After eight years at the helm, Interfaith Network of Greater Dandenong executive officer Helen Heath has resigned.
Ahead of her 6 April departure, she is leaving what she calls “a vocation, rather than just a job to do”.
She says it’s time for “new blood” to take the network to the next phase.
Brought up in a Christian “tradition”, Ms Heath says she sits now across “all traditions”.
“I see a lot of goodness in all the faiths.” She lists the hospitality of Sikhs, who don’t separate their spirituality from hospitality. Their volunteers famously bring food to various disaster relief campaigns.
She appreciated the importance of land in the Jewish faith. Their followers’ ability to “rail back at God” was a “healthy thing”.
“I was freed from those uncomfortable aspects of the Christian faith that I couldn’t identify with.”
Ms Heath trained in theology not to be pious but in order to explore. It was good grounding for her role in the network.
“There’s a core in us – we all have good – but how do we reach that sacred ground and we connect with each other. Honouring the differences without letting them get in the way.”
This interfaith network is the oldest in Australia, initiated by City of Springvale in 1989 and continued by City of Greater Dandenong. Its current contract with the council runs until June 2024.
It brings together leaders of diverse faiths in Australia’s most diverse city, and organises up to 59 group tours a year to various places of worships.
Its efforts have received national and international recognition.
Ms Heath sees Interfaith as a form of harm prevention – an education and a way of quelling race hate and violence.
“When the Gulf War was on, my understanding was that a Christian minister, an imam and a rabbi stood together in council and offered prayers.
“We offer prayers, meditations or chants in front of council every fortnight. We’ve done that since the beginning in 1989.
“I guess it was a symbol. You can’t solve the problem but how do we get on here?”
She says most local politicians were supportive of Interfaith, and genuinely cared for their community.
“I just wish on a higher level that powers-that-be recognised the importance of this work and resourced it better.
“You can’t quantify it, it’s very hard to measure cohesion, harmony.”
Social change within long spiritual traditions appears fairly glacial.
Ms Heath will sometimes jokingly fly the flag for women’s rights with faith leaders.
“This kind of work is like a drip on a stone. It takes forever for the stone to become smooth.”
Her office is scattered with inspirations – the whimsy of Michael Leunig’s cartoons, a shimmering glass mosaic The Tree of Life, and a quote from Walt Disney: “It started with a mouse…”.
Pride of place is a newspaper cut-out when faith leaders gathered together in solidarity after 9-11.
When Covid lockdowns struck in 2020, Ms Heath founded the regular Star Journal column, Message of Hope as a “glimmer of light”. The column features a different faith leader each week.
“It struck me that people couldn’t communicate with each other. Because of Covid, we were isolated.
“I still think that’s important in this area. There are a lot of mental health problems, a lot of differences, family violence…”
Her long-held dream has been for a FAiTHWORKS attraction. “The ‘I’ is little, because it’s not about the individual.”
A strikingly-designed, high-tech interactive museum like Scienceworks, coupled with lecture theatre and café.
“It could be a tourist attraction. This area is spiritually rich with lots of places of worship.
“No one has said it’s not a good idea. It’s about the money or where do you put it.
“It starts with a dream. But it hasn’t grown yet.”
