International Briefing
Episcopal News Service. December 2, 2005 [120205-02]
ASIA: Earthquake survivors in Pakistan, India receive additional assistance from ERD
CANADA: Church remains "important part of the Communion"
CANADA: Churches unlikely to pass motion adding primates to ACC, says chair
LAMBETH PALACE: 'Christmas tells us why people matter,' Archbishop of Canterbury says
MALAWI: Diocese rejects bishop-elect
NIGERIA: Changing Attitude Nigeria holds first General Meeting
RWANDA: Archbishop urges 'work for peace'
SOUTH EAST ASIA: John Chew named new primate
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Court's "Yes" to same-sex marriage leaves Church policy unchanged
ASIA: Earthquake survivors in Pakistan, India receive additional assistance from ERD
[SOURCE: Episcopal Relief and Development] Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) is providing ongoing emergency relief to people affected by the earthquake in Pakistan and India. The October 8 earthquake killed more than 87,000 people and left four million homeless.
"As winter descends, there are immediate needs for additional assistance," said Kirsten Laursen, ERD's senior program director of Asia and New Initiatives. Eight inches of snow fell in the Himalayan region last weekend.
ERD responded immediately after the earthquake and continues working with Anglican and ecumenical partners to reach the most vulnerable populations. In addition to extensive destruction in Pakistan, the earthquake caused large-scale damage on the Indian- side of the Line of Control in Kashmir and Jammu.
ERD is working with the Church of North India (CNI) to provide relief supplies in the area of Parmpilla village in the Diocese of Amritsar and the adjoining habitat of Datta Madir, Tehsil Uri, in the District Baramulla, in the State of Jammu. Together with CNI, ERD is supplying 1,000 blankets, 100 tents, and 300 tarps. Winter clothes, collected by CNI Tyndale Biscoe and Mallinson School (Tangmarg Branch), were distributed to children under 14 years of age. The diocese has formed a Disaster Management Committee to further assist devastated communities in India. The second phase of the diocesan rehabilitation program will focus on restoring livelihoods, including agriculture.
ERD is also providing additional assistance to the Dioceses of Peshawar and Sialkot and continues working with the Diocese of Lahore in the Church of Pakistan. ERD is committed to providing long-term support to help expand health care services in affected areas.
To help people affected by the earthquake, donate to the Pakistan Fund at www.er-d.org, or call 1-800-334-7626, ext. 5129. Gifts can be mailed to Episcopal Relief and Development, Pakistan Fund, PO Box 12043, Newark, NJ 07101.
CANADA: Church remains "important part of the Communion"
[SOURCE: Anglican Church of Canada] The Anglican Church of Canada "remains an important part of the Anglican Communion," Bishop John Paterson of Auckland, New Zealand, chair of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), told members of the Canadian Council of General Synod (CoGs).
"The Communion needs Canada and I believe Canada needs the Communion," he said, adding that he hopes that the "listening process" that has been put in place, will allow churches throughout the communion to appreciate each others' differences.
Paterson addressed CoGS during a two-day visit as the council gathered in Mississauga, Ontario, November 17-20.
Paterson apologized to the Canadian church for the treatment it received at the ACC meeting in Nottingham, England, last summer, when it voluntarily withdrew its members from the meeting following a request from the Primates of the Anglican Communion earlier this year.
He said that if the "listening process" is going to happen, it must happen at several levels. "We have to talk to ourselves and to others."
The listening and study process is meant to monitor the work done on the subject of human sexuality in the worldwide Anglican Communion as defined by the 1998 Lambeth Conference.
Paterson noted that while a lot of attention is placed on Communion-wide divisions, not enough attention is placed on work done at the regional level.
"We need to revisit links like partners in mission and companion dioceses that allowed us to talk to each other," he said.
He commended both the U.S.-based Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada as "exemplary" in the attention they have given the Windsor Report and for meeting all the requests that are contained in the report.
Full story by Diana Mavunduse:
http://tinyurl.com/byw9g
CANADA: Churches unlikely to pass motion adding primates to ACC, says chair
[SOURCE: Anglican Journal] Member provinces and churches of the Anglican Communion are not likely to approve a motion that would allow the 38 Anglican primates to become members of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), according to Bishop John Paterson, ACC chair and bishop of Auckland.
Speaking to members of the Canadian Council of General Synod (CoGS) on November 19 in Mississauga, Ontario, Paterson said there was "a great deal of unease" expressed by ACC members at the possibility of the body being dominated by primates.
"What happened in Nottingham was that there was deep-seated anger from some members of the ACC of primates acting on their own towards ACC," said Paterson. "The primates decided on an action against two churches who are members of a body (ACC) mandated by the constitution to be consultative. How can it be consultative if two important churches are not able to take part?" He added that among ACC members "there's a feeling that perhaps we shouldn't allow the primates to meet alone ever again." His remark drew laughter from CoGS members.
The primates, during their meeting in February 2005, had requested that the Canadian and American churches "voluntarily withdraw" from the ACC meeting in Nottingham, England, last June as a step towards restoring unity within the Anglican Communion fractured by the issue of same-sex blessings in New Westminster and the ordination of a gay bishop in New Hampshire.
