First of all, let me offer my apology for the time it has taken to create the new--but fabulous, if I do say so myself--IALRW Website (IALRW.org), and along with it, our first IALRW Newsletter, February, 2009, Issue 59 (now on-line, as well as available to our members, who do not have access to the Internet or email, as a paper Newsletter).

It has been a great honor (and a much more ambitious project than I had envisioned) when I volunteered in 2006 in Taiwan at my first IALRW meeting to help establish a worldwide website...which we hope will be as "user friendly" to our women members around the globe as is possible in this first decade of the 21st century. 

I am excited that many of you can take advantage of the fact that members and friends can now view our new website in 33 languages!!!...thanks to the wonderful talents of our technical advisor, Gretchen Ohmann! ...whose expertise has made this all possible.  (Just click on the colored balls--symbolizing flags and their countries' languages--in the far-left-hand margin of the home page on the website, to view everything in your preferred language.)

I hope as the website evolves, that more and more IALRW members and friends will find ways to use these technical resources to better communicate with one another, and to share the important work toward peace, global prosperity, and mutual understanding that brings us together, and which we all are doing as we "think globally, and act locally!"

Please feel free to let us know whatever you are doing locally--to bring peace and good health to all people and to the planet--and may this technical effort to use new resources responsibly multiply our spiritual, moral, social, and humanitarian efforts a thousand-fold...until women everywhere join with us one day to bring about our wish for the world--PEACE and PLENTY for ALL.

Feel free to drop me a line anytime (preferably in English, which is regretfully, my only language...by sending an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) about what you like, or don't like, about the new website and newsletter....or about your suggestions for improvements in the future. 

Sitting here at home in front of my computer today, I cannot imagine what it must have been like 100 years ago for the brave women who founded our organization and began this long IALRW journey!...how difficult it must have been for them back then to communicate! ...how long it must have taken to send letters across vast  distances and wait days to receive a reply!...not only before the internet and before email, but before television, before radio, and before the telephone!!!

Hopefully, we will have more of our organization's history to share with members as we work on rediscovering old records and making them available on-line.  (If you have any you would like to share, please let us know.)

But for now, it's a new day, and a new year, and a new world!  We have the power to change the world for the better!  And, working together, WE can make it happen!

by Kathy Matsui, IALRW President

The "IALRW Centennial Congress" will be held in Kochi (Cochin), Kerala State, in India from September 1st to 4th, 2010, when we gather to celebrate our 100th Anniversary as the oldest women's international interfaith organization in the world!

The IARF (International Association for Religious Freedom) and the IALRW meet every four years.  The venue changes cyclically throughout the four major regions (East Asia, South Asia, North America, and Europe/Middle East), with the theme dependent upon critical issues at the time, and with the next meeting of the IARF Congress (immediately following the IALRW) in Kochi, Kerala, India from Sept. 4-7, 2010.

Kochi is located on the southwestern tip (bottom left side) of the coast of India. In the state of Kerala, women enjoy a high rate of literacy and high social status.  The city of Kochi is also known for its long tradition of religious amity.  The major religions are Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. 







There are also smaller communities of Jainism, Judaism, Sikhism and Buddhism. Following Hinduism (51%), the Christian population (35%) of Kochi is the largest in India.





Since Kochi has such a diverse, multicultural community--where all religious denominations live in peaceful co-existence--one might say that there has never been a conference site more appropriate
for interfaith dialogue and cooperation.

The theme of the IALRW conference is "Women in Action."  For our key speakers, we will be inviting women from different walks of life who are active in their respective careers, working to nurture care for women and children--especially those in impoverished, difficult circumstances. 

One of the speakers, Prateep Ungsongtham Hata, is the founder of The Duang Prateep Foundation’s "New Life Project" that helps children who have problems with slum life in Bangkok, Thailand. The children, many of whom have a background of drug abuse, go to a rural center where they are kept active with a mixture of conventional schooling, vocational training, and agricultural work. 

