Marathon service marks beginning of 129th synod
by Ana Watts
The 129th Synod of the Diocese of Fredericton began with a marathon service at Christ Church Cathedral on Thursday evening, June 7. It included the awarding of two certificates of merit, the signing of a new Companion Diocese covenant, the installation of five new canons as well as Bishop Claude Miller’s charge.
The cathedral was filled to overflowing on the pretty summer evening 
with many of the more than 300 synod delegates, family and friends of the new canons and award recipients and a healthy Mothers’ Union contingent. Bishop Matthias Medadues-Badohu of our new Companion Diocese of Ho in East Ghana, Africa, brought many gifts, including some hand-woven cloth for the Diocese of Fredericton Mothers’ Union from the Diocese of Ho Mothers’ Union.
“Just as the early church was challenged by the culture and had to discern ways of engagement, we too are called to respond with enthusiasm and zeal of the first disciples,” said Bishop Claude Miller in his charge. “This was and is the most important work in the world, and awesome task.” To underscore the point, he repeated his statement. Later in his charge he articulated the major themes of the Shared Ministry Plan or diocesan vision as reconcile, form, resource and share.
He said our desire to share our vision is reflected in a number of motions coming before synod.
He also noted “other motions have come forward that reflect our anxiety around the future of the Anglican Communion. The ongoing doctrinal questions with respect to human sexuality and the place of gay and lesbian relationships in the Body of Christ will not be settled by this synod or our upcoming General Synod (National Church governing body meeting in Winnipeg later this month) or anytime soon.”
The Shared Ministry Plan for the diocese was developed over the past year-and-a-half by Diocesan Council, an elected and appointed body of synod members and tends to the work of the church between synods. The diocese participated in a National Church pilot project under the Letting Down the Nets stewardship program that believes the National Church can only grow stronger if the dioceses and parishes that support it are stronger as well.
“The directions that are set in our Shared Ministry Plan are described as four pillars of a house. They represent the work that is set before each Anglican, each parish, our synod and bishop,” he said. “Over the next few years, with plan in hand, our prayers must be for God’s guidance as we navigate the reality of cultural change, economic pressures, governmental regulation, liability issues, demographic change and the reality of our church’s pending fragmentation if we are unwilling to strive for an inclusion that does not compromise the authority of Christ in the church and in our lives.”
The bishop encouraged the gathered members of synod to pass two motions that would come before them in the next two days. One is a lengthy motion that reaffirms synod’s position that “marriage (as defined by the church) is the lifelong union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others, and that no clergy person may bless any union or marriage of the same sex.” It concludes with the statement “the synod of the Diocese of Fredericton does not intend to return to this matter unless the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada takes precipitant action concerning the contentious issues around human sexuality. We have made a definitive statement and it is our intention to move ahead with other important matters in the area of mission and ministry.”
The other calls for the appointment of a committee to “deal with the question how best to continue this synod’s historic commitment to rural and struggling parishes.”
The Rev. Canon Lloyd Lake, a retired parish priest, televangelist, and chaplain to innumerable groups and whose present ministry includes street people and support for the Boy’s and Girl’s Club in Saint John, received a certificate of merit in recognition and appreciation of his many years of continuous, outstanding and faithful service as a Parish Priest and a Community Evangelist in the Diocese of Fredericton.
Twila Buttimer, a dedicated archivist who prefers to remain in the background on any occasion, was presented a certificate of merit in recognition and appreciation of her many years of continuous, outstanding and faithful service in the management of our diocesan archives.
The Rev. Howard Anningson, the Rev. John Cathcart and the Rev. Elaine Hamilton, active clergy in the diocese, were installed as canons of Christ Church Cathedral. The Rev. Neville Cheeseman, a retired priest of the diocese, was installed as an honorary canon and Mr. Charles Ferris, diocesan chancellor, was installed as an honorary lay canon.
Read the full text of the bishop's charge.
