A conference on the growing historical and religious importance of the Holy Shroud of Turin will be held in Western Sydney in June.
Initiated by Fr Brendan Murphy SDB, the Parish Priest at Our Lady of the Rosary, St Marys, and William West, a journalist and shroud scholar, the conference will feature experts on the Shroud and accompanied by an exhibition that features a life-sized reproduction of the famous relic, which many believe to be the cloth that Christ was wrapped in after He was crucified.
Although one of the most scientifically studied historical artefacts in the world, the Shroud’s reputation has been enhanced in the past few years, after a new testing method – wide-angle x-ray scattering (WAXS) – placed the age of the Shroud at about the time of Christ’s death and resurrection.
This testing method works by dating the threads of ancient cloth by looking at their structural degradation. It overturned the results of carbon dating in 1988 that estimated the Shroud to be only about 700 years old.
The negative of what is thought to be the head of Jesus on the Shroud of Turin. Image: Shutterstock
For Fr Brendan, who began thinking about this conference before the results of the WAXS testing were made public, the importance of the Shroud has only increased as its authenticity has been strengthened.
“It can be said as so obviously authentic,” he said. “And if it’s authentic then God’s given it for a reason.
“I think it’s about the most eloquent witness to the suffering of Christ, which therefore says God is good, God is love.”
He said that through the existence of the Shroud you get a “real sense of the crucifixion and what it must have cost”.
This made it especially important for evangelisation, catechesis and conversion through what it says to people about the nature of God, he said.
“What is God like? The Shroud says what God is like.”
A replica of the Crown of Thorns, which will be part of the exhibition during the conference. Image: Holy Shroud Conference
As well as William West, a resident of the Diocese of Parramatta who has written several books on the authenticity of the Shroud, the conference at the Liverpool Catholic Club on 27 and 28 June, will hear from international expert Fr Andrew Dalton LC, a professor of theology in Rome and a member of Othonia, an international centre for the study of the Shroud. His appearance on the popular podcast Pints with Aquinas, with Australian host Matt Fradd discussing the Shroud, has been viewed 3.4 million times.
Other speakers at the conference include David Rolfe, a film maker who has made several documentaries on the Shroud, including the award-winning The Silent Witness; Dr Paul Morrissey, the president of Campion College, in Toongabbie; and Bishop Richard Umbers, the Episcopal Vicar for Evangelisation in the Archdiocese of Sydney.
A member of the conference organising committee, Steven Buhagiar, said as well as listening to a wide range of experts, those attending the conference could engage with the accompanying exhibition that will feature an exact representation of the Shroud, as well as replicas of the elements of the Passion and panels with detailed information about the Shroud and its history.
“These are gifts that people can engage with,” he said. “It’s not like we’re saying you have to believe it. Just come and see how it relates to you and see what the Lord does.”
Fr Brendan said the conference would be the start of process of using the Shroud to appeal to young people.
“In my experience, the Shroud takes a person straight to the heart of the issue,” he said, adding that when young people see his reproduction of the Shroud with all its detail “they’re just gobsmacked”.
For more information and to buy tickets for The Australian Holy Shroud Conference, at the Liverpool Catholic Club, go to the conference website.
