SCM UPDATE
October 1997, No 28
The Newsletter of the Student Christian Movement of Aotearoa
1997 The Second Century of SCM in Aotearoa!
Leadership Conference
The SCMA Leadership Conference is being held in Dunedin from the 24th to the 30th of January 1998. It is especially designed for people who are fairly new to SCM, so don't be shy, go along, have a great time, and learn more than you have in the last year
at university! Learn about the Bible, Decolonisation, Creative Spirituality, Stress Relief, Theology and most importantly, about yourself! There will be time to learn about Mary's Trip to Mexico and what it is to be part of a successful international s
tudent movement with a concern for social justice and action. Now is the time to start thinking who from your Local SCM Group will go to the Leadership Conference. There is no limit to the number of attendees. There has been more information sent to yo
ur unit, or request it from the National Office, or SCM Otago, C/- OUSA, PO Box 1436, Otepoti/Dunedin.
Start Writing!
Or Drawing! Once those exams are finished, sit down with a beer and write an article, or draw some artwork for the next issue of SCM Aotearoa's Magazine Akonga. Material must be submitted in January, so get it done before Christmas, and send it to Richa
rd Davis and Hilary Mather, who are coordinating the publication. Their
address is 187 The Terrace, Wellington or even better, email to radone@matai.vuw.ac.nz. A number
of people offered to be involved at the AGM. Now is your chance!
Party Up In The City Of Sails
In Tamaki Makaurau, SCM finished off the year with a party on the 20th of October. The week before that, they had an open minded discussion on abortion to which 18 people came to listen, reason, and share together. The community feeling at SCM Auckland
is wonderful at the moment, and they will be very sorry to lose Hilary Mather to the wild winds of Wellington next year. But looking forward to David May moving north.
Men's And Women's Caucuses In Wellington
Separate gender caucuses were held recently by SCM Victoria. The men went to the Wellington Institute of Theology where Antonin Moore led a workshop on "What is support?" and they each drew their own support network maps. Some information about this wor
kshop is available by email, so someone in your Local SCM Group should have it. The women had a less formal caucus where they caught up on gossip and worked out a job description for the next local woman's coordinator.
SCM Vic. also had Lyn Richards from the Quakers talk about Christianity, Democracy, and Consensus Decision Making which was helpful in the functioning of the local AGM, which went really well, and appointed the following people: Local Administrator: Ange
la Emmett, Secretary: Rebecca Ward, Treasurer: Matthew Hodgetts, Local Senior Friends Coordinators: Denzil Brown and Ron England, Women's Coordinator: Rebecca Ward, Men's Coordinator: Antonin Moore, Cultural Clubs Representative: Matthew Hodgetts.
The SCM Cabin
Over the holidays SCM Victoria will be cleaning up the SCM Cabin on campus. They will be liaising with the other Christian groups on campus as they would like to have some joint worship and meetings next year (and maybe have some help cleaning too!).
Submission On Voluntary Student Membership
...of Students' Associations: VSM next hits Parliament in December. SCM Auckland has done an oral submission to the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Bill. There will be more action on this in November. Contact Richard Davis or Quentin Duthie. Th
e submission was reported in the Auckland Student Newspaper Craccum.
MAI
You will now be hearing about the Multilateral Agreement on Investment in the news. Earlier this year, Matt Hodgetts drafted a letter which the AGM of SCM Aotearoa sent to all MPs requesting that the agreement be publicly debated, and expressing reservat
ions about opening Aotearoa up to the open slather of multi-nationals.
Women's Coordinators
Fiona McLaughlin and Hilary Mather, SCMA National Women's Coordinators, will be attending the first World Student Christian Federation Asia-Pacific Region Gender Training Programme in Manila, Philippines, from December 8-17. The aim of the programme is t
o provide practical training in doing "women work" and to plan for the future direction of the Regional Women's Programme over the next five years. Fiona and Hilary will be spending a few days in the Philippines around the time of the programme, and are
hoping to use this time to form some official solidarity links with SCM Philippines. All of SCMA will benefit from this important contact, and we are grateful to the Association of Presbyterian Women which has kindly made a grant towards the air fares.
