A Report of the Task Force on Non-Stipendiary Ministry was presented by Archdeacon Hobson. Clarification of some aspects of this report were requested and clarification was also given as to the background that brought about this Report.
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That this Report be received and referred to the appropriate committees for action. CARRIED
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[Text of Task Force on Non-Stipendiary Ministry is NOT included in the electronic database.]
"The Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples (ACIP) has proposed a national summit to discuss the issue of non-stipendiary, or unpaid, aboriginal clergy, most of whom are serving in large native communities across Canada. 'Nobody wants the problem put on their laps, not because they're not concerned, but because there are no resources,' said Mark MacDonald, the national Anglican indigenous bishop. 'What we're suggesting is a cross-church consultation, a summit where a whole group of people (can discuss) what can only be described as a moral issue for all of us. There's no entity to solve it effectively'," Archbishop Caleb Lawrence said "that the house of bishops had been 'trying to address' the need but that it was having difficulty coming to an agreement with ACIP. He noted that talks between the two sides have bogged down".
"On November 18 [2016], Indigenous ministries and the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples (ACIP) laid out concrete steps for how they will continue to pursue self-determination within the national church over the coming years. The plan is to start small, with Indigenous Anglicans from three or four regions that want to pursue self-determination, Archdeacon Sid Black, ACIP co-chair told the fall [2016] meeting of Council of General Synod (CoGS) ... A focus group, co-chaired by former Indigenous ministries co-ordinator Donna Bomberry and Archdeacon Larry Beardy will oversee the details, and the initial goal will be to select leadership in a way that is in line with Indigenous practice" (p. 1, 6). "Advice on incorporation will come from former General Synod prolocutor Harry Huskins" (p. 6). "According to [Indigenous CoGS member Lay Canon Grace] Delaney, of the approximately 150 Indigenous clergy serving in the Anglican Church of Canada, most are unpaid" (p. 6). "Quebec Co-adjutor Bishop Bruce Myers, whose diocese includes the isolated Naskapi nation of Kawawachikamach, wanted to know whether this leadership model could be used there" (p. 6). "In response, Canon Virginia 'Ginny' Doctor, Indigenous ministries co-ordinator, said Indigenous ministries has already explored options, such as a 'moveable seminary' that would bring teachers to communities for intensive education, or doing the reverse and bringing Indigenous leaders in-training to a local centre for intensive, short-term education. She suggested either of these models might work in Quebec" (p. 6).
"The first non-stipedendiary priest in Nova Scotia diocese is also the first priest on the staff of a major Canadian daily newspaper. Rev. David Harris, an editor with the 'Halifax Herald', assists at the cathedral as a volunteer after hours. Mr. Harris comes from a well-known clerical family in Nova Scotia. His wife, father and uncle are ordained and there are 13 generations of priests in his mother's family". Text of entire story.
Contents divided into four main sections: Local and Shared Ministry -- Urban and Community Ministry -- Indigenous Ministry -- A Theology of Ministry.
Contents: Introduction / Maylanne Maybee -- The Kokanee Story / Dirk T. Rinehart-Pidcock -- Non-Stipendiary Ordained Ministry / David Fletcher -- Lay Leadership Comes Alive / Michelle Moore -- Parishes without Full-Time Clergy / Robin Duffield -- Ecumenical Shared Ministry / George Pell -- The Border Parish / Granvyvl G. Hulse -- Educating for Mutual Ministry / Donald Phillips -- River North Anglican Parishes / Maylanne Maybee with Peter Flynn -- The Industrial Cape Breton Experiment / Jack Risk -- From Charity to Justice / Pat Connolly and Sue Garvey -- Tradition and Transformation / Michael Batten -- New Westminster Reachout / Kimiko Karpoff -- Mile Endd Community Mission / Roslyn Macgregor -- God has Moved into the Neighbourhood / Mark Kinghan -- Dr. Jessie Saulteaux Resource Centre / Maylanne Maybee with Aileen Urquhart -- Keewatin and TAIP / David N. Ashdown -- The Henry Budd Experience / Fletcher Stewart -- Thirty Years of Change and Development / John A. (Ian) MacKenzie -- The Bread Will Rise / Maylanne Maybee -- Bringing the Light of Christ into Places of Darkness : The Diaconate in the Anglican Church of Canada / Maylanne Maybee -- Priestly Ministry / Michael Thompson -- The Episcopate / Michael Ingham -- Biographical Sketches.
