February issue shows Anglicans meeting challenges

Faced with tests from the COVID-19 pandemic to the loss of church leaders to the need to confront racism and advance Indigenous self-determination, Anglicans are meeting challenges in a variety of ways, as detailed in the February issue of the Anglican Journal.

Black History Month finds the Journal paying tribute to the memory of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who died on Dec. 26. Anglicans across Canada and around the world mourned the death of the renowned anti-apartheid activist. The persistence of anti-Black racism and how to fight it is the subject of an interview with psychologist Myrna Lashley, who examines the historic complicity of churches in propagating systemic racism as well as the role of Christians in the movement to fight racism in all its forms.

The struggle of Indigenous people against the legacy of colonialism finds institutional reflection within the Anglican Church of Canada as Sacred Circle, the self-determining Indigenous church, continues to take shape. In his latest column, National Indigenous Archbishop Mark MacDonald discusses the foundational documents of Sacred Circle, The Covenant and Our Way of Life, and their meaning for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Christians.

Looming over all other challenges is the ongoing pandemic. The latest instalment of our Companions in Faith series, which examines different aspects of the full communion partnership between Anglicans and Lutherans, explores how the pandemic has impacted the ministry of hospital chaplains and spiritual care providers. The spread of the Omicron variant has also led to renewed lockdowns and difficulties in planning events, including the Canadian Lutheran Anglican Youth (CLAY) gathering. Originally scheduled for summer 2022, CLAY has now been postponed to August 2023.

The persistence of the pandemic has led to reflection about how to best navigate through uncertain times. In this month’s Anglican Voices column, Michelle Hauser considers the pandemic among other personal challenges and the need to look ahead. Archbishop Linda Nicholls, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, encourages us to see through the pandemic’s haze to welcome whatever new ways of living the gospel are revealed to us. Offering a note of hope heading into 2022, the Anglican Foundation over the last year awarded more than $1 million in grants, potentially the largest in its history.

Remembering the past while looking forward to the future, the latest issue of the Journal bids farewell to former staff members who have left us and welcomes new ones. An obituary for Richard Johns, former director of personnel at the office of General Synod, remembers him as a steady presence at Church House for three decades. Meanwhile, the Anglican Journal itself offers greetings to new staff writer Sean Frankling.

Read the February issue of the Anglican Journal at anglicanjournal.com or in digital PDF.