(All Perspectives messages are designed to be viewed with a non-proportional typeface, such as Courier or Terminal. To subscribe to, or unsubscribe from, this list, see the bottom of this message.) ___________________________________ p e r s p e c t i v e s by tod maffin may 23 1998 ____________________________________ t h e f i r s t w o r d Thanks to everyone for all the kind words about the coverage of this General Synod thus far. I'm doing my best to reply to everyone, but it might take me a while. So far on average, more than a hundred emails come in daily, with requests to send messages to members, to get more information about resolutions on the floor, etc. One of the most common questions I'm getting asked is how it all gets put together behind the scenes, so here's a quick summary. (If it sounds confused, it is! - because we're all kind of making this up as we go along.) Internet coverage, both email and web, is coordinated in the Media Centre, located two floors above the Plenary (in the only air conditioned room in the building ---- shhhh... don't tell anyone!). At least 5 or 6 times a day, we connect to the Internet to upload new photos and text to the web site, send news releases out, and transfer email. The Rev. Alan Perry from the Diocese of Montreal has been very helpful in this regard, supplying the local Internet hookup, on-standby for backup digital photography, and moderating our Internet discussion list (thanks Alan!!!). Media Centre staff are also assisting journalists covering the Synod and writing news releases as developments arise. When emails destined for our "Dispatches from the Internet" board are received, they are immediately printed in the newsroom, a runner takes them to Plenary hall, and they get taped to the board. Yes, your messages really do get posted within an hour or two of you sending them! And yes, Synod members are reading them! (A copy of the day's Perspectives is also posted.) In cases of urgent news from "the home front" we carry messages directly to the diocesan delegation at their table. As events of Synod unfold, we're out and about with digital cameras taking pictures and uploading them to the web site several times each day. With the help of staff and a few members on the floor, we're also trying to keep the ResolutionsTracker on the web site as up to date as possible. This is a real team effort and a challenge during the busy pace of Synod. Throughout the day, pieces of the next day's Perspectives issue begin coming together, from your emails, interesting tidbits from Synod members, and more. By about 10:00 pm each night, the first draft of Perspectives is written and a runner heads to the Plenary floor to pick up the Daily Report -- a summary of that day's events for members of the previous day. We then race to get it translated into French for the members the next morning, and add appropriate content into Perspectives. (Content from the Daily Report is noted in Perspectives with [DR] after the item.) After 10 pm, late coverage is added to the issue, photographs are processed for the web, sound files are digitized and uploaded, and -- with any luck -- I can be in bed by 2:30 am. :-) Early the next morning, our team meets for breakfast then that day's Perspectives issue (the one prepared the night before) is sent out and the process starts again. You may be surprised to know how many people it takes to pull off this coverage. Sam Carriere and Lorie Chortyk are managing media relations and supplying the news releases you'll see periodically (and have already seen, with Abp. Peers' address). Margaret Shawyer is on the floor of Plenary all day tracking resolutions and providing a summary for the daily report and Perspectives. Lisa Barry from the television coverage team is providing updates on the lineup so you know what's coming along. Plus more than a dozen others, from onsite office staff to members on the floor, are contributing to keep you updated on the very latest from Synod. It's entirely likely that this undertaking to keep you up to date represents the most substantial coverage of a General Synod in the worldwide Anglican communion. It certainly represents the least amount of sleep any of us have gotten! Your emails of encouragement are keeping us all very much alive and charged! Please keep them coming! It's great to know people are out there and appreciating our work. ____________________________________ d e c i s i o n s AGREED to affirm the Volunteers in Mission Program and request the Partners in Mission Committee to implement, as they see fit, the recommendations contained in the evaluation report, completed in March, 1998. (A-141). AGREED on second reading to amend Section 3 of the Declaration of Principles to include the appointment of two representatives of Anglican Religious Orders with communities in Canada that are recognized by the House of Bishops. (A-10) AGREED that section 8 of the Constitution be amended to reflect the change in the Declaration of Principles in resolution A10. (A-21) Resolutions A2, A3, A4 relating to the Convening Circular, the Agenda, and Notices of Motions and Memorials were adopted. ____________________________________ s p e c i a l (from the Daily Report members