BRISBANE's Anglican Archbishop Dr Phillip Aspinall has been accused of bullying in a discrimination complaint brought by a former church director, a tribunal has heard.

Lawyers for the Archbishop and the synod of Brisbane diocese have failed to get key elements of the sexual harassment and discrimination case thrown out of Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Peta Smith, former executive director of the Anglican Schools Commission, lodged Anti-Discrimination Commission complaints in 2009, shortly before her five-year contract expired.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

Archbishop Philip Freier, who led a team to Myanmar in February, is now promoting efforts – incorporating organisations and individuals beyond the diocese - to follow up the two week visit to the country which is only now emerging from 60 years of isolation under a military dictatorship.

In April, he hosted at Bishopscourt a diverse group of 35 people, including several Burmese clergy and other leaders, to discuss priorities in building on the links now established – which has already triggered further networking to plan action.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * International News & Commentary • Asia • Myanmar/Burma

An historic Anglican church in Sydney's inner west has been gutted by fire.

Authorities say Dulwich Hill's Holy Trinity Church has been severely damaged by the blaze that broke out in the early hours of Sunday.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia

Among the statistics cited are theses:

One in every four young people will experience a mental disorder in any 12 month period (most commonly substance abuse or dependency, depression or anxiety, or a combination of these).

Depression and anxiety are the most prevalent mental health issues experienced by young people, with around 30% of
adolescents experiencing a diagnosable depressive episode by the age of 18 years.

Mental disorders were the leading contributor to the burden of disease and injury (49%) among young Australians aged
15–24 years in 2003, with anxiety and depression being the leading specific cause for both males and females

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Children • Education • Marriage & Family • Psychology • Religion & Culture • Teens / Youth • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

This is my 12th and final Easter message as Archbishop of Sydney.

As I think on my time as Archbishop, naturally I look back and try to judge myself – not with much success!
Like you, I have a real judge. Think how much more God, who knows all the secrets of our hearts, must be able to hold me to account. It should make us tremble.

But I am filled with hope. Why?

Because of Easter. What happened at the first Easter reminds me of the love of God.

Through the death of Jesus even I, and all of us, can have forgiveness as we turn to him in sorrow and trust him for our lives. Our failures are not the last word over our lives. And, through the resurrection of Jesus I have a great and undeserved hope of my own resurrection and future.

I can only quote the words of John Newton, the man who wrote the song, Amazing Grace: ‘I am a great sinner, but Christ is a great Saviour’. Thank the love of God for that.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Easter

Bishop [Ian] Palmer said the church needed to focus on its core roles during difficult times.

“I think we can meet the challenges we face by concentrating on our core business, which is drawing people into the worship of God and living in a way that expresses our love for God in and through our love for our neighbours,” he said.

A packed cathedral welcomed Bishop Palmer as the 10th Bishop of Bathurst.

Read it all and please note there is a slideshow with 14 different pictures available.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia

A moratorium on betting on some of our major sports, including football codes and cricket, should be considered for 2013 as one of the immediate responses to the Australian Crime Commission’s devastating report on Australian Sport, Bishop Philip Huggins said today.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Gambling

Canberra's Anglican Diocese has begun preparing historic and contemporary church documents which may be useful to the Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

In a pastoral letter to the Anglican congregations and people of Canberra and Goulburn, Bishop Stuart Robinson said the diocese was entering into a new phase of ministry and care as the royal commission got under way.

''As your bishop I am calling us all to prayer; justice, compassion, transparency, truth and Christ's honour must be front and centre in all we do,'' Bishop Robinson wrote.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia

In Luke-Acts there are no less than sixteen texts that connect Luke’s narrative with famous named people in world history, like Sergius Paulus Proconsul of Cyprus, to take one example. Then there are dozens of lesser figures like the centurion Cornelius in Caesarea Maritima who are no less authentic. In other words, the geography, topography and history of the New Testament coheres with the geography and history of the era in which it is located. This is the more impressive because such references are made in passing, matters of incidental detail, easily missed because of the weightiness of the narrative.

Luke-Acts is an amazing text covering 70 years from the birth of John the Baptist to Paul’s imprisonment in Rome and represents 25% of the volume of the New Testament. It is widely commended by great secular historians like Mommsen, Meyer and Sherwin-White, but surprisingly spurned by many specialist Christian scholars. Crossan’s index to his Birth of Christianity, for example, does not have a single reference to the book of Acts and declared the first thirty years of Christian history to be ‘dark decades…cloaked in silence’. That is a convenient viewpoint if you want to write your own history of Christianity and present your own revisionist, designer theology! Luke-Acts is critical to recovering Christian origins, the beginnings of Christianity. Only this continuous text connects the rise of early Christianity to the impulse of Jesus, his identity, his saving death and his glorious resurrection.

Take the time to read it all and do not miss the wealth of good material at Bishop Barnett's website there (the above was his address this week at the Mere Anglicanism Conference).

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • * Culture-Watch • History • * Theology • Theology: Scripture

[Roman] Catholic school enrolments in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese are predicted to exceed 18,000 this year for the first time, as families choose Catholic schools over state schools.

There are no kindergarten vacancies in at least nine primary schools across the region, and very limited vacancies at many others.

The director of Catholic schools for the Maitland-Newcastle diocese, Ray Collins, said growth for the past four to five years was steady, with the greatest demand in the Maitland area.

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The change to the fourth Mark of Mission reflects the importance of God's mission in peace, conflict transformation and reconciliation.

ABM has responded by revising its fourth Mark of Mission to “Challenge violence, injustice and oppression, and work for peace and reconciliation”. Previously the fourth mark has been to “Challenge injustice and oppression”.

Education Missioner for ABM, Brad Chapman, explained that the Five Marks of Mission are more than just words.

"The Marks of Mission emerge from the lived experience of God's people throughout the Anglican Communion," Mr Chapman said. "They reflect God's active presence in the world today".

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Consultative Council • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia

Christmas is reconciliation time.

The carol says ‘God and sinners reconciled’. That’s us.

Fundamentally, we are out of sorts with God, we are trying to escape from him.

But God loved the world and sent his only Son, Jesus Christ. He draws near to us with mercy and forgiveness. The message of Christmas is - Be reconciled to God through his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Christmas

This Christmas the American Atheists have posted a large billboard in Times Square New York. It has two pictures: one of Santa Claus and the other of Jesus on the cross. The captions under the pictures are “Keep the Merry” and “Dump the Myth”. Apart from having the captions under the wrong pictures, the sentiment is one I agree with.

Christmas is a merry season that is based on truth, not myth. Confusing the truth with myth doesn’t help people understand the event, or experience the merriment.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Christmas

The spiritual leader of Australia's 3.5 million Anglicans, Phillip Aspinall, believes that priests may be able to report child abuse revealed during the rite of confession without breaking the seal of the confessional, putting him at odds with Catholics.

