A valuable moment for clarity has been lost

Archbishop Kanishka Raffel has tonight released this Public Statement –

Public Statement on the General Synod discussion on marriage

May 11, 2022

I thank God that the Synod discussion of this sensitive personal matter was conducted with deep mutual respect and care. We are conscious that the discussion takes place in some sense ‘in public’, and that there is a risk of some feeling hurt or left out. We rely on, and rest in the sustaining love and grace of Jesus for all.

The doctrine of our church has not changed. The previous Synod carried two separate motions affirming the teaching of Jesus on marriage. Today, the majority of the House affirmed the teaching of Jesus on the subject of marriage and its expression in historic Anglican rites. That is why I am deeply disappointed that a majority of Bishops voted against making a clear statement. A valuable moment for clarity has been lost.

Source: SydneyAnglicans.net.

With thanksgiving for Neil Prott

Sydney Anglicans will be saddened to hear of the death of Neil Prott, yet we rejoice that he is now with Christ.

Neil was a long time member of the ACL, and a long serving member of the Moore Theological College Council.

After studying at Moore, Neil served curacies at Caringbah (1964-66) and Albion Park (1967-68) before becoming Curate in Charge of Oak Flats (1968-72), and then Rector of Kurrajong (1972-1998).

In his retirement, Neil established Country Serve, a support for ministers and churches in country NSW.

Please uphold in prayer Neil’s wife June and their family.

A thanksgiving service for Neil will be held on Monday 2nd May.

As a man thoroughly committed to the gospel, we thought it would be appropriate to republish an article Neil wrote for ACL News in 1989 – “Evangelism – A Priority in Your Parish?”

Moore College Council passed this Minute of Appreciation on Neil’s retirement from Council

Neil Prott was elected to the Moore College Committee (as it was then known) in 1974 and remained a member without break until 2005.

Neil is a graduate of Moore and his first year in college in 1959 was the largest (46 students) post war first year to that time. The numbers were partly due to Archbishop Gough’s successful initiative in encouraging older laymen to undertake theological study to meet the manpower shortage in the diocese.

At school (Sydney Grammar) Neil was, by a year, a contemporary of Graeme Goldsworthy and a few years behind Bruce Smith and Roderick West. There he developed a love of rifle shooting (First Rifle Team) which continues today.

It was in the candidate selection committees where Neil gave of his best. His long practical parish experience and clear evangelical theology enabled him to ask perceptive questions and make well founded judgements. In Council meetings his verbal interventions were not frequent, but when made, reminded us not to neglect the inner life of the pastor-in-training and the practical demands of ministry in the striving for academic merit.

We will miss him on Council and pray that our God will bless Neil and his wife June as they serve our Saviour.

(with thanks to Dr Robert Tong for the text.)

Archbishop Kanishka Raffel’s Easter Message 2022

Archbishop of Sydney Kanishka Raffel has released this Easter Message for 2022.

Watch and share widely.

It’s ideal to download and play in church, or to post on church websites!

Thanks to Russell Powell at Anglican Media Sydney for the video and the transcript.

Image: Anglican Media Sydney.

An unwanted gift

“Have you ever received a gift that you did not want? A number of years ago I asked my father to buy me a cast-iron griddle pan, but he decided to give it to my wife Pearl instead. I was delighted. She was less than impressed. Not every gift is something we want.

I received a gift I didn’t want recently. Despite abundant caution and double vaccination I received a bad case of COVID-19. And it really was bad. I cannot remember feeling so ill in my life. Even a month later I’m still in the process of recovery. Yet, despite all that, and amid recognition of all the pain and loss it has caused so many, I still consider it a gift. …”

– Bishop of Western Sydney Gary Koo shares what he has learned through COVID – at SydneyAnglicans.net.

Image: Bishop Gary Koo / Anglican Media Sydney.