In addition to learning from our guest speakers, we plan to conduct study groups on religious cooperation, peace education, ecology, and human dignity.  Community visits to various religious institutions are also being planned.

As our IALRW brochure explains, we are religious women who take action, not only to promote friendship and cooperation between like-minded women, but to serve as a channel of communication for those striving for a liberal religious life.  We promote economic and social justice, and equality for women.  Our activities include projects for disadvantaged women to become self-sufficient. 

We strive for world peace. Change is needed in this chaotic world, and we are religious women who have the ability to make a difference for ourselves and others.   Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”  “To leave a trail where there is no path” means “to bring about change.”

The attitude needed here is one of empathy and global citizenship. According to Mark Gerzon, a leadership trainer and organizational consultant, becoming a global citizen means living according to values that are good not just for ourselves, or for our own tribe or religion, or for our country or region, but good for the whole world.

Perhaps, a good starting point for change would be the simple practice of empathy--the caring of one person for another. What is needed is a group of people performing simple acts of empathy and compassion. 

Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” 

We are just ordinary women, but we can take action and contribute to society where we live, and become good global citizens in the process.  Working together, we can make this world a better place for everyone. 

Please plan to join us as we get together in southern India for a grand celebration of our longevity....and to help plan our course for the NEXT 100 years!!!

by Judy Highfill

Kathy Matsui, President of the IALRW, will be one of the keynote speakers at the upcoming ICUUW (International Convocation of Unitarian Universalist Women) in Houston, Texas, Thursday, Feb. 26 thru Sunday, March 1st, 2009.

Kathy is President of the IALRW (International Association of Liberal Religious Women) and currently Professor and Department Chair of Global Citizenship Studies at Seisen University in Tokyo, Japan. Classes she teaches in the undergraduate program include Communication skills for global learners, Cross-cultural understanding, and Conflict management skills. She also teaches Comprehensive Peace Education in the graduate program. 

Her publications, presentations, and workshops focus on the role of leadership in peace education, development of capacities for conflict resolution and reconciliation, and fostering communication skills to build inner peace and cooperative relationships.

She has worked with peace researchers and educators internationally at the International Institute on Peace Education and Global Partnership for Prevention of Armed Conflict. She is also currently an advisory board member for the Hague Appeal for Peace; Global Campaign for Peace Education; Oxfam International, Japan; and the Society for Educating Parents. And she is a member of the Women’s Executive Committee for World Conference of Religions for Peace.

This will be my first time attending an International Convocation of UU Women, and I'm really looking forward to it! (I understand they only meet every decade or so.)  Several IALRW members will also attend, so we should have some photos and a report in our next IALRW Newsletter as to what transpired.  The program looks exciting and timely!

You can find out more about the upcoming ICUUW program from their website at ICUUW.com (or if you are reading this on-line at the IALRW website [IALRW.org], just click on the "International Convocation of U*U Women" under Resources in the left hand margin).

DR. ONIAH KAMAR* WELCOMES IALRW JAPAN MEMBERS TO MALAYSIA

Dr. Kamar was a keynote speaker at the IALRW Congress at the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Monastery near Kaohsiung, Taiwan in 2006.  She was the sole presenter of a feminine contemporary Islamic perspective, making many new friends that week and promising to bring more members of her faith to our next IALRW meeting in 2010 in India.

Here's what she had to say upon returning home in 2006:

"I have Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines in mind for the 30 participants we committed to bring in 2010, and I do hope to have them from various faiths too. Maybe we can have the two other Muslim panelists, Kamar Ainiah, a lawyer (who can talk on social justice and law), and Dr. Hariyati Shariman, a lecturer and psychologist on humanitarian aid (who can present very graphic slides of disaster victims, looking at how we can do our bit as an inter-religious body). Keep moving and keep cheerful--we are expanding good tracks for the next generation."