The Anglican Primate says the sanctity of the confessional should be examined by the royal commission into child sexual abuse called this week by Julia Gillard, which he regards as being a decade overdue.

Dr Aspinall's predecessor as Archbishop of Brisbane, Peter Hollingworth - who lost his job as governor-general after a scandal erupted over his handling of sex-abuse cases in the diocese - also backed the inquiry.

Dr Hollingworth warned yesterday that the abuse of children was "more widespread than previously thought", and welcomed the royal commission as an important national initiative and a means to help victims.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Children • Law & Legal Issues • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology

At 4.06pm, less than 30 minutes before Synod rose for the year, the first count of this year’s meeting was held on a proposed amendment during a debate on church planting (the establishment of new congregations across Melbourne and Geelong). This time, the amendment was carried.

Synod called on the Diocesan Council to review how the living requirements of clergy in the Melbourne Diocese were met, including the setting of stipends, recompense for travel costs, housing, superannuation, benefits, stipend continuance insurance and retrenchment.

A senior clergyman, the Revd Dr David Powys of St John's Cranbourne, said in his mover's speech that the fundamental way in which clergy remuneration and provisions were conceived had not changed very much in 30 years but "very many other things" about ordained ministry had changed very substantially. These included the dwindling proportion of clergy who were vicars, a reduction in ministry households where the stipend was the main source of income, the decline in clergy living in vicarages and church-owned accommodation, the increasing number of clergy in part-time appointments and the fact that women now made up a significant proportion of clergy ranks.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • Stewardship • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • * Theology • Ecclesiology • Pastoral Theology

Melbourne’s Anglican Synod contemplated its own future – and that of the way the Church prepares candidates for ordination and provides continuing professional development for clergy – on its third night, Friday 19 October.

Synod commended a review of its own size and composition that proposed that lay parish representatives be in proportion to full-time equivalent ministry staff in each parish. It endorsed the principle that its House of Laity should have at least as many members as its House of Clergy and asked the Diocesan Council, which meets regularly between sessions of Synod, to bring recommendations on clergy representation to next year’s Synod with a view to introducing new representation in time for the 52nd Synod, which is to meet from 2016-18.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia

I see three particular fruits of the Second Vatican Council as significant for Anglicans, and other non-Roman Christian traditions.

First was putting the liturgy into the vernacular: the Mass was no longer a mystery, but something all could understand. ICET's Prayers we have in Common emerged in 1970, and many saw that we were closer theologically than previously realised. One unhappy consequence was growing misunderstanding of 'hospitality': few non-RCs would want to receive communion at a Latin Mass (and only a small proportion of Catholics then did so regularly).

Common language, and reception becoming normal across most Christian traditions, saw hospitality become a possibility — and a barrier.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Religion News & Commentary • Ecumenical Relations • Other Churches • Roman Catholic

The Adelaide diocese of the Anglican Church must change radically as it faces the tough choice of closing at least a third of its parishes within the next five years.

This was the blunt message from Archbishop Jeffrey Driver to the church last night as he opened its senior decision-making forum, the diocesan synod.

Resources had been drained and the church had endured nine years of turmoil from dealing with the hurt caused by abuse perpetuated by its own ranks.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Stewardship • * Economics, Politics • Economy • The Banking System/Sector • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

In his last presidential speech before retirement, Dr Jensen said society's shift towards ''deadly individualism'' had been driven by material wealth and technological mastery.
The cost of individualism, and the shift to self-love, had consequences for the quality of our community, family life and how we treat death. That was evident in the choice of ''our swan song of this generation'', Frank Sinatra's classic I Did It My Way, Dr Jensen said in his speech, titled ''Last Words''.
''It seems that we do not need each other as once we did. Nor do we need God. To think that a person is so proud of the phrase 'I did it my way' that they would use it as a summary of their life's achievement reveals an astounding moral ineptitude, a sort of vulgar egotism.''

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia

We are in a place and time of growing evangelistic opportunity and obligation....Our secure, wealthy and beautiful region is alive with people, especially new people. Many of these people know nothing about Jesus and they need to hear about the way to eternal life. We are here for them. It is as simple as that....

You could say [after looking at the statistic profile of Australia's spiritual landscape], don’t fret: Our business is to look after the religious needs of the descendants of the English. We are a declining chaplaincy church. Christianity is a religion of consolation rather than salvation.

You had better say: The gospel itself utterly forbids us to think like that. The gospel addresses all men and women without exception in the same tone of voice, with the same demands and the same promises, the same Lord and the same Saviour. It is a matter of salvation, not consolation: of salvation, not of growing our numbers. Any gospel church is aptly described as One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic, universal words which embrace all nations and peoples and languages. If our denomination, will not accept the challenge posed by the new and increasingly different world which has come to us, we are not being faithful to the gospel which has formed our churches and saved our souls.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Evangelism and Church Growth • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ • * Theology • Pastoral Theology • Soteriology

The Revd Gloria Shipp, from the Gamilaroi tribe in New South Wales, has been elected Chair of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Anglican Council (NATSIAC) by members at their Annual Gathering in Brisbane.

Ms Shipp, the Indigenous Ministry Coordinator and Chaplain at Orana Juvenile Justice Centre in the Parish of Dubbo (Diocese of Bathurst), is the first woman to be elected as Chair, having previously held the Treasurer’s position.

She said she was “excited and honoured” to be elected Chair.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia

The Anglican Church in Melbourne said today it welcomed the announcement by the Victorian government that it will increase its funding to tackle family violence by $16 million.

Bishop Philip Huggins, Chair of the Melbourne Anglican Social Responsibilities Committee, said: “This is a timely and compassionate response to the evidence of a growing need for services to tackle the problem. This week’s release of new statistics demonstrates that the crime rate is rising. Police are reported to attribute this largely to a rise in family violence-related crime which climbed by 39.9%!

“Tragically, more than 100,000 women in Australia experience violence by a partner or ex-partner. At least 60% of these cases are witnessed by children. We must do all we can to prevent such suffering.”

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Children • Religion & Culture • Violence • Women • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

The call has gone out to help save a local church dating back almost 150 years.

The All Saints Church in Lawrence is one of five Anglican churches in the Maclean parish.

All Saints warden Terry Bird said the Grafton diocese had ordered a review of Maclean Parish and wanted one, possibly two, local churches to close.

"As in many other country dioceses, the Grafton diocese has requested the Maclean Parish review the number of centres and reduce the number by at least one," Mr Bird said.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry

A post-adoption support group has welcomed a move by the Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane to apologise for forced adoptions.

Dr Phillip Aspinall yesterday apologised to families affected by the policies used at St Mary's Home at Toowong and The Church of England Women's Refuge at Spring Hill.

Between 1951 and 1975 it is estimated up to 150,000 unmarried women across Australia were forced to give up their babies.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Children • History • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

On Friday the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane released a statement saying it was sorry, and acknowledging the church's role in forced adoptions.

