| WHAT'S INSIDE A Place to Begin Welcome! Start here to learn about being Anglican. New This Week Linked in the last two weeks. Lambeth Conference Links, resources, sites. News and Issues Our News Centre links to coverage of major Anglican events. Hot Issues explores matters in greater depth. Dioceses and Parishes In UK and Europe, Canada, USA, and the world. Plus Anglican related churches not in communion with the See of Canterbury. Anglican Resources General resources, a page for youth ministers and young Anglicans, a section on music and religious orders. Discussion Join a mailing list, check out a web forum, or try a chat room. Details Our sponsors, awards and publicity, and the people behind this site. Add Your Site Tell Us What You Think This web site is maintained by volunteers. It is not official in any way, though does list links to official church sites and documents. © 1998 The Society of Archbishop Justus, Ltd |
Hallo again to all. How many is "all?" Our readership peaked at 40,000 hits/week during Lambeth, and has tapered off to about 18,000 hits/week. We are very glad you are one of them. We put a lot of time into editing AO each week, even when there aren't computer problems, and what gives us the strength to go on every week is the knowledge that you're out there, actually reading our web site, and benefitting from what we gather and what we write. Here in the former Colonies, where we edit and publish Anglicans Online, most of us no longer think twice about the ordination of women. It's just part of life here. Good ale, on the other hand, is cause for wonder and celebration. Even people who don't drink ale understand the concept of it. So we couldn't help but chortle at the item reported in our News Centre about the husband of a newly-ordained deacon who brewed up some Curate's Choice bitter to celebrate the event. Earlier this year there was a bit of a row in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA, when a parish and its rector seceded from the local diocese to affiliate with the Diocese of Shyira in Rwanda. The potential schismatic effect of this action was sufficiently alarming to the world's bishops that a resolution on Diocesan Boundaries was passed at the 1998 Lambeth Conference. Perhaps as a result of this resolution being fresh in everyone's mind, when another such potentially schismatic situation arose, the Bishop of Pittsburgh, the Rt. Rev. Robert W. Duncan, took a different approach. Two memorable Bishops have died recently. In England, the Rt. Rev. Brian Masters, Area Bishop of Edmonton, died on the job; his passing was noted in The Independent and in The Times. And in Australia, the Rt. Rev. John Hazlewood, retired Bishop of Ballarat and former Dean of Perth, passed on earlier this month. His passing was best noted in The Courier, with articles on his death, the community's reaction, and his memorial service. It is worth noting that both of these men were vigorously opposed to the ordination of women. Daughters of the King is a lay religious order for women which is adding chapters at the rate of a dozen a month. It will not take stands on issues and forbids fund-raising. What the Daughters do permit, and in fact take vows to promote, is prayer, service and evangelism. The 113-year-old order, founded at Church of the Resurrection in New York gives women a way to deepen their spiritual life and the community of a small group. I live in Palo Alto, California, arguably the technology centre of the world. I am surrounded by techno-devices, lasers, wireless communication. I have been stopped on the street by a beggar and asked for money "to buy a floppy disk." I have actually worn an outfit similar to the "bunny suits" shown in Intel adverts (I had to wear such garb to be inside a MEBES work area, listening to the people around me talk about lanthanum hexaborate cathodes). So when I see mentions of archbishops and professors of theology at Oxford, and lectures at the Lambeth Library (built in the 15th century) I think longingly of parchment, quill pens, swords at the belt, and the musty smell of ancient stone. Imagine my surprise when, upon getting copies of the correspondence between Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch and Archbishop George Carey, I saw on the letterheads that these correspondents have fax, cell phones, and email. Shatter my illusions, will you? Those of you with sharp eyes and an awareness of the calendar will have noted that the letter sent by Archbishop Carey had the date wrong in its request that the letter be read in every parish. If you actually read the correspondence referred to in the previous paragraph, you will have noticed that His Grace's letter is dated several days earlier than the letter to which it is a reply. I have never understood why the item hanging in my parish hall is called a Kalendar and not a Calendar, but, whatever it is, I intend to send one to the Archbishop straightaway, as he probably cannot afford a deLorean.. See you next week. Whoever I am.
|
