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The Voice of the Laity is a group of lay people in the Diocese of The MurrayThe Voice of the Laity was formed to encourage the proclamation of the Gospel of love and reconciliation by members of the Anglican Church. Part of encouraging mission is the removing of obstacles to mission. Many people within the diocese have come to believe that over the last five years the leadership of the Diocese of the Murray has acted in ways that are consistently abusive and dishonest. Despite population growth in large parts of the diocese, there has been a twenty percent overall decline in church attendance. Attendances at Christmas and Easter have declined by nearly sixty percent. Half of our parishes are no longer able to support full-time priestly ministry. Committed Christians who have been part of our Anglican family have ceased to worship. Many of those who remain will not invite their friends or family to join them for worship even on special occasions like Christmas. The Anglican Church in the Diocese of The Murray is no longer a safe, welcoming or healing place. The Church is the body of Christ. The Church belongs to Jesus. Our first priority and loyalty is to Jesus. But in the Diocese of The Murray, the only virtue that seems to count is loyalty to the bishop. Faithful lay people who question, no matter how politely, decisions or actions taken by the hierarchy, are subject to petulant tantrums, verbal abuse and threats. Faithful clergy who have supported their lay people, or who have questioned inappropriate behaviour, have been dismissed and subjected to character assassination and isolation. This is not a theological debate, except in the sense that right theology leads to service, to honesty, and to justice. Concern about the behaviour of the bishop of The Murray is not based on differences of opinion about contemporary theological debates. Many of those who are now most distressed about events in our diocese initially supported the bishop strongly because they valued and shared his conservative anglo-catholic viewpoint. Other members of the Voice of the Laity are evangelical, charismatic, or liberal in their theology. All believe that the behaviour of the hierarchy of the diocese over the last five years has damaged the credibility of the Catholic faith, the Anglican Church, and our own diocese. The diocese has lurched from one embarrassing crisis to another. People continue to be hurt, and their faith destroyed. There is a time when failure to act becomes acceptance of injustice. Opportunities for ChangeThe Special Tribunal Canon was passed at General Synod in October 2007. This means that complaints about a diocesan bishop can be made to the national Episcopal Standards Commission via the Episcopal Standards Director. The Director of Episcopal Standards is Ms Rena Sofroniou Her address and phone numbers are: Ms Rena Sofroniou Barrister-at-Law Level 10 Melbourne Chambers 235 Queen Street Melbourne Vic 3000 Tel: 03 9640 3219 Fax: 03 9640 3100 The complaint form may be downloaded by clicking here. The form should be completed by each person making a complaint, and forwarded to Ms Sofroniou. Many of the complaints will come under the following section: conduct, whenever occurring, which would be disgraceful if committed by a member of the clergy, and which at the present time is productive, or if known publicly would be productive, of scandal or evil report; Complaints must be brief, factual, and relate to behaviour of which the person making the complaint was the victim, or to behaviour affecting someone else but which the person making the complaint witnessed personally. "Everyone is a tyrant who abuses any power over those subject to him which has been conceded from above." John of Salisbury |
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From the ScripturesBe ready! Let the truth be like a belt around your waist, and let God's justice protect you like amour. Ephesians 6:14Look, the wicked bend their bows, they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. Psalm 11:2 Jesus said to the twelve, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." Mark 9:35 The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22 LinksBrian's Bits Discussion Paper Harassment? Your Comments Listening Process Recent Channel Seven Adelaide news stories about the Bishop of the Murray can be found here: Monday 17th September Wednesday 19th September Click here for a transcript of the Stateline programme of Friday 30th November. More NewsPlease check the links above.Other pages will be added and news relayed over coming weeks. Meetings will be held around the diocese to pray together and to give people an opportunity to express their fears and concerns without being subject to threats and intimidation. You can email us by clicking on the mail icon at the top right. Please pray for us, for the bishop and diocese, and for the whole Anglican communion. May God bless and encourage you! Printing pages from this websiteYou are welcome to print and distribute pages from this website. Proper attribution should be given, including the web address.Pages are designed for ease of reading online. For correct layout on a printed page, you may need to check your 'Print Preview' and adjust by checking 'Fit to Page' or some similar command. The latest version of Internet Explorer will fit to your print page size while keeping most of the onscreen page layout. It can be downloaded by clicking on the link above. Alternatively, simply select the text you want, and copy it to your word processing program. | |||||||||
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