In the apology, Brisbane Archbishop Phillip Aspinall said mothers had suffered shame, isolation and humiliation while in the care of the church, resulting in significant grief and loss.

"We deeply regret that we did not always provide the care, information, protection and support which these mothers, fathers and children should have received," Dr Aspinall said.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Children • Marriage & Family • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology

The role of deacons in Australia has had a seismic shift in the past 20 years and the Church needs to review, clarify and educate Anglican leaders and members about this distinctive ministry, starting with a revision of the Ordinal, Bishop Tom Frame said in Melbourne recently.

Dr Frame, the Director of St Mark's National Theological Centre in Canberra, said he was increasingly of the view that the distinctiveness of the diaconate would be protected and preserved by a change in the Church’s approach to ordination. There was no Biblical warrant or scriptural injunction for the custom that candidates destined for priesthood be ordained deacons first.

He told the annual gathering of Melbourne deacons at Christ Church South Yarra on 7 August that a critical difference between priestly and diaconal ministries seemed to be evolving, with the former’s emphasis being on the gathered community (ministry) and the latter being most active with those not active in the Church (mission).

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Theology • Pastoral Theology

A biography of Northern Territory indigenous leader and Anglican priest, Gumbuli of Ngukurr, has been chosen as Australian Christian Book of the Year from more than 40 entrants – and given Melbourne publishing house Acorn Press, co-founded by the late Bishop John Wilson, its second consecutive win in the awards.

The author, Melbourne Anglican Dr Murray Seiffert, received the award at the annual awards evening organised by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Australia and the Australian Christian Literature Society at St Alfred’s Anglican Church, Blackburn North, on 16 August.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Books • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

Australians must understand that conservative Christian lobbyists do not speak for all people of the faith, according to the Brisbane Anglican leader heading a new progressive advocacy group.

The Very Reverend Peter Catt, the Dean of St John's Cathedral, announced yesterday the creation of the new group called A Progressive Christian Voice (Australia).

He said the aim of the group was not to be in conflict with the Australian Christian Lobby, which often argued for conservative positions on issues such as gay marriage and surrogacy, but to ensure there were several Christian voices in public debates.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

The disciplinary processes for dealing with rogue priests in almost every Anglican diocese in Australia are in doubt because of a landmark court challenge to their validity.

The head of the Anglican Church in Australia, Dr Phillip Aspinall, has asked to be heard in the legal action, which could open the floodgates for civil claims against the Church by priests who have been sacked or disciplined.

The application filed on behalf of Dr Aspinall warns that if the challenge to the standards ordinance succeeds, "it may have widespread and adverse consequences for all of the dioceses that make up the Anglican Church of Australia".

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ • * Theology • Pastoral Theology

Prostitutes have been using a Woodville Gardens church garage to solicit men.

Father Graham Head said the St Augustine of Canterbury Anglican Church was aware for some time that women had been using the grounds surrounding the church for the illegal activity.

Father Head said the tenant, who is now being evicted, denied all knowledge of the activity. He did not suggest she was involved but said she was given an eviction notice in April so the house can be used by the church.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

Anglican Bishop Stuart Robinson fears changes to the ACT Discrimination Act could lead to religious disputes ending up in court and increase tension between faiths.

The head of the Canberra and Goulburn Archdiocese has also criticised the ACT government for not consulting religious leaders about the proposed changes, which will make religious vilification in the territory illegal....

Bishop Robinson said he supported improving basic human rights, especially the freedom to choose and practise a religion. But he said open societies also gave citizens the right to disagree on religious beliefs and practices.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

Contrary to Fr Christopher Seton’s reported comments (“New world order as Anglican priests move to a Catholic environment”, The Age, 8/8), the Anglican Church respects those who cannot accept, in good conscience, the ordination of women to the priesthood and the episcopate....Moreover, Fr Seton’s reported assertion “that you’ve got to believe in same-sex marriage” to remain in the Anglican Church is inaccurate and misplaced.

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Christopher Seton leaves one job on September 2 and starts another six days later. In one sense it is exactly the same job, and in another it is completely different. Father Seton is one of four Anglican priests who will be ordained into the Catholic Church in Melbourne on September 8.

Father Seton holds his last service at All Saints Kooyong on September 2. Then he and - so far as he is aware - his entire congregation will regather a week later at the Holy Cross Catholic Church in Caulfield South. There he will minister to the same people (and, doubtless, some new ones), using the same liturgy and singing the same hymns. But now they will be on the opposite side of a once-bitter sectarian divide.

''In a sense, we are just moving office,'' Father Seton said yesterday. But he, along with Fathers James Grant, Ramsay Williams and Neil Fryer, will now be priests in the Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross, the Catholic Church's new Anglican wing set up by Pope Benedict for those who felt disenfranchised by the ordination of women and other developments in the Anglican Church.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Religion News & Commentary • Ecumenical Relations • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Pope Benedict XVI • * Theology • Anthropology • Ecclesiology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Theology: Scripture

Chris Mulherin, featured here on Eureka Street TV, similarly has a foot in both camps; an Anglican clergyman with a substantial academic background studying and lecturing in science and the philosophy of science.

He is now doing his doctorate on the relationship between scientific and theological ways of knowing. He argues they are different but complementary ways of understanding, and summarises the difference by saying that while science deals with mechanics, religion deals with meaning....

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Philosophy • Religion & Culture • Science & Technology • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Atheism

Clarence Valley celebrates the first Grafton woman to be accepted into the role of Archdeacon this morning as Reverend Gail Hagon of the Anglican Diocese of Grafton takes on the most senior position in the life of the church.

"While I accept my new role with honour, in some ways I'm not about hierarchical structure," [the] Rev[.] Hagon said.

"I am passionate about what I do and what I believe in."

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained

A variety of tools and gadgets will be presented at St Paul's Anglican Church on Sunday morning to celebrate the business end of the financial year.

St Paul's assistant priest reverend Mark Vincent said everything from shovels, trolleys, mobile phones and tablets are welcome at the ceremony.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Science & Technology

Church heavyweights have been spurred into action by the bills, with the heads of the Catholic, Anglican and Greek Orthodox churches issuing strong statements to their congregations yesterday urging them to oppose any move towards same-sex marriage.

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, wrote a letter to parishioners that was then distributed to the rectors of every Anglican church within the diocese. It was up to individual church leaders to decide whether to read the letter to congregations or simply make a copy available to them.

''It is likely that some time in the near future our parliamentary representatives will be asked to vote on a proposal to change the legal definition of marriage,'' the letter reads.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Marriage & Family • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • --Civil Unions & Partnerships • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

A German-born university chaplain has been appointed head of Melbourne's flagship Anglican church, St Paul's Cathedral.

