Caledonia Times
December 2013 Issue The Diocesan Section of the Anglican Journal
GAFCON Meets in Kenya for Second Time By George Conger
GAFCON is the future of the Anglican Communion, Dr. Peter Jensen, the General Secretary of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans told the opening session of the 2nd Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) on 21 October 2013. Whether Anglo-Catholic, Evangelical, Charismatic, High or Low Church all those gathered at All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi were confessing Anglicans.
The “crisis” which “provoked” the first GAFCON conference had “awakened Anglicans everywhere” to the failure of the old ways of being church. “The structures of the Old Communion let us down badly. They could not contain the powerful new wine of today’s confessional Anglicanism,” he said. In 2008
“We believe the apostolic faith and we do not believe the faith of those who contradict the Bible and who deny the uniqueness and supremacy of Christ,” he said “We therefore live under the cross of Christ.” Dr. Jensen, the new retired Archbishop of Sydney, outlined the weeklong conference schedule stating the meeting would end with a communiqué setting out the fellowship’s goals for the future. But the heart of the archbishop’s talk focused on what all the delegates from 40 countries and 27 provinces shared. The Biblical mandate to go out and make disciples and preach the Gospel lay at the heart of the fellowship, he said. “We are here to learn how to be disciples of Jesus and to learn how to make disciples of Jesus.” But the Anglican churches had not been faithful to Christ’s call. “We have failed to make disciples through teaching the commands of Jesus found in the Bible at depth. That is why so much of the church in the West has simply collapsed, capitulated and compromised before a virulent, antagonistic secularism.” Disdain and ignorance of the Scriptures was not solely a Western disease. “We too are in danger of not teaching our people in Africa and Asia and South America and elsewhere. They too face immense challenges from religion and ideologies opposed to the gospel.” The “ideologies” that had “emasculated the West” were spreading round the world like a “destructive tsunami. We must teach our people so that they will be ready for it,” he said. The delegates to GAFCON were the foot soldiers in the fight against apostasy. “We are here to partner with each other in this great work of going into the entire world,” teaching, preaching and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. “We are here to support one another,” he said, “When Anglicans are made to feel old fashioned and out of touch for believing the Bible, we want to say ‘We stand with you: You are not alone’. In a rebuke to Archbishop Justin Welby’s suggestion of moral equivalence between the GAFCON churches and the Episcopal Church in the US, Dr. Jensen said: “We will not equate boundary crossing with the teaching that sin is good and that God’s word can be disobeyed. We love good order; but we will even break order, to obey the orders of the Jesus.”
Archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney Diocese (Ret.) GAFCON “began a new way of being Anglican; a way which insists on standards of belief and behavior; a way which does not need to go through Canterbury to be Anglican; a way in which we do not have to ask anyone’s permission to defend or preach the gospel; a way which seeks to model fellowship for the 21st century Communion; a way in which we do not sit around waiting for thing to happen.” The “future” of Anglicanism had “arrived” and it was GAFCON, Dr. Jensen said. the ABoC and the Primates at Lunch At the start of the Nairobi Conference, Dr Jensen told the gathering of several Primates including Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, “I want to say to you that the GAFCON movement is a movement for unity.” He recalled the Primates meeting after the first GAFCON in 2008 “someone asked the question: ‘Are we leaving the Anglican Communion?’ And immediately all said: ‘No we are not leaving the Anglican Communion; that is not the intention, we would never do that.” The group applauded when an impassioned Dr Jensen said “But our intention is to gather up the fragments of the Anglican Communion, and what GAFCON has done, particularly in North America, has been to gather up the fragments and to unite and to make sure that our beloved friends like Archbishop Bob Duncan here today, our beloved friends are kept and recognised as the authentic true Anglicans that they are, and that they don’t have to pretend to be something else». Dr Jensen went on to warn that such situations would happen elsewhere «Indeed it has begun to happen in other places around the Communion, where to stand for Biblical truth is going to cost you
