May 2007 - 1 A Section of the Anglican Journal
Bishop Burton named Co-Chair of AnglicanRoman Catholic Dialogue of Canada by Staff PRINCE ALBERT (Sask) - Bishop Burton has been appointed Co-Chair of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue of Canada. Established in 1971, the Dialogue gathers theologians twice a year for three days of prayer and serious theological reflection. The Dialogue has borne much fruit addressing pastoral concerns between the two churches. For example, it developed common Canadian guidelines for the pastoral care of interchurch marriages (1987); guidelines for the transfer of clergy from one communion to another in Canada (1991). It has made significant contribution to North American and international agreements as well - notably on Salvation and the Church (1990); Reflections on the Experience of Women's Ministries (1991); an Agreed Statement on Infallibility (1992); a Reply to the Vatican Response to the Final Report (1993); Life in Christ: Morals, Communion and the Church (1994); The Gift of Authority (1998). It issued its own response to the 2000 letter of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Dominus Iesus. The Canadian Dialogue hopes to complete this fall a response to the most recent ARCIC document, Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ (2006). It also has contributed to other interchurch dialogues. For example, the
proposals for full communion between Anglicans and Lutherans were brought to this Dialogue for comments at every stage of the process leading up to the Waterloo Declaration. Members of the Dialogue exchange information on behalf of their Churches and make friends across their denominational boundaries. The Dialogue has given public forums on its work and has participated in forums held by the Canadian Council of Churches. This theologians' meeting has been complemented for much of its history by an annual meeting of Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops at the national level. In the future, the Dialogue will likely engage Ecclesiological issues related to the Windsor Report and the St. Michael Report. The Roman Catholic Co-Chair is the Most Rev. Francois Lapierre, Bishop of St. Hyacinth, Quebec. The other members are Roman Catholics Dr. Cathy Clifford, Rev. Luis Melo, Dr. Susan Brown, Rev. Gilles Routhier, Rev. Jacques Faucher, and Ms. Janet Somerville; and Anglicans Ms. Ann Cruickshank, Rev. Kevin Flynn, Rev. Dr. David Neelands, Capt. the Rev. Michelle Staples, Dr. Joe Mangina, and the Rev. Canon Alyson Barnett Cowan (Secretary). Bishop Burton succeeds the Most Rev. Bruce Stavert, Archbishop of Quebec, who has served as Anglican Co-Chair since 1998.
St. Mathews Regina Mothering Sunday Pie Social an Established Tradition by Brenda Machin REGINA - The Mothering Sunday Pie Social at St. Matthew's church was a great success. This annual event with a forty year history was brought here when St. Michael/Regina closed and some of the members moved to St. Matthew bringing with them the activity. This tradition has become a highlight of spring. The Pie Social is an event with an amazing number of pies baked, eaten and sold to those who want to continue to enjoy the taste of a home made pie when they eat home. All members of the church get involved in organising and hosting its annual event. The willingness to provide fresh-baked pies, especially the favourite
l emon meringue and the much sought after saskatoon berry, makes organising easy. Pie is cut, ice cream scooped, coffee and tea poured, dishes gathered: all in a welcoming atmosphere of sharing. There also are prizes for those who attend. Guessing the number of jellybeans in the rose bowl at each table can add to the sugar that is taken home. Thanks to the congregation and local businesses great raffle prizes are also awarded. These too are part of the tradition. The Pie Social is special for more than just the opportunity to enjoy home-made pie. It is an example of how traditions can be embraced and continued as Anglicans join in worship and community.
Bishop’s Message from the Right Reverend Gregory Kerr-Wilson, Bishop of Qu’Appelle
Photo Contributed
The Right Reverend Gregory KerrWilson, Bishop of Qu’Appelle I am aware that most folk will be reading this piece in the middle of the Easter Season, while I, because of printing deadlines, write on Maundy Thursday, on the verge of the celebration of our Lord's Passion and death. It seems odd, but at the same time very right. The Easter season stretches on for a full 50 days in the life of the church and it has always interested me that in a culture that values celebration and partying as high points in human life, we are rarely able to carry our Easter celebrations much beyond the first couple of weeks. On one hand, it may be because we have a very limited notion of what celebration is all about. After all, there is only so much chocolate and cheerfulness we can take before we need a rest and recuperation. On the other hand, I wonder if perhaps it is because we are not really clear on what the resurrection is really all about. Certainly we know that “Christ is risen,” and we know the lines about sin and death being defeated, which means that when our lives end on this earth, there is more to come in heaven. Unfortunately it is far too easy to slip into the mindset that this is all about life after death, about something that God does to assure us that death is not the ultimate end. In fact, the resurrection is not, in the first place, about life after death at all. The resurrection is
Regina Hospital Chaplains On Call by staff REGINA - The hospital chaplaincy is available to all Anglican people from out of town who are patients in the Wascana Centre and the General and Pasqua hospitals says the Reverent John Matheson. Regina stipendiary clergy and a number of retired priests in rotation attach them-
TO THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER SEEN THE FLOW AND EBB OF GOD'S GRACE IN THEIR LIVES, IT MEANS NOTHING.
TO
THOSE
WHO HAVE SEEN IT, EVEN FLEETINGLY, EVEN ONLY ONCE
(ADEODATUS)
-
IT IS LIFE ITSELF.
Therefore having been justified by faith,we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1
about Life in this life, about our relationship to the one who is Life itself - and then, as a result, about the continuance of that relationship through this earthly life into the next. Paul reminds us that “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) At the heart of the resurrection is reconciliation. Not in the mundane human sense of two individuals laying aside their disagreements in order to get along, but in a far more profound, life and death kind of way. In the offering of himself upon the cross for the sin of the world, the “sundered” relationship between God, the source of life, and us, the created recipients of that life, is healed in Jesus. The passion, death and resurrection are all one event. Resurrection is living out the triumph of Christ in our own lives and allowing that life to pervade us more and more, until we are transformed. As Paul says, “if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” and “he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:17, 21) We celebrate then, not only in words, songs and banquets, but in living and proclaiming a whole new and different way of life in Jesus Christ, worked out in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. It's a long way from chocolate and cheerfulness and a whole different way of looking at celebration. In the coming months, we as members of dioceses that help form the Anglican Church of Canada will be addressing issues through our General Synod which have been divisive and contentious. For many, this will be a difficult time, but even more importantly, a time to remember this gift of resurrection life in Christ. I pray, and invite you to pray, that we will remember that we are a new creation, that the old ways of being - of politics and rancour and wilfulness - will be laid aside, so that whether in agreement or disagreement, “we might become the righteousness of God.”
selves to the
chaplaincy cell phone
(306.535.3115) and maintain a high level of availability.
There is also a message manager for occasions when the cell phone must be temporarily laid aside.The number may also be used in the case of urgent need for an in-town patient when the local clergy cannot be reached. It is important for out of town patients, especially emergency cases, that clergy, friends or family call this number to advise the chaplain that a patient is coming to a hospital in Regina. An element of continuity is provided as only the first chaplain making contact will continue to visit the patient.