INSIDE ANGLICAN NEWS Clergy Conference focuses on bullying 09 Bx.pdf · INSIDE ANGLICAN NEWS Vol....

Anglican NewsAugust 2009

AUGUST 2009

INSIDE ANGLICAN NEWS

Vol. 32 No.6 ISSN O81O

Reporting for the church in Western NSW

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ANGLICAN DEVELOPMENT FUNDDiocese of Bathurst

Phone: (02) 6331 1722 or (02) 6332 2022 Fax: (02) 6332 2772 Email: [email protected]

Clergy Conference focuses on bullying Keynote Speaker

raises awareness ofa growing problemin parish ministryby Lewis Hitchick

Celia Irving has said that clergyare more at risk of being bulliedby lay leaders in the church todaythan their counterparts were inprevious generations.

The Keynote Speaker at theDiocesan Clergy Conference atBathurst Goldfields from July 28-31 explained that in past times thechurch was run by the priest.“Perhaps someone did the flow-ers, someone played the organ,and the priest ran the rest of thechurch,” she said.

“Today most churches to somedegree are run along a ministrymanagement model, with layleadership working with the priestin planning things for the parish,and also implementing things inthe parish.”

She explained that when layleaders were given positions ofauthority and power, they usu-ally brought a great deal of exper-tise.

“But they’re also bringing skillsets and personalities and behav-iours that may possibly be usedappropriately in the workplace,but have the potential to be usedas bullying tactics in the churchby undermining the priest,” shesaid. “A CEO of an organisationdoes not leave all their skills andtechniques at the door when theycome into the church.”

She suggested that this changehad contributed significantly toincreased bullying of clergy inrecent times.

“To the extent that it is nowhappening, bullying of clergy is arelatively new phenomenon.There have always been ‘gate-

keepers’ in the church, but theshift in church management hasgiven more scope for bullyingtactics.”

Celia Irving, of CMI Voca-tional Training in Canberra, con-ducted four training sessions withthe clergy. She gave an overviewof church management whichexplained how lay leaders mightview a situation quite differentlyto the clergy, through a processshe referred to as ‘framing’.

“People look at things throughdifferent ‘frames’, and when theframes lay people use don’t matchthe ones the clergy are using, thenyou can have some issues – andsome of the behaviours that fol-low are a result of that,” she said.

She asked the clergy to fill outa questionnaire so that she couldrecord the different perspectiveson a graph, illustrating the differ-ent ‘frames’ people view a situa-tion through.

“Some of the clergy askedabout using this material for par-ish council, just to get a betterunderstand of how they each lookat different situations.’ Celia Irvingsaid. The value in this is that thevarious people in senior leader-ship can understand each otherbetter, and minimise the likeli-hood of potential conflict.

“It’s not designed to be an ‘usand them’ or a ‘right and wrong’answer, it’s designed to help dif-ferent people understand eachother and look at how they canwork together better.”

In the workshop sessions CeliaIrving was able to draw on herown experience in chairing parishcouncil meetings, to provide ex-amples for some of her teachingpoints. Through her experienceas a member of the AnglicanChurch for over 35 years she hasgained an understanding of howthe church works, how senior

leadership operates and some ofthe frustrations clergy have todeal with.

“There’s also that sense of, ‘IfI can’t look after my church thenI’m a failure’, so I think it’simportant to first of all have anawareness raising, and then havesome skills and appropriate sup-port in dealing with it,” she ex-plained.

“What I did in terms of bully-ing was, I looked at unpacking itin a church situation where clergywere being bullied by lay leaders- that was the awareness raising

– and then I looked at respondingto incidents, and then at preven-tion: what protective behaviourscan you put in place to prevent orminimise bullying.”

After the conference Celia saidshe had been pleased with theamount of very positive feedbackshe had been given.

“In the final session, one of thethings that came out was a senseof looking at ‘where to fromhere’,” she said. “It wasn’t amatter of, ‘Now we’ve looked atit we can tick it off’; it was ratherseeing this as a starting point, and

asking ‘Now, where do we go asa diocese with our pre-ordinationtraining and post-ordination pro-fessional development?’”.

She said the whole subject ofbullying needed to come out intothe open, “so people weren’t justfeeling all these things withouthaving a forum to articulate it”.

“Now it’s been validated, andit will be easier for people to talkto one another about the issue. Inthe past, we haven’t necessarily,as a church, looked at how wevalidate the experiences of clergywho are being bullied.

BETTER UNDERSTANDING: Celia Irving (left) discusses some of the isues arising fromher presentation on Bullying of Clergy with priests Ben Edwards (Molong) and Jorie Ryan(Gulgong).

Anglican News August 2009

The monthlynewspaper of thewestern NSW AnglicanDiocese of Bathurst

Editor:Lew Hitchick02 6331 1722

Advertising:The Editor

Printing:Daily Liberal, Dubbo

Circulation:3,600

Deadline:The paper is availablein parishes on the firstSunday of each month.The deadline forcontributions is the20th of the previousmonth.

Mailing Address:Anglican NewsPO Box 23BATHURST NSW 2795fax: 02 6332 2772email:a n g l i c a n . n e w [email protected]

Web:bathurstanglican.org.au/bwWebsite/Disclaimer:The views expressed inthis newspaper do notnecessarily reflect thepolicies of the AnglicanDiocese of Bathurst.

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BYBISHOPRICHARDHURFORD

The Reverend Brian Ford has been appointed Rectorof the Parish of Narromine, effective from 3rd July 2009.Brian has been Priest-in-Charge of the parish since2006, during which time the parish has improved itsfinancial stability to a point where it is now able to offerits parish priest tenure.

The Reverend Al Willett has been appointed Priest-in-Charge at Coonabarabran. Formerly from the parish ofSt Andrew’s by the Sea, Denham (Shark Bay) in theDiocese of Northwest Australia, he was Commissioned inhis new role on Thursday, 16th July in Christ ChurchCoonabarabran

The Reverend Leslie Ladlow has been appointedPriest-in-Charge of the Parish of Wellington. Leslie willconclude her ministry in the Parish of Eugowra on 30thNovember 2009 and will be Commissioned as Priest-in-Charge in St John’s Wellington on Thursday, 10th De-cember 2009 at 7.30pm. The Reverend Canon BillPryce will continue as Locum Tenens for the next twomonths.

The Reverend Canon Carla Archer will retire fromstipendiary ministry in the Bathurst Cathedral parish asfrom the end of August. She will continue some of herduties in the Diocese and for the Bishop in an honorarycapacity.

Achdeacon John Stead, presently Rector of St John'sparish, Wagga Wagga, and Archdeacon to the MinistryDevelopment Team in the Diocese of Canberra andGoulburn, will be commissioned as Principal of theCompany of the Good Shepherd on Friday August 21 inHoly Trinity, Dubbo at 12 noon. He will also be conse-crated as the fourth Assistant Bishop in the Diocese ofBathurst on Saturday August 29 in All Saints' Cathedral,Bathurst, at 11:00am.

Anniversaries can be wonder-ful opportunities for us to cel-ebrate and reflect, to give thanksfor what has been – and to re-fresh and recommit for the fu-ture.

I am writing this column dur-ing the Octave of St James – theeight days following St James’Day, which is celebrated in thechurch’s calendar on the 25th July.This week has seen the 40th Anni-versary of my ordination as adeacon on the 27th July, 1969 inChrist Church Cathedral, Grafton,NSW.

Christine and I were delightedto be invited to return to Graftonlast weekend for the 125th Anni-versary of the Opening and Dedi-cation of the Cathedral whichtook place on St James’ Day in1884. It was very precious for usboth to return to a city and regionwhere so many life giving thingshad happened in our journey asindividuals, and as a couple, downthe years.

Grafton was where Christinehad grown up and where we metand married while I was a curateat the Cathedral. We returnedmany years later with our youngsons Nicholas, James and Andrewwhen I served as the Dean of theCathedral from 1983 until 1997.

It was a great joy to celebrateand reflect with the Grafton Ca-thedral congregation and the widerDiocesan community in the wor-ship and other events of the week-end - a huge anniversary for theCathedral, and a significant per-sonal anniversary for me in thepilgrimage of my ordained life.

As we refreshed somelongstanding friendships, I wasconfronted with the reality thateven though forty years hadpassed since my ordination daywhen I had made such a pro-found vow to our Lord JesusChrist to serve both him and thepeople of God as a deacon, it wasrather like my commitment toChrist and subsequent confirma-tion of the baptismal vow, ‘I turn

to Christ’ – the truth is that Chris-tian discipleship takes a long time,and for many of us, we wouldsay that it is a lifelong journey!

It isn’t just a matter of makinga decision. It involves funda-mental change: the healing ofhang-ups, leaning to feel and seein radically new ways; replacingdeeply rooted habits of thoughtand emotion and behaviour.

All that takes time. We notonly fail again and again; we haveto learn to recognize failures wenever suspected, never knewwere failures. We have to get toknow ourselves as we truly areand to realize that some of thethings we daydream of being, arenot us, and never will be. WhatGod wants us to become is aChrist-like version of ourselves,not a poor imitation of St Francisof Assisi!

In scripture and in the celebra-tion of the Eucharist we can read-ily identify two vital gifts whichGod has given us through theCross and Resurrection of JesusChrist: - the love of a God whohas been through human life, withall its pain, as one of us, and whotherefore does not ask of us any-thing he has not done on the sameterms as ourselves; and a lovewhich is there for us wheneverwe seek it, however often orbadly we fail.