very, very dearly indeed, as it has cost our brothers here. And then you will have to ask yourself: who are our friends? Who will stand with us? And GAFCON is a way of delivering friendship, it is a way of delivering unity...» Dr Jensen recounted the history of the movement, saying the genesis of GAFCON was the authority of Scripture. «Even before GAFCON (in Jerusalem in 2008), Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali said to me that the debate we were having was about the clarity of Scripture..... he’s right of course: Is the Bible the Bible for everybody, that all can read, in a way in which it interprets itself? Is it the Bible for the lay people as much as it is the Bible for the clergy and anyone else?» the former Archbishop of Sydney said. «The clarity of the Scriptures - particularly in the area of human sexuality - which is so important for our identity, means that we believe that we know – always ready to look again - but when we look again, the same message appears:: that human sexual expression needs to occur within the bonds of marriage between a man and a woman...» Dr Jensen said. “Bordercrossings and Interventions”
Bishops attending GAFCON in Nairobi have endorsed a resolution supporting the crossing of ecclesiastical jurisdictions by bishops to support Anglicans in “places where Biblical faith has been compromised.” A press hand out released to the media on 25 October 2013 by conference organizers said: “A meeting of bishops within the conference this week voted without dissent to affirm the Primates Council in recognivzing and overseeing theologically isolated Anglicans.” The hand out added that this recognition would include the “Anglican Mission in England.” However no details about this organization were provided in the statement. One bishop told Anglican Ink there was not unanimity amongst the bishops as to how such a plan would work with some speakers voicing concern the program could be abused, or used in trivial matters. The text of the resolution adopted by the meeting resolved:
See GAFCON Crossings on p. 3
Christmas Greetings From
the Synod Office Bishop William, Dean Jason, Archdeacon Ernest, Audrey and families would like to extend the warmest greetings this Advent season and best wishes and blessings on you and yours for a Happy Christmastide. Maranatha! (Come Lord Jesus, come soon!)
Bishop’s Notes The Gift of Salvation When I was a young boy growing up in Northern Ontario, Christmas was a time of great excitement. As soon as the Sears Christmas catalogue came out, my brothers and sisters and I would pounce on it and spend hours making lists, and revisions of lists, of the toys we would like to get for Christmas. As a family we generally did not have much money- but such things are usually beyond the understanding of young children, and hardly stopped us from dreaming about what we might get. Inevitably the great day would arrive with much excitement- new toys and gifts. And seldom was there disappointment on that morning. It’s not that we received all the toys we dreamed of getting. Indeed, seldom did this happen. And let’s face it; sometimes it is really hard to get excited about the new pair of wool socks your grandmother knitted for you. Nonetheless, we would open the gifts and thus would begin hours of fascination and play. Christmas seldom, if ever, disappointed! Christmas is, of course, the story of THE GIFT. God enters into a world knowing that human beings are capable of great evil, even against those trying to help them. That evil manifests itself right from the moment of His birth as Herod seeks to kill Him, and in pursuing this goal, murders hundreds of young innocent children. Jesus enjoys no special protection from evil - He lives as one of us. It is probably no surprise to you that, as adults, we often lose some of the excitement we felt at Christmas time when we were children. We become aware of the financial cost of gift-giving when we actually have to earn the money to pay for them. We learn that it is possible to be disappointed with material things we receive, or that we do not receive. And too often we become jaded in our experiences of the people around us, sometimes family, sometimes others. In trying to recapture the excitement of our youth, we may find ourselves even more removed from our childhood experiences as we buy more and more gifts in
the hope of rekindling the experience. But you can’t manufacture excitement on demand.So as Christians, how do we deal with this? Certainly I can say to you that the excitement of Christmas is found in the birth of Christ. But if I do this, will you really feel the excitement of anticipation that Isaiah felt so long before the actual event? Do you hear and, perhaps more importantly understand the promise of hope offered to us at Christmas, or do you simply assume that your lives are fine, and nothing could upset them? If I remind you of the Story of the Gift, will you yawn and say to yourself, “Yes, heard it last year. It’s right up there with the annual airing of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and A Charlie Brown Christmas.” And thus dismiss it as simply one more cute seasonal story that, in an increasingly secularized culture, is stripped of its spiritual significance. I came across a passage by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great German theologian of the first half of the 20th century. Writing about the nature of life together within the Christian Community, he said; We pray for the big things, and forget to give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have all been placed, even when there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith, and difficulty; if … we only keep complaining to God that everything is so paltry and petty, so far from what we expected, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow according to the measure and riches which are there for us all in Jesus Christ.