"The Council of the North is seeking innovative ways to fund clergy salaries in northern dioceses where about 47 per cent of the clergy (168 out of 358) are non-stipendiary. The topic arose during the council's fall [2008] meeting held here [Edmonton, Alberta] Sept. 12-24 [2008] and, according to National Indigenous Bishop Mark MacDonald, some dioceses are now in crisis with little or no budget to pay clergy. The council is a grouping of financially-assisted dioceses and areas from Canada's North".
"In what was described as an 'historic moment', the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada has approved the introduction of a new canon (church law) that firmly established a self-determining national indigenous ministry within the church. The resolution to establish Canon 22 was passed at General Synod 2010 in Halifax on June 9 [2010]". "Bishop [Mark] MacDonald said one of the key issues national native ministry will address is that of non-stipendiary priests. .... He also urged the church to address the needs of aboriginal people in urban areas. .... One of the goals of native Canadian Anglicans would also be to 'introduce Canada to Canada', said Bishop MacDonald. For instance, he said, 'its time we understand how important the North is to Canada, how important it is to our identity and our future'. He noted that the North is suffering climate change 'like no other place on earth'." "Bishop Lydia Mamakwa, the first bishop of the newly created area mission in Northern Ontario, also addressed the synod, recalling that aboriginal clergy were first ordained in the church about 40 years ago".
Adam Halkett has been "the first Anglican Indigenous bishop of Saskatchewan and a principal architect of Indigenous self-determination within the Anglican Church of Canada .... [since he ] was elected bishop of the diocesan area of Missinipi (the Cree name for the region of the Church River and its basin)" in July 2012. Halkett's parents were staunch Anglicans but he "grew away from the church in his teens and began using alcohol and drugs. He still considers himself to be an addict in recovery. He met Theresa, his wife of 29 years, while she was serving as an addiction worker at Montreal Lake". "Like many Indigenous clergy, Halkett faces Herculean tasks, with far-apart parishes, carrying more than their share of social problems -- poverty, school non-attendance, teenage pregnancy, poor health, domestic violence, substance abuse, and suicide, which he said affects not just youth but a growing number of people of middle age. Since January 2015, he has put almost 20,000 km on his truck, driving from reserve to reserve". "Halkett notes that his fellow clergy play essential roles in strengthening communities' response to endemic ills. Working bilingually in Cree and English, they're often limited in their ministry by the need to hold outside jobs since half of them are non-stipendiary". "Halkett envisions the development someday of an independent Indigenous church paralleling the main church and having its own primate. In the meantime, he continues to walk with non-Native Anglicans in a partnership known as 'Mamuwe Isi Miywachimowin' (Cree for 'together in the gospel'). And he returns to Montreal Lake as often as he can to commune with the ancestral land".
"The whole church will need to address the issue of non-stipendiary (unpaid) priests, according to Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, and bishops from the Council of the North. 'It's clear to me that this is a matter of justice,' Archbishop Hiltz told more that 200 First Nations, Metis and Inuit delegates to the 6th Indigenous Sacred Circle gathered here [Port Elgin, Ont.] last August 9 to 15 [2009]. He was responding to concerns raised repeatedly at the gathering about the non-payment of clergy, many of whom are aboriginal". "The national church has no overall statistics of how many of 3,861 clergy are non-stipendiary. About 47 per cent (168 out of 358) of clergy from Council of the North dioceses are non-stipendiary".