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.
Unenforceable Covenant grabs centre stage
There will be no more “stick over the head sanctions” in dealing with Anglican provinces that do not toe the line over homosexual practice, said Australian Archbishop Philip Aspinall, spokesman for the 34 assembled Primates of the Anglican Communion. …
Questioned if all the Primates were taking Holy Communion together, Aspinall replied that communion was celebrated by all the primates and no one has absented themselves. “No one has made any statement that they are not participating in Holy Communion.”
However, VOL was told by a source that now that Katharine Jefferts Schori has shown up, things will be different tomorrow (Tuesday). A number of primates have said they will not take communion if she does. …
– David Virtue reports from Alexandria on the Primates’ meeting.
(Photo of Archbishop Rowan Williams in Alexandria: ACNS.)
Primates’ Meeting opens in ‘fog of confusion’
In their fourth meeting since the 2003 emergency session called by the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams to respond to the consecration of V Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire, the primates appear exhausted and frustrated, unsure of their authority within the Anglican Communion and the purpose of the meeting. …
– George Conger reports at Religious Inelligence.
(Photo: George Conger.)
Anglican primates to discuss “two-tier” communion
Archbishops of the Anglican Communion worldwide will tomorrow discuss a proposal that will allow the church to remain united as one body in spite of schismatic differences over the ordination of homosexuals and the blessing of gay marriages.
Archbishops of the 38 provinces worldwide are beginning a week-long meeting in Alexandria, Egypt where they will discuss a proposal to allow Anglican churches to remain “in communion” with other provinces that refuse to sign up to a new “covenant” or unity document. …
– Ruth Gledhill at Times Online. (Photo of the Helnan Palestine Hotel, Alexandria, where the meeting is being held: George Conger.)
‘Really weird’ letter from Presiding Bishop
The Rt Revd Henry Scriven, former Assistant Bishop in the diocese of Pittsburgh, says he bears no ill-will towards the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, Dr Katharine Jefferts Schori, after she appeared to interpret his resignation from the US House of Bishops as a voluntary renunciation of his orders.
Bishop Scriven, who is British, has returned to the UK this month, where he is to be director of the South American Mission Society …
– Full story by Pat Ashworth in Church Times.
See also ‘Is The Renunciation of Orders Routine?’ from The Anglican Communion Institute. (h/t Anglican Mainstream.) Photo: Diocese of Pittsburgh.
Toronto Anglicans eyeing same-sex blessing
Toronto Anglicans will start blessing same-sex relationships within a year, the Toronto Star has learned, a move that puts local churches at the forefront of the issue but could inflame an already divisive debate within the church. …
– Story from The Toronto Star.
(Photo of Bishop Colin Johnson: Diocese of Toronto.)
“I’ll appoint women, says new bishop”
“Australia’s newest Christian leader has broken with the religious tradition in which he was raised and worked for almost 25 years, vowing to appoint women as bishops in the Anglican Church.
The Reverend Stuart Robinson, who trained at Moore College in the conservative Sydney Anglican diocese, will be consecrated as the bishop of Canberra-Goulburn in St Saviour’s Cathedral, in Goulburn, today. …”
– Story from The Sydney Morning Herald. (Photo: St. Paul’s Chatswood.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…