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An electronic daily update of events
from the Anglican Church of Canada's
General Synod 1995 in Ottawa Ontario
___________________________________
S y n o d N E W S l i n k
by tod maffin
friday, june 2, 1995
___________________________________
t h e f i r s t w o r d
It rained today, and we were all grateful for it. A break
from the searing heat seemed appropriate on the day we began
Synod proceedings.
Just a brief note of explanation: I had planned to bring you
some of the resolutions regarding human sexuality in this
evening's Synod NEWSextra, but decided to bump it for a day
to allow for expected motions to come to the floor so you
can see them, and to put in a summary of the Primate's
opening charge to Synod.
Incidentally, these reports are now being read by more than
1,500 people each evening -- in addition to those on the
Ecunet/Quest and Compuserve networks which are now echoing
the mailings. Welcome!
___________________________________
q u i c k t a k e s
DAILY NEWS UPDATES UNDERWAY
Now that the actual "business" on the Plenary floor has
gotten underway, you'll be receiving daily news reports on
the actions taken by the Synod. Prepared by Bill Gibson
from the National Church staff, parts of the daily report
will be incorporated in this text or in a separate document.
To make things less confusing, I've renamed the three
documents:
Synod NEWSlink This newsletter (the lighter stuff)
Synod NEWSreport The action taken on the floor
Synod NEWSextra The "extra", more detailed information
YOU'RE IN FOR A REAL TREAT!
Don't forget to buy a couple of blank videotapes over the
weekend, so that you don't miss any of the five shows on
Vision TV covering the General Synod. This evening, we were
part of the presentation explaining the new national
restructuring proposal. When it airs on Monday, I think
you'll find it VERY well done. You won't want to miss it.
Show times are: June 5-9, 9:30 p.m. Eastern time on Vision
TV (check your local listings for the particular cable
channel or satellite band that comes in on for you).
UH, DID I MISS A FEW PAGES?...
We just received the June 1995 edition of the Anglican
Journal here in Ottawa yesterday. Perhaps I skipped over
something, but I don't think there was Word One about
General Synod in there. Weird.
TODAY SYNOD NEWSLINK, TOMORROW CYBER-CONFESSIONS!
The Diocese of Saskatchewan has a memorial to General Synod
about online communications which I thought this audience
would be interested in. It asks General Synod to "develop
and implement a telecommunications strategy, supporting the
use of the Inter-Anglican Information Network (IAIN) for
national and inter-Diocesan communication. The diocese
noted that it may be cost prohibitive to move formally.
I'll be moving a similar motion and will tell you about it
in tomorrow's update.
SPEAKING OF NERD-TOYS...
Since my laptop has a built-in microphone and sound system,
I had intended to record a few sounds from the Synod and
uuencode them, so the nerds among us (hey, I'm one too!)
could uuDEcode them and listen in. But a file of me saying:
"Hello and welcome to Synod NEWSlink, live from Ottawa,"
took up 45k in uu code. :-( Anyone have any suggestions?
NIAGRA DIOCESE: REBELS WITHOUT A CAUSE
It looks like the Niagra diocese is already out running to
win the "Most Enthusiastic Caucus" award.... so far, they've
cheered routine announcements with just a bit too much
giddyness, heckled members of their own caucus who appear on
the large video screen, and voted in a block to defeat an
otherwise-harmless procedural motion to defer. Just for
fun. Look for the New Westminster diocese to pick up the
slack. I'll keep you posted.
RUN, RUN AWAY!
One of the odd things about a General Synod which many
people don't know, is that you can not abstain from a vote
on any resolution. At all. If members are on the floor at
the time of the vote they MUST vote. This leads to
something of a small exodus at the voting of each motion,
when a few members decide they don't want to vote, and it's
often quite humourous to watch people trip over themselves
in an attempt to reach the door before the hands go up!
OH DEAR, WE MAY BE HERE FOR A WHILE
One of the resolutions which members were given notice of,
for the first time, late this evening, was to ask Synod to
endorse the Human Rights principles from the last Synod and
commend them to dioceses for study and adoption. Last
Synod, the debate on just STUDYING the document lasted four
hours; one can only shudder to think at how long debate
could last on a motion to endorse the thing.
