Week
of 10 December 2006
Advent
Resources
A
Bach Christmas Calendar. BBC Radio 3 provides this
attractive online calendar for the month of December, which approximates
Advent closely enough that we've listed it here.
Australia
Parishes
Queensland: Aspley-Albany Creek, Church
of the Resurrection (Brisbane)
Book
Reviews
The
Church of England and the Holocaust: Christianity, Memory and Nazism,
by Tom Lawson, is reviewed by Alan Wilkinson. 'The Church of England
and the Holocaust is an important, controversial, meticulously researched
(though repetitive) study of the way in which Anglicans understood and
responded to Nazism and its persecution of the Jews. It contends that
the Anglican understanding of the Third Reich markedly shaped the British
response to Nazism.'
Faith and Politics after Christendom: The Church as a Movement for Anarchy, by Jonathan Bartley, is reviewed by Kenneth Leech. 'The "after Christendom" theme is now very popular, and is being taken up by younger people, although Stanley Hauerwas, Stuart Murray, and others have been promoting it for years... The issue with which the book is concerned
is: what will happen to the political involvement of Christians in the new situation? "Everything seems to point to the growing, not diminishing, politicisation of Christians", he says. But what kind of politicisation?'
The
Fate of Communion: The Agony of Anglicanism and the Future of a
Global Church, by Ephraim Radner and Philip Turner, is reviewed
by Vincent Strudwick. 'The
authors seek to engage us in an examination of the "nature
and calling of the Church" in a context that they describe
as being occasioned by "a
host of moral issues that face all the Churches in the West and increasingly
in the Global South as well"... there are attitudes to which
I warm and information I am glad to reflect on; but, seductive
though it is, the authors tell us only a partial story, and their
solution is flawed. I fear that if we follow their lead, the outcome
will be a Communion that has lost both its historic inclusiveness
and its benign ethos.'
The Future of the Parish System, edited by Stephen Croft is reviewed by Bill Bowder. An extract of the book is also available in an article 'The Darker Side of Parish Life" which follows the review.
New York Times Sunday Book Review: The 10 best books of 2006 (Subscription not needed for synopsis of books.)
Books,
Magazines, Authors
Flying
Saucers and Christmas: Each year award-winning preacher
Dr. Leander S. Harding has set himself the discipline of preparing
a Christmas Eve sermon for people who had no previous exposure
to the Christian message. The result: sermons about flying saucers,
aliens, teddy bears and angels and above all about the costly love
of God for the human race.
Canada
Parishes
Saskatchewan: Humboldt, St
Andrew (Saskatoon)
Saskatchewan: Regina, St
Matthew (Qu'Appelle)
Saskatchewan: Swift
Current, St
Stephen the Martyr (Qu'Appelle)
Church
History
Archives
of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.
'This website has been created to provide
a way of accessing the Shrine's archives.
We hope that it will particularly meet
the needs of the later generations of
pilgrims, and of those who never knew
Walsingham in Fr Patten's lifetime, who
are curious to know how it all started.'
This site provides a wealth of information,
but its cluttered presentation can be
confusing.
History
of the Diocese of Fond du Lac and Its Several Congregations 1875-1925,
by A. Parker Curtiss (1925). This detailed semi-centennial history
of the Diocese of Fond du Lac in northeastern Wisconsin includes
nearly sixty photographs of church leaders, parish churches and diocesan
institutions.
Koro,
by James West Stack (1909). This rare book by J.W.
Stack (1835-1919) tells
the story of Te Koro Mautai (d. 1884) a Maori Anglican who worked for
nearly three decades full time as an unpaid catechist, vestryman, church
warden and lay reader.
England
Parishes
Arborfield and Barkham Churches [St Bartholemew, Arborfield; St James,
Barkham; White House School, Wokingham] (Oxford)
Emmbrook, St
Nicholas Community Church (Oxford)
Eynsham, St Leonard (Oxford)
Flackwell Heath, Christ
Church (Oxford)
Joydens Wood, St
Barnabas (Rochester)
Wallingford
Team Ministry [St Agatha, Brightwell-cum-Sotwell; St Mary-le-More,
Wallingford; St Mary Magdalene, Crowmarsh Gifford; St James, Brightwell-cum-Sotwell;
St Leonard, Wallingford] (Oxford)
Episcopal
Elections or Announcements
Complete
On 9 December the Reverend Dabney Smith was elected on the first ballot
as bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of Southwest Florida. Ballot results
are available at
this address.