Those two things are the pat-tern of good parenting and friend-ship. Such a parent or friend

never pretends life is easybut is there alongside us,trusting, encouraging,and giving an authenticexample.

Such a parent or friendalso never pretends wehaven’t done wrong whenwe obviously have, butequally lets us know thattheir love for us never changes.

They want us as we are, andwill always be there to help us totry again. Good parents andfriends are with us for as long asit takes. So is God.

That is the only way to disciple– to help people grow, to becomewhat they can be in Christ. Manypeople today think Christianity isan illusion. They tried it and itfailed. What very often theymean is that things went wrong:loved ones died, their businesswent bust, and they lost their job.

But Christ never said wewouldn’t suffer. It is a false andheartless perversion of his mes-sage to say ‘pray, and all will bewell’.

What such people may alsomean is that they expected to becured of certain failings, and theyweren’t. God didn’t give them amagic pill which stopped themdrinking or sleeping around. But

these were only symptoms ofdeeper troubles which called fordeeper change; and that needslong exposure to holy love, whichgives us self-understanding andtransforms our values. Boostingwill-power might improve oursuperficial behaviour. It will nevermake us a better person.

In the Church’s calendar weare now celebrating the Sundaysafter Pentecost, the Season of theHoly Spirit. That Spirit is veryreal, very powerful. But it’s mostimportant work is done at thedeepest levels of personality,slowly and silently. We only real-ize what has been happening longafter it has happened, perhapswhen someone else makes a re-mark which brings it home to us.

The work of the Holy Spirit isessentially God’s love, madeknown in Christ, working withinus and with us. To help peoplereceive what the Spirit has to

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give, we need two things. First,an evangelism which tells thetruth, which does not promisequick fixes but calls people tolet the Crucified and RisenChrist be their friend and men-tor, and to give him time todo this. An evangelism whichis faithful to the Gospel butalso to the realities of life and

human nature.Secondly, a church which is

prepared to be alongside peoplefor as long as it takes, respect-ing their individuality, open towhere they are and not forcingthe pace. A church which realisesthat the gift of the Spirit thatmatters in the end isChristlikeness, and which is it-self Christlike.

The Season of Pentecost re-minds us that this is the essentialgift of the Spirit that will sustainour journey of discipleship withthe consequent fruit of apostolicaction.

Christ never saidwe wouldn’t suffer.

It is a false andheartless perversion

of his message tosay: ‘pray, and all

will be well’.

Discipling: helping people achieve potential in Christ


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DIOCESAN NEWSDIOCESAN NEWSDIOCESAN NEWSDIOCESAN NEWSDIOCESAN NEWS

Clergy meet Assistant Bishop-designateThe Clergy Conference pro-

vided an opportunity for Assist-ant Bishop-designate John Steadto meet the clergy of the diocese,and to give them an opportunityto start getting to know him.

Rather than simply launch intoa speech of self-introduction, JohnStead chose to answer questionsfrom the conference to provide“the information you think wouldbe useful rather than what I thinkyou want to know about me”

Q: What are you hopeful ofand what are you afraid of as youcome into this diocese?

A: I’m actually not afraid ofanything but I’m aware that I’mgoing to have a lot of learning todo, especially about the Com-pany of the Good Shepherd andabout the far West of the Dio-cese. When you look at the role ofthe Bishop it says it is to knowand be known so I will need tostart there. I am in awe of theenormity of the task because thereis a lot of learning, and I want toget to know you and learn aboutyou and how I can help you to dowhat you need to do.

So what am I looking forwardto? The opportunity to focusmyself into an area where I be-lieve God has gifted me. I thinkthat in many respects, I knowthat when Richard first rang memy first response was, “Er, I’llhave to think about that … andpray about that.”

The first thing I did was to ringmy own Diocesan Bishop Stuartand tell him Bishop Richard hadasked me this - and Bishop Stuartsaid, “You’ve got to do it!” so Imoved on from there.

I believe this is where thingshave been leading for a long time.So that’s what I am looking for-ward to: actually exercising theministry God has been calling meto. And if I don’t do it as well asI should, please let me know.

Q: Would you say somethingabout the work you have beendoing in the Institute of Leader-ship over the last couple of years?

A: The Leadership Institutewas formed by a number of clergyin the Church of England as wellas outside of the Church of Eng-land to give people leadershipskills. They run a program calledSenior Leadership which I wasinvolved in this year, firstly for aweek in Canterbury in March andthen just at the beginning of Julyin the diocese of Durham. Therewere some really significant thingsfor me that I need to be thinkingabout and I’m sure I will sharethose with you over time.

One of them was about Moti-vation: What is the motivation foryou as a leader? That really hithome as we did an exercise thatrevealed some things to me aboutthe people who had exercised

leadership in the Church andhelped me to understand wherethey were coming from, but alsohelped me to understand whereI’m coming from.

The second thing revealed tome when I was in Durham earlierthis month was the whole sensethat there is a lot to learn out of thetradition of the church and thefact of being in “place” and un-derstanding that the Church isindigenous. I wonder if we’vestill got a long way to go inAustralia, in terms of actuallybeing the Anglican Church inAustralia and understanding our-selves as that. So I want to reflecton that.

We were fortunate to haveBishop Tom Wright come andspeak to us about Leadership.Now he is of the opinion thatleadership is maybe a very dubi-ous term in the Church and hechallenged us to think of it as Ruleand Ruling.

That raises some very nega-tive connotations in us, doesn’tit? But he says the Bible doesn’ttalk much about leadership assuch but about rule - and howyou exercise rule – and BishopTom said rule does not necessar-ily mean domination.

I haven’t thought that throughbut I’ve been very challenged byBishop Tom’s words to us thereand would like to work with youin unpacking how it relates towhat our role is a priests in thecommunity.

Q: Could you tell us somethingabout your Faith Journey?

A: I was born in England at aplace called Bexley Heath, in Kent.My dad was in the army so sixmonths after I was born wemoved to Tripoli for18 months. Iwas baptised in a little church inDevon and brought up in theChurch of England, and if I havea home town in England fromthose early years it is Bristol.

I went to church there in StThomas’ and joined the choir.Eventually the family ended up inAustralia when my dad wasbrought out to Woomera andSalisbury in South Australia towork on guided weapons so Iwas fortunate to be growing up inElizabeth in SA when it was abrand new suburb in 1967.

My parents sent me to churchuntil I was 13. Come 13, I said“no” to Confirmation because Iwas not sure and then was awayfrom the church - but not awayfrom Jesus - till I was in my early30s.

Then I came back to churchwhile living in Canberra in theparish of St Mary in the Valleyand I was confirmed there byBishop Ian George and from thenon things happened rather rap-idly. Within a few months ofbeing confirmed I was on parish

council, in 12 months I was chair-man of that council. I then had asense God was asking me to dosomething in the church. I thoughtit was to become what we thencalled a Lay Reader, so I went tothe rector of the parish and toldhim this and he said, “Oh, yes,that’s no problem - we’ll put yourname forward to the Bishop to bea Lay Reader.” At the end of theinterview he said, “You know, Ithought you’d come to talk to meabout Ordination as a priest.”

I told him he’d have to be madto think I’d ever, ever do that.

But six months later I realisedthat being a Lay Reader wasn’twhat God had wanted me to bedoing so I went to three trustedpeople who were grounded andmature in the faith, to seek theirsense of my calling to the priest-hood, really wanting them to sayno, but they didn’t.

So I studied at St Mark’s -with Carla Archer from this dio-cese - and then became a deacon,priest and then Archdeacon in theCanberra-Goulburn Diocese tillreaching this prospect of beingmade an assistant Bishop this yearwhich is an amazing journey sofar.

Because of my spiritual jour-ney, I have a real heart for thosepeople who are away from thechurch and the reason I cameback is that I wanted a sense ofpurpose in my life. Although Iwas a principal of a small schooland quite successful, I was ask-ing myself, “Why am I doingthis? What is my life all about?”

This sense of purpose is whatI was really searching for and itwas only in coming back into thatrelationship that I found my

purpose.

Q: You’ve had close relation-ships with a number of bishopsand seen the stresses they areunder. Now that you are becom-ing a bishop, how are you goingto take care of yourself?

A: That’s a very good ques-tion. I have great wife and it’s ashame she is not here because Idon’t say this to her very oftenbut without her I wouldn’t beable to do what I do. I’m sure thatis the case with most of us. If you

have got a spouse, you know thatthat person is the foundation ofwhat it is you do.

So my wife gets on my casesometimes, but I really rely onother people too. I’ve always hadsomeone in the parish who hasbeen bold enough to take measide and tell me truths that needto be said. In the job I am about tostart I won’t have a parishioneras such here who will know methat well, so if you see me doingtoo much then be bold and tell meso. And I will endeavour to listen.

INFORMAL CHAT: Jorie Ryan (Gulgong) and Tony Card (Oberon) take the opportunity toget to know John Stead a little better during an afternoon tea break at the Clergy Conference.

FAREWELL: Bishop Peter Danaher presides in his finalEucharist in Holy Trinity, Dubbo, during the service tofarewell him and Caroline Danaher on Friday July 10.Bishop Peter came to the parish as rector in 1997, andas VIcar-General he administered the Diocese beforethe election of Bishop Richard Hurford. He wasappointed Ministry Development Officer for the Diocesein 2001, and Principal of the company of the GoodShepherd in 2002 and played a large part in establishingthe Company. In 2005 he was consecrated as the thirdAssistant Bishop of Bathurst Diocese. Bishop Peter hasreturned to parish ministry in Victoria, and was inductedas rector of Newtown parish in Geelong on July 22.