vealed in the baby whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, is a very personal and caring God who is as real and as close as the person sitting beside you right now. And that relationship does not diminish with the passing of the years unless, on our side, we allow it to languish. For His part, God persists in reminding us that He cares for us. As Bonhoeffer infers, if we have forgotten to give thanks for the daily gifts God has given us, however poor we may think them to be, we rob ourselves of the ability to perceive how great a gift God has given us, and what He can accomplish if invited into our lives on a personal basis. We need to remember that our God is a God of hope. He is not some abstract deity remotely watching us from away. Rather, He was so keenly interested in His creation that He entered into it as a child born in humility. As Paul so eloquently puts it, God came into the world to bring us salvation. This is a gift of love and hope that is offered to us. And what can be more exciting than to know that you are loved, and in being loved by God, have the opportunity to share that love with others? At this feast of the Nativity let each person wreathe the door of his heart so that the Holy Spirit may delight in that door, enter in and take up residence there; then by the Spirit we will be made holy.
- St. Ephrem of Syria
+William Caledonia
I don’t think it is the gift- giving that brings excitement to Christmas; nor do the gifts bring hope into our lives. The gifts that gave me joy and excitement when I was a child are long gone. And yet I live in hope. What brings excitement into our lives is, let me suggest, the culmination of day to day living through the preceding years, and the hope we have of a future shared with people we love and who care about us. And God, as re-
The Anglican Communion is still Alive and Kicking
Typical. I take a few days off work and the Anglican Communion dies. Well, at least according to one blogger.Apparently, just because most journalists have finally tired of trotting the old ‘schism’ line and have instead started writing articles based on fact (e.g. the Archbishop of Canterbury›s call for economic justice for all), there is no longer a worldwide Communion of 85 million people who call themselves Anglican or Episcopalian. Writer Jesse Zink is right to suggest that some journalists should get out from behind their desks and visit parts of the Anglican world before writing such silliness. Nevertheless, what›s also true is that anyone with access to the Internet can easily learn the facts about the life and ministry of one of world›s largest Christian communities. Information on the life-changing work and relationships among members of Anglican agencies such as Mothers’ Union (present in 83 countries) or Mission to Seafarers (129 ports worldwide) is only a few clicks away. Visit a range of Anglican websites to learn about links between provinces, dioceses and churches around the globe; many of which enable mission and friendship to flourish in both locations.Anyone can easily find information about the numerous gatherings and initiatives that seek to co-ordinate and amplify
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Anglican life, work, theology and mission. ACC-15, Anglican women at the UN CSW, and the work of the Anglican Alliance are just a handful. Only yesterday a new website was launched for Continuing Indaba, an Anglican Communion initiative that aims to enable Anglicans worldwide “to live reconciliation by facing our own conflicts, celebrate our diversity and difference and so become agents of God’s reconciling Mission in the world”. So, isn’t it about time some journalists and bloggers stopped acting like Eric Idle’s character from Monty Python and the Holy Grail? Hitting the Anglican Communion with a club won’t kill it nor will it stop the vast majority of its members from getting on with God’s work and prayerfully figuring out how to live together? - By Jan Butter, Anglican Ink
Caledonia Times
Publication of the Anglican Diocese of Caledonia Editor: The Dean of Caledonia Published monthly, except July and August by: Diocese of Caledonia, 200 – 4th Avenue West Prince Rupert, BC V8J 1P3 (250) 627-1143 or (250) 600-7143 Address correspondence and copy to the address above. Or to caledoniatimes@gmail.com Submissions must be received by the 1st of the month for the next month’s issue. Send subscription orders, address changes Diocese of Caledonia c/o Anglican Journal 80 Hayden St. Toronto, Ontario M4Y 3G2 Printed and mailed by: Webnews Inc., North York, ON. Canada
Caledonia Times — December 2013
