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This edition includes...
ANGLICAN NEWS
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ANGLICAN LIFE
Holy Trinity Avonside deconsecrated
One of Christchurch's oldest churches has been deconsecrated after being badly damaged in the earthquakes. The Church of the Holy Trinity in Avonside was designed by Benjamin Mountfort and was consecrated in 1857. It was deconsecrated by Anglican Bishop Victoria Matthews yesterday before planned demolition.
Church committee member Tony Humphreys said he had a "soft spot" for it. "I got married in this church ... It is very meaningful for me. It is very sad to see it go," he said. "I was looking at my wedding photos the other day. It looked beautiful."
Mr Humphreys said the church had connections with early Christchurch. William Rolleston, Mountfort and Julius von Haast are buried in its cemetery.
The building is in the orange zone, on land identified by the Government as requiring more research to see whether it can be economically repaired. Mr Humphreys said any new church would be of modern design.
"We are not going to go for a rebuild. We are going for a more modern place with meeting rooms, offices and a lot more flexibility. It will be much more modern," he said.
For Beryl Dineen, 68, yesterday's ceremony was a "very sentimental moment".
She had been a regular at the church since her family moved to Christchurch in 1945, and was confirmed there in 1955 and married there in 1967. "We always go to the church on our wedding anniversary," she said. Two of her three sisters were married there, while brother Earl Stick, who died in the February quake, was a server and helped with repair work.
"My parents loved that church because it reminded them of England," she said. "Hopefully there'll be something beautiful come out of that space."
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Amid war, Kadugli bishop finds encouragement in Jesus' words: 'I will be with you always'
By Lucy Chumbley, Episcopal News Service
On June 22, the day he had planned to return to the Diocese of Kadugli in Southern Kordofan, Sudan, Bishop Andudu Adam Elnail was sitting wearily in a Washington, D.C., law firm conference room drinking coffee from a corporate mug.
Elnail was in D.C. to meet with U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan, Princeton N. Lyman, and other advocacy groups to ask for their help "to stop the war, give humanitarian aid to the people and to bring peace and freedom to the people of the Nuba Mountains."
South Sudan is set to become an independent nation on July 9. Southern Kordofan, an oil-producing state in mountainous central Sudan, will remain under northern control.
Several weeks ago, the Sudan Armed Forces from the north began a series of bombing raids in Southern Kordofan, targeting southern sympathizers, and are now encamped in Kadugli, the region's capital. SAF soldiers and the Sudan People's Liberation Army from the south are fighting on the ground, thousands of people have been displaced, and the United Nations is warning that a major SAF offensive is imminent.
On June 5-6, All Saints Cathedral in Kadugli, a diocesan meeting hall and guesthouse (home to eight priests, with two rooms and three shops rented out for income) and Elnail's own home were destroyed by fire during the incursion. Other churches were broken into and looted.
"My chaplain escaped through the window when they attacked my house," Elnail said. He was captured and beaten, and is now seeking treatment in Khartoum. "I do not know what would have happened if I was there. I probably would have been one of the victims."
A sound system, video projector and extra beds stored in the hall were taken during looting, along with three motorbikes, including one belonging to Elnail. "That was my means for transport, because the diocese has not yet got a car," he said.
By chance, Elnail had travelled to the United States for medical treatment before the attacks came. "I'm not saying I'm lucky," he said. "But at least I'm here now." Likewise his wife, Jaleela, and their children Elias, 16, Evans, 10, Elphas, 8, Grace, 6, and Enoch, 3, are safely in Uganda, where Jaleela is studying at the Christian University. But Elnail's sister, Siham, who is in his care, fled from Kadugli and is now missing.
"We have been asking [where she is] but nobody can tell me," he said.
Telephones in Kadugli are not working, but Elnail is in contact with six priests from his diocese who fled to Khartoum, along with the diocesan secretary and treasurer: "They're telling me the situation is still bad. They're looking for other people." He has learned that the cathedral dean and three priests from Kadugli are taking refuge in a large encampment of displaced persons near the United Nations peacekeeping base to the north of the town. The other priests in the diocese – there are 68, in total – have remained at their churches in the Nuba Mountains.
The timing of this latest round of aggression is particularly troubling, Elnail said, "because now is a time for farming. This is the season when people are beginning." If subsistence crops like sorghum, sesame and peanuts are disrupted, "people may face a big famine next year."
