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The
Bishop’s Presidential Address Delivered
at Jamestown Saturday,
3rd May 2008 by Bishop Garry Weatherill
Also
available as a pdf file
Welcome
to this third session of the thirty second Synod of this wonderful Diocese. As
a young priest, I used to meet each afternoon at 5pm with my training priest, Fr
Martin Chittleborough, to say Evening Prayer. Each night, before we began, he
would ask me if I had any notches in my
prayer book. I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, but my pride
would not let me admit that to him, and so I would make some innocuous reply and
begin the Service. After
about three months I finally relented and asked in exasperation, “What
do you mean, notches in your prayer book?”
He said that it was just like the Wild West. And that was all he said. I
was none the wiser. A
few weeks later, I tried again and he explained that just as gunslingers in the
Wild West recorded their victims by carving notches in their revolver handles,
so too, a young priest should be seeking to carve notches in his prayer book
every time he brought a new person to know and love the Lord Jesus Christ. I
was embarrassed because I couldn’t think of one notch and I had been ordained
for over four months! Martin
often teased his curates like that. It was a joke, with a very serious purpose.
He wanted me to understand that the point of my ministry was to prepare the way
for the Holy Spirit to move in people’s hearts and lives so that they might
come to a deeper faith and trust in God. My task was to share in Jesus’ work
of bringing the Kingdom of God closer to people and people closer to the
Kingdom. Sometimes
in the rough and tumble of Church life, of family life, of community
commitments, of political engagement it is easy to forget that our task as
ministers of the Gospel, as disciples of Jesus, is to help bring people closer
to faith and to see the purposes of God at work in our lives. The Church exists,
not for itself, but for God and for proclaiming the kingdom to which he calls
all people. In
the Creed we retell our faith week by week, and we proclaim that we believe in
the Holy Spirit, the Giver of Life.
Wherever there is life given, God’s Holy Spirit is present. The Kingdom of God
is the reign of Life over death. The people of God are people who bring life,
not death, freedom, not bondage and forgiveness, not condemnation. As
individuals, as church communities, as a Diocese, may we always be people
who proclaim the joy and richness and pleasure of Life. Some
new Challenges When
I came to the Diocese in 1997, the rural decline that had been taking place
since at least the early 1970’s was matched by a corresponding decline in our
regional centres. With the exception of Port Lincoln, the other three large
cities, Port Pirie, Port Augusta and Whyalla, were all experiencing significant
population drain. Our ministry priorities were clearly focused on helping small
rural church communities, and larger regional congregations to survive and
flourish in a general environment of decline. However,
in the last couple of years, largely as a result of the mining boom taking place
in the far north of the state, those regional centres have all begun to grow
again. And some of our rural communities are also beginning to experience the
inflow of people and capital that has reversed the flow of previous
decades. A casual observer can see this growth in say, the outskirts of
Clare, large housing developments at Balaklava, and most notably in the real
estate and property explosion that is taking place in the Copper Coast region.
Of course there are still many small rural towns that struggle to provide basic
services for small populations, and we must continue to support such church
communities. But we must also continue to shape our patterns of ministry and
mission better to serve the changing communities of the Diocese. This
will include new approaches for ministering to a very transient population, not
only in mining communities, but also in the “weekender” communities that are
scattered all along the coastline from Adelaide to Ceduna. This will bring into
focus our natural tendency to prefer to be with familiar people in our familiar
church communities. We all have to work hard to make our church services
friendly and welcoming, not just for those who are like us, but also for those
who drift in (and out) for irregular participation in our church’s worship and
life. Responses
to some of these new challenges might include ·
intentional short term ministry goals for the summer, or other holiday
periods ·
offering less formal worship opportunities at times other than Sunday
morning ·
equipping lay people for targeted outreach in developing areas ·
diocesan support for “missionary priests” to build new faith
communities, but not necessarily new church properties. ·
implementing some of the insights of the Fresh Expressions of Church
movement in encouraging alternatives and building on traditional Anglican
understandings of worship. Such
suggestions are not radically new, but they are new to our context as a rural
diocese that has been struggling to exercise faithful mission and ministry in an
extended time of rural decline. We
have achieved much in fostering the collaborative approach to ministry and
mission that comes under the general umbrella of Ministering Communities in
Mission. The principles of local decision making, team ministry, accountability,
mutual responsibility and new experiences of ordained leadership are now well
established in our diocesan way of being Church. But we must not get caught in a
fixed paradigm that cannot respond to changing circumstances – this has always
been a big challenge for the Church because most of us who belong to local
churches do not embrace change eagerly! There
are two significant factors that will shape the way we respond to these new
challenges. The first is the provision of appropriately trained leadership for
our church communities and the second is adequate financial resources to
implement our plans. Although
I have not yet found or appointed a new Ministry Development Officer, I believe
that this position is a vital one to the health and future of our diocese.
