Pam
Pam Mamouney with Thien Nguyen, keynote speaker at annual interfaith gathering in Victoria, 8 June 2024.© 2024 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.Pam Mamouney is a recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), and a founding member of the Casey Multi-Faith Network.
She attended an annual gathering for community faith leaders on Saturday 8th June. The Uniting Church in Hampton Park, Melbourne provided the venue for the meeting, and the theme was finding inner peace through religion.
The keynote speaker, Thien Nguyen, Director of the Janssen spiritual Centre, said that he was both Catholic and Buddhist in his beliefs and spoke of how he has achieved inner peace by living their principles, emphasizing the importance of behaviour in front of his peers and family.
The ZCK Tai Chi Group then performed to peaceful music and amazed everyone with their use of large red fans and graceful movements.
Three of the original members of the CMFN attended from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with another founding member Hayat Doughan from the Lebanese Islamic society. They had their photographs taken with the newer CMFN committee. The meeting concluded with afternoon tea.
Pam says, “I have served in women’s organisations most of my Church life.
We joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1961 and I have always enjoyed the concept of members helping to lighten the load of the minister by being responsible for various jobs in the Church.”
“In those days there was no multiculturalism,” Pam continued. “Instead, the divide between Catholics and Protestants was very marked. My Catholic flat-mate of three years could not attend my wedding at the Protestant church.”
“Thirty-five years ago, I was asked to help with Public Affairs in my new faith. So, I joined the Dandenong Interfaith when migrants were introducing new faiths. I helped to host bus tours to different faiths and soon made many friends with Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus much to my surprise. They are still my dear friends.”
This opened up a new world to Pam. While sharing interfaith experiences with her local community, she explained her own faith, thus promoting greater harmony and understanding.
Next week Pam will be attending another event of The Casey Multi-Faith Network in collaboration with the Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria, on the Dignity and Respect of Older People, to be presented by Hayat Dougan.
