Anglicans and Roman Catholics celebrated 40 years of their dialogue with each other in a service of Ecumenical Vespers held in St Joseph's Oratory in Montreal, Quebec.
Ali Symons, Anglican Church of Canada
Anglicans will attend and support the third national event of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) on Indian residential schools in Halifax, N.S., Oct. 26 to 29.
Ali Symons, Anglican Church of Canada
The Ven. Dr. Michael Thompson will serve as the Anglican Church of Canada's next General Secretary, beginning Nov. 1, 2011.
The Ven. Dr. Michael Thompson, rector of St. Jude's Anglican Church in Oakville, Ont., will serve as the Anglican Church of Canada's next General Secretary, starting Nov. 1. Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate, announced Mr. Thompson's appointment to Church House staff on Sept. 6.
His appointment was ratified by an email vote of the Council of General Synod (COGS). Mr. Thompson succeeds the Ven. Dr. Michael Pollesel, General Secretary since 2006, who announced his resignation last spring.
"I am confident, friends, that Michael is the person for this position at this time," wrote the Primate in an email to COGS members.
"He brings competence and charisma, energy and enthusiasm for the role. He knows his strengths and he knows his growing edges. He knows he can easily step into some aspects of this role and that others represent a learning curve. I am confident that he will grow into this ministry and that our church will be well served through his leadership."
Archbishop Hiltz also praised Mr. Thompson's commitment to building strong partnerships with dioceses, his capacity for theological reflection, and his skills in organizational management.
Mr. Thompson, 55, is experienced at all levels of the church. He has served parishes in three dioceses (Edmonton, Niagara, Toronto), coordinated several diocesan initiatives, and teaches pastoral theology at Trinity College, University of Toronto.
Mr. Thompson also has experience with General Synod: he has served as a member of General Synod and the Council of General Synod, a member of the Philanthropy Committee, and chair of the Communications and Information Resources Committee. From 2001 to 2004 he worked as principal secretary to the then Primate, Archbishop Michael Peers.
In an interview, Mr. Thompson said he looked forward to serving General Synod in a new role.
"I feel honoured to be the next person to occupy that office, given the quality and integrity of people who have done this work before," said Mr. Thompson. "When you think about how the General Secretary's office has stepped up again and again in critical moments in the life of the church, it's delicious to think that I'm in that tradition."
He said that at its best, General Synod is a "connection maker" between activities, people, ideas, convictions, gifts, and passions. "I looked at this position as an opportunity to connect up some things and people that I really care about and to see new connections emerge," he said.
Mr. Thompson anticipates facilitating more connections relating to Aboriginal self-determination, Anglican-Lutheran relations, and supporting General Synod staff.
A gifted communicator, Mr. Thompson was the primary writer behind the Anglican Church of Canada's strategic plan, Vision 2019. His many publications include two books with ABC Publishing: Living the Spirit of Marriage (2005) and Living the Spirit of Eucharist (2004).
Based at the General Synod offices in Toronto, the General Secretary serves as chief operating officer for the Anglican Church of Canada. He or she coordinates communications and programs among departments and dioceses.
In April 2011, the Council of General Synod appointed a search committee, chaired by the Prolocutor, Canon Robert Falby, to find the next General Secretary. The committee gave the Primate three names and the Primate nominated Mr. Thompson for COGS's approval, which they gave last week.
Mr. Thompson holds a Doctor of Ministry and a Masters of Divinity from Trinity College, University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Arts from Huron College, University of Western Ontario. He is married to Dr. Deborah Tregunno, a professor of nursing at York University, Toronto. They have three children: Ian (25), Rachel (22), and Daniel (19).
By Marites N. Sison, Anglican Journal
As soon as word got out that evacuees fleeing the wildfires of Northern Alberta needed a safe haven and support for basic needs, Anglicans along with members of host communities immediately rolled up their sleeves and got to work.
