School Workshops & Events

WATAC offers workshops to High School groups on topics such as feminist theology, spirituality, inclusive language, images of God, women’s participation in church and society, feminist spiritual writers and thinkers. Schools can contact the administration officer to book one of the above workshops or to dialogue about other workshop possibilities for students in years 10 to 12.

WATAC also provides opportunities for senior students to listen to speakers, from other faith traditions as well as their own, speak on a variety of topics. In the past issues explored have been “Women’s Personal Faith Journey” and “ Women and Peace”. These forums are usually held twice a year at NSW Parliament House and include time for active questioning and dialogue with the speakers.

Senior students are also invited as WATAC guests to the Annual Luncheon at NSW Parliament House where once again they are exposed to a variety of speakers and topics within this beautiful venue.Students at Inter-Faith Dialogue in NSW Parliament House

Inter-Faith Dialogue in NSW Parliament House

On 18th April 2008, nearly two hundred people gathered in the Theatrette of NSW Parliament House to talk of World Peace. The venue was perfect, the participants and speakers were enthusiastic and highly involved, and the topic vitally relevant to us all, so how could it not have been a wonderful afternoon?

The Year 11 and 12 students, girls and boys, were from various Catholic Schools from Wollongong, Campbelltown and other local Sydney areas. The women speakers represented three faith traditions: Muslim, Jewish and Christian. They had been asked to explore the concept of Women and World Peace in terms of their faith tradition, looking at the concept from both a personal perspective as well as a global level.

The speakers were:

  • Ilona Lee AM is President of the Shalom Institute and an Executive Member of NSW Jewish Board of Deputies. Her background in teaching and her field of expertise is in multiculturalism. She was Director of Health Promotion and Multicultural Health for Eastern Sydney Area Health Service and is Board Member of OzHarvest.
  • Makiz Ansari is Research Assistant at the Faculty of Political Economy, Sydney Uni. Born in Afghanistan, Makiz is a young Muslim woman who grew up in Australia and is socially active in the area of inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue. She is one of the directors of the Affinity Intercultural Foundation.
  • Jan Barnett is a Josephite nun who is also a member of the WATAC Inc. Committee. Jan is a teacher who has been very involved in secondary and tertiary education. Currently, Jan is the national chaplain for the Australian Young Christian Workers and also works as a facilitator and consultant particularly with social justice groups.

Marie Andrews, member for Peats, was our Parliamentary Host who spoke briefly welcoming us to Parliament House. Both Marie and her staff have supported WATAC for many years, in enabling us to hold functions in Parliament House.

Helen Coles facilitated the session, inviting each speaker to address the topic "Women, Religion and Peace" for about ten minutes followed by a short question and answer forum to enable dialogue with students and speakers. This was a very effective process which kept all involved.

The second section of the session was an Open Forum where students were invited to ask questions of any or all of the speakers with the aim of encouraging real inter-faith thinking and questioning. Both students and speakers entered wholeheartedly into this process, with fascinating outcomes. There is little doubt that understanding and knowledge were truly developed through this precious moment of honest dialogue. Everyone in the room was exposed to "the challenge of possibility".

In 1960 Dag Hammarskjold wrote of world peace:

"Never, for the ‘sake of peace and quiet' deny your own experience or convictions…The pursuit of peace and progress cannot end in a few years in either victory or defeat. The pursuit of peace and progress, with its trials and its errors, its successes and its setbacks, can never be relaxed and never abandoned…. Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was".

Almost fifty years later, listening to the amazing and insightful questions of young women and men , and the honest and heartfelt responses of dedicated, passionate women steeped in their various religious tradition, I found myself in total agreement with Dag Hammarskjold. The "mountain" of world peace can and must be climbed and extraordinary and ordinary people are doing it together.

The last student question of the afternoon provoked intense speaker response, "What is one thing that your religious tradition could change to help move our world towards Peace?" How would you answer that?

It was a great session, the only limit to it was time, and as usual we ran out of it. We are planning another one on 23rd September, 2008. WATAC thanks everyone involved in this wonderful event.