Interfaith Week, meeting Bhante Bhodidhamma, Prison Chaplaincy, School Events – newsletter

November is a particularly busy month for the Buddhist Council of Wales because it includes Interfaith Week.  Since those reported in the first newsletter the following events were attended by a Buddhist Council of Wales representative:

28th October – an informal meeting with Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government
31st October – Faith Communities Forum meeting with the First Minister
7th November – meeting with Dawn Tilt, Co-ordinating Chaplain at Parc Prison, Bridgend, Wales *
8th November – When Religion Makes the News, a day’s workshop organised by NUJ Training Wales
10th November – Buddhist Council of Wales meeting
13th November – Remembrance Sunday Service at the Welsh National War Memorial in Cardiff
15th November – InterFaith Council for Wales event for Interfaith Week at Cardiff United Synagogue
17th November – South Cardiff Interfaith Network Interfaith Week event
18th November – Cardiff Muslim School assembly, with Christian and Jewish faith representatives
22nd November – InterFaith Council for Wales meeting; Ngakma Nor’dzin, Chair of the Buddhist Council of Wales, was elected as Vice Chair for the IFCW
27th November – Memorial Service for families who have suffered the death of a baby
28th November – Ngakma Nor’dzin had an informal meeting with Bhante Bodhidhamma of Satipanya. Satipanya are hoping to appoint a representative to attend the meetings of the Buddhist Council of Wales and so become Full Members
8th December – VIth Form Conference at Monmouth Comprehensive School

Bhante Bodhidhamma and Ngakma Nor'dzin at Aro Ling Cardiff

Events to which a representative of the Buddhist Council of Wales were invited, but no representative was available to attend:

October 28th – Diwali, Festival of Lights celebration organised by the Minority Ethnic Staff Network (MESN) in Welsh Government
6th November – Lord Mayor’s Civic Service for Remembrance
24th November – ‘Wales A Multicultural Nation’ event organised by the Cardiff Ecumenical Chaplaincy
26 November – Interfaith Peace Symposium organised by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association
30th November – Launch of Wales Humanists at the Senedd
8th December – ‘Does Wales need more Female Role Models’ event organised by Action for Children

There is also an event in July 2017 for which we do not have a representative to attend at the moment – Peace Mala Inter-faith Liturgy for World Peace at Llandaf Cathedral, Cardiff Thursday 20th July. Could someone from one of our Member Organisations attend this? Please contact the Buddhist Council of Wales at buddhistcouncilwales(at)gmail.com if you can help.

* Following on from the meeting about Prison Chaplaincy, the Buddhist Council of Wales has been informed by Ven Canon Michael Kavanagh of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), that all Buddhist chaplaincy in the UK, including Wales, is managed by Angulimala, the Buddhist Prison Chaplaincy Service. The Buddhist Council of Wales has written to Angulimala with a view to opening a dialogue with them.