Anglican Communion News Service - Digest News

The Anglican Indigenous Network has put itself on a new and firm bureaucratic footing in order to push forward on its number one concern – the faster ordination of more native priests.

At its biennial meeting, which was held May 17-22 in Vancouver, 25 delegates from five regions around the Pacific chose a five-member executive to back up the long-time secretary-general, Malcolm Naea Chun of Hawaii.

[More]

Canadian Anglican bishops have nominated four from among their number to be candidates in the election of a successor to Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.

[More]

At its meeting last month, the House of Bishops considered a draft pastoral statement on same-sex blessings that could be sent to all delegates to General Synod as part of the Convening Circular.

The bishops did not have the time to complete their work on this statement, but a revised draft was sent to them for a vote by email shortly after the conclusion of the meeting. With the email vote now completed, the following pastoral statement will be sent to delegates of General Synod.

[More]

Canadian Anglican bishops have nominated four from among their number to be candidates in the election of a successor to Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.

Archbishop Hutchison, who was elected 12th Primate in 2004, has announced that he will retire after the Anglican General Synod in June. The synod, the Anglican church’s chief governing body, will chose the next primate on June 22 in Winnipeg.

The procedure to elect a Primate, or national leader, is that bishops nominate no more than five candidates at their last meeting before a General Synod. The bishops, however, do not vote in the actual election. Primates are elected by clergy and lay members of the synod.

[More]

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, considered cancelling the 2008 Lambeth Conference of the world's Anglican bishops due to the sexuality debates roiling the church, but decided against it.

‘Yes, we've already been considering that and the answer is no. We've been looking at whether the timing is right, but if we wait for the ideal time, we will wait more than just 18 months,’ he told the Anglican Journal in an exclusive interview.

Archbishop Williams spoke during a break on April 17 at a day-long retreat for the Anglican Church of Canada's bishops at the Mount Carmel Spiritual Centre in Niagara Falls, Ontario. On April 18, the bishops move into a business session and on April 19, they will vote in a closed session to choose candidates for the next primate, or national archbishop, of the Canadian church. The primate, who will succeed the retiring Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, will be elected at the church's General Synod convention in June.

[More]

An earthquake measuring 8.1 struck 345km northwest of the Solomon Islands' capital Honiara at 07:40 local time Monday (20:40 GMT Sunday). The powerful earthquake caused a tsunami and there have been reports of damage and death in the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.

Media reports put the number of death in the Solomon Islands at 12, though numbers are expected to increase. Others are reporting of serious devastation that some villages have been ‘completely wiped out.’

[More]

Archbishop Hutchison said that he had been ‘profoundly discouraged’ by the communiqué issued by Anglican leaders warning the U.S. church of consequences if it did not abandon its liberal stance on sexuality, and had found it ‘tempting’ not to sign it.

The communiqué had ‘virtually not one encouraging word for gay and lesbian people who have felt so far on the margins,’ Archbishop Hutchison told a staff briefing at the national church office in Toronto shortly after his return from the primates’ meeting held Feb. 15-19 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The communiqué demonstrated ‘a great struggle to try and preserve some kind of unity within the Anglican family, but the question is, at what price?’ said Archbishop Hutchison. He said this was something that Anglicans in Canada would have to consider when they decide on issues around sexuality in their General Synod in Winnipeg this June.

[More]

The way that the Primates' Meetings had been proceeding took a turn on Saturday. Archbishop Phillip Aspinall of Australia the spokesperson for the Primates was unable to attend the media briefing. He is part of the team producing the final statement and was needed for the meeting that had begun to work on the statement.

Canon James Rosenthal, communications director for the Anglican Communion, took the podium to report that the conversations about the Episcopal Church's response to the Windsor Report continued but had not reached a final conclusion.

[More]

For the continuation of Anglican bookstore

General Synod's Communications and Information Resources Committee has unanimously endorsed negotiations with Augsburg Fortress Canada that would see the continuation of a bookstore at the site presently occupied by the Anglican Book Centre.

The committee gave its approval after hearing Augsburg Fortress Canada's Director, Andy Seal, describe a plan through which the Lutheran company would assume responsibility for running the Anglican bookstore, as well as the mail order and web operations. The bookstore could therefore continue without any cost to the Anglican Church.

[More]

The Primate's Theological Commission of the Anglican Church of Canada has issued a Statement on the Discussion of the Authority of Scripture in the Windsor Report.

