National Assembly
The 12th Forward in Faith National Assembly will take place at the Emmanuel Centre, Marsham Street, SW1 on Friday 21st and Saturday 22nd October 2005.
After a closed meeting between the Forward in Faith Council, the College of Deans and our Diocesan Chairmen during the early afternoon of the Friday, the Assembly will convene at 4.15 pm. After the usual welcomes, Fr Geoffrey Kirk will address the Assembly and then we will transact a number of small business items.
We will then have reports from FiF North America and FiF Wales, as well as from our friends from Norway and Sweden. Finally, Fr Martin Warner, Canon Pastor of St Paul’s Cathedral, will give a Devotional Address, after which we shall adjourn for the evening.
We shall gather again on the Saturday at Christ the King, Gordon Square, for the National Assembly Mass. The preacher will be Fr Nigel Zimmermann from South Australia, whom New Directions readers will recall was inhibited from preaching in the Diocese of Adelaide earlier this year, on account of his membership of Forward in Faith!
He is in this country for two years pursuing post-graduate research (and assisting at S.Michael’s, Inverness), so it affords us an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the superiority of London hospitality over that of Adelaide!
We return to the Emmanuel Centre after Mass, to hear reports from elsewhere around the world, including Scotland and Australia, represented by FiF Chairman, Fr David Robarts – and then, during the afternoon, we will focus on our future programme: in particular, how we are to develop the undertakings we made at last year’s Assembly in Resolution 2004/11, where we committed ourselves ‘to do all things necessary to secure a structural solution for those unable in conscience to receive the ordination of women, which will become necessary in the event of the ordination of a woman as a bishop in either the Province of Canterbury or York, or in the event that the Episcopal Ministry Act of Synod 1993 is rescinded by the General Synod of the Church of England.’
The Forward in Faith Council will be coming to the Assembly with nine specific proposals, each designed to play a part in securing our corporate future and each, in the Council’s view, representing just one of the ‘all things necessary’ we spoke of last year. FiF members who are not delegates to the Assembly are of course cordially invited to attend part or all of the Assembly as Observers; for details, please contact Colin Niblett at the Forward in Faith Office.
Consecrated Women?
Fr Jonathan Baker’s book, along with four accompanying pamphlets, is now available from Forward in Faith at Gordon Square. The book is £17 and each pamphlet £2.50, all including p & p. Or you can order all five for the inclusive price of just £25.
Payment with orders, please, to Colin Niblett at the Forward in Faith Office.