May 2010 Page 1Anglican NewsAnglican NewsThe Newspaper of the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn

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from the parishMembers of Temora

Churches gathered together toremember the reason behindEaster, with the town’s first everPalm Sunday procession.

Organised by Temora Minis-ters Fraternal, the event attractedsome 250 people, representing alldenominations.

The purpose was to com-memorate the first Palm Sunday,marking the triumphal entry ofChrist to Jerusalem.

Leading the procession toGloucester Park were two don-keys and their owner dressedappropriately for the occasion inBiblical garb.

“It was terrific, and we weremost gratified,” said Anglicanpriest, Michael Faragher.

Members from the Anglican,Catholic, Salvation Army, Pres-byterian, Lutheran, Uniting andKing’s congregations joined theprocession to Gloucester Park

waving palm branches and sing-ing hymns accompanied byMichael Faragher on sopranosaxophone, and local high schoolstudents Ryan Heffer and RyanKennedy on guitars.

“Some of the older Parishion-ers who didn’t feel up to the walkjoined us at the park,” Fr Faraghersaid. “There was a brief Liturgyin the park in which all denomina-tions took part, then everyoneenjoyed each other’s companysharing in a barbecue lunch.”

Entertainment for the childrenincluded rides on a train, madelocally from 44-gallon drums.

“The day was a very success-ful re-creation of the original PalmSunday procession”, MichaelFaragher said, “and the MinistersFraternal looks forward to othersimilar activities during the year”.Easter dawn service

During the Easter long week-end, the annual NATFLY conven-tion attracted some 600 light air-

RE-ENACTING: Period costume and a pair of donkeys helped set the scene for a re-enactment of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem as the Temora churches celebrated Palm Sunday.

craft with their owners, pilots’friends, family and other enthu-siasts to Temora from all overAustralia.

At first light on Easter Day,Father Michael Faragher, Rectorof St. Paul’s Anglican ChurchTemora, conducted an ecumeni-cal service for 40 Natfly partici-pants, many of whom hadcamped overnight under thewings of their parked aircraft.

Fr Michael was assisted byother Temora clergy; David Mor-ris from Temora Kings’ Churchand Doug and Ruby Smith, localSalvation Army officers. Theservice took place in a park at theaerodrome.

Accompanied by Fr Michaelat the electric piano and a numberof nearby “roosters”, the congre-gation greeted the day celebrat-ing our Lord’s Resurrection withsome enthusiastic singing,prayers and a reflection on thesignificance of the empty tomb.

Temora celebrates spirit of EasterAllan Ewingelected Bishopof Bunbury, WAby Lewis Hitchick

Bishop Allan Ewing has saidthat he was experiencing a “senseof unreality” at the news of hiselection as Bishop of the West-ern Australian Diocese ofBunbury.

A meeting of the synod of thediocese made the decision lastSaturday (April 17), following theretirement of Bishop DavidMcCall.

Despite the sense of unreal-ity, though, Bishop Allan said hewas feeling “very positive” aboutthe announcement.

“There’s a real sense thatthere are things that I can do, thatfit well with where the dioceseis,” he said. “There’s a sense thatmany of the challenges that thediocese has, are things that I

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FAREWELL: Bishop Allan Ewing, shownhere preaching at the synod Eucharist in StSaviour’s Cathedral last September, willshortly be installed as Bishop of the WesternAustralian Diocese of Bunbury.

Page 2 May 2010Anglican NewsTHE BISHOP’S COLUMN

Clergy moves andClergy moves andClergy moves andClergy moves andClergy moves and appointments appointments appointments appointments appointments

BishopStuart

Robinson

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AnglicanNews

Dear Sisters and Brothers inChrist,

I want to begin by thankingyou for your prayerful attentive-ness to services over the Easterperiod.

My sense of things (fromcasual conversations) is thatmany churches experienced arise in attendance over the period.

Thank you for inviting friendsand extending a warm welcometo visitors. It may well be thatdialogue around ‘new atheism’has sparked interest in our com-munities concerning the personand work of Jesus.

On Anglicare: A formal state-ment is being drafted but I dowant you to know that both theBoard of Anglicare and Bishop-

in-Council have elected to con-tinue with our ministry to peoplein residential aged care facilities.

To be clear; we are not con-sidering divestment proposals. Asyou will appreciate this is a com-plex matter but I am confidentthat we have the expertise andthe will to provide the very bestservice possible and in so doing‘grow’ the business. I do alsowant to thank you for yourprayers and encouragement(which is both needed and ap-preciated!)

At the direction of Bishop-in-Council I am working with ourArchdeaconry team on where, inGod’s good grace, we need tobe headed in the next decade.Please be encouraged that there

is growing (and enthusiastic)‘alignment’ between the dioceseand agencies such as SynergyYouth, Anglicare, our Schools’Commission and so on.

My overall (and developing)vision is that we will be a dio-cese where the love of Jesusradically transforms peopleand communities. It will be adiocese empowered by theSpirit of God to share in themission of God.

Please do pray for us as wedraw out the implications of sucha vision.

Let me close with news of anupcoming (and very exciting)event. Soon you will receive in-formation concerning the Can-berra launch of the Luke 14 Dis-

ability Inclusive ChristianCommunities. ArchdeaconAnn Ranse and a group of peo-ple from our churches - inpartnership with the CBMgroup - are inviting leaders acrossour diocese to hear how disabil-ity and outreach ministries canserve our communities and pros-per the work of the Kingdom.

The Keynote address is to begiven by Therese Rein. The dateis Monday June 7th, at theSouthern Cross Club, Woden,10.30am. This is a FREE semi-nar that includes morning tea andlunch. RSVP May 24 on 1800 678069.

You can read more about thisproject on page 15 of this issueof Anglican News.

Easter hope and new life

Stop Press:Join with me in praising God

and congratulating Bishop AllanEwing on his recent election asBishop, Diocese of Bunbury. Doplease pray for Allan and Triciaas they move to the southern partof Western Australia later thisyear.

For Jesus,

Allan Ewing elected Bishop of Bunburyknow something about. Thatdoesn’t mean that it’s all going tobe easy, it just means that I’m alittle bit aware of what I’m get-ting myself into.

He described the Diocese ofBunbury as being “a little bit likeCanberra and Goulburn withoutCanberra in it”, with three largecentres – Mandurah (population67,000), Albany and Bunbury(both around 55,000) – and anumber of farming communities,tourist areas and coastal towns,with a total of 32 parishes.

He said that in his experiencein ministry, he had “been wheresome of the people are”.

“You have your life experienceand you have an awareness of thegifts that you have, and some ofthe things you’ve done, and youlook at something and say, ‘thatlooks a bit like me’,” he said. “Theopportunity to encourage and bepart of transformation for par-ishes and individuals is a wonder-ful thing.”

However, while the area of thediocese is not very different tothat of Canberra and Goulburn,the diocesan administration isbased in Bunbury, which is locatedon the West Coast about 400 kilo-metres from the eastern extremi-ties of the diocese.

Bishop Allan compared this tothe Diocese of Canberra andGoulburn having its headquartersin Wagga, adding that it “had someproblems” in that visiting the farreaches of the diocese wouldmean a road trip of a few days.

While a date is yet to be setfor his installation, Bishop Allansuggested that a date “towards theend of June” might be possible.

Bishop Allan has was ap-pointed Assistant bishop in theDiocese of Canberra andGoulburn in 2004, and as Vicar

General he served as DiocesanAdministrator for twelve monthsbetween the retirement of BishopGeorge Browning and the conse-cration of Bishop StuartRobinson.

For most of last year heworked part-time while undertak-ing post-graduate studies, andtowards the end of the year re-signed from stipendiary ministryto study full-time.

His 25-year contribution to thelife of the diocese was celebratedin a service in St saviour’s Ca-thedral on December 5 last year,when the diocese formally said‘farewell’ to Bishop Allan andTricia.

While he indicated that hisstudies would continue he added,“I’m not sure in what form”.

“Obviously I’ve got to scaleback from what I’ve been doingfor the last months, which havebeen absolutely full-time,” he said.“For me, the priority will be thediocese, and the study will besomething that will have to justfit in where it can.”

However, he said the readingand research he has done so farhas been very relevant: “Every-thing has made a contribution towhere I am today.”

While he admitted he has notresearched the Diocese ofBunbury or its parishes in anydetail, he expected that of the 32parishes about a third would bereasonably strong, a third wouldbe getting by and a third are prob-ably struggling.

“It’s all of the stuff we’vebeen doing,” he added. “In someplaces it’s tourism and retirementand the place is exploding; in otherplaces we’re more in a ministryof taking care of the older peoplewho will possibly be the last gen-eration who will live in the dis-trict.”

Bishop Stuart Robinson hasgreeted the news of Bishop Allan’selection enthusiastically.

“We join with Allan and Triciain celebrating this exciting call toleadership in Western Australia,”he said. “Allan is uniquely giftedand skilled for this task and I haveevery confidence that he will con-

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The Reverend Ken Foster will be granted an Authorityto Officiate following his retirement on April 20.

The Reverend Fay Fraser has become an Affiliate staffmember of Bush Church Aid (BCA).

Mrs Helen Painting (Stipendary Lay Minister forCommunity Schools Chaplaincy of Yass and GunningParishes) has become an Affiliate staff member of BushChurch Aid (BCA).

The Reverend Harley Lockley has been appointed locumtenens at West Goulburn while the Reverend BobLindbeck is on leave pending retirement.

The Reverend Ross Poulton is continuing as ActingRector at Merimbula/ Pambula Parish until theappointment of a new Rector

The Reverend Bronwyn Suptut has resigned as Rector,Charnwood parish, to take up the appointment of rector,Woden Parish. Her induction service will be on Tuesday25 May 2010 at 6.00pm at St Alban’s Woden, and herlast day at Charnwood will be Sunday 2 May 2010.

The Reverend Pauline Dare has been appointed part-time locum at Boorowa for three months commencing onPalm Sunday (28 March 2010).

Last week we farewelled the Reverend JamesRobertson and his wife Barbara who have been onexchange at Crookwell Parish from the Parish of Marden,Diocese of Kent in the UK. We thank them both for theirgreat contribution to Crookwell Parish and the Diocese.

The Reverend Dr Don Saines has been appointed Deanof Sale in the Anglican Diocese of Gippsland, and wasinstalled in this position on Thursday 22 April 2010.

Mr Glenn and Mrs Belinda Seddon have becomeAffiliate staff members of Bush Church Aid (BCA). Glen isthe Stipendiary Lay Minister Youth Services at BatemansBay.

tinue to display the leadership giftsthat he has displayed in the Dio-cese of Canberra and Goulburn,and we look forward to seeing amovement of God continue in theDiocese of Bunbury under Allanand Tricia’s pastoral care andoversight.”

May 2010 Page 3Anglican NewsDIOCESAN NEWS

Lay Ministry training

Back to Church Sunday plans

Whatever it takes: Deanurges Cursillo re-think

A training day for Lay Min-ister, being held at St Saviour’sCathedral on Saturday May 8,will be the launch pad for thenew Diocesan Lay Centre forMinistry and Mission.

Dean Phillip Saunders, whohas been working with Archdea-con Genieve Blackwell to planthe event, said that Centre is beadministered from the cathe-dral, offering courses to be de-livered locally throughout thediocese. These courses will aimto help lay people with missionand ministry at a parish level.

“One of our aims will be toshare with Lay Ministers afoundational course that ex-plores the mission of God as thebasis for any expression ofchurch,” he said. “It will helpus to think about our local com-munity and to discern God’smission wherever we arethrough all that we do.”

The training day will intro-duce resources developed in theUK to help train people involved

in ‘pioneer ministries’. Theseresources, which will form thebasis of the Lay Centre for Min-istry and Mission trainingcourses, have been designed forlay leaders, members of smallgroups, parish councils andother groups.

The Dean will be keen to hearwhat participants have to sayabout the material.

“Their feedback and partici-pation will help us become amore fruitful church in a chang-ing world,” he said.

He has also urged all LayMinisters to advise the Cathe-dral office of their acceptanceor apology for the day.

The program starts at 10am,with tea and coffee availablefrom 9:30, and will conclude at3:00pm. Participants have beenasked to bring their own lunch.

“Once again I encourage youto attend this event to affirm andpromote lay ministry within ourdiocese,” Phillip Saundersadded.

Back to Church Sunday willbe held in Canberra and GoulburnDiocese on Sunday August 29this year, two weeks earlier thanthe date chosen by the NationalBishops’ Conference when it metin Perth in March.