Without good support and ongoing formation, our Licensed Lay Ministers and the
locally licensed clergy are unable to fulfill their high calling. We also need
to foster vocations to the full time stipendiary ministry, so that the church
has some specialist tertiary trained leadership on the ground to provide
theological leadership and articulation of our life and faith. The
second matter, adequate financial resources, is an ongoing issue for the
Diocesan Finance Committee and indeed the whole Diocesan Council. The Diocese is
particularly well served by our Treasurer and our Registrar, and the favourable
financial climate of the last few years has meant a good growth in our financial
resources, but we are by no means wealthy and our financial resources have to be
managed in a very “lean” way. The Treasurer will no doubt speak to these
matters in his report, but I want to urge the whole diocese to be vigilant in
our stewardship of our financial resources. Over
fifty years ago the Diocese of Sydney decided as a matter of policy that capital
investments would always be “husbanded” (ie at least one third of all
dividends would be reinvested in capital) and that no proceeds from the sale of
assets would be available for recurrent expenditure. Consequently, that diocese
now has enormous financial resources to fund its various mission and ministry
priorities. We will never need that depth of resource, however the principles
are ones that we try to follow in Diocesan financial management, and ought to be
followed if possible, by every congregation, parish and ministry district. The
building up of our various funds, especially the See Fund and the Home Mission
Fund will be vital as we seek to respond to our changing context. The
only significant “outside” source of funds is the Leigh Trust. Since the
sale of Leigh Street, over 10 years ago, the trustees have managed the Fund
extremely well. They have taken a long term view and have grown the Fund so that
it now distributes more than it has ever been able to previously. As well, the
Trustees are determined to increase the capital of the Fund so that the whole
Province will continue to benefit from the Trust well into the future. Our
Chancellor, Mr. Mark Pickhaver serves as the Chair of the Trustees and I wish to
express my gratitude to Mark and his fellow trustees for their foresight and
determination to increase the usefulness of the Trust to the Church in South
Australia. Partnership Our
ability to respond to change will also be enhanced by our ability to work in
partnership with others who have similar goals and values. This idea is already
lived out in our relationship with BCA in sharing ministry provision in isolated
parts of the Diocese. It is a principle behind the mission activity of the
Anglican Board of Mission (ABM), and is the driving force for our formal
relationship with the Uniting Church through the Regional Council. In less
formal ways there are many examples of partnership in ministry across the
Diocese, particularly in ecumenical work. An
excellent example of this partnership approach was worked out in Whyalla over
this last year in the partnership between the Parish, Mission Australia and the
Federal government “work for the dole “ scheme that resulted in a major
repainting and renovation of the walls of the church by a group of underemployed
people who gained new skills and confidence under the auspices of Mission
Australia. Likewise, proposals for partner ministry with Anglicare SA will
result in more formal Anglicare projects, bringing the experience and resources
of Anglicare SA to areas of social need within our diocese. Successful
partnership in ministry requires confidence about our own identity as well as
clearly articulated expectations and responsibilities between the partners. It
is on this basis that I would encourage Congregations, Parishes and Districts to
continue to build partnerships for ministry wherever possible. The
old ecumenical adage that “we should never do separately what we can do
together” will bear good fruit as we seek to respond to new developments
within the diocesan boundaries. The
Province There
have been no meetings of the Provincial Council this year, but there are
nevertheless some important Provincial developments to report. The
Provincial Stipends and Issues Committee has continued its task of determining
appropriate remuneration and conditions for stipendiary clerics, and although
three years ago the Diocese of Adelaide decided to offer 105% of the recommended
stipend, there is still parity between the two rural dioceses, and the gap
between Adelaide and the the rural dioceses has not changed. The
Bishops of the Province have agreed to the appointment and funding of the half
time Anglican Schools’ Liaison Officer. Mr. Stephen Matthew, formerly
Principal of St John’s Grammar School at Belair, has recently been
commissioned as the Liaison Officer for the various Anglican Schools of the
