Episode 21 of the At The Well podcast is now available.
In this episode, co-hosts Catholic Youth Parramatta Manager, Qwayne Guevara, and writer and mother Joy Adan, are joined by Chantelle Ogilvie-Ellis from the Sydney Alliance who is a parishioner at Our Lady of the Way Parish, Emu Plains.
The women speak about how difficult it can be to practise their faith and be authentic women of God in a society or environment where people may not understand or are actively hostile to Catholics.
In working for the Sydney Alliance, Chantelle works in communities and with people with beliefs and values that are different to her own. As a community organiser, she brings people together to “solve the problems they face as community.”
“What I love is that my job involves having conversations with people all across Sydney about what kind of city they want to live in and how they can use their energy to create that,” Chantelle explains.
“If my faith genuinely shapes who I am and what I do and what’s important to me, then people will notice, without me having to push.
“In the kind of community organising we do, there’s a tool called a ‘relational meeting’, which is a one-to-one conversation, where you’re asking people what drives them. You use this tool to build a relationship to understand each other and see if you have something in common that you want to work together on.
“Those conversations have to start with being curious about the other person, and it’s really hard to demonise someone when you’re curious about them, when you want to understand them.
“It doesn’t mean that we have to agree on everything, or become the same person, it’s just genuinely being interested in how they got to be the person they are.
“At the very least, I can respect them as a human being.”
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The podcast is a chance to build on the joys of Catholic Youth Parramatta’s “At The Well” evenings for young women on a more regular basis, a chance to give a feminine perspective on questions of faith and life, and to continue the conversations sparked during the face-to-face gatherings.
At The Well is an initiative of the Diocese of Parramatta, through its youth ministry Catholic Youth Parramatta.
You can listen to this podcast and the previous episodes on The Well. You can also tune in via Soundcloud by visiting tinyurl.com/atthewellcyp and on Spotify by searching for ‘Catholic Youth Parramatta’.
You can submit your questions or contact the hosts through the At The Well Facebook group.