Letters to the Editor ...

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LETTERS & NEWSLETTERS & NEWSLETTERS & NEWSLETTERS & NEWSLETTERS & NEWS

Songs of Spring and the Spiritis the theme of a day for churchmusicians to take place on Satur-day 22 August in Bathurst.

Music leaders and singers areinvited to join in the 2009 regionalworkshop of the Royal School ofChurch Music, directed by Rev.Michael Deasey, Precentor andDirector of Music, All SaintsCathedral.

Cathedral bells welcomenew Catholic Bishop

Invitation to musiciansAnyone with an interest in

church music is encouraged toattend, to experience new music,and to enjoy singing with a largergroup than usual.

Enrolments are sought by Fri-day 14 August. Please contactMargaret Macpherson to enrol,or for more information - phone6331 5372 (with message box)or [email protected]

Memorabiliawanted

Dear Sir,The celebrations for the Cen-

tenary of the Consecration ofHoly Trinity Anglican Church,Orange, is planned for Sunday26th October, 2009.

The organising committee isseeking memorabilia of thechurch and also names of people

Blessing of newleader forCommunity of theSisters of the Church

On July 13 at St Martin’sChurch, Hawksburn, about 180people joined with the Sisters ofthe Church in Australia in the Cel-ebration Eucharist and Blessing ofSister Linda Mary as the nextMother Superior or worldwideleader of the Community.

Many members of Linda Mary’sfamily travelled from Dubbo andother places to be present. Theelection of Linda Mary to this roleis a source of pride to the Shuttlefamily and also to the people ofDubbo where she grew up.

Bishop Richard Hurford wasalso present to represent Linda'shome Diocese of Bathurst.

The out-going leader, SisterAnita, was present to hand overthe role, and with the ProvincialSisters, Sister Marguerite Maefrom Canada, Sister Kathleen fromSolomon Islands and Sister Susanfrom England presented her at theBlessing.

Linda Mary is the third Austral-ian to be elected into this role andministry but is the first newlyelected leader not to be blessed inEngland.

She is also be the first leader notto live in England and will continueto live in Australia, where she willcontinue in the role of AustraliaProvincial which she has held forthe last nine years.

When the Community came toAustralia in the late 1890s it was tocontinue their founding work ineducation and provide opportuni-ties for those who were disadvan-taged in society. Schools werefounded in Hobart, Adelaide, Mel-bourne, Sydney, Perth and laterCanberra.

The Community is no longerresponsible for these schools butthe shared founding principlesmake for continued contact. Itwas a joy to have the currentprincipals, other school execu-tives and Old Scholars of theSchools present.

The Executive Officer ofParkerville Children and YouthCare Inc, one of the children’s

homes begun in Perth by the Com-munity was also present.

Bishop Graeme Rutherford, aformer Bishop Visitor of the Com-munity, was the celebrant ofEucharist and Blessing.

Sister Helen CSC preached onthe theme, Taken, Blessed, Bro-ken and Given. The music for theservice was provided by the mu-sic department of St Michael’sGrammar School, Melbourne.

It was a joy to also have presentso many people who have hadcontact with Linda Mary and theCommunity over the years. Formany it was a significant and deeplymoving occasion and they appre-ciated being able to be part of it.

who may be interested in attend-ing.

Please contact Kathie Mills on02 6362 1354 or myself for fur-ther information.

Kind regards,Sue MontierOffice ManagerParish of Holy TrinityPO Box 174Orange NSW 2800Ph: 02 6362 1623Fax: 02 6361 9237

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Sister Linda Mary commissionedto lead world-wide community

BLESSING: Bishop Graeme Rutherford formally blessesSr Linda Mary in her new role as Mother Superior of theworld-wide Sisters of the Church community. Sr LindaMary, who grew up in Dubbo, has headed the Australianbranch of the Community for the last nine years.

The newly refurbished Cathedral Bells rang outover Bathurst for the first time on Friday June 26,in recognition of the consecration and installationof the new Roman Catholic Bishop of Bathurst, TheMost Reverend Michael McKenna.

Bishop McKenna was consecrated at StStanislaus’ College in Bathurst, the first such con-secration in Bathurst in 89 years.

The Mass was concelebrated by 25 bishops and115 priests, and the Metropolitan Archbishop ofSydney Cardinal George Pell delivered the homily.He described the office of Bishop as being, alongwith the Papacy, “the oldest surviving institution oroffice in the world”.

Bishop McKenna succeeds Bishop PatrickDougherty, who retired last year.

The service was followed by a Mayoral Recep-tion for over 350 guests in the Bathurst CivicCentre, with the crowd moving across to King’sParade (opposite All Saints’ Cathedral) for theringing of the bells at 3:00pm.

They joined around 1,000 members of theBathurst community who had come to witness theevent.

A team of bellringers from Sydney came toBathurst for the occasion.

ROUSING WELCOME: Catholic Cathedralpriest James Cutcliffe, retired CatholicBishop Patrcik Dougherty, incoming BishopMichael McKenna and Anglican BishopRichard Hurford in front of the All Saints'Cathedral bell tower.

LeLeLeLeLettttttttttererererers ...s ...s ...s ...s ...Anglican News readers are invited to respond to

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NEWS FR NEWS FR NEWS FR NEWS FR NEWS FROM THE CLEROM THE CLEROM THE CLEROM THE CLEROM THE CLERGGGGGY CONFERENCEY CONFERENCEY CONFERENCEY CONFERENCEY CONFERENCE

New administrative structure explained

Gearing upfor 140thanniversarycelebrations

Back to Church Sunday

Some responses to conference

Diocesan Financial OfficerChristine Medina presented anoverview of the newly-introduceddiocesan administrative structureat last month’s Clergy Confer-ence at Bathurst Goldfields.

The new operational structurehas been developed by the dioc-esan executive body, Bishop inCouncil, in association with Man-agement Consultant, PathwaysInternational Consulting.

The changes are a result of areview of the Bishop's govern-ance of the Diocese conductedby Pathways International.Bishop Richard announced thereview in his Presidential Addressto Synod in 2008, and it wascompleted earlier this year.

Christine Medina said that thepurpose had been to thoroughlyreview the role and function ofthe Bishop’s Leadership Team(BLT) and managementstructures of the Diocese.

Consequently, the relationshipbetween the BLT and all otherentities and functions of theDiocese of Bathurst has also beenreviewed.

The review found that the twomain functions of the RegistryOffice of the Bishop have beenthe administration of the Dioceseand the oversight and co-ordina-tion of ministry activities.

The Registry Office was ac-countable to Bishop-in-Councilfor the implementation of dioc-esan business and the provisionof administrative support for eachof the parishes and diocesan en-tities.

This included the effective andefficient management and opera-tion of:• Accounts and audit function• Human Resource Management

incl. payroll and employmentrelations

• Occupational Health & Safety• Compliance, Insurance and Risk

Management• Publicity, promotion & media

relations• Information Technology• Archives• Committee support including

the Property Trust• All staff and other records in-

cluding clergy and professionalstandards records, includingelectronic records

• Fleet management• Property management including

projects and master plans• Capacity to provide services for

other organisations on a fee forservice basisUnder the Diocesan Adminis-

trative Services Ordinance which

came into effect on July 1, thesebusiness and administrative func-tions will be carried out by thenewly-formed Diocesan Admin-istrative Services (DAS). Thissection is staffed by former Reg-istry Office personnel, but willalso include the recreated posi-tion of General Manager (for-merly known as Business Man-ager, a position held for someyears by Adrian Scarra).

The General Manager of theDAS will report to the Bishop andprovide reports of the operationsof the DAS to Bishop-in-Council.

Services provided by the DASwill include Business Manage-ment, Project Management, Ac-counting/Legal compliance, Pay-roll services, Account keeping,clerical services, CommunityRelations/Media relations, HumanResource Management (incl.employment relations) and Prop-erty Management.

The Diocesan AdministrativeServices Ordinance 2009 alsogives power to the DAS to oper-ate in its own right.

On July 1 the DAS began theprocess of operating as a sepa-rate entity, and this is expected tobe fully operational by the end ofthe year.

Interviews will be conductedthis month for the position ofGeneral Manager, with the ap-pointment expected by the begin-ning of October.

Christine Medina stressed thatthe extra position of the GeneralManager will not result in anyincreased costs to parishes, asthe position will be funded byextra work being done by the

DAS particularly for the Dioc-esan schools.

For parishes, the changes willlargely mean business as usual.She said parishes could expect: Enhanced relationship with theRegistry Office as the Bishopwill not be encumbered withadministration responsibilities

Clergy will continue to be paidthrough the Synod Manage-ment Fund

No extra Synod contributionsor other costs

A service will be offered toassist the Parishes, if requestedwith such things as keepingaccounts.

Most of the clergy found lastmonth's conference a veryworthwhile event, offering a mixof worthwhile training with op-portunities for sharing and com-munity building.

Bishop Richard said he hadbeen very pleased with the at-tendance, with just a few ofthe 52 active clergy in the dio-cese unable to attend due toillness or committment to otherprofessional development ac-tivities.

