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Hallo again to all.
A somewhat sad beginning to this week, with the hint of serious trouble in the Church
of England. Many of you will have heard that perhaps up to 1000 parishes, along with
a few bishops, are threatening to leave the Church of England and form a separate
church or province of some sort, primarily over the issue of General Synod's approval
five years ago of the ordination of women. You can read the front-page story in the
9 November Internet edition of the Sunday Times. (If you've not registered
to read the paper online, you can do so at the site. There is no charge.) No matter
what our own opinions about some of the controversial and perplexing issues facing
the Anglican Church today, none of us can be but terribly sad at any additional splintering
of the Body of Christ. Pray for our Church.
(10 November 1997 update: To balance the story above, have a look at the address by the Rev'd Dr Jeffrey John
given Monday night at the annual general meeting of Oxford branch of 'Affirming Catholicm'.
It provides a somewhat calmer perspective of the state of things in England at present.)
Another issue which, although not nearly as tragic as a potential schism, can cause
pain to some is whether children are truly welcome in churches.
A parishioner of church in Calgary, Alberta, Canada has addressed many of the issues
in a study she did for her parish and I suspect you'll find some of the questions
she raises quite provocative.
For those of us who at times long to escape, at least momentarily, the confusion
of the late 20th century, have a look at Dr Ed Friendlander's timeline of Anglican history and convince
yourself that every age has its difficulties and doubts. It's a slightly unwieldy
file, but worth working through for Dr Friendlander's informed and witty take on
the history of this branch of the Holy Catholic Church. If you make it to the end
of the file, the 'To Think About' section and the mini 'Anglican Quiz' are delightful.
If you like to range beyond the astonishing variety of the Anglican Communion to
the even more astonishing variety of the world's religions, have a look at this comprehensive
'Directory
of Internet Resources for the Academic Study of Religion'
organized into General Directories, Women and Religion, Art and Religion, Eastern
Religions, Western Religions, and Religion in the Americas. I followed a link to
the Christian
Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt and delightfully lost
an hour in the pursuit of links from that one page alone.
I have a plea from a correspondent for an email address for the Archbishop of Myanmar.
I cannot seem to locate one, but perhaps one of you might know -- or might know someone
who might know. If you do, please email me directly with the information.
See you next Sunday.
Cynthia McFarland
cmcf@justus.anglican.org
Last updated: 9 November 1997
URL: http://anglican.org/online
This web site is maintained privately by volunteers. It is not a sanctioned
organ of any official church body, though does list links to official church sites
and documents. ©1997 Society of Archbishop Justus
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