North is neglected.Dear editor, I am writing in response to the Council of General Synod The General Synod is the title of the governing body of some church organizations. Church of England In the Church of England, General Synod was instituted in 1970 and is the culmination of a process of rediscovering self-government for the Church of England that had highlights from May 12, 2006 concerning the question, "Is the historic commitment of the whole church to provide pastoral and sacramental sacramental, in the Roman Catholic Church, aid to devotion that is not a sacrament. Sacramentals are commonly divided into six classes: prayer, anointing, eating, confession, giving, and blessings. ministry to isolated and remotes areas still a fundamental priority of General Synod?" which was put to table groups. The overwhelming impression I had from reading the highlights was that pastoral and sacramental ministry in the North is "important, but ..." I read with some dismay that one group asked the question "Is this a spiritual problem or a financial problem?" We read in our papers that life in many parts of Canada, especially on remote First Nations, is as bad as or worse than in Third World countries. Would we ever dare to ask this question of any of our overseas partners? Yet, the Council of the North and the many faithful Anglicans who live in the North are fair game. The question does, however, deserve an answer and is far more complicated than either/or. As we examine the systemic systemic /sys·tem·ic/ (sis-tem´ik) pertaining to or affecting the body as a whole. sys·tem·ic adj. 1. Of or relating to a system. 2. issues, we need to factor in the continuing colonial policies of this country, including the Indian Act The Indian Act ("An Act respecting Indians"), R.S., 1985, c. I-5, is Canadian statute that concerns registered Indians (that is, First Nations peoples of Canada), their bands, and the system of Indian reserves. , declining rural populations, increasing native populations accompanied by increasing poverty and the uncertainties of a resource-based economy including farming, lumber lumber, term for timber that has been cut into boards for use as a building material. The major steps in producing lumber involve logging (the felling and preparation of timber for shipment to sawmills), sawing the logs into boards, grading the boards according to and mining. The demands on the resources of the church are myriad. However, if the church continues to dither dith·er n. A state of indecisive agitation. intr.v. dith·ered, dith·er·ing, dith·ers To be nervously irresolute in acting or doing. on the decision of allocation, in a few years there simply will be little by way of pastoral or sacramental ministry in the North and the church will have chosen by default. Marion Jenkins Henry Budd College for Ministry The Pas, Man. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion