Migrant chaplains to hear from Immigration Minister and Shadow Minister at 2nd National Conference

Migrant chaplains and their pastoral associates from across Australia will gather for their Second National Conference this week, during which they will hear from both the Immigration Minister and the Shadow Minister.

The two-day conference is being organised by the Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office, an agency of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.

Bishop Joseph Grech, the Bishops’ Delegate for Migration, will deliver the keynote address on Monday morning.

He said the Conference was primarily aimed at bringing migrant chaplains and their associates together for fellowship, support, formation and teaching.

“We want to honour and thank them and to ensure that they feel welcomed into the church in Australia,” Bishop Grech said.

“The inaugural national conference in 2005 generated such positive energy that we wanted to capture and maintain that by putting together another top quality program for migrant chaplains and their pastoral associates.”

Bishop Grech said there would be a particular focus on encouraging participation of migrant groups for World Youth Day.

The conference program for Monday includes an address by Professor Des Cahill, Professor of Intercultural Studies at RMIT, and an address by Bishop Kevin Manning of Parramatta on the topic, ‘Interfaith Dialogue – new understandings, skills and strategies’.

On Tuesday, Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Canberra-Goulburn will speak on ‘Preparing Leaders from Migrant Communities’.

This will be followed by a panel discussion on Emerging Issues for Immigration Chaplains in a Multicultural Australia. Panellists will be Bishop Hilton Deakin of Melbourne and retired Bishop David Cremin of Sydney.

Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews and Shadow Immigration Minister Tony Burke will speak on Future Policies of Migration to Australia, and Cardinal George Pell will close the conference.