Primates’ Report on The Episcopal Church
The American Anglican Council has prepared a comprehensive document entitled ‘The Episcopal Church: Tearing the fabric of the Communion to shreds’.
Archbishop Peter Akinola requested its preparation to aid the Global South Primates at the meeting in Alexandria earlier this month and decided to release it when he wrote his Open Letter to Archbishop Rowan Williams.
It’s available as an 820kb PDF file – direct link. (h/t Stand Firm.)
From Hatred to Reconciliation
Justin Taylor has linked to a 3.5 minute video clip from ABC News in the US – about a sudden transformation. Worth watching.
Another Canadian parish joins Anglican Network
“The congregation of St Mary’s Anglican Church, in Nanoose Bay, British Columbia voted overwhelmingly on Sunday, February 8, to come under the episcopal oversight of Bishop Donald Harvey, Moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC), and under the Primatial authority of Archbishop Gregory Venables of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. …”
– press release from the Anglican Network in Canada.
Missed the Big Day In?
If you missed the Big Day In (the launch of Connect09), you can now watch Archbishop Peter Jensen’s sermon. It’s been posted to Vimeo by SydneyAnglicans.net.
A Wake up call to the People of God
“All through our gathering at the recently concluded Primates’ meeting I kept wondering whether we were the ones to whom John was writing. We have a glorious reputation – a worldwide communion of millions with a glorious history and beautiful heritage, fluid structures, grand cathedrals, “infallible” canons, historical ecclesiology and ‘flexible’ hermeneutics – but we are in danger of forgetting what we have received and heard and replacing it with the seemingly attractive gods and goddesses of our age. We are in danger of becoming the ‘living dead’ by giving the outward appearance of life but in reality we are no more than empty and ineffective vessels.…”
– Archbishop Peter Akinola reflects on last week’s Primates’ meeting.
See also An Open Letter from Archbishop Akinola to Archbishop Williams – at The American Anglican Council website –
“…In preparation for the meeting I asked The American Anglican Council to prepare the attached report on the continuing situation of The Episcopal Church to enable people in the wider Communion to have a fuller perspective of the circumstances in North America. I shared it with my colleagues in the Global South but did not release it more widely in the hope that we would receive assurances from the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church and the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada that they were willing to exercise genuine restraint towards those Anglicans in North America unwilling to embrace their several innovations.
Sadly that did not prove to be the case. Instead we were treated to presentations that sought to trivialize the situation and the consequences for those whose only offence is their determination to hold on doggedly and truthfully to the faith once delivered to the saints.…”
Bushfires: Melbourne Diocese responds
Anglican Media Melbourne has the latest on Melbourne Diocese’s response to the Bushfire tragedy – including Archbishop Freier’s launch of a Bush Fire Appeal.
See also “Churches hit hard but stay focussed on pastoral care” by Barney Zwartz in The Age.
Photo: The Rev Stephen Holmes (vicar of Whittlesea and Kinglake) and Abp Philip Freier, at the ruins of St Peter’s Kinglake.
Special Prayer Service for the Victorian Bushfire Disaster
St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney has announced a special Prayer Service for the Victorian Bushfire Disaster – to be held at 6:00pm on Wednesday 11th February 2009.
Bushfire appeal launched
Media Release from Sydney Diocese:
Dr Peter Jensen, Archbishop of Sydney and Metropolitan of NSW has asked churches to be in urgent prayer and to offer practical help for bushfire victims in Victoria.
“The scale of the tragedy is horrifying. When part of our community suffers, all suffer with them. We need to be generous in care, gifts and prayer in order to express our oneness with those in grief.”
Dr Jensen has launched an appeal for Sydney Anglicans to donate through the Archbishop’s appeals unit. The appeal will support the ministry that will be needed in the bushfire-devastated areas in the months ahead.
Donations for the ‘Bushfire Crisis Appeal’ can be given on the toll-free number 1800 653 903 or www.archbishopsappeals.asn.au
Melbourne Archbishop to visit disaster areas
Archbishop Philip Freier will visit today, where possible, some of the areas affected in the weekend’s firestorm.
In an “ad clerum” (correspondence directed to the clergy of the Diocese) Dr Freier has written of his sense of disbelief “about the enormity of the devastation in Victoria”. Read more
Sydney Diocese launches Connect09
This morning churches across Sydney Diocese launched Connect09 with a televised church gathering originating from Kellyville Anglican Church. More than 200 congregations watched the live links to the multicultural ministry at St. John’s Campsie and a kids’ song from Colin Buchanan at Engadine Anglican.
Letters of greeting from Billy Graham (whose 1959 Sydney Crusade had an immense impact on Sydney) and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd were read.
Archbishop Peter Jensen drew from Jonah chapter 4 to encourage and strongly challenge Sydney Anglicans not to be be like Jonah, but to see the joy of serving Christ by sharing his gospel with ‘the great city’.
Glenn Daniel and Samantha Boog (pictured) hosted the event from Kellyville.
Engadine Anglican Church part of Connect 09
Engadine Anglican Church will play a pivotal role in the Sydney-wide Big Day In which is the launch of Connect 09 tomorrow.
Connect 09 is a year-long campaign to encourage Anglicans to better connect with their community, their Christian roots and Jesus Christ. …
– Story and photo from The St. George and Sutherland Shire Leader.
Most Anglican churches in Sydney will be joining in tomorrow. If you don’t have your own church, please be encouraged to drop in for a visit to find out why so many churches are working together. Discover the wonderful news they have to share. The main link-up starts at 10:00am.
Use the Church Finder at connect09.com (click ‘get connected’ at the bottom of that page) to find your local Anglican church.
‘Primates avert Schism’
There will be no formal schism in the Anglican Communion. 35 Anglican Archbishops gathered here in the Helnan hotel on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea weathered a week of intense dialogue with minds unchanged, positions hardened, but with far less acrimony than at previous primatial gatherings. …
– Report from David Virtue in Alexandria. (Photo: ENS.)
Archbishop plans ‘mediated talks’ with conservatives
“Fascinating communique from the Primates in Alexandria. I am told it was unanimous.
The Primates ask Dr Rowan Williams the Archbishop of Canterbury to begin a ‘professionally mediated conversation’ with the seven members of the Common Cause Partnership. …”
– Ruth Gledhill at Times Online.
Read the actual Communique here. (Photo: Archbishop of Canterbury’s website.)
Secular group backs punishment of UK nurse
A secularist lobby group says health bosses are right to punish a Christian nurse who offered to pray for a patient.
Caroline Petrie has been suspended without pay while managers investigate the matter and decide whether to take further action…
– Report from The Christian Institute.
(Photo: The Christian Institute.)
Primates Meeting questions language of sanctions
“The media spokesman for the primates meeting, Australia’s Primate, Archbishop Dr Phillip Aspinall, said day two of the meeting included a presentation by five Primates about the impact of the current situation on province mission priorities.
Archbishops Fred Hiltz from Canada, Thabo Makgoba from Southern Africa, Henry Orombi from Uganda, Stephen Oo from Myanmar and Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori from the United States made presentations. …”
– the official word from Alexandria from the Anglican Communion News Service. Includes a link to the daily podcast.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…