Bishop Trevor Edwards saidthe timing had to be changed forthis diocese as the proposed dateof September 12 would haveclashed with the diocesan synodmeeting in Goulburn, which willtake almost all clergy out of theirparishes for the weekend.

“I was really encouraged thatthe recent Bishops’ Conferenceagreed so strongly to hold BTCS

for the next three years on thesecond Sunday in Septemberacross the breadth of this coun-try,” Bishop Trevor said.

However, he and BishopStuart Robinson have agreed thatthis will mean re-thinking thedates for synod over that period.

In his capacity as Chair of theGeneral Synod Mission TaskForce, Bishop Trevor has saidthat the decision to set a definitenational date for the outreachevent will help all dioceses withtheir advance planning, “but itdoes mean that we need to getthings moving very quickly forthis year”.

As happened last year, therewill be a number of training daysacross the national church in thelead-up to BTCS, and althoughmost parishes were representedat such training events last yearit will be important to retrainteams again this time around.

Each parish is being asked toappoint a coordinator for BTCSas soon as possible so that thecoordinator can complete the or-der form for resources to helppromote and run the day. Orderforms should reach the nationaloffice by May 10 and resourcepack ere expected to be sent toall dioceses by mid-July.

ENCOURAGEMENT: Dean Phillip Saunders encouragesthe Bathurst Cursillo community to adapt Cursillo so to makeit more accessible and appealing to younger generations.

On the 5th May 1870, theBathurst Diocese was formedwhen the Bishops of Sydney andNewcastle formally surrenderedparts of their dioceses to createthe new see.

The following day All Saints’Parish Church, Bathurst was pro-claimed the new Cathedral.

To celebrate the 140th anni-versary of this event the Primateof the Anglican Church of Aus-tralia, the Most Reverend PhillipAspinall, will visit Bathurst and

Bathurst Diocese’ 140th anniversarytake part in a number of com-memorative activities.

The Reverend SamuelMarsden, Rector of Coffs Harbour,who is a direct descendent of thefirst Bishop of the Diocese will alsogive a lecture and open an exhibitionof Marsden memorabilia.

A Civic Reception for the Pri-mate at the Bathurst CouncilChambers starts the day’s activi-ties at 10:30am, followed by theunveiling of the Marsden plaqueat 12 noon.

At 12:30 pm the Primate willtake part in a Forum in the Ca-thedral. Samuel Marsden’s lec-ture is scheduled for 3:00pm,before the opening of the BishopMarsden Exhibition.

A Thanksgiving Service in theCathedral at 7:00pm will be fol-lowed by refreshmenst in the Ca-thedral Hall.

Members of the Canberra andGoulburn Diocesan HistoricalSociaety are planning to attendthe celebrations.

Movement needsto be more accessi-ble to contemporarysocietyby Lewis Hitchick

The Dean of St Saviour’s Ca-thedral has called for the Cursillomovement to be willing to adaptto a changing world.

Speaking at the 25th anniver-sary celebrations of the Cursilloin the Diocese of Bathurst lastweekend (April 17), DeanSaunders said that Cursillo shouldbe prepared to do “whatever ittakes” to make itself more acces-sible to younger generations.

The Dean was the keynotespeaker at a gathering in the Wel-lington Civic Centre, and whilehe said at the outset that his re-marks would not be specificallyaimed at Cursillo in the BathurstDiocese, he was drawing on hisexperience of the movement intwo other dioceses.

The anniversary gathering at-tracted about 120 people, sometravelling hundreds of kilometresto be there.

Diocesan Lay Director saidthat the diocese will hold its 80th

Cursillo retreat weekend this year.Since the movement was intro-duced to the diocese around 1500people have attended these week-end “short courses” in Christianliving.

Other speakers on the day in-cluded Kathryn Simon, who hadbeen Lay Director of the firstwomen’s Cursillo held in BathurstDiocese in 1985.

Teams from Canberra-Goulburn Diocese introduced themovement to Bathurst Diocese atthe invitation of the then diocesanBishop, Howell Witt.

Kathryn is married to ChrisSimon, who served as priest inthis diocese for many years. Sheis also the daughter of Bishop KenLeslie, much-loved Bishop ofBathurst from 1959-80.

Stan Huckel, a candidate fromMen’s 1 Cursillo in Bathurst whohas since retired to the Blue Moun-tains, was to have given the firstaddress of the day but was unableto attend due to a sudden illness.His address was read out byMichael Birch, one of the DiocesanSpiritual Advisers.

Two other speakers from morerecent Cursillos also addressed thegathering, reflecting the changing

demographic of the diocese and theCursillo movement over 25 years.

Jonathon Nichols from Nar-romine, the youngest of the speak-ers, gave some honest insights intocontemporary perceptions ofCursillo. When he had been invitedto attend a Cursillo weekend he hadasked a bit about the movement.

“It didn’t really sound very in-teresting, but I decided to go any-way,” he said.

It was this perception thatPhillip Saunders picked up onduring his address.

“Cursillo needs to change tomake itself more appealing toyoung people,” he said.

He suggested that this mightmean restructuring the traditionalCursillo retreat weekend substan-tially, or it could even mean aban-doning the current forms altogetherand starting something different.

The Dean began by re-cap-ping the history of the CursilloMovement from its origins inSpain during the difficult yearsafter the Civil War. It began as amovement to form Christian lifeamong young people in the Ro-man Catholic Church.

“Notice, I said young people,”Dean Phillip stressed, pointing out

that Cursillo in its present form nolonger seemed to hold any appealfor young people.

He posed the question: “HasCursillo run its course, and do wesimply thank God and let it go?”

“If the answer is no, thenwhen looking forward, weshould always look back at thewisdom of the past,” he advised.“Keep the genius of Cursillo.”

Stressing once again thatCursillo began as a movement fo-cused on young people, he said:

“Do whatever is necessary tohave young people come into themovement - whatever it takes.

“If we were putting on aCursillo weekend for the first time,”he asked, “ what would it be like?”

As well as some inspiring andencouraging talks, the anniversarygathering featured some heartypraise and worship led by the mu-sic group from Gilgandra AnglicanChurch, and an opportunity to re-new friendships formed through somany Cursillo event over the years.

Page 4 May 2010Anglican News

COMMENT

In my opinion ...Contemplating relations with other churchesBy DrBruceKaye

In November the Pope an-nounced a ‘new’ constitution fordisaffected Anglicans who mightwant to become part of the Ro-man Catholic Church.

It ruffled a few feathers in theChurch of England because oflack of consultation before it wasissued. Shortly afterwards theArchbishop of Canterbury was inRome to speak at a Symposiumto celebrate the work of CardinalWillebrands.

Rowan Williams gave a clearand sharply focussed paper on theissues that needed to be dealt within relations between the Angli-cans and the Roman Catholics.These relations had been testedby the ordination of women asclergy and bishops in Anglicanchurches and later by the ordi-nation as clergy and bishops ofopenly gay people.

These issues had deeply di-vided Anglicans, and still do.They created real problems forRoman Catholics.

Johannes Willebrands waspresident of the Secretariat forPromoting Christian Unity from1969 to 1989 when the Secre-tariat was reconstituted by JohnPaul II as the Pontifical Councilfor Promoting Christian Unity andWillebrands was succeeded bythe Australian, Cardinal EdwardCassidy.

Willebrands was the main fig-ure in ecumenical relations for theRoman Catholic Church in a timeof significant rapprochementwith other churches followingVatican II. The Anglican RomanCatholic Anglican Commission(ARCIC I) began in 1969, thesame year that Willebrands tookover the Secretariat for Promot-ing Christian Unity. ARCIC I hadan Australian member, DonaldCameron.

ARCIC I set out a method ofdealing with doctrinal disagree-ment that involved looking behindthe historic formulations andseeking for common ground outof which fresh formulations ofthe disputed doctrines could beattempted. ARCIC I producedreports on the Eucharist, ordina-tion and authority in the church.

Their statements on Eucharistand ordination were received bythe Lambeth Conference in 1988as consonant with Anglicanteaching. The statement of au-thority was seen as a useful ba-sis for continuing conversation.

ARCIC II, which included anAustralian, Charles Sherlock in itsmembership, began to publishdocuments in 1987 on Salvationin the church, church as com-munion, Life in Christ: Morals,the Gift of Authority, which con-sidered the question of a univer-sal primacy, and a final documentpublished in 2005, Mary: Graceand Hope in Christ.

The Lambeth Conferenceshave been generally receptive tothese reports and have reportedgeneral but by no means univer-sal support from the provincesof the Anglican Communion.The reality out on the ground issomewhat different. There isstrong opposition in some placesand significant disinterest in manyplaces.

It is therefore important torecognise that when the ARCICdocuments are referred to asagreed statements that meansthey have been agreed by themembers of ARCIC. There is asignificant problem about sayingthey are agreed by each of theparticipating groups.

The Roman Catholic Churchis a global church which claimsuniversal jurisdiction for the Popewithin its own community. Ittherefore has a recognised insti-tutional mechanism for giving as-sent or not on such a global is-sue.

Anglicanism does not havesuch institutional arrangements.Its understanding of the churchis first of all local in character andthe wider the reach the looser be-comes the authoritative decisionmaking capacity.

The day after RowanWilliams’ address at theWillebrands seminar he met withPope Benedict XVI and theyagreed to continue the ARCICconversations. This third phasewill deal with The Church AsCommunion – Local And Univer-sal, and how in communion thelocal and the universal churchcomes to discern right ethicalteaching. Some time soon peo-ple will be appointed to this newARCIC III.

The theme will present somechallenges for Anglicans since itis intimately involved in thepresent conflict in the AnglicanCommunion over the proposedcovenant, which amongst otherthings sets out to establish amechanism to deal specificallywith the question that ARCIC IIIis asked to consider. We shouldnot expect ARCIC III to comeup with some comment on thisin the very near future. Thesethings quite properly take time.

But there is something elsegoing on here which is both in-teresting and important. We allknow that in any conversationwith someone we want to get onwith and yet disagree with, wetry very hard to understand wherethey are coming from and go

some way to move to where theyare in order to achieve that un-derstanding.

In conversations like ARCICthis sort dynamic is necessaryand important if there is to be realengaged understanding out ofwhich enhanced mutual respectcan grow. It is not surprising thatAnglicans should be observedmoving in the direction of theirRoman Catholic friends in theway they deal with this conver-sation.

After all the Roman Catholicmembers of ARCIC know theyhave a clear global decision mak-ing procedure which is not af-fected by their conversation withthe Anglicans. The Anglicans onthe other hand do not have sucha decision making mechanismand yet the conversation seemsto call for one.

It is not surprising that themodest recognition of the Lam-beth Conferences becomes inpopular talk, things which havebeen agreed. Even the normally

very careful Rowan Williams atthe Willebrands seminar spoke ofimportant matters on which thereis already clear agreement.

Not quite, I think.General reception by the bish-

ops at Lambeth and uneven re-sponses from the provinces ismore the case. And that does notaccount for divergent viewswithin the provinces.

The Lambeth Conference in1998 was also interested in organi-sational things like the movementof clergy from one church to an-other. Then in November 2001 ameeting of Roman Catholic andAnglican bishops pressed for acommission that could promotepractical organisational things be-tween the churches that wouldbuild on the agreements made byARCIC. A commission was es-tablished and it produced an ac-tion plan, most of which turnedout to be about further consulta-tions.

The purpose of all this dialogueand ambiguous agreement is notaltogether clear. Some leadingpeople speak of the aim as fullorganic union. But this is the kindof language that dropped out ofecumenical conversations in thelast quarter of the last century inno small measure because it wasan impossible dream. But I doubtvery much if the organisational re-unification of the churches is anykind of dream.

Rather it seems to me that in

the case of the main Christian tra-ditions they each contribute some-thing to the general overall pictureof Christianity. Their separate or-ganisational arrangements em-body different elements in Chris-tian faith. We should be gratefulfor the clear gospel statement thatthe confidence of the papacy ena-bles the Pope to make from timeto time. A clarity and confidencegenerally lacking in Anglicanismbecause we do not have the kindof institutional arrangements thatwould facilitate such confidencein one person or office.

The final unity of all Christiansreally belongs in the realm of es-chatology. It is a hope we lookforward to. The real issue for usnow is the way in which we areable to show genuine understand-ing, respect and love to our fel-low Christians in other churches.

