General Synod, the national body of the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC), commenced its formal week-long proceedings today with a message of hope from a prominent U.S. theologian, who said the 2.2 million-member Protestant denomination, “far from teetering on the brink of ruin, is standing on the threshold of glory.”
Bishop Steven Charleston, Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School of Cambridge (Boston), Mass., opened the 36th triennial meeting of ACC General Synod with a blunt reference to the challenges facing Canada’s third-largest religious denomination as it continues to defend itself against nearly 1,200 lawsuits brought against the ACC national office resulting from the administration of a 26 Residential Schools operated over several decades on behalf of Canada’s Federal Government for Canadians of aboriginal origin. During the past three years, these lawsuits – alleging physical and cultural abuse against schoolchildren by various officials, including Church employees – have proliferated to such an extent that they now threaten to bankrupt both the ACC national office and more than one-quarter of the church’s 30 regional diocesan governments.
While forced to address the potentially disruptive impact of the “residential schools” problem, Canada’s Anglicans are also using the 36th General Synod to make positive progress on a number of other developments of importance to the future of the church. Chief among these is the anticipated approval of an ecumenical partnership, full communion, with another smaller Protestant denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC). Voting on the Anglican-Lutheran “union” is expected to be passed by both denominational conventions, meeting at adjacent university campuses in Waterloo, on Friday July 6.
“Anglicans in Canada serve as a shining model for churches throughout the world,” Bishop Charleston told the nearly Anglican 500 delegates and visitors attending the official opening of General Synod, equivalent to the church’s national parliament and policy-making body. “Canadian Anglicans are not turning away from their own past, but are courageous enough to face up to the unpleasant realities of past colonial wrongs. This church is behaving with both honestly and with dignity,” the American Bishop said.
The message of Anglican solidarity was reinforced in the keynote opening address by Archbishop Michael Peers, Primate of Canada and titular head of the Anglican Church.
“Never before have we contemplated a possibility such as the one we are now facing,” Archbishop Peers told Synod delegates. “We have come to the moment in history in which we may be facing the winding up of General Synod.”
“What is under threat nationally is the General Synod of the Anglican Church, not the Anglican Church of Canada,” Archbishop Peers emphasized. “It is the structures that are at risk, not the essence of our life. We are a community held together not by structures, but by relationship. Relationship endures and it will prosper,” the Primate said. “We can dare to face the future with hope, with heart and confidence.”
General Synod – comprising equal representation by elected diocesan officials from clergy and lay members – convenes every three years to review issues affecting all aspects of church life, including ethical and theological concerns, practical regulations governing policies and operational practices and operating and logistical details affecting financial and administrative procedures.
For further information and additional details on General Synod proceedings, please refer to the Anglican Church of Canada website at www.anglican.ca.