Anglican News asked severalpriests about their personal re-sponses to the gathering:

“It’s been very positive: It’sbeen agood timeof com-munity andfellowshipwith theclergy butalso quiteinstructiveand in-formative. So I think it’s been areally great conference –one ofthe best I’ve been to, I reckon.One of the benefits of theseconferences is it a good chanceto network, hear what otherpeople are doing and what God’sdoing in their neck of thewoods.” Brett Watterson -Parkes.

“It’s been a great confer-ence. I had heard the bullyingmaterial before but it was pre-sented differently here and I gota lot more out of it this time.

It all helps us identify whatmight be happening to us andwhat we might be doing to other

people andgave usstrategiesto be ableto addressthat. It hasalso beenr e a l l ygood to beable to

grapple with issues that BishopRichard has presented to us.”Graeme Yager, Peak Hill.

“I found the conference veryhelpful. The issue of bullyingwas something we probablyhadn’t put a name to before butnow we can identify it as aproblem in its own right. Be-fore this conference my gen-eral thinking was it was anissue I had to deal with or go onignoring it (and if I did that itcame back again as an evengreater problem).

“Having identified it as anissue, it makes it easier to iden-

tify ways of dealing with it thatare more effective. Another high-light of the conference for me

has beenthe oppor-tunity tomeet a lotof localstoo, asI’m newin the dio-cese, sofor me it’s

been a very positive experience”.Al Willett, Coonabarabran.

Narromine priest Brian Fordhas told the clergy of the diocesethat six parishes across theBathurst Diocese will pilot Backto Church Sunday on September13 and then report to our Synodon their experience the followingweekend.

Back to Church Sunday(B2CS) is an opportunity to re-connect with people who havelost contact with their localchurch, and is being observedinternationally next month. Thisyear 18 Australian Dioceses havesigned up to participate.

Speaking at the recent Dioc-esan Clergy Conference, BrianFord said that he would be coor-dinating the program for the Dio-cese and Lyn Bullard from Forbeswill head up the training program.

Last month Lyn Bullard at-tended a training day inWanniassa, in Canberra-GoulburnDiocese, and brought back theresources to equip teams in thelocal parishes that will be takingpart.

Parishes involved in the pilotare Narromine, Nyngan, Dubbo,Mudgee, Parkes and Rylstone-Kandos.

Bishop Richard has encour-aged the six parishes to make themost of the opportunity.

“We look forward to the fruitof their trail-blazing on behalf ofthis Diocese as next year, I amasking every parish to participateas part of our 140th Anniversaryactivities,” he said.

The training program focuseson making churches as welcom-ing and friendly as possible, notonly for B2CS but all the time.

Debbie Gould, NationalFacilitator for the project, con-ducted the training in Wanniassa.She said church members shouldtry to look at their church throughthe eyes of a visitor.

“Try to put yourself in theshoes of someone who has notbeen there before,” she said.“What might help you feel morecomfortable in an environmentthat is totally foreign to you?”

Canon Anne Wentzel has de-scribed the Diocesan celebrationof its 140th anniversary next yearas an opportunity to look ahead tothe next ten years.

Speaking at the DiocesanClergy Conference, the Mudgeeparish priest said that in additionto several major diocesan events,each parish would be marking theoccasion in a way appropriate totheir situation.

Diocesan Events set for 2010will include: Holy Week - a celebration atHoly Trinity Kelso on the themeof Tell me the old, old story!Kelso will also be celebratingthe 175th anniversary of theparish church.

5th May - a service at the Ca-thedral marking the 140th anni-versary of the Creation of theSee in 1870. The Primate, Arch-bishop Phillip Aspinall, will bepresent.

19th September – Back toChurch Sunday

16 October – a Diocesan Gath-ering involving schools andparishes.Anne Wentzel said the calen-

dar for all events booked so farwill soon be published on theDiocesan website. There is also asuggestion for a poster that canbe displayed on churchnoticeboards.

A suggested prayer for usethroughout the diocese in the lead-up to the anniversary will be dis-tributed by mid November.


NEWSANGLICAN

AROUND THE PARISHES ...

from the parishThe annual country shows

circuit is now in full swing,with the local Nyngan eventbeing recently held over twodays in perfect weather.

One of the highlights on ourchurch calendar is our partici-pation in the catering at the localshow which involves setting upthe dining room and serving hotmeals and delicious refresh-ments to the public.

This year we were in ‘thepink’ as we supported the JaneMcGrath Foundation by deco-rating ‘St Mark’s Restaurant’in delightful tones of pink re-flected in the flowers, nativeflora, the table linen, balloonsand streamers.

Also adorning the tables wasa special display of teddy bearsall beautifully dressed in a vari-ety of attire by an imaginativeparishioner, Frances Bennett.Each wore a touch of pink in theoutfits from varying walks oflife ranging from a doctor, a

nurse, a gardener, a pilot, to agraduate complete with aca-demic cap and gown.

There was a total of 25 de-lightful bears who won the heartsof their adoring admirers.

Our Anglican ladies are well-known for their delicious,freshly prepared home-madefood which again proved verypopular with the locals, as wellas visiting competitors and side-show people.

Who could resist the tantaliz-ing aroma of sizzling bacon andeggs, tomato and cheese waft-ing on the fresh morning air! Awilling band of helpers, bothmen and women, prepared andserved tempting meals over thetwo days. Also popular werethe scones and cream, slicesand sandwiches along withwelcome cups of tea and cof-fee.

This was again a very suc-cessful venture, and an oppor-tunity for outreach friendshipand ministry in the community.

Nyngan's champion caterers go on show

PRETTY IN PINK: (above) Dining tables forthe Nyngan Show were decorated in pink andsome of the proceeds were donated to theJane McGrath Foundation.

BEARABLE: Fr Rick Tilden with some of theteddy bears displayed on the tables.

Bishop Peter and CarolineDanaher enjoyed an overnight visitto Canowindra in June, whereBishop Peter was the GuestSpeaker at the Annual Men’s din-ner - hosted by the local Anglicanand Uniting Churches.

His address on the subject of“Change, a challenge to faith”was very well received, and thedelicious dinner and time of fel-lowship were also enjoyed by all.

The following morning, BishopPeter preached in All Saints’Church, Canowindra, and thenthe Uniting Church at Cranbury –where he made history by beingthe first Anglican Bishop to doso!

The congregations were de-lighted to be able to welcomeBishop Peter and Caroline at thistime, and to wish them well intheir move.

Change and History

from Holy Trinity parishFormer Test Cricket umpire

Darrell Hair will be the guestspeaker at a fund-raising dinnerbeing held by Holy Trinity Churchin Orange for Friday September4, at the Orange Ex-Services Club.

Darrell Hair grew up in Orangeand played cricket in the CentralWest before playing in the Syd-ney grade competition.

In 1985, Darrell made the moveinto umpiring, starting out in gradecricket before advancing to Shef-field Shield and eventuallydebuting, as an umpire in interna-tional cricket in 1991.

Darrell went on to have a verysuccessful, if somewhat contro-versial international umpiring ca-reer, and is widely acknowledgedas one of the best umpires in theworld.

Holy Trinity parish priest FrankHetherington said he has somegreat memories of games he andDarrell Hair played in when theyboth played for the same team inOrange in the 1960s.

“This dinner in Orange will bea fantastic opportunity for localpeople to gain some insight intothe international world of cricket,”Frank Hetherington said. “It alsohappens to coincide with Fathers’Day weekend, and tickets there-fore represent a wonderful giftidea.”

He said well-known local per-sonality, Michael Croke, will in-terview Darrell as part of theevening. “This is a rare opportu-nity to hear a person who has

been so closely involved in theleadership of Australian cricket.”

Tickets are $60 each. Wineswill be provided on each table.There will be a raffle on the nightof a significant piece of cricketingmemorabilia.

Bookings for tables of eightfor preference, or for individuals,can be made through the Orange

Ex-Services Club, Byng Street,Orange, Phone 02 6362 2666.Bookings will close on Friday28th August.

Funds raised will be used to-wards the ongoing repairs andmaintenance of the historic HolyTrinity Anglican Church in Or-ange.

HT's Dinner with Darrell Hair

CONTROVERSIAL: Former Test Cricket umpire DarrellHair will reflect on his controversial career when he speaksat a dinner in Orange next month.


NEWSANGLICAN

... FROM BATHURST TO BOURKE

from the parishAssistant Bishop Peter Danaher

and Caroline were farewelled byover 50 people at St Paul’s Angli-can Church in Cobar on Sunday12th July.

A service of Holy Communionincorporating special prayers forBishop Peter, Carolyn, and theirnew Parish of Newton in GeelongVictoria as well as for those friendsthey are leaving behind was fol-lowed by a special lunch in the hall.

Special tribute was givenBishop Peter for his ongoing sup-port and encouragement of theCobar Parish over the past dec-ade. His never ending supportand belief in the Licensed LayMinisters and small band of com-mitted parishioners enabled con-tinued ministry, worship and pas-

Cobar's special farewell forBishop Peter and Caroline

toral care to the Cobar Commu-nity by the Anglican faith in theabsence of a resident parish priest.

Bishop Peter and Caroline’sfriendship, humility and sense ofhumor will be greatly missed.Their willingness to regularlytravel between Dubbo and Cobarwas seen as a demonstration oftheir Christian love and care forthe parish and people of Cobar.

Peter’s ability to present theword of God in an honest andpersonal way with a twist of humormeant that his sermons were neverdull and greatly relevant to all.

