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A Bach cantata plays quietly as customers stroll through the bookstore, looking for clergy shirts, commentaries, or that last book in their Sunday school series. For over 100 years, the Anglican Book Centre has provided these material accessories to ministry, and now thanks to Lutheran booksellers Augsburg Fortress, the service continues.
The following document was prepared by General Synod Treasurer Michèle George to assist members of the Council of General Synod (COGS) when they considered a draft budget for 2010 at the council’s fall meeting. The document provides some context and describes the process involved in developing the 2010 budget. It explains some of the implications of the decisions contained in the budget and looks as some possible strategies for working on the 2011 budget as well.
COGS members met first in their Bible study groups then gathered for business at 9:45.
One Week Later… One week later the reality of the election is just starting to settle in. It has been some time that the possibility of being elected was present but the actuality is of a different order. That I will soon be releasing from the CAF in order to undertake these new responsibilities is … Continued
At 7:30, COGS members participated in a Eucharist. After breakfast and Bible study, they met for business at 9:45.
It looks like a strange kind of line dancing. In the middle of a church hall, a string of men and women silently hold hands. A woman from the side says, “If you’ve ever been told ‘you’re a credit to your race,'” take one step back.” Several people—Black and Aboriginal—drop back. The woman speaks again: “If your parents spoke English as their first language, take one step forward.” Several others inch ahead. The line is now jagged and people reach and bend to keep holding hands.
The first day of COGS’s fall 2009 meeting began with the Eucharist, celebrated by COGS’s chaplain, Bishop Tom Morgan. COGS members then spent time in Bible study with their assigned groups.
Each week fresh columns are posted onministrymatters.ca, the online magazine for Canadian Anglican leaders. These are the columnists and what they cover:
The fall meeting of the House of Bishops was held Nov. 2 to 6 at Mount Carmel Spiritual Centre in Niagara Falls, Ont., where we were joined by the Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC). We were also joined by two Pastoral Visitors—Bishop Colin Bennetts, retired bishop of Coventry and Bishop Chad Gandiya of Harare. The Pastoral Visitors are partners from the Anglican Communion appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury to observe our proceedings and to report their observations to him as well as to offer reflections to us. We were enriched by their presence. We also always value the presence, experiences and contributions of our full communion Lutheran partners at our once-a-year joint meetings.
Rev. Capt. Catherine Askew distinctly remembers the moment when she knew she wanted to be a military chaplain to the Canadian Forces. She was 17 years old and an undergraduate student at university. She had been thinking that a job as an administration clerk would give her a useful skill and some pocket money. Then she met a military chaplain who introduced her to the work of the chaplains’ corps.
“It changes you in ways you can’t put into words.” This was Jeffery Hooper’s response to the three months he and his wife Michelle Taylor spent in Uganda with General Synod’s Theological Students International Internship Program (TSIIP). The Hooper-Taylors were in Toronto for a debriefing at the Canadian Churches Forum for Global Ministries from Oct. 15 to 18, along with TSIIP participant Nicolas Alexandre, who visited the Philippines.
In the single year since his appointment as executive director of philanthropy, Dr. Holland Hendrix has criss-crossed Canada, met many Anglicans, and laid a solid groundwork for new fundraising initiatives at parish, diocesan, and national levels. Also hard at work are a team of seven staff in the Department of Philanthropy, who are supporting the long-term plan to achieve sustained financial equilibrium for the whole church.
The following is a statement from Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, in response to the Vatican’s announcement of an Apostolic Constitution earlier this week.
Today’s announcement of the Apostolic Constitution is a response by Pope Benedict XVI to a number of requests over the past few years to the Holy See from groups of Anglicans who wish to enter into full visible communion with the Roman Catholic Church, and are willing to declare that they share a common Catholic faith and accept the Petrine ministry as willed by Christ for his Church.
General Synod offices in Toronto have been experiencing email problems since late last week which might have delayed reception of emails sent to employees and departments. The sources of the problems were multiple and complex—in the words of IT manager Mariana Bell “a perfect storm.” We are hopeful that these email issues have now been resolved, although there will be another shorter outage on the weekend to put the finishing touches on the fixes.
We sincerely apologize for any inconveniences.