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If God were and LED strip |
Today was the most exciting day by far. Today we elected a new primate for the Church! After breakfast we made our way to Holy Trinity Anglican Church. There the Archbishop Hutchison presided over a celebration of the Holy Eucharist. The preacher for this event was Archbishop Thomas Morgan.
After the celebration, the bishops left the church and the clergy and the laity were seperated into two different sections to proceed with the election. This event was held in a prayerful atmosphere and at the fifth ballot, the Right Reverend Fred Hiltz was proclaimed as the 13th Primate of the ACC. His wife was in the church as an observer to witness her husbands success. The Primate-elect promised to his Church that he would do his new job to the best of his ability.
Since this was over before the scheduled time that was alloted, we had some free time to rest and refresh our weary souls.
In the evening we witnessed the installation of the first aboriginal bishop for the Church. The Right Reverend Mark MacDonald, was installed into his office and given a miter and stole embroidered with the symboles of the first nations peoples. In addition to this he and his family were given many symbolic things to aid MacDonald in his new ministry.
Stay tuned for tomorrow when the BIG issues will be discussed.
So today’s the big day! This morning started like any other with home groups, where a discussion surrounding Baptism as a requirement to receive Communion arose out of the appointed topic. Basically, the argument was that if anyone comes to the Communion table, they should be received (just as you would feed a visitor at your family table), regardless of Baptismal status. OH BOY! I’m obviously NOT there, and neither were some others in the group, but the fact that anyone is questioning Baptism is a real challenge to me.
On to business. The St. Michael report was presented with a motion to receive it as well. Bishop Victoria Matthews handled lots of questions and comments on the report after her presentation, out of which the quote above came. It was given in the context of explaining that even though different levels of doctrine were defined in the St. Michael Report, doctrine is a continuum in that changes to any doctrine affect other things beyond the issue at hand. The motion to receive the report and accept its conclusions passed with a slight amendment.
One quote I have to pass along that Bishop Matthews heard this week: “So far in the closet that you can see Narnia.”
More from BSSU this afternoon, along with some procedural resolutions on Governance that are not going as smoothly as expected. I’ll check back later.
Side note: I’ve met a couple of the other GS2007 bloggers and would like to give them a nod here: Steve London (http://revstevelondon.blogspot.com/) and Joe Walker (http://joewalker.blogs.com/) are both priests from the Diocese of Edmonton and good fellows. Joe has already linked us in the past.
We spent most of this afternoon in “Committee of the Whole”, having general discussion on BSSU. Comments were mostly high quality and respectful, and came from a wide range of perspectives. Resolutions will be debated and voted on tonight.
As well, we held provincial caucus meetings to elect CoGS (Council of General Synod) representatives - and our diocese got 2 elected! Our very own Jeffrey Petten is the youth representative for the Province of Canada, while The Venerable John Dinn (Parish of St. Philip’s) is one of the 2 clergy from our province. We will have good representation for the next triennium (3 years before next General Synod). The CoGS election process is indeed bizarre, as I mentioned a few days ago, but it DOES work! (And you can figure it out as you get into it…)
One other item to note is that (Lay!) Canon Robert Falby was elected as Deputy Prolocutor this morning.
Our BSSU debate has been suspended for the evening (and the internet has not been working in my hotel room since I got back - maybe due to the CRAZY thunder and lightning storm that’s just moving on??) There were LOTS of procedural motions, points of order and the like tonight, but in the end, here are the highlights: Motion to ensure the 2 big resolutions would need 60% of votes in each Order defeated (along with a proposed amendment that would have seen 2/3 + 2 sessions of Synod to pass); Motion to refer the question on whether BSSU is “not in conflict with” core doctrine to the Primate’s Theological Commission defeated; Motion to go to secret ballot defeated; Motion to close debate with 16 people still waiting at microphones defeated; Motion to extend the agenda tonight defeated.
So we are suspended until tomorrow’s session, where a simple majority will decide the 2 big resolutions (unless something else changes). Stay tuned…
Side note: The Lutheran National Convention on now here in Winnipeg voted against BSSU today. We got the news just before session started this evening.
BSSU debate continued this morning, which is when the above comment was made. It is obvious there is no consensus on the issues at hand. Another call to postpone the resolution until further theological study could occur was narrowly defeated (6 votes) in the House of Clergy and Lay, which shows just how divided things are.
Long story short, amended resolution A186 just passed, which states: “That this General Synod resolves that the blessing of same-sex unions is not in conflict with the core doctrine (in the sense of being credal) of the Anglican Church of Canada.” 152 for/97 against in the House of Clergy and Lay, 21 for/19 against in the House of Bishops.
The GS2004 deferred resolution was just presented when we broke for lunch. This is the motion that would take action on BSSU (so-called local option). Debate to follow lunch.
Archbishop Sentamu commented during the debate that he was surprised at how much the Spirit is being invoked here, since Anglicans are not usually that way. A related quote from a member during the debate: “When Anglicans come to Synod, they cease being Anglicans and start being Pentecostals, as the Holy Spirit is at work everywhere!” |
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