Province. This Diocese provides for one sixth of this position. For
over six months now, The Rt. Rev’d. Ross Davies, Bishop of The Murray has been
on extended sick leave. The Bishop and his family have been subjected to
significant media attention and there has been a campaign by a small but vocal
group of lay people in the Diocese calling for a change of direction and perhaps
even a change of leadership in the Diocese of The Murray. I have found this
situation very distressing. Although Bishop Ross and I have very different
theological views, we are good friends, and I have been deeply saddened by the
levels of stress that have led to the Bishop’s illness. I have been
disappointed, too, that those on either side of the significant debates in that
Diocese have been unable to communicate with each other in ways that promote
respect, mutual trust and accountability. Along with all the bishops of our
Church, I pray that there will be a speedy,
peaceful and godly resolution to the stresses in The Murray, for the good of all
those involved, for the good reputation of the Church and for the quality of
witness we are able to bear to the Lord in the midst of our frailty. Staffing
Matters Since
the last meeting of our Synod we have farewelled the Reverend David Amery and his wife, Coralie, who have moved to the
Diocese of The Northern Territory to take up ministry in the Parish of Fred’s
Pass. It
has been a pleasure to welcome to the Diocese, the Reverend Peter Palmer and his wife, Joy, who are serving under Bush
Church Aid auspices at Coober Pedy, the Reverend
Bob and Mrs Jan McKay, at Roxby Downs and the Reverend Flo Walters and her husband Geoff who have taken up the
reins at Port Pirie following the retirement, due to ill health, of the Reverend
Lettie Allen. Flo will also
continue to offer ministry to the people at Crystal Brook and Port Broughton. The Reverend Philip
Kissick has joined us from the Diocese of Melbourne and has settled well
into the Ministry District of Lower Yorke Peninsula where his engaging style has
earned him a ready welcome. The
Reverend Michael Hillier and his wife, June. returned from extended leave earlier this year and Michael has begun
work as the Part-time Parish Priest in the Parish of Burra and half-time
Director of the Ministry in Spirituality. These
have all been significant moves in the clerical leadership within the diocese
and I am delighted to have such good quality people leading our local
congregations. The
provision of suitable ordained clergy to lead parishes and ministry districts is
increasingly difficult. There are
few candidates offering for ministry in South Australia and of those, even fewer
are prepared to countenance the possibility of serving in rural, regional or
remote areas of South Australia. Plans
that I had for Mr. Andrew Amos, a student minister from Sydney have not come to
fruition and Andrew and his wife have moved to Kapunda where she is working as a
doctor and he is seeking further guidance from the Lord concerning future
directions. Doctor
Mary Lewis who returned from CMS Missionary Service in Nepal is currently on the
staff at St Andrew’s Hall, CMS Missionary Training facility in Melbourne.
She is also completing her theological studies and I have formally
accepted her as an ordination candidate for this diocese.
I am sure that some of you will remember the energy and enthusiasm that
she carries for ministry and I very much look forward to being able to place her
in one of the parishes of the diocese in the next couple of years.
It is my intention to ordain the Reverend Anne Ford and the Reverend Gail
Hardy to the Priesthood on Saturday, 20th September 2008 at the
Cathedral Church of Ss Peter and Paul, Port Pirie. At that Service I will also ordain Mrs. Joan Reed as a Deacon
with a view to her being licensed in the congregation of St Barnabas at Clare. The
Ministry Development Officer On
18th April Mrs. Dorothy Thorpe finished her second contract as
Ministry Development Officer for the Diocese of Willochra.
In the five years since she took up that appointment, Dorothy has earned
the love, respect and trust of individuals and congregations across the diocese.
She has worked with great enthusiasm and commitment to encourage the
practice of Ministering Communities in Mission and the growth of individual lay
leaders under her guidance has been remarkable.
I know I speak for the whole diocese in offering my thanks to God for the
skills and personal qualities that have meant Dorothy’s ministry has been so
valued by us all. It is no small
tribute to her ability that she has been much sought after by other dioceses in
Australia to speak at conferences and workshops concerning new ministry models. At
a personal level I have been pleased to enjoy the rare privilege of sharing my episcopae
(episcopal oversight) with somebody who has been both very supportive
publicly and also fearlessly critical in private.
