Morning at the Office

General Convention

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

St. George Anglican in Iraq

IRAQ: St. George's Anglican Church damaged in deadly bomb attack

[Episcopal News Service] Two major suicide bomb attacks in Baghdad on Sunday, Oct. 25, caused serious damage to St. George's Anglican Church and left at least 150 dead and more than 600 injured on the streets outside.

When the coordinated car bombs exploded in downtown Baghdad at 10:30 a.m. the church was empty. "If the bomb had been just a few hours later, the glass from the windows would have ripped through the congregation causing terrible human damage," said the Rev. Canon Andrew White, vicar of St. George's, the only Anglican church in Iraq. The explosions damaged the church's clinic, bookshop, school rooms and the Mothers' Union buildings.

St. George's is the spiritual home to about 2,000 Christians. In an Oct. 27 email, White confirmed that none of St. George's members had been killed in the attacks although some had been injured. He estimates the damage to the church and its out-buildings to be in the region of $200,000.

"Some people ask us whether days like today make us want to give up. We have seen much of what we have worked for destroyed. We have seen people we love bereaved," White said in an Oct. 25 email. "But the truth is, it is days like today that remind us why our work in Iraq is absolutely essential.

"We must continue to provide a place of worship for Iraqi Christians. We must continue to treat the medical needs of Iraqi civilians. And we must continue to engage with the senior religious leaders from across the sectarian divides, working with them to challenge the belief systems that lie behind this terrible slaughter."

Much of the equipment at the clinic was destroyed in the blasts, "placing it permanently out of reach of the Iraqi people who need it so desperately," said White. The clinic provides free medical and dental treatment to people in Iraq, regardless of their religious or ethnic background, and is staffed by a team of medics representing each of the Abrahamic faiths, said White.

"Today was a terrible day for us. But even in the blood and trauma and turmoil, there are things for which we can, and indeed must, praise our God," said White. "The carnage was terrible, but it could have been even worse."

White said that a storm on Saturday had caused a large tree to fall outside the church, "which prevented the suicide bomber from detonating his explosives where they would have caused maximum damage."

Known as the "vicar of Baghdad," White is president of the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, an organization that promotes interfaith relations in the Middle East.

Information on how to donate to St. George's is available here.

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Monday, October 12, 2009

The People Perish (2 legged and 4 legged, and creepy crawlies, furred, feathered, and finned too)

Anglican Communion News Service

A Statement from the Anglican Communion Environmental Network

The Hope We Share: A Vision For Copenhagen

In preparation for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference Of Parties (COP) Meetings to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark in December, the Anglican Communion Environmental Network (ACEN) has issued a statement to Anglicans Worldwide, to COP Delegates, Faith Community Representatives, Observer Organizations, and Friends of Creation.

Conferring by email, and using a draft text by Convener, Bishop George Browning, retired Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn in Australia, the network’s nineteen provincial representatives considered and amended a three-page statement seeking to address the moral consequences of climate change and to provoke UN delegates to combine hope with realism as they devise a political system which will take effect in 2012 when the Kyoto Protocol expires:

We look to the Copenhagen conference with hope but also with realism . . . there must be a desire on the part of every nation to do what they know they must, not because they are legally bound, but because they share a vision for a more just and sustainable future . . . We pray that each nation will come to the conference wanting the highest level outcome; that demanding targets will be set, not in an attempt to discipline reluctant participants, or to give some preferential treatment which undermines the whole; but that a greater vision might be shared.

The Anglican Communion occupies a unique position globally in terms of affecting and suffering from climate change:

From all points of the globe we point to the reality of climate change and to the very serious effect it is already having upon our people; from severe weather events, to prolonged droughts, major floods, loss of habitat and changing seasons.

Our position is faith-based:

Our faith and our ancestors have always taught us that the earth is our mother and deserves respect; we know that this respect has not been given. We know that like a mother the earth will continue to give its all to us. However, we also know that we are now demanding more than it is able to provide. Science confirms what we already know, our human footprint is changing the face of the earth and because we come from the earth, it is changing us too.

Our statement is framed in the context of hope channeled through a positive vision.

We have always known that “without a vision, the people perish”. The Copenhagen Conference can either produce a bland, minimalist set of non enforceable targets or it can sketch a vision to inspire the world and its peoples. Leaders lead, please . . . do not let us down.

A PDF of the Statement is available here

Contact Information

The Rt. Rev. George Browning, Convener
Statement Draft

The Rev. Terrie Robinson, Anglican Communion Networks Coordinator
Anglican communion Networks Context

Office of the UN Observer, New York
UN functions

The Rev. Ken Gray,
Communication

Notes:

ACEN
http://acen.anglicancommunion.org/index.cfm

As an official network of the Anglican Communion the ACEN strives:

  • to encourage Anglicans to support sustainable environmental practices as individuals and in the life of their communities
  • to provide information about policies embraced by synods, councils and commissions, and especially by the instruments of Unity (Statements by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Resolutions and Reports of the Lambeth Conference and the Anglican Consultative Council)
  • to support local initiatives by providing information about ideas and best practices developed around the communion
  • to share information about resources and initiatives that may be of value to Anglicans everywhere
  • to provide an opportunity for interested Anglicans to meet both as a formal network, and informally via electronic media.



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