Friday, August 3rd, 2012 from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm

Spiritual Support in a Secular Education system.

Scottish-born Ruth Pinkerton became a Christian at age 14 through a Louis Palau mission event which she was taken to by her school’s Scripture Union Group. This was a follow-up to being given a Gideons Bible two years before which she read quite often – to impress God, should it transpire that he did exist!

Falling in love with volcanos on a trip to Iceland led to an honours degree in Geology. Employment followed including caring for special needs teenagers, working for All Souls Church in London, teaching science and becoming an instructor in a Christian outdoor centre. A major injury put an end to a career in the outdoors and lead to further study, this time an MBA.

Ruth worked for seven years for SU Scotland managing their camps and holidays program before finding a calling to the best bit of Australia (well, the most like Scotland!) as CEO of SU Tasmania.

Forum Held: FRIDAY AUGUST 3, 2012, 1pm-2pm at the cathedral.

Talk audio (poor quality recording): mp3 Q&A

Text: pdf

Friday, August 31st, 2012 from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm

Making humane decisions in an inhumane world

Emily Conolan will speak on the hard decisions surrounding the issue of refugees.

Emily grew up in Launceston, studied in Melbourne and New Zealand, volunteered in Mongolia and in Indigenous Australian communities. She has her Masters in International Development and is currently a teacher and mum. Emily founded the Tasmanian Asylum Seekers Support group last year in response to Pontville opening. The TASS group ran a volunteer visitor program and activities within the centre and now runs a small support group for asylum seekers on bridging visas.

FRIDAY AUGUST 31, 2012, 1pm-2pm at the cathedral.

AUDIO NOW AVAILABLE: mp3 Q&A

NOTES FROM TALK NOW AVAILABLE: doc

Also see the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre for more information.