Coventry 2010
The 2010 conference attracted some internationally-renowned keynote speakers on the theme of peace, reconciliation and social justice.
While engaging with the theory and practice of peace, reconciliation and social justice we took a trip to the National Holocaust Centre in Nottinghamshire.
The evening timetable promised meals and experiences to tantalise the taste buds and the imagination. We met the Mayor of Coventry, had our traditional European market in the medieval Guild hall, experienced a traditional English roast and dined in style for the final formal dinner. We will also had a medieval banquet at Warwick Castle - which allowed delegates to express themselves with suitable costumes!
While engaging with the theory and practice of peace, reconciliation and social justice we took a trip to the National Holocaust Centre in Nottinghamshire.
The evening timetable promised meals and experiences to tantalise the taste buds and the imagination. We met the Mayor of Coventry, had our traditional European market in the medieval Guild hall, experienced a traditional English roast and dined in style for the final formal dinner. We will also had a medieval banquet at Warwick Castle - which allowed delegates to express themselves with suitable costumes!
The conference in pictures...
The Keynote Speakers
Kathy Galloway - "A religious perspective on peacemaking"
Kathy Galloway is the Head of Christian Aid Scotland. Previously she served a seven-year term as the Leader of the Iona Community, the first woman to be elected to the post and before that, she worked for Church Action on Poverty as their Linkworker for Scotland. A practical theologian, campaigner and writer, the major focus of her work has always been peacemaking and social justice issues, especially relating to poverty and gender.
She is the author of ten books of theology, liturgy and poetry, and her writings have been widely anthologised. She is a patron of the Student Christian Movement and the Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre, which she started in 1981, and has been a consultant for, among others, the World Council of Churches, the Lambeth Conference and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. She has travelled widely and spent six weeks travelling in the USA in 2001 as an International Peacemaker with the Presbyterian Church, USA. She was one of 1000 women worldwide who were collectively nominated for the Nobel Peace prize in 2005.
She is the author of ten books of theology, liturgy and poetry, and her writings have been widely anthologised. She is a patron of the Student Christian Movement and the Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre, which she started in 1981, and has been a consultant for, among others, the World Council of Churches, the Lambeth Conference and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. She has travelled widely and spent six weeks travelling in the USA in 2001 as an International Peacemaker with the Presbyterian Church, USA. She was one of 1000 women worldwide who were collectively nominated for the Nobel Peace prize in 2005.
Canon Andrew White - "Iraq Searching for Hope"
Canon Andrew White is known as the vicar of Baghdad. He has worked at St George’s church, the only Anglican Church in Iraq, since 2005 and says there is nowhere he would rather be. Andrew White’s long association with Iraq began in 1998 when he was directing the International Centre for Reconciliation (ICR) at Coventry Cathedral and considering the question: Which were the nations with whom we have to work towards reconciliation now? High on the list was Iraq.
The Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East was set up by Canon Andrew White in 2005 to continue the important work in the Middle East that he started whilst serving as the Director of Coventry Cathedral’s International Centre for Reconciliation. Canon White remains the President and CEO of the FRRME and provides the energy, vision and strategy that keeps the Foundation driving forward and at the cutting edge of life in the Middle East.
Recognition: Canon Andrew White’s dedication to the pursuit of peace is internationally recognised. Honours conferred include:
The Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East was set up by Canon Andrew White in 2005 to continue the important work in the Middle East that he started whilst serving as the Director of Coventry Cathedral’s International Centre for Reconciliation. Canon White remains the President and CEO of the FRRME and provides the energy, vision and strategy that keeps the Foundation driving forward and at the cutting edge of life in the Middle East.
Recognition: Canon Andrew White’s dedication to the pursuit of peace is internationally recognised. Honours conferred include:
- International Sternberg Prize
- The US Government Cross of Valor
- The International Council of Christians and Jews (ICCJ) Prize for Sustained Intellectual Contribution to Jewish Christian Relations
- The Three Faith’s Forum Prize for Inter-Faith Relations (2003)
- Tanenbaum Peacemaker in Action Prize (2005)
- In 2003 made a Grand Commander of the Order of Merit of the Knights Templar of Jerusalem Woolf Institute Peace Prize (2007)
- Companion of the Community of Cross and Nails from Coventry Cathedral for his work on reconciliation in Israel and Iraq
- “The Vicar of Baghdad”
- “Iraq Searching for Hope”
- “Iraq, People of Hope and Land of Despair”,
- and co-authored "By The Rivers of Babylon" with Hope Jones.