Hey! Wait an editoral minute... Can you make room for the Christ? It is amazing that we have come to the end of yet another year and we are making ready to celebrate the feast of Christmass (and no that is not a spelling mistake, it is how it used to be spelt!) we are into the busy-ness of another Advent, making preparations for the big day and all that will happen. This is also the time of year when I look back at all that has been said and done with thoughts of what the next year might hold, recognizing that 2014 is the undiscovered country. As I sit and write, I am listening to the water fall of the over flowing gutter outside my office window. It is a normal occurrence around here in Prince Rupert as the water pours out of the heavens. There is too much for the gutter system to handle. Thus I sit and listen to the water overflow that the gutters try unsuccessfully to impose. The water overflows because in spite of our best efforts to keep everything working well, the system has leaves and other things that nature brings with into it and clutter it up. One has to make time to sort things out. It has to be planned and we need to make room to get things done. Gutters. Meetings. Visits to the hospital and to shut ins and other places we have people who need care. Prayer. The reading of scripture. Participating in the Eucharist. tranporting a senior to an appointment. There is lots to do and to be done. It is in the busy and the bustle of this time year, we need to stop and ask ourselves: “Can we make room for Christ?” The Gospel of Luke reminds that when the time came, and the baby was ready to be delivered, there was no room in the Inn. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem more than 2 millennia ago they were able to find a stable with fresh straw and a way to keep everyone warm amongst the animals.
Books on the Way When I hear stories of children being snatched from their homes and taken to residential schools I am horrified. As a mother and grandmother I can imagine the pain those families felt. However, not all students went unwillingly to residential schools. I have a friend Margaret Fenton who chose to go. Despite it being her choice, Margaret suffered emotional and social pain from leaving her family and entering a world which had no respect for Inuit culture. Margaret Fenton was born Olemaun Pokiak on Banks Island in Canada’s high Arctic. The nearest mainland settlement was Tuktoyaktuk. Her story has been made into a children’s book called Fatty Legs by her daughter-in-law Christy JordanFenton. Christy tells the story of Olemaun/Margaret at home with her family on Banks Island and travelling to the Roman Catholic school in Inuvik where she stayed for two years. (The nuns renamed her Margaret.) Margaret wanted to learn Caledonia Times — December 2013
I have actually grown tired of hearing Christians complain that Christmas is too commercial and that it is not what it used to be or that it is not what it should be. I shudder every time I hear or see the slogan “Keep Christ in Christmas”. Should we as churches, as faith communities be surprised when bishops and clergy in the Church in the developed world, openly deny that there was a miracle through which our Saviour was brought to us – a miracle done in the darkness of a young woman’s womb? Is it any more powerful or wondrous that a woman encounters the risen Christ outside another earthen womb, from which he has been raised from the dead to new life? If we are not living out the incarnational realities of the life of Christ (his birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension) then what can the world see and hear that would cause them to receive Christ? What would cause you to stop and make room for the Christ child in your life and home? What it is that we say about him in the Creed when we gather? Jesus was is “begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, through whom all things were made; who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man...” Christ’s entrance into this world made it possible for him to be who he is and for him to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. His incarnation makes us holy and draws us home to our heavenly Father. All we need do is let him in.
life. Making room for an unexpected child must have been a fearful thing even knowing that God was in it all and that God was going to look after her. Yet Mary stepped out in faith and said, “I am the Lord’s servant. Let it be to me as you have said.” (Luke 3.29) What room is left within each and all of us to allow Christ in to speak to us? What room is there in each of our lives for the kingdom to grow, extend and expand? Are we willing to make room for Christ? As much as the day is to be about family, presents, lots of good food, twinkling lights, noisy games, more food and so on, what room do you make for Christ on his day? If his own people will not receive and welcome him, why should the rest of the world take notice? Perhaps then, this is the Christmass that we make Christ our first gift to each other and to the world. For those who do welcome him, they receive the power to become the children of God. Merry Christmas to you all! Maranatha! Jason+
Editor, Caledonia Times.
