General Synod in St. John's, Newfoundland
https://archives.anglican.ca/link/official1443
- Date
- 1989 April 28
- Source
- Anglican News Service
- Type
- Press Release
- Text of motion
- For immediate release
- [Toronto] April 28, 1989 -- The Anglican Church's General Synod, its highest legislative body, will meet in St. John's, Newfoundland from June 14 to June 23, 1989. Archbishop Michael Peers will preside over his first General Synod since he was elected Primate of the church in 1986.
- The Synod's 300 members, including lay persons, clergy, and bishops, will come together from across Canada to make policy for the country's third-largest denomination.
- The General Synod, which meets once every three years, will hold its plenary sessions in the Thomson Student Centre of Memorial University. All sessions are normally open to the public.
- Some highlights:
- - resolutions related to native rights and native land claims occupy a prominent place on the agenda. The Anglican Church has the highest percentage of native members of any Canadian church. A spate of resolutions focus on support for self-government, Innu land claims, and environmental protection (in lands held or claimed by natives). One resolution says the time has come to employ civil disobedience in defence of ancestral lands. It asks General Synod "to support aboriginal people, Anglicans and others, involved in non-violent direct action, in defense of aboriginal ancestral lands and the environment."
- - General Synod may consider two widely differing court cases. In one, the church is participating in a challenge to Canadian law; in the other, the church itself is being challenged.
- The Anglican Church is participating with the Canadian Council of Churches in a court challenge to Canadian immigration laws. Church leaders say the law is unconstitutional because it does not guarantee refugee claimants the right to be heard.
- Earlier this year, the church convened its own Supreme Court of Appeal for the first time, to hear a complaint about the experimental service book, the Book of Alternative Services (BAS). Opponents of the BAS say that only the traditional Book of Common Prayer 1962 may lawfully be used in Canadian Anglican worship. The Supreme Court is expected to deliver its verdict in mid-May.
- - A task force will present recommendations to General Synod on surrogate motherhood. The task force has taken a strong stand opposing surrogate motherhood, in contrast to a recent set of recommendations from the Ontario Law Reform Commission. Task force members say the practice is offensive for several reasons, including the fact that it turns children into "commodities".
- - the second draft of a pastoral guide on cults will be distributed at General Synod. The guide is intended to help parishes and individuals understand the appeal of cults and enable the church to be "a listening and upholding community of support" to the families and friends of those engaged in cult activity.
- - Among the international guests at General Synod will be Ms. Vanessa MacKenzie, youth officer for the Church of the Province of South Africa. She will hear the synod deal with resolutions calling for the Canadian government to legislate complete economic sanctions against South Africa, and to provide security aid to South Africa's frontline states, particularly Angola and Mozambique.
- - The General Synod will make unusually extensive use of video and computer technology to enhance the relationship between the General Synod and the church at large. Video crews will produce a daily, half-hour "highlights" program to be broadcast across Canada via satellite. An international computer network will also report regularly through the day on synod happenings, and allow computer communication users to respond.
- - Although there is concern across the Anglican Communion about the ordination of women to the priesthood and to the episcopate, the issue is not expected to be prominent at General Synod. Women have been ordained in the Anglican Church of Canada since 1976, and are eligible to be elected as bishops (though none has yet been elected).
- - Ecumenical guests at General Synod will include: Archbishop James Hayes, President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops; Rabbi Howard Joseph, Canadian Jewish Congress; Ebrahim Sayed, Council of Muslim Communities of Canada; Bishop Donald Sjoberg, President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and President of the Canadian Council of Churches; Dr. Anne Squire, former Moderator of the United Church.
- The worldwide Anglican communion will be represented by the chair of the Anglican Consultative Council, the Venerable Yong Ping Chung; and by the Rt. Rev. Clovis E. Rodriques, Bishop of Brazil.
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- For further information, contact: Doug Tindal, Director of Communications, (416) 924-9192 ext. 286 (bus.), (416) 335-8349 (res.)
- Subjects
- Anglican Church of Canada. General Synod (32nd : 1989 : St. John's, Nfld.)
- Indigenous peoples - Canada - Anglican Church of Canada
- Anglican Church of Canada. Supreme Court of Appeal
- Surrogate motherhood - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada
- Cults - Canada
- Church and computers - Anglican Church of Canada
- Television broadcasting - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada
- Anglican Video
- Mackenzie, Vanessa, (Vanessa Mildred) 1959-