DIOCESAN AD LAOS 2 ( Bishop David Bannerman Highveld Diocese)
Dear Friends,
Synod of Bishops and PSC
Accompanying
this Ad Laos is the Bishops’ statement following our meeting at the St.
George’s Conference Centre outside Pretoria, reflecting on the some of the
matters which we covered. It is a document
for your reflection as we seek to be the People of God in our rapidly changing
country.
At the
beginning of PSC we celebrated the 20th Anniversary of Women’s Ordination
to the Priesthood. It was wonderful
service at which Bishop Barbara Harris from the United States powerfully
preached. As I write this, I am conscious of the women priests of our Diocese
preparing a celebratory service for us
to remember this wonderful event on the 3rd November in the
Cathedral in our Diocese! All are welcome!
You will be
receiving copies of the resolutions passed at PSC in due course, but one of the
matters that received a fair amount of attention was the need for the Anglican
Church to once again become more actively
involved in education in Southern Africa in the light of the terrible
difficulties we are facing. The possible
role of the Church in Early Childhood Development in parishes as well as the
creation of link between parishes and local schools to assist schools in their
work was discussed.
The Anglican
Ablaze Conference in Johannesburg was spoken a great deal, and I encourage any
who have not committed themselves and are able to attend, to do so.
Bible Society of South Africa
The Rev Shane
Fraser of the Bible Society of South Africa (formerly of the Diocese of Port
Elizabeth) has visited me and said he would like to visit some Parishes in our
Diocese in the coming year to speak about the work of the Bible Society. I have given him my blessing so that when he
visits your Parish you can welcome him.
The Diocesan
office is in the process of liaising with the Bible Society with a view to
selling bibles from our office. As soon
as bibles are available we will advise you so that you can purchase them in
addition to ACSA publications.
School of Leadership
Questions
Continuing my
reflections on the questions that were raised in the Schools of Leadership. One of the questions was:
·
Who appoints priests to a parish?
Clergy are not
appointed as employees, they are licensed, reflecting the unique of their call.
The Bishop licenses a priest to a parish, since all formal ministry performed
in a Diocese is by license of the Bishop. [1] A
minster cannot function without the License of the Bishop. As the Anglican
Prayer Book 1989 says, ‘It is your responsibility and your joy
to ordain deacons and priests and to send forth other ministers.’[2]
·
What is the role of an Archdeacon?
This is
clearly set out in the Canons of ACSA.
No comments:
Post a Comment