From Glebe to Gallipoli: Indigenous voices into Sydney Anglican history

From Russell Powell at SydneyAnglicans.net –

 “Archbishop Kanishka Raffel has decried the ‘deeply repugnant’ treatment of Aboriginal Elder Uncle Ray Minniecon at an Anzac Day service, as the Diocese prepares to hear the ‘untold stories’ of Indigenous Anglicans. …”

– Read here. And there’s a media release.

Archdeacon Kara Hartley to step down — A legacy of gospel partnership

From SydneyAnglicans.net –

“After 14 years of dedicated service to the women of the Sydney Diocese, Archdeacon Kara Hartley has announced she will step down at the conclusion of 2026.

While Archdeacon Hartley originally envisioned a seven-year commitment as Archdeacon for Women’s Ministry, her tenure spanned double that time. …”

– Russell Powell has the story.

Principles of the Prayer Book

“What I offer here … is not a nostalgic plea for the recovery of a lost golden age, nor a polemical defence of one authorised book over another. Rather, it is an attempt to articulate and reflect on the principles that underlie The Book of Common Prayer, principles which have shaped Anglican worship historically and which continue to exercise normative authority within the Anglican Church of Australia.”

Bishop of The Northern Territory, Greg Anderson, writes at The Australian Church Record –

“I am probably one of a relatively small number of people these days who has been – hard to know quite how to describe it – perhaps a committed participant in liturgical church services from my earliest childhood memories. Perhaps unusually, I was an early and competent reader, so I imagine I was reading and saying the prayers along with everyone else. And since it was the same liturgy every week (apart from the Psalm, which we didn’t always say), you didn’t need to read all that well… well, you could join in from memory. Our church was devotionally warm, scripturally focused, and theologically normal, and no one imagined for a moment that liturgical services sat in tension with any of that.

That is my background. I know that this is far from everyone’s experience. All this is to say that I approach liturgical corporate worship with a long?standing positive experience – something that is relatively rare these days. What I offer here, therefore, is not a nostalgic plea for the recovery of a lost golden age, nor a polemical defence of one authorised book over another. Rather, it is an attempt to articulate and reflect on the principles that underlie The Book of Common Prayer, principles which have shaped Anglican worship historically and which continue to exercise normative authority within the Anglican Church of Australia.

Before turning to those principles themselves, two introductory notes are necessary: first, concerning the place of The Book of Common Prayer in the Australian Church; and second, concerning where such principles are to be found and how they might be identified and ranked. …”

– Read it all here.

Anglican board directs Bishop of The Murray to step down

From John Sandeman at The Other Cheek, a report on Bishop Keith Dalby of The Diocese of The Murray –

“Following the diocese becoming aware of his secret marriage to Alison Dutton in August 2023, Bishop Keith Dalby had stepped aside from his office as Bishop of the Diocese of The Murray with effect from 9 December 2023. In his statement, Bishop Murray expressed his ‘deep regret for the impact of my actions on the Diocese of the Murray, its clergy, and its people.’ …

[Bishop Dalby responds] ‘I am considering my position in light of the Board’s determination and will respond within the required timeframe. I ask for prayers for all those affected by this matter, including the people and leadership of the Diocese of the Murray.’”

– Story here.

The Arrogance of the Immoral

From Phillip Jensen –

“Because of sin, immorality is universal. Sometimes it is so blatant that everybody can see it. But what happens if everybody can see it except for the church?

In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul is dealing not only with immorality, but also with arrogance.”

– Hear Peter and Phillip Jensen discuss at Two Ways News.

Easter Message from Bishop Mark Short

Mark Short, Bishop of Canberra & Goulburn and Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia, has released his 2026 Easter message for the churches of his diocese –

The Bible tells us that the Roman Governor Pilate ordered Jesus to be executed with a sign that read “This is the King of the Jews”. The message was written in Hebrew, the language of the locals, Latin, the language of their conquerors and in Greek, the language of global commerce and culture. Pilate meant it as a mockery directed both at Jesus and his fellow Jews. But it disclosed a profound truth. Jesus died both in solidarity with His own people and for the sake of all the peoples of the world.

Last year I visited the suburban church where I first came to trust in Christ as a teenager. A lot has changed in those forty or so years. Red-tiled houses on quarter-acre blocks have been replaced by townhouses and multi-storey developments. What was once a working-class Anglo and southern European community is now home to many people from the Asian sub-continent. The Chinese and Australian meals of memory have given way to desi food and culture.

