wfn.org | News Briefs

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2001-203

News Briefs

Australian Anglicans further talks with Lutherans

     (ACNS) The Anglican Church of Australia has taken a significant step towards 
working more closely with the Lutheran Church.

     The 12th General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia, meeting in 
Brisbane, welcomed and supported the Anglican-Lutheran Dialogue Group report, 
"Common Ground," which was the result of almost three decades of discussions.

     The Synod authorized the continuation of the work of the Anglican-Lutheran 
Dialogue Group and requested that it report comments from both churches to each 
church's next general synods. The Synod also affirmed that the report formed "an 
appropriate basis for proceeding towards a national covenant for Eucharistic 
hospitality" at a regional level, subject to further review by the Anglican 
Church's Doctrine Panel.

     Bishop of the Murray, Graham Walden, who is Anglican co-chair of the 
dialogue, said the report and motion passed by General Synod provided a 
significant step forward.

     "'Common Ground' is not a declaration of church union but a solemn pledge to 
walk together towards that goal," Walden said. "The results of our discussions 
now need careful study in our churches."

     He said that since 1972 the two churches had produced a number of agreed 
statements on the Eucharist, ministry, baptism, Anglican-Lutheran marriages and 
episcope and unity.

Women bishops vote delayed by Australian synod  

     (ENS/ACNS) The 12th General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia voted 
July 24 in favor of postponing a vote on female bishops, to save the bill from 
being thrown out. There were warnings that if the bill is not passed in 2004, 
individual dioceses will go ahead with the consecration of women bishops anyway.

     Dr. Muriel Porter, the bill's presenter, told the Sydney Morning Herald that 
"the legal reality is that there is no reason why a diocese can't bring a woman 
bishop from overseas and appoint her here ... or even, some would say, appoint a 
woman as a bishop now.

     "Although that would be unfortunate if it happened ... I'm saying that if we 
can't do something in the next three years, then yes, it will be hell for 
leather."

     Earlier, the synod voted 135 for and 95 against, with two abstentions, on a 
bill in principle removing all the legal obstacles to the consecration of women 
to the episcopate.

     The bill was the result of wide consultation throughout the church by a 
working group formed after the last General Synod in February 1998. It was 
modeled on the Law of the Church of England Clarification Canon 1992--the church 
law which removed any possible legal obstacles to the ordination of women as 
priests in England.

     But it went further, giving the General Synod the opportunity to recognize 
that there are differences of opinion in the church as to whether a woman can or 
should perform the duties of a bishop, but also to recognize and affirm the 
essential unity of the church under God within a tolerable diversity.

     The bill included a protocol relating to the provision of episcopal 
oversight and ministry for those unable to accept the ministry of a female 
bishop. At a local level, parishes would have been able to vote to have a bishop 
from another region or diocese minister to them, if they wished to have episcopal 
ministry by a bishop other than a female bishop.

     There are 11 women bishops in the worldwide Anglican Communion, in New 
Zealand, the United States and Canada.

     

Carnley calls unity key to mission

     (ACNS) In his charge to the 12th General Synod of the Anglican Church of 
Australia in Brisbane, Archbishop Peter Carnley emphasized unity as the key to 
the church's fulfilling its historical mission.

     "The church is not a mere federation of dioceses, but a federation of 
communions," Carnley said. "This is the key to understanding the national church. 
It is not essentially a political reality but a theological and spiritual 
reality.

     "The orthodox doctrine of the Trinity is vital to our self-understanding," 
he said. "Christians understand the unity of God not in simple numerical terms 
but in the inter-relatedness in love of the three persons of the Trinity: as one 
unity of being.

     "In the same way, the many and diverse members of the church are essentially 
one communion. We are partakers of the divine nature," he said. "The communion we 
share is not just a humanly created fellowship of like-minded people.

     "Therefore, the unity of the national church is vital to the success of our 
mission in the world," Carnley said. "The church itself must be one in order that 
the world may know the nature of God."

     Carnley warned the General Synod of what was at stake as it addressed 
difficult and potentially divisive issues. These include the admission of women 
to the episcopate, complex questions related to human sexuality and the idea of 
allowing lay people to celebrate the Eucharist.

     Carnley pointed out that to deny the importance of unity, to cause division 
in the church or to turn one's back on the communion of the church would not just 
be a sign of human failure.

     "It is a form of infidelity--a deliberate turning away from the communion of 
God," he said.

     In the same address, he also underlined the fact that attendance had 
declined in the last period for which statistics were available, 1991-96.

     "While there are some encouraging signs of success dotted across the nation, 
the church's performance is patchy," he said. "No diocese is getting it all 
wrong, but no diocese is getting it all right. We have a huge job still to do.