Australia has had a long andbad history of sectarian conflictand the absence of anything thatlooked like genuine Christian lovebetween the churches. That his-tory has now receded thankfullyand we should be concentratingon finding ways to express Chris-tian love and respect to our fel-low Christians out of the integrityof our own tradition of faith.

The real significance of ARCICis that it helps us to do that.

Bruce Kaye runs a Blog onAnglican matters at http://worldanglicanismforum.blogspot.com

COMMON GROUND: Pope Benedict XVI and Archbishop Rowan Williams, head of theAnglican Communion. While discussions between representatives of the Roman CatholicChurch and the Anglican Communion have reached agreement on some vital issues,this doesnot impy that any form of unity is imminent. (Photo courtesy ACNS Rosenthal).

The purpose of allthis dialogue and

ambiguousagreement is notaltogether clear.

May 2010 Page 5Anglican News

TRI-DIOCESAN NEWS

175th anniversary of oldest inland church Holy Trinity Kelso

still ‘telling the old,old story’by Lewis Hitchick

The launching of a history ofthe parish was one of the high-lights of the Easter weekend atHoly Trinity, Kelso, as the parishcelebrated the 175th anniversaryof the consecration of the churchbuilding.

Bishop of Bathurst RichardHurford officially launched thebook, Kelso: the Church’s Gate-way to the West, at a parish lunchin the parish hall following theEaster services in the church.

Author of the history, JohnEllis (a son of former rector ofKelso, Archdeacon Howard Ellis)gave a brief account of some ofthe challenges and successes heexperienced while researchingand writing the book.

He paid tribute to the workdone over many years by CarolChurches in gathering and filinginformation from local newspa-pers and parish records.

“It was a biblical filing sys-tem,” he said. “Seek and ye shallfind.”

He also drew on the MooreCollege Library, the Mitchell Li-brary, State Records and the ar-chives of the Diocese of Sydney.

In formally launching thebook, Bishop Richard said thatthe story was not just about avery beautiful building, but wasalso the story of “the pilgrim peo-ple of God”.

“I want to compliment JohnEllis, the story teller. He’s soughtto be absolutely as accurate fromresearch as he could have been.”

He said that the story of thepriests and people down the yearshad been wonderfully told, show-ing how they had all beenfocussed on “the unchanginglove of God, and their experienceof it”.

“And that, I hope, is whatwe’re onabout in this175th,” hesaid. “Whatsort of astory haveyou got totell? Whathave I got totell? Or is itjust the his-torical Jesusyou knowabout?”

T h eb o o klaunch ingwas just onepart of abusy and inspiring Easter week-end at Holy Trinity, built aroundthe theme of ‘Telling the Old, OldStory’.

Easter observations began onThursday evening when a smallgroup of parishioners met in theparish hall for a contemporary re-enactment of the Last Supper,interspersed with a few reflec-tions by the Bishop of Gippsland,John McIntyre.

Bishop John was the guestpreacher and speaker at theanniversary weekend events,which also featured a dramatic

‘Way to the Cross’ memorial onGood Friday.

Held in bright sunshine on thehillside in from of the church, theWay to the Cross was a 90-minute walking meditation on theevents leading to Calvary, andculminating with a representationof the crucifixion and burial ofJesus.

Rector of Holy Trinity Parish,Graham Thurley, began the pro-gram by asking those assembled,“What are we doing?”

“We are acting out the storyof Jesus’ death on the cross,”

The parish church ofHoly Trinity Kelso wasbuilt in 1834 and conse-crated by Bishop WilliamBroughton, the first andonly Bishop of Australia, atEaster 1835.

The brick church, de-signed by an unknown ar-chitect, replaced a con-verted barn in which wor-ship services had beenheld since the arrival ofThomas Hassall, the firstChurch of England priestin the Bathurst area, in1826.

While there is some ar-gument as to whether itwas the first church to bebuilt west of the BlueMountains (there was asmall chapel built atnearby O’Connell prior toHoly Trinity) it was cer-tainly the first church to beconsecrated beyond thecoastal environs, and thefirst church in Australia tobe consecrated by abishop.

Since its creation, theParish of Kelso has suc-cessively been part of theDioceses of Calcutta, Aus-tralia, Sydney and since1855, Bathurst.

was the response.“Why are we doing this?”

asked Graham Thurley.“So that we become part of

the story, and the story becomespart of us.”

Adapted from the traditionalStations of the Cross meditation,and interspersed with several pen-etrating reflections by BishopJohn McIntyre, the whole activ-ity created a powerful link be-tween the historic events of Je-sus’ betrayal, trial and death andthe everyday lives of the 75 peo-ple taking part.

Bishop John highlighted thecontrast between the healingpower of forgiveness that Godoffers through the death of Je-sus, and the ever-increasing spi-ral of revenge so often seen inthe world.

“Imagine a world where, af-ter the events of September 11,2001, the response to 3,000 in-nocent people being killed had notbeen to enter into a war where,at the latest count, something like100,000 innocent people havebeen killed,” he suggested.

As the gathering progressedslowly up the slope on a zig-zagpath that covered almost a kilo-metre, most people took a turncarrying one of the 12 two-me-tre crosses that were stood inpre-dug holes along the way.

The story of Jesus’passionunfolded through Bible readingsat each stop, before each crosswas placed.

When the meandering proces-sion reached the paved forecourtin front of the church, humanforms shaped from fine wiremesh were nailed to the final threecrosses representing Jesus andthe two thieves crucified withhim, as the Gospel account of thecrucifixion was read out.

Bishop John McIntyre thenoffered another powerful reflec-tion on the proceedings.

“As you have heard the story,as you have watched and seen,no doubt you will have had yourown reflections and thoughts,” hesaid. “In some places you mayhave had self-conviction, in otherplaces you might have found con-solation.

“We need to remember thatevery time we deny Jesus in theway we live our lives, it is asthough we drive another nail intohis cross.”

Two people from the crowdthen removed the mesh ‘body’representing Jesus from the cen-tral cross, wrapped it in linen andcarried in into a large cardboard‘tomb’ that had been built in frontof the entrance to the church,which was then sealed by a card-board boulder.

The crowd then dispersed.On Easter morning the re-en-

actment continued, with twowomen discovering the emptytomb before the start of the6:00am service commemoratingthe “new light that has come intothe world”.

GOOD FRIDAY: (above) Wire mesh human forms on the crosses in front ofKelso’s Holy Trinity Church are a stark reminder of the horror of crucifixion.The ‘body’ representing Jesus has already been removed from the central crossand placed in the ‘tomb’ at the entry to the church.

CHALLENGE: (left) Guest speaker Bishop John McIntyre from Gipplandchallenged his listeners by pointing out that ‘every time we deny Jesus by theway we live our lives, it is as though we drive another nail into his cross’.

SHARING THE BURDEN: Members of the crowd taketurns carrying the crosses as they make their way up the200-metre slope to the church, stopping at nine points alongthe way to hear part of he ‘old, old story’ read from the Bibleas each cross is stood in place.

Page 6 May 2010Anglican NewsDIOCESAN NEWS

Batemans Bay preparesfor Spirit ‘10 Conference by Louise Lovegrove

Do you long to share the loveof Christ with the women in yourneighbourhood?

Are you ready to “do” theword instead of merely listening toit (James 1:25)?

I wanted to get together withthe women in our church and thewider community. I was certainsuch an undertaking every weekat my own home would be toomuch, due to the pressure tomake my home seem present-able, rather than lived in.

Not to mention the fact thatnowadays, it’s hard to competewith the soy half-caf sugar freegingerbread latte double blendedwith extra foam, extra hot, withfair-trade, organic coffee beans, inmug please. (Whatever happenedto white, with two sugars?)

Also at the time, the home welived in was a two storey house.All our children were in highschool by this stage, so my homewas far from baby-proofed.

So I decided to meet at the localMacca’s (McDonald’s) as it wasfamiliar, safe, clean, had children’sentertainment, extensive menu op-tions, and adequate parking.

The next day, I spread theword that on Thursdays at 10am(during term) I would be atMaccas enjoying a coffee if any-one wanted to join me.

I specifically invited fourwomen from our church so Icould share with them my idea: Iwanted a place women couldmeet to have a coffee and a chat,if and when they wanted to, in achild-friendly environment.

I emphasised to these friendsthat while we were Christians, andduring the course of the morning,we would talk about God, prayer,the Bible, and church, it wasn’t aplace for us to bible-bash. Instead,it was to be a place for women toshare what was going on in their

lives.The next week we had ten

women. By the end of the month,we had 30 (with the odd male -although this wasn’t ideal as itchanged the dynamics of the groupand impeded sharing).

The women were encouragedto invite their friends, anyone theymet at the school gate, women whohad moved to the town because oftheir husband’s profession, familymembers who were visiting, etc.The working women in the groupwould drop by on their morningtea breaks. Sometimes the onlything putting an end to the conver-sations was the realisation we hadto pick our kids up from school!

The women felt free to comeand go as they pleased. By the endof the year, women knew that ona Thursday after 10am, theycould drive by Macca’s, and therewould be someone there theycould drop in and talk to.

Would you consider inviting afew friends out for coffee in awarm and inviting setting? Godmay be calling you to say, think ordo something today that will im-pact your neighbour’s lives foreternity. You can create a commu-nity of friends – women of all faithsor no faith, from all churches orno church, of all ages, at all stagesof life – who draw on each otheras they draw near to Christ.

Over the course of the year wedistributed Bibles to the children,and prayed with the women. Whenour church did the 40 Days ofPurpose, we gave the interestedwomen a Rick Warren book.

My family and I leftMuswellbrook in 2008, and theladies are still meeting on aThursday at 10am.

Louise Lovegrove moved toGoulburn in 2008 when her hus-band Brad Lovegrove was ap-pointed rector of St Nicholas’,North Goulburn.

Coffee, conversation,caring - and Christ

The Friends of St John’sEvensong service on Sunday May16 will feature an address byformer diplomat MatthewNeuhaus on the topic, ‘Ties thatBind: the Values of the Common-wealth’.

The Friends hold these serv-ices regularly as an outreach tothe community, usually invitinga guest speaker to address a sub-ject of contemporary as well aschurch interest instead of ser-mon.

In March the speaker wasKen Langford Smith, Principal ofYipirinya School in Alice Springs,who outlined some of the chal-lenges and successes he has ex-perienced in Aboriginal education.

Matthew Neuhaus is a careerdiplomat who has served as theAustralian High Commissioner inNigeria, and more recently asDirector of Political Affairs at theCommonwealth Secretariat inLondon.

He will focus on the valuesof the Commonwealth in formerBritish Empire countries wherethe Commonwealth Secretariathas worked to promote the ruleof law and human rights issues.

“The Anglican Church isstrongly represented in these ar-eas, and has similar values,” he

told Anglican News. “I’ve seensome very positive changes insome of the African countriesI’ve worked in over the years.”

He said the Secretariat also dida lot of work in Asia, and in thepacific countries such as Fiji andTonga, although he conceded thatFiji was currently a major chal-lenge because it had been sus-pended from the Commonwealth.

The Evensong service startsat 6:00pm on Sunday May 16 atSt John’s Church, Reid.

Diplomat to speak atFriends of St John service

GUEST SPEAKER: MatthewNeuhaus will speak of hisexperience in the London-based CommonwealthSecretariat.

Bigger venue dou-bles previous limiton numbersby Lewis Hitchick

Organisers of the Spirit ’10Conference at Batemans Bay,scheduled for the weekend ofMay 21-23, have decided to movethe event to a larger venue to ac-commodate more people.

Rector of Batemans Bay IanLambert said the conference willnow be held at Batemans BayHigh School, which will allowmore flexibility for the work-shops being offered.

“The School Principal said theconference was part of the over-all community well-being, andtherefore has provided it thevenue at no cost,” Ian Lambertaid. “We’ll have the use of fourclassrooms and the canteen.”

He explained that the eventwas to have been held at theChurch of the Ascension,Batemans Bay’s Anglican church,but this would have meant re-stricting the numbers to a maxi-mum of 120.

“We can now handle up to 250

people comfortably, and also bea bit more flexible with the work-shops,” he added.

As an example, Ian Lambertsaid that as applications havecome in, there have also beensome enquiries about teaching onprophecy.

“We’ll have to wait till theconference gets under way, butwe’ll see if there’s enough inter-est to offer something along theselines as well as the other work-shops – the High School will giveus plenty of room to do this ifit’s necessary.”

He said that the workshopswill be “mainly about prayer”.

“The speakers will talk abouttheir subject area, but then wewant people to actually experi-ence these things so the work-shops will go to prayer, prayingfor the release of gifts in thatarea.”

