Peter Strachan of The Packenham Cardinia Leader recently interviewed Pam Mamouney OAM, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who has long wanted to bring people of all faiths together in her community.
Because the city council in her area was not interested in the project, establishing the network required years of work and waiting.
When her idea first evolved, as Pam told the journalist, "my church was not a llowed to join the pastoral network and neither were Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and Sikhs. And the Catholics were not comfortable in the network either."
Nevertheless, a small window of opportunity opened five years ago, and there ready to grasp the chance and run with it was Pam. The network was finally facilitated, with a foundation group consisting of representatives from the Catholic, Uniting, and Latter-day Saint churches and Urban Neighbours of Hope.
From where she now sits as the fourth President of Casey's Multi-faith Network, Pam is seeing her dreams come true.
"We also have Sikhs, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus and Jewish faiths represented, along with Anglican and Christian Spiritualists and other people of goodwill who want to promote peace, harmony and understanding among all cultures and faiths," she told Strachan.
Pam sees the network breaking down "barriers between people," and considers that well worth the wait.
Read the complete article here: Packenham Cardinia Leader.