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An electronic daily update of events
from the Anglican Church of Canada's
General Synod 1995 in Ottawa Ontario
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S y n o d N E W S l i n k
by tod maffin
wednesday, june 7, 1995
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t h e f i r s t w o r d
Apologies to those following Synod NEWSlink on the Internet;
somewhere in Vancouver, a very confused mail server
apparently decided that 2,000 subscribers was just enough,
thank you. It exploded and it decided to not send the June 6
edition. (Those of you on Anglinet, CompuServe, Ecunet, and
AOL received it without such a delay.) The updates should
be back to normal for Internet subscribers now.
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q u i c k t a k e s
THE FACE BEHIND THE WORDS
The funny thing about using e-mail to communicate with
people is you often don't know what they look like. You
may be interested to know that Thursday night, those of
you who can receive Vision TV on cable of satellite,
your humble scribe will be interviewed on the nightly
General Synod coverage and you'll be able to see what I
look like. (Don't say I didn't warn you.) That's Vision
TV, 9:30 p.m. Eastern.
THE DANA SIBLEY COUNT CONTINUES
For those of you keeping score at home, Dana Sibley has
now been seen on the television show five times.
RULES OF ORDER WE'D LIKE TO SEE...
Rule of order #24: The importance of an issue is
inversely proportional to the amount of time it consumes
in the course of debate.
THE INTERNET'S ONLY "CANADIAN ANGLICAN" MAILING LIST OPENS
Bob Chandler from Windsor Ontario has started a new
mailing list on the Internet for Canadian Anglicans. In
today's Synod NEWSextra, you'll find full details about
how to subscribe and what the list is all about. Well
done Bob!
FRIZZLED HAM BACK AGAIN...
On the day that 64 resolutions were on remaining on the
floor with 15 hours of Plenary time remaining, it was
notable to see that the catering staff had once again
placed Frizzled Ham back on the breakfast menu.
Coincidence? We suspect not.
SYNOD EXTENDS AFFIRMATION TO GAY ANGLICANS
A cleansing rain came strong and heavy Wednesday night,
following debate on four resolutions on homosexuality.
RESOLUTION A-125
That this General Synod affirms the presence and
contributions of gay men and lesbians in the life
of the church and condemns bigotry, violence and hatred
directed toward any due to their sexual orientation.
Almost three hours of debate, countless amendments and
amendments to the amendments (most of which failed)
finally, this motion passed. Synod also agreed to study
the issue further. Of course.
"WORST PUN OF THE DAY" AWARD
When the Rev. Harold Munn from the Diocese of Edmonton
was asked to identify himself at Microphone One before
entering into debate, he said "I'm Munn, at One." The
members groaned. In orders, naturally.
A NEW OUTLOOK ON SEEING VISION
Those of you following Synod proceedings on Vision TV's
nightly coverage this week (9:30 p.m. Eastern) may be
interested to know that we members watch it as well on
the floor of Plenary, right after night prayers. We ARE
hearing your phoned-in comments, and they are giving us
much strength.
VERBAGE
The newest jargon: "Inclusivize", apparently a verb.
ACTUALLY, WE WERE KIDDING ABOUT THE RULES OF ORDER THING...
In Tuesday's Synod NEWSlink, I typed in the Top Ten list
from the youth caucus (Top Ten Rules of Order NOT in the
Synod Handbook). Tuesday afternoon, the Primate read
them out to the members who, while enjoying the
material, were apparently confused, and began operating
under some of the phony rules, particularly those about
being off-topic.
ELECTRONIC NETWORKING MOTION ADJUSTED
With 64 resolutions on the floor still to go, and less
than 15 hours of Plenary time remaining, it is looking
less and less likely that Synod will deal with private
members' resolutions -- in particular, the one about the
church using electronic networking. The motion I
reported about a couple of days ago has been withdrawn,
to let a motion from the Diocese of Fredricton (which,
coming from a diocese, takes precedence) come to the
floor which does essentially the same thing. I'll let
you know what happens. (Even if it doesn't make it to
the floor, it appears may be elected to the national
Information Resources Committee, so you can be sure of a
voice promoting the use of electronic networking as one
way to communicate better and share resources.)
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r e f l e c t i o n s
There comes a point in the life of a church when it needs to
put itself on the record. When it needs to make clear to a
society which, especially these days, is searching for
clarity among so many issues, where the church stands.
Wednesday evening, the Anglican Church of Canada did just
that.
Finally, and not without a four-hour agonizing Plenary
session steeped in procedure and points of order, we have
made a strong statement of affirmation to the gay and
lesbians in our churches that they are welcome among us.
For too long, we have skirted the issue. "We accept you,
well most of you anyway," seems to have been the unwritten
statement of the church until now.
My view of the church is that it should be a LEADER in
society, not a follower. And if we really are one body in
Christ, then we sure had better act like it. No wonder
society is so messed up -- we can't even decide on whether
or not to fully accept each individual.
I rejoice with my sisters and brothers in Christ who are
gay. And I'm sorry it has taken us so long to get here.
Now hopefully we can get out there into our communities as a
WHOLE people of God and help be that leader of society which
I believe the world so desperately needs right now.
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s n i c k e r i n g s
Two friends -- a Lutheran pastor and an Anglican priest --
were chatting over lunch about problems with their
respective church buildings. The Lutheran explained: "These
darn bats just won't go away. We've tried traps, loud
noise, poisons, everything but they won't leave."
The Anglican nodded knowingly. "Yes, we had that problem
too," he said. "But now we just baptize and confirm them
and they never come back."
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g l a n c e a h e a d
THURSDAY, JUNE 8, 1995 (all times Eastern)
7:00 a.m. Breakfast
8:30 a.m. Bible Study and Worship
9:30 a.m. Coffee, not to be confused with a HOT beverage
9:45 a.m. PLENARY: The fun continues...
- The BAS evaluation commission and resolutions
- Final report of the nominating committee
- Remaining resolutions
12 noon Box lunch
12:30 p.m. Standing Committees meet
2:00 p.m. PLENARY: Resolutions and Partners' Reflections
5:00 p.m. Eucharist
7:15 p.m. PLENARY: Resolutions
9:15 p.m. Night prayers
Evening Council of General Synod meeting; reception
NOTE: Thursday is the last full day of the General Synod.
The majority of the day is committed to debate on the floor
of Plenary.
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y o u r t u r n
"Here at the Synod Office we're hooked on NEWSlink! We can
hardly wait for the printout each morning -- it really is
the next best thing to being there! Of course we want and
need the official reports, but the extras you provide make
the whole thing come alive. The question is, will YOU still
be by Friday?
Please give our Nova Scotia delegates some STRONG
coffee; they need to be awake to watch for arrival of their
matching kilts (Cape Breton Tartan)..."
-- Jackie Barr
Halifax NS, Canada
"With over 2000 received the Synod notes on the Internet, and
it being on the WWW and the Internet, and being sent out
from NWnet to Anglinet --- I am beginning to think that the
real story of Synod is the communication miracle that you
are accomplishing.
Never before has this been done. Church House should be
ashamed that they did not think of it, nor did they try it.
It was left for a lay volunteer like you to do it, unpaid,
undirected, unpaid (sorry about that!), but definitely
heralded. The medium really is the message, Tod. You have
done well." -- The Rev. Ron Barnes
Port Moody BC, Canada
Founder, Anglinet
(Tomorrow is the last Synod NEWSlink. If you have any
comments to make which you'd like to appear in the "your
turn" section, now is the time to send them in. Have you
found this experiment helpful? Were there things you'd
have liked to change? Please let us all know! 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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