In these trying times, Elnail finds encouragement in the words of Jesus: "I will be with you always." (Matthew 28:20)
"The word of God does not say living the faith is something easy," he said. "Even Jesus when he was in the world faced some problems. But God is there and we can see God through these problems."
Elnail has called for Sudanese Christians and churches around the world to observe a day of prayer and fasting for Southern Kordofan on June 26.
"I believe in prayer and fasting," he said quietly. "Fasting is showing that what we're doing is more important than what we eat and what we drink; that prayer is the most important thing. The prayer is stronger."
That day, Elnail hopes to be at the Church of the Beloved in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, praying with the local Sudanese refugee community. He is unable to return home to Kadugli, and will remain in Baton Rouge indefinitely with Deacon Jim Tomkins of the Diocese of Louisiana. Tomkins has served as a liaison between Elnail and the bishop of Louisiana since 2004, when, as a newly ordained deacon, he began to minister to the Sudanese refugee community. He has spent many months in Sudan since then doing development and church work and is currently traveling with Elnail to meet with Sudanese refugees in Dallas, Denver, Nebraska and Virginia.
When Elnail is able to return to the Diocese of Kadugli, his first priority will be to visit the displaced people in the camps, he said. "Then I need to start from scratch again. I need to find a way to rebuild my offices, the houses, the cathedral. Starting fresh."
The U.S.-based Episcopal Church, which continues to partner with and advocate for the Episcopal Church of Sudan, has observed a season of prayer for Sudan since September 2010.
He invites U.S. churches to "pray for us and also to support us by any means – either financially or by encouraging us and by talking to their congressmen in their towns."
Contributions can be made to the Diocese of Kadugli via the American Friends of the Episcopal Church of Sudan. To learn more, visit www.afrecs.org.
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Anglican development group gives cautious welcome to G20 food pledges
By Jonathan Luxmoore, ENI
Warsaw, 23 June--An Anglican expert has welcomed an action plan by agriculture ministers from the Group of 20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (G20) to combat growing volatility in international food prices.
However, Sally Keeble, director of the London-based Anglican Alliance for Development, Relief and Advocacy, warned that recent church demands were "just a warm-up" to what could be expected in the run-up to the G20 summit in November. "Although there's still a long way to go, it's very important that food security is now high on the political agenda," she said.
"There's great anxiety about what's happening to food prices and the number of people going hungry as a result. It's been identified by Anglican leaders, particularly in Africa, as the top priority for church advocacy work."
"There are strong vested agricultural interests in the developed world, and there will be a major tussle to ensure these take second place after the need to produce and distribute enough food for the developing world," said Keeble, whose organization began work this January following an initiative at the 2008 Lambeth Conference of Anglican Communion bishops.
World food prices hit a record high in early 2011, provoking fears of food riots in the developing world, where 925 million people are estimated to go hungry. There have been calls for a substantial increase in agricultural production to feed a world population forecast to be 9.1 billion by 2050.
In an action plan, the G20 agricultural ministers said they would encourage analyses of the relationship between biofuels production and food availability, and give "special attention to smallholders, especially women" in developing countries.
Letters urging steps to reduce food prices and control speculation in commodity trading were sent to ministers before the G20 meeting by the Anglican primates in Australia and Canada, as well as by the presiding bishop of the Anglican church of Korea, the moderator of the church of North India, and archbishops in Capetown, South Africa and Llandaff in Wales.
In a 21 June letter to US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the US Episcopal Church's presiding bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, said she was aware of budget shortfalls facing the US and other industrialized countries, but believed investment in food security would "strengthen the entire global economy and ultimately lead to billions of dollars in savings."
She added that most of the Anglican Communion's 80 million members lived in developing countries, and said the new G20 "focus on food" was an important recognition "that rising food prices present a potential crisis for areas of the world most affected by hunger and malnutrition."
"As an American, I am particularly heartened by President Obama's Feed the Future initiative, a recognition that food security holds an important key in eradicating global poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals."
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Two party system, the panacea to wastes and wanton killings - Archbishop Madu
By Foluso Taiwo
A Cleric has called on Nigerians to seriously consider a two party system for Nigeria to cut down waste and save the nation from other ugly incidents.
The Archbishop of Enugu province and Bishop of Oji River Diocese (Anglican Communion) Most Rev Dr Amos Madu Made this call while presenting his charge at the 1st Session of the 5th Synod at the Holy Trinity church, Ezeagu local Government Area of Enugu state.