In August of 2007, IALRW Japan members visited Dr. Oniah Kamar at the International Islamic University in Malaysia, where she is on the faculty.  Dr. Kamar warmly welcomed the members, and her students kindly gave the Japanese group a tour around campus.  One of her students is from a diverse background, with a Malaysian Islamic father and a Japanese mother.  She guided us with her fluent Japanese, which added to their wonderful hospitality.

Dr. Kamar also took the Japanese members around the capital, where they saw many government buildings and visited a large mosque. In addition, members were invited to dinner by one of Dr. Kamar’s acquaintances, where they enjoyed many Malaysian delicacies. 

The group was also able to meet Dr. Kamar’s younger sister, who is a lawyer specializing in human rights.  She is well known for her courageous activities of winning court cases for the less-privileged people in Malaysia. 

*Dr. Kamar's full last name is spelled "Kamaruzaman," though she says we can just call her Dr. Kamar.

HIGHLIGHTS OF ACTIVITIES IN JAPAN

Study tours to Hiroshima and Nagasaki:  IALRW Japan, Kansai (West Region) Chapter planned a tour to Hiroshima in September, 2007, and Nagasaki in September, 2008.  IALRW Japan members from all over Japan participated in this peace study tour.  These two cities were destroyed by Atomic Bombs in 1945, and the scars of war still remain to this day.  There are monuments, such as the “Atom Dome” in Hiroshima and the “Cathedral" in Nagasaki, which remind us all that this inhumane method of destruction should never be repeated again anywhere, ever, on this beautiful earth. 










IARF AND IALRW (CELEBRATING  ITS CENTENNIAL) TO MEET IN KERALA, INDIA IN  2010

Mrs. Yokota, the organizing committee chair for the 2010 IARF (International Association for Religious Freedom) World Conference to be held in Kerala, India, was one of the speakers at the 2006 "Centennial" IARF World Congress in Taiwan.

RECENT LECTURE EVENTS IN JAPAN:

October 14th, 2007 - Dr. Gene Reeves, a philosopher of religion, who, after a career in teaching and academic administration in the United States, talked on the history of IARF and IALRW.

February 9th, 2008 - Rev. Yamamoto of Tsubaki Grand Shrine introduced the fortune of 2008.

February 7th, 2009 - Rev. Yamamoto talked again on the 2009 fortune.

VENERABLE SANGASENA'S VISIT

Venerable Sangasena visited Japan, after attending a Buddhist Conference in Taiwan between January 24th and 31st, 2008.  He was invited to speak on Buddhist Traditions and Values at Seisen University, Tokyo Japan.

Venerable Sangasena is greatly respected for his charitable humanitarian work on literacy, environmental protection, inter-religious harmony, and world peace. Moreover, his selfless services to society--manifested through various altruistic activities--are highly commendable. He has made efforts to improve the status of women, and to struggle against human injustice and poverty.

Venerable Sangasena also exchanged greetings with Rev. Nichiko Niwano, the President of Rissho Kosei-kai at the annual WCRP (World Conference of Religions for Peace) New Years Event held at the Horinkaku Building, Rissho Kosei-kai in Nakano, Tokyo In January, 2008.

GRASS ROOTS SUMMIT

A Grass Roots Summit was held on November 2nd and 3rd of 2008 at the Fo Guang Shan facilities near Mt. Fuji in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, by the beautiful Lake Motosuko. 

The study retreat began with the panel discussion on the panelists’ experience in IARF, moderated by Rev. Miwa.  Participating in the discussion were Rev. Yukiyasu Yamamoto of Tsubaki Grand Shrine, Rev. Yoshiko Izumida of Rissho Kosei-kai and Mrs.Tokuko Hisano, our  Christian Representative. On the second day, Venerable Shaku, of the Fo Guang Shan Motosuko monastery in Japan, and Rev. Daijiro Ai of Ittoen were speakers, who gave the participants spiritual guidance.  After an hour of meditation, Ms. Kathy R. Matsui, president of IALRW, introduced the 2010 Conference in Kerala.