Papua New Guinea to be Anglican Province
Episcopal News Service. November 30, 1976 [76363]
DOGURA, Papua New Guinea -- The Diocese of Papua New Guinea will become an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion in 1977, according to plans announced by Bishop J. L. Bryce, secretary of the South Pacific Anglican Council.
The inauguration ceremonies will take place on Sunday, February 27 at Dogura, in the Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul.
The new province, which has a membership of about 100,000, will be composed of five dioceses. The country of Papua New Guinea achieved its independence in 1975.
The Anglican Consultative Council at its meeting in Trinidad in the spring of 1975 said that it "welcomes the progress towards autonomy being made" by what will now become the Anglican Church in Papua New Guinea. At the request of the leadership of the proposed province, the Council offered advice concerning certain sections of the draft constitution.
Bishop Bryce said that Dr. Donald Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, would attend the inauguration of the new province and would meet with the bishops of the South Pacific Anglican Council who will be meeting just prior to the inauguration.
When the new province takes its place in the Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of the Province of Queensland in the Church of England in Australia, will relinquish his Metropolitan authority over Papua New Guinea.
The new Archbishop of Papua New Guinea will be the present diocesan bishop, the Rt. Rev. David Hand. The archbishop-elect said he believes the new province will continue to be part of the South Pacific Anglican Council Region as is the case with the new Province of Melanesia.
The enthronement of the five diocesan bishops in their respective dioceses will take place later in their own jurisdictions. The new dioceses with their diocesan bishops are as follows: Aipo-Rongo, Jeremy Ashton; New Guinea Islands, Bevan Meredith; Southern Papua, David Hand; Popondota, George Ambo; and Dogura, Rhynold Sanana.
The Anglican Church in Papua New Guinea will become the twenty-sixth independent national or regional church in the 46.7 million-member Anglican Communion. The Episcopal Church in the United States is another of the members.