He said too much is wasted on every election year, in logistics printing, and so on for 62 political parties most of which he said are fake in the real sense, for they exist just in name and to confuse things.
According to Archbishop Madu, God has remained faithful in sustaining Nigeria in spite of the corruption that has affected the nation badly.
Bishop of Diocese of Oji River who is disturbed by what he called the deliberate continual and senseless murder of Christians in Plateau, Bauchi and Bornu States says that the Federal Government must boldly intervene if it must stop.
He urged all governors, Bishops and Archbishops, Judges, Lawyers, Activists and Human right groups to rise up to this challenge and speak out against the criminal act. Archbishop Madu Congratulated the Nigerian’s President Good Luck Jonathan for allowing God to use him in giving Nigeria credible election.
While commending professor Jega (INEC Chairman) for his doggedness, Archbishop Madu opined that the just concluded election will mark the beginning of the end of corruption in Nigeria, as it is to a great extent the reflection of the people’s will.
However the cleric said the billions of Naira approved for INEC for the 2007 and 2011 elections should be carefully investigated.
He suggested that the Jumbo salaries and allowances for political office holders that have generated much controversy must be cut down since Nigeria is rated highest in the world on the issue; adding that if it is done, it will make electoral posts less lucrative and discourage other professionals from going on strike for higher pay.
Speaking on the theme of the Synod “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free” Most Rev Madu said it is becoming increasingly difficult today to know what is what in Nigeria.
According to him, it’s an uphill task for pharmacists to sort fake drugs from genuine ones because of counterfeiting of drugs, the same goes for Motor spare parts and many other products.
He said nothing is spared, not even The Holy Bible. He added that today, we have too many political parties as we have Churches and sects than never before and they all claim to be representing God whereas they are floated for commercial gains. He added that the people must know the truth for the truth to set them free.
Archbishop Madu opined that the theme is vital to the lives of Christians and non-christians alike so as to know the truth about the scriptures, the Devil, spiritualism and salvation and remain unshakable in their faith.
According to Archbishop Madu,” the Bible sees three stages in the human history. He said God made man in his own image: sin entered in and wrecked that plan: Jesus Christ came, and only in Jesus Christ can men be what they are meant to be.
The Bible he stated, gives the true view of the world adding that it clearly states that the world is neither to be despised nor is it to be worshipped but that the world is to be portrayed as the training and the testing ground for eternity. It is the arena where a man fits or unfits himself for eternity.
The Bishop who quoted the scriptures profusely to corroborate his stand in digging deep, searching for the truth, charged Children of God to seek and know the truth which is Jesus Christ for them to be set free from the trappings of this world that are holding them down.
He urged them to follow him who is the way, the truth and the life” and begin to enjoy new life now on earth. According to him this is the hidden treasure, the road to real joy and peace which the world cannot offer.
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Children’s care worker joins the Church
By Anna Morrell, Church in Wales
The former deputy manager of a children’s home will begin a new career in church ministry this week. Emma Rees, 31, will be ordained as a deacon by the Archbishop of Wales at a service at Llandaff Cathedral tomorrow (Saturday June 25). She will then begin serving as an assistant curate at All Saints Church, Barry.
Emma, from Treharris, began training for ministry at St Michael’s College, Llandaff, having worked at a children’s home in the South Wales Valleys. She said, “I’ve wanted to be a priest for as long as I can remember and now I can’t wait to get started after three years of training. I’m really looking forward to walking into my new life and becoming part of the community at Barry.”
Also at the service tomorrow, three deacons will be ordained as priests. As non-stipendiary ministers their work for the church is carried out alongside their paid jobs.Lynda Newman, 50, serves in Neath. From Cymmer, she is an early years teacher at Dunvant Primary School but has now decided to give up teaching after 27 years to concentrate full-time on ministry. She is married to Andrew, a firefighter, and has two daughters.
She said, “My year as a deacon was amazing. It started off sadly as the first funeral I did was my father’s. However, the first wedding I’ll do now as a priest will be my daughter’s. “It was a big decision to give up teaching but I feel really blessed in having had a career I loved and now a vocation that excites me.”
Christopher Seaton, 57, serves part-time as a non-stipendiary minister in the parish of St Andrews Major with Michaelston-le-Pit. He is a self-employed engineering technician and lives in Barry with his wife Julia. He said, “My first year has been an awesome experience and I’m looking forward to extending my ministry as a priest.”
