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[Audrey Whitefield <a.whitefield@quest.org.uk>]

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Jan. 27, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Office
London, England

[97.1.4.7]

SUPPLEMENT TO FEATURES

1,000 ANGLICANS TO ATTEND NATIONAL CONFERENCE

(ACNS) A major national conference to map out the future of the Anglican
Church in
Australia in the new millennium will be held in Canberra in February. 
More
than 1,000 Anglicans will be attending.

It will be the first national Anglican conference for 50 years and will
mark the 750th anniversary of the founding of the Anglican Province of
Australasia - separating Australian and New Zealand Anglicans from the
Church in England.

The Primate of Australia and Archbishop of Melbourne, the Most Rev. Dr
Keith Rayner, said today that 1997 would mark a milestone in church life
in
Australia.

"This is a good time to explore and articulate afresh the mission of the
Anglican Church within the Australian nation.  That is what we aim to do
at
the national conference," he said.

The Archbishop of Sydney, the Most Rev. Harry Goodhew, said the next
millennium would see great changes in Australian society.

"The Anglican Church in Australia is going to have to accommodate these
changes in so many ways," he said. "This conference will be an important
forum to explore our future together."

The 1,000 Anglicans attending will include Archbishops, Bishops, Priests
and lay people from dioceses all over Australia, and some
representatives
from the Church in New Zealand.  The conference will be held from
February
8 to 11 at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra.

Guest speakers will include Dr John Peterson, former Principal of St
George's College, Jerusalem, who is Secretary-General of the world-wide
Anglican Communion; Professor Julian Disney, Director of the Centre for
International Law at the ANU; the world-renowned Scottish theologian and
ethicist Dr Elizabeth Templeton; Professor Bettina Cass, Professor of
Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Sydney; and author and
social commentator Hugh McKay.

The general secretary of the Anglican General Synod, the Rev. Dr Bruce
Kaye, said the conference would help Anglicans to define their place in
Australian society.

This would involve stronger links with all sections of the Australian
community, including Australians from Europe, the Middle East and Asia
who
are from a non-English speaking background, and Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people.

"As Anglicans we belong to a religious tradition which has been
commitedly
enmeshed in the society which it is called to serve," Dr Kaye said.

"We are also at the end point of a long period of significant changes in
the nature of our relationship as a Church and as a religious tradition
to
Australian society.

"For many, a vital sense of our identity as Anglican Christians in
plural
Australia has become less certain and less clear," Dr Kaye said. "The
time
is now opportune for us to look outwards!  A national conference will
provide a number of clear opportunities and offer the prospect for a
number
of significant benefits.

"Our goal is for the conference to be a catalyst in the rediscovery of
Anglicanism as a vibrant and relevant force in Australian society."

More information about the national conference is available form the
General Synod Office in Sydney - telephone (02) 92651503.

Media enquiries

The Rev. Dr Bruce Kaye,
Anglican General Synod,
St Andrew's House,
Sydney Square.

Tel.: (02) 83651525

Charles Stockes,
Media Liaison Officer.

Tel.: (02) 93798444 (w)
        (02) 94287474 (h)
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