And I am not suggesting that it is easy. It’s not. It’s a fearful thing. Consider Jesus’ Mother, Mary. She took what God asked of her when it could have cost her everything: a marriage to a good man; her family, her friends and her to read and pestered her parents to allow her to go away to school. Her father, who had attended residential school himself, resisted but eventually gave in. Margaret was very homesick at the school and disappointed that she had to spend the summer months working for the nuns and brothers instead of learning to read. Christy Fenton tells the story from the young Margaret’s point of view. From the beginning we feel sympathy for this spunky Inuit child. At the school she is picked on by staff and students for having a mind of her own. She deals with her unpopularity by throwing herself into her studies. The title Fatty Legs comes from the red stockings which Margaret was given to wear. No one else was given red stockings and Margaret felt that they made her legs look wide. This is a children’s story book. The coloured illustrations by Liz Amini-Holmes complement the text beautifully. As suits a children’s book the print is fairly large. A map is included at the beginning to set the stage for the story. While Christy Fenton shows Margaret being afraid of some of the adults no physical or sexual abuse is
included. After the story we are given 15 pages of “Olemaun’s Scrapbook.” Some of the photos are of her family and others from the archives to show what life was like in the Arctic at that time. The book ends with biographical statements on the author, the subject (Margaret), and the illustrator. This is, as the cover says, “A True Story.” It has value in that it allows us to understand the girl Margaret not to pity her. See Fatty Legs on the bottom of page 4 Page 3
From across the Church
Surfin’ for the Lord For information on the Anglican residential schools and the Canadian Government’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission go to <www.anglican. ca/relationships/trc>. The home page features two videos one with National Indiginous Anglican Bishop Mark MacDonald and the other with Primate Archbishop Fred Hiltz. Below these there are three categories: History, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and Learn and act. “History” gives access to a map of the residential schools and histories of individual Anglican schools. Under “Learn and act” click on reflections on reconciliation to view a video by Bishop Barbara Andrews (Parishes of the Central Interior) whose father attended a residential school. This is an organized and informative website which can provide a start to understanding the residential school issue. Happy surfing! Ruby.
GAFCON Crossings
from Page 1
“To affirm and endorse the position of the Primates Council in providing oversight in cases where Provinces and Dioceses compromise biblical faith, including the affirmation of a duly discerned call to ministry. This may involve ordination and consecration if the situation requires.” Crossing of ecclesiastical boundaries to support beleaguered conservative groups was discouraged by the Windsor Report and was among the moratoria set down by the Anglican Communion’s instruments of unity. The moratoria on blessing same sex unions and the consecration of persons who have entered such unions has not been honored by the Episcopal Church and Anglican Church of Canada. - courtesy of Anglican Ink.
Did the crook take the crosier? The Bishop of Qu’Appelle’s crozier has gone missing from St Paul’s Cathedral, Regina, in the Saskatchewan district of Canada; amid fears that it may have been taken by thieves.
The Dean of Regina, the Very Revd Mike Sinclair, says he fears that a thief may throw it away when he releases that it can’t be sold. After an interview with a local radio station, Dean Sinclair (@sinclairic) took to social networking site Twitter to summarise the cathedral’s position. He said: “Just gave @GlobalRegina interview re: stolen crozier: In nutshell: U can›t sell it, & we care & don›t want u 2 go 2 jail. Pls give it back». The who was have amid
cathedral has spoken to everybody may have had access to it in case it simply moved; but now the police been informed of its disappearance fears that it may have been stolen.
