With Anglican primates from around the world set to meet for five days of talks in Canterbury, England, October 2, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, is calling for prayers on a range of issues.
In a post on the website of the Anglican Communion News Service (ACNS), Hiltz asks for prayers on some Communion-wide matters and others specific to the Anglican Church of Canada.
The post begins with a request for prayers “that we have patience with one another in continuing conversations about same-sex marriage.”
Same-sex marriage proved an especially divisive issue at the primates’ last meeting, in January 2016; the meeting culminated with a request on the part of the majority of the primates that The Episcopal Church (TEC) be barred from decision-making in internal Anglican Communion bodies for three years. The primates said they were responding to a decision by TEC’s General Convention the previous summer to allow same-sex marriage.
The primate also asks for “prayers for perseverance in our commitment to honour the Calls to Action from Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” and for God’s guidance in the church’s work supporting the creation of an Indigenous church.
Hiltz also asks for prayers for the church’s commitment to fighting human trafficking. Council of General Synod (CoGS) endorsed an anti-human trafficking resolution at its recent meeting in June.
The primate also asks for prayers for “the church’s response to the Communion-wide call to a season of intentional discipleship” issued by the Anglican Consultative Council in April 2016.
Hiltz concludes by asking for prayers for the primates themselves, “that at our gathering we have a heart not only for the unity of the Church but for the peace of the world” and “that we be humbled and graced to be a prophetic voice speaking into the suffering of the poor, the enslaved, and those forced to flee from their homelands.”