Dorothy’s ministry has enabled me to model, at the level of bishop, the
collaboration that I hope happens between the ordained and lay leadership in
every congregation. I believe it is
vitally important that we should be accountable to each other for our ministry
practice if we are to continue to grow and deepen in our knowledge and
understanding of God’s plans for us. Dorothy
will continue for a short time to edit The
Willochran and she will assist her husband, Bruce Thorpe, as he offers Child-safe
Ministry Training around the diocese. Dorothy
and Bruce will continue to live at Auburn and there will be an opportunity, this
afternoon, at Synod for us to acknowledge publicly, Dorothy’s marvelous work,
to wish her well and to give her the gift of a tree for her garden at Auburn, as
a living reminder of the deep roots she has helped many of our congregations to
grow in the years that she has served as Ministry Development Officer.
The
Willochra Home The
second major phase of building and renovation work at The Willochra Home has now
been completed and was formally opened and dedicated on the last Sunday in
April. Mr. Rowan Ramsey MHR was
present for the opening and I conducted the dedication in the presence of over
200 well wishers as well as staff and residents of The Home. This has been a major work and should mean that The Willochra
Home is now a viable entity. Without
the very significant support of the Commonwealth Government and particularly the
assistance of the former Federal Member, Barry Wakelin, and the present Member,
Rowan Ramsey, the work would not have been possible. The Home has borrowed
significantly from the Diocese to complete this work, but the Diocesan Council
is satisfied that the debt is well within manageable limits. I
wish to express publicly the gratitude of the Diocese to the Reverend Trevor
Briggs in his role as Chairman of the Board and to each and every member of The
Willochra Home Board for the extra work that has been part of administering the
building and renovation projects. You
might recall that several years ago I foreshadowed the need to sell The
Willochra Home, it now seems very unlikely that this will be necessary and, in
fact, we have been able to increase the ministries offered from The Home to the
frail and elderly in our local community. The
facility is one of which we should be rightly proud and is deeply appreciated by
those who are the residents of The Home. Our
Website I
also wish to pay tribute to the Reverend Canon Ron Keynes who, for the last
three years, has carried the task of being Webmaster for our Diocesan Website.
Mr. Peter Venhoek from Melrose built and maintains our Website with an
extraordinary degree of devotion and care, and he and Ron have worked together
since the inception of the website to ensure that we offer as many resources as
possible, as well as trying to tell something of our story, to those who are
interested. I
have recently received three letters with suggestions for improvements to our
website. I was delighted to receive
those letters for it indicates, not only that the website is being used and
read, but that people care about how it is used and how we need to be even more
strategic if we are to be more effective in sharing with others, the Good
News we have to share about a living relationship with Jesus Christ.
Canon
Keynes has retired to Adelaide and so is no longer performing the task of
Webmaster and that role has now passed to my Personal Assistant, Mrs. Kaye
Nicolson. I wish to place on record
my thanks to the Reverend Ron Keynes, not only for his devotion as Webmaster,
but also for his long and devoted service in many parts of this Diocese during
the active years of his ministry. May
his retirement be in good health and in good humour. The
Diocese and Mission Over
the last few years there has been an excellent increase in diocesan giving
towards the projects that are run by Anglican Board of Mission, Australia.
This has included, not only work overseas and in isolated parts of
Northern Australia, but also opportunities for young Indigenous People from
Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and The Philippines, to have some
experience of contemporary Australian life and culture.
This is vitally important work especially to our friends in Papua New
Guinea and the Solomons who have few other people in the world wide development
community to assist them with local development projects and/or faith
development. The
Anglican Board of Mission has welcomed a new National Director, Mr. John Dean,
who has previously been second-in-charge to Ms Linda Kurti.
John brings a great deal of experience to the position.
He is an Anglican Priest, has for several years headed the Community
Development Program sponsored by ABM in the South Pacific.
