www.teamsoceania.com.au Vic-East Regional OUR FIRST REGIONAL MEETING Newsletter Hello fellow team members of Vic-East. Welcome to the first edition of our Vic-East Regional Newsletter that will incorporate information previously obtained in each of the Sector Newsletters. The photo above was taken at the first regional team meeting 1st Edition with Ron and Angela Waanders held at their home in Traralgon. We thank each couple who made the journey to Traralgon and we thank the Traralgon / Rosedale Team who provided a delicious lunch and afternoon tea. The main agenda items for the meeting included reports from each sector, a LEADERSHIP FORMATION WEEKEND treasurer’s report, a report on Oceania matters, discussion about the recent Oceania conference held in Melbourne, discussion about the 5-year plan and much more. The Oceania Team is running a Leader- Membership and the possibility of transitioning some members to ‘Associates of ship Formation weekend from August Teams’ has been a topic of discussion for some time at an Oceania and Regional level. 29 to August 31 at the Passionist Cen- There is merit in opening dialogue with couples and teams in our region on this topic, tre in Templestowe. so this is something that can be discussed with your Sector Team. There is some more 2 Couples from each region around information later in this newsletter about Associates. Australia will gather for a weekend on leadership and couple formation as part of building ongoing growth and CONFERENCE THANKS leadership in the movement. The Firstly we want to say thank you to all Vic-East members who helped at the recent weekend will allow like-minded cou- Oceania Conference. The organizing committee with Murray and Maureen Cullinan at ples to take part in discussions about spirituality / marriage as well as hear- the helm did an amazing job at putting the conference together and the helpers over ing about what is happening in the the weekend helped to make everything run smoothly. The venue at ACU was perfect. movement around the world. The keynote speakers were Judy Brewer, Fr Frank Brennan and Fr Tom McDonough. They were inspirational and thought provoking. The depth of their sharing left most of We have nominated 3 couples from Vic us in a state of wonder and awe. -East and hope that they accept the There is great hope that the Bishops around the world are listening to the thoughts invitation to attend. and views of the laity and will represent those views when the Bishops Synod gathers The Vic-East Region is being asked to in August 2014. If you would like to get a copy of Fr Frank Brennan’s address please support this weekend by way of assis- contact your Sector Team or Ron & Angela Waanders. tance with transport to and from the There were 6 Break-out sessions with a range of topics to appeal to all attendees. We airport, and for billeting if needed on had Rose Marie Prosser present ‘What Teams can teach the Church’ based on the the Thursday evening before the gath- findings of her work, in addition to other groups that looked at the Sit-Down, Medita- ering that starts on the Friday morning. tion, Crossroads, Coping with change within a Team and even ‘Managing your Super’. If you are able to help could you please The conference was represented by all regions with a large contingent of Vic-East let your Sector Couple know. members. Well done everyone. TRIBUTE TO MAX CHARLESWORTH Vale Max Max Charlesworth was an exceptional man. It is difficult to write about Max out of context. Max and Stephanie/Stephanie and Max; Max, Stephanie and Teams; Max, Stephanie and Family; Max the Public Intellectual; Max the Faith Companion and true Friend. With Max he was all of the above, he was an integrated person. From Team 7, here are some reflections on the life of wonderful, compassionate, loving Max. Born in Numurkah in 1925, he went, via Assumption College Kilmore, to the University of Melbourne and Newman College in 1943, taking out an M.A. in philosophy in 1948. Along the way he met Stephanie Armstrong, and they became engaged to marry, but four weeks before the wedding Max was found to have T.B. A momentous decision had to be made – postpone or proceed with the wedding. They were advised to wait until Max had been treated but Max and Stephanie decided to launch into the uncharted seas of Love in Marriage at Newman College Chapel in 1950. Max spent two years in the Gresswell T.B. Sanatorium – Stephanie was allowed to see her husband at weekends and they wrote to each other daily. BEREAVEMENT NOTICES Max recovered and he was able to take up the first Mannix Travelling Scholarship (It had been awarded. to him a few years earlier). In those days most doctoral