St Paul’s will greatly miss theopportunity to share fellowship,meals and a good fun with bothPeter and Caroline but wish themwell in their new Parish closer totheir children and grandchildren.

from the parishLooking through the parish

archives recently, locum priestGraham McLeod came acrossthe architect’s design for thecurrent St John’s Church.

The plans included a belltower, but this was never built.Instead a metal frame waserected on the apex of the roofof the church above the maindoors. Fixed to this frame wasthe bell from the original St John’sChurch. Also mounted on top ofthe frame was a cross.

Some time in the 1960s fourlarge loud speakers were fixed tothe metal frame on the churchroof. Wires ran from a soundconsole inside the church to theloud speakers.

At weddings and on other spe-cial occasions it was possible toplay recordings of church bells.

Perhaps about 15 years ago(someone might be able to tell uswhen) the playing of the elec-tronic recording of church bellsceased. The whole system hadreached it used by date.

The four loud speakers on theroof of the church had deterio-rated because of their exposureto the weather over many years.Birds had eaten at the outsidewires connecting the loud speak-ers to the sound system insidethe church. Also the sound sys-tem had become outdated and ofno use.

Prior to Christmas 2008 FrGraham thought it would be agood idea to re-activate the“bells” for Christmas. Our soundengineer looked at the system

and recommended that it all beconsigned to the tip!

Thanks to the generosity of anumber of people an entirely new“recorded bell system” has beeninstalled. The first wedding atwhich the “bells” will be playedis on Saturday 3 October at 3 pmas the bride and groom leave thechurch.

Here at St John’s Cowra wemay not have a bell tower but wedo have the latest in electronicsound equipment for the playingof our “pretend” bells.

Cowra's church 'bells' toll again

Clyde Appleby installed in GrenfellClyde Appleby was welcomed

as Priest in Charge of Grenfellparish on Friday evening, July17.

Ordained in Bathurst Cathe-dral in 2004, the former Navalofficer served a two-year curacyin the parish of Parkes / Peak Hillbefore returning to the Navy as aChaplain.

Consequently, the Navy andServices Chaplains were stronglyrepresented at his commission-ing service in Holy Trinity Church,with Defence Forces Bishop LenEacott; Senior Chaplain ColinActon, RAN; Principal AnglicanChaplain Archdeacon Eric Burtonand Chaplain Owen Davies tak-ing part in the clergy procession.

Clergy from the nearby par-ishes of Cowra, Forbes, Parkes /Peak Hill, Eugowra, Orange,Dubbo and Bathurst also tookpart.

Clyde Appleby fills the vacancyleft by former parish priest JoanHoran, who left in April to take upa parish position in England.

However, his appointment is

on a part-time basis. Clyde and hiswife Linda own a house in theBlue Mountains, and will be ‘com-muting’ to Grenfell for the threedays a week he will be working inthe parish.

COMMISSIONING: (right)Preparing for the clergyprocession into Holy TrinityChurch, Grenfell, are(fromleft) Rev’d Graeme Yager(Parkes/Peak Hill), Rev’dMichael Deasey (Bathurst),Rev’d Anastasia Webster-Hawes (Dubbo), BishopRichard, Rev’d Rae King(Cowra), Rev’d HowardSmith, Senior ChaplainColin Acton, RAN, Rev’dClyde Appleby, DefenceForces Bishop Len Eacott,Dean Andrew Sempell(Bathurst), Ron Barnes(Forbes), Rev’d CarlaArcher (front row)(Bathurst), Rev’d BrettWatterson (Parkes),Di

Barnes (Forbes), ChaplainOwen Davies RAN (backrow), Rev’d Leslie Ladlow(Eugowra), Rev’d Joan

Smith, Archdeacon EricBurton, Principal ChaplainAnglican/Navy, Rev’d TonyCard (Oberon), Joseph

Schneider, ArchdeaconRobert Howell, ThurstonSkinner (Grenfell).

INSTALLATION: (below)Workers needed a cherrypicker to install the newoutdoor speakers in the belltower at St John's, Cowra.The speakers will be able toplay recorded bell chimesfor special occasions.

MEMORIES: Having had a special relationship with theparish for some years, Bishop Peter and Caroline Danaherhave fond memories of St Paul's, Cobar.


An umbrella movement for all women of the Anglican Church FROM

KAYECOLWELL

DIOCESANEDUCATION

OFFICER

NEWSANGLICAN

AAAAAWWWWWA & EDUCA & EDUCA & EDUCA & EDUCA & EDUCAAAAATIONTIONTIONTIONTION

What is Safe Ministry?

FROMBERYLSMITH

AWAPRESIDENT

Education OfficerContact Details:

PO Box 148CondobolinNSW 2877.Ph (02) 6895 2028Fax (02) 6895 3760

Attending the National AWAConference held in Launcestonwas a wonderful, fulfilling ex-perience meeting with mem-bers from all over Australia.

Also representing BathurstDiocese was the Reverend Thelma Maunder from Molong.

The Bible studies given by Bishop Ross Nicholson were aninspiration for everyone to be able to follow with him through theBible, making it so easy to understand.

The options given to all involved with various workshops eachday were entertaining and informative.

Arriving at Launceston on Monday morning we were welcomedby a local member of AWA and driven to the Alanvale Apartments,a unique village style accommodation. These are very comfortablewith a kitchen and living area downstairs with bedrooms andamenities upstairs. In the main building were administrations areas,dining room and conference centres all set in lovely gardens andlawn area with plenty of wild geese strutting around.

Monday afternoon included registration and settling in, thendinner, official welcome and diocesan report in St Johns hall. Eightynine delegates were registered to attend including Lucille Hennikerand Rachel Overmeyer representing South Africa.

Tuesday commenced with opening Eucharist with the Ven. JillMcCoy. Bishop Ross led us in study 1: The present reality , fromColossians 3: 1-3. The conference theme being “And above all thisput on love, which bonds everything together in perfect harmony”Col 3:14.

After lunch the Tasmanians held their A.G.M. which gave us theopportunity to look at the local retail and park areas. After dinnermore diocesan reports were given. Wednesday commenced withbible study with Bishop Ross followed by Holy Communion withBishop John.

After lunch we had the choice of workshops:1. A tour of St Johns Church2. Missionary experiences3. Harmony between Beliefs.4. Relaxing with artists5. Floral art6. Wetlands visit.I chose the wetlands visit. This involved driving through beau-

tiful country then walking 1.5 km to amazing wildlife and a formerhome of settlers then back to the bus.

Following afternoon tea the triennial business meeting for AWAwas held in St Johns, which is a magnificent church big enough forone to think it should be a cathedral.

On Thursday Bishop Ross continued with Bible study afterwhich we went on a coach tour of various country churches. Allthese churches were built in the early days of settlement, the moneyto build such beautiful churches mostly supplied by early settlers.

St Andrews at Carrick was the place of the earliest baptism heldOctober 13th, 1844. Behind the church is the graveyard.

Another church we visited was St Andrews at Westbury. Thefoundation stone was laid in 1836. Building the church was slowand was not ready for full use until 1841, and even then it wasincomplete.

Another stop was St Mary’s church at Hagley. On Friday TrishGraham, our present representative of ABM, and myself were ableto attend half the communion Eucharist before we were driven tothe airport for our flight to Sydney. Overall, the trip was a peacefuland fulfilling experience and I thank all involved for making it so.

Beryl Smith.

Safe Ministry is the titleBathurst Diocese gives to theprogram we use to help usprotect and care for the vul-nerable in our parishes. Ourworkshops are designed toraise parishioners’ awarenessof problems that may occur,to give guidance in how torespond and to suggest strat-egies and programs that maystop problems occurring.

Why are we doing this?Our Lord Jesus Christ calls

us to care for children and forthe vulnerable in our communi-ties. The two great command-ments remind us that ministryflows from our relationship withGod and, borrowing the wordsfrom our workbook: ‘these prin-ciples guide us into appropriaterelationships and provide thebasis for the establishment andexercising of safe programs andpractices, run in safe environ-ments by safe leaders in an abuse-free Christian community.’

Bathurst Diocese is now amember of the SCTA - SafeChurches Training Agreement –a program put in place by theNational Council of Churches toprotect the vulnerable people inour parishes. This also meanswe are helping parishes developpolicies that help protect all thepeople in our parishes – and thisincludes children, young peo-ple, the vulnerable and thosewho work with them.

Safe MinistryWorkshops

Who attends?As many of you probably

know, attending a Safe MinistryWorkshop is something you arecalled to do if you are a memberof the clergy, a warden, a mem-ber of parish council, an SREteacher, or if you have any minis-try at all with children. This

isn’t an option any more, it issomething our diocese now ex-pects people to do if they hold anyof the ministry positions listedabove. We might almost say: any-one involved in ministry.

Program OutlineThe workshop is in four ses-

sions: Session One: Ministry andDuty of Care.This session looks at God’s

call to us to care for the vulner-able, especially children and youngpeople, and defines the responsi-bilities of our duty of care. Session Two: Child Protec-tion.Session Two explores the area

of child abuse, introduces thetypes and indicators of abuse andprovides guidelines for reportingabuse and responding to disclo-sure. The guidelines for reportingabuse include a flowchart of di-ocesan requirements. Session Three: Safe MinistryLeaders.How do parishes choose the

right people for ministry? Ses-sion Three looks at selecting ap-propriate leaders, their appoint-ment, induction and supervision:an appointment process needs tobe in place and people should beequipped for the position they areundertaking. Once in ministry,people also need to be supported.

This session also reviews strat-egies for handling complaints andexamines the principles of re-sponsible ministry.

