New Anglican Bishop of Wellington: A Dreadlocked and Barefooted Priest

The Anglican Church needs to be ”dusted off” and it believes a dreadlocked, barefooted priest is the man to do it.

Justin Duckworth has been announced as the next Anglican Bishop of Wellington, replacing Bishop Tom Brown who recently retired.

The 44 year-old has been involved in christian work in Wellington since leaving school, although somewhat removed from the mainstream churches.

In his early 20s he began running a home for teenage women in Berhampore with his wife Jenny.

The couple then formed the group Urban Vision with other young christian activists and fifteen years later the group is made up of about 60 members running refuge houses in Wellington neighbourhoods.

Mr Duckworth and his wife also pioneered Ngatiawa, a contemporary monastery in the Reikorangi Valley that provides for strugglers, those seeking retreat, and those looking for a more meaningful lifestyle. Last year, 1100 visitors stayed.

The decision to appoint Mr Duckworth was somewhat unexpected but has been welcomed by Archbishop David Moxon who said he was confident his election would challenge and invigorate the church.

Mr Duckworth said the Anglican Church was struggling with change and transformation but had a fine legacy and huge potential.

”I think the Anglican Church is doing amazing stuff, and is a total treasure. But it’s a treasure that needs to be dusted off.

”At this point in our history we’re aging and I think we’re struggling to find our way. If I can help us find our way and help us engage with another generation, then I’ll be happy.”

Source

A formal announcement is here.

 

Anglicanism and the Western Christian Tradition

The Catholic League:

Ten years on from the successful exhibition at the Vatican Museums to mark half a century of warm ecumenical relations between the See of Peter and the Church of England, here is the online presentation of the first part (made possible with a grant from the Catholic League), charting Anglicanism’s communion of origins with the Latin Catholic Church of the west and thus their shared commitment to fullness of communion.

Anglicanism and the Western Christian Tradition

Check out the the document. It’ll make for some nice Sunday reading.

 

From the Gospel…

 

The Next Step for Anglicans: Drag Queen Blessings

Yet another reason to flee:

Anglican Church of Canada archdeacon, the Venerable M. Edward Simonton, has been in India and, in his peripatetic meandering, bumped into a number of transvestites: Hijra, some of whom, in their enthusiasm to embrace their inner woman, have had their penis, testicles and scrotum removed. Coming, as he does, from the Diocese of Montreal, the worthy archdeacon understandably felt quite at home in this milieu.

Would we not have “a different church” if we hired transvestites “to give blessings on a Sunday” he muses? Not that much different, surely.

From here:

Anyway, it just goes to show how different the world can be. A transvestite in Western culture would never be treated with religious awe let alone respect. I need not mention the history of persecution by western religions. I will also not get into Jungian concepts of the Sacred Hermaphrodite in pagan and classical religion but simple point out that the concept of a third gender is common to most cultures. Just not ours.

Still wouldn’t it be a different church if instead of persecuting transvestites we hired them to give blessings on a Sunday? And, hey, no jokes about men already dressing up in coloured ‘dresses’ every week to do just this! I know that transvestites are not the same as drag queens (the later are entertainers) but my mind immediately jumps to finale of Pricilla Queen of the Desert (the depictions are of indigenous Australian animals and the Sydney opera house). There are few church services I have been to that could not have benefitted immensely from a drag queen blessing thrown in at some point.

Source:  Anglican Samizdat