The Work Ahead
“One of the significant motions that was passed at our recent synod was one endorsing
News
Human Dignity for Those Released from Prison
Those movies where you see a prisoner walk out the gate and look around and see no one to greet them are sometimes true. Stories are even told of full-timers being deposited at the front gate of the prison and being given directions to walk to the nearest train station, as no transport is provided.
To Tend, To Transform, To Treasure: Sustainability and the Communion Forest
I have received and planted two trees: one has been planted in the garden at St Anne’s, Highfields, and one in the clergy house garden at Highfields. My plan is to treat them like Pokémon and “collect them all!”
However, that’s not really the intent. To use a local example, Highfields an area of high growth, and that means trees coming down for development at rate that seems unsustainable and damaging to our local wildlife, particularly koalas and native birds.
So, this motion calls us to be givers as well as receivers. In supporting this motion, we hope that all parishes, schools and agencies will find ways that we can use our collective strength to make a real difference towards conservation, re-foresting and re-wilding.
Negative media reporting and young people
“We are witnessing a disturbing attempt to scapegoat, stigmatise and socially exclude young people through negative reporting. This messaging in the media is damaging. It does not reflect the truth of young people in our society and in many cases seems to deliberately present a false message not supported by the data. This is particularly the case regarding youth offending.”
Forming an apology to LGBTIQA+ people
.. a meaningful, genuine and effective apology starts with saying sorry. Period. It is very tempting to want to explain why, or to indicate that one didn’t mean it to cause harm, or to refer to social mores at the time and so on. This undermines the effectiveness of the apology. Anything that sounds like self-justification doesn’t help those to whom the apology is directed. This is one of the costs of being prepared to make an apology. And reminds us to remember that the apology is for those who have been hurt, not those who are doing the apologising. The words of the apology therefore need to be clear and unequivocal; free of any desire to save face, to qualify or justify.
People on the move: Archbishop’s address
We are not called to conform and to sit still, the people of God have always been a people on the move. As Dom Hélder Câmara said, “Pilgrim, when your ship long moored in harbor gives you the illusion of being a house; when your ship begins to put down roots in the stagnant water by the quay: put out to sea! Save your boat’s journeying soul and your own pilgrim soul, cost what it may.”
In all things, charity
“The truth is that, as I said at my welcome, I do not want this diocese to be labelled either a High Church diocese or a Low Church diocese. It is neither. It is a Church diocese. And if there be some, as I know there are, who reflect sadly that services are in several churches different from what they were thirty or forty years ago, I would ask them to remember that certain changes such as have occurred rather generally in England were bound to come here….Room must be found in our Church and in this diocese of our Church for those who are Anglo-Catholics and for those who would not like to call themselves so. There must be in essentials unity, in non-essentials diversity, in all things charity.”
Archbishop Sharp, Brisbane Synod 1924
Developing an Anglican Apology: Listening to LGBTIQA+ Voices
The committee charged with developing the apology would like to hear from LGBTIQA+ people who are current or past members of The Anglican Church Southern Queensland, and members of their families, regarding their experience of The Anglican Church Southern Queensland (Diocese of Brisbane) through its parishes, schools, and institutions.
The National Comprehensive Anglicanism Network
NCAN (National Comprehensive Anglicanism Network) seeks to promote inclusive, generous and open-hearted Anglicanism. We value the rich traditions of Anglicanism, where differences are seen as gifts from God to be valued and treasured. We are committed to respectful conversations, across difference, about matters that are of importance in the Anglican Church of Australia.
Rejecting the violence against our LGBTQIA+ sisters and brothers in Uganda
“For those of same sex attraction in Uganda there is no sanctuary left to be found, there is no place to have an honest conversation, there is no capacity for them to be themselves before God, not even in the church of God.”
To All Who Are Hurt and Confused
Reflections from LGBTIQA+ Anglicans in response to GAFCON’s announcement of the “Diocese of Southern Cross”…