     "We certainly have to work at bridging the gap between the current interest 
in Australia in spirituality and the flagging interest in so-called organized 
religion."

     

Archbishop Marona visits Sudanese refugee communities

     (ACNS) Archbishop Joseph Marona of Sudan spent ten days this summer on a 
pastoral visit to displaced Sudanese in the Middle East at the invitation of the 
bishops of Egypt and Jerusalem.

     Marona met with religious leaders and expressed a shared concern for justice 
and the alleviation of suffering. In Damascus he met with the Grand Mufti, and in 
Cairo he was received by Sheikh Mahmoud, deputy to the Grand Sheikh of El Ahzar, 
the highest Islamic theological authority in Egypt.

     Marona also met with the patriarch of the Syrian Orthodox Church and with 
Pope Shenouda III, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, and experienced the Coptic 
Church's rich heritage of desert monasticism with a visit to the Monastery of St. 
Macarius in Wadi Natrun. The site has been used for prayer and solitude since 
A.D. 360, but the monastery has undergone a significant revival and development 
during the last 30 years, now accommodating more than 100 monks.

     In Syria, he visited the Monastery of St. Takla, a first-century female 
saint converted through the preaching of St. Paul, whom God rescued from 
persecution by creating a miraculous passage through the Ma'aloula Mountains. "If 
God is able to open the biggest mountain for the sake of one girl who asked for 
his intervention, why can't we as Sudanese pray mightily for God to remove the 
problems we are suffering from," Marona exclaimed.

     Marona expressed gratitude to the churches in Egypt and Syria, saying, "The 
door you have opened for our Sudanese people will not be forgotten." The Joint 
Relief Ministry program at All Saints' Cathedral in Cairo now has more than 
15,000 displaced people registered, of whom more than 80% are Sudanese. Its 
clinic saw more than 10,000 patients last year. Income-generating projects 
encourage developing skills, such as making jewelry and other craft items, and 
several churches are making efforts to provide education for displaced children.

     Marona's visit to Egypt and Damascus was made at the invitation of the 
bishop in Egypt, Mouneer Hanna Anis, and the bishop of Jerusalem, Riah Hanna Abu 
el-Assal, and was sponsored by SOMA (Sharing of Ministries Abroad). Marona is 
head of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, the largest church in Sudan, with an 
estimated 5 million members. The first ECS church was founded in Omdurman in 1899 
as part of the Diocese of Egypt and Sudan, before Sudan later became a separate 
province within the Anglican Communion. It now has 24 dioceses of its own. 
However, close cooperation with the Diocese of Egypt continues, as well as with 
other neighboring dioceses, particularly in providing pastoral care for the many 
displaced Sudanese in the region.

   
  

UTO grants top $3 million for 2001

     (ENS) The United Thank Offering (UTO) awarded 138 grants for 2001 to 
programs and needs ranging from money for an outreach team coordinator in Alabama 
to a retreat for missionaries serving the South American Missionary Society. 

     The grants total $3,178,984, with the bulk going to applicants from U.S. 
dioceses. The majority of non-U.S. grants went to projects in Africa, followed by 
the Asia/Pacific region.

     "One of the things that makes UTO distinctive is that we are one of the few 
Episcopal grantmakers that will fund buildings and improvements as well as 
programs," said UTO coordinator Joann Chapman. The list of grants confirms it, 
with numerous references to grants retrofitting parish facilities for handicapped 
access, vans to transport senior citizens to services or school-age children to 
after-school programs, and four-wheel-drive vehicles for bishops serving in 
regions with unreliable transportation and roads.

     UTO is a program of the Episcopal Church founded by and administered by 
women since 1889. Julia Chester Emery and Ida Soule, who counted the missionary 
offering of the 1886 Triennial meeting of women, inspired women to pray and give 
coins with the idea of building a new church in Anvik, Alaska, as well as sending 
Lisa Lowell as a missionary to Japan. In time, what was then known as the United 
Offering became the United Thank Offering, and by 1943 the offering totaled more 
than $1 million. By 1949 it had increased to $1,954,544. In 1952, Bishop William 
Gordon of Alaska was awarded UTO money for an airplane in order to reach 
parishes. Gordon coined the phrase "Blue Box," and named his plane in the boxes' 
honor. In 1970, the Triennial voted to establish a National UTO Committee. 

     "What we do in the United Thank Offering is first to offer our prayers of 
thanks to God. This is the major difference between us and other groups," 
explains a page on the UTO Web site. "Then we give tangible thanks for the 
blessing in the form of coins or bills. This money is an offering, not a 
donation."

     Bishops or groups within dioceses having the bishop's approval may submit grant 
requests according to the number invited by the committee.  United Thank Offering 
monies are granted in support of programs within Anglican provinces and dioceses that 
address compelling human needs and expand mission and ministry.