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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
sunday, june 4, 1995
___________________________________
q u i c k t a k e s
HUMAN SEXUALITY FORUM LIVE ON VISION TV -- TOMORROW
In addition to the three-city video satellite feed of
Monday's Human Sexuality Forum, I have just found out
that Vision TV will carry it live at 7:30pm Eastern.
And if you have a satellite receiving disk, you'll find
it live at 7:40 p.m. Eastern on AGEI, transporter 8.
SYNOD VOTES TO TURN AWAY FROM 30-MEMBER COUNCIL
One of the big decisions facing Synod members is a
proposed restructuring of the Church. And the main
body, the National Executive Council was proposed to be
renamed to the Council of General Synod -- and its
membership dropped from 45 current members to 30
members. However, the 30-member option would not
guarantee a representative from each diocese; rather,
one Bishop, one clergy, and one laity would be elected
from each province. In a straw vote late this evening,
Synod members marginally rejected the concept of
non-diocesan representation. The plan goes back into
revision late this evening. This shift away from the
plan will require some quick scrambling; I'll keep you
up to speed as the new plan proceeds through the Synod.
THIRTY MEMBERS?
In one amusing note of that discussion, the person
leading members through the plan accidentally referred
to the proposed new Council of General Synod as the
"30-minute" council. The comment drew wide applause and
much chuckles.
MORE THAN 2,000 PEOPLE NOW ONLINE!
In a word: Wow! I could never have expected these daily
mailings could have become this far-reaching. We now
have 2,000 people subscribed on the Internet, and
potentially thousands more following each day on the
Anglinet systems, CompuServe, America Online, and
Ecunet. Welcome!
DAVID LETTERMAN ARRIVES AT SYNOD 95... SORT OF
"TOP TEN REASONS WHY WE COME TO GENERAL SYNOD"
from the youth caucus of General Synod 1995
10. Preachers refer to "O.J." and actually *do* mean
orange juice.
9. Four words: Lots 'o free Jello.
8. Travel claim sheets are easier to fill out than a
T1 income tax form.
7. All paperwork in triplicate.
6. Acronyms with 50 letters or less.
5. Large, spacious plenary accommodation.
4. Ottawa is beautiful this time of year, or at least
we think it is, they haven't let us out to see it!
3. Hoe-down-step-dancers-'r-us!
2. The Plenary building has a bar.
1. Two words: Straw Vote.
GENERAL SYNOD TELEVISION BROADCASTS BEGIN TOMORROW
Make sure you have your videotapes ready and your VCR
programmed for the General Synod television broadcasts.
They will be aired each evening, starting Monday and
ending Friday, at 9:30 p.m. Eastern time on Vision TV.
In Canada, Vision TV is found on cable; in the U.S. you
may be able to pick it up off a satellite service.
ANGLINET: THE "SCENIC ROUTE" ON THE INFO SUPERHIGHWAY
If you've been following this daily report with
interest, you may also be interested to know about
Anglinet, a network of electronic bulletin board systems
through the USA and Canada. Started by an Anglican
priest in Port Moody, BC, Anglinet hosts about 25
discussion forums on Anglicanism (liturgy, humour, chat,
and more) plus each local system has its own diocesan
and regional forums. The HQ for Anglinet is at NWnet --
modem number 604/944-0622. I'll have more in tomorrow's
edition.
SYNOD NEWSREPORT FORMAT CHANGES
You have been receiving a daily news summary prepared by
the national church staff, recording the "official"
notes of the Synod. This text is made available to
members the following morning, and to you through this
medium. In the first such report, I made the headings a
bit easier to read and inserted paragraph breaks to
prevent mail servers from choking. The church staff
have asked that I not change the formatting of the
document (the text was never changed), and as they are
graciously providing it to me each evening for this
distribution, I'm happy to abide by their wishes. This
means, however, that you will receive the text in one
very looooong paragraph -- my apologies if it crashes
some older systems down the line. It shouldn't in
theory, but you never know. Caveat reader.
___________________________________
d i d y o u k n o w ?
When members of General Synod vote on resolutions on the
floor of plenary, they don't all vote together. Bishops
vote separately from the clergy and lay delegates. It's
called "voting in orders" and apparently dates back to a
time when bishops were physically in another room -- a
runner would go in between the two.
When we vote in orders, a motion requires the consent of
BOTH orders (sometimes called Houses) to be passed. If the
bishops vote in favour of a motion which is defeated in the
house of clergy and laity, the entire resolution is
defeated.
In some cases, motions can be voted on in three orders:
bishops, clergy, and laity. Even in this case, all it would
take would be one order to vote against a resolution for the
entire thing to be defeated.
___________________________________
r e f l e c t i o n s
Today brought a refreshing change from the "business" of
Synod. Last night, members of Synod were matched up with
Anglican parish members from around the Ottawa/Carleton
region, and stayed overnight to attend Sunday church
services in their host's parish.
Myself and a Montreal diocese member were hosted by Dora and
Ron Birtch, parish members of All Saints' church in Greely.
Greely is a small bedroom community 20 minutes outside of
Ottawa.
On the way to their home, we drove through the city of
Ottawa -- really the first chance any of us has had to see
the nation's capital. It is, without doubt, a beautiful
city. It has more museums and memorials than I could count,
and is blessed with some of the most beautiful outlooks on
the Canal. I was struck by the Parliament Buildings, which
somehow don't seem as large as on TV. As a national
showcase of Canada, Ottawa does us proud.