The Reverend Dr Andreas Loewe, senior chaplain at the University of Melbourne, will be installed as Dean of the cathedral, the church announced on Sunday.

Dr Loewe, 39, succeeds Bishop Mark Burton, who resigned earlier this year.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained

I’ve tried to understand what matters most to those who want ‘marriage equality’. The arguments go like this. Current law affects gay and lesbian mental health because it discriminates against them, and so denies them basic human rights (to marry whomever they want and to not experience discrimination). ‘Marriage equality’ affirms gays and lesbians in their identity and ends the ‘state-sanctioned bullying’ they take to be inherent to marriage law. ‘Marriage equality’ celebrates love and gives people what they want – so extending the freedom of choice that we demand of a liberal society.

Let’s observe the assumptions in these claims.

Firstly, love is the sole defining element of marriage. Second, any assertion that gay and lesbian people are different psychologically damages them. Third, it is the state’s responsibility to limit such damage. Finally, every society and generation can renegotiate marriage as it sees fit. A deep attachment to – and ‘love’ for – this cluster of ideas drives the quest for marriage revision.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Marriage & Family • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • --Civil Unions & Partnerships • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

Anglican Archbishop Jeffrey Driver has accused the Commonwealth government of gambling with the future of young Australians as it considers changes to gambling regulations.

Proposed changes to online betting laws outlined in the government’s interim report on the Review of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 include the legalisation of new forms of online gambling that the Archbishop believes could create a new wave of problem gamblers.

“The proposed changes to online betting have the potential to open up more opportunities for Australians, especially young Australians, to gamble online,” Archbishop Driver said. “Young people are the most attuned to the digital revolution but also the most vulnerable to its disadvantages or dangers.”

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Gambling • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Economy • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

It seems to me, from my now thirty years in Melbourne Diocese, that the hierarchy, supported by many of the clergy, have launched into politics and socio-economics, not because they are aflame with the Gospel, but as a last ditch attempt to find relevance in society. Hence the recent attack on the banks appears to be a natural extension of this process.

Unless Anglicanism can set out on the difficult journey of faith recovery, we can expect to hear more about ageing gracefully, the violence of Melbourne’s CBD, climate change and the evils of banking and gambling. But don’t expect to hear too much of Jesus – nor of contentious moral issues. An Anglicanism of compassion without faith and sound doctrine is no longer a church but a socio-political organisation.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia

The Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Philip Freier, has finished a whirlwind four-day trip to central Victoria.

The Archbishop yesterday met clergy and various leaders in Bendigo.

“Part of my role as the Archbishop of Melbourne is to have a relationship with the other Anglican diocese in Victoria,” he said.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • Global South Churches & Primates • FCA Meeting in London April 2012 • * Theology • Ecclesiology

Bathursty will become the sixth diocese in Australia to formalise the relationship between its Anglican and Catholic churches when Bishops Richard Hurford and Bishop Michael McKenna sign a covenant of friendship next week.
Representatives will travel from across the state on Thursday to witness the historic event, which will consolidate the connection between the two Christian denominations.

Catholic Bishop McKenna said the covenant was a celebration of a “long-standing friendship and cooperation”.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ • * Religion News & Commentary • Ecumenical Relations • Other Churches • Roman Catholic

Pope Benedict XVI will continue the expansion of the new Catholic Church structure created for former Anglicans by launching an ordinariate for Australia on June 15.

“I am confident that those former Anglicans who have made a journey in faith that has led them to the Catholic Church will find a ready welcome,” said Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne, who serves as president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ • * Religion News & Commentary • Ecumenical Relations • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Pope Benedict XVI

Herewith the BBC blurb:

The traditionalist Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans will be meeting from Monday to decide its future. Archbishop Jensen from Sydney talks to Sunday about what they hope to achieve.

Listen to it all (starts at 10:20 in)

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • Global South Churches & Primates • FCA Meeting in London April 2012

The annual meeting of the Australian church’s House of Bishops in Melbourne has adopted a protocol reaffirming the church’s position banning the ordination and deployment of non-celibate gay clergy.

On 29 March 2012 Anglican Media Sydney posted to its website the statement adopted by the meeting. It noted that “in comparison with other Bishops meetings, especially those associated with the Episcopal Church in the United States, the Australian agreement is being seen as a conservative stance.”

The protocols “express the common mind of the bishops as determined by consensus at our National Meeting” the bishops wrote, noting that they had agreed to “abide by them and renew this commitment annually by consensus.”

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings

We Christians love Easter because it is the historical reminder that although Jesus was executed by being crucified and was truly dead, three days later he broke out of his tomb and showed that death is not the last word in life. And everything is changed. Instead of living in fear and anxiety, it’s as though God has turned the light on and dispelled our fear.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Easter • * Theology

Archbishop Aspinall told gatherers at St John's Cathedral in central Brisbane that it "feels like darkness has engulfed the world", using social media as an example.

"It turns ingenious technology with amazing potential for good into a weapon for bullying, brutality and destruction," he said.

"Some of our young people are taking their own lives to escape the pain and others take a sinister delight in violence on YouTube grievously mistaking it for entertainment."

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Holy Week • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • Preaching / Homiletics • * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • --Social Networking • Science & Technology • Teens / Youth • Young Adults • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

E-prayers, cabaret-style worship, video sermons and tongue-in-cheek advertisements are just some of the ways local Christian churches are boosting their numbers....

St Thomas’ Anglican Church in Werribee, which has the largest Karen refugee congregation in Victoria, is among them.

Its 150 Karen worshippers have breathed new life into a church that has been part of Werribee since 1856.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Evangelism and Church Growth • * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • --Social Networking • Media • Science & Technology • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches

Mark Saturday, March 31, 2012, as a “purple letter” day in all the colourful, and at times stormy, 224-year presence of the Anglican Church in Australia.

For this is the day when the Church’s NSW province finally sees a woman consecrated as a bishop, and thus wear the distinctive purple of episcopal office.

But, all too true to Anglican form in NSW, when a newly-consecrated Assistant Bishop Genieve Blackwell walks from Goulburn’s St. Saviour’s Cathedral accompanied by upwards of 20 other bishops – all men – her elevation will not be without controversy.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia

From here:

As bishops in the Australian Church we accept the weight of 1998 Lambeth Resolution 1.10 and the 2004 General Synod resolutions 33, 59 and 61-64 as expressing the mind of this church on issues of human sexuality.

We undertake to uphold the position of our Church in regard to human sexuality as we ordain, license, authorise or appoint to ministries within our dioceses.

We understand that issues of sexuality are subject to ongoing conversation within our Church and we undertake to support these conversations, while seeking to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology

The head of Perth's Anglican Church has dismissed civil marriage ceremonies as "sentimental fuzz" as new figures reveal more than 70 per cent of WA couples opt for civil celebrants over religious ministers to conduct their nuptials.