Session Four: Safe En-vironment and Programs.

Using the sad case studyof poor Henry as an exam-ple of the way in whichgood intentions don’t alwaystranslate into good ministry,Session Four reviews safeemotional and physical en-vironments and ways of es-

tablishing safe programs and safepractices. This includes variousaspect of risk assessment.

We are aware that many peo-ple come to these workshopswith a strong background inchild protection, but as you cansee from the session outline, theworkshops cover considerablymore than this element of SafeMinistry. Prior learning is al-ways welcome and can –andhas- considerably enriched dis-cussions at workshops.

This is a very complex areaand the workshops don’t claimto go into all elements in greatdepth. They are awarenessworkshops, working towardscreating Safe Ministries for allpeople in our care, especially theyoung and the vulnerable andgrounding our practices onChrist’s words:

‘You shall love the Lord yourGod with all your heart, andwith all your soul, and with allyour mind and with all yourstrength. And the second (com-mandment) is this, ‘you shalllove your neighbour as your-self’. Mark 12:30-31.NRSV.

Oberammergau Passion PlayTRAVELWORLD BATHURST

has a Fully Escorted Tour to Oberammergaudeparting Bathurst 27 April 2010.

This very special package includes the Passion Play inOberammergau, a luxury river cruise in Europe and Earlybird

Fly Free with Singapore AirlinesFor more information and bookings contact Chris King

at Travelworld on 6331 2333 or 1800 044 173

ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF BATHURST

Sexual Harassment & Sexual AbuseCOMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

If you make a complaint, the Complaints Officer is there to: hear your complaint confidentially, work with you as you decide what action you may take offer you appropriate personal support.

If the matter should be referred to the police, the Complaints Officer is available togo with you to the police.

The Complaints Officer will send a written report to the bishop detailing theallegations and any action that has already been taken .

The western NSW Anglican church has independent Complaints Officers to hearallegations of sexual harassment or sexual abuse against Anglican clergy or lay peopleinvolved in church leadership.

Mr Timothy Manning(Psychologist)Dubbo 6881 6060

COMPLAINTS OFFICERS:Dr Philip Ridge

(GP)Orange 6362 6388

Ms Robyn Vines(Psychologist)Bathurst 0429 778 268


NEWSANGLICAN

ANGLICAREANGLICAREANGLICAREANGLICAREANGLICARE

I WOULD LIKE TO SUPPORT THE WORK OF ANGLICARE(GIFTS OVER $2 ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE)I would like to support the work of Anglicare by making a donation of $ _______

Your name: Mr/Mrs/Ms/Other ____ (First Name) _____________ (Last Name) ______________Parish (if applicable) _______________________________________________Address: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________P/code: _______ Phone: _____________

Please circle: Cheque Money Order Bankcard Mastercard VisaCard number: _______ / _______ / _______ / _______ Expiry date: _______ / ______Name as it appears on card: ____________________________Please make your cheque payable to Anglicare Western NSW and post to Anglicare Western NSW, PO Box23, BATHURST NSW 2795 or call 6331 1722 for credit card donations

Mail: PO BOX 6009 West Dubbo NSW 2830

CONTCONTCONTCONTCONTAAAAACT DETCT DETCT DETCT DETCT DETAILSAILSAILSAILSAILS

Chair:Sue West Phone: 02 6331 1722

Fax: 02 6331 2992Email:[email protected]:www.anglicarewesternnsw.com

All Emergency Relief referrals including droughtassistance to:Julie VirtuePO Box 31829-31 Browne Street, FORBES NSW 2871

Phone: (02) 6852 1366; Fax: (02) 6851 4038email: [email protected]

Bishop Richard Hurford,Anglican Bishop of

Bathurst

WESTERN NSW

For many winter is a challenging time asthey struggle to keep warm and meet allthe demands on their purse.This year, on top of winter we know manyare feeling the chill wind of the currenteconomic crisis.Anglicare Western plays a vital role in thelives of many people within Western NSW,but it relies on the generosity of individualdonors for most of its operational income.To continue our mission of advocacy andcare throughout Central and WesternNSW and beyond, to respond toemergencies, and to continue with ourlong-term projects, we need your support.

Winter chills ... ... may be a littlecolder this year.

No Interest LoansScheme set toexpand thanks toGovernment Grant

We have been successful inobtaining funding from the NSWGovernment for the administra-tion of several No Interest LoansSchemes (NILS).

We have benefited from a re-cent boost in funding to supportstruggling families.

In June the Fair Trading Min-ister Virginia Judge announcedthat the “Government is commit-ting an additional $6.6 million innew funding for financial sup-port services to help NSW fami-lies survive the global recession”.

Ms Judge said the new fund-ing brings the Government’s com-mitment to the Financial Coun-selling Services Program and theNo Interest Loan Scheme (NILS)to nearly $20 million over 3 years.

“It’s a sad fact of life thatunemployment and financialstress are on the rise.

“That’s why I am announcingan extra $6.6 million in fundingover the next three years to ex-pand financial counselling serv-ices and No Interest Loansthroughout NSW.

Ms Judge said the NILS wouldalso be expanded, giving thou-sands more low-income familiesaccess to loans of up to $1,200 tohelp purchase essential house-hold or medical goods and serv-ices.

“These loans are commonlyused to buy washing machinesand refrigerators or keep a car onthe road so a parent can keep theirjob.

“It’s a vital safety net formany people who would other-wise turn to credit cards or loansharks with high interest ratesand fees, setting them on anendless spiral of unmanageabledebt.”

Ms Judge said $120,000 of theNILS funding would fund a newdedicated 1800 hotline to providefinancial counselling advice andreferral services for NSW con-sumers.

“The hotline will ensure thatfamilies can tap into these loans,no matter where they live.

“The additional funding will berolled out to services across theState in coming weeks.

Anglicare Western NSW hasbeen successfully running theNILS program in Orange for sev-eral years in partnership withOrange City Council and the localOrange Anglicare Committee.This grant means that our admin-istration overhead costs are nowcovered.

As a result of this excitingannouncement we will be able toroll out the scheme in other partsof the Diocese. We will initiallybe introducing the scheme toForbes and Gilgandra. Followingthe establishment of the programthere we will then be looking tofurther expand the program.

Due to changes in family cir-cumstances we regret that CaraJacobs has resigned as the ChiefExecutive.

Many of you will have hadcontact with Cara and know thefantastic job she has been doing.

It was Cara’s work withAnglicare Victoria that sawmany volunteers travelling tothe fire ravaged areas to assistin there-construction of fencesfor farmers.

Cara Jacobs joined theAnglicare Western NSW at thestart of this year, bringing skillsin management and experiencein working for church-basedwelfare organisations.

Her administrative expertiseand leadership skills will begreatly missed.

We wish Cara and her familywell in the next stage of their lifeand as they prepare to welcomea new addition to the family

The Council will be undertak-ing the exercise to find a replace-ment in the near future.

The Anglicare Western Coun-cil is elected and appointed forthree years. The time has comefor a new Council.

Five members will be electedat the coming Synod to be heldon September 19-20. TheBishop will be appointing fourmembers including the Chairand then the Council elects twomore people.

The role of the Council is to

Extra funding for NILSExtra funding for NILSExtra funding for NILSExtra funding for NILSExtra funding for NILS

Anglicare Western NSW Councilelections at next month's Synod

co-ordinate and oversee the wel-fare and charitable work of theDiocese and to promote andextend the welfare and charita-ble work of the Diocese.

The Council holds five or sixface-to-face meetings a year andtries to visit a variety of placesfor the meetings so we can meetwith local people and Priests.We also hold teleconferences inbetween the face-to-face

meetings.The current Council has mem-

bers from Bathurst, Dubbo,Forbes, Gilgandra, Mudgee,Coonamble and Quambone.

Anyone interested in joiningthe Council and wanting furtherinformation should contact SueWest, the Chair. Sue can becontacted on 6331 1722 or 0418637538 or [email protected]

Resignation of CEO

FAREWELL: Due to changes in her family circumstancesCara Jacobs has decided to resign from her role as CEOof Anglicare Western NSW. The skill and expertise shebrought to the job will be greatly missed, and Anglicarewishes her, Dominic and Lucy well in the next stage oftheir life.


NEWSANGLICAN

NEWS FROM THE WIDER CHURCHNEWS FROM THE WIDER CHURCHNEWS FROM THE WIDER CHURCHNEWS FROM THE WIDER CHURCHNEWS FROM THE WIDER CHURCH

FROM TEDLEWIS

DIOCESANCURSILLO

LAY DIRECTOR

CursilloCursilloCursilloCursilloCursillonotesnotesnotesnotesnotes

Firstly welcome back to Lew,Sylvia, Fr Michael and Libby –hope you had a wonderful timeoverseas.

The Women’s Cursillo (W41)held at Shalom in June withElisabeth Fulton from Bathurstas Lay Director was an out-standing success. 23 candi-dates from throughout the dio-cese attended and had an enjoy-able and spiritually enriching timeduring their three days together.

Bruce Maxwell from Gulgongwill be Lay Director for Men’s38 which will be held atRidgecrest in October. Teamtraining is underway and appli-cations are beginning to comein. Forms are available fromyour parish contact or your par-ish priest. Applications will closeon 11th September.

Our thanks to Coonamble par-ish who hosted a Diocesan

Ultreya in July whichwas attended by morethan 60 Cursillistas and visitors.This parish is one of the furthestin our vast diocese but peoplefrom as far away as Orange,Blayney, Canowindra, Eugowra,Parkes, Gulgong, Mudgee andmany closer parishes attendedwhat was a great day of singing,fellowship and witness.