Peter Mortimer, 50, serves in Whitchurch. He works for the charity Care for the Family in Taffs Well. He is married to Lois. He said, “It is a bit of a juggling act fitting my ministry around my job but I’ve had a really enjoyable year with terrific support from the parish and the adrenaline has flowed!”
The Archbishop, Dr Barry Morgan, said, “I am delighted to ordain Emma, Lynda, Peter and Christopher and to welcome them to the diocese. They bring a wealth of experience and I am sure their faith and commitment will inspire and encourage the churches where they serve.”
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VIDEO
Ugandan Martyrs commemorated
On 3 June 1886, thirty-two young men, pages of the court of King Mwanga II of Buganda, were burned to death at Namugongo for their refusal to renounce Christianity. Some of the men were of the Anglican faith and others were of the Catholic faith. Annually, on June 03, Christians from all parts of Uganda, East Africa and other parts of the world congregate at Namugongo to commemorate the lives of the Uganda Martyrs and their dedication to their religious beliefs. Crowds have been estimated in hundreds of thousands in some years.
Get a flavour of this important event in the life of the Church of Uganda in this report by NTV Uganda http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BpuwJ8s1yQ
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PHOTOS
See photos of the Archbishop of Canterbury's visit to Kenya where was hosted by the Archbishop of Kenya at http://bit.ly/lprP5J
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COMMENT
Author Margaret Maund on a life lived to the full
Margaret Maund has lived many lives, from a nurse in war-torn Congo to one of the first women in Wales to be ordained as an Anglican priest. She spoke to Claire Rees about why she’s happiest now, as an author, sharing her stories about a life lived to the full
MUCH of what has happened to Margaret Maund has happened, by her own admission, quite by accident.
She wasn’t meant to take a gap year to learn French in Belgium, she wasn’t meant to travel to Africa, and she wasn’t meant, coming from a normal, modest Valleys family, to take on the Anglican Church in one of the most significant moments of its history.
Things just happen to Margaret. And after years of being encouraged to, she’s finally put her adventure all down in an autobiography.
The story begins and concludes – at least for now – in Tonyrefail, where Margaret was born to “good, lovely Christian parents”, Donald, a deacon and Doris, a housewife and preacher.
Margaret, now 69, had a happy childhood, but her school days were, by her own admission, “not that special”.
She failed her 11 plus and, unimpressed with her mother’s idea of her working in the local chemist due to her lack of affinity with mathematics, she passed her nursing exams aged just 15.
In the book she tells a lovely story about when her mother took the bus to East Glamorgan Hospital, bought herself a sandwich and a cup of tea and watched her daughter work from a safe distance for a whole afternoon.
“My parents were always so supportive, even if they were shocked at what I was doing,” she recalls.
After qualifying as a nurse in 1963, Margaret moved to Cardiff to begin midwifery training, helping to deliver babies from ethnic families. And although her bedroom at home was covered with maps of Africa, as a result of her chapel background and a calling she says she’d felt since childhood, it was the first time she had met a person who didn’t have her skin colour.
“It was so different from growing up in the Rhondda and I began to realise the world was a bigger place than I ever imagined,” she says. "And it wasn’t as cosy as my own life had been.”
Margaret made enquiries into working in Africa and was invited to London to meet a selection panel from the Baptist Missionary Society. But at the same time, rebellion had broken out in what was then the Belgian Congo where she wanted to travel.
The first question the 23-year-old was asked was, “Are you ready to die?”, to which she answered “Of course”.
“I honestly didn’t feel frightened,” she adds. “I was well aware of the risks but I wanted to help.”
She was accepted, despite her gender and single status in the conservative ’60s, meaning she was doubted as being suitable for the job. “Africa was going through a great deal of unrest, and going to such a dangerous place at my age was a concern for my tutors,” Margaret says. “I was not received with a lot of joy, let’s say. There had been many deaths in the Congo, especially from the US church, and there were serious difficulties going on,” she says.
“I turn up from the Rhondda Valleys and insist on going there at a time everyone was coming out!”
But after a year learning French in Brussels to equip her for the task, she was off to war-torn central Africa, and nobody was going to stop her.
“I was full of a spirit of adventure – I probably didn’t grasp the concept of death because I was too much in love with life.”
Arriving there as a 24-year-old from the Valleys was an adventure in itself, one Margaret can recall clearly. "I’d had a very long journey and was met by colleagues with a canoe made from a hollowed-out tree trunk.We took an hour and a half to cross the Congo river in pitch-black darkness, arriving in the middle of this impenetrable forest.Everybody goes to bed when it gets dark as it’s safer so I expected not to see anyone until morning. But we arrived into this clearing lit with oil lamps and I saw this crowd of people – they’d gathered to welcome me.
