Letters from 20 to
26 October 2008
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Anyone can
say what is wrong
The Primate
of Australia like many other church people has protested at the ending
of the Religion Report on our most intelligent radio station, ABC Radio
National. I was surprised to find bloggers on the Sydney Diocesan site
approving the abolition because, they wrote, the presenter was a Roman
Catholic critical of Sydney Diocese and because the program presented
a variety of views.(Eight other specialist programs have also been dropped.)
I am dismayed, however, now to find that, according to your report,Sydney's
spokesman,Bishop Forsyth,also approves of the ending of the program.
As a child
and teenager, I grew up in a middle-of-the-road Sydney parish (in the
40s one third of the parishes fell into that category - very few do now).
Later in life, I was Rector for 22 years of a similar (BCP) Sydney parish,
and for 10 years I have been an honorary chaplain (unauthorised by the
Diocese) in a large hospital with many C. of E. patients, although a
hospital where in all that time we have found Uniting Church, Roman Catholic,
Orthodox, Baptist and Congregational people willing to help (and Muslims
and Buddhists) but not one Anglican priest.
Traditionally
liberal in theology, culturally and liturgically conservative - an endangered
species, and banned from preaching at the main services in my local church
for 8 years, I am sorry that the extremes on both sides have grown so
much stronger over the years in the Church of Australia and in some places
elsewhere, and not least that my Diocese though growing rich financially
has now grown very poor when it comes to willingness to enter into dialogue
with Anglicans who are not dinky-or to give a place for them in its councils
- or room for other views in its large, glossy monthly
Next year
it is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on "Connect 09" hoping
still for the growth in numbers in "Bible-based" churches that the last
10 years' of increasingly narrow "evangelism" has not achieved. For example,
750,000 Gospels of S.Luke are to be distributed (great!) but with an
Introduction that in this Darwin anniversary year begins with Adam and
Eve! That will hardly connect with many thinking people including listeners
to the former Religion Report.
In general,
I dislike those who only complain. Churchill said "any fool can say what
is wrong". Despite my now ancient,agnostic mind, there is "joy in my
heart" for there are always so many blessings that we can count, including
the fresh insights from those whose outlook and gifts are different to
our own. But despite the very real riches that Sydney Diocese can share,
its extreme,un-Anglican, superficial puritanism, I think, is only alienating
people from our Church and aiding the forces of secularism.
When the Diocese
is so wealthy and so powerful, Anglicans and Episcopalians elsewhere
need to be aware.
The Revd Dr
John Bunyan
St John the Baptist's, Canberra
Campbelltown, New South Wales, AUSTRALIA
jrbpilgrim@bocnet.com.au
20 October 2008
Ne pas déranger
As
a professional language translator and
occasional essayist, I found your article on Anglicanism as the Anglican
lingo very interesting. It does comfort one's soul to feel (no matter
how wishful that may be), that one could walk into St. John's Anglican
Church in Kuala Lumpur or St. James's in Edmonton and not need to...deranger
les gens...as the French put it, in order to
hear the Word.
Obi Udeariry
St Andrew's, Aladinma, Owerri
Owerri, NIGERIA
netwalker55@yahoo.es
20 October 2008
Your language
needs fixed
As a long-time
student of Pittsburghese, I can tell you that the proper expression for "have
you had dinner (or another meal) is "Djeat jet?" not "Djeat yet?" as
you have it. The correct negative answer is "No, jew?"
But it is
a real dialect of American English, with many colorful expressions. I
fell in love with Pittsburgh years ago...
Pierre Whalon
Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe
Paris, FRANCE
bishop@tec-europe.org
20 October 2008
(Ed: we'll
red up our act.)
Do let courtesy
prevail
Just a note
to say thank you for fostering a fairly even-handed website.
I read a variety
of “Anglican” websites from Thinking Anglicans to Virtue
Online, and many in-between. While each of these reveals its bias,
the actual commentary is quite rarely outrageous. On the other-hand,
those that write-in/post to the other various sites spill gallons of
virtual vitriol ink. Maybe you simply cull the letters which are of the
same ilk, maybe those who write-in to Anglicans Online wish to be above
that sort of writing, either way yours is a much more pleasant place
from which to read. Keep up the great work and where disagreement exists
let courtesy prevail.
blessings,
Steve+
CH (CPT) Steven
Rindahl
Still Looking for my parish
Fort Gordon, Georgia, USA
21 October 2008
(Ed: we
rarely get vitriolic letters, and we never publish them. Which is probably
why we rarely get them.)
Earlier letters
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