It is doubtful that the national church’s Partnerships department would change its name to “Friendships” but the Anglican primate of the raised the alternative to the partnerships concept in his opening address to General Synod.
Speaking to the 400 Synod members, gathered in Waterloo from July 4-11, Archbishop Michael Peers noted that the expected approval of full communion between the Anglican and Lutheran churches in Canada is a friendship, not a merger.
“That decision is in our hands and in the hands of the Lutheran convention, as we each vote on the Declaration,” said Archbishop Peers, referring to the two churches’ vote on Friday, July 6. “We have come to this in a particularly Canadian way – allowing for convergence rather than insisting on it. That is what friends do.”
Explaining that one of the root words for friend is the old English word freond, meaning both to “love” and “be free”, Archbishop Peers said full communion is not a merger in which two partners lose their identity in the creation of something new.
“We each remain free to be who we are.”
An emerging concept among many so-called partner churches, he said, is a questioning of whether the rich and the poor, or unequals of any kind, can truly be partners.
“I am not yet willing to let go the word ‘partner’ – it is found often in the reports and resolutions that are before us, and I don’t intend that we rewrite all those documents!” said Archbishop Peers. “‘Partnership’ has helped us move to a richer understanding of communion.”
Continuing the theme of the need for a clear vision, begun the evening before in Archbishop Steven Charleston’s sermon, Archbishop Peers listed for synod members the issues they were facing, asking them to “think of them through the lens of friendship”.
Among those issues:
- friendship between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples;
- the celebration of full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada;
- restorative justice around the world.
Archbishop Peers also offered encouragement to the synod members, telling them that “perhaps the gift we best can share in the communion is that of a style of dealing with difficult and divisive issues.”
On its first day of business, synod had a refresher course on the church’s last three years since General Synod 1998. Some significant resolutions, including one on human rights, were also introduced, to be voted on at a later date.
A panel of three church leaders, Archbishop Michael Peers, Toronto chancellor Robert Falby and Cariboo Bishop James Cruickshank made a presentation on the past 10 years history of the residential schools situation. Bishop Cruickshank reported that his diocese, Cariboo, expects to be forced into insolvency on or before Oct. 15, 2001, because of liability from residential schools litigation.