“They were singing and clapping their hands – I have such a vivid memory of that moment. It will stay with me forever.”
And once there, the issue of Margaret arriving without a husband perplexed the welcoming locals, who would warn her not to walk alone at night as it signalled she was looking for a mate. It was a cultural thing that the opinion was you were safer with a husband. The students [in Africa] used to say, ‘Your father must be a very cruel man’ to allow me to go to there. I would say he was a beloved, gorgeous man and it was my decision, like everything else I do!
“They would say no African man would have allowed a young girl into something like this without a husband and that African women were safer when in a marriage contract. The concept did start to change, but very, very slowly.”
Margaret was one of a team of just two doctors and two nurses with 10,000 people in their care in what could best be described as the middle of nowhere, braving electrical storms in planes piloted by people who had never had a flying lesson to reach communities spread across 15,000 miles.
“It was a very difficult three years,” she recalls. “Due to the civil war, people had been moving into the forest for safety so their diseases had regressed and leprosy was rife, as was tuberculosis. But nobody went to bed unless they were dying.”
Read the rest of the interview in the Western Mail newspaper http://bit.ly/lNzN7A
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CD SHELF
Hope is our song: Hymns, songs and carols from Aotearoa New Zealand
Published by the New Zealand Hymnbook Trust
(Reviewed by Rosemary Dewerse in The Anglican, The magazine of the Anglican Diocese of Auckland)
THis CD features the chamber choir, Viva Voce, with their conductor John Rosser and Michael Bell on the organ and piano performing a showcase of twenty-seven hymns from the recently published Hope is our Song, the latest hymnal from the New Zealand Hymnbook Trust.
Viva Voce is an accomplished choir and the balance between voice, and voices and instruments, is excellent. Careful thought has been put into colouring the verses of each hymn while working within the limits set by choosing to keep faithful to the arrangements in the hymnbook. Variety but also sensitivity to the subject matter are provided by sometimes using voices only, sometimes voices and instrument, with a range of dynamics.
This CD is a high-class "sampler," very useful for church musicians or those selecting music for services who are keen to use the latest offerings from some of our talented New Zealand hymn-writers, especially those as yet unfamiliar with the hymns or unable to play the music themselves. It is also a CD for the church music connoisseur. It does, however, work best as music for background listening. Only a small percentage of the words can be clearly discerned unless you know them already or are following them in the hymnbook or the word booklet provided with the CD. It is not a CD suitable for congregations to sing along to. The Hymnbook Trust provide "karaoke CDs" for this purpose, though not of this particular hymnbook yet.
For more visit http://www.hymns.org.nz/
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ANGLICAN CYCLE OF PRAYER Click here for the full ACP
Friday 24-Jun-2011 The Birth of John the Baptist
Psalm: 6:1-9 Gen 3:1-7
Omu - Aran - (Province of Ibadan, Nigeria) The Rt Revd Philip Adeyemo
Saturday 25-Jun-2011
Psalm: 7:1-11,17 Gen 3:8-19
On the Lake - (Province of Owerri, Nigeria) The Rt Revd Chijioke Oti
Sunday 26-Jun-2011 Pentecost 2
Psalm: 8 Gen 3:20-24
On the Niger - (Province of the Niger, Nigeria) The Rt Revd Ken Okeke
Monday 27-Jun-2011
Psalm: 9:1-10 Acts 4:13-31
Ondo - (Province of Ondo, Nigeria) The Rt Revd George L Lasebikan
Tuesday 28-Jun-2011
Psalm: 10:1-12,16-18 Acts 4:32-37
Ontario - (Ontario, Canada) The Rt Revd George Bruce
Coadjutor Bishop of Ontario - (Ontario, Canada) The Rt Revd Michael D Oulton
Wednesday 29-Jun-2011
Psalm: 11:1-5,7 Gen 4:1-16
Oregon - (Province VIII, USA) The Rt Revd Michael Joseph Hanley
Thursday 30-Jun-2011
Psalm: 12 Gen 6:1-8
Orlu - (Province of Owerri, Nigeria) The Most Revd Bennett C I Okoro
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Disclaimer: The Weekly Review is a summary of news, information and resources gathered from around the Anglican Communion over the past week. The views expressed in Weekly Review do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the Anglican Communion Office.