Events
USA: North Carolina, Lake Logan Episcopal Center, Canton, August
6 -11, 2007: Congregational Leadership for the 21st Century. Epiphany
Institute. 'Inspired by real-world experience and developed
by a consortium of veteran clergy, the Epiphany Institute program
addresses congregational development issues not in isolation, but
as part of a comprehensive landscape. Drawing on the tradition
of the Magi, Epiphany calls participants to "Look Up" to
re-orient themselves to the light of Christ. Part retreat, part
professional conference, church development program provides the
reflective opportunities needed for leaders' own spiritual journey
as well as the congregational tools and direction needed for guiding
today's churches; $699 to $999; Epiphany Institute, 130 39th Avenue
Place, NW, Hickory, NC 28601, (864)324-1351; Email: akridge@epiphanyinstitute.org.
[For the 2007 Institute, Sunday is set aside as a travel
day with accommodations available at Lake Logan. Institute begins
on Monday at noon.]
Letters
to Anglicans Online
Have
a read. Write a letter of your own to
us for possible publication.
New
Zealand
Parishes
Parish of Pauatahanui [St
Alban, Pauatahanui; St Andrew, Plimmerton; St Mark, Pukerua Bay;
St Philip, Paremata] (Wellington)
Resources
Social Justice Commission of the
Anglican Church:
'The Anglican Social Justice Commissioner works with and for the whole Anglican Church (Maori, Pakeha, and Pasifika) in this province, and is supported by the Commission. Together, they seek to encourage all Christians to think and live "justly",
and emphasise debate and action on local, national and global issues.'
Based in Wellington.
News
Centre
PR wars continue in US Episcopal Church. Sydney priest worries diocese
becoming a cult. Australian church starts selling assets. Bishop of
California arrested in anti-war protest. Annual Christmas message from
ABC. All this, and more, in the News Centre.
Odds
and Ends
Society of the Descendants
of the Colonial Clergy: 'An applicant must
have a proven lineal, lawful descent from a clergyman who was regularly
ordained, installed, or settled over a Christian church within the limits
of the thirteen [American] colonies prior to July 4, 1776, and must be
acceptable to the National Council of the Society.' Founded in 1933.
Scotland
Parishes
Lanark, Christ Church (Glasgow and Galloway)
Support
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Thanks
...to
all who have helped us through their gifts. We are deeply grateful
to those who allow their names to be listed and those who choose to
remain anonymous.
USA
Parishes
Alabama: Birmingham, St Thomas (Alabama)
Pennsylvania: Downingtown, St James (Pennsylvania)
Pennsylvania: Doylestown, St Paul (Pennsylvania)
Pennsylvania: Gwynedd, Church of the Messiah (Pennsylvania)
Pennsylvania: Norristown, All Saints (Pennsylvania)
Pennsylvania: Rockledge, Holy Nativity (Pennsylvania)
Pennsylvania: Royersford, Epiphany (Pennsylvania)
Vacancies
Centre
List a parish or diocesan opening for one month at AO — at no charge.
What a bargain! The more you use our free service, the more useful it
will become for all.
India: Church North India. Meerut, St John (Diocese AGRA). Preachers.
For more information on this and other vacancies, see our Vacancies Centre.
Seeking a position? Scan vacancy pages on diocesan web sites with vacancies
listings throughout the communion.
World
Parishes
India: Meerut, St John (Agra)
Anglican
Resources around the World
Church
of North India Tsunami Relief and Rehabilitation Programme: This
site's focus is the immediate and ongoing response of the Church of
North India to the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Maison
de Naissance: Torbeck, Haiti. 'a maternity center designed as
a birthing home. Our mission is to provide preferential care for
mothers and babies in extreme poverty in Haiti. The services of a
modern maternity center are offered in the hospitality of a safe,
culturally appropriate, welcoming, and friendly home'. Affiliated
with the Diocese of West Missouri; Children's Medical Missions of
Haiti; St Luke's Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri; and the Haitian
Episcopal Learning Partnerships (HELP) Foundation.
Synodical
Board of Health Services, Church of North India: Through eight regional
health boards, 60 hospitals and 22 nursing schools, the SBHS works toward
'empowering local congregation[s] for holistic engagement of mission'.
Synodical Board of Social Services,
Church of North India: 'SBSS came into being as soon as the Church
was inaugurated in 1970. It was conceived as an expression of Churches’ concern
for the poor and issues related to Justice and Human Rights.'
Worth
Noting
The
Archbishop of Canterbury's 2006 Christmas Message
Evil-minded parishioners making life hell for clergy, Ruth Gledhill reports in The Times (London).
It
is not a crime to hold traditional values: Rowan Williams writes
in the Times Higher Education Supplement. 'What is still puzzling
about the debate over Christian unions in some colleges and universities
being refused recognition by student unions is the underlying assumption
that seems to be at work. It's as if these student unions are saying
that disagreement itself is disturbing — that having different
convictions is so violently disruptive that no open exchange can
be allowed.'
The
shaping of the Bible: Souren Melikian, writing in the International
Herald Tribune, reviews the collection of early Bible fragments on display
at the Arthur M Sackler Gallery in Washington DC. |