will be receiving this morning) by Margaret Shawyer Members attended the first in a series of seven forums yesterday designed to provide an opportunity to discuss critical themes that are shaping the life of the Anglican Church of Canada and to explore how these themes are being experienced locally, nationally, and internationally, and to help members become aware of the many voices in our church; achieve clarity about the issues for discussion and decision at Synod; and to assist in setting directions for the future. The forums will take place over the next three days, and members will choose one forum to attend each day. The focus of the Partnerships forum (www.partnership@faith.com) was the Preparing the Way priority "to strengthen our mission and develop partnerships outside Canada." The goal of the forum was "to be a window on the world, to enlarge the sense of family, and to help General Synod members to discover network links with others. Members heard an introduction from the forum chairperson, Dorothy Davies Flindall, and listened to a panel address the question, "What does partnership mean?" Panelists included Stuart Pike and Siméa de Souza Meldrum of the Partners in Mission Committee, and Marion Saunders and Lakshmi Daniel of the Primate's World Relief and Development Fund Committee. In table groups, members discussed questions on partnerships: sharing gifts, the Anglican Communion's Partners in Mission process, fair trade, Volunteers in Mission, foreign aid, companion dioceses, immigration, refugees/uprooted people, Jubilee, multiculturalism, youth and face to face encounters of partnerships. The focus for the Northern Lights forum was the Preparing the Way priority "to strengthen commitment of the whole church to domestic mission in partnership with the Council of the North and to work with the Council of the North to move towards self-sufficiency." The goal was to provide an opportunity for members of General Synod to express their feelings, opinions, and concerns about the historic mission of our church in the North and the relationship of that mission to the church in the rest of Canada." In table groups, members discussed the Church in the North and the Church in the South, The Church in the North and Aboriginal Peoples, the Church in the North and new models of ministry, and the Church in the North and Self-Sufficiency. Following the forums, members met in diocesan caucuses to prepare nominations for the Council of General Synod. ____________________________________ q u i c k t a k e s PLENARY, THY NAME IS SAUNA It's not the food. It's not the long walk between the residences and Plenary. It's not even the heat outdoors. It's the heat INdoors! The double-court gymnasium in which Plenary sessions are being held is nothing short of an oven. Besides there being no ventilation, being lit by dozens of ultra-bright lights for the TV cameras, the University's building staff keep the heat on and blowing through the vents. NEW SPORT: EXTREME SYNOD WATCHING? Leslie Lorenson has come to watch the General Synod deliberations for fun. Not a big deal, until you consider that she flew over from England to do it! You might call seminary-student Lorenson a professional Synod watcher. She's been to General Synods within the Anglican Communion of more countries than she can count. You'll see her reflections on our Synod, on the web site Wednesday. THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION? A brief moment of confusion at this morning's news coverage team meeting, when reviewing the Orders of the Day (the Synod agenda, reproduced below). It came when one of us made mention of the "Lutherans and Euthenasia" resolution scheduled for debate. Did this represent a massive, morbid shift away from full communion with our Lutheran friends? No, turns out the reference was to the "Lutherans" and the "Euthenasia" resolutions, two separate motions. RESOLUTIONS TRACKER NOW ACTIVE Now that members have started voting on resolutions, the ResolutionsTracker on the web site is active. Drop by http://www.anglican.ca/synod98/ and click on the "Resolutions" text on the left to check the status of any motion on the floor. We hope to update this area three times daily. TREE TO CELEBRATE ICE STORM AID At the opening service Thursday, youth members of Synod presented the Bishop of Montreal, The Rt. Rev. Andrew Hutchison, with a silver maple tree to be planted on the grounds of the University of McGill on Saturday, May 23. The tree was a sign of new life and healing of the earth, and of solidarity with those who suffered and ministered to the suffering during the ice storms which devastated much of eastern Ontario and Québec this past winter. It will be planted tomorrow. Watch the web site later today for photos. [DR] LIFT *YOUR* VOICE A number of people mentioned that the previous email address to reach us in the newsroom was complicated and difficult to remember. So we've made it easier -- our email address is now voices@anglican.ca -- it's the same address to be used to send comments in from the television show. (The old address will work as well if need be.) SET YOUR VCRs! Monday evening at 7pm (Eastern and Pacific time), the first of the General Synod television