Dean Sinclair told local newspaper the Regina Leader-Post, that the crozier was irreplaceable. «This was made by a company that was in England in the late 1880s. They’re no longer around. The materials and the craftsmanship would be something completely different to have it redone again. It’s nearly impossible to sell. We’d love to have it back, it’s part of our family history, but at the same time we’re concerned for who has stolen it, that they don’t end up with more trouble than they need, when it would just be easy to return it.»
The Dean hopes that the thief will return the crozier, which has been valued at 15,000 Canadian dollars, in a similar way to the anonymous return of 10,000 Canadian dollars› worth of stolen artefacts from Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, earlier this year. Saskatchewan Anglican
Peace activist acquitted
“Fatty Legs”
from page 3
We know that some people experienced terrible abuse at the residential schools. It takes a book like Fatty Legs to give us insight into the emotional and social hardships that the children endured.
In a sequel called A Stranger at Home Christy
Jordan-Fenton tells of Margaret’s difficulties adjusting when she returns to her family. In the two years away she had lost her native language and become accustomed to outsiders’ food. With the help of her father she becomes reintegrated into the family. While both books are recommended generally they are ideally suited for a Grade 4/5 level. Jordan-Fenton, Christy, and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton. Fatty Legs. Toronto: Annick Press, 2010. Page 4
Audrey Tobias, the 89-year-old peace activist and parishioner of St. Cuthbert, in Toronto, was found not guilty of violating the federal Statistics Act. Tobias was charged for refusing to fill out the 2011 census form because the government awarded the contract for the census information technology to Lockheed Martin, the American arms giant. She said she was grateful for the verdict, as well as for the media attention that the case brought to the issue, which was not public knowledge. In his ruling, Judge Ramez Khawly chastised the federal department of justice for prosecuting the case, which he called “mean-spirited.” The Anglican (Toronto) Brown chairs new Youth Secretariat The Anglican Church of Canada’s newly established Youth Secretariat is up and running, following its first-ever meeting on Sept. 25 in Arnprior, Ont. Matthew Brown, a youth missioner from the diocese of Ottawa, is its first chair. The meeting was held following the Stronger Together conference of Anglican and Lutheran youth ministry leaders from across Canada, which took place in Arnprior from Sept. 22 to 25. Created by way of a motion at
General Synod 2010 in Halifax, the secretariat is charged with advising General Synod with respect to the strategic direction of all youth ministries supported by the national church. Brown said the secretariat will work closely with its Lutheran counterparts. Crosstalk (Ottawa) Priest-poet wins international prize Mia Anderson, a priest in the diocese of Quebec, is the 2013 winner of the $20,000 Montreal International Poetry Prize for her poem, “The Antenna.” The poem, chosen from among 2,000 submissions, will be published as part of the 2013 Global Poetry Anthology, with 50 other poems that were shortlisted. Anderson served a parish in St. Michel’s Sillery in Quebec City before retiring to Portneuf on the shore of the St. Lawrence River. Anderson is an actress who spent 25 years on the stage in the U.K. in London, Edinburgh and Manchester, as well as across Canada, including five seasons at the Stratford Festival and a national tour of her one-woman show, 10 Women, 2 Men and a Moose. She has published four books of poetry. Montreal Anglican New parish, new name Two parishes with four churches, along with Anglicans from nearby towns, have amalgamated in the diocese of Qu’Appelle. The Parish of Touchwood Trail (St. John’s, Fort Qu’Appelle and St. Cuthbert’s, Dysart, with members from Cupar) and the Parish of Holy Faith (St. Paul’s, Balcarres, All Saints, Katepwa and the towns of Abernethy and Ituna) were having a hard time choosing a new name. New incumbent the Rev. Warren Huestis suggested looking at the saints listed in the Book of Alternative Services and picking a few that best reflected what parishioners felt was their mission in that region of Saskatchewan. They voted for Thomas Cranmer and Richard Hooker (Teachers of the Faith). With Bishop Rob Hardwick’s approval, all Anglicans in the area now will be part of Teachers of the Faith Parish. Saskatchewan Anglican
Comic Corner
Caledonia Times — December 2013