Archbishop Gives Wake Up Call

Archbishop Gives Wake Up Call

MEDIA RELEASE – ANGLICAN CHURCH, 9 May 2010

Anglicans meeting in Gisborne have been told to be ambassadors of hope on issues including proposed mining and to help bring solutions to concerns including alcohol abuse.

Archbishop David Moxon told delegates to the Anglican General Synod that there is a need for the Church to take a stand on issues and act on beliefs. To be people with a mission, which is a mission of hope.

“There is a need to look in our country for that which is the common good, said Archbishop David Moxon. “Otherwise there is the chance that hope can be lost, and this can result in a kind of coma where huge opportunities and challenges in our society and environment go either unnoticed, or ignored,” said Archbishop Moxon.

The Anglican Church is to make a submission to the Government opposing the proposed mining in the Coromandel and other areas including National Parks.

Archbishop Moxon told delegates the Government’s recent support of the United Nations Charter of Indigenous Rights is a sign of hope. “The integrity and rights of tangata whenua are crucial to our way of life as Anglicans; they are enshrined in our own Constitution – and we have benefited so much from this affirmation.”

Tomorrow morning, delegates at the General Synod will discuss the proposed Anglican Covenant. This addresses the debate in the Anglican Communion about the ordination of bishops in same sex relationships. Later in the week the Synod will receive a report by Sir Paul Reeves on the governance of St John’s College in Auckland, where most Anglican clergy are trained.

Archbishop David Moxon asked delegates to bring the same hope to church issues as to those of wider society.

A new Bishop of Polynesia, who will automatically become one of the three archbishops of the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia will be announced at the General Synod. The Diocese of Polynesia has already met to nominate a bishop and the final confirmation by the wider church will take place at the Gisborne gathering.

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