News Briefs
Episcopal News Service. July 31, 2001 [2001-203]
Australian Anglicans further talks with Lutherans
(ACNS) The Anglican Church of Australia has taken a significant step towards working more closely with the Lutheran Church.
The 12th General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia, meeting in Brisbane, welcomed and supported the Anglican-Lutheran Dialogue Group report, "Common Ground," which was the result of almost three decades of discussions.
The Synod authorized the continuation of the work of the Anglican-Lutheran Dialogue Group and requested that it report comments from both churches to each church's next general synods. The Synod also affirmed that the report formed "an appropriate basis for proceeding towards a national covenant for Eucharistic hospitality" at a regional level, subject to further review by the Anglican Church's Doctrine Panel.
Bishop of the Murray, Graham Walden, who is Anglican co-chair of the dialogue, said the report and motion passed by General Synod provided a significant step forward.
"'Common Ground' is not a declaration of church union but a solemn pledge to walk together towards that goal," Walden said. "The results of our discussions now need careful study in our churches."
He said that since 1972 the two churches had produced a number of agreed statements on the Eucharist, ministry, baptism, Anglican-Lutheran marriages and episcope and unity.
Women bishops vote delayed by Australian synod
(ENS/ACNS) The 12th General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia voted July 24 in favor of postponing a vote on female bishops, to save the bill from being thrown out. There were warnings that if the bill is not passed in 2004, individual dioceses will go ahead with the consecration of women bishops anyway.
Dr. Muriel Porter, the bill's presenter, told the Sydney Morning Herald that "the legal reality is that there is no reason why a diocese can't bring a woman bishop from overseas and appoint her here ... or even, some would say, appoint a woman as a bishop now.
"Although that would be unfortunate if it happened ... I'm saying that if we can't do something in the next three years, then yes, it will be hell for leather."
Earlier, the synod voted 135 for and 95 against, with two abstentions, on a bill in principle removing all the legal obstacles to the consecration of women to the episcopate.
The bill was the result of wide consultation throughout the church by a working group formed after the last General Synod in February 1998. It was modeled on the Law of the Church of England Clarification Canon 1992--the church law which removed any possible legal obstacles to the ordination of women as priests in England.
But it went further, giving the General Synod the opportunity to recognize that there are differences of opinion in the church as to whether a woman can or should perform the duties of a bishop, but also to recognize and affirm the essential unity of the church under God within a tolerable diversity.
The bill included a protocol relating to the provision of episcopal oversight and ministry for those unable to accept the ministry of a female bishop. At a local level, parishes would have been able to vote to have a bishop from another region or diocese minister to them, if they wished to have episcopal ministry by a bishop other than a female bishop.
There are 12 women bishops in the worldwide Anglican Communion, in New Zealand, the United States and Canada.
Carnley calls unity key to mission
(ACNS) In his charge to the 12th General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia in Brisbane, Archbishop Peter Carnley emphasized unity as the key to the church's fulfilling its historical mission.
"The church is not a mere federation of dioceses, but a federation of communions," Carnley said. "This is the key to understanding the national church. It is not essentially a political reality but a theological and spiritual reality.
"The orthodox doctrine of the Trinity is vital to our self-understanding," he said. "Christians understand the unity of God not in simple numerical terms but in the inter-relatedness in love of the three persons of the Trinity: as one unity of being.
"In the same way, the many and diverse members of the church are essentially one communion. We are partakers of the divine nature," he said. "The communion we share is not just a humanly created fellowship of like-minded people.
"Therefore, the unity of the national church is vital to the success of our mission in the world," Carnley said. "The church itself must be one in order that the world may know the nature of God."
Carnley warned the General Synod of what was at stake as it addressed difficult and potentially divisive issues. These include the admission of women to the episcopate, complex questions related to human sexuality and the idea of allowing lay people to celebrate the Eucharist.
Carnley pointed out that to deny the importance of unity, to cause division in the church or to turn one's back on the communion of the church would not just be a sign of human failure.
"It is a form of infidelity--a deliberate turning away from the communion of God," he said.
In the same address, he also underlined the fact that attendance had declined in the last period for which statistics were available, 1991-96.
"While there are some encouraging signs of success dotted across the nation, the church's performance is patchy," he said. "No diocese is getting it all wrong, but no diocese is getting it all right. We have a huge job still to do.
"We certainly have to work at bridging the gap between the current interest in Australia in spirituality and the flagging interest in so-called organized religion."