shows will get underway on Vision TV. Be sure to keep an eye on http://www.anglican.ca/synod98/tv/ for previews of upcoming shows. Monday's show will include the following segments: - Clips from the opening service including Bishop French Chang-Him's sermon - A synopsis of the Primate's opening address - An interview with Telmor Sardison (presiding bishop of the Lutheran Church of Canada) - A feature on how the Diocese of Montreal helped during the recent ice storm - Tag along with Bishop Chang-Him as he visits a local parish to confirm the daughter of a former parishioner - A panel discussion on issues facing the church - ...and other surprises. NO PERSPECTIVES TOMORROW I've been asked to deliver the opening keynote address at the annual national Canadian Public Relations Society conference, happening in Montreal (that way THEY get to pay for my air fare, not the church! ). You can bet I'll be using the direct grassroots communications we're doing at Synod as an example. Owing to that commitment, I'll be offsite today (Saturday) at about 2pm until Sunday eveing. Thus, there will not be a Perspectives issue published tomorrow. The next regular issue will be distributed at 9am (Eastern time) Monday morning. CORRECTION A previous Perspectives made reference to the 1959 adoption on a new hymn book. It should have read "new prayer book." (Who let those gremlins back in, anyway?) ____________________________________ s n i c k e r i n g A priest was walking with his friend, a soap manufacturer, when they passed a drunk lying in the gutter. The friend said to the priest, "Your bible doesn't help that fellow much, does it?" The priest didn't respond till later when they pass an exceptionally dirty fellow begging on the sidewalk. "Your soap doesn't help that man much." "True, but for my soap to be effective it must be applied." "Exactly," returned the priest. -- contributed by Herman vanden Hoven Licenced Lay Reader, St Peter's Dynevor Q: What's the difference between a liturgist and a terrorist? A: You can negotiate with a terrorist! -- contributed by someone at General Synod who asked to remain anonymous. (Tell us YOUR favourite Anglican joke! Email voices@anglican.ca and put the word "snickering" in the subject line.) ____________________________________ t o d a y SATURDAY MAY 23 7:00 am Breakfast 8:30 am Bible reflection and worship 9:45 am Business and Resolutions -- A-5 Nominating Committee Role -- A-80R Nominating Procedures -- Election of Prolocutor and Deputy Prolocutor -- A-230 Proportional giving -- A-92/93 New liturgies 11:00 am Resolutions -- A-23 Size of Primate's Fund Committee -- A-25 Size of Information Resources Committee -- A-71 Canon V Archives -- A-72 Canon CI Anglican Book Centre -- A-81 Committee Terms of Reference 11:30 am Children join Synod members 12 noon Outdoor Eucharist with children 1:00 pm Box lunch 2:00 pm Forums: In Full Harmony and New Ways of Working 4:15 pm Provincial Caucuses (to elect members to the Council of General Synod -- COGS) 5:00 pm Dinner 6:00 pm Diocesan reception at McCord Museum 7:30 pm Diocesan dinner ____________________________________ l i f t Y O U R v o i c e "Tod, the General Synod website is most impressive, almost as good as being there! The images are crystal clear and everything downloads nice and fast. Many thanks for making it possible for the whole world to share in the General Synod experience." -- Bob Chandler "Amazing! This is great! I had no idea the Anglican church was doing this kind of thing! What a wonderful way to bring the spirit of national deliberations to your churches. I commend your Internet team for the superb work. Keep drinking that coffee!" -- David Cooper, Lutheran Church "As a Liturgical dancer: Thank you for the tremendous dance photos available via the web site! We are growing into a most wonderfilled worshiping community! Hope to see more!" -- Jody Medicoff, St. John the Divine, North Bay Ontario Lift your voice at General Synod! Each night, I'll publish a cross-section of opinions. Email voices@anglican.ca and put the words "your voice" in the subject line. (Text may, and likely will, be edited for space considerations only.) If you'd like your comments to reach members on the floor at Plenary, put the word "dispatches" in the subject line. - 30 - Perspectives is written by Tod Maffin, electronic news coordinator for General Synod 1998. It is distributed at about 9am EST each morning on the ACC-SynodNews mailing list on Internet email, on Quest/Ecunet, in America Online's faith centre, and on a variety of diocesan bulletin board systems. This is a read-only mailing list. Any messages sent to the list will disappear into a black hole. To contact the editor, email voices@anglican.ca. To leave this list, send an email to majordomo@ns1.anglican.ca and put the words "unsubscribe acc-synodnews" (without the quotes) in the body of the message. LEGAL STUFF: You are encouraged to distribute this text to people known to you, provided no automated mailing list software is used to perform this forwarding function. No fee may be charged for distribution of this text, nor can this text be bundled with other information or programs without the written permission of the Anglican Church of Canada.