students in philoso- Max Charlesworth from Team 7 phy went to Oxford or Cambridge, but Max followed his interest in European Philosophy, passed away on June 2, 2014. We ex- and chose a road less travelled – to the Catholic University of Louvain in 1953 - and was tend our sympathies to Stephanie and awarded his PhD with highest distinction in 1955. family and Team 7. Frank Nihill from Team 14 Serendipitously, Stephanie and Max’s near neighbours in Louvain were members of (Maribrynong / Plenty Sector) passed Equipes Notre Dame (END) i.e. Teams. They were ever helpful to Stephanie and Max with away on April 8, 2014. We extend our the bringing up of the first two of an eventual seven children. So it was that they embarked condolences to Pauline, the rest of the Nihill family and Team 14. on their married responsibilities with an END couple as mentors in the practice of par- enting! Fr. Julian Slatterie SJ Team 18 (Southern Sector) also passed away recently. We extend our condolences A lectureship for Max followed at Auckland University. Their END Belgian neighbours soon to Team 18. enrolled Stephanie and Max in a Correspondence team with couples from many countries around the world. On their return to Australia in 1959, Max took up a lectureship in the Philosophy Depart- ment at Melbourne University. With the encouragement of their local parish priest, Father Bernard O’Connor, they imme- diately set about starting a Team in St Cecilia’s parish in 1960, followed soon by other Teams, in cooperation with Stephanie’s brother and sister-in law Greg and Judy Armstrong who had sought out Teams in England. Vale Max (continued) Back at Melbourne University, Max was up against a secularist view of philosophy. As he reflected in his writings “….there was very little interest in the philosophy of religion, as religion was deemed to be in the sphere of “that whereof one cannot speak”. Max was not to be deterred and founded and co-edited a new Journal, Sophia, whose subtitle was An International Journal for Philoso- phy of Religion, Metaphysical Theology and Ethics. Max was pleased with this achievement observing “… I was immensely proud that my brain-child was so successful”. And so the monolith of secular philosophy at Melbourne was cracked to let in the light of religion, pluralism and liberty and all that that entailed. Teams grew, against some resistance to and suspicion of this French movement. But the presence of chaplains from religious or- ders, often with European origins facilitated growth. Max’s studies in the pursuit of truth, and the ethos of the Teams in searching for married spirituality, seemed to enrich each other. He was not stuck in an ivory tower; rather philosophy in the world was his orientation. His work led him to challenge undemocratic institutions and to branch out into areas such as Church, State and Conscience: questions of war and peace: new reproductive technologies: bioethics: science and religion: Aboriginal religion – all of which impacted on public debate. Together with his role in the publication of the Catholic Worker, he argued against the involvement of Church in politics through the Movement, which had led to the split in the Australian Labour Party. He engaged the question of the futility of war at a time when the Church backed the Vietnam War... He was fiercely criticised, even from the pulpit, by those who supported Church involvement. But Max’s work for the Church was also acknowledged – for example, in 1970 he was appointed by Paul V1 as a consultant to the Vatican secretariat for Non-believers. One of his last publications, in 2008, was A Democratic Church: Reforming the Values and Institutions of the Catholic Church. Paul Collins observed that “Max is truly the doyen of religious scholars in Australia ….A genuine- ly ‘Catholic’ man in the deepest sense, he has contributed an enormous amount to the ministry of the Australian church”. In the early seventies, Max and Stephanie, recently returned from a sabbatical at Louvain, found that their original Team 1 was in the process of folding up. After a period of discernment they joined Team 7 in 1974. As Max and Stephanie were such towering figures on the world and Australian scene; we were excited to welcome the couple into what had started out as a parish-based Team. We had our own experience of 10 years in Team 7 but for the next 40 years the Team was continually enriched by the breadth and depth of the Charlesworth commitment to and vision of Teams. We were blessed to experience Max “up close”. Max had the ability to engage personally – his opening remark was often a humor- ous comment about some current topic – he had a way of making one feel comfortable.