Secretaries of Anglican Provinces Grapple with Church's Diversity
Episcopal News Service. September 14, 2000 [2000-138]
(ENS) Secretaries of 31 of the Anglican Communion's 38 provinces met at a retreat center outside of Toronto August 24-31 to discuss common issues and problems -- on practical as well as theological levels.
Through a series of presentations and workshops, they dealt with issues such as funding, strategic planning, communication, organizational change, clergy discipline and the structure of the inter-Anglican budget. But they also discussed broader issues, such as international debt, peace and justice, the role of young people in the church, and how to live with diversity.
"It is an ideal forum for looking at a wide variety of issues," said the Rev. Patrick Mauney, who attended the meeting as the Episcopal Church's director of Anglican and Global Relations. "Participation has been increasing steadily," he pointed out. "As interest continues to grow they could play an even larger role in the Anglican Communion. These are key people in the provinces and their important role is too often overlooked."
Mauney said that there is growing concern in many of the provinces over ordained ministry, especially the lack of younger clergy. "The African churches are growing so fast that many clergy are postponing retirement, especially where they don't have retirement schemes. That means there are fewer places for the young clergy," he said. "And of course there are vastly unequal resources among these churches."
A plenary session on the Virginia Report underscored the importance of dealing with diversity and remaining faithful church members. Some expressed concern that the report's vision of how to sustain community was too narrow. They agreed, however, that the report needed serious appraisal throughout the Anglican Communion.
As the secretaries shared news from their provinces, it became clear that the church in many parts of the world is suffering persecution and is a victim of political violence. The impact on the life of the church in the midst of civil wars in the Sudan, Uganda, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, and Sierra Leone was revealed in personal stories.
A major session during the meeting outlined the situation of the Anglican Church of Canada, which is facing bankruptcy because of a pattern of abuse of indigenous youth in residential schools it operated. Participants heard how the church was working together with indigenous church members to shape a response.
The Rev. Rosemari Sullivan, executive officer of the General Convention, said the meeting was a valuable opportunity to connect with those who have similar roles. "And yet we all work in such extremely different contexts," she said in an interview, "ways that we wouldn't recognize without this kind of personal contact." She found the stories from her colleagues "fascinating and moving."
She was able to describe how the General Convention is one way for the Episcopal Church "to increase connectedness with one another and with the rest of the Anglican Communion." It was a valuable opportunity for her to build some bridges to curb what she called "widespread misunderstanding of our church and its governance -- to deal with the image of a highly politicized church."
Opening channels of communication makes it is possible to deal directly with questions about our actions," she said. Participants decided to stay in touch using e-mail.