John will continue the good leadership offered by Linda Kurti and has a
particular brief to extend ABM’s work with Indigenous Australians. I do hope the diocese will continue to be a strong supporter
with the work of ABM, both through the project booklet and through special
appeals. Support
for other mission organizations has continued to be good and so, although we are
a small diocese sometimes struggling financially, we are taking seriously our
responsibilities to contribute to the ongoing life of the world wide Church. We
are particularly grateful for the good relationship between the Bush Church Aid
Society and the Diocese, and the Regional Officer, the Rev’d Peter Linn , as a
former Willochran priest, always finds a ready welcome in this diocese. We also
continue to depend on the generosity of those who contribute to The National
Home Mission Fund which gives us an annual grant towards the cost of the MDO. Willochran
Missionaries Doctors
Mary Lewis and Owen Lewis have returned from Nepal, and Grant and Janna Lock are
now both home in Australia permanently after a lifetime of service in Pakistan
and Afghanistan. Grant has a
degenerative eye problem and Janna has suffered from post traumatic stress
disorder. This means that neither
of them will be able to return to active missionary service overseas.
Barry and Ann Lock returned to Pakistan in early February this year and
their future remains uncertain. Miss
Frances Cook continues her devoted service to the Gospel in South America with
the Church Missionary Society and more recently, Mr. Malcolm Rogers, a member of
this Synod, has gone as a short term CMS missionary to Dodoma in Tanzania where
he is teaching at a school and discovering all sorts of new experiences.
His newsletter is a delight to read!
Please pray that God will continue to raise up people with the
appropriate skills to serve the Church at home and abroad that the Gospel may
reach to the end of the earth. Ministry
at Point Pearce Since
the Reverend Arthur Tanner’s move to Leigh Creek there has been no regular
Anglican Ministry at Point Pearce and the provision of some sort of ministry has
been an ongoing concern for me. Early
in 2008 Mr. Grant Hay who is a Lay Pastor, approached me with the support of
Captain Jack Harradine from Church Army with a view to offering ministry at
Point Pearce. I
initially agreed that he might visit Point Pearce for a trial period of six
weeks for one day per week and during that time, Grant gradually made contact
with people at Point Pearce and won some degree of trust amongst some of the
families. Since then he has
continued to visit on a regular basis and to conduct worship services and it is
my hope that he will continue to minister at Point Pearce for two days per week.
Grant
will also be employed by the Diocese of Adelaide in ministry for two days per
week at the Yatala Labour Prison and the Adelaide Remand Centre and both the
Diocese of Adelaide and I hope that Bush Church Aid will agree to become joint
partners with our two dioceses in supporting Grant for a further two days per
week as he visits Aboriginal prisoners at the Port Augusta Gaol and at the
correctional facility located at Cadell on the Murray River.
Grant
is an enthusiastic and likeable young man and I hope that this ministry will
bear fruit, not just in the immediate future, but in the long term as well.
Grant has indicated an interest in ordination and this is a matter that
will be discussed between the two dioceses and Grant over the coming year.
I have been delighted with the work he has been able to offer so far and
my prayer is that God will continue to encourage him as he seeks to encourage
the people of Point Pearce in their Christian journey. Mission
to Seafarers Most
of you know that I am the Chairman of the Australian Council of the Mission to
Seafarers. This involves offering oversight to the 23 Mission stations around
Australia, with Deputy Chairman, Bp Godfrey Fryar. This year, thanks to a
generous grant from Mission the Seafarers in the United Kingdom, we have been
able to employ a full time Liaison and Support Officer for the Mission in
Australia, and this has lessened the load carried by the two Liaison Bishops. I
have been interstate on eight separate occasions on Mission to Seafarers
business this year, from Rockhampton to Hobart to Fremantle, and I offer weekly
phone support to the Liaison Officer. This ministry is to many of the least
known and least cared for people who come to Australia and I feel privileged to
have the opportunities to help make a difference in the lives of seafarers and
their families. I am delighted that the station at Port Lincoln continues in its
quiet way to offer hospitality through the parish centre, and at Port Pirie the
recently appointed lay chaplain and ship visitor, Ian Pole, and his team of
volunteers bring enthusiasm and generosity to this ministry. Professional
Standards Issues We
are fortunate indeed that Bruce Thorpe has been willing to be trained to offer
safe ministry education across the Diocese. I am very pleased to hear that there
are already a large number of Training Days planned for the rest of this year
and I would remind the Synod that I have asked everyone in the Diocese who holds
my licence to have had the appropriate Child-safe Ministry Training by Easter
2009. This means that everyone who
holds a licence to minister in the Diocese will have had a Police Check and have
experienced a unit of Understanding Child
Safe Environments Training and a unit of Reporting Child Abuse & Neglect Training. Mr.