Ali Symons, Anglican Church of Canada
From June 23 to 26, an international Anglican conference will convene in Victoria, B.C., to explore how churches can be safer environments for vulnerable youth and adults.
From the Trail Daily Times
A snowboarding priest from British Columbia has earned what could well be the first-ever doctorate in the sport for his exploration of spirituality on the slopes.
About 10 years ago, Rev. Neil Elliot, the minister of St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in Trail, B.C., discovered the term “soulriding” to describe the sport. With its overt spiritual connotations, the concept piqued his interest, so much so that Elliot decided to pursue the idea for his degree.
“It’s the first PhD in snowboarding at all, so it’s pretty unique,” said Elliot. “It gave me an excuse to get out and participate in a sport I love and it provided me with a framework to examine human spirituality.”
An ordained priest with a master’s degree in theology and Islamic studies, Elliot decided to undertake his doctorate in the sociology of religion at the secular Kingston University in London, England.
He wanted to get away from theology and look “at what’s happening on the ground and the kind of stuff you can actually measure.”
He interviewed more than 30 snowboarders from the United Kingdom and Canada, trying to define and differentiate between what is spiritual and what is not, both from an academic or secular view versus a religious view.
The model identifies three dimensions of spirituality — context, experience and identity — each composed of varying elements: nature, freedom and escape, risk, peace, transcendence, community, lifestyle, rhythm and flow, meaning and purpose, and play. The 10 elements were chosen to incorporate features of snowboarding that might be construed as spiritual by those interviewed, he said.
Surprisingly, many of his very religious interview subjects did not consider snowboarding a spiritual experience, although they identified with many of its elements. They reserved spiritual experience exclusively for the realm of their particular religion. In contrast, others spoke of apathy and outright rejection of religion in favour of spirituality.
“One of the prompters to this research is, you have a lot of people saying, ‘I want to be spiritual but not religious,’ and I’m trying to find out what that means, especially for me as a priest and representative of a religion. I want to try and understand that because it has big implications of what is happening to religion.” Another hurdle he faced during the interviews was the subjective nature of the experience and whether it was “spiritual or just special.”
“From talking to them, you can pretty much tell they are having the same experience but some consider it spiritual and others do not,” Elliot said.
Many athletes experience it, whether it’s called being “in the zone,” “in the moment,” “a rush,” or something else. He said it is similar to the feeling experienced through meditation and prayer, or an uplifting church service.
“You’re very much aware of all your senses in a way that you are not normally, and you are also almost detached; detached from your body.”
Elliot said he is trying to bridge the gap between that experience and God. It may be elusive and ephemeral, but there is a community of boarders that get it, and the soulriding doctor would like to help others understand that connection. “Soulriding, like spirituality, was a frame of the snowboarder’s reality,” Elliot wrote in his thesis. “Whilst there was no simple answer to the question about the nature of soulriding and spirituality, soulriding seemed to be a mirror for perceptions of the essence, the spirit, of snowboarding.” The Anglican priest defended his thesis in December and is now waiting for the official documentation of his doctoral degree.
Canon 22 establishes self-determining national indigenous ministry
In what was described as an “historic moment,” the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada on June 9 approved the introduction of a new canon (church) law that firmly establishes a self-determining national indigenous ministry within the church.
The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada is meeting in Halifax, June 3-11 under the theme Feeling the Winds of God - Charting a New Course.
The primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, has pledged his commitment to help turn the vision of a self-determining indigenous Anglican ministry in Canada into reality.
In his homily at the closing Eucharist of the 6th Indigenous Sacred Circle, Archbishop Hiltz promised that “we will make sure that substantial amounts of time” will be given at the 2010 General Synod to discussions around the necessary steps to realize a national indigenous ministry.
Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, says that although he is saddened by the unnecessary decision made by a small number of parishes to leave the Anglican Church of Canada, the Canadian Church as a whole remains vibrant and united in its witness to the Gospel message.