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show just 27 per cent of weddings in WA were conducted by a religious official in 2010 - down more than 2 per cent on the previous year - while 78.2 per cent were overseen by a civil celebrant.

Anglican Archbishop of Perth Roger Herft said the statistics were a sign of the times but true commitment could only be forged in the house of God.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Marriage & Family • Religion & Culture • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Secularism

From here:

The Archbishop of Canterbury is universally admired for his intellectual stature and his personal warmth. In his time as Archbishop, the Anglican Communion has been subjected to unprecedented stresses which have hastened an inevitable tendency to regional independence and decentralisation. With the majority of Anglicans now from theologically conservative churches of the Global South, the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the future will demand a deepening appreciation of their place in the Communion.

--Dr Peter F Jensen, Archbishop of Sydney

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia

1 Corinthians 5 is perhaps the clearest place that the Bible speaks to the need of discipline. The Corinthian church is proud of the sexually immoral behaviour of someone who professed to know and follow Christ. The church is told that some form of discipline is necessary both for the sake of the rebellious person (1 Cor 5:5) and also to protect the whole church from accepting, and ultimately engaging in the same kind of sinful behaviour (1 Cor 5:6)....

Reflecting on this and other passages, I often ask myself the question: Have we gone soft on church discipline? Immorality and other sin is a reality in our churches. Sometimes there is repentance. Other times there is not. And yet, it seems that church discipline is rarely exercised, if at all. Here are 4 reasons why I suspect we don’t do well in this area....

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Pastoral Care • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology • Theology: Scripture

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia

In CS Lewis’s story, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which will be on our movie screens from Boxing Day, the land of Narnia is under a curse that means that it is always winter but never Christmas. Of course, it is never winter at Christmas time in Australia, but we can nevertheless understand what a terrible curse this is! Narnia is stuck in hard times, with no cause for celebration. Its creatures are suffering, with no highlight to look forward to.

Like the Narnians, many Australians will be doing it tough this Christmas. For some, it is a time when relationships are strained to the limit, when the cracks in our marriages, our families and our friendships seem to widen. For others, the strain is financial, as we see what the neighbours have and we don’t. Yet others find it difficult to join in the festivities because the world just doesn’t seem like somewhere worth celebrating. Wars, hurricanes and child poverty press in on our hearts and minds, refusing to be pushed aside, even for a day.

My challenge to you this Christmas is to lift your eyes from your daily struggles and see what lies around the corner. To the great surprise of the children in CS Lewis’s story, Father Christmas turns up in Narnia to hand out gifts. His appearance is a sign that the curse on the land is breaking, and a better world is on its way.

Of course, this is just a story, but it points to an event in history that we must understand in order to have any hope at Christmas time. The birth of Jesus around 2000 years ago was the beginning of a new hope for the people of the world. It was like the first spring flower pushing through the winter snow—the first sign that things were looking up.
Christians believe that Jesus was a gift to the world from God himself, to give us hope.
When Father Christmas handed out gifts in Narnia, he didn’t indulge the children with toys they didn’t need or appreciate. Rather, his gifts prepared them for the battle ahead with the dark forces they would confront.
In the same way, the Bible tells us that in Jesus God gave us a gift we desperately need. The Gospel of Luke records for us the words of one man called Simeon, who saw the young Jesus, took him in his arms and said “My eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people”.
Jesus was sent to rescue us from sin and judgement (that’s what salvation means), to make God known to us, and to assure us that God is not off in his heaven ignoring us, but is closely involved with our world and our troubles.
But the gift must be acknowledged—if you ignore God’s gift, you do so at your peril, for without Jesus there is no clear hope to see you through the wintry days.
Christmas should focus our thoughts on where we are headed. I urge you to take time this Christmas to acknowledge God’s gift of Jesus, to read about him in the New Testament, and to understand how he has broken the curse of sin and guaranteed those who trust him a better future.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Christmas

Dickens and Disney’s Tiny Tims both hope that those who feel pity for a poor crippled boy in church “… will think of Him who made lame men walk” at Christmas time.

This was a lesson that Dickens meant for adults, as well as children.

There is no separating the generosity we owe to others from the generosity God has shown to us by sending his son to give us new hearts. Christmas shouldn’t just bring out the best in us once a year; it should transform our lives—as it did for Scrooge. Dickens knew where he wanted to end his story, and finished it accordingly:

“Some laughed to see the alteration in [Scrooge] but he let them laugh ... he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed that knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, every one!”

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Christmas • * Culture-Watch • Books • Movies & Television • Religion & Culture

Watch it all (a little over 58 minutes).

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Christmas • Liturgy, Music, Worship • * Culture-Watch • Music

Christmas is our big annual reminder of the generous love of God. When Jesus was born, it was God himself entering our story to rescue us from sin.

Some people just can’t stand the fact that he is the most important person in history and our whole dating system revolves around his birth. They even want to change the language to write him out....

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Christmas

The Archbishop said Sydney virtually always had been overwhelmingly evangelical but “we are acutely conscious of the way in which evangelicals elsewhere have struggled to maintain their place”.

“Dioceses which began as evangelical, even more so than Sydney, have been changed, with evangelicals becoming a small and sometime harassed minority,” he said. “I am glad to say that there seems to have been a greater acceptance of evangelicals in some dioceses, although in others it remains a struggle. Our commitment to national evangelicalism is part of a commitment to defend and proclaim the gospel.”

Archbishop Jensen said his diocese’s policy was always to encourage the orthodoxy and mission of the fellowship of Anglican Christians around Australia, rather than to commit all its time and energy to the political and legal processes of General Synod.

Sydney would continue to uphold the significant constitutional autonomy of individual dioceses. And it would pay its share of the money needed, but resist the expansion of the activities of the General Synod and in particular the growth of the activities of the Primate beyond those stipulated in the Constitution.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia

Newcastle's Anglican Cathedral parish has been urged to become ‘‘entrepreneurial’’ after a failed attempt at a $100,000 lifeline to keep it afloat in 2012. Fund-raising options including charging visitors to view Newcastle from the cathedral tower could be considered, along with cutting at least $60,000 from its budget.

Diocese trustees, including former MP John Price and former Lake Macquarie mayor John Kilpatrick, refused last week to issue an episcopal certificate, or diocese guarantee, for a $100,000 bank loan, just weeks after questions at a synod about $43million in outstanding loans across the diocese.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Stewardship • * Economics, Politics • Economy • The Banking System/Sector • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007-- • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

Dr Peter Jensen...expressed his profound disappointment yesterday with Labor's endorsement of gay marriage at the weekend.

''This is not a matter of equality, but of trying to force respect by changing the definition of one of the fundamentals of our society,'' he said. ''I hope MPs will use the conscience vote to send a powerful signal of support for the integrity and true meaning of marriage.''