Tim Ridgway continues to serve as our Director of Professional Standards and has
represented the diocese at various meetings during the year as the National
Church has clarified and simplified matters pertaining to the National Register,
the Rehabilitation of Offenders, clarifying procedures for education, and
networking with other dioceses to ensure a common approach to matters of
Professional Standards. I am
grateful to Tim who is a busy psychologist in private practice for his
commitment to the diocese in fulfilling this role. There
are two matters of concern which have been dealt with by appropriate bodies at
this time. Some of you may have
read a newspaper article late in 2007 concerning alleged abuse that happened at
Kadina in the early 1970s. I have
recently met with the complainant and I hope that this matter will be concluded
soon. The other matter is in the hands of the police for investigation. Before
us at this Synod is the legislation for the establishment of the National
Register and while I have opposed this legislation in the past, I believe it has
now been sufficiently scrutinized and repaired so that it will work effectively.
I would encourage members of the Synod to see the National Register Canon as a
useful tool in protecting those who come to the Church expecting a safe
environment. Lambeth
Conference 2008 The
Lambeth Conference, held every 10 years in the United Kingdom, is a gathering of
Anglican Bishops from around the world where we seek to discuss matters of
common concern and interest to our world wide Anglican family.
This Lambeth Conference to be held in July and August this year, will be
held under a cloud. Several Archbishops in Africa, the Archbishop of Sydney and
the Primate of the Southern Cone of South America
have indicated that they and their associated bishops are unwilling to attend
the Lambeth Conference because they do not believe it represents an
appropriately orthodox or biblical approach to the matter of human sexuality.
At the Lambeth Conference held in 1998 the bishops agreed that there
would be no unilateral action by any part of the Church in the matter of
ordaining openly homosexual people or in the matter of blessing same sex unions. In Canada same sex unions have received official Church
blessing and in the United States of America, the Right Reverend Gene Robinson,
a gay man in an active homosexual relationship, has been elected and confirmed
as the Bishop of New Hampshire. These
events have caused some Churches of our Communion to believe that they can no
longer associate with those bishops from Canada or North America who were
involved in those blessings or in that consecration. While
I understand the hurt and sense of betrayal that is felt by those bishops, it
remains true that unless we bear each others’ burdens and share each others’
pain, it is unlikely that we will ever truly reflect that unity for which our
Lord Jesus Christ prayed. There is
no easy way to deal with deeply held differences and in the matter of human
sexuality, a matter that is so intimate and significant to all people,
differences seem to carry a heavier weight.
I
have said on several occasions that I do not believe the last word has been
spoken in the matter of human sexuality and in particular, same sex
relationships. I am clear that the
Bible encourages faithfulness in marriage as the norm for the building of human
families and for the right expression of human sexuality.
However, it also seems clear to me that insights from psychology and
sociology, make it clear that some people are born with a homosexual orientation
that is not their choice. It is not
clear to me that the expression of sexual love by homosexual people within a
committed relationship ought automatically to be forbidden by the Church. Until
there is further clarity about this matter I am also quite happy to maintain the
Church’s present standard and teaching about the place of sex in marriage.
I do not believe that there are easy answers to these difficult questions
and at the last Lambeth Conference the bishops, not only agreed that there would
be no unilateral action, but also that they would listen to the experience of
gay and lesbian Christian people in an attempt to understand more fully how they
experience life in the Church today. To
this end, the General Synod of our Church here in Australia, produced a CD with
the stories of four homosexual Anglicans for the General Synod to listen to as
part of the listening process enjoined
on us by the last Lambeth Conference. We
will have an opportunity to participate in that listening process ourselves in this Synod on Saturday evening.
The four stories are confronting and come from very different angles,
with different interpretations of Scripture, and each story leads to a different
conclusion. Whatever the rights or
wrongs of decisions made by the people in those stories, the stories themselves
indicate the complexity and deeply held beliefs in the matter of human
sexuality. I
hope that you will listen carefully to the stories and reflect on how you
understand your own sexual nature and how it finds expression that gives glory
to God. I
am very sorry that the Archbishop of Sydney, the Bishop of North West Australia
and the Assistant Bishops of Sydney will not be coming to Lambeth, but are
instead attending an Alternative
Conference to be held in Jordan and Israel. It is important that all
the voices in the Church are heard and like the Archbishop of Canterbury, I
am very sorry that the conservative evangelical voice will not be heard clearly
in the Councils at this Lambeth Conference.