Canon David Porter - "The Elusive Quest: Reconciliation in a
World of Difference"
Since September 2008 David Porter has been the Canon Director for Reconciliation Ministry at Coventry Cathedral, England. An experienced community relations activist, peacebuilding practitioner and community theologian David has thirty years experience in regional, national and international faith based organisations.
In June 2007 he was appointed by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to the independent Consultative Group on the Past, to advise the British government on dealing with the legacy of the conflict in Northern Ireland. Their report was published in January 2009.
In 1987 he co-founded ECONI which until 2005 acted as a catalyst for Evangelical Protestant involvement in the Northern Ireland peace process. Becoming its first full time Director, from 1996 he was responsible for policy and programme development. A political activist he contributed to media and government on key issues in the political and peace processes and to ongoing public policy debate on good relations, equality and human rights. Prior to this he was Community Relations Co-ordinator with the YMCA in Belfast and until recently he was Director of the Centre for Contemporary Christianity in Ireland, a faith based research, training and resource organisation.
As a practitioner David is widely experienced in peacebuilding, group facilitation and training and has developed and managed a number of major social research and publishing projects. He has particular expertise in political mediation and track-two dialogue. He was both part of an ongoing private dialogue with Irish Republican leaders and an advisor on the Loyalist Commission which brought together Protestant paramilitary leaders to work for peaceful change within their organisations. During 2008/09 he was chaplain to the Lord Mayor of Belfast.
He is a member of the N Ireland Community Relations Council and as a member of the Healing through Remembering project he serves on their Truth Recovery and Acknowledgement Sub Group. He has recently been made a honorary Research Fellow in Peace Studies at Coventry University.
In 2000 he was appointed a member of the Northern Ireland Civic Forum set up under the 1998 Belfast Agreement as a consultative body to the legislative Assembly, chairing its working group on peacebuilding and reconciliation. For 13 years he was a member of UK Board of the Evangelical Alliance, serving as its chair for 2 years and as a member of the EA policy commission and a commissioner for the Faith and Nation Enquiry.
David previously worked for eleven years with Interserve, an international Christian mission working in South Asia and the Middle East. Over the years his peacebuilding and international interests have combined in work in other countries dealing with community conflict. This has involved teaching and workshops with groups in the Balkans, the Baltic States, Columbia, Egypt, and Sri Lanka as well as contributing to international consultations and conferences in Asia, Europe, UK and the United States.
His particular interests are: the relationship between religion, politics and national identity; religion as both a source of conflict and a resource for peace; relating community peacebuilding to political processes; handling diversity in multicultural societies; and the theological foundation, moral vision, spiritual formation and practical outworking of reconciliation, particularly in dealing with the deep wounds of historical conflict.
In June 2007 he was appointed by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to the independent Consultative Group on the Past, to advise the British government on dealing with the legacy of the conflict in Northern Ireland. Their report was published in January 2009.
In 1987 he co-founded ECONI which until 2005 acted as a catalyst for Evangelical Protestant involvement in the Northern Ireland peace process. Becoming its first full time Director, from 1996 he was responsible for policy and programme development. A political activist he contributed to media and government on key issues in the political and peace processes and to ongoing public policy debate on good relations, equality and human rights. Prior to this he was Community Relations Co-ordinator with the YMCA in Belfast and until recently he was Director of the Centre for Contemporary Christianity in Ireland, a faith based research, training and resource organisation.
As a practitioner David is widely experienced in peacebuilding, group facilitation and training and has developed and managed a number of major social research and publishing projects. He has particular expertise in political mediation and track-two dialogue. He was both part of an ongoing private dialogue with Irish Republican leaders and an advisor on the Loyalist Commission which brought together Protestant paramilitary leaders to work for peaceful change within their organisations. During 2008/09 he was chaplain to the Lord Mayor of Belfast.
He is a member of the N Ireland Community Relations Council and as a member of the Healing through Remembering project he serves on their Truth Recovery and Acknowledgement Sub Group. He has recently been made a honorary Research Fellow in Peace Studies at Coventry University.
In 2000 he was appointed a member of the Northern Ireland Civic Forum set up under the 1998 Belfast Agreement as a consultative body to the legislative Assembly, chairing its working group on peacebuilding and reconciliation. For 13 years he was a member of UK Board of the Evangelical Alliance, serving as its chair for 2 years and as a member of the EA policy commission and a commissioner for the Faith and Nation Enquiry.
