Böcker av James Houston

Continuing the Life and Times of James Houston, Book Two focuses on 38 years in Melbourne, where James worked initially as a research officer for the Victorian Council of Churches' project aimed at promoting a multicultural approach to the training of clergy. Though intending to return to Canberra when the program was completed, an association with the then Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, the Rev Dr David Penman, who supported multiculturalism and other justice issues, led to a suggestion to consider ordination to the Anglican ministry. At the age of 55 James eventually took this step, and after appropriate theological training was appointed to the parish of St Mary Magdalene in Dallas, Broadmeadows, where he and his wife Marjorie spent seven fulfilling years. The journey from academic writer to pastoral carer had begun.This continued when he was invited to become the Director of Cross-Cultural Ministry for the Diocese of Melbourne. During the three years he served in this position, he sought to encourage Anglicans generally to broaden their essentially mono-cultural identity, given that the city itself was arguably the most multicultural in the country, as well as supporting the few cross-cultural parishes existing at the time. After retiring from that position James joined forces with Chinese priest Rick Cheung and served together with him in a bilingual parish. This was a heartwarming venture and one which subsequently opened doors to ministry in China. This book is written in exquisite prose: it tells the story of a beautiful man who loved life and lived it to the full, who also loved Jesus and sought to follow in his way. Passionate about travel and the splendour of creation, he respected and valued human life in all its diversity, hating injustice and all forms of discrimination. It is a personal story but also a social commentary on the issues of its time, and well worth the reading.

This is the story of the part one man played in the origins, development and general acceptance of Australia's policy of Multiculturalism.James Houston traces his role in Multiculturalism's earliest formulation. In 1973, strategically located in the Immigration Department - and contrary to the views of its officials - he distilled his vision for Australia's future into a speech written for Al Grassby, Minister for Immigration in the Whitlam Government. He drew on the convictions of some visionary academics and Melbourne migrant activists, as well as his own four-year Australia-wide field research with ethnic community leaders.Following the Dismissal, in the face of the Fraser Government's disinterest and grudging funding, he recounts the heroic seven-year struggle by the puny Office of Community Relations to implement the new Racial Discrimination Act. Houston's 'simple' role was to reshape community attitudes towards the discrimination experienced by Aborigines and migrants! In the process, his Christian convictions about social justice would be sharpened.So how did the son of an unemployed labourer, born during the Great Depression, find himself in this role? Benefiting from quality education in NSW for gifted but poorer students and accessing Sydney University through scholarships, he became a modern languages teacher - in NSW, UK and Germany.On a lighter note, the book evokes a 1940s childhood, a dawning awareness of the wider world and a fascination with language, culture and travel - each a lifelong passion. It traces a long and purposeful life marked by creative endeavours, delight in travels worldwide and a love for tutoring university students in China. Ordained to the Anglican ministry in later life, he served as vicar in Melbourne's neediest parish and, later, as Director of Cross-Cultural Ministry for the Diocese.The closing chapters offer a Christian commentary on life in Australia today and the search for meaning in a fractured world. The Memoir describes a life-embracing journey of faith and self-discovery with God as gracious companion.