While the condemnation from many senior religious leaders to the party's decision has been near universal, in this fight not all of their faith communities could be in their corner.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Marriage & Family • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • --Civil Unions & Partnerships • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

Archdeacon [Genieve] Blackwell says part of her new role will include promoting the Church.

"There's a particular role a bishop has in say a keeper of the vision, and part of what I'll be doing is particularly looking towards promoting the mission of the church, in that particular region, the western region of the diocese," she said.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia

Church abuse is the chief obstacle to Australians believing in Christianity, according to a national online survey of more than 1000 people conducted by a Christian media group.

The Australian Communities Report said more than three-quarters of respondents, 76%, said church abuse was a “massive” or “significant” negative influence on their attitudes towards Christianity and church.

It said the top 10 “belief blockers” for Christianity were church abuse, hypocrisy, “judging others”, religious wars, suffering, issues around money, that it was “outdated”, Hell and condemnation, homosexuality and exclusivity.

The report also found that doctrines and practices about homosexuality were a “block” to belief for 69% of respondents, while those on Hell and condemnation (66%), the role of women (60%), suffering (60%) and science and evolution (57%) were also prominent obstacles.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

Catholics and Anglicans gathered at St John's Cathedral, Brisbane, on November 10 for the annual service of Prayer for Reconciliation for the Brisbane and Toowoomba dioceses of the two Churches.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ • * Religion News & Commentary • Ecumenical Relations • Other Churches • Roman Catholic

The Anglican Church of Australia's Very Reverend Peter Catt says a same-sex marriage Bill would not deny or denigrate the legitimacy of marriage.

Addressing the parliamentary hearing on same-sex marriage on behalf of the church's social responsibilities committee, Dr Catt said civil unions instead extended the liberties of same or opposite-sex couples.

"I really don't see that this impinges on marriage at all," he said.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Marriage & Family • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • --Civil Unions & Partnerships • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

The structures of the Anglican Communion have continued to deteriorate since the 2008 Lambeth Conference. That same year, the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) took place in Jerusalem, which gave birth to the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, a global movement committed to the renewal and reformation of the Anglican Communion around a common confession (The Jerusalem Declaration). GAFCON was not just a moment; it is a movement. The purpose of the 2012 leadership conference will be to gather existing and emerging FCA leaders – laity, clergy, theologians, youth, bishops, women and men – to promote the ongoing renewal and reformation of the Anglican Communion. These leaders will truly represent this global movement of Anglicans all over the world. We hope and pray this will set the stage for a larger “GAFCON II” meeting to be held in 2013.

The American Anglican Council will be helping the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans develop this conference. We are committed to supporting this global movement of biblical Anglicans and to the renewal and reformation of the Anglican Communion around a common confession. Be sure to monitor our website and emails for more news on these exciting events.

Last night, there was a reception for supporters and those interested in the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans. The Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Kenya and Chairmen of the FCA, Eliud Wabukala, was present, along with the Archbishop of Sydney, Australia, Peter Jensen, the retired Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, as well as the former Bishop of Rochester, England, Michael Nazir-Ali.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • Anglican Church of Kenya • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA) • Church of Nigeria

A prominent Brisbane church leader has backed the state government's plan to legalise same-sex unions.

Dr Peter Catt, the Dean of St Johns Anglican Cathedral in Brisbane, says the legislation introduced into Queensland parliament last night is "good law-making for a pluralistic society".

"It removes discrimination and affords equal rights to same-sex couples," Dr Catt said in a statement.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Children • Law & Legal Issues • Marriage & Family • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • --Civil Unions & Partnerships • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

Sydney has rejected the Anglican Covenant. The 11 October vote by the 49th meeting of the Diocese of Sydney Synod likely spells the death knell for Dr Rowan Williams’ plan for a global agreement to set the parameters of doctrine and discipline for the Anglican Communion.

Support for the Covenant peaked in the run-up to the 2009 meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in Kingston, however, Dr Williams’ untimely intervention into the Covenant debate and changes made to the document have alienated both left and right.

Liberal dioceses in New Zealand, Australia and the US have rejected the plan as un-Anglican, while the Global South Primates last year stated that “while we acknowledge that the efforts to heal our brokenness through the introduction of an Anglican Covenant were well intentioned, we have come to the conclusion the current text is fatally flawed and so support for this initiative is no longer appropriate.”

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Covenant • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia

In a return to where it all began in 1865, the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle’s annual meeting in Maitland at the weekend looked beyond the church to social issues affecting the community.

The first year of the 50th synod held at Maitland Town Hall on Saturday attracted 300 delegates from Anglican parishes across the region to the city where the first Bishop of Newcastle, Bishop William Tyrell, held the first synod of the fledgling diocese at Morpeth.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia

Newcastle Anglican Bishop Brian Farran is calling for major reforms to the New South Wales prison system, saying the imprisonment rate is unacceptably high.

He will raise the issue in his opening address at the 50th Synod of the Anglican Diocese, which gets underway at Maitland Town Hall this morning.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Prison/Prison Ministry • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

Dr Aspinall has asked the diocese’s professional standards commission to review the policies, and to see whether Australia should adopt the policy currently in force in the Church of England, which takes the victim’s views into account.

The Australian reported that under the current protocol, three clergy have been defrocked. In 2005, 29 cases were reported to the Church. Only one complaint was filed last year and none have been submitted this year – there were no active investigations, the diocese reported.

The House of Bishops’ policy and its accompanying guidance ‘Protecting all God’s Children’ and government guidelines found in ‘Working together to Safeguard Children 2006’ forms the basis of diocesan policies in Britain.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Children • Law & Legal Issues • Religion & Culture • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology

...earlier this year I encountered a short book which reveals the qualitative, inner nature of one of our churches, St John’s Asquith, and shows the impact of the gospel in transforming people and creating churches. The book consists of 90 testimonies from members of the church, bearing witness to the work of God in their lives, frequently relating how they came to Christ. Through this lens we can see God using the gospel to bring people together, to bond people together and to bless the community....

Usually, coming to know Christ was both a process and a commitment, and a number of agents were involved. Being born in a Christian family is obviously a huge blessing; many had that experience. For some, the wonder of the natural world was a key factor. Others report spiritual experiences which frightened or awakened them. Still others went through a personal loss or crisis and it was in those depths that they sought after the Lord. The local church mattered – sometimes faith was born through preaching; occasionally the liturgy; sometimes through the warmth of a community and the love which they found there. One person even mentions the messages she saw on church noticeboards as she was seeking the Lord! A number of these testimonies are profound narratives of how people have found the Lord to be their all sufficient one in time of need. He answers prayer and preserves his saints.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Evangelism and Church Growth

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts: South Carolina • TEC Polity & Canons • * Theology • Pastoral Theology

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • The Anglican Church in South East Asia

THE spiritual leader of Australia's three million Anglicans, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, is having "second thoughts" about mandating the reporting to police of child sex abuse complaints against church staff, and has ordered a review of the policy.