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r e f l e c t i o n s
Rather than ramble incoherently again about the future of
the role of Church in society, as I did in yesterday's
reflections, I thought I'd spend a bit of time describing
the area we're in for General Synod to give you a better
sense of the "sights and sounds."
The Carleton campus is very much a city campus at heart;
densely packed red brick buildings, punctuated by greenspace
and benches. Though we are a few minutes off the "beaten
path" from Ottawa, transit connections are plentiful for the
brave.
The residences, most about four or five storeys, are
weathered workhorses. In the building where most Synod
members are housed, the thermostats have been turned off for
the summer and the windows don't open. (One of the campus
staff said the frustration from a lack of air circulation
led one guest a few summers back to throw a chair through
the window. The plexiglass pane simply bounced it back at
the person, breaking his nose. But I digress.) It's not
the Hilton, but is reasonably comfortable for the volume of
people through this week.
Synod members have been issued meal tickets -- one for each
meal -- which appears to allow us unlimited food for that
sitting. As with most convention food, we are all staying
well clear of the eggs.
The building where the main Plenary sessions are being held
is about two city blocks away, in the "Porter" building.
Large red sandwich board signs scattered along the route
manage to keep most of us on track. Inside the Porter
building itself, the Plenary room is surprisingly small and
packs 350 Synod members, staff, and a complete television
production facility.
All told, it's an exciting and vibrant space, very much a
dynamic, living entity unto itself.
___________________________________
s n i c k e r i n g s
The priest of a very large Anglican church with poor
acoustics discovered just before the liturgy that the PA
system wasn't working. Without it only those in the chancel
could hear. She began the service by saying, "There seems
to be something wrong with the microphone". The
congregation replied, "And also with you!"
-- Submitted by Bob Chandler
Windsor ON, Canada
___________________________________
g l a n c e s a h e a d
SATURDAY, JUNE 3, 1995 (all times Eastern)
7:00 a.m. Breakfast
7:30 a.m. Eucharist (optional)
8:30 a.m. Bible Study and Worship
9:45 a.m. Coffee. Woo-hoo!
10:00 a.m. Small group discussion: "Preparing the Way"
12 noon Box lunch, review of displays
2:00 p.m. "Preparing the Way" small groups report back
3:00 p.m. Council for Native Ministries presentation
5:30 p.m. Reception and BBQ
7:00 p.m. Entertainment (local arrangements)
8:00 p.m. Members depart for billeting parish homes
EXPECTED HIGHLIGHTS: Two major things on the agenda for
tomorrow. First, the "Preparing the Way" plan gets a
solid review by members in small groups; second, the Council
for Native Ministries makes a presentation on the floor of
Plenary. (Watch for both on the TV coverage next week.)
___________________________________
y o u r t u r n
"I would like to thank you for providing this service during
General Synod. It will be most useful to keep tabs on what
is happening." -- The Rev. John W. Hall
Canterbury NB, Canada
"Thanks for bringing Synod to us! We in Nova Scotia can
almost feel the searing heat of Ottawa - were it not for the
cooling freshness the sea breezes off the Atlantic! (
chatter ) We are posting your messages at the Diocesan
office each morning and forwarding them to a number of
people in Nova Scotia and PEI. I'm sure there will be times
when you will not even want to look at a keyboard, but we
all appreciate your efforts. God bless you - and keep you
sane!" -- Charles O'Neil
Diocese of Nova Scotia
"Tod....Thanks for your breezy accounts of General Synod
which give a sense of immediacy for the rest of us slugging
away at the 'grassroots.' For the 'young Turks' and
disestablishmentarians suddenly perceiving that we live in
a post-Christian Society, some of the most ancient
grey-heads you encounter were young Turks and
disestablishmentarians in 1941 when William Temple,
Archbishop of Canterbury told the Anglican Communion that we
were living in a 'post-Christian society,' a phrase I have
carried with me throughout life. Sentence too long. Typical
of the old chaps that need to be chucked..."
-- The Rev. William Marshall Bishop
Halifax NS, Canada
(Like to add your own thoughts? Just e-mail tod@direct.ca
with the words "your turn" in the subject header.)
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