My childhood church is still part of that rich local life. A little smaller but much more culturally diverse than I remember it and more representative of its community. Some individuals and couples who mentored me in my younger years continue to live and worship there, because they love their neighbours and their neighbourhood and are convinced that the Risen Lord Jesus does as well. I continue to thank God for their witness. Grounded in the knowledge that through Jesus, God has forgiven them and gifted them new life they are free to engage the changing world around them with hope and with hospitality.

At a time when change can feel rapid and unsettling and social cohesion is under pressure there is no word more worthy of our attention and trust than the message of the cross.

with prayers and blessings,

Bishop Mark.

Published in Anglican News, March 2026, page 2.

There’s also news of the induction of Joshua Kuswadi as the eighth Rector of St. Matthew’s Wanniassa (page 8).

The richness of Sydney’s global engagement

“The Anglican Communion, unlike the Roman Catholic Church, is not a global hierarchical administrative structure emanating from the pastoral, doctrinal and legal authority of one man – the Pope – but rather, a voluntary fellowship based on mutual recognition of shared life in Christ and a common heritage of biblical convictions, liturgical forms, a missional and pastoral church life, as well as synodical government and episcopal leadership.

Sydney’s fellowship with Anglicans around the world has long been expressed in partnerships with many of our Anglican organisations, including CMS, Moore College, Youthworks, the Archbishop of Sydney’s Anglican Aid and since 2008, Gafcon.

These partnerships are based on a shared commitment to the authority of the Scriptures, and the reformed understanding of the faith as expressed in the Book of Common Prayer and the Thirty Nine Articles. …”

–Written in January, and before G26 in Abuja, Archbishop Kanishka Raffel reminds us of the many and wide gospel links between Sydney and partners around the world.

Photo thanks to SydneyAnglicans.net: Archbishop Raffel at a tree-planting ceremony in rural Tanzania in 2023.

Southern Cross March-April 2026

Anglican Media Sydney has published Southern Cross magazine for March-April 2026.

Grab a copy at your local church – or download/read online here.

The Link – from Armidale Diocese – Autumn 2026

The Link magazine from the Diocese of Armidale for Autumn 2026 is now up on their website.

Download a copy (direct link to PDF file) for your edification and as fuel for your prayers.

Explainer: Anglican re-ordering and Gafcon in Abuja

From SydneyAnglicans.net, a very helpful article to read and share –

“In early March 2026, headlines lit up around the world about the re-ordering of what’s known as the Anglican Communion – the grouping of Anglican churches around the world which emerged from the English missionary efforts of the 18th and 19th centuries and later.

The Global Anglican Future Conference, which has drawn together the majority of the largest churches in the communion, held a meeting in Abuja, Nigeria.

Here are the answers to some key questions …”

These are the questions asked and answered –

What happened in Abuja?

What are the issues?

What does this mean for my local parish?

I’m concerned about talk of schism and division – why can’t we all just get along?

What happens to the Archbishop of Canterbury?

What does this mean for Sydney Anglicans and the Archbishop of Canterbury?

What does this mean for Sydney Anglicans and the Anglican Church of Australia?

– Read it all here.

The Global Anglican Communion, Abuja and the Australian Anglican Church — with Archbishop Kanishka Raffel

From The Pastor’s Heart –

“What does the reordering of the Anglican Communion actually mean for Christians in the Australian Church?

Archbishop of Sydney Kanishka Raffel on what it means for Anglican churches, clergy and church members in Australia.

We explore what ‘principled disengagement’ from the Canterbury Instruments will mean for Australian leaders and other Global Anglican Communion leaders.

Plus an update on implementing the Sydney Diocean goal of seeing five percent saved through conversion growth each year.

And Archbishop Raffel responds to criticism over his comments on Pauline Hanson, ‘We must reject hateful words and threats of violence.’”

– Watch or listen here.

Public Lecture on Padre Hugh Gough

Mark Earngey, Head of Church History at Moore College, is giving a free online public lecture for the Evangelical History Association –

“In the 1950s, Hugh Gough emerged as a rising star among British evangelicals. His involvement with the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union (CICCU) and his courage in publicly supporting Billy Graham at a time of ecclesiastical controversy won him admiration across the evangelical world. Nowhere was this more evident than in Sydney, where he was elected Archbishop and served from 1959 to 1965. Yet Gough’s relatively brief episcopate, combined with the scarcity of accessible primary sources, has meant that he remains less well known than his predecessor Howard Mowll and his successor Marcus Loane.

Recent archival discoveries, however, have begun to illuminate neglected dimensions of Gough’s life and ministry. Among the most significant is a substantial body of material from his service as an army chaplain during the Second World War, including battlefield photographs from North Africa and personal correspondence written from the front. These sources open a crucial window onto Gough’s formative years as a padre.

