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MEDIA ADVISORY
NATIONAL BODY OF ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA PREPARES FOR 36th MEETING OF GENERAL SYNOD IN MOOD OF CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM
Toronto, 13 June 2001 - Senior leaders and lay delegates representing more than 2,200 congregations of the Anglican Church throughout Canada will meet for 8 days next month to discuss a range of crucial issues facing the country's third-largest religious denomination as Anglicans convene for the 36th Meeting of General Synod, to be held from July 4 - 11 at Waterloo, Ontario.
With 2.3 million members nationwide, according to the last Canadian Census, the Anglican Church serves as a major force in social assistance in communities across the country, injecting several million dollars every year - supported by hundreds of volunteers and other care workers - into community, social service and pastoral programs.
Against this backdrop, next month's meeting of General Synod - the name given to the church's highest decision-making body, which convenes its national meeting every three years - will force Anglican members to grapple with a range of challenging issues affecting its future as a spiritual, pastoral and community-based institution. Among issues to be reviewed at the weeklong Synod conference are the following:
Residential Schools Litigation: General Synod will review the impact - and potential outcome - of extensive litigation against four Christian denominations (including Anglicans) for their involvement in administering Residential Schools for Aboriginal Canadians from the early 20th century until 1969 as agents of the federal Government of Canada. With legal and administrative fees against Anglicans totaling nearly $5 million over the past two years, the Anglican Church has stated repeatedly that failure to achieve a just and workable settlement with the federal government by yearend will exhaust the assets of the church's national office and risk the collapse of nine regional dioceses named in hundreds of lawsuits by individual plaintiffs and through 3rd party actions brought against the church by the federal government.
General Synod will hear reports updating the status of lawsuits as well as progress in discussions underway with the federal government through the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the newly formed Office of Indian Residential Schools Resolution of Canada.
In three sessions entitled "Planning for the Future", Synod will evaluate best-case options for sustaining vital functions of the Church in response to worst-case scenarios brought about by continuous, unrestrained financial hemorrhaging.
Ecumenical Union with Canadian Lutheran Church: After many years of intensive study, the Anglican Church of Canada will celebrate an historic entente with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC). The two denominations - both holding simultaneous meetings in the same southwestern Ontario city - are expected to ratify "The Waterloo Declaration", granting mutual recognition and full communion rights. The declaration will bring Anglicans and Lutherans in Canada into line with similar ecumenical understandings between the two denominations - both forged during 16th century Reformation in Europe - already established in the United Kingdom, northern Europe and the United States.
Aboriginal Healing and Reconciliation Programs: The commitment by the Anglican Church to maintain a constructive, ongoing presence in Aboriginal communities throughout the country is evidenced by a wide array of programs, funded by Anglican contributions totaling $7 million. The widespread - and strengthening - Anglican ties with indigenous Canadians is further evidenced by the presence of four Aboriginals among the Anglican House of Bishops and over 225 Anglican congregations in Aboriginal communities.
Gay-Lesbian Relations: General Synod will assess opportunities to forge greater consensus among progressive and conservative elements in furthering the Church's efforts to welcome gays and lesbians into mainstream church life, an initiative passed at the 34th Anglican General Synod in 1995. While no formal ruling is expected, Waterloo Synod may also review a resolution endorsing same-sex marriages passed by a slim margin earlier this month by the Diocese of New Westminster in Vancouver.
Human Rights / Christian Ethics in Global Affairs: Synod delegates will evaluate the appropriate stance of ethically-mindful citizens on a range of issues of geo-political significance - ranging from shareholder divestment in Talisman Energy Inc., operating in Sudan, to protection of migrant workers' rights and condemnation of alleged human rights abuses in countries such as Indonesia and Burma.
Overall theme of the 36th General Synod is "Towards Healing, Reconciliation and The New Life." Other highlights of the church's first meeting in the new millennium are as follows:
Opening Address by Bishop Steve Charleston, formerly Bishop of Alaska, currently Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School in Boston and a leader among indigenous church communities in Canada and the U.S.;
Discussion and passage of a new blueprint for partnerships between indigenous and non-indigenous Anglicans - entitled "A New Agape";
Celebration of the first joint service of worship between the Anglican and Lutheran Churches following passage of The Waterloo Declaration.
Throughout the duration of the eight-day event, proceedings of General Synod will be broadcast through live webcast on the Synod website (http//:www.anglican.ca/synod). In addition, the Anglican and Lutheran Church conferences will be connected throughout the proceedings by direct website links.