In an exclusive interview, the Anglican Primate said he had been swayed by concerns that the automatic referral to police of historic complaints - made by adults alleging abuse when they were children at the hands of priests or other church workers - could "disempower" the victim or even cause the person involved to suffer "re-abuse".

"I'm having second thoughts about it," Dr Aspinall said of the reporting process he developed as Archbishop of Brisbane 10 years ago. This was at the height of the scandal that engulfed his predecessor in the post, Peter Hollingworth, and forced him to quit as governor-general over allegations he had not done enough to investigate complaints of sex abuse while he was in charge of the diocese.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Children • Law & Legal Issues • Sexuality

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney has come out in strong support of the proposed poker machine reforms, warning that the penetration of gambling culture into sport and media ''bodes ill for the future of sport in this country''.

The Reverend Peter Jensen used his opening presidential address at the 49th Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney to commend the federal government for its ''moral leadership'' on problem gambling as it seeks to introduce mandatory precommitment technology on poker machines.

In his first public statement on the issue, Dr Jensen took aim at sporting associations that create cultural capital ''funded by the real capital of addicts''.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Gambling • Law & Legal Issues • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

In the last year, two pastors have caused sufficient international concern that the White House has spoken about them. But only one has been mentioned in the Australian media.

Both pastors profess to lead Bible-believing churches. Both have come into conflict with Islam. Both have been criticised by their own governments.

Yet, in many respects, they are very different. One operates freely in an open society, while the other is imprisoned by an Islamic regime. One is proud of the actions he is accused of, while the other suffers from trumped up accusations. One is an embarrassment to the Christian cause; the other is a hero whose stand for the gospel gladdens the heart of all who love the truth.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Media • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Middle East • Iran

For those of us who are part of the Diocese of Melbourne it is important that we reflect on what it means to be an Anglican, or to use contemporary terminology, what is distinctive about Anglican ‘spirituality’. We are the most diverse diocese in Australia. On the theological level we have anglo-catholic, liberal catholic, reformed evangelical, evangelicals of other persuasions and charismatic parishes well represented, growing numbers of Chinese congregations and several other ethnic parishes, as well as a complete range of ages. What we see in our diocese at a micro level is magnified on the world scene.

Today, the Anglican Communion is an association of national Anglican churches organised as dioceses in 160 countries with a membership of approximately 80 million people. Following the Reformation of the church in England in the 16th century, catholic and evangelical emphases were from this point part of Anglicanism. The theological differences were for centuries contained within a common liturgical practice grounded in English culture. However in recent times doctrinal, liturgical and cultural diversity has become more pronounced and so differing spiritualities live side by side within Anglicanism. Today the Anglican Communion embraces evangelicals and anglo-catholics (with liberal and conservative strands in both cases), theological radicals and demonstrative charismatics, all modified by the ethnic and cultural variety of the Communion....

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Commentary • Anglican Identity • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History

Speaking at the SA Parliamentary Christian Fellowship Leaders of Christian Churches Dinner at Parliament House on Wednesday night, the Archbishop encouraged our political leaders to dream of a truly human city.

“Adelaide was founded on a bold experiment, a vision for a different sort of human city,” Archbishop [Jeffrey] Driver said. “So many people came here to a new colony because they had been captured by a dream; the dream of a different place where old inequalities and exclusions could be put aside and a new city of human opportunity could be crafted from dream to reality.”

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Urban/City Life and Issues • * Economics, Politics • Energy, Natural Resources

Australian Anglicans are being invited to commemorate Defence Sunday on 6 November.

The day, which is held annually on the Sunday nearest to Remembrance Day (11 November), is intended to draw attention to the spiritual needs and wellbeing of those who serve in the Australian Defence Force and to foster prayerful support within the Church for those who serve in the ADF.

It is also designed to encourage clergy to consider service as full- or part-time ADF chaplains and to nurture cooperation between the ADF and Anglican dioceses and parishes across Australia.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

Australian Church leaders have urged MPs to put the needs of children first and reject proposals to amend the country’s Marriage Act to allow same-sex marriages.

Last week over 50 senior Anglican, Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant church leaders gave their backing to Revising Marriage?, a paper prepared by the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) and distributed to all MPs that defended the traditional view of marriage as being between one man and one woman.

“The traditional concept of marriage has a place in the law for the purpose of supporting the exclusivity and faithfulness of those biological relationships that result in children,” the paper argued. “Marriage in the law is for the sake of children and society,” the ACL paper stated and should not be changed to “primarily serve the interests of adults.”

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Marriage & Family • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • --Civil Unions & Partnerships • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

The aftermath of drought and the global financial crisis has led to a proposed rationalisation of church institutions and management across the three Anglican dioceses of Canberra and Goulburn, Bathurst and Riverina.

The proposal was supported yesterday after a day-long debate by the synod of Canberra and Goulburn, meeting in Goulburn. Synods of Bathurst and Riverina are still to meet, but as they are the major beneficiaries of the proposed changes, there seems little likelihood they will oppose them.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Stewardship

Now, in 2011, The New Puritans has been revised and brought up to date with a new title: Sydney Anglicans and the Threat to World Anglicanism: The Sydney Experiment. As with the earlier book, Muriel Porter acknowledges quite openly that she is "obviously not able to report on Sydney objectively and even-handedly."

The acknowledgement was unnecessary. Even without it, the highly polemical nature of the book - and a significant degree of distortion that inevitably arises from that - is obvious. The book is littered with unsubstantiated assertions introduced with words such as, "Some have suggested ..." and "I suspect the real reason ..." and "Perhaps ......."

Unfortunately, it is also littered with factual error, half-truth and the attribution of false or hidden motives to those with whom she disagrees. Sydney Anglicans might think they are taking a stand on the teaching of Scripture but in reality, she repeatedly asserts, their motivation is much more sinister.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Commentary • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Books

From here:

...Muriel Porter has [written] a tirade against the greatest evil facing world Anglicanism, viz., Sydney Anglicans. Now I might have a more inclusive view of women in ministry than some of my Sydney Anglican friends, but I would point out that (i) There is a lot more diversity in Sydney Anglicanism than Porter admits; and (ii) The Diocese of Sydney employs more women in ministry than any other Anglican Diocese in the world (even if not in ordained priesthood ministry). I have no intention of defending the Sydney Anglicans (they are more than equipped to do that themselves). But in my mind Porter’s attack is not just on Sydney Anglicans, but on all Anglicans all over the world who hold to the Creeds, Prayerbook, and 39 Articles, i.e., the orthodox. The irony is that her purportedly inclusive brand of Anglicanism is anything but inclusive of anyone who disagrees with her. What is more, she treats African Anglicans as little more than puppets controlled by Sydney Anglicans. Porter is so blatantly condescending towards Anglicans in the global south that it is almost unbelievable that anyone could be that arrogant. I mean, it is borderline racism, and I wonder if an African Anglican would agree with me here? Her rant is indicative of the liberal Anglicans who are absolutely livid that African and Asian Anglicans refuse to comply with their theological revisionism. The mere fact that Global South Anglicans have any voice or vote in the communion and dare speak against their former colonial masters is positively outrageous for Porter. They must have been coaxed, cajoled, and coached into orthodoxy by Peter Jensen – I mean, really, who actually believes this non-sense? For a response to Porter, see Mark Thompson’s review of her book at the Anglican Church League.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Commentary • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia

The Anglican Church's Sydney diocese faces another year of belt tightening and cuts to community services after its investment arm warned of a ''substantial reduction'' in its annual payout.

