Magic Statistics

The big event is almost here.  On Tuesday morning, a week of festivities kicks off as General Synod 2007 convenes in downtown Winnipeg.  Lots of important stuff will be discussed and voted upon.  A new primate will be chosen on Friday 22 June, with formal installation scheduled for the following Monday.

You can follow the action via the internets.  Here are a few suggested sources.

Anglican Essentials Canada is running a blog where they will endeavour to post the latest news as it happens.  The blogmeister is Peter, proprietor of the fine blog The Age To Come.  He’s from an orthodox Anglican parish on the south side of Calgary.  AEC also has a page of general information about General Synod 2007 and another on the AEC 24/7 prayer vigil.

The mighty, mighty webelf Binky oversees the CaNN General Synod 2007 blog.  At last report, Binky has been laid low by the hot humid weather out east, combined with other health problems.  Prayers, please.

Also in attendance will be my friend The Rev Joseph Walker, of St Timothy’s, Edmonton.  Joe’s been making fun of certain Anglican leaders and talking about going on pub crawls with Winnipeg Anglican priest Preston Parsons, so I don’t know if Joe will be a reliable news source.  On the other hand, he may be able to report dirt information that no one else can, so stay tuned to his blog felix hominum.

For those who want the official line, the Anglican Church of Canada says it will provide webcast and other coverage here.

UPDATE (18 Jun.): The category-loving elves at Kendall Harmon's blog TitusOneNine have set up a category for Canadian General Synod posts.

Much prayer is needed for the bloggers, for their jobs demand stamina, quick thinking, and nimble fingers.  Pray also for the clergy and lay delegates, for they will need our Lord’s wisdom and guidance.

In the run-up to GS 2007, Anglican prayer blog Lent & Beyond has posted a series of prayers for Canada.  This one was posted today:

O Lord,

The Anglican Church of Canada is fragmented and in need of rebuilding. Turn the hearts of its leaders to fear and obey You that they