Australian SCM
This summer's ASCM National Conference is not far off! The theme is: Truth, Strangers and Fiction; Exploring, Discovering, Recognising, Creating Freedom. It is going to be held at Camp Tallawalla, Toolangi State Forest, Victoria (about 85km from Melbo
urne). It will cover the period from 27th December to the 2nd January and will be attended by Auckland SCMer and a National Tau Iwi Coordinator Quentin Duthie, who will then stay on for a dialogue on Racism.
Adios Maria!
Mary says: Adios everyone, love you all lots and see you in the New Year. Have fabulous Christmases - I'll think of you from Mexico! Thank you for your support and warm thoughts over the last few months, you've made preparation much more fun and less pa
nic-stricken. I hope all exams and other nasties go gloriously well. :) M.
Mary is attending the Inter-Regional Leadership Training Programme in Mexico. It is a programme run by the World Student Christian Federation for SCMers from all around the Globe. She has already left, and will be involved in the programme from the 3
1st of October to the 20th of November. After that she will do a bit more travelling to make the most of the opportunity! We are looking forward to her new enthusiasm and insights at the SCMA Leadership Conference in her home-town of Dunedin in January!
She will be away for a while, and so will appreciate any letters of support. Send them to: Mary Mclaughlin c/o Mision Mazahua, Apdo. 140, Atlacomulco, Mex. 50450, Mexico.
Catholic Students
Are meeting in Thailand, and our own Quentin Duthie is off participating. It is the International Movement of Catholic Students' Formation Programme, and is being held from the 24th October to the 2nd November. We look forward to hearing all about it ne
xt month!
Human Rights Action Group Homepage
SCMer Richard Davis of Wellington is involved in this web-page, which won the Internet section of the Media Peace Awards run by the Foundation of Peace Studies. The judges were impressed by the mix of original material and well researched links. Congrat
ulations! Take a look at
www.sans.vuw.ac.nz/~vuw_hrag/
Moved House
The National Administrator of SCM Aotearoa, Martin Dickson, has moved house. "I know lots of you find it difficult to contact the office during the day which is when I'm most available, so feel free to ring me at home!"
The SCMA National Coordinating Group
...had its shortest meeting ever - only half an hour - in deference to exam pressures! There will be more news next month.
Homospirituality
There are plenty of web sites to check out about queer Christianity: articles and news about queer people and Christianity/the churches can be found at the site
www.mindspring.com/~sagecomm/whosoever/
also have a look at the site called
www.religioustolerance.org/homosexu.htm Human rights issues in the
USA are covered in the web site of Advocate magazine;
www.advocate.com
The American gay andlesbian
Anglican (Episcopalian) organisation Integrity has a web site at
www.qrd.org/qrd/religion/orgs/integrity
And within the web-directory Yahoo! it is well worth looking at
www.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/Lesbian_Gay_and_Bisexual/Religion/Christianity/
where you can find a calendar of gay and lesbian saints, including bo
th an ancient and a modern icon of Saints Sergius and Bacchus - the famous gay saints (one of whom my dog is named after - MD) and a link to Bridge-Building Icons.
The Student Christian Movement Of Aotearoa Has Its Own Web Site
It will be growing more intricate and interesting every day once the webmaster Michael Perkins has finished his exams! We're linked to the World Student Christian Federation Web site at
www.xs4all.nl/~dethmers/wscf
which has links to the sites of SCMs in many places in the world. SCM
Victoria has set up its own web site at
www.sans.vuw.ac.nz/~scmvic/
There is capacity for each unit to have its own page as a part of the SCM Aotearoa page, so please get in contact with Martin at the National Office to ask about getting yours set up.
More Writing Wanted
John Thornley, a SCMA Senior Friend wants contributions, for the biannual journal Music in the Air, on three topics: contemporary hymn-writers, spirituality within secular music, and participatory music-making. Enquiries; 15 Oriana Place, Palm. North.
New Wave Of Art
Thanks to Fiona Mather for doing the artwork for this SCM Update!
Recent Arrivals At The Office
Have you seen the April-June 1997 issue of Praxis from the WSCF Asia-Pacific region? And the July issue of Womenet - Newsletter of the Asian Women's Resource Centre?
SCM Update
...is compiled by the National Administrator of SCM Aotearoa. Your contributions,
news and information are welcome! Submission date is the 25th of each month.
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