wfn.org | US DIOCESE ON HONG KONG

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

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Feb. 14, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Office
London, England

[97.2.2.4]

HONG KONG: AMERICAN COMPANION DIOCESE SPEAKS OUT

(ACNS from Quest)  The Diocese of Newark in America has just passed a
resolution on Hong Kong at its annual convention. The Resolution states:

Resolved, that this 123rd Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark
calls upon our Primate to insist on a full and thorough review by
officials
of the Anglican Communion of proposals underway in the Diocese of Hong
Kong
to split itself into three dioceses and declare itself an independent
province.

The resolution was submitted by Dr Debra Brown, a Trustee of the
Diocese,
Dr. Louie Crew, a Member of the Standing Committee.

Supporting information

While the Diocese of Newark was a companion Diocese to the Diocese of
Hong
Kong from 1986 to 1992, persons developed close relationships with one
another.  The Diocese of Newark continues to maintain a Diocesan Task
Force
on China/Hong Kong relations.

* There has been much secrecy regarding the proposed new province. * The
Diocese of Hong Kong did not even request that this proposal be on the
agenda of the October 1996 meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council
in
Panama. * Some of us feel that the Diocese of Hong Kong might present
the
structural
proposals as a fait accompli without proper review by the Anglican
Communion. * There has not been open disclosure of the audit of the huge
Bishops Discretionary Fund in Hong Kong.  We would like assurance that
this
money will remain in Hong Kong, under exclusive control of church
membership, for the vital missions for which the money was originally
donated.

With July 1, 1997 as the date on which China resumes sovereignty in Hong
Kong, we think this matter of great urgency.