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S y n o d N E W S e x t r a
wednesday, june 7, 1995
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n e w r e s o u r c e
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t h e o f f i c i a l w o r d
[Following are some press releases from the national church
office on developments of Synod.]
HOMOSEXUALITY HEARING REFLECTS DIVERSE VIEWS
AMONG ANGLICAN CHURCH MEMBERS
OTTAWA (June 6) -- A hearing on homosexuality at the
Anglican Church of Canada's General Synod in Ottawa brought
a host of calls for tolerance and love of those who are
different and only a few assertions that homosexuality is
wrong and ought to be condemned.
The hearing was held in the context of the report of a task
force struck by the last General Synod three years ago. The
report commends the contributions made by gay people to the
church, but calls for a deepening of study and dialogue
before the church takes any other action. The report will
be voted on later this week.
For the first time in an Anglican Church Synod, church
members at three urban locations -- Montreal, Toronto, and
Vancouver -- got the chance to watch their chief governing
body in action. A live satellite feed brought the 90-minute
Ottawa forum to those locations, where panels assembled to
continue the discussion afterwards.
When it was created three years ago, the Task Force on
Homosexuality was asked to produce a study guide around the
issue of homosexuality, which was eventually published
under the title Hearing Diverse Voices, Seeking Common
Ground.
The study guide's title would also have been appropriate for
the Synod hearing. Participation in the hearing, under the
rules of General Synod, was limited to Synod members and
accredited guests. The discussion was sometimes passionate,
sometimes heated, sometimes humourous.
The Rev. George Porter, a member of the Task Force, said the
issue of homosexuality "is not just hot potatoes, but
boiled, scalloped, and mashed potatoes and anyone speaking
on those issues risks the same fate." He urged Synod
members to wrestle with sexuality issues "with open minds,
but ot open heads."
Williams Sibley, Superior of the Anglican Order of the Holy
Cross, noted that the discussion of homosexuality had been
going on for more than 20 years.
"How long, oh Lord?" he asked. "It is time," he added, to
"stop hiding behind Scripture and deal with the ethics of
reality. The church is crucifying people. The blood of
(murdered homosexual priest) Warren Eling is on the hands of
the House of Bishops and on the hands of General Synod and
on my hands because I couldn't do better."
Another speaker, however, George Egerton of Vancouver,
replied that 20 years in the life of the church is very
little.
Archbishop Michael Peers, the Primate, said he began meeting
homosexual people and hearing their stories 20 years ago,
when the House of Bishops started studying homosexuality.
"Many of them spoke of how they had always known of their
orientation as part of their fundamental being," he said.
"Even before they could name it or discuss it, they knew it.
I believed that then and I believe it now."
Bishop Michael Ingham of New Westminster diocese said that
in some ways, gay people typify the history of the church.
"Gay people have modeled to us what it is like to die and
live again," he said. "And yet they are with us still."
One of the most eloquent pleas for tolerance of people who
are different came from Pamela Klym, a youth delegate from
the diocese of Caledonia in British Columbia. Miss Klym
said she feels that homosexuality is wrong. "But it is
possible to love every person. That doesn't mean that we
have to agree with all that they stand for and all that they
do."
-- 30 --
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MOZAMBIQUE BISHOP URGES CANADIANS
TO DENOUNCE GUN OWNERSHIP
OTTAWA (June 5) -- Anglican Bishop Dinis Sengulane of the
Diocese of Lebombo in Mozambique has urged Canadians to
denounce gun ownership and the shipment of arms to war-torn
countries.
Speaking to the 400 members of the General Synod of the
Anglican Church of Canada in Ottawa, Bishop Sengulane said
individuals and countries involved in arms production should
take responsibility for the long-term effects of their
action.
"More than one million people have been killed in Mozambique
over the past 10 years by weapons produced elsewhere in the
world," he said. I would like these people who produce guns
to come to the gravesites of our dead. I would like them to
visit our orphans. Maybe then they would realize the impact
that their products have on others."
Bishop Sengulane, who has served as president of the Peace
and Reconciliation Committee of the Christian Council of
Mozambique, is internationally known for his role in
bringing about a negotiated ceasefire in Mozambique. In
1992, he received the First Peach Prize of the All Africa
Conference of Churches and the following year he was awarded
an international peace prize from the Diakonia of Sweden.
Bishop Sengulane called on Canadians to set an example by
refusing to own guns for purposes other than hunting. "Once
you own a gun, it sends a message that killing is
acceptable," he said.
He also urged Canadians not to purchase toy guns or weapons
for their children. "Education starts within the family,"
he said. "We have to teach children, here in Canada and
around the world, to use their skills and imagination in a
way that will be productive, not destructive to humanity."
Bishop Sengulane is a guest at the General Synod of the
Anglican Church, meeting June 1 to 9 in Ottawa. He preached
at a Sunday service at Christ Church Cathedral.
-- 30 --
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ANGLICAN CHURCH COMMENDS WORK ON HEALING
FOR THOSE ABUSED AT NATIVE RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS
OTTAWA (June 6) -- The 300-member General Synod of the
Anglican Church of Canada responded enthusiastically to a
report commending further work on the process of healing and
reconciliation for former students of Native residential
schools.
General Synod, meeting in Ottawa this week, heard a summary
of the work done by a Residential Schools Working Group
created three years ago by the Anglcan CHurch to address the
needs of Aboriginal people who suffered phusical, emotional,
sexual and cultural abuse in the government-funded schools.
Between 1820 and 1969, hundreds of thousands of Aboriginal
children were placed in residential schools administered by
Christian denominations.
The Residential Schools Working Group recommended to General
Synod that its work, which has included the development of
educational resources, government submissions, and grants
for support programs for victims of abuse, continue under
the auspices of the church's Council for Native Ministries,
whose members are Native Anglicans.
Angeline Ayoungman, co-chair of the working group, said the
church must work to continue the healing which began at the
Native Convocation in 1993, when Archbishop Michael Peers,
Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, apologized to
Aboriginal peoples on behalf of the church.
"We've come a long way, but we have a long way to go before
the healing and reconciliation is complete," said Ms.
Ayoungman. She said it may take several generations before
the impact of residential schools, manifested in high levels
of alcoholism, drug abuse, and suicide among native
communities, can be fully resolved.
-- 30 --