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Canadian Anglicans and Lutherans vote for full communion

Leanne Larmondin
Website Manager

Waterloo, Ont.
Rejoicing Anglicans could not be denied the opportunity to express their joy.

Moments after a vote that officially sanctioned full communion between the
Anglican and Evangelical Lutheran churches in Canada, they broke into song.

Archbishop Michael Peers, the primate, had reminded Synod members only the
day before that applauding after a resolution is passed or defeated is
improper.

So, when the vote was clear in favour of full communion (with only one
member in each house, bishops and clergy/laity, voting against the motion)
one member spontaneously began the Doxology, a song of thanksgiving sung
when the gifts of bread and wine are brought to the altar. Moments later,
some 500 synod members and visitors, many who had been involved in the
Anglican-Lutheran dialogue for years, stood and joined in the singing,
which ended with one happy "Alleluia!"

Two waiting Lutherans, Rev. Jon Fogleman and Rev. Gordon Jensen, then
approached the stage and presented an emotional Archbishop Peers with a
basket of bread and wine. Mr. Fogleman was the Lutheran church's
appointment to the Anglican Church's Council of General Synod and Mr.
Jensen teaches at a Lutheran seminary in western Canada.

"For myself," commented Archbishop Michael Peers, "this is a moment of
great rejoicing."

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, meeting for its national
convention at the neighbouring campus of Wilfred Laurier University, also
passed the identical motion, which called for the adoption and
implementation of the Waterloo Declaration.

The news of the Lutheran vote came to the floor of General Synod about 10
minutes later as Synod members debated a canon on marriage as Archbishop
Peers was passed a cell phone.

The Lutherans, meanwhile, elected a new national leader to succeed Bishop
Telmor Sartison who is retiring. The convention took six ballots to elect
Rev. Ray Schultz, the current bishop of the British Columbia synod, as the
ELCIC's third national bishop. He received 192 votes out of 349 votes cast,
edging out Rev. Susan Johnson, the church's eastern synod assistant to the
bishop.
- 30 -

Links:
Archived footage of the Anglican Church of Canada's vote in favour of the
Waterloo Declaration
(you will need RealPlayer to open this file; this is streaming video,
approximately 16 minutes long, and does not need to be downloaded; if you
don't have RealPlayer, you can download it free at
<http://scopes.real.com/real/player/player.html?src=downloadr,010613rpchoice
_c1&dc=767574>
<http://anglican.ca/gs2001/news/webcast/waterloovote.rm>

Resolution A164
<http://anglican.ca/gs2001/rr/resolutions/resolution.php?res=a164>

Called to Full Communion: The Waterloo Declaration
(revised, with commentary)
<http://anglican.ca/ministry/inchurch/waterloo_revised_annotated.html>

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
<http://www.elcic.ca/>

ELCIC Convention
<http://www.elcic.ca/convention/2001/nexus.html>

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Leanne Larmondin
Web Manager
Anglican Church of Canada
600 Jarvis St.
Toronto ON  L5E 2G1
(416) 924 9199 ext. 307
ll@anglican.ca
http://www.anglican.ca
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