This paper traces his wartime ministry from Jerusalem to El Alamein and into Italy, revealing how these experiences shaped the convictions and character of one of twentieth-century evangelicalism’s most significant yet understudied leaders.”

– On Wednesday, 18 March 2026 at 8:00pm AEDT. Free registration to watch online.

Photo: Padre Hugh Gough in North Africa – thanks to Mark Earngey.

Castle Hill’s historic Lober House celebrates a century

An interesting bit of history –

“An historic house in Sydney’s north-west, which went on to become Australia’s first retirement home, is celebrating 100 years.

Lober House, now the social heart of Anglicare’s Castle Hill villages, was built in the 1920s as a private residence by Robert and Eva Dixson and originally known as Elwatan.

Purchased by the Anglican Church in 1958 and opened the following year, it was the launchpad for a new model of retirement living shaped by two influential women — Dorothy Mowll and Dame Pattie Menzies — who pushed for aged care that supported retirees to live independently. …”

– This article at Australian Seniors News has some background on the key building at Anglicare’s retirement villages – otherwise known as Mowll Village – at Castle Hill.

Image: Paintings of Dorothy Mowll (artist unknown), Archbishop Howard Mowll (by Alfred G Reynolds, 1958) – both at one time on display in Lober House – and the plaque commemorating their vision – also at Lober House.

The plaque reads –

“THIS VILLAGE IS ESTABLISHED AS A
DIOCESAN TRIBUTE TO THE LIFE AND WORK
OF
HOWARD WEST KILVINTON MOWLL
C.M.G., DD.

BORN 2nd FEBRUARY, 1890       DIED 24th OCTOBER, 1958

ARCHBISHOP OF SYDNEY
METROPOLITAN OF THE PROVINCE OF NEW SOUTH WALES
1933-1958

PRIMATE OF AUSTRALIA
1947-1958

AND OF HIS WIFE
DOROTHY ANNE MOWLL
O.B.E., F.R.G.S.

BORN 18th JUNE, 1890       DIED 23rd DECEMBER, 1957

“Workers together with Him”
2 Cor. 6:1

THE MAIN HOUSE WAS OPENED AND DEDICATED
BY

THE MOST REV. HUGH ROWLANDS GOUGH
O.B.E., D.D
ARCHBISHOP OF SYDNEY
ON
24th OCTOBER, 1959.”

Archbishop of Sydney’s Statement on The Abuja Affirmation, Nigeria, 2026

Archbishop of Sydney Kanishka Raffel has released this statement –

Archbishop’s Statement on The Abuja Affirmation, Nigeria, 2026

I have been enormously encouraged by the breadth and vitality of global Anglicanism displayed at the ‘G26’ meeting in Abuja Nigeria and I wholeheartedly welcome the shared commitment of majority-world Anglican provinces to accept the stewardship of the Anglican Communion.

The Abuja Affirmation charts a path forward for global Anglicans faithful to the Lord and his mission and committed to the primacy, sufficiency and trustworthiness of God’s word.

Recognising that our existing structures have failed to uphold Anglican doctrine and discipline, the task of re-ordering the Communion around the Scriptures, begun in Jerusalem in 2008, continues with the formation of the Global Anglican Council.

True to our history, the Council brings together every part of the Church – clergy and laity alongside bishops and senior advisors. We share this stewardship, and we go forward together in prayerful dependence on the Lord.

The Global Anglican Communion is determined to focus on the building of Christ’s church, rather than managing cultural capitulation or accommodating unbiblical beliefs.

I invite all Anglicans, in our own diocese and across the world, to reflect on the landmark Abuja Affirmation, produced by delegates through the collaborative process that has long characterised Gafcon gatherings.

As the statement declares: “At Abuja, we rejoiced in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ – the good news that God, in his great love for sinners, gave his Son so that, through his death and resurrection, sinners might be forgiven and adopted through the Spirit and live as God’s beloved children forever. Without this gospel, the Church dies.”

This gospel is our precious and powerful message, our task for the future, and our one hope.

Archbishop Kanishka Raffel
8 March 2026.

Source: SydneyAnglicans.net. (PDF file.)

Image: Archbishop Kanishka Raffel interviewed in Abuja by The Pastor’s Heart.

Listening in Lent — in the Diocese of Melbourne

Newly installed Archbishop of Melbourne Ric Thorpe invites members of his diocese to “listen, reflect, and respond together”.

“During Lent, you are invited to be part of Listening in Lent – an opportunity to pause, reflect, and share what you notice and hope for as part of the Diocese of Melbourne today, and as we look to the future together.”

It’d be good to pray for Archbishop Thorpe and all involved in this, in their desire to see churches strengthened and for the people of Melbourne to come to trust in the Lord Jesus.

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