The township of Greely, unincorporated, is one of those
villages people dream about raising children in. Lawns are
tended to meticulously and gardens make majestic the
red-brick homes which punctuate the greenspace. It is a
community of families, where the kids bus into the country
school and parents roll up the sidewalks when they leave for
work in Ottawa each morning.
And then there was the church building. Standing in a
amidst the quiet heritage of the area, it hosts the town
cemetary, as it has for 103 years. It's more than a country
church, it's the centre of this town and was a very
encouraging thing to see. Actually, it is the "third point"
in a three-point parish -- others being being in nearby
Metcalfe and Vernon.
It is a small, wooden, white church which seats about 50
people. (Too small, in fact, to have a coffee hour
afterward, we went to another parishioner's home for lunch.
It was a nice service, much of it sung, and taken from the
BAS. ("The only time we use the BCP," my host explained the
night before, "is on the fifth Sunday of the month and
during children's services." Children's services? I asked.
"Yup," he confirmed.)
A priest from my diocese, the Rev. Richard Leggett,
celebrated because the parish priest had lost her voice.
One striking moment: As the gifts from the offertory were
being brought to the altar, a young parish member --
couldn't have been more than six -- ran to the front with
her change purse and began emptying it into the collection
plate. One penny at a time. And with each coin, she would
say "Wait, I have more to give..."
After lunch, we were off to meet up with the rest of the
Synod members at Ottawa's Christ Church Cathedral. The
Cathedral, located close to the downtown core, is an elegant
building with speckled bricks, slightly showing their age.
The parish was founded in 1832, with the present nave
constructed in the 1870s. It was designated by Bishop
Hamilton as the Cathedral of the Diocese of Ottawa which was
created out of the Diocese of Ontario in 1896.
The service was an evensong from the BCP. It was the "pomp
and circumstance" for Synod, made notable, I thought, by the
entire lack of women in the service liturgy. However,
Bishop Dinis Sengulane of Lebombo, Mozambique, made
attending the service more than worthwhile. He challenged
us to think of ourselves as oranges -- capable of being
squeezed (as in under the pressure of Synod) but filled with
the spirit so that when squeezed, a fresh and healthy juice
flowed. And the boy's choir -- heavenly.
No real reflections in this "reflections" I suppose, no
conclusions to reach, no inferences to draw -- just thought
you'd appreciate hearing how the Sabbath went at Synod.
___________________________________
s n i c k e r i n g s
Two priests, an Anglican and a Roman Catholic, had
neighbouring churches, but they didn't get along personally
very well. After some time, they decided to forget past
grievances; after all, they agreed, they were both doing the
Lord's work. "Let us therefore do His work to the best of
our ability: you in your way," concluded the Roman Catholic,
and then added with a twinkle, "and I in His!"
-- from today's Sunday bulletin
All Saints', Greely, Ontario
BONUS SNICKERING:
Q: "How many Anglicans does it take to change a lightbulb?"
A: "Who said it needed changing?!"
-- Submitted by Simon Chambers
(Location unknown)
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g l a n c e a h e a d
MONDAY, JUNE 5, 1995 (all times Eastern)
8:30 am Bible study and worship
9:45 am Coffee, coffee, coffee!
10:00 am Plenary: Licencing Canons, election
of Prolocutor/& Deputy, and others
12 noon Lunch
2:00 pm The Big Vote. Deciding on the
national restructuring proposal
3:00 pm Plenary: Resolutions, including
Lutheran relations
3:45 pm Residential Schools
5:00 pm Eucharist
5:30 pm Dinner
7:15 pm Plenary
7:30 pm Hearing: Homosexuality
9:00 pm Night prayers
___________________________________
y o u r t u r n
"Greetings. My compliments on your fine work on SynodLink.
Your down-to-earth style makes it a pleasurable read. I also
got a little chuckle about the New Sex question. I thought
that it was humourous when you used NEWSextra in the next
sentence after you mentioned the upcoming session(s) on
homosexuality in the church. As to the question of
homosexual sex being new, I now turn the floor over to..."
-- Michael Leach
Toronto ON, Canada
"Thanks for the great work (well written too) that keeps us
up to date on General Synod. With your updates I can keep
the rest of Toronto Synod office posted daily."
-- Marion Jenkins
Toronto ON, Canada
"My greatest concern for the future of our church is that we
may, by trying to cling to the old, lose the new. I know
change is difficult to accept, but fundamentally, either our
church appeals to my kids (age 12 and 8) or it will die.
It's that simple. In matters of doctrine and liturgy, we
cannot be held back. And the issue of homosexuality is, in
my eyes, a red herring; we have always had a large gay
contingent in the Anglican Church (in fact, we're famous for
it in secular society!)
There is a powerful hunger for richness, meaning,
spirituality in today's world, and if we get hung up on
sexuality, old-versus-new-liturgy, and similar issues, we
are going to miss the boat; cf. Reginald Bibby's warnings to
the mainline churches. I sense that this synod may be a
breaking point for the Anglican Church of Canada; the wrong
choices may quite literally kill us, while the right ones
could lead to a genuine spiritual renewal.
Pray for God's Spirit, the "Spirit of gentleness, Spirit
of restlessness" to blow through the synod this Pentacost
season and bring new fire into our relationship with God and
our fellow humankind." -- Molly Wolf
Manotick ON, Canada
(Like to add your own thoughts? Just e-mail tod@direct.ca
with the words "your turn" in the subject header. Please
put your name and city in the message body.)
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