Nevertheless, the opportunity for those bishops to attend is still open.
I
am very much looking forward to the opportunities at the Conference.
Much of the three and a half weeks is centred around Bible studies in
small groups and as well other interest groups meet on a regular basis to
discuss matters of world wide concern or more regional matters.
With Archbishop Jeffrey and Assistant Bishop Stephen from Adelaide, I
will be attending the Diocese of Wakefield for the week immediately prior to the
Conference in order to learn something more of our twinned diocese and to review
the provincial shared arrangements between the Diocese of Wakefield and the
Province of South Australia. As
well as the daily program of the Conference I anticipate several meetings with
my fellow Liaison Bishops from the Mission to Seafarers organizations around the
world as well as less formal opportunities for renewing friendships I have made
in the United Kingdom and in the United States of America during various visits
in my time as bishop. Following
the Conference I will spend a week of study leave at St Deiniol’s Library in
Wales and then have a fortnight’s holiday before my return to Willochra
towards the end of August. Friends
of the Diocese of Willochra In
October last year at a Gala Dinner held at Bungaree Station, I launched the Friends
of the Diocese of Willochra which is an organization of current and past
members of the Diocese who wish to support the See Fund.
This
group will keep in touch with a regular newsletter and annual events and indeed
events in three places in the Diocese are planned for the second half of this
year. I am grateful indeed to Liz
Harris for agreeing to co-ordinate the work of the Friends of the Diocese of Willochra.
My hope is that over time the contributions of the Friends
will add to the See Fund and that Friends
may be encouraged, in the longer term, to make provision for the See Fund
through bequeathing shares, property or money to the See Fund of the Diocese of
Willochra. The
ongoing support of the Bishop is a significant cost on the parishes &
ministry districts and while it is important that there is a sense of
‘ownership’ between Church people and the bishop, a significant See Fund
would mean diminished requests from local congregations for the ongoing life of
the diocese. I am delighted that
through careful husbandry the Diocesan Finance Committee has already been able
to grow the See Fund to just over $1 million.
I
hope that the Friends of the Diocese of Willochra will be able to contribute to
this in the years to come so that our goal of $1.5 million might be reached by
the centenary of the diocese in 2015 and that we might soon thereafter increase
the Fund so that the major part of the bishop’s funding comes from the See
rather than from congregational giving. Thanks When
I am asked about the administration of the Diocese, I usually make some quip
about running a lean ship. My presence somehow undermines that claim, but it is
true. I
am grateful for those whose constant care and careful work ensures the smooth
running of the Diocese. Our Registrar, Trevor Briggs and his team at Church
Office, Lynnette Moore and Suzy Drury look after the administration, the money
and what seems like a million telephone calls. Kaye Nicolson, my Personal
Assistant, is always ready with a smile and a great capacity for work, even when
she is clenching her teeth. She also has the happy knack of making me feel as if
I am in charge! At
the Willochra Home Jo Vincent, Residential Care Manager and Jan Gulin, her
assistant, preside over a dedicated band of carers, and are delighted to work
under such an enthusiastic Board of Management. The
Diocesan Council runs smoothly and happily, thanks to the contribution of each
member, and I am particularly grateful for the work of our Diocesan Treasurer,
Michael Ford, and the Finance Committee. The
Archdeacons, Michael Hillier and Mark Thomas, give good leadership and I value
their wise counsel. I
miss the insight of Dorothy Thorpe,
our MDO for the last five years. My
life is much easier because of the good work of Bob in the garden at Bishop’s
House, and Jenny, who keeps the interior spick and span. Finally
I would like to thank the Chancellor, Mark Pickhaver, whose ability to appear at
Bishop’s House with a good bottle of red and a cheese platter prepared by his
wife Anne, brings almost miraculous healing at times of stress or uncertainty. I
am grateful to God for the privilege of serving as your bishop and I am still
filled with surprise when I see my reflection in a window at confirmations and
recognize that I am the Bishop! Father,
we see in Jesus Christ your love and compassion for the whole world.
By your Holy Spirit renew and empower us to witness to the world, that
all may know your life and love. Amen.
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