Bishop Stuart Robinson willopen the conference on the Fri-day evening and will be leading aworkshop on healing on Satur-day afternoon.

He will also celebrate a closingEucharist at 8:00am at the church

and 10:00am at the high school.Other speakers will be Tim

Giovanelli, John Saddington andAli Mileto.

Tim Giovanelli has workedwith African Enterprise in Kenyaand IMS Health in London andacross Europe. He has a Mastersin Christian Studies from RegentCollege in Canada and trained inministry at St Paul’s Hammer-smith UK and Holy TrinityBrompton, in London

John Saddington heads up theAlpha ministries in NSW and hashad a long involvement in Angli-can Parish Ministry and AnglicanRenewal Ministries. He has beeninvolved with the Pastors Schoolwith Vineyard CA, and is also in-volved in the Healing Ministry inthe Anglican church.

Ali Mileto is a graduate of theWesley Institute (Drama and Per-forming Arts) and Sydney Mis-sionary and Bible College (The-ology). She serves as Youth andChildren’s Minister at St Aidan’sLongueville, and is a giftedyoung preacher, evangelist andworship leader.

Tim Giovanelli will presenttwo sessions. On the Fridayevening he will outline the Bibli-cal framework for the teachingof the weekend, and on Satur-day he will speak about faith asone of the keys to ministry.

John Saddington will explainhow love is another key to min-istry, particularly allowing God tolove us.

Ali Mileto’s topic will be thegrace key: the empowering pres-ence.

Ian Lambert said that the re-sponse has been very good so far,with applications coming from arange of denominations and geo-graphical areas.

For more information or ap-plication forms, contact BatemansBay parish on 4472 2822 oranglicanbbay@gmail.com

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Ph 6285 1425, Fax 6281 0849, wcb@cyberone.com.au

CONFERENCE HOST: IanLambert says the biggervenue will allow moreflexibility with the program.

May 2010 Page 7Anglican NewsDIOCESAN NEWS

from the parishThe Seaside Fair held this

year on 20th March isBermagui’s annual Show Dayand traditionally the day beginswith the harbourside “Blessingof the Fleet”.

Parish priest Canon HarveySloane included in the Blessinga thanksgiving for all that the seaprovides, such as recreation,fishing and livelihood, and a re-minder that we are called to bestewards of its bounty.

The Blessing was well at-tended and was wonderfully en-hanced by the Cobargo/BermaguiParish Singers under the baton ofLance Carder and accompaniedby Ruth Gilmour.

Easter in Cobargo/Bermagui/Quaama

Our new service of thanks-giving for Easter Day was heldat 6am on one of the headlandsat Bermagui.

We celebrated the Eucharistas God let the ‘new fire’ burstbetween the clouds and the oceanon the horizon.

As the sun rolled away thestone of darkness we sang Je-sus Christ is Risen Today mostheartily.

Harvey Sloan reported thatattendances at all Easter servicesin the parish showed an increaseon last year’s numbers.

BLESSING: (above) Some of the Cobargo/Bermagui ParishSingers support Canon Harvey Sloane at the Blessing of theFleet at Bermagui.

NEW FIRE: (below) Dawn breaking between the oceanhorizon and the clouds lit Bemagui’s dawn Easter servicewith ‘new fire’.

Blessing of the Fleet at Bermagui

Bishop’s LiaisonOfficer smoothespath for priests newto dioceseby Lewis Hitchick

In response to a need to helpnew clergy settle into ministry inthe Diocese of Canberra andGoulburn, Bishop StuartRobinson has appointed CanonGillian Varcoe as Bishops’ Liai-son Officer ‘to advise/assist himand Bishop Trevor in areas ofnew ministry orientation and in-tegration’.

A program has been developedto help newly-ordained clergy,those moving into the diocesefrom elsewhere, and also laypeople taking on responsibility fornew ministries.

Gill Varcoe said that herobjective is to “make our ministrytogether effective, liberating andfulfilling through providingwelcome and hospitality,understanding the values base ofthe diocese and raising awarenessof available resources”.

To this end she has produceda 15-page document and a CD

giving a brief overview of the di-ocesan history and its governingstructures. The document liststhe various roles in the DiocesanRegistry and outlines their re-sponsibilities; provides a briefoverview of the various institu-tions and agencies and lists thekey documents and ordinancesthat explain the governance of thediocese.

A significant section of thebooklet is headed “Norms inour work together”, and de-scribes the ethos of the dioceseas “an inclusive Anglican tradi-tion which values and respectsdiverse approaches, views, andenvironments under the unify-ing commitment to proclama-tion of the gospel of JesusChrist”.

This section emphasises suchvalues as diversity, inclusion andmutual respect, avoiding factionalbehaviour, and the encourage-ment of robust but respectfuldebate.

“Newcomers need help todevelop an appreciation of this‘inclusive in diversity’ ethos ofthe diocese,” Gill Varcoe ex-plained. “They otherwise might

naturally gravitate toward thosewith whom they share commonvalues, increasing the risk offactionalism.”

She pointed out that churchworkers also naturally devotemost of their energy to their localcommunity.

“Intentional orientation todiocesan norms and objectivesgoes some way to reducing theoften-bemoaned tendency tocongregationalism, and an ‘usand them’ attitude to the diocese,”she said.

The Liaison Officer has for-mulated a procedure wherebyshe will meet with newly-ap-pointed clergy before they starttheir duties, to talk through keyissues and provide informationsuch as the Diocesan StrategicPlan, the Governance Ordinance,Parochial Administration Hand-book, Finance and Annual Re-ports Ordinance, Discipline Or-dinance and the Code of GoodPractice.

Gill Varcoe said the materialcould also be very useful forclergy already ministering in thediocese.

“To that end I’ll be going to

Easing the transition for new clergy

Role of Archdeaconsrevised and clarifiedby Bishop TrevorEdwards

When I served as an archdea-con I heard many colourful de-scriptions of the role, includingthe ‘crook on the bishop’s staff’and the ‘rottweiler of thechurch’.

Both derive from the fact thatin the past archdeacons had gen-eral disciplinary supervision ofclergy in their archdeaconry andeven had the capacity to takechurchwardens to ecclesiasticalcourt for dereliction of duty.

There are times when onefeels one has been born too late!

In the modern world archdea-cons are appointed by the bishopto assist in the administration ofthe diocese and share in aspectsof episcopal oversight.

As a diocese we believe incollaborative ministry, so ourbishop confers regularly with thearchdeacons regarding the shapeof mission and ministry in thediocese and he has delegated tothem the responsibility to developarea or sector strategies to pur-sue our dream to see people andcommunities radically trans-formed by the love of Jesus.

They further function as acouncil of confidential advice inthe discharge of his demandingand variegated responsibilities. Inparticular they multiply his pas-toral care for clergy and minis-try units by visits to listen, tosolve problems and suggest newmissional strategies. While the

bishop is ultimately responsiblefor appointments, archdeaconshave a crucial strategic role in ourclergy appointment board proc-esses at the time of vacancies.

Because they are geographi-cally dispersed they are vital inbreaking down any potential silomentality in the diocese by fos-tering links between parishes andagencies and generally encourag-ing people to cooperate for thecommon good.

It is true that archdeaconsstill have certain statutory re-sponsibilities with regard toproperty and finance. But just asit is their responsibility to assistwith the structuring orreconfiguring of ministry unitsin order to advance the missionof the church, they also need totake this view when parisheswant to lease, sell or developproperties held on trust.

They must ask whether sucha proposal will enhance the shar-ing of the gospel of Jesus bothnow and in 20-30 years time bynot hobbling future possibilities.This requires big picture lateralthinking.

Being an archdeacon is there-fore a high and venerable callingto be the chief servant of the peo-ple and the parishes in this vastdiocese. I urge you to pray forthese sisters and brothers whoperform these essential roles inour corporate life while continu-ing to lead mission in their par-ishes.

each of the deaneries to hand outthe documentation,” she said.

However, she conceded thatthe resource pack is a work in

progress: “I’ll need some of thoseclergy who’ve been around for awhile, to remind me of thingsI’ve forgotten.”

COMMISSIONING: Earlier this year Bishop StuartRobinson commissioned Canon Gillian Varcoe for her newrole as Bishop’s Liaison Officer during a service in StSaviour’s Cathedral.

Page 8 May 2010Anglican News

NEWS FROM THE PARISHES

from Gungahlin parishHave you ever been invited in

to a Burmese kitchen?Gungahlin Anglican ladies had

this invitation as part of a mis-sion-focused week with a teamof students from the Sydney Mis-sion and Bible College in Sydney.

With cooking to rival that of‘Master Chef’, two of GungahlinAnglican Church’s congregationdemonstrated some traditionalBurmese cooking and everyonewas treated to some very gener-ous samples.

Sisters, Joanna and Christina,moved to Australia from Burmawith their family when they werequite young but were wellschooled by their mother in Bur-mese cooking. As they cooked,they chatted, sharing what it waslike for them to be Christians in apredominantly Buddhist country.

After lots of delicious Bur-mese food, a member of the mis-sion team, Kerry, spoke about theamazing treasure we have in Je-sus; ‘The kingdom of heaven islike treasure hidden in a field.When a man found it, he hid itagain, and them in his joy wentand sold all he had and boughtthat field. Again, the kingdom ofheaven is like a merchant look-ing for fine pearls, When hefound one of great value, he wentaway and sold everything he hadand bought it.’ Matthew 13: 44-46.

Compared to Him and the life

He offers everything else palesinto insignificance. Kerry encour-aged us to share that messagewith people with whom we mixand work.

It was an enjoyable night withlots of eating, lots of talking andlots of laughing. In the Burmesekitchen we discovered some realtreasure: the cooks Joanna andChristina, the delicious Burmesecuisine but most of all the treas-ure of Jesus.

The most common commentfrom our visitors was “please askme again”!

from the parishDeck the halls…These words are usually re-

membered in the old ChristmasCarol, but they took on a specialmeaning in Bombala this Easter.

Because of the church floorrestoration currently in progress,our Easter services took place in

Encounter - verb:to meet, converge,sometimesunexpectedlyfrom the parish

A group of people gatheredfor dinner one night in January,with the desire of discussing asimilar vision: the creation of anevening service to connect withthe young adults at Holy CovenantJamison.

As discussions continuedover the following weeks, the

a place to encounter God throughcreative forms of worship, inspi-rational teaching, and commun-ion over food. It is aimed at con-necting with 17-30 year olds butall are welcome.

Gifted theologians, poets, andauthors, are amongst some of theguest speakers this year. Encoun-ter begins May 30th at 6pmat Holy Covenant ChurchJamison.

For more information, pleasevisit our websitewww.holycovenant.org.au

Encounters with God at Holy Covenant

amazed at what could be donewith such a basic hall setting. Avisiting Sydney couple com-mented ‘’just walking in to sucha setting was a most profoundlymoving experience.”

Sharing treasures from a Burmese kitchen

vision grew. The group knewthey didn’t want to compete withexisting ministries and services atthe church or within the widerdiocese, but rather complementthem.

The group also knew that theywanted a place where creativeforms of worship could be ex-pressed, discussed, explored andtaught. It seemed like a naturalflow on from the 24 hour prayerministry that was growing in thechurch.

And so Encounter was born.Encounter strives to provide

FAITH STORY: (right)Joanna and Christina sharepart of their story as theyprepare traditional Burmesecuisine. The two sisters wereborn in Burma and reflectedon growing up in a Buddhistcountry.

the parish hall; a functional build-ing, but somewhat lacking whencompared to the familiar beautyof Saint Matthias.

However, the parish worshipMinistry Group took it all in theirstride! Working as a team, theyprepared special liturgies for thejourney beginning with the ex-cited expectation of Palm Sunday,followed by the grief and pain ofMaundy Thursday and Good Fri-day, all culminating in the resur-rection triumph of Easter Day.

To further enhance the impactof each service, they then let theircreativity flow! The Good Fridayservice was held at the ‘darker’end of the hall, adding a sombrenote which contrasted in a verymoving way with the joy ofEaster morning so full of lightand beauty, held at the ‘bright’end of the hall.

Visitors to Bombala along withthe regular congregation were

The creative energy expendedto ‘make the most’ of our tempo-rary worship space is a great trib-ute to the team who combined tomake this year’s Easter celebra-tions in Bombala very memorable.

Bombala’s Easter: from darkness to light

NEW LIGHT: Following a Good Friday service in the darkend of the hall, the joy of Easter was celebrated in bright light.