The Canadian federal government has issued the Anglican Church of Canada a cheque for $9.7 million to refund a portion of the church’s contribution to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Fund, which had been set up in 2003 under an old native schools agreement.
Saying that he hoped to “dispel rumour or misunderstanding,” Archbishop Fred Hiltz, the primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, has written to his fellow leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion explaining the developments around the blessing of same-sex unions, which has embroiled Canadian Anglicans in conflict.
It was something most had not experienced before, nor would they have such an opportunity again. They described it as breath taking, awe inspiring, spiritually moving and the list of superlatives went on. It was the 150th anniversary celebration of the Diocese of Huron, Anglican Church of Canada, which crowded a mere 9100 people inside the John Labatt Centre, known mostly as home to hockey's London Knights.
Bishop Susan Moxley, the suffragan, or assistant, bishop of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, was elected diocesan bishop on Oct. 20 in an episcopal election at All Saints Cathedral, Halifax.
The Bible’s New Testament is now available in the Naskapi language, the fruit of 25 years of translation work by Silas Nabinicaboo, a lay reader of the aboriginal church in Kawawachikamach, diocese of Quebec, and Bill Jancewicz, an American translator associated with the Wycliffe Bible Translation Society.
Conflicting interpretations of the ramifications of General Synod’s recent decisions around same-sex blessings have led the bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada to consult with their chancellors.
Among the questions that have arisen: What does the approved motion stating that ‘the blessing of same-sex unions is not in conflict with the doctrine of the Anglican Church of Canada’ mean? Can clergy and dioceses now conduct same-sex blessings? Some bishops have issued pastoral letters asking clergy not to conduct same-sex blessings – can priests be disciplined if they ignore this directive? How can clergy be disciplined if General Synod already declared that same-sex blessings are ‘not in conflict’ with the core doctrine of the church? What does the defeat of the motion affirming the authority of dioceses to offer same-sex blessings mean?
Bishop Victoria Matthews, who broke new ground for women in episcopal ministry and was twice a candidate for primate, or national archbishop, announced on August 2 that she will resign as leader of the diocese of Edmonton, citing that she believes 'God is now calling me in a different direction.'
Bishop Matthews, who was elected in 1993 the first female bishop of the Anglican Church of Canada, said in a pastoral letter that her resignation is effective Nov. 30. The announcement was to have been made first in all parishes during Sunday services on August 5, but the letter was published earlier on the Internet, catching many Anglicans by surprise.
In a crowded Winnipeg hall last month, the Anglican Church of Canada and 10 other faith groups recommitted themselves to work for Aboriginal justice. This event, initiated by the ecumenical justice coalition KAIROS, renewed the 1987 agreement, A New Covenant: Towards the Constitutional Recognition and Protection of Aboriginal Self-Government in Canada, which upheld Aboriginals’ rights to self-determination, to be distinct peoples, and to have an adequate land base. Anglican Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, left, Evangelical Lutheran Bishop Raymond Schultz and Archbishop James Weisgerber, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Winnipeg, at the June 21 ceremony.
Representatives of about 10 Canadian churches and church-affiliated organizations will gather in Winnipeg on June 21 - National Aboriginal Day - to renew a landmark covenant with Indigenous peoples that pledges the churches to continue working on human rights and justice issues for native peoples.
The ceremony and news conference will mark the 20th anniversary of the signing in 1987 of the document entitled A New Covenant: Towards the Constitutional Recognition and Protection of Aboriginal Self-Government in Canada.
A groundbreaking service for St. Jude’s Cathedral in Iqaluit took place June 3, Trinity Sunday, to mark the rebuilding of the igloo-shaped church, which was damaged by arson in November 2005. It was later demolished in June 2006.
Hundreds of people - Inuit and non-Inuit - attended the service, where English and Inuktitut hymns were sung and prayers recited, according to media reports.
