Diocese of Melbourne Clergy Conference

A few constructive days of talks, worship, prayers, thinking, networking and friendship were enjoyed this week with the Clergy in the NW region of the rather wide spread Diocese.
Some one observed to me that it wasn't that long ago when the conferences provided a snapshot of the Clergy as uniformly middle aged white blokes.
That has changed enormously. We are multicultural and gender inclusive! At dinner, we were at risk of letting the food go cold as we shared graces from India, Tonga, New Zealand Maori, Pakistan, two African languages, including Dinka, the Karen peoples of Myanmar, Mandarin and not to be outdone, the Scottish Selkirk Grace from the 2 Scots in the room.
Here we have Archbishop and Austealuam Primate Philip with an ex college mate of mine, Jacob. Jacob was an ordained priest before he fled his home country of Sudan, and humbles me with his faith in the face of amazing adversity.