Bishop Richard also joined usand gave an inspiring address.The final Diocesan Ultreya for2009 will be held at SouthBathurst on 24th October. Morn-ing tea will be supplied by mem-bers of the parish and it will be a“bring and share lunch”. Thiswill also be an opportunity towelcome those men who at-tended M38.

A reminder that Ultreyas areopen for anyone to attend whetheror not they have been to a Cursillo

three day weekend so pleaseinvite your friends to share inthis day.

In 2010 we will be celebrat-ing the 25th anniversary ofCursillo in Bathurst Diocese.Details will be announced assoon as they are finalised.

In October I will be repre-senting Cursillo in the BathurstDiocese at the celebrations inGoulburn marking the 30th an-niversary of Cursillo in Aus-tralia and at the National Secre-tariat meeting held in conjunc-tion with this event.

I look forward to seeing manyof you at South Bathurst in Oc-tober.

De Colores!!Ted LewisDiocesan Lay Director.

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by Darrin DaviesThe Standing Committee of

General Synod has released a re-port, the first of its kind in Aus-tralia, aimed at helping the Churchto strengthen its child protectionstrategies.

Released after a recent meetingof the Standing Committee of theChurch’s General Synod in Syd-ney, the report examines 191 al-leged cases of child sexual abusereported between 1990 and 2008from 17 dioceses around Australia.

The study was prepared byleading child sexual abuse ex-perts, Emeritus Professor KimOates AM of the Medical Facultyof the University of Sydney andProfessor Patrick Parkinson AMof the University of Sydney Fac-ulty of Law.

The Primate of the AnglicanChurch of Australia, ArchbishopPhillip Aspinall said the report high-lighted key issues that will help theChurch to protect children.

One of the findings of the studyof past cases is that most victimsof abuse were males between theages of 10 and 15 years. Beingaware of this is clearly importantto us as we continue to strengthenour child protection measures.

“Another factor emergingthrough this research is that theretends to be a long time lag, aver-aging 23 years, between the abuseof young people and the reportingof that abuse. Again, this issomething we must take into ac-count as we encourage people tofeel they can come forward todeal with something deeply pain-ful from their past, and as we tryto support them as they do so.”

The report lists eight recom-mendations to assist the Churchwith its child protection strategies.

They include: A system of selection and ac-creditation for people involvedin youth work

National register check beforeappointing Clergy and Youthleaders

A review of protocols for youthwork to ensure adults andyoung people are not alone to-gether in contexts that couldallow sexual activity to occur

A review of Faithfulness inService to ensure risks in youthwork are adequately addressed

Checks, independent of clergy,to ensure dioceses are enforc-ing Faithfulness in Service

Adequate education of churchworkers concerning the risksof child sexual abuse in anyorganisation that works withchildren and young people, inparticular, boys.

Development of a common formfor the recording of informa-tion about child sexual abuse.

Development of a recommendedmodel for best practice for pas-toral response to victims ofchild sexual abuse.Dr Aspinall said many of the

actions recommended in the re-port have already taken place.“However where there are im-provements to be made, the An-glican Church of Australia is de-termined to improve and refine itschild protection measures.

“In 2004 General Synod madea number of recommendations toeach Diocese and many of thoseare similar to the recommenda-

tions in this report. Like my Dio-cese of Brisbane, I would expectthat many Dioceses have takensignificant steps towardsstrengthening their child protec-tion strategies since 2004.

“This research provides an-other opportunity to refocus andreassess. It is an important step inthe protection of children in thefuture while recognising the fail-ures of the past.”

Dr Aspinall said it was impor-tant to remember that the studydealt with past allegations involv-ing clergy, church workers andvolunteers reported since 1990.No individuals were identified inthe report or the research.

“While this report is aimed atstrengthening our child protec-tion protocols as we look to thefuture, it also reminds us of thetragic events of the past and ofthe pain which still exists. Wereiterate our apology, our sorrowand our deep regret for abusewhich has occurred.”

The study did not includeChurch schools or children’shomes as schools and child careinstitutions have their own strictregimes now in place.

Dr Aspinall said the Churchhas learned valuable lessons fromthis study. “Other Churches andorganisations may find this infor-mation useful and we are happyto share it.”

Copies of the Executive Sum-mary and the complete report canbe downloaded fromwww.anglican.org.au

Report strengthens childprotection strategies

The Most Revd Michael Putney,Catholic Bishop of Townsville,has been elected President of theNational Council of Churches inAustralia (NCCA).

Bishop Putney is the 6th Presi-dent of the Council, following onfrom Bishop Richard Appleby (re-tired). Richard Appleby will beremembered in Bathurst Dioceseas a former Dean of the Cathe-dral.

The purpose of the Council isto promote Christian unity andhelp the Churches work togetheron key issues of theology, peace,and justice.

At its meeting on 25 June inSydney the Executive of theNCCA unanimously electedBishop Putney.

Many years of involvementwith the NCCA, as well as inother ecumenical endeavours na-tionally and internationally, haveprovided Bishop Putney with abroad understanding of the needfor and benefit of the ecumenicalmovement.

He has had an extensive minis-try in the Catholic Church, in-cluding current roles as Chairper-son of the Bishops Commissionfor Ecumenism and Inter-religiousRelations, Co-Chair of the Inter-national Methodist/Roman Catho-lic Dialogue, member of the Unit-ing Church-Roman Catholic Dia-logue in the Archdiocese of Bris-bane, member of the PermanentCommittee of the Australian

Catholic Bishops Conference,member of the Pontifical Councilfor Promoting Christian Unity,Patron of Townsville CatholicEducation Arts Festival and Pa-tron of the World Community forChristian Meditation.

Bishop Putney’s term as theNCCA President will provide lead-ership to the Council until the endof the next NCCA triennial forumscheduled for July 2010.

As President he will work withmember and observer Churches,chair the meetings of the Coun-cil, and represent it in a numberof public settings.

Currently the Council has atotal membership of 17 nationalChurches, including the Angli-can, Catholic and UnitingChurches, seven Eastern andOriental Churches, and a rangeof Protestant Churches, the Sal-vation Army, and the Quakers.

Catholic Bishopelected President ofnational church body

NCCA PRESIDENT:Bishop Michael Putney


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A task force established by theStanding Committee of the Aus-tralian Anglican Church’s Gen-eral Synod to report on resourcingministry in dioceses affected byclimate change, has recom-mended that the wider churchprovides more financial support.

The task force consisted ofBishops Doug Stevens (RiverinaDiocese), Andrew Curnow(Bendigo), Garry Weatherill(Willochra) and Michael Hough(Ballarat).

The five-page report concludeswith four recommendations:

It calls firstly for the prayersand understanding of the widerAnglican Church.

Secondly it seeks the financialsupport of the wider Church,particularly through groups suchas the Anglican Outback Fundand Bush Church Aid.

The third recommendation isto encourage more well-trainedclergy to serve in the bush.

The final recommendation isperhaps the most controversial,calling for consideration of Dioc-esan boundary variations. Ac-knowledging that it has been aperennial issue, the writers of thereport claim it is worth consider-ing again in Dioceses stressed bydrought and climate change.

“Riverina Diocese - whichparadoxically does not includethe main Riverina town (WaggaWagga) - is holding its own atpresent but is the most potentiallyfragile rural Diocese,” the reportstates. “It is entirely agricultur-ally based and significantly irri-gation-dependent with only twotowns of more than 7,000 peopleBroken Hill with 19,000 (and de-clining) and Griffith with 22.000.”

While the report relies on thepersonal experience and knowl-edge of the Task Force mem-bers, and therefore includes in-formation that is “anecdotal andgeneral in nature”, the writersmaintain it is “certainly not lack-ing in accuracy”.

Three of the four Diocesesrepresented on the Task Forceare closely associated with theregion most immediately affectedby climate change, the MurrayDarling basin, and all three arealmost entirely agriculturally-based with some mining activity.

Riverina Diocese covers the areadesignated as the Murray-Dar-ling basin while the long bound-ary between Riverina and BendigoDioceses is the Murray River.Willochra Diocese is very de-pendent upon the Murray-Dar-ling river system for its watersupply.

In listing the recent challengesto life in rural Australia, the reportstates:

“Quite apart from the apparenteffects of climate change uponrural life, the rural sector hasbeen significantly challenged andchanged in recent decades. Pri-mary challenges to the viability ofrural life have come from pro-longed drought, reduced pricesfor agricultural products, lowerreal farm incomes, increasingfarming costs and debt levels andstructural in the agricultural sec-tor, all of which have resulted inrural depopulation and a decreasein essential services. In summarythe rural sector has fewer people,less money and a diminished com-munity life.

“The degree of relative disad-vantage of rural indigenous peo-ple in terms of income, health,housing and education has dete-riorated in recent decades, par-ticularly in isolated towns inRiverina and Willochra Dioceses.The demand for adequate minis-try in these situations is beingresponded to, especially with thesupport of BCA, but much morecould and should be done.”

Referring specifically to thechallenge of climate change, thereport continues:

“In an already weakened ruralsector, climate change adds an-other level of stress by challeng-ing the viability of agriculture,environmental integrity and com-munity particularly through: decreased rainfall and alteredrainfall patterns

increased summer temperatures agricultural practices that de-mand more water than is avail-able

government policies relating toclimate change and water avail-ability.”Highlighting the provision of

ministry in Dioceses affected byclimate change, the writers pointout that prolonged drought has

challenged the viability of the tra-ditional model of ministry in ruralAustralia.

