New Zealand

Wellington Abrahamic Council

History

Country:
New Zealand

Organization name:
Wellington Abrahamic Council

Year of establishment or foundation of the organization: 
1991

Brief history of the organization:
The Wellington Abrahamic Council began life as the Wellington Council of Christians and Jews, which was formed on 21 March 1991. After an initial meeting between the WCCJ and the Federation of Islamic Associations on 29 October 2009, an informal collaboration began where there was regular Muslim involvement at WCCJ events. In April 2015, the WCCJ was relaunched as the Wellington Abrahamic Council in an event at Parliament..

How many members (approximately) does your organization have?
The Council (Executive Committee) currently has 12 members (3 Jewish, 5 Christian and 4 Muslim). (There are many ‘followers’ from all three faiths who subscribe to our mailing list to be kept informed of upcoming events – probably in excess of 100).

Where is your organization based?
Wellington, New Zealand

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Religious Diversity Workshop 2019
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Religious Discrimination Workshop, Wellington 2019

Activities

Main focuses/areas of your work:
Promotion of inter-faith dialogue – to foster understanding, friendship and trust between adherents of the Abrahamic faiths - Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Which audiences do you work towards?

  • Academics
  • Grassroots
  • Young professionals
  • Retired professionals
  • Clergy
  • Students

How often does your organization meet?
As a Council we meet on the 3rd Thursday of the month for most of the months of the year.

Events regularly hosted and/or sponsored by your organization:
We aim to hold several public events each year on topics of interest, with a speaker from each of the 3 Abrahamic Faiths talking from their faith perspective.

Does your organization have any regular publications (in print or online)?
Details of all public events appear on our website – and if possible these are streamed live for those not able to attend in person. The events are also recorded and are available on the website for easy reference after the event.

Has your organization figured in any published online material such as newspapers, books or blogs, databases?
Here are some news links:

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Abrahamic Co-Chairs for a newspaper article 2018
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Visit by Anette Adelmann (fourth from left),
ICCJ's General Secretary, 2019

Organization

Main working/publishing language of your organization:
English

Officers of your organization:
We have 3 Co-chairs:

Dave Moskovitz, Jewish Co-Chair
Fr Ron Bennett, Christian Co-Chair
Sultan Eusoff, Muslim Co-Chair

Secretary: Ann Desmond
Treasurer: Tahir Nawaz

Briefly describe your organization’s relationship to the ICCJ:
It is good to have international contacts. But the OJEC is a volunteer organization. And the field of activity is enormous. We have to be sparing with our time, which puts international contacts under some pressure.

What is the greatest challenge your organization faces at the moment?
Growing anti-Semitism.
It has even settled into politics.
For our own organization: we are looking for rejuvenation. There is too little interest within the 'youth' category.

Is your organization active on Social Media platforms?
We have a Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/WellingtonAbrahamic/

E-mail address to contact your organization:
info(at)abrahamic.nz
There is a ‘contact us’ page on the website: https://abrahamic.nz/contact-us/

Website of your organization:
https://abrahamic.nz/

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Wellington Cathedral: peaceful response, 8 June 2020