May 2010 Page 9Anglican News

NEWS FROM THE PARISHES

from the parishThe Easter services held at St.

John’s Anglican Church inMoruya this year were totally dif-ferent to any that parishionerscould remember being celebratedthere in the past.

On Maundy Thursday theParish Hall was set up for a SederMeal where the traditional Passo-ver Meal of lamb and bitter herbsand unleavened bread wasserved. The locum priest to theparish, Bishop George Browning,explained the significance of themeal and its place in the Easterstory.

Communion was celebrated atthe table at the conclusion of themeal. Worshipers found the meal,and the communion to be a very

moving experience.The Good Friday service was

also very different from the serv-ice usually celebrated in the par-ish. Some weeks before Easter,Bishop George appealed to pa-rishioners to accept responsibil-ity for the majority of the in-putof the worship.

Five groups came forward totake up one of the five followingthemes: Hunger and Poverty;Sickness and Disease; NaturalDisaster; War and Violence, andAbuse (of women and children).

A large wooden cross had beenplaced in the sanctuary and thesegroups representing the three wor-ship centres and two familygroups, led the congregation insongs, bible readings, prayer and

spoke on one of the five issueswhich affect our world.

At the end, or during theirpart of the service they addednotes, signs, photos, pictures orother items to remind us of thefive themes which so affect ourworld today.

Those attending the servicefound the experience moving andvery profound.

The Easter Day service wasalso different and again involvedmany people in the act of worship.

As people arrived they weregiven flowers which they were toplace on the wooden cross whichwas still in the sanctuary. Thechildren in the congregation wereinvited to strip the cross of thesymbols of pain and sufferingplaced there on Good Friday.Once the items were taken off thecross Bishop George and the chil-dren walked them to the back ofthe church at which time the newPaschal Candle was lit and proc-essed to the front of the church.

As the cross was now bareBishop George invited the con-gregation to place their flowerson the cross.

At the conclusion of Com-munion the children were invitedto take the flowers from thecross and hand them out to mem-bers of the congregation as asymbol of sharing Christ’s lovein the world.

The involvement of people inthe service enhanced the feeling

of being an active part of theworship thus making Easter verymemorable and significant.

The people of Moruya Parishare thankful for Bishop George’s

ideas for worship at thesignificant time in the Church’scalendar and will remember fora long time the inclusion all feltat each service this Easter.

Any interested person is in-vited to join us for a weekendwhere we are renewed in body,mind and spirit.

The “Gathering Place” inDickson Canberra has become avery special holy space where wereturn annually for our retreat.We begin with an evening mealon Friday May 28 and concludewith lunch on Sunday May 30.

The retreat this year is beingled by The Rev’d Theresa Angert-Quilter, one of our Third OrderFranciscans from Goulburn.

The Third Order of the Soci-

ety of St Francis consists of anypeople – men or women, mar-ried or single, laity or clergy. Ouraim is to make our lord knownand loved everywhere, to pro-mote the spirit of love and har-mony, and to live simply.

This is the obedience whichthe Gospel lays upon us andwhich shapes our lives and atti-tudes.

For information about the re-treat or the Third Order contactThe Rev’d Robert Willson on6282 4346 or email him atrobbie70@tpg.com.au

Third Order Franciscan Retreat

NEW LIFE: Moruya’s Easter service began with thechildren stripping the Good Friday symbols of sufferingfrom the cross, before redecorating it with flowers.

Cross overcomes suffering in Moruya

Page 10 May 2010Anglican News

LINK DIOCESE

from the collegeIn 2009 Alex Sarantakos,

Maureen Glendining and PeterGreen, teachers from The Riv-erina Anglican College in WaggaWagga, joined a mission team ledby Fr Malcolm Dunnett of StAlbans Parish, Kooringal on a tripto the Province of Ysabel in theSolomon Islands.

The College had become awareof the Diocesan links with Ysabelthrough a presentation given byBishop Alan Ewing following hissigning of a MOU with Bishop Ri-chard Naramana of Ysabel.

One of the purposes of the tripwas to investigate the feasibility ofstudents from the College satisfy-ing the Gold Level requirements ofthe Duke of Edinburgh Award. Par-ticipants at this level need to bechallenged physically, mentally,socially and intellectually. The pos-sibility of students completing aresidential project in a developingcountry was investigated.

Although the team was basedin the Village of Buala, a majorcentre on the island of SantaYsabel, we spent much of ourtime travelling by boat and by footto many of the more isolatedcommunities on Ysabel.

Despite the communities liv-ing in difficult conditions withpoor sanitary, health and hygieneconditions, their hospitality wasoverwhelming. Everywhere wetravelled we were ceremoniouslywelcomed by communities will-ing to share much more thanthey could afford.

As we made our final trektowards our destination throughJurassic Park-like settings, wewere greeted by “warriors” fromthe various schools brandishingswords and axes. When thetumult subsided we were led tothe heart of the school or village

by choirs singing hymns ortraditionally dressed pan pipersplaying familiar tunes.

For a few weeks we lived inthird world conditions, we show-ered under water that streamedfrom an open pipe in the ceiling,we had no hot water and only oc-casional electricity – luxuries wehad taken for granted.

We stayed in a community,sections of which took turns totend and feed us, making sure wehad everything we needed. Veryearly in the morning, the womenwould climb high into the moun-tains to tend their gardens and col-lect food or begin baking breadfor later in the day. The menwould be out fishing or prepar-ing additional food. Occasionallywe would be offered turtle whichwas only hunted for food on veryspecial occasions.

As we ate our meals wewould be entertained by singingand dancing.

We were treated like royalty. Itwas a very humbling experience.

Having determined that it wassafe and feasible for students tocomplete a residential project andto work with communities onYsabel, plans are well underwayfor a more extensive visit in 2010.

Students from the RiverinaAnglican College will live in re-mote communities and delivera variety of educational pro-grams in primary and second-ary schools throughout theProvince.

Students have prepared pro-grams relating to English literacy,sport, music and health and pres-entations illustrating facets ofCollege life in Wagga.

They are also expending muchtime and effort raising the nec-essary finances and resources forthe trip.

Students TRACkingfor Solomon Islands

The opportunity for the Dio-cese of Canberra and Goulburn tohonour the Memorandum of Un-derstanding with the Diocese ofYsabel (DoY) has been greatlyincreased recently with the dona-tion of the use of a shipping con-tainer and transport assistance tothe departure point in Sydney.

Batemans Bay AnglicanChurch member Mal MacCallumwho has travelled to the Solo-mon’s three times recently is ex-cited about the increase in the as-sistance that can be offered to theDoY.

He said that 200 kilos weresent in 2009 and two schools inthe Solomon’s, Poro Primary onYsabel and Selwyn Anglican Col-lege on Guadalcanal, have ben-efited from that first trial delivery.Diocesan schools The RiverinaAnglican College, Radford Collegeand Canberra Grammar School,in particular contributed signifi-cantly to that delivery.

This year a whole containerallows for 20 tonnes or A 100-foldincrease on last year’s support.

“Bishop Richard Narramanahas particularly asked that litera-ture, school text books, librarybooks and teaching resources,hand tools and power tools areincluded in any assistance that weare able to contribute,” MalMacCallum explained. “We areasking individuals, schools,churches and communities to seethis as an opportunity to providevery useful assistance to theschools of Ysabel particularly.”

Mal MacCallum said he hadbeen into about seven schoolswhile visiting the Solomons and“all of them lack incredibly in theresources needed and desired” .

He said this lack was in starkcontrast to the ten schools he hadworked in over 25 years through-out NSW and the ACT .

“These often had large num-bers of redundant resources gath-ering dust in storerooms. In addi-tion, as the internet basis to Aus-tralian education takes wider hold,

more and more paper-based re-sources are going to be cast aside.This program is going to marrythat lack in Ysabel with the ex-cess Australian schools are find-ing themselves with. It is a muchbetter alternative than dumping thebooks into big bins backed up toschool rubbish areas.”

Mal went on to say that get-ting the container to the Solomonswould cost about $10,000, and heis appealing to the generosity ofpeople, parishes and schools indonating some funds toward theexpense.

Money can be sent by chequeto the Batemans Bay AnglicanChurch, 6 Herarde St BatemansBay 2536. Cheques should bemade payable to “AnglicanChurch Batemans Bay” with anote advising it is for the Solo-mon’s Book run. For those directdebiting put in the reference: Solo-mon’s Book run.

Direct debit can be made bydepositing to:

Westpac - BSB 032-719Account 00-032-5697Mark deposits “Solomon’s

Book run”

Solomons assistanceproject ramped up

Donations of resources,books, tools etc can be sent to orleft at:St John’s Anglican Church, 43Constitution Ave Reid ACT 2612in Canberra (contact Parish Of-fice 02 6248 8399); or at:Batemans Bay AnglicanChurch, 6 Herarde St BatemansBay (contact Parish Administra-tor Robynne Caruthers 0244725822).

Please mark all boxes withSolomon’s Book Run and indicatethe contents of the box.

Assistance getting the dona-tions to Batemans Bay would beappreciated so if anyone regularlytravels from Canberra toBatemans Bay please contact MalMacCallum on 0402208146 tomake arrangements.

Outlining the planned program,Mal MacCallum said that the con-tainer had to be ready to go by midMay to meet shipping deadlines.

“Then we are able to use theChurch of Melanesia’s vessel theSouthern Cross to deliver the re-sources around Ysabel in July,” hesaid.

LOADS OF SUPPORT: Mal MacCallum standing in thesoon-to-be-full container at Batemans Bay AnglicanChurch. The Riverina Anglican College has already donatedresources and uniforms for the shipment to assist schoolsand communities in the Diocese of Ysabel.

RESEARCH: Last year three TRAC teachers joined a groupfrom St Alban’s, Kooringal, on a trip to the Solomon Islandsto check opportunities for a student visit. Standing: SamDunnett, Vicki Kaylock, Alex Dunnett, Cameron Tokley,Peter Green, Rosemary Dunnett; seated: Cheryl King, LucasKing, Pam Green.

The Diocesan Cursillo move-ment has invited all clergy in thein the Archdeaconry ofQueanbeyan and South Canberra,as well as those in the area whohave attended a Cursillo weekendor are interested in doing so, to ameeting on Saturday 1 May.

Diocesan Spiritual co-Direc-tor, Doug Newman Said the met-ing will start at 1:30pm at St Pe-ter’s Church, Weston, and willinclude a time for questions andanswers and general discussion

about the Cursillo MovementThe Cursillo Secretariat is

planning to hold its meetingsaround the diocese this year, withinvitations to cursillistas, parish-ioners and rectors to attend. Thenext one is planned for Saturday3 July at Cootamundra.

The forthcoming CursilloThree-Day Weekends are at StClement’s Retreat Centre Galong,for men on 20-23 May and forwomen on 10-13 June. Anyonesponsoring candidates shopuld

Cursillo plans Archdeaconry meetingsget the applications to Olga Blaschas soon as possible. Olga’s de-tails are on the application form.

Other forthcoming events in-clude an Ultreya at theMurrumburrah-Harden small par-ish hall on Sunday 13 June from2.00 pm to 4.00pm, and a Fol-low Day for the two Three-DayWeekends, Men’s and Women’s57, for new cursillistas, theirsponsors and team, on Saturday10 July at St Clement’s Churchin Yass from 9.30 am.

May 2010 Page 11Anglican News

NEWS FROM THE DIOCESAN SCHOOLS

St Peter’s hostsvisitors from Japanfrom the school

St Peter’s has just said‘sayonara’ to its third two-weekintake of Japanese students fromAshiya Junior and Senior HighSchool.

During the visit they were im-mersed in our Aussie way of lifeand participated in many differ-ent activities including horse rid-ing, surfing, canoeing, abseiling,golf, Mogo Zoo and Australianmusic, cooking and art.

They also assisted in some Japa-nese lessons, teaching Japanesesongs and origami. Sleeping in a tentfor two nights as part of the Col-lege’s outdoor education week atMurramarang National Park was anew challenge for all ofthem.However, they enjoyed cook-ing damper around the campfire andseeing possums and goannas.

International exchanges such asthis foster goodwill and mutualunderstanding between differentcountries as well as helping to sup-port local economies. Potentially,they can lead to return visits fortertiary study or employment.

The Federal Government isvery keen to increase the numberof high school graduates with acompetency in an Asian languagewhich is one reason St Peter’steaches Japanese from Kinder-garten.

