(iii) Saint Augustines College, Canterbury
https://archives.anglican.ca/link/official8782
- Date
- 1961 January 30 - February 3
- Source
- House of Bishops. Minutes
- Type
- Resolution
- Mover
- Bishop of Athabasca
- Seconder
- Bishop Suffragan of Edmonton
- Prologue
- A Report on this College was presented.
- Text of motion
- That the Report of St. Augustine's College, Canterbury be received. CARRIED
- Notes
- St. Augustine's, Canterbury
- Nature and Function
- In 1952, St. Augustine's College at Canterbury became the central College of the Anglican Communion. The former warden, Canon C.K. Sansbury, described the nature and function of his College in the Church Times of November the 4th, 1960. It may be well to summarize his concept of its purpose.
- He pointed out that in an earlier age the leadership of the Anglican Church in Asia and Africa was in the hands of Missionaries from the older Churches. Leaders were sent out from the English Missionary Societies and native clergy held only subordinate positions. As political stature has grown, so has ecclesiastical stature. Former missions have become self-governing provinces and national Churches. Asians and Africans have been given leadership and the links with the Mother Church in England have grown thinner. The Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States has assumed a new and large importance in the Anglican Communion, providing recently not only large financial support but a host of fresh ideas. To quote an Australian Bishop "England gave us the faith, but American gave us the words."
- In this changing situation the Anglican Communion needs new strong links to hold it together. The Lambeth Conference with its Executive Officer Bishop Bayne is one, the Anglican Congress is a second, St. Augustine's Canterbury is an important third. This college welcomes priests and students from the whole Anglican Communion, as long as they are approved by their Bishop or by a Regional Selection Committee. The type of student is indicated by the following partial list of present students, "a dean of a South African Cathedral, an American and two Australian University Chaplains, the Warden of St. Michael's Seminary at Seoul, an African Archdeacon, an a number of parish priests." Eight who studied in the last eight years are now Bishops.
- College Programme.
- 1. Worship.
- There is a daily Eucharist and other regular offices. Priests celebrate in turn using their own rite.
- 2. Study.
- This centres upon:
- (a) Bible
- (b) Christian Doctrine
- (c) General Survey of the Anglican Communion
- (d) Pastoralia
- 3. The Common Life
- "Each academic year means a fresh experiment in international, inter-racial, Christian Community living."
- The Canadian Relationship With The College
- There has been in the main a three fold Canadian contribution. Each year the Canadian Church contributes a sum of money to the maintenance of the College. From time to time Canadians have accepted invitations to serve temporarily on the staff of the College. Canadian students have attended the college in varying, but usually small, numbers. This year I believe that only one Canadian is in residence.
- There is a problem here. We are not sending enough men, and probably not always the right men. In one early year of the College's operation there were three Canadians all on full scholarships, so that Canada was costing the College more than she was contributing. As a result, it has been arranged by the Canadian Church that no Canadian priest shall go unless (a) He has been approved by the Primate as well as his Diocesan Bishop, and (b) he has agreed to accept no financial help from the College. The present unsystematic arrangement is not working well. The Canadian Church and the whole Anglican Communion would benefit from more Canadian links at Canterbury. We need more students there, and the Primate cannot know all of the men who perhaps ought to go. Our selection method is haphazard and we have no organized system of financial help for students.
- Subjects For Our Consideration
- (1) A selection committee.
- Canon Sansbury has himself suggested the appointment of a Canadian selection Committee for our priest students. The American Church has such a selection committee, with the Dean of General Theological Seminary as Chairman and the secretary of the Overseas Department of the National Council as secretary. How can we best choose Canadian priests ? Ought we to establish a Canadian Committee for St. Augustine's Canterbury, perhaps with a Metropolitan as Chairman, the General Secretary of General Synod as Secretary, and a Bishop, a College Professor and Lay member of General synod from each Province as membership ? Ought such a Committee to meet as often as its business requires, but at least annually, when the standing Committee of the General Synod with power to handle all our routine relationships with St. Augustine's ?
- To such a Committee might fall the task of actively encouraging Bishops to nominate suitable men as students, instead of leaving the matter to the man himself and this action might promote a steady flow of the right type of men.
- (2) The Number of Canadian Students.
- Annually six places are allotted to the United States. How many ought we to have ? If we only have one a year, over the years about one eightieth of our men will have been at St. Augustine's -- roughly one to every three Dioceses, which is not adequate either for us to feel the impact of the life of the whole Communion in our Canadian Church, or to inform the rest of the life of the whole Communion in our Canadian Church, or to inform the rest of the Anglican Communion about our special qualities. Would not three a year be a much better number ? This would in time give us about one priest a Diocese on the average who has been at St. Augustine's for an academic year. Perhaps it would be fair to send a man from each of the two eastern ecclesiastical Provinces each year, and one a year from each of the two western Provinces alternately; or you might ask for an allotment of three places per annum and fill them each year from the best candidates available in the Church.
- (3) The Type of Student to go.
- The College envisages students who are priests between thirty and forty years of age. They should be able men who have already shown considerable promise of leadership, with some experience, so that they can not only absorb the ethos of Anglicanism as represented by the other students, but also interpret the Canadian Church to their fellows. They should be the men who, as a group, will rise to leadership in the Canadian Church a few years after their return from Canterbury.
- (4) The Financing of Canadian Students.
- In most cases financial help will be necessary for Canadian Students. Certainly nominations ought not to be limited to only those who can afford the cost. What is the current average cost of a year at Canterbury ? Five years ago a priest went from Athabaska, he tells me he lived economically and was helped by a small fee from weekend duty done during term as a part of his education. He estimated his total cost including fares from North-west Canada and back for himself, his wife and his baby son at $2000.00. Of this the Church gave him $500.00 through the Primate, the Diocese gave him $500.00 through gifts from my friends and he paid $1000.00 himself. The cost of living has risen, but Air Fares have considerably decreased, so perhaps an economical couple could still do it on $2000.00. How much of this should be provided by the Church as a whole ? Should this be put into the budget ? Or is it to be handled though the fourth of his cost in its own budget -- perhaps with some contribution through the M.S.C.C. in the case of the Missionary Dioceses ? Might the Provincial Synod Assessment include provision each year for the man from the province concerned ? Perhaps the setting up of a sound financial programme might be among the first tasks of the Canadian Committee for St. Augustine's if one is formed.
- If we can find satisfactory answers to these questions and provide simple but effective machinery, we shall be making a useful contribution through St. Augustine's to the whole Anglican Communion, and at the same time deriving great benefit for our own Church in ensuring a steady flow of leaders who are aware both of the values and the needs of our whole Communion, and have warm personal ties with leaders in its other components.
- Subjects
- St. Augustine's College (Canterbury, Eng.)
- Missionary College of St. Augustine, Canterbury
- Theological colleges - Great Britain
- Theological colleges - Anglican Communion
- Theological education - Anglican Communion
- Theological education - Anglican Church of Canada
- Anglican Communion - Clergy - Training of
- Anglican Church of Canada - Clergy - Training of
- Leadership - Religious aspects - Anglican Communion
- Instruments of Communion (Not as per Virginia Report)