wfn.org | Anglican World a vital link for Church of South India

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@wfn.org>]

ACNS LC016 - 18 July 1998

Anglican World  a vital link for members of Church of South
India

by E. T. Malone, Jr.

Lambeth Conference Communications

Anglican World  magazine, the international publication of the
Anglican Communion, is a "great strength" for Christians in South
India, who constitute only two percent of the local population,
said the Rev. J. Prabhakara Rao, an Anglican Consultative Council
representative attending the Lambeth Conference.

Since 1996, Mr. Rao, a priest at the Basel Mission Girls' School
in Dharwad, Karnatak, has received a free subscription through
the magazine's arrangement to provide complementary copies to
Anglicans in two-thirds world countries.  "Otherwise, it would be
impossible for me to read," he said. "The annual cost in India
would be one-fourth of my monthly salary."

The magazine is placed in the vestry of his church and circulated
among all his parishioners.  "It is an important way to reach
people," he said, noting that it helps Christians feel connected
with others around the world. "We say in India that we are a
minority, but in the worldwide Anglican Communion we can feel
part of a majority."

Within his parish there are 40 families from six language groups.
 "We use English as our common language, and everyone can read
Anglican World," Mr. Rao said. "Through Anglican World the
Anglican spirit binds us all together."

Unity among Christians is a high priority, sometimes to the point
of taking extreme steps, he said.

"When Anglicans joined with other Christians-Methodists,
Presbyterians, Baptists, Congregationalists, and so on-to form
the Church of South India, we Anglicans had to burn our vestments
and put away other liturgical symbols to make the others feel
comfortable with us," he said. "We were like a candle burning
itself to give light to others. We sacrificed ourselves."

In a country divided not only by language and religion, but also
by the social hierarchies of caste, Mr. Rao said his congregation
does its best to avoid even that barrier. "In this congregation
we ask no questions about caste. We say we are Christians," he
said. 

For further information, contact:

Lambeth Conference Communications
Canterbury Business School
University of Kent at Canterbury
Telephone: 01227 827348/9
Fax: 01227 828085
Mobile: 0374 800212

http://www.lambethconference.org