The College thanks all of thehost families for opening theirhomes and being excellent am-bassadors for Australia. Therewere many tears on the last day;a good indication of the strongfriendships formed.

However, we will say‘konnichi wa’ to them again intwo weeks time when 11 St Pe-ter’s students arrive in Japan fora similar exchange experience.

from the CollegeWhen students from The Riv-

erina Anglican College in WaggaWagga began donating blood theynever knew they could be savingthe life of their Geographyteacher.

Mrs Hayes taught at TRAC upuntil a few years ago when sheleft to have her first child Tom,now three. But it was followingthe birth of her second childArchie that the importance ofblood donation became apparent.

“Following Archie’s birththere were some complicationsand I required 108 units of bloodproducts – red cells, plasma andplatelets,” said Mrs Hayes.“Blood donors saved my life.”

Mrs Hayes now volunteers atthe Wagga Blood Donor Centreand is counting down the daystill she can start donating again.“I was a donor before, but Ididn’t come as often as I shouldhave,” she said. “I have to waittwelve months after receiving atransfusion till I can donate againbut in the meantime I am encour-aging everyone I know to be-come a donor.”

The students at The RiverinaAnglican College have pledgedthat they, along with their teach-ers, family and friends, will make108 donations by the end of theyear, representing one donationfor each unit of blood productMrs Hayes received.

“We took a group of 20 this

week to kick off the tally and wewill keep the school communityup to date in our newsletter,” saidMr Begg, the school’s VampireShield coordinator.

People in the Wagga regioncan have their blood donationcounted towards the TRAC totalby filling in the tally sheet at Re-

ception when they next donate.The Wagga Donor Centre

opens Monday 7am – 3pm, Tues-day and Wednesday 11.30am –7.30pm and Thursday 7am –3pm.

For appointments phone 1314 95 or 6938 6658.

DONOR: TRAC student Aaron Battenally does his part inhelping reach the target of 108 blood donations from theschool community.

Teacher’s need inspires TRACstudents to donate blood

First Canberraschool to win NSWrowing classicfrom the school

Canberra Girls’ GrammarSchool (CGGS) has become thefirst Canberra school to win theNSW Schoolgirl’s Head of theRiver, Betty Deer Rosebowl,beating 34 other schools, includ-ing Pymble Ladies College whowon the Trophy the past 11 yearsconsecutively.

The Betty Deer Rose Bowl isawarded to the school with thehighest aggregate point score.

The NSW Schoolgirl Head ofthe River is held the day prior tothe Schoolboy Head of the RiverRegatta in March at the PenrithInternational Regatta Centre inSydney.

It began in 1992, is organisedby the NSW Combined Inde-pendent Schools Sports Council

(NSWCISSC) and is the culmi-nation of the Schoolgirl’s row-ing season.

This year the Regatta was heldon Saturday 20 March and Can-berra Girls’ Grammar School had115 girls rowing across 24 crews,and won the competition by 52points.

Captain of Boats, AmandaClifford believes winning theHead of the River is an amazingachievement for any school, andCGGS had worked extremelyhard for many years for thisachievement.

“Beating Pymble, who wonthe past 11 years, was an amaz-ing achievement and we were allvery excited about the victory,”she said.

The Captain of Boats willpresent the Betty Deer RoseBowl to the Principal of CanberraGirls’ Grammar School, MsSusan Just and the School com-

CGGS wins its first Head of the River

Golf, goannas andcampfire cooking

munity on Tuesday 6 April.Ms Just, who attended the

Regatta, was extremely im-pressed with the hard work and

dedication of all the CGGS row-ers leading up to and on the dayof the Regatta. “School spirit andteamwork was evident on the day

and the girls’, the coaches, staffand families all deserve immensecredit and praise for their effortand commitment,” she said.

TEAM EFFORT: CGGS students show their support for the members of the rowing team(seated at the front) after their remarkable success in Penrith.

LINKS: Students from Ashiya High School established linkswith their counterparts at St Peter’s during their visit.

Page 12 May 2010Anglican News

BOOKS

The Encyclopedia of Reli-gion in Australia. Edited byJames Jupp. Cambridge Univer-sity Press. 799pp. $165.00. ID142278

Reviewed by RobertWillson

Nearly 30 years ago I sub-

mitted a thesis towards a degreein history.

My thesis explored aspectsof Christian preaching and pietyin Australia in the 19th century.

One of my examiners gaveme a pass mark but commentedthat the whole subject was notworth researching, or making thesubject of a thesis. In his view Imight just as well have writtenabout the tooth fairy. This aca-demic embraced the secular out-look which denies the seriousintellectual basis of religious be-lief.

In the 21st century the secu-lar outlook which seeks to elimi-nate the religious factor fromAustralian history looks increas-ingly outdated. The academicstudy of Australian religions isnow firmly on the agenda.

It is a sign of the times thatCambridge University Press in-vited James Jupp, director of theCentre for Immigration andMulticultural Studies at ANU, toedit this ground breaking refer-ence book on every aspect ofreligion in Australia. At a timewhen our leading politicians andpublic figures are much morewilling to acknowledge their per-sonal religious convictions, orlack of them, such a book is verytimely.

The Letters column of thisnewspaper shows how such is-sues may still generate heatedcontroversy.

The theme of this encyclo-pedia is so vast and so complexthat no one scholar could possi-bly do it justice and Jupp haswisely enlisted a large team ofauthorities on various aspects ofreligion in Australia.

Gary Bouma of Monash Uni-versity writes on the vexedquestion of exactly how we maydefine religion and spirituality. Hereminds us that in the Australiancontext an important judgementof the High Court was in re-sponse to a legal challenge to theclaims of Scientology to be a re-ligion and to enjoy the rights ac-corded to a recognised religion.

Justice Garfield Barwick andhis fellow judges wrote that thecriteria of religion are, firstly abelief in a Supernatural Being,Thing or Principle; and secondlythe acceptance of canons ofconduct in order to give effectto that belief, so long as suchcanons of conduct do not offend

against ordinary laws of society.Professor Hilary Carey of the

University of Newcastle, in herhistorical outline of religion inAustralia, points out that Man-ning Clark was the first histo-rian to give substantive empha-sis to the central role played byreligion in the settlement of Aus-tralia.

I vividly remember readingthe reviews of the first volumeof his History of Australia, pub-lished in 1962, and noting thatsome secular reviewers werequite bemused by his stress onthe role of Roman Catholicism,Protestantism and the Enlighten-ment in the formation of Aus-tralian society and character.Conflict between Protestantismand Catholicism continued to bevery important in Australia untilthe 1960s when the ecumenicalmovement made it largely a thingof the past.

One of the most useful fea-tures of the book is a Time Lineaccording to the Christian Cal-endar, detailing major religiousevents before and after 1788. It begins with the year 6000BC,the date of the possible originsof the rainbow serpent belief inAustralia.

Then there are the milestonesof the Jewish, Hindu, Confu-cian, Buddhist, Christian andMuslim calendars, along withmany other events and move-ments. In the year 1865 the ma-jority of the Presbyterian groupsof New South Wales came to-gether in a union. This is men-tioned in the article about Pres-byterianism but surprisinglyomitted from the Chronology

As we open this cornucopiaof fascinating information weare struck again at how muchmodern Australia is apluralistic nation with a vast ar-ray of belief systems all claim-ing to be the final divine revela-tion and arguing for their truth.

Sometimes there are painfulreminders of the past. In the ar-ticle on Jews in Australia we aretold that the persecution of Jewsin Germany by Hitler causedmany to look to Australia as asuitable place of refuge. SirHenry Gullett objected strongly,

saying that Australia was notcompelled to be a dumpingground for the unwanted of theworld at the dictate of the UNor anybody else.

The RSL strongly opposedthe acceptance of Jewish refu-gees from Hitler’s Germany. Contemporary debates aboutasylum seekers are not new.

The major Christian denomi-nations are naturally given con-siderable space, and statisticsprovided by successive censusreturns are valuable but not al-ways informative. It is interest-ing to discover that the rapidlygrowing group of AustralianMuslims form a very youthfuldemographic with about halfaged under 25 years. Thechanged role of young Muslimwomen in the face of externalhostility to their religious com-munity is discussed by ShakiraHussein who is a doctoral stu-dent at the ANU and the authorof the article on Muslim womenin Australia.

David Nicholls is the Presi-dent of the Atheist Foundationof Australia. In a brief but per-ceptive article on Atheism hestresses that it is wrong to de-scribe Atheism as a kind of reli-gion. He writes that “the unique-ness intrinsic in Atheists reflectslegitimacy about people whothink for themselves”. He be-lieves that freely chosen Athe-ism by a majority of societycould be the most constructivetransformation in the history ofhumanity.

The Professor of Sociologyat the University of Technology,Sydney, Andrew Jakubowicz,writing about Religion and theMedia, calls for “an explorationof the ways in which culturalworld views are inflected by re-ligious beliefs, and are incorpo-rated into society wide interpre-tative frameworks that emergeas the domain assumptions un-derpinning media discourses.” Most articles manage to avoidsuch academic jargon.

In general this is a magnifi-cent reference book,beautifully illustrated, tobe consulted again and again. Ihope that the price will not de-ter reference librarians from in-cluding it in the school, collegeand university resources. Evenin the age of the Internet thereis no substitute for a good ref-erence book and the editor andpublisher are to be congratulated.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________This review was first pub-

lished in The Canberra Timesand is reprinted by permission ofthat newspaper.

A very happy Easter season from all at the

Woden ChristianBookshop!

Bus Interchange, Woden ACT 2606Ph. 6285 1425, Fax 6281 0849Email: wcb@cyberone.com.au

On 1 May 1985 WodenChristian Bookshop (WCB)opened from what was littlemore than a small cubicle on theWoden Town Square.

We were an outreach stem-ming from pastoral concerns ofSt Alban’s Anglican Church,Woden, which then worshippedin the Woden Churches Centre.We have always aimed to be in-clusive, catering for all denomi-nations and respecting their be-liefs.

Although becoming inde-pendent of St Alban’s upon in-corporation as an association(not-for-profit) in 1987, we havemaintained a close relationship,and our rules embody the sameinclusiveness by requiring ourcommittee and staff to be drawnfrom across the denominations.

We are grateful for the manyfriends we have made, both staffand customers, from the vari-ous churches over this time.

In addition to the well-knownbiblical and devotional titles andauthors, we stock a broad rangeof thought-provoking topics, tra-ditional and progressive, to illu-minate your spiritual journey,theology to expand your under-

standing, and ethics and topicalissues to challenge. There arealso CDs, resources for churchand Sunday school, and sacra-mental and general gift lines.

Our loyal staff are all volun-teers from many walks of life,motivated by the opportunity tocontribute to our ministry of sup-plying life-changing books, andof helping people meet theirneeds. We thank and givethanks for the many volunteerswho have made our mission pos-sible during the last 25 years.

So please come and help uscelebrate our 25th anniversary bydropping in to our 40%-off-se-lected-stock sale from May 3 to15. Browse, chat to our friendlystaff, and wish us well for an-other 25. We cannot do it with-out your support.

You will find us in much largerpremises now, still in the formerWoden Churches Centre building,but on the lower bus station leveladjacent to Platform 2.

Phone 6285 1425; Fax 62810849; Emailwcb@cyberone.com.au; orcheck out some of our latestbooks on our evolving web siteat www.wcb.org.au.

Woden ChristianBookshop Turns 25!

Timely reference work

HELPFUL: Robyn Jenkins and Robert Francis are two ofthe friendly and experienced staff at Woden ChristianBookshop, always ready to help with your queries.

May 2010 Page 13Anglican News

ANGLICARE

fromPeter Sandeman

CEO, AnglicareCanberra & Goulburn

A revolutionary retail conceptwill soon hit Canberra. It’s calledthe Triple R Depot.

Anglicare Canberra &Goulburn has just been awardeda $700,000 Commonwealth Gov-ernment grant to establish ayouth-run retail recycling ven-ture at Club 12/25 in Canberracity.

The project will be funded byDEEWR and will provide job op-portunities and social supportfor young homeless and disad-vantaged people.

ACG is keen to build on pre-vious successes with other re-cycling outlets such as The Bar-gain Hunter in Queanbeyan andThe Purple Patch in Goulburn.

Youth and CommunityServices Manager, MarkBaldwin said that this venturehowever, will be distinctlydifferent with its focus on youth.A major aim is to provideemployment training and to help

young people transition into themainstream labour market.

The aim is to locate the Tri-ple R Depot (Restore, Restart,Recycle) at Club 12/25 YouthServices.