Archbishop Marona visits Sudanese refugee communities
(ACNS) Archbishop Joseph Marona of Sudan spent ten days this summer on a pastoral visit to displaced Sudanese in the Middle East at the invitation of the bishops of Egypt and Jerusalem.
Marona met with religious leaders and expressed a shared concern for justice and the alleviation of suffering. In Damascus he met with the Grand Mufti, and in Cairo he was received by Sheikh Mahmoud, deputy to the Grand Sheikh of El Ahzar, the highest Islamic theological authority in Egypt.
Marona also met with the patriarch of the Syrian Orthodox Church and with Pope Shenouda III, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, and experienced the Coptic Church's rich heritage of desert monasticism with a visit to the Monastery of St. Macarius in Wadi Natrun. The site has been used for prayer and solitude since A.D. 360, but the monastery has undergone a significant revival and development during the last 30 years, now accommodating more than 100 monks.
In Syria, he visited the Monastery of St. Takla, a first-century female saint converted through the preaching of St. Paul, whom God rescued from persecution by creating a miraculous passage through the Ma'aloula Mountains. "If God is able to open the biggest mountain for the sake of one girl who asked for his intervention, why can't we as Sudanese pray mightily for God to remove the problems we are suffering from," Marona exclaimed.
Marona expressed gratitude to the churches in Egypt and Syria, saying, "The door you have opened for our Sudanese people will not be forgotten." The Joint Relief Ministry program at All Saints' Cathedral in Cairo now has more than 15,000 displaced people registered, of whom more than 80% are Sudanese. Its clinic saw more than 10,000 patients last year. Income-generating projects encourage developing skills, such as making jewelry and other craft items, and several churches are making efforts to provide education for displaced children.
Marona's visit to Egypt and Damascus was made at the invitation of the bishop in Egypt, Mouneer Hanna Anis, and the bishop of Jerusalem, Riah Hanna Abu el-Assal, and was sponsored by SOMA (Sharing of Ministries Abroad). Marona is head of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, the largest church in Sudan, with an estimated 5 million members. The first ECS church was founded in Omdurman in 1899 as part of the Diocese of Egypt and Sudan, before Sudan later became a separate province within the Anglican Communion. It now has 24 dioceses of its own.
However, close cooperation with the Diocese of Egypt continues, as well as with other neighboring dioceses, particularly in providing pastoral care for the many displaced Sudanese in the region.
UTO grants top $3 million for 2001
(ENS) The United Thank Offering (UTO) awarded 138 grants for 2001 to programs and needs ranging from money for an outreach team coordinator in Alabama to a retreat for missionaries serving the South American Missionary Society.
The grants total $3,178,984, with the bulk going to applicants from U.S. dioceses. The majority of non-U.S. grants went to projects in Africa, followed by the Asia/Pacific region.
"One of the things that makes UTO distinctive is that we are one of the few Episcopal grantmakers that will fund buildings and improvements as well as programs," said UTO coordinator JoAnne Chapman. The list of grants confirms it, with numerous references to grants retrofitting parish facilities for handicapped access, vans to transport senior citizens to services or school-age children to after-school programs, and four-wheel-drive vehicles for bishops serving in regions with unreliable transportation and roads.
UTO is a program of the Episcopal Church founded by and administered by women since 1889. Julia Chester Emery and Ida Soule, who counted the missionary offering of the 1886 Triennial meeting of women, inspired women to pray and give coins with the idea of building a new church in Anvik, Alaska, as well as sending Lisa Lowell as a missionary to Japan. In time, what was then known as the United Offering became the United Thank Offering, and by 1943 the offering totaled more than $1 million. By 1949 it had increased to $1,954,544. In 1952, Bishop William Gordon of Alaska was awarded UTO money for an airplane in order to reach parishes. Gordon coined the phrase "Blue Box," and named his plane in the boxes' honor. In 1970, the Triennial voted to establish a National UTO Committee.
"What we do in the United Thank Offering is first to offer our prayers of thanks to God. This is the major difference between us and other groups," explains a page on the UTO Web site. "Then we give tangible thanks for the blessing in the form of coins or bills. This money is an offering, not a donation."
Bishops or groups within dioceses having the bishop's approval may submit grant requests according to the number invited by the committee. United Thank Offering monies are granted in support of programs within Anglican provinces and dioceses that address compelling human needs and expand mission and ministry.