Church of the Word
SYDNEY TO LICENSE OUTSIDE CHURCHES

Diocese of Sydney offers refuge
Number: 5792     Date: October 28, 2005

SYDNEY Anglican plans to offer refuge to dissidents of rival Churches could trigger legal injunctions and threaten the position of the archbishop, critics have warned. Opponents argue that licensing clergy outside the diocese was “inconsistent” with the constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia and could expose the Archbishop, Dr Peter Jensen, to charges that could “deprive him of office.” Proponents of the move, discussed at last week’s diocesan synod, have been accused of trying to covertly usher in a network of like-minded churches outside of Sydney — expanding its influence well beyond the diocesan boundaries.

There is also private concern that licensing independent churches could be the mechanism for offering refuge to Anglican dissidents such as David Chislett, the Brisbane minister who was dismissed after he was controversially consecrated earlier this year as a bishop of a breakaway church opposed to women’s ordination. Speaking in favour of the proposals, the Dean of St Andrew’s Cathedral, the Very Rev Phillip Jensen, argued that Anglicanism was dying and would eventually become a footnote of history unless the church embraced new congregations in a mobile post-denominational age. The synod agreed that a loose network, rather than any formal structure, was the best way to meet the pleas of independent evangelical churches for assistance. However, the move is likely to fuel tensions between the diocese and the other Australian bishops, and the wider Anglican Church about the right to plant churches in neighbouring jurisdictions. Dean Jensen has identified rebel congregations of the Uniting Church who are opposed to gay ministry, and some ethnic congregations, as those who might be interested in “fellowship”.

Sydney diocese voted last week to set up a framework by which like-minded congregations of other denominations can officially link up with the diocese. In other moves, the synod agreed to drop the requirement of confirmation of people who are baptised before being allowed to take Communion. Clergy, under licence from their Archbishop, are also to be allowed to confirm members of their congregation themselves.

This article comes from The Church of England Newspaper online
http://www.churchnewspaper.com/

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