for your inspiring witness of non-attachment and contentment. Monks, nuns, and many lay devotees among you embrace a poverty "to be chosen" that spiritually nourishes the human heart, substantially enriching life with a deeper insight into the meaning of existence, and sustaining commitment to promoting the goodwill of the whole human community. Once again allow us to express our heartfelt greetings and to wish all of you a Happy Feast of Vesakh. Jean-Louis Cardinal Tauran, President Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata, Secretary Pandemic Flu guidelines and FCCC minutes From: Warwick Hawkins  Sent: Friday, May 01, 2009 1:59 PM Subject: Pandemic Flu guidelines and FCCC minutes Dear FCCC members, If an influenza (flu) pandemic happens in the UK, everyone will need to play a part in managing how it affects our society. At such a time, faith communities have an important role to play in victim support. Strong leadership from faith communities is vital when large scale incidents trigger concerns about social cohesion. Moreover, large scale fatalities raise specific issues for faith communities that need to be addressed. Communities and Local Government has now re-issued a document, Faith Communities and Pandemic Flu: Guidance for faith communities and local influenza pandemic committees, which is intended to provide valuable guidance on the faith dimension of a flu pandemic. It provides tools and a roadmap for good practice, and should be read alongside the more general emergency planning guidance Key Communities, Key Resources: Faith Communities and Civil Resilience. (June 2008) Both documents can be found at this link - http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/influenzapandemic .   The revised guidance (May 2009) updates previous guidance (issued June 2008) on the same issue. As you know, it was initially drafted by a working group of the Council under the chairmanship of John Devine, along with representatives of the Church of England, Methodist Church, British Muslim Forum, Hindu Council UK, Sikhs in England, Agency for Jewish Education and the Inter Faith Network for the UK. The revised version has been drawn up over several months and in consultation with the FCCC working group and with other Government Departments including Cabinet Office and the Department of Health. Certain sections, for instance on infection control, have been updated to bring them into line with the latest Department of Health guidance. Although the guidance has not been developed as a direct response to the present outbreak of swine flu in Mexico and elsewhere, the current situation may make it particularly relevant to those to whom it is aimed. I also attach, for your information, the minutes of the last full FCCC meeting. We are about to embark on the review process and will be in touch about this in due course. In the meantime, please let me know if there are any issues you would like to raise at the 9th June meeting. <<Minutes of the 10th Meeting - FCCC - 160309 - FINAL - YPB.doc>> Best wishes, Warwick (Secretary) Warwick Hawkins Head of Faith Communities Engagement Cohesion and Faiths Division Communities and Local Government 020 7944 0530