Two years after it lost $160 million because of a high-risk gearing strategy, the investment arm of the country's largest Anglican diocese has blamed a 71 per cent fall in earnings - to $3.2 million for the year to December - on a ''subdued performance'' by the Australian sharemarket. The result would have been worse if not for a $4.5 million rise in the value of its investment in St Andrew's House.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Stewardship • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Credit Markets • Stock Market • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007--

There were two features of...[his] preaching which I remember in particular. The first is to do with its simplicity. It was not that he strove for popularity and delivered trivia. On the contrary. It was the simplicity of the master craftsman, who could analyse the text of Scripture and by carefully tracing the development of its thought, help his hearers to be better readers. We could see what he could see, and we could be inspired to believe that we too could read the Bible for ourselves.

The second feature was the basis of the first – he was a scholar. I don’t mean that he had a PhD or taught in a university. He was beyond such measures. I mean that he had mastered the arts needed for biblical exposition and he gave the time and energy to make sure of his results. You can only achieve true simplicity by working very hard. That is what he did. Our debt to him, under God, flows from his willingness to give time and energy and thought to the study of Scripture in the light of modern thought and modern needs and to pastor us through his preaching.

In this, as in much else besides, he was a Prince amongst God’s people.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Evangelicals

It's on for just 30 minutes a week and it's taught in fewer than half of all public primary schools in Victoria, but religious education has the power to stir mighty emotions.

Steve Bracks and his education minister Lynne Kosky tasted its power in 2005 and 2006 as they overhauled education laws, and considered changing the rules governing ''special religious instruction'' - religion taught by church volunteers and decried by opponents as indoctrination.

This unleashed a relentless campaign by the religious lobby to defend their patch.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Children • Education • Religion & Culture • Teens / Youth • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

The leading opponent to the introduction of ethics classes in NSW schools, the Anglican Church, has reversed its position and says they should be retained, while the Catholic Church now argues they should not be removed as they have ''little impact'' on the teaching of scripture.

The reversals come amid a stand-off over the classes between the O'Farrell government and the Christian Democratic Party MP, Fred Nile, who has threatened to block key legislation in the upper house if it does not consider removing them from schools.

The comments will be welcomed by the government, which yesterday rejected Mr Nile's proposal that the classes be moved from being in competition with special religious education (SRE), or scripture, lessons.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Education • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

The legitimate place of religion in NSW government schools might be put at risk by the misuse of the National School Chaplaincy Program, the head of Sydney's Anglican Education Commission has warned.

Bryan Cowling, the executive director of the peak body for the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, said well-established special religious education preserved the secularism of NSW schools while providing weekly faith instruction for those who wanted it.

But he told the Herald that chaplains - with the term's religious connotations - might blur the distinction between faith and welfare, increasing the chance of misuse by proselytising, which might call into question access granted to schools for special religious education, also known as scripture.

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Anglicans from Melbourne and all over the world are offering prayers and support to Sudan and striving to find ways to help the chaos-torn nation, which is soon to be split into two separate countries.

Bishop Phillip Huggins of Melbourne’s North West Region said the city’s large Sudanese population still bore the scars of earlier civil wars.

“We hold the people of Sudan in our prayers, and as a community we will continue to offer what support we can to them,” Bishop Huggins said.

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Melbourne Auxiliary Bishop Peter Elliott, who addressed a Festival introducing the Ordinariate in Melbourne on 11 June, told The Record that there is momentum leading to the establishment of an Anglican Ordinariate in Australia with recent events in England and, closer to home, the Torres Strait.

“We have been advised that the Ordinariate will take shape here next year,” Bishop Elliott told an Anglican Ordinariate Festival in Melbourne on 11 June.

“I know that many, including myself, had hoped it would be sooner, but it seems best to take the necessary and somewhat complex steps slowly and surely, inspired and encouraged as we are by recent events in England and the interesting prospects for growth that that are already being revealed.”

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Commenting on his election, and in a message to the Diocese, Bishop Weatherill said:
“I’m very excited about coming to join the clergy and people in the Diocese as we rejoice in the abundant life that is Jesus’ promise to us, and as we search for new ways to be ambassadors of hope, love, forgiveness and justice.

“I know that the Diocese has been through a dark time, but I hope and pray that together we can be authentic disciples and apostles of Jesus and continue to build on all the good of previous years. Please pray for me that I will serve you with grace, wisdom and humility.”

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • * Culture-Watch • Marriage & Family • Media • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology

Should the Marriage Act allow two people of the same sex to be married?

Over the years, I’ve said little about same-sex relationships. My opposition is known but I hope I put my views with respect. I have supported legislation to register relationships and to extend economic rights. I condemn violence against homosexual people. Like most Australians, I prefer to live and let live. Furthermore, I am all too aware how close to home this is for a number of us, either personally or through family members and I appreciate that this discussion can be painful. Nonetheless, since change is being actively advocated we need to be clear that what is at stake is not simply an extension of marriage ‘rights’ but a change to the definition of marriage itself.

Think what marriage is. Marriage is the union of a man and a woman, from different families, publicly joined through an exchange of promises committing them to life-long exclusive fidelity. That marriage involves a man and woman is by design.

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The Anglican Church is making a radical bid for new recruits by holding Sunday services in a city cinema.

Evangelical Christian churches started the trend to hold services at movie theatres at Chadstone, Northland and Eastland.

And now a mainstream church is ''bringing the church to the people'' by offering teenagers and young adults a Sunday morning choice - Hangover 2 or the word of God at Hoyts in Melbourne Central.

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“Violence against women remains a significant social issue with a huge personal and social cost,” Bishop Philip Huggins, Chair of the Melbourne Anglican Social Responsibilities said today.

“Research by VicHealth has found that intimate partner violence contributes to more ill-health and premature death in Victorian women aged 15 to 44 than any other of the well-known risk factors,” he said.

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Monks and rabbis have stood alongside Catholics and Anglicans in Canberra to show support for the federal government's plan to tackle climate change.

Leaders from the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC) met Prime Minister Julia Gillard in support of the carbon tax today.

Anglican representative George Browning said the group wanted to assist politicians to create good legislation and the message to Ms Gillard was that the issue was a moral one.

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