The effect of climate changehas been to exacerbate this situa-tion.

“The ‘traditional’ Anglicanministry approach has been par-ish based and built upon the avail-ability of resident stipendiary or-dained ministers and sufficientmoney to pay stipends. Thismodel, inherited from a moreclosely populated Great Britain, isstill the default model of ruralAnglican ministry.”

However, the four bishops notethat in recent decades the viabilityof this model has been challengedby a number of human factorsthat affect rural and urban Angli-cans alike, notably the decline innumbers of people actively in-volved in church life.

Even so, they claim that “inmost rural Dioceses there is acommitment to maintaining An-glican ministry in local communi-ties, a reflection of the Anglicanemphasis upon the incarnation.This is, to use a popular contem-porary expression, an Anglican

‘duty of care’.”They add that the role of Min-

istry Development Officer andMinistry Enabler is critically im-portant in developing ministry lifeand strategies in small and oftenisolated communities as they bringlay ministers and ministry teamstogether for training and fellow-ship.

Commenting on ministry torural dioceses, small rural con-gregations and ministers, the re-port notes the difficulty of devel-oping and maintaining a sense ofmembership of the wider Church:“Some congregations have mini-mal contact with other congrega-tions in the same pastoral unit andfind it difficult to develop a senseof being part of a parish let alone

a sense of being part of a Dioceseand the Australian Church.”

Some dioceses have a policyof ‘twinning’ their parishes withcoastal parishes to help overcomethis sense of isolation and to buildfellowship.

The report acknowledges thesupport of the Anglican OutbackFund and the Bush Church AidSociety in helping provide minis-try to dioceses affected by cli-mate change, and also in reduc-ing the sense of isolation felt suchdioceses.

It also notes that “inter-Dioc-esan fellowship such as the Tri-Diocesan fellowship in rural NSWenables Dioceses to better copewith the challenge of drought,climate change and isolation”.

Climate change raises ministry challenges

CHALLENGING TASK: Bishop Doug Stevens of Riverina Diocese on the banks of theMurray River with other members of the General Synod Task Force on Ministry in ClimateChange: Bishop Andrew Curnow (Bendigo Diocese); Bishop Garry Weatherill (Willochra)and Archdeacon Peter Yeats (Ballarat Diocese, representing Bishop Michael Hough)(Photo: Stuart Quinn, Sunraysia Daily).

Impact in Riverina DioceseBishop of Riverina Doug

Stevens said social and economicchange associated with chang-ing weather patterns has impactedharshly on his diocese.

In particular, Deniliquin hasbeen “virtually destroyed as atown” following drastic cuts inirrigation water allowances overrecent years.

“The abattoirs went first, andthen the rice industry,” he

explained. “The biggest rice millin the southern hemisphere iscurrently being dismantled andshipped to China.”

The loss of these major em-ployers has cost the communityhundreds of jobs.

At least one car dealership hasclosed its doors, as have severalother businesses.

Deniliquin’s population hasdropped from over 8,000 several

years ago, to less than 6,500.“The Anglican Church in

Deniliquin has lost 30 regular wor-shippers in three years, and thosethat are left are understandably feel-ing very dispirited,” the Bishop said.

Further adding to the woesof the diocese is the gradualscaling down of mining opera-tions in Broken Hill. Once boast-ing a population of over 30,000,the city is now down to 19,000.


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Neema brings God's grace to 'forgotten people'CMS links withRuaha Diocese totrain the 'forgottenpeople'.by Lewis Hitchick

Having just returned from amost amazing trip which took usto Canada, the UK, Ireland andTanzania, I have that strong com-pulsion felt by most occasionaltravellers to regale anyone whowill listen with long tales of myexperiences.

And if possible, add in count-less pictures to back up the verbalonslaught.

Given that this is being printedin the Diocesan newspaper, I’llmake an effort to keep it at leastslightly relevant to the mediumand write about some of our ex-periences in Tanzania, where wevisited former Dubbo residentsKen and Dianne Phillis.

The Phillises now live in Kilolo,a village 35 km south of the re-gional city of Iringa , about 700km inland from the coastal city ofDar es Salaam.

They moved to Kilolo in late2004 to help establish the dioc-esan high school, St Michael’s.The school is now a reality withan enrolment of over 300 stu-dents, most of them living in theboarding houses attached to theschool.

For most of our travels (in-cluding Tanzania) my wife Sylviaand I were travelling with therector of Gilgandra, MichaelBirch, and his wife Libby.

The Birches had the opportu-nity to get to know Ken andDianne during their time in Dubbofive or six years ago, but my maincontact with them had beenthrough emails Ken sent fromtime to time so I could help keepthe diocese aware of their mis-sionary work.

I fully intend to say more aboutthe school in future editions of

Anglican News, but for the mo-ment I want to describe anotherexciting diocesan project that KenPhillis showed us in Iringa

The Diocese of Ruaha is incentral/southern Tanzania, and isone of 21 dioceses in a countryabout the size of NSW and Victo-ria combined, with a total popula-tion of around 41 million.

Iringa, the cathedral city, has apopulation of over 100,000.

The Bishop of Ruaha Diocese,Dr Donald Mtetemela, has en-sured that his church is active notonly in evangelism, but also incommunity development. Forexample, the church has workedwith overseas aid agencies to pro-vide clean water supplies to anumber of villages in the diocese.

The diocese also operates anamazing project for young peoplewith disabilities – a valuable serv-ice in a country with virtually nowelfare system.

Neema Craft Centre in Iringaprovides training and employmentfor (currently) 80 people withvarious disabilities. Some are po-lio victims, many have comethrough the Diocesan school forthe deaf (another amazing projectwe visited briefly).

The young folk are taught skillsin spinning, weaving, sewing, pa-per and card making, art or vari-ous other handicrafts.

Goods made in the centre aresold through a shopfront on theground floor of the building, of-fering woven cloth, shoulderbags, picture frames, lampshadesand notebooks with covers ofpaper made from elephant dung,of all things!

The centre was established in2003 by Church Missionary So-ciety (CMS) missionaries Susieand Andy Hart from the UK.

Susie had endured 22 opera-tions in her first 19 years of life tobuild the ball and socket joint thatwas missing from her left hip atbirth. Her experience not only

developed an incredible determi-nation, it also gave her an insightinto the world of those who livewith a disability.

“People with disabilities in thedeveloping world are among thepoorest of world's poor and oftendescribe themselves as 'a forgot-ten people',” she said.

While studying Art, she visitedUganda a couple of times. Thesecond visit was for three monthsas a volunteer at a L'arche com-munity for people with learningdisabilities.

Her experiences convinced heGod was calling her to servedisabled people “following Jesus'example of seeking out the poor-est, most oppressed and mostmarginalised in society and todeclare the good news of God'slove for them” . Ultimately, CMSsent her and Andy to Iringa, whereshe found Bishop Donald alsohad a great heart for disabledpeople.

Neema (which means ‘grace’in Kiswahili) also operates a com-mercial restaurant on the samepremises, again providing mean-ingful employment for people withdisabilities.

The restaurant is obviouslypopular with the European com-munity, because while we werethere for lunch almost all thepatrons were European. (I canrecommend the curried chickenand rice, very reasonably pricedat $5.00).

We also looked through theworkshops where it was en-couraging to see the genuinepleasure of people who valuedthe opportunity to do gain somemarketable skills. It seemed ahappy work environment.

These young folk had grownup in a culture that leaves disa-bled people at the bottom of the

food chain, and most had tostruggle to get an education.

The manager of the shop isHaruna Mbata, an enthusiasticyoung man with a smile thatseems too wide for his face.

Haruma’s legs were crippledby polio when he was five yearsold.

The only disabled member of afamily of ten, he had to struggleto get access to education. Hisparents said it was ‘not right’ fora disabled person to go to school,so he “just hung around” at homedoing what he could to help.

At the age of 17, he decided tosell one of the chickens he’dbeen raising to pay for his ownschooling, and his parents reluc-tantly agreed. His love of learn-ing meant he actually jumped agrade in primary school, and lefthigh school at 24. Shortly after-wards, he started training atNeema.

“It was exciting and I encour-aged myself to learn new things,”Haruma said. “I met new friendsand I was no longer dependenton someone else. I started tosave my own life.”

Employment has enabled himto buy a block of land and builda house. He is now married andhas a young son.

Neema also helped Harumafind sponsorship to study jour-nalism at a college in Iringa.Deeply passionate about socialjustice issues, he has already hadsome articles published in TheAfrican newspaper.

Haruma’s story is just one ofmany at Neema, stories of youngpeople who grew up in a com-munity that told them they wereworthless, and they had believedit until they found someone whonot only told them otherwise,but showed them a differenttruth.

NEW HOPE: (top) Former Dubbo resident Ken Phillischats with Haruna Mbata, manager of the Neema CraftShop in Iringa. The store sells goods made in Neema'sworkshops by young people with physical disabilities.

QUALITY CHECK: (above) Gilgandra priest Michael Birchexamines the quality of picture frames made in the Neemaworkshop, using handmade paper made from elephantdung.

VALUABLE SKILLS: Young women with physical orhearing impairment are taught sewing skills at Neema.Once trained, girls are then helped to buy their own sewingmachine so they can then establish their own business asseamstresses .

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