Part of the promotional strat-egy includes web-based retail,which fits well with the emphasison young people and employmenttraining in internet marketing.

It is hoped that up to 60young people will benefit fromthe training and employment op-portunities over the first 18months of operation, and that theventure will provide a sustain-able social enterprise to compli-ment the various other youth pro-grams operating from Club 12/25 in Civic.

The Triple R Depot will selldonated quality clothing, shoes,bags, books, manchester,household goods, used jewellery,toys and other bric-a-brac atcompetitive prices.

Canberra youth takeon recycling business

Since I arrived in January Ihave focussed on ensuringAnglicare will be able to continueinto the future, dealing with theissues that have undermined ourviability, threatened our reputationand have got in the way of ourmission.

We need a strong Anglicare aspart of a strong diocese and en-suring that the Anglicare motto“strength for today and hope fortomorrow” is made a reality, hasrequired prompt action, particu-larly at the Ginninderra Gardensresidential aged care facility.

I am pleased to be able to re-port that the new Board (whichhas just been augmented), and theBishop-in-Council have both sup-ported a three to five year recov-ery period for the residential agedcare services financial manage-ment plan to reach break-evenand beyond.

Essentially this plan requiresachievement of industry averageincome from the governmentfunding formula and the elimina-tion of costs above benchmarklevels such as the over-relianceon agency staff. I hope this willbe accomplished in a shorter time

frame but thiswill be no easytask.

We areh o w e v e r ,blessed withgreat leadersand dedicatedstaff and I andthe Board will be doing all we canto support them to ensure sus-tainable services with high qual-ity of care and in particular theloving relationships that charac-terise good Christian care.

The new leadership team atGinninderra Gardens has workedtirelessly to ensure the standardsof care and systems of supportmeet the high quality required forgood care and they have achievedfantastic results in a very shortperiod of time.

Care of older Australians is akey component of the lovingservice of the Diocese andAnglicare has reaffirmed the de-cision to remain within the fieldand indeed to increase our serv-ices particularly to those whichotherwise cannot access careappropriate to their circum-stances.

Despite the publicity atChristmas, we are now back ontrack at Ginninderra Gardens andin rebuilding our governance.

Please pray for us in theseendeavours.

A second key issue to whichI am now turning my attention isthe whole area of the parish part-nerships.

There are some great oppor-tunities for the integration of theinformal care which parishes of-ten excel at, and the formal serv-ices which Anglicare can provide.

Informal support by volun-teers can add a really loving di-mension to paid service provi-sion, and the areas in whichAnglicare works provides greatopportunities for mission. I wouldbe very interested in receivingsuggestions and comments aboutparish partnerships and mission.

POTENTIAL: Mark Baldwin sees big potential for youthsupport and employment training from the Triple R Depot, tobe operated from Club12/25 in Civic.

Aged care back on track

CARE: Jerry Sebastian and Barbara Stubbings at the Gininderra Gardens Annual ResidentsValentines Ball earlier this year. Jerry is a resident in the nursing home, and Barbara is astaff member from the Reid office.

Page 14 May 2010Anglican NewsHISTORY & NEWS

by Mark Cooper*“I’m going home on Thurs-

day” says the patient on the wardI have been visiting. “Are youhappy about that?” I ask.

I have learnt never to pre-sume. It would be easy to thinkthat everyone in a mental healthhospital can’t wait to get out andalthough this is true for most ofthe patients, it isn’t true for all.

Most patients get frustratedand angry at having their freedomdenied. Long days with little todo but watch television, smokeand wait for the next cup of cof-fee gets old very quickly.

While there is an effort to pro-vide activities, educational work-shops and exercise groups thesecan be derailed by staff shortages,extra duties and increased de-mands on the available staff.

Periods like Easter and Christ-mas are especially hard as allthose public holidays mean anextended time without an activi-ties officer, without a chaplainand without access to yourmoney and valuables becausetrust only operates on normalworking weekdays.

After these long dull holidaysthe common joke among patientsis “if I wasn’t crazy before Icame in, this boredom will sendme crazy by the time I leave”.

However, even consideringthe loss of liberty, the boredomand the hospital food, for somepatients the time to leave is not

something they are looking for-ward to. The ward can be a placeof safety with three meals, com-panionship from others who un-derstand what they’re goingthrough and a bed for the night.Even if it is a lumpy hospital bed.

That’s why I always ask “areyou happy about that?” when Ifind out they are going home. Itgives them a chance to talk withme about their fear of leaving.Usually there is not a lot that canbe done, home is home.

They might ask me to say aprayer for them. I tell them that Iwould be happy to say a prayerwith them. When I finish andwalk away I can’t tell you howhelpless I feel.

I wish everyone who left hos-pital had supportive family andfriends to return home to. I wishno one felt that staying in hospitalwas a better option than leaving.

We hear time and again in themedia how mental health issuesaffect so many of us either di-rectly or indirectly. Hospitals andmedical staff are the way mostof us think(?) want(?) this prob-lem to be dealt with. In truth thiscan never work without a sup-portive home to return to so thatthe hospital isn’t seen as the saferchoice.

*The Reverend Canon MarkCooper serves as Chaplain toMental Health and CanonResidentiary, Goulburn.

Time to go home?Mental Health awareness:

In the Prayer Book marriageservice the congregation is in-vited to show any just causewhy the couple may not be law-fully joined together in Mar-riage.

In 1864 the marriage ofMiss Plump and Mr Summersat Shelly Flats in the Goulburndistrict was in serious doubt be-cause the officiating clergymanhad been taken prisoner by theBen Hall gang of bushrangers.

It was a hot summer day inthe bush, just a week beforeChristmas 1864, and the Hallgang set up a road block nearTowrang, waiting for the Syd-ney to Goulburn mail coach.Following their usual customthey stopped every travellerwho came along and some re-ports said that up to 80 peoplewere detained and searched forvaluables.

One old man, a shepherd,had 34 pounds sewn up in apackage inside the leg of histrousers and he was relieved ofthis, though apparently they lefthim his trousers. Then the gangreturned one pound in silver tohim. They said that this was notreal money and they refused totouch it.

At this point the ReverendRichard Leigh, curate to DeanSowerby in Goulburn, camealong and was detained. He ex-plained that he was the offici-ating priest at the wedding atPlumb’s Inn and expressed thehope that he might be allowedto continue, but the gang re-fused to release him.

The files of the GoulburnHerald recorded that he bluntlytold the gang of the sinfulnessof their activities and suggesteda return to honest ways butwithout making any impression.

Meanwhile the weddingparty was waiting at Plumb’sInn, not far up the road, wherethe service had been set for9am. When the priest failed toshow up the brother of thebride came looking for him andalso found himself under arrest.

It must have been a long hotwait for everyone as the gangwatched for the approach ofthe Sydney Mail coach.

The bushrangers, and thoseof their prisoners who cared to,made a picnic lunch of port-wine, lemonade taken from asoda-water cart, bread, cheese,butter and even some cherriesthey found in a cart. The news-paper reported that during lunchthe gang discussed politics and

religion with their prisoners.One of the prisoners createdsome amusement by calling Gil-bert “Sir” and addressing BenHall as “Mr Hall”

Suddenly the bushrangerswere galvanised into action bythe distant sound of the mailcoach. They galloped up andordered the coach driver tostop. The bushranger Dunn’shorse stumbled and in his ex-citement he discharged his re-volver but without doing anydamage. Ben Hall kindly tookcharge of the mail bags and al-lowed the stage coach driver toproceed.

At this point the long andhot ordeal of Richard Leigh andthe brother of the bride cameto an end. They were allowedto proceed to Plumb’s Innwhere the bridal party was stillwaiting.

After the delayed weddingceremony Richard Leigh in-formed the party that JohnnyGilbert had heard about thewedding and had expressed hisintention to attend the reception,whether he was invited or not.

It was not to be. Anothertraveller on the road that daywas Mr William MacLeay, Mem-ber of Parliament forMurrumbidgee, who camealong the road from Goulburnin a buggy. He was armed witha brand new Tranter revolvingrifle, the finest weapon availableat that time, and a Tranter re-volver.

The weapons had a killingrange far greater than anythingthat the bushrangers possessed.When MacLeay met the coachwhich had recently been robbed

by the gang the driver beggedhim to hide his weapons in thebush in case they should fallinto the hands of the bushrang-ers.

MacLeay, with the fightingspirit of the Scots, would nothear of it. The gang treated himwith great respect because ofhis rifle and avoided a confron-tation. MacLeay drove hisbuggy as fast as he could toPlumb’s Inn, with the Hall gangafter him, but careful to keepout of range.

Richard Leigh and the wed-ding party came out on the ve-randah to see the excitement butMacLeay frantically shouted tothem to take cover in case a gunbattle started.

Then the M P ran along theverandah and took careful aimat the bushranger Dunn. Hefired and the crouching weddingguests inside heard the soundof the shot echo around thehills.

It was a good shot but notquite good enough. The bush-rangers were later heard to saythat the shot had parted Dunn’shair. Another inch and his ca-reer would have been over.

By this time parties ofmounted troopers were comingfrom Marulan and Goulburnand they seem to have missedthe bushrangers by a matter ofminutes. Ben Hall and his gangmade themselves scarce.

The colony was filled withpraise for the courage ofWilliam MacLeay. He continuedwith his distinguished career asa Parliamentarian and also wonfame as a patron of science andlearning. He was knighted byQueen Victoria in 1889.

The Reverend Richard Leighwent on to have a most ener-getic career in the Church. Hehad been a Roman Catholic un-til he was 21 and then enteredthe Church of England in Aus-tralia, being ordained by BishopBarker and serving in many par-ishes.

He died in 1915 inLeichhardt in Sydney, aged 86.Wyatt’s History of the Diocesehas more information on his longand distinguished ministry.

When the priest was ‘held up’while travelling to the wedding

DELAYED: Richard Leigh’sarrival at a wedding atShelley Flats was delayed byBen Hall’s bushranger gang.

Historybytes by Robert Willson

Books BoughtBooks BoughtBooks BoughtBooks BoughtBooks BoughtReligion, art, history, literature,old hardback novels and kids’books.Call Frank 0403 568 112

The parish of SouthernMonaro has become a bit moreproactive in letting the widercommunity know what the An-glican Church is doing through-out the southern part of NSW.

Parish priest Ken Foster saidthat some months ago, at thesuggestion of one of the parishwardens, he approached the lo-cal newsagents in Bombala andDelegate.

It turned out that the newsa-gents were more than happy tohave copies of Anglican Newsmade available for their rackseach month.

So now, instead of ‘leftover’copies gathering dust, they aretaken to the shops where anumber of ‘locals’ have beguntaking copies regularly.

“It is another way of gettingthe news of the diocese outthere,” said Ken Foster. “As onemember of the community said,‘I had no idea the church was soinvolved in so many areas’.”

“Perhaps other places mayhave been doing this for years andwe are just a bit slow,” he said.but on the other hand, it may be apossibility not considered beforein many areas.”

Boosting circulation of Anglican News

DISTRIBUTION: Several newsagents in Bombala andDelegate now stock copies of Anglican News (top right).

May 2010 Page 15Anglican NewsNEWS FROM THE WIDER CHURCH

Catholic Churchadvocates proactiveand compassionateapproach to asylumseekers

In the wake of an increasednumber of boat-arrivals on Aus-tralian shores, the CatholicChurch restates its position of

compassion toward those whogenuinely seek asylum, and sup-ports all efforts to quickly resolvetheir claims.

The Catholic Bishops of Aus-tralia urge the Government andthe Opposition to continue thedialogue with our neighbouringcountries and also with the coun-tries where these asylum seek-ers and refugees are coming

by Peter C Grundy*Among other things, to be

human is to suffer, whether ornot that extends as far as the ex-cruciating physical pain enduredby some (in earthquakes or waras well as in oncology wards) orthe acute psychological anguishthat characterises many of life’sdistresses.

Indeed, suffering can be in-tolerable. So the human tendencyto care for the suffering is read-ily comprehended.

The compassionate (includingsensitive medical professionals)even allow the pain of others totouch their own lives, either outof a sense of common humanityor in the expectation that sharingthe burden may lighten it.

For religious believers, how-ever, there is a further dimension.There is profound puzzlement, ifnot anguish, at the thought that aGod who knows all about thissuffering and who is sufficientlypowerful and morally goodenough to address it, allows it topersist.

After all, we wouldn’t. Thisis what is known as the problemof evil; and attempts to resolve itare known as theodicies. Ofcourse, the problem of evil is atits most pressing when the evilsconcerned are natural events forwhich there is no ‘free will’ ex-planation.

The Boxing Day tsunami of2004 and the Haitian and Chileanearthquakes of 2010 are not rec-oncilable with the conviction that,as a perverted act of free will,humankind brought them on it-self. For habitual smokers, thehorror of lung cancer may beexplicable (almost so, at least) inthose terms; but not natural dis-asters.

On behalf of Bishop Stuart Iattended a seminar about suffer-ing in Sydney on 16 March. Itwas addressed by an Americanacademic, Susan Phillips, whopractises clinical and pastoraleducation as well as the activityof spiritual direction. And herpresentations were helpful. Shearticulated an understanding ofsuffering and the questions thatarise in pastoral practice. But DrPhillips also considered aspects

of the formal theodicy challenge.That is, she helpfully demol-

ished invalid approaches sug-gested by some: that suffering isinvariably judgement for sin; thatsuffering can be comprehendedas part of a larger aesthetic har-mony; that suffering is beneficialwhen, through it, we learn moreabout ourselves and the world;and that earthly suffering does notmatter because we are all goingto a better (heavenly) place.

Those explanations lackingsufficient credibility in the faceof real suffering, Dr Phillips’ pas-toral approach drove towards anunderstanding of the person ofGod. In my estimation, that ismost appropriate. If this matteris to be addressed in the interestsof giving spiritual direction, itmust be from a theological per-spective. And Dr Phillips washeaded very much in that direc-tion. She relied on two concepts:first that Jesus is our exemplar;and second, that there is a minis-try of accompanying others intheir suffering.

Now, if I may be permitted,let me suggest that Dr Phillipscould have oriented these twopoints in reverse order. Shecould also have taken them muchfurther. That is, there is certainlya case that sincere pastoral min-istry involves acceptance of thesufferings of others, allowingtheir sufferings to touch us.Such acceptance, it is clear fromexperience, can be efficacious.(The comfort given children byparents is clear evidence here.)

So, and from universal hu-man experience, the burden ofsuffering can be shared. ForChristians, here Jesus is certainlyour exemplar; his example ofcompassion and interventionagainst evil is profound. But Je-sus is far more than exemplar inthese circumstances. And I wishthat Susan Phillips had said so ather seminar. What do I mean?

Well, this. Jesus shows us somuch more than ways in whichwe might minister to the suffer-ing. Jesus, indeed, performs hisown unique ministry in this re-gard. And only he can do it. Heembraces suffering to the pointof bearing the suffering of those

who suffer. This we know be-cause the Suffering Servant ofIsaiah (chapter 53) presents amirror in which Jesus was sub-sequently reflected.

Indeed, the New Testamentwriters (Matthew 8.17; Luke22.37; Acts 8. 32-35; and 1 Pe-ter 2.22,24,25;) certainly under-stood that. And Jesus is the Suf-fering Servant whose savingwork is seamlessly twofold. Herescues us from our transgres-sions, and he embraces and bearsall of our hurt: ‘upon him wasthe punishment that made uswhole, and by his bruises we arehealed’. For the Judaeo-Chris-tian tradition, this is the salvationthat he performs.

At this point, let me hasten toconfirm that I have here reflectedon the theological ground for pas-toral ministry to the suffering:beyond Dr Phillips’ proposal it is,ultimately, to recommend sub-mission to the Suffering Servant.

But I have not here given for-mal consideration to the philo-sophical problem of evil. Thatwould be a matter for anotherarticle. But let me give some in-dication about possible resolution.Marilyn McCord Adams, untilrecently the Regius Professor ofDivinity in the University of Ox-ford, has written extensively onthis matter.

By way of a necessarily inad-equate summary, may I note thatAdams has argued that even thehorrendous evils of our experi-ence are ultimately ‘defeated’ byGod’s presence. There are twoparts to this proposal. The firstis the argument that Jesus’(onceincarnational and) continuingpresence is such a profound goodas to ‘defeat’ any horrendous evilthat we may suffer. And the sec-ond is an eschatological dimen-sion that finds God’s ultimatepurposes for humankind ‘defeat’the worst that we can ever expe-rience.

Adams is not beyond dispute;but her position is well worthconsidering.

*The Revd Dr Peter Grundyis a priest of the parish of St Johnthe Baptist Canberra

Our suffering and God’s presence

from.The Australian Catholic Bish-

ops Conference Delegate for Mi-grant and Refugee Issues BishopJoseph Grech acknowledged theneed to safeguard national secu-rity but urged that compassionnot be sacrificed for those whoare in genuine need of help andasylum.

“We remain committed to

pursuing a humanitarian approachin assisting people who have fledpersecution and danger”, he said.

“It is essential that instead ofsimply pledging to return asylumseekers to situations of conflict,we must seek solutions so thatpeople would not necessarilyhave to leave their own countryand also to continue efforts to puta stop to those who are making

huge financial profits out of peo-ple smuggling”, he said.

The Catholic Church remainscommitted to working in collabo-ration with government to pro-vide continuing pastoral care andsupport to genuine asylum seek-ers and refugees, and to ensuredue care for of all those who fleepersecution in their lands.

Enabling churches

Catholics call for better response to boat arrivals

Therese Rein, wife of PrimeMinister Kevin Rudd, will be thekeynote speaker at the launch ofLuke 14 in Canberra, a programthat aims to better welcome andinclude people with disabilities inAustralian churches.

Developed and run by CBMAustralia, National Director JohnJeffries said the program wasbased on the command in Luke14 to welcome and include peo-ple with disabilities in all aspectsof our lives.

“One in five Australians –that’s about 4.5 million people –has some kind of disability,” hesaid.

“Yet less than five per cent ofchurches in Australia have anykind of specific disability pro-gram or outreach.

“CBM is best known for itswork in helping people with dis-abilities in poor countries all overthe world. But we also want toimprove understanding of the is-sues facing people with disabili-ties right here in Australia.”

CBM’s Christian CommunityInclusion Officer Lindsey Galeruns Luke 14 and said manychurches had made a good startto including people with disabili-ties by installing accessible toi-lets and improving wheelchairaccess to their buildings.

“But one of the biggest barri-ers is the attitudes of other peo-ple – often other church mem-bers don’t know how to talk to

or interact with people with dis-abilities,” she said.

“People with disabilities don’twant others to feel sorry forthem, or to be seen as helplessand different. They need what weall need – to develop meaningfulrelationships with others, to haveopportunities to grow in faith, andto be able to contribute their giftto the body of Christ. This iswhat it means to truly belong.”

Lindsey said many churchesare missing out on the joy ofwelcoming and including peoplewith disabilities, and her role wasto build the capacity of churchesin this area.

As a step towards this, shehas produced a DVD called “Ta-ble Talk” that features ten differ-ent people living with disability,who have found faith, welcomeand ministry through their localchurch.

She has also produced otherresources churches can use tobuild their understanding of andhelp their congregations be moreinclusive of people with disabili-ties.

If you wish to attend thelaunch of Luke 14 in Canberra,further details are availablethrough luke14.cbm.org.au orFREE Call 1800 678 069. RSVPby Monday 24 May.

Each attendee receives aFREE copy of the Luke14 “Ta-ble Talk” DVD and an Introduc-tory Kit of resources.

INCLUSION: People with disabilities don’t want to be seenas helpless and different; they want meaningful friendships.

Page 16 May 2010Anglican NewsAnglican News

Synergy contactsSynergy Youth www.synergy.org.au, office - 6230 6749Synergy Youth Director Matt Brain, matt@synergy.org.auSynergy Youth Minister Lucas King, lucas@synergy.org.auSynergy Youth Chairperson Colin Dundon, chair@synergy.org.auCamp Pelican Murray Tooth, camppelican@synergy.org.au

Captain AmazingMan’s Hot Tip

for engaging with young people

Jesus loves the little children,all the children of the world, redand yellow, black and white, theyare precious in his sight; Jesusloves the little children of theworld.by Monica Short

When we came to St Paul’sseven years ago, one of our de-sires and prayers was to seeChildren’s and Youth Workflourish and for all children toknow about their special friendJesus.

We actively supported theexpansion of these two areas atSt Paul’s and were thrilled whenas a church the children’s workhad grown to five SundaySchool classes across two serv-ices each week. We were alsoexcited when St Paul’s couldafford to have a paid workertake on the coordinating role ofthe two Sunday Schools.

I have the privilege to helpand teach in the youngest Sun-day School group at our 9.30amservice and also at the youngergroup at our 12.30pm service.

Bernadette Mannion, ourChildren’s and Families Workerworks out the curriculum wefollow each term, which is fan-tastic as this makes our lessonplanning much easier.

The 9.30am service hasgrown over the last sevenyears, we now have a large teamof Sunday School teachers andhelpers. I am rostered on a fewtimes a term to teach or help inthe youngest group which I justthoroughly enjoy.

The children are so cute andtiny. We have singing, BibleStory, prayer, craft, puppets,games, food and drink and soon. Our Sunday School is verymulticultural and we enjoywatching the children playingtogether confident in God’s lovefor them.

Our 12.30pm Sunday Schoolis relatively new. We have

slowly been building the team.I am one of three teachers whoteach the younger of the twogroups. I teach at this groupmost weeks of the year, whichI must admit I adore doing.

It is such a privilege thatGod let’s me do this. We threeteachers meet straight after theSunday School class and designthe next week’s lesson and prayfor God’s blessing on the chil-dren and for the Sunday Schoolto expand. We follow the cur-riculum that Bernadettechooses for us.

All the children at this Sun-day School were once refugees.They have done so well in ad-justing to Australia and we arecommitted to supporting them.

Each week we start withplay stations laid out for whenthe children arrive, like playdough and toy cars. While theyare playing the teachers workwith each child individually inthe room teaching literacy andnumeracy so as to help them atinfants school and preschool.This is because we had somechildren in our class who couldnot read English. (One of theteachers is a retired reading re-covery teacher and she directsus with each child.)

We then do Bible Story,craft, games, singing, pray andeating. The children love musicand we have made drums forthem out of boxes and they loveto play these.

My hearts desire is to seethe children we have and alsomany more children coming toSt Paul’s and enjoying SundaySchool. I would love to seesome indigenous children comealong. I also pray we will havemore teachers for the 12.30pmservice. Can I also say I wouldalso be doing this even if Markwas not the rector, because it isso much fun.

Sunday School is vital

Spotlight on Turvey ParkIn this edition of Anglican News we are kicking off a series of stories in which we will turn the “spotlight” on differentyouth and children’s ministries around the Diocese. There are some great stories of people working with young peo-ple in our part of the world. I hope that you are encouraged and inspired by what you read.

Rev’d Matt Brain, Director Synergy Youth & Children

by Monica ShortSince Mark Short became

Archdeacon for Wagga and theNorth-West Region we havesought ways to support familiesin ministry.

Last October we found oneway to do this and indulge ourtaste for food.

Together with our ChurchAdministrator and Mark’s PALisa Foley, Synergy YouthWorker Lucas King, and a fewof our congregation from StPaul’s Turvey Park who haverelatives in ministry decided torun a Christmas event for chil-dren and youth from ourArchdeaconry region who haveparents in ministry.

We were very excited thatChristmas was coming fast andaware that a number of youngpeople’s parents in our regionwould start to become very busy.

Thankfully we only had a fewchildren and youth who wereapologies. We started with eve-ryone making their own subsandwiches full of yummy fill-ings. We brought in expertmilkshake makers (my youngadult son and his best friend) andthey did the most impressivemilkshakes.

We had little notes, gifts andthoughts laid out for the kids to seesaying things like: “God loves you”.

We then unleashed God’s giftof play and we played crazygames. We had the traditionalmammoth pass the parcel and achip game. I love hearing chil-dren laugh.

We would like to thank theDiocese and St Paul’s TurveyPark for their support of thisevent, the team that ran it and allthe youth and children that turnedup and made it so enjoyable. It

was a huge blessing to Mark andme. Maybe this year we will doItalian food – what do you think– we could all make our own piz-zas – I wonder what makes su-perb toppings? Or what about

Super Subs, magnificentmilkshakes and lots of fun

Mexican food and then we canhave a piñata? Or even betterLebanese food – we could makeour own kebabs - I wonder whatwould work well as fillings? Anyideas … the yummier the better…

Listen! Just as I keep myears out for the cries of peoplein distress, when engaging withyoung people its best toremember that we have two earsand only one mouth …

CONNECTION: Monica Short has found that food helpsbuild connections with young people.