Bishop Andrew Hutchison was among featured speakers at last month's symposium of the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal. The institute is composed of people who believe that health is more than just the absence of physical or mental disease.
Bishop Andrew Hutchison of Montreal has appealed to Anglicans who have severed their connection with the church to to meet him for breakfast to discuss falling church membership in the province.
Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, becomes the first Canadian national church leader to engage members of the church and the public in conversation through the internet tomorrow.
The first of regular segments entitled +Andrew: Conversations with the Primate will be posted to the Anglican church's national web site www.anglican.ca. It will be reachable from the web site's home page and viewable with easily available software. The webcast can also be downloaded and saved to CD for distribution.
The logo designed for the webcast features the primatial cross which is carried in front of the Canadian primate in formal ceremonies and Archbishop Hutchison's signature. The "+" sign in front of his name is the traditional signature used by archbishops and bishops. Though the signature might informally be read as "Plus Andrew", the more formal reading in this case would be "Archbishop Andrew".
The webcast which will be posted tomorrow is approximately 12.5 minutes in length and features Archbishop Hutchison speaking from his office on what he considers to be his top priorities as he begins his primacy. Viewers may respond to the Primate through e-mail by writing to Andrew@national.anglican.ca.
Archbishop Hutchison, former Bishop of Montreal and Archbishop of the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada, was elected Primate by the Anglican General Synod (the church's highest governing and legislative body) meeting in St. Catharines, Ont., last June [2004].
Archbishop Hutchison hopes to tape segments for the web regularly at the rate of about one every three weeks. Each web cast will be announced in advance.
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For more information, please contact: Vianney (Sam) Carriere, Director of Communications, 416-924-9199 ext. 306, scarriere@national.anglican.ca OR
Paul Feheley, Principal Secretary to the Primate, 416-924-9199 ext. 277, pfeheley@national.anglican.ca
The Rev. Warren Ealing [sic i.e. Eling], priest of the Church of St. James the Apostle, was violently murdered in his home in Montreal on 9 November 1993. Fr. Eling was widely rumoured to have been gay.
Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, has announced that he will retire next year following General Synod and the election of a successor.
Archbishop Hutchison, who was elected Primate at the last General Synod in St. Catharines, Ont., in 2004 made the announcement at a meeting of the Canadian House of Bishops in Niagara Falls, Ont., after privately notifying the four Canadian Metropolitan Archbishops of his decision.
He reminded the bishops that he had said right after his election in June, 2004, that his would be a one-triennium primacy. (General Synod meets every three three years.) Since then, he said, there have been discussions about whether or not that term of office should be extended. But "despite a good deal of urging for me to do so, I believe the best answer is for me to stick to my original statement," he said.
Archbishop Hutchison, former Archbishop of Montreal and Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada, had been ready to retire at the time he was elected Primate.
He told the Niagara Falls gathering of bishops that his decision was based primarily on personal and family reasons.
The announcement means that the next General Synod, which convenes in Winnipeg next summer [19-25 June 2007], will elect a successor. The process for that election is that the House of Bishops submits a list of no more than five nominees to General Synod, where clergy and lay members elect a Primate.
Archbishop Hutchison noted that this timing will allow a new Primate time to prepare for the next meeting of the Lambeth Conference of all Anglican bishops in the world, which will be held in 2008.
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For more information, please contact: Vianney (Sam) Carriere, Director of Communications, 416-924-9199 ext. 306; scarriere@national.anglican.ca
Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, has written to Canadian Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew asking the government to express concern to the government of Israel over an armed intrusion into St. George's Anglican Cathedral in Jerusalem.
On Thursday, Anglican Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal of Jerusalem reported that about 30 armed Israeli officers entered the cathedral to arrest Mordecai [sic Mordechai] Vanunu. (Mr. Vanunu, a former nuclear technician, was released from jail last April after serving 18 years for revealing details of Israel's plans to develop nuclear weapons.)
Archbishop Hutchison also wrote a letter to Bishop Riah, saying he deplored "the seemingly excessive force that was used at the cathedral".
The text of the Canadian Primate's two letters follows:
Letter to Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew
Earlier this week an incident happened in Jerusalem, which has greatly disturbed me and members of the Anglican Church of Canada. Israeli special police entered in force the grounds of St. George's Anglican Cathedral to apprehend Mordecao Vanunu. Bishop Riah H. Abu El-Assal has reported on the traumatic effect this action had on the tourists, pilgrims and others who were present.
At a time when the issue of sanctuary is in the headlines in Canada, this incident brings to our attention once more the inappropriateness of breaching this longstanding tradition and right. I ask that you convey to the government of Israel our concern and that of the Canadian people over this unfortunate incident.
I have assured Bishop Riah of the church's support and prayers as his people, mainly Palestinian Anglicans, move through a period of shock as the nation mourns the death of President Yasser Arafat. I have also expressed my hope that new ways may now be found to enable the people of Israel and Palestine to live in peace, and to flourish.
Letter to Bishop Riah H. Abu El-Assal
I was saddened and alarmed by the news in your letter to me and other Primates about the incident at St. George's Cathedral earlier this week. From your report the actions of the Israeli special police force seem quite inappropriate and offensive. There has been a very longstanding tradition of respecting the holy places, not just in Jerusalem but around the world, and the breaching of the right of sanctuary is not acceptable. I deplore the seemingly excessive force that was used at the cathedral close as the police took Mordecai Vanunu into custody, shocking and traumatizing those tourist, pilgrims and others who were present.
I am writing to the Canadian foreign minister, the Honourable Pierre Pettigrew urging him to express these concerns to the government of Israel.
Please be assured of our continuing prayers for you and for your church as you recover from this incident, and as you live through this time of mourning for President Yasser Arafat. My prayer is that new ways may be found to enable the people of Israel and Palestine to live in peace, and to flourish.
Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, Primate
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For more information, please contact: Vianney (Sam) Carriere, Director of Communications, 416-924-9199 ext. 306; scarriere@national.anglican.ca
Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, speaks to Anglicans about the issues that matter most to him at the outset of his term of office in a webcast to be posted on the church's national website (www.anglican.ca) Wednesday, Oct. 13 [2004].
The webcast, entitled +Andrew: Conversations with the Primate, will be the first of regular such conversations between the Anglican Primate and members of the church.
Archbishop Hutchison, former Bishop of Montreal and Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada, was elected Primate, or national leader of the Anglican Church at its General Synod last June [2004]. He is a new Primate, he notes, at the outset of the implementation of a new plan for the work and mission of the church.
High on his list of priorities, Archbishop Hutchison says in his webcast, is better communication at all levels of the church and with society at large. He notes that he has already heard many people talking about "disconnects" between General Synod at the national level and local churches, between the church and society and society and between different parts of the church.
The webcasts, he says, are one instrument he will be using to attempt to "bring more people into conversation".
The webcasts will consist of downloadable segments which will be posted at www.anglican.ca and which people may view whenever they wish and as often as they wish. A few days after a segment has been posted, a transcript will be made available for people who wish the text of the Primate's remarks.
People wishing to respond to Archbishop Hutchison or to ask him questions may do so be emailing andrew@national.anglican.ca. In subsequent segments, Archbishop Hutchison will engage members of the public and of the church by responding to these emails.
Archbishop Hutchison becomes the first national church leader in Canada to use the power of the Internet to speak to members of his church and the world.
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For more information, please contact: Vianney (Sam) Carriere, Director of Communications, 416-924-9199 ext. 306, scarriere@national.anglican.ca OR
Paul Feheley, Principal Secretary to the Primate, 416-924-9199 ext. 277, pfeheley@national.anglican.ca