Pace e Bene Australia has been busy spreading the seeds of nonviolence. Here are updates on the work in Australia, organized by region.

New South Wales

We are very happy to say that we currently have both an Engage programme and a From Violence to Wholeness programme running. The FVTW with a youth group is co-facilitated by John Dacey and Justin Whelan and the Engage group is going through the new book to trial it and develop experience in facilitation. Each meeting is being facilitated by a different member of the group. We are also beginning to develop links and introduce our organisation to other local groups. Justin, Gill and Fr Peter Maher have had a couple of meetings to develop ideas for the visit to Sydney of Fr. John Dear.

Western Australia - Perth

Ann Graham and Ann Semaan have been working through the PEACE GROWS program and have begun to adapt it for local use in Perth parishes or small groups - they both like the format and process - and believe it will be very useful as a follow-up to FVTW. The two Ann’s have also been invited to trial a new Pace E Bene program called Traveling With the Turtle - a ten-part program for women who wish to explore the FVTW/Engage journey. Further information from Ann Graham (agraham@argo.net.au ) or Ann Semaan (semaana@hotmail.com). Brendan and Jarrod are currently planning to host their first Engage program in the Perth area – ten sessions starting THURSDAY JUNE 1, 700-930pm at Scripture Union Centre in MT Hawthorn.

South Australia

In 2004 From Violence to Wholeness had been co-facilitated by Vikki Waller and Des O’Grady, in 2005 Brendan McKeague offered an Open Space workshop on a ‘Beyond Fear’ theme and immediately after the national gathering, a non-violence workshop was presented in Adelaide led by Ken Butigan. With the help of the DOV group, in May 2006 another workshop on ‘Beyond Fear: Creating a Culture of Peace’ led by Brendan McKeague was attended by 34. It proved very popular and was a collaborative effort by all those involved. Some of the participants in that workshop are now looking at how best they may familiarize themselves with the ‘Engage’ program. With the help of a partial grant from the Percy Cole Foundation, S.A. hopes to be the first of the States hosting a three day residential Facilitator training workshop (at a venue yet to be determined) from October 5 -8th, 2006

Victoria - Warnambool

The tyranny of distance and lack of personal contact with other groups is proving a stumbling block for the Victorian Representative of Pace e Bene Australia, Bob Myers, especially in taking advantage of the John Dear visit in 2007. Bob lives in Warrnambool, which is a beautiful place but a long way from the main population centres, so he needs to hear from people who are interested in being part of Pace e Bene Australia, and from anyone keen to arrange for Victorians to have the chance to hear, and be inspired by, John Dear as he speaks on his passion for nonviolence.

Queensland

Amazing news from fellow Qld’er Sharon Layton - Sharon did some extensive traveling at the end of 2005 and is off to Ireland to do an internship at the Glencree Reconciliation Centre in July. We wish you well Sharon. You are such a blessing for the forwarding of peace. We will look forward to you returning home though.

ACT- Canberra

Margaret Bearlin (mbearlin@bigpond.net.au) writes from Canberra:
“Other news from Canberra is that a group of us, 9 women in all, have been piloting, (together with 5 other groups in the US), the version of Engage being developed for women by Cindy Preston Pile and Irene Woodward: Traveling with the Turtle: A Small group Process in Women’s Spirituality and Peacemaking. We have just completed the 12 week program. It was a great adventure, a privilege and quite demanding. We are greatly inspired by the experience and feel we are just beginning the journey. Much peace and love to you all…”

These updates were coordinated by the Pace e Bene Australia National Committee, which was formed at the Pace e Bene Gathering at Pallotti in Nov/Dec 2005.

Members of the committee:

Western Australia:
Brendan McKeague brendanmckeague@paceebene.org Jarrod McKenna oi_jarrod@hotmail.com

Victoria:
Bob Myers bobmyers@iprimus.com.au

New South Wales:
Gill Burrows gill.burrows@madtechnology.net

Queensland:
Carole Powell peacedove@bigpond.com

South Australia:
Des O’Grady cfc ogrady.d@bigpond.net.au