"There was a measure of resentment that the primates had acted precipitately and punitively to the ACC by saying that Canada and [the U.S.-based Episcopal Church] could not be members of the ACC," said Paterson in an interview with the Anglican Journal.
Full story by Marites N. Sison:
http://anglicanjournal.com//extra/news.html?newsItem=2005-11-22_a.news
LAMBETH PALACE: 'Christmas tells us why people matter,' Archbishop of Canterbury says
[SOURCE: Lambeth Palace] Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, during the switching on of the Lambeth Council -- a jurisdiction in London, England -- Christmas lights, spoke about how "Christmas, for a Christian tells us why people matter."
"They matter because God took us seriously, seriously enough to get involved with our lives to suffer with us and change things," Williams said. "That's what I believe, that's what Christians believe and Christmas exists because of that belief. You may or may not believe that; you may think people matter for other reasons, but never mind; that's what we're saying and that's our present, that's our gift to the rest of the world. So; think of this time as a time to recall why people matter..."
Remarks in full:
http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/releases/051201.htm
MALAWI: Diocese rejects bishop-elect
[SOURCE: Nation Online] The Anglican Church of Central Africa has rejected the confirmation of Nicholas Paul Henderson, bishop-elect for Lake Malawi diocese, because of his position as general secretary of the Modern Church Peoples Union, an organization that supports the church's inclusion of gays and lesbians, Nation Online, a Malawi-based online news service, reported December 2.
A priest in London, Henderson has been rejected by a court of confirmation sitting at the St. Peter's Church in Lilongwe because he is "not of sound faith," a church document states.
Henderson was elected on July 29 and would have been consecrated on October 29 if the court had confirmed him as bishop on September 3, the original date set for his confirmation, Nation Online reports.
Full story by Felix Malamula:
http://www.nationmalawi.com/articles.asp?articleID=13930
NIGERIA: Changing Attitude Nigeria holds first General Meeting
[SOURCE: Changing Attitude] For the first time in Nigeria's history, gay and lesbian Anglicans came together November 26-27 in Abuja for the General Meeting of Changing Attitude Nigeria (CAN), declaring that prejudice against them was as "unacceptable as racism or prejudice against women."
Davis MacIyalla, CAN's director, addressed the gathering, saying that the meeting was intended to assist members in deliberating how to "come out of their closets" -- the theme of the weekend -- and let members of their families know who they are.
"We are creating a group of lesbian and gay members of the Anglican Church in Nigeria, lay and ordained. We are also prepared to be open and visible within the Church with the aim of meeting together to develop ideas, aims and objectives," MacIyalla said. "Gay, lesbian and bisexual people are called by God to express their sexuality in loving, faithful and committed relationships. Therefore the Church should stop colluding with cultural repression and discrimination against lesbian, gay and bisexual people in all parts of the world."
Full story:
http://tinyurl.com/77ydp
RWANDA: Archbishop urges 'work for peace'
[SOURCE: L'Eglise Episcopal au Rwanda] Peace is the cornerstone for socio-economic development of any society, Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini, primate of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda, told church leaders gathered at St. Ethienne, Kigali Diocese, on November 25.
"As church leaders and representatives of God, you need to work with all your strength to see that Rwandan society flourishes with total peace and harmony," Kolini said, adding that churches should aim not only at filling their temples with the flock but also at preaching vivid messages for transforming the hearts of Rwandans.
Kolini also urged church leaders to engage in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic in a bid to save the nation from catastrophe.
Full story:
http://tinyurl.com/73dyt
SOUTH EAST ASIA: John Chew named new primate
[SOURCE: Diocese of Sabah] Bishop John Chew Hiang Chea of Singapore has been elected third primate of the Church of the Province of South East Asia after an extra-ordinary provincial synod meeting was held in Kuala Lumpur November 22-24, announced the Most Rev. Datuk Yong Ping Chung, primate of the province since February 2000.
Chew will succeed Yong Ping Chung when he is installed in St. Andrew's Cathedral, Singapore, on February 5, 2006.
Full announcement:
http://www.anglicansabah.org/NE_NEwArchbishop_11302005.htm
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Court's "Yes" to same-sex marriage leaves Church policy unchanged
[SOURCE: Church of the Province of Southern Africa] A ruling by South Africa's Constitutional Court that same- sex couples have the right to "enjoy the same status, entitlements and responsibilities as marriage law accords to heterosexual couples" does not compel any religious denomination or minister of religion to approve or perform same-sex marriages, "therefore it should not cause alarm," Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Southern Africa said in a December 2 statement.
"We recognize that we live in a country which is home to many beliefs, cultures and practices. It would be arrogant and presumptuous of us to attempt to force our values and viewpoints on people who think differently from us. We would wish to value diversity in the way demonstrated today by the Constitutional Court," Ndungane said.
"Having said that however, the Anglican Church's position is clear. We have repeatedly affirmed that we do not regard partnership between two persons of the same sex as a marriage in the eyes of God. At present there is ongoing discussion and debate about matters of human sexuality within the Anglican Church in Southern Africa and throughout the world, but while this continues, our stance remains the same."
Full statement:
http://tinyurl.com/amuov