Meeting in Winnipeg November 17-20 2006, in the context of prayer, Bible study and worship, the Commission discussed the nature, authority and interpretation of Scripture as they relate to the current debate within Anglicanism about the blessing of same-sex unions. It considered paragraphs 53-62 of The Windsor Report of the Lambeth Commission on Communion published in October, 2004 and concluded that they are an important contribution towards the articulation of a clearer consensus in the Anglican Communion on the nature, authority and interpretation of scripture. The statement, adopted unanimously, contains both affirmations of the Windsor material and notes to the church.

[More]

Bonnie Anderson, president of the Episcopal Church's House of Deputies, told the Council of the Anglican Church of Canada's General Synod on November 10 that she sees a growing relationship of mutuality and respect between the two Anglican provinces.

'I think we have before us, as the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Church, an opportunity to create a model of mutuality and conversation in the Anglican Communion,' she said.

[More]

Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, has received the report of the Panel of Reference for the Anglican Communion and sees it as an important contribution to the process of reconciliation in Canada. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams released the report last week.

[More]

The Rev. Paul Gibson, former liturgical officer for the Anglican Church of Canada, is one of 10 people awarded the Cross of St. Augustine by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. Mr. Gibson retired in 1998 and has since served as consultant for liturgy for the Anglican Consultative Council.

[More]

On Thursday afternoon, over 1,200 youth, in Winnipeg for the 2006 Canadian Lutheran Youth Gathering (CLYG 2006), flowed out of the Winnipeg Convention Centre, the main site of the gathering, and into the streets of downtown for a faith walk to the Manitoba Legislative Building to kick - off the start of CLYG 2006. In her opening keynote speech to CLYG 2006 participants, Rev. Kathy Martin, told the youth, 'at this gathering we are going to do things differently. We're going to head out there and make a difference.'

[More]

Doug Willoughby believes there are HIV - positive people in many Christian congregations in his area. 'Most of them are terrified to disclose,' says the pastoral associate from St. Paul's on - the - Hill, Pickering, who is HIV-positive himself.

[More]

Once again the peoples of the world are compelled to witness violence, hatred and pain in Israel and Lebanon. This is by no means a new phenomena and even the psalmist centuries before the birth of Christ called upon his community to, 'Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.' None of us must ever become complacent about the pain anxiety and sheer terror that many innocent people on both sides of the border have and are experiencing as they flee from their homes to an uncertain future. In the past few days the escalation of violence has greatly disturbed me and all parties involved in the conflict need to be able to pause, take a step back and look for other solutions than those of guns tanks and bombs. It will take far more courage to do this than to continue in the conflict.

Our country has a proud history of peaceful intervention and I call upon those in positions of leadership and influence particularly our Prime Minister to seek ways to bring peace into the violence of this situation.

No matter how hopeless the prospects of peace may seem to the world we, as Christians must pray as our contribution to the process of peace and reconciliation. I call upon all Anglicans and each of our parishes to include a specific time of prayer for peace in the weeks ahead. I will be meeting with Archbishop Clive Handford the President Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East in Coventry England later today and will convey to him our concern and prayers for his ministry and for people of all faiths that they will find the instruments of peace rather than of war.

The Most Reverend Andrew S. Hutchison
Archbishop and Primate

Article from: The Anglican Church in Canada

The Anglican Journal has revealed its new, improved online look. The Web site of the Journal, the 131-year-old national newspaper of the Anglican Church of Canada, has undergone its first redesign since the site's inception in 1998.

[More]

In a series of decisions at its May meeting, the Board of Directors of The Primate's World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) announced the receipt of $600,000 in gifts for HIV and AIDS work and allocated $350,000 in undesignated donations to Partnership for Life: For a Generation without AIDS. Added to the original $1 million fund to initiate the work, the May allocations raise the total funding to $1,950,000. 

[More]

Prime Minister Stephen Harper should move immediately to release funds designated for affordable housing, according to the leaders of four Canadian churches - Archbishop Andrew Hutchison of the Anglican Church of Canada, Bishop Ray Schultz of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, the Rev. Peter Short of the United Church of Canada and Henry Hess of the Christian Reformed Church of North America.

[More]

January 24, 2006 - The new Anglican Book Centre (ABC) 'shop on-line' web site will soon feature a weekly 'New and Noteworthy' page with books from ABC Publishing and other religious publishers, plus recent reviews. The site will also feature books recommended by Church House staff working in mission, ministry, liturgy, and other departments. The rapidly expanding site lists tens of thousands books, parish resources, vestments, and church furnishings.

[More]