David previously worked for eleven years with Interserve, an international Christian mission working in South Asia and the Middle East. Over the years his peacebuilding and international interests have combined in work in other countries dealing with community conflict. This has involved teaching and workshops with groups in the Balkans, the Baltic States, Columbia, Egypt, and Sri Lanka as well as contributing to international consultations and conferences in Asia, Europe, UK and the United States.
His particular interests are: the relationship between religion, politics and national identity; religion as both a source of conflict and a resource for peace; relating community peacebuilding to political processes; handling diversity in multicultural societies; and the theological foundation, moral vision, spiritual formation and practical outworking of reconciliation, particularly in dealing with the deep wounds of historical conflict.
Revd Jonathan Clark - "Peacemaking among the Holy Warriors: Chaplaincy among the extremists"
The chair of Affirming Catholicism and previous university chaplain, writes this of himself:
"I'm still surprised to find that I'm 47, though my children keep on reminding me that I'm definitely in a senior generation: and since the younger one does his A levels this summer I suppose that's fair enough. I was ordained deacon in 1988, having done my ordination training at that well known hotbed of Anglican Catholicism, Trinity College Bristol.
Those of you who know what that means will realise that I came from an evangelical background: the church in which I grew up is a bastion of conservative evangelicalism. It was in fact during my training that I first encountered the Catholic tradition in the Church of England, and it was love at first sight. It took a while for me to really work my way into it - after all, I did have quite a long way to travel - but by the time I arrived in the diocese of London (in 1997) I was very sure that it was my home.
I have worked in university chaplaincy (twice) and in theological education, and eventually succumbed to the lure of parish ministry in 2003. I'm now rector of St Mary's Stoke Newington, and priest-in-charge of the neighbouring parish of St John, Brownswood Park, in the 'posh'
end of Hackney, in North London. It's a wonderfully multi-cultural and multi-faith neighbourhood, and a great place to live.
I've just finished a three year stint as Rector General of the Society of Catholic Priests, Affirming Catholicism's sister society for clergy; I am honoured to be asked to take on chairing AC's Board as we start to reap the fruits of the work done by Nerissa, Barry and Richard (most recently), and by so many others who have maintained the belief and hope in a renewed and joyful Catholic tradition, affirming the Church as it discerns the gospel's message of inclusiveness and challenging it to remain faithful to its Catholic nature".
If you'd like to read more about Jonathan's life and faith, and his vision for the future of his Church, it just so happens that his book 'The Republic of Heaven - A Catholic Anglican Future' has now found its way on to the shelves of good bookshops everywhere.
"I'm still surprised to find that I'm 47, though my children keep on reminding me that I'm definitely in a senior generation: and since the younger one does his A levels this summer I suppose that's fair enough. I was ordained deacon in 1988, having done my ordination training at that well known hotbed of Anglican Catholicism, Trinity College Bristol.
Those of you who know what that means will realise that I came from an evangelical background: the church in which I grew up is a bastion of conservative evangelicalism. It was in fact during my training that I first encountered the Catholic tradition in the Church of England, and it was love at first sight. It took a while for me to really work my way into it - after all, I did have quite a long way to travel - but by the time I arrived in the diocese of London (in 1997) I was very sure that it was my home.
I have worked in university chaplaincy (twice) and in theological education, and eventually succumbed to the lure of parish ministry in 2003. I'm now rector of St Mary's Stoke Newington, and priest-in-charge of the neighbouring parish of St John, Brownswood Park, in the 'posh'
end of Hackney, in North London. It's a wonderfully multi-cultural and multi-faith neighbourhood, and a great place to live.
I've just finished a three year stint as Rector General of the Society of Catholic Priests, Affirming Catholicism's sister society for clergy; I am honoured to be asked to take on chairing AC's Board as we start to reap the fruits of the work done by Nerissa, Barry and Richard (most recently), and by so many others who have maintained the belief and hope in a renewed and joyful Catholic tradition, affirming the Church as it discerns the gospel's message of inclusiveness and challenging it to remain faithful to its Catholic nature".
If you'd like to read more about Jonathan's life and faith, and his vision for the future of his Church, it just so happens that his book 'The Republic of Heaven - A Catholic Anglican Future' has now found its way on to the shelves of good bookshops everywhere.
Conference website
http://www.ceuc2010.org
Conference documents
| CEUC 2010 Planner |
| CEUC 2010 Seminar Programme |