wfn.org | Re: (no subject)

[keith.whitefield@quest.org.uk]

Title:COLLEGES MEET IN DELHI
March 1, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Office
London, England

[97.2.4.7]

ANGLICAN COLLEGES MEET IN DELHI

(Allan Beavis Church Scene, Australia) The Association of Colleges and
Universities of the Anglican Communion (CUAC) met in January at St
Stephen's College, Delhi, India, for its second International
Conference. One of the four major topics for discussion was the Anglican
heritage which links these institutions together.

Indian context

India was chosen as the venue so that CUAC might gave tangible support
to member colleges in a developing country.  Another goal was to enable
the experience itself to provide a case study for understanding cultural
differences and commonalities.  St Stephen's, established in 1881 by a
mission from Westcott House, Cambridge, has played an important role in
India.

The theme of the conference was Putting CUAC to work by translating the
ideas and interests of members into practical programmes.  Workshops
addressed the Anglican heritage of member institutions, student exchange
programmes, faculty exchange and resource development and vision.

CUAC II was attended by 71 delegates from 48 institutions and 17
countries. These included Haiti, Israel, Kenya, the Republic of China,
Japan, Uganda, India, the UK and USA (13 people each) and one from
Australia. Representatives from six dioceses in India and the US, and
one from the Board of Education of the Church of England were present.

Pilot projects

The conference heard reports on two pilot projects that had been
conducted following the initial conference in Canterbury.
These were a service learning project in the Philippines, and a
pilgrimage to Taize in France.  The goals of the former were to provide
opportunities for learning through community service.  The latter was an
international/intercultural experience for the students who attended.

Steering Committee

An ongoing Steering Committee was established to continue the
development and implementation of the programmes considered in the four
workshops.

It will also consider CUAC's role as a clearing house for statements and
ideas, as a fund-raising body, and will also encourage member
institutions to review their corporate lives, to ensure:

- that there is a deepened consciousness of the positive dimension that
  the Anglican heritage and dynamic can bring; 

- that the maintenance and expansion of chapels and chaplaincies
are      encouraged along with their witness to the explicitly
spiritual       dimension of human existence through imaginative and
ordered public   worship; 

- that curricula be developed in the light of our Anglican tradition; 
- and that institutions explore their Christian potential in speaking
on   behalf of academic freedom where narrow ideologies have intruded
or   restricted human life.

The third International Conference of CUAC is scheduled to be held in
Toronto, Canada, in 2000.