How ‘voluntary assisted dying’ would change our culture and values

“The introduction, last year, of Independent MP Alex Greenwich’s Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill (2021) (the ‘Bill’) is a momentous shift in medical practice and community expectation. It marks the final abandonment of one of the cornerstones of Western civilisation: the sanctity of life. The idea that all human life is inherently precious was not generally affirmed in the world into which Jesus Christ was born. It spread with the growth of early Christianity and finds expression today in the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

Advocates of Voluntary Assisted Dying (a deeply misleading cluster of words) have emphasised not the sanctity of life, but quality of life as subjectively experienced, and the primacy of autonomous choice.  Recently, a man said to me, ‘Archbishop, if you don’t want to choose assisted suicide you don’t have to, but don’t get in the way of those of us who want the right to choose’. I understand the depth of feeling and the logic.

But this way of arguing – ‘if you don’t choose it, it won’t affect you’ – is naïve.…”

– Archbishop Kanishka Raffel writes at SydneyAnglicans.net.

See also:

The Archbishop joined The Hon Damien Tudehope MLC (Leader of the Govt in the Legislative Council Professor), Professor Margaret Sommerville AM FRSC (Bioethicist) and Dr Frank Brennan MBBS, DCH, Dip Obs, FRACP, FAChPM, LLB (Lawyer and Palliative Care Specialist) in a special event at St. John’s Parramatta last night.

Watch the full video – and share with friends.

Likewise, please see and share: ePetition: “Please unanimously reject the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2021”.

Archbishop Kanishka Raffel’s message to churches — March 2022

“Archbishop Raffel has written to churches, and spoken on video, about the remarkable week which has seen the invasion of Ukraine and flooding in two states.”

– Russell Powell at SydneyAnglicans.net has more.

In a letter to Rectors, Archbishop Raffel also writes,

“The Rev Mark Charleston has also written a prayer for those affected by floods. It is available online at sydneyanglicans.net/news/a-prayer-for-those-affected-by-flood.”

Southern Cross magazine, March 2022

Anglican Media Sydney has just released Southern Cross magazine for March 2022.

Printed copies will be available in parishes from this weekend, but you can download a PDF version now at magazine.sydneyanglicans.net.

New Registrar for Moore College

From Moore College:

“It is with great joy and in eager anticipation that the Governing Board of Moore Theological College has appointed Dr Paul Yeates to replace Rhonda Barry in the position of Registrar. …”

– Story here.

A prayer for Ukraine

From Archbishop Kanishka Raffel via SydneyAnglicans.net tonight –

The world is dismayed, though perhaps not surprised, to find that Russia has illegally invaded Ukraine in an act of unprovoked and unjustified aggression. We fear that the toll on the brave people of Ukraine will be heartrending and dreadful.  The world has had to engage in defensive action to protect the innocent and to contain aggressors in the past.

We must pray for the government and people of Ukraine, the people of Russia who live under an authoritarian regime, for the leaders of the world that they will respond with wisdom and courage and for the restraint of evil and the restoration of peace, with justice.

Psalm 10 says “Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless.”

And so we ask –

Sovereign Lord, you observe all those who dwell on earth. Have mercy we pray on those who now suffer the miseries of a war not of their own making. Have compassion on the wounded and dying; comfort the broken-hearted; confound the hatred and madness of those who make war; guide our rulers, bring war to an end, bring peace across the world.  Unite us all under the reign of your Son, the Prince of Peace, before whose judgement seat the rulers of the world will give account, and in whose name we pray. Amen.

Archbishop Kanishka Raffel,
Sydney, February 24, 2022.

Sydney Archbishop Kanishka Raffel on the future

“Sydney Anglican Archbishop Kanishka Raffel spells out the future mission challenges in Sydney and the future of the National Anglican Church in Australia.

We canvass some of the issues Archbishop Raffel might have broached in his first Presidential address, had the ‘Synod in the Greenfields’ (scheduled for this Saturday 26 February 2022) not been postponed due to the Omicron outbreak.

Archbishop Raffel speaks frankly about the  Greenfields challenge, indigenous issues, multiculturalism, the national church and the current religious freedom debate. …”

– The latest Pastor’s Heart.

