"Draw the Circle Wide"

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS. I really do think that the national Church has to rethink how it does Synods. The model is very British parliamentary, ...

In the evening, a grand installation ceremony for the new Primate in a church not far from downtown. Archbishop Fred is seated in the centre...

I sat besides Bonnie Fulton during the Synod and she kept her hands busy with needlework. Got quite a bit done (almost all the blue) since w...

The final sessions dealt with a bunch of miscellaneous motions, but (sign) once again the motion that generated the most heat was about the ...

Last day of Synod. Have I mentioned that the sessions were on the eight floor of the Marlborough Hotel, the elevators were almost always bus...

- By the way, that picture that shows Kevin sleeping was intended to show how tired we all were - largely because we took our task of being...

It was a hard day. In the morning we were somewhat encouraged by the Synod voting to say that the Blessing was "not in conflict" w...

General Synod got to us today. We are tired, and, for the Diocese of New Westminster's representatives, we are getting very tired. This ...

We quit at about 8:45. There were some who wanted to keep going, but a motion to extend the debate lost, so we will resume tomorrow. Nova Sc...

All this procedural stuff was pretty dry. The only excitement came when I knocked over a glass of water at the table, drowning several reams...

All these procedural motions meant we did a lot of voting, often having to stand. Here John Alfred Steele of Victoria counts the vote. The w...

The day was spent mostly in parlimentary session, mostly talking about the Same Sex Blessing. We had a committee of the whole in the afterno...

At lunch break I attended an informational meeting put on by the Communications department. I asked them if they had a long range plan, what...

Woke up to a beautiful day in Winnipeg, the sun just beginning to show on the buildings. The view from the 27th floor is quite grand.

We're singing Gordon Light's song "Draw the Circle Wide" an awful lot at this Synod. It's a good tune and it'...

Primate Andrew Hutchison (who continues in office until the installation Monday night) came in with the winner, Fred Hiltz, to great applaus...

It went really well, thanks in part to two of our delegation. Peter Elliott (at the table, dark shirt with red ribbon that indicated he coul...

Today we spent most of the day in this church which is just west of my hotel, Holy Trinity, a beautiful old building, for the election of a ...

We sang lots of hymns. The Lutherans have a great tradition integrating music (with tunes!) and liturgy. Here is Keri Wehlander wrote lyrics...

Sallie McFague from the Vancouver School of Theology was the main speaker. She spoke on, "Global Warming: a Theological Problem," ...

We sat at tables of eight, Anglican and Lutheran (I was at table one), and discussed a great many things. The theme was "water," a...

Inside, a very large room, people setting up, the two leaders meeting, our Archbishop Andrew Hutchison (blue shirt) and National Bishop Ray ...

We and the Lutherans met at the Winnipeg Convention Centre, a very large and rather ugly building about five blocks from our meeting place. ...

Today we got out of the Marlborough hotel for most of the day and went to meet with the Lutherans. On the way I passed St. Mary's, the R...

In the evening we ended with an Evensong, which was Prayer Book but very nice. I do admit the older I get the quainter the BCP seems to my e...

At the neighboring table the Diocese of Edmonton has a mascot. I haven't asked quite yet what Pooh stands for, I must tomorrow. I suspec...

Also at my table are (l-r) Steve Schuh, Kevin Dixon, and Susan Brown. Susan is an ecumenical partner from the Roman Catholic Church. She...

Fellow lay delegate Bonnie Fulton is making good use of the time with come needlework.

Wednesday was finally the first full day of General Synod. It started with Bible study in a small group, and then, pictured here, the plenar...