The New Pathways Program

The New Pathways Program

Supported by the Oceania Province, New Pathways is a project that encourages people interested in exploring a personal commitment to the Edmund Rice charism, to find ways of making such a commitment possible.

Some people have made private vows, others have included a commitment as part of their marriage vows, and others have discovered new ways and new expressions.

For more information please use the "Contact" button (top right) for phone numbers and contact the Regional Coordinator in the Office nearest you.

Immersions and Internships

Cross Cultural Engagement Programs

Cross-Cultural experiences across the Edmund Rice Network include opportunities to volunteer, be an Intern, or a member of an Immersion Group.

These opportunities exist locally (within your own country), across the Oceania Province (Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea,  the Philippines) or countries in other Christian Brothers Provinces such as Africa and Europe.

Apart from a sense of adventure and a commitment to learning more about yourself, suitable candidates for the Walking Together Cross Cultural Engagement Program would ideally possess:

• The required qualifications, skills, and experience necessary for any specific role they might undertake in another culture.
• A commitment to a personal sense of justice spirituality and a passion for justice
• A willingness to live and work alongside a religious community and an understanding that participation in an Edmund Rice Ministry involves sharing in personal reflections of spirituality.
• Good health.
• Maturity - good communication skills, a strong sense of self and self-understanding
• Openness to cultural adaptation - i.e. humble, flexible, accepting.
• An attraction to the Edmund Rice story and an understanding of its implications for ministry.
• A desire to live simply, with a willingness to enter the privileged space of another culture as a guest and to live simply amongst the people.
• An understanding that ministry is a shared journey with members of the local community, where both giving and receiving relationships develop.
• Willingness and an ability to reflect upon, share, and discuss their experience as a participant, including gaining a greater understanding of the complex issues relating to decolonisation and development work in a cross cultural context.
• The support of a network of relationships within their own life and a willingness to deepen and extend those relationships through their experience.
• Willingness for ongoing involvement in the Edmund Rice Network, Church, community work, advocacy, or other justice & peace activity on return from their placement.

For more information, please contact your Regional Office
(see contact list for phone and email details).

Volunteering

Volunteering changes the way you see your world and your place in it.  Seeing the world through the eyes of another can be a moment of profound transformation.  For many volunteers they can never be the same again.

As a volunteer you will be able to connect meaningfully with others, hear their stories and strip away the false illusion of differences that artificially separate us.  Only from here can we allow the concerns of another to become our concerns because we understand more fully that our fates are intertwined.

“What is it that you intend to do, with your one wild, precious life?”

Mary Oliver

Volunteering is something everyone should consider doing at some point in their life, for many it is the only way to enjoy a tiny experience of what life is like for others. Our catalyst for volunteering is usually a desire to help or to solve a problem. Therefore our experiences often begin as responding to perceived needs through providing a ‘service’.  Before long we are engaged in acts of 'charity' as we seek 'justice' and support 'peace'.  Before long many volunteers become so informed about the systemic causes of inequity that their volunteering starts to also include 'advocacy' for the disempowered and even 'activism' to draw attention to unmet rights.

“If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”

Aboriginal activists group, (including Lila Watson), Queensland, 1970s

We have learned that through the dislocation that comes from regular contact with poor and marginalized people, our eyes are opened and our hearts are transformed.  Our volunteers know that we become ever more conscious of this transformation as we reflect on our experiences in the light of our sacred stories and our collective mission.   Providing a long list of volunteer opportunities is one of the ways the Christian Brothers and the Edmund Rice Network supports people to consider more deeply;

“who it is that I intend to be in the world?”

“Respect for the human person considers the other to be ‘another self.’ It presupposes respect for the fundamental rights that flow from the dignity intrinsic of the person.”

 The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1944)

For a listing of the Edmund Rice Oceania Projects and the skills required to the part of any of them check out Metanoia Matters and register your interest.  By using the latest technology your knowledge and skills can be used without your leaving home.

“Only earthbound man still clings to the dark and poisoning superstition that his world is bounded by the nearest hill, his universe ends at river's shore, his common humanity is enclosed in the tight circle of those who share his town or his views and the colour of his skin.”

Robert Kennedy

All Edmund Rice Ministries and Programs welcome volunteers – contact one today!

Christian Brothers Vocations

The Chapter Call

To be in right relationships as brother with each other,
with people made poor and with the whole Earth community,
conscious that being brother is our pathway to our being evangelised and transformed.

Nairobi Congregation Chapter 2014.

There is a constant call from God for all of us to respond to the love that Jesus showed in his life in various ways. One of these ways is in consecrated religious life.

The Christian Brothers welcome enquiries from those who may be interested in knowing more about the life of the Christian Brothers, and possibilities of following Edmund Rice as vowed members.

A person interested in this life would enter a journey of discernment. The first part of this journey is in expressing interest and entering into conversation while living life as normal. As the conversation continues, so too may your journey.

Br John Webb is the Coordinator of Vocations for the Christian Brothers Oceania Province. He welcomes enquiries and requests for further information. In addition there are local Christian Brothers across the Oceanic region who can accompany people on their journey.

For more information, please email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.