“He had lost control of his life to Jesus Christ”

“When Archbishop Kanishka Raffel came to Australia in 1972 as a small child, his home faith was Buddhism. The story of how he came to believe in Jesus has now been told on video, which is available for playing in churches or to pass on to friends.

The Archbishop’s story has been told in print and on radio, but he was moved to record a video version after a request from Anglican Chinese churches. He talks about how he became interested in studying Buddhism as a teenager and also asked Christians about their faith. …”

– Watch and download this encouraging testimony at SydneyAnglicans.net.

Eighteen ordained at St. Andrew’s Cathedral Sydney

“From twenty-something college graduates to an experienced Aboriginal Pastor, the 18 candidates for ordination at St Andrew’s Cathedral on Saturday, Feb 19, 2022, shared both excitement and a sense of privilege and responsibility as they made their vows…”

– Encouraging news from Russell Powell at SydneyAnglicans.net.

The washup from lockdown: What can we pray for our churches?

From The Australian Church Record:

“We don’t need to talk to too many church pastors to see that the last two years have been extraordinarily difficult. Of course, there have also been many blessings – and we know that God is always at work for his glory and the good of his people. So as our churches begin their third year under COVID, the ACR thought it would be helpful for us to begin the year by praying for one another.

The Sydney Anglican Diocese is a fellowship of churches partnering together in the gospel for the glory and Kingdom of our great God. There are many ways in which we can and should express this fellowship, and one great way is by praying for one another.

Over the next few weeks, the ACR will be sharing prayer points from various church pastors from within the Sydney Anglican Diocese. Will you join me in praying for these churches? What better way to express our fellowship as churches than by mimicking Paul in his relationship with the Philippian church, always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer (Phil 1:3-5).”

– The ACR has begun publishing prayer requests – so far, from St. Peter’s Cooks River and St Stephen’s, Willoughby.

New Archdeacon takes on new role

“Archbishop Kanishka Raffel has announced a newly-created position to assist him as he further settles into the office to which he was elected last May.

The Reverend Canon Simon Flinders is to become Archdeacon to the Archbishop. …”

– Story from Russell Powell at SydneyAnglicans.net.

Religious Discrimination Bill stalled by hasty amendments — Anglican Church Diocese of Sydney Media Statement

Anglican Church Diocese of Sydney

Media Statement

Religious Discrimination Bill stalled by hasty amendments

We are deeply disappointed that the passage of the Religious Discrimination Bill has been stalled. People of faith have been waiting for this since 2018, and there seems to be broad agreement on both sides of the House that legal protection against discrimination on the basis of religious belief is necessary and long overdue.

It is regrettable that the passage of the Religious Discrimination Bill – which is about Religious Discrimination, and Religious Discrimination only – is being held hostage to rushed changes to the Sex Discrimination Act relating to students.

There have been claims that religious schools are harming trans and gay students and further claims that they want the legal right to do so. This is the opposite of what happens.  Religious schools provide exceptional pastoral care to all students (which is one of the reasons why parents choose to send their children to these schools).

Many MPs seem to have given scant regard to how to protect those of religious faith and the positive contribution of individuals, churches and religious organisations to the community. Instead, the central intent of the bill has been overshadowed and derailed by the discussion of the exemptions section of s38(3) of the Sex Discrimination Act.

As we have seen from hasty amendments made in the middle of last night, this issue is complex, which is why it was referred to the Australian Law Reform Commission to address. Nevertheless, if the removal of s.38(3) is the only means by which the Bill can progress, we call on the government and opposition to work together to resolve the technical issues and bring this matter to a resolution before the next Federal election.

People of religious faith in Australia, of all beliefs and backgrounds, deserve the equal protection that such a bill was intended to give. The benevolent religious organisations they have established and maintain also need the stability that well-considered legislation would provide. There is goodwill on our part to proceed and we call for a bipartisan approach that would progress this very important Bill.

Bishop Michael Stead, Chair, Religious Freedom Reference Group and Bishop of South Sydney 

February 10, 2022.

Source: SydneyAnglicans.net.

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