[Oe List ...] Best wishes

[frank bremner]

Dear Vance

I was sorry to read of your ill health, in news passed on by Harry 
Wainright.  I'm constantly reminded that I can't be as "busy" as I once was 
- but there's an enjoyment in teaching others who are young enough to be 
that "busy".  Or is it "speedy" or "frenetic"?

We've never met, unless it was in passing at a Chicago gathering when I was 
in the USA from mid-1978 to May 1980.  But I remember your bearded face from 
Sydney Morning Herald articles we copied back in the late 60s and early 70s. 
  Another one we printed a lot showed Joe Pierce and Dean Eland looking at a 
wedgeblade diagram on a blackboard.

For many years, probably unconsciously at first, then more intentionally 
later, I've been archiving my own records of the O:E/EI/ICA story, 
especially as it applies to Australians overseas, and overseas people in 
Australia.  I started a BTh in 1996, because the Religion Teachers 
Certificate I was doing through the Catholic Education Office in Adelaide 
just didn't go deep enough, and was too "capital C" Catholic for my mind.  
The non-Catholic students I was taking for Religion classes in Catholic 
schools appreciated someone who was ecumenically literate, and could also 
translate from "Christian/Catholic" into "secular".

When I received a High Distinction for an essay on "Who is Jesus Christ?" (I 
turned the question around ) the lecturer commented "You've been working on 
this essay for 30 years".  I received a Distinction for that subject The 
Person and Wok of Christ (christology and soteriology).  I knew I was in the 
right place at the right time, doing the right thing for me.

I'm especially noting frameworks, categories etc that I can use in 
post-graduate work on the history of the O:E/EI/ICA movement in Australia.  
There are archives in the National Library, and an Australian CD-ROM 
(Bushtracks) as well as Chicago's CD-ROM.  And I have my own viewpoits and 
opinions etc.

But I do want to represent and give voice to as many people's experiences 
and impressions, and opinions and reflections, on their experience.  I want 
to write a rich commentary - I'm avoiding the word "critique" because many 
people think that means "criticism" and make another step towards "attack".  
That is definitely not what I intend.

So, to my point.  What were the dates of your EI experience in Australia?  
Where were you based?  Where did you travel?  What were the events?  RS-Is, 
PLCs, any others?  How did Australia seem to you back then?  How did 
Australia affect you?  What did you take away with you?  What are your 
reflections now?  If you could do anything different, what would it be?  (I 
know that's the Marilyn Monroe question, but ...... there may be something 
like "Had I known ...... I would have ........".)  What about particular 
personalities, like Jim and Isobel Bishop, Rob and Ann Duffy, etc etc?  What 
was your sense of "the Australian ethos"?  Or were there several ethoses?  
(What is the plural of "ethos"?)  What's a caricature of the "average" 
Australian"?

And so on.  If you can help, I'd be most appreciative.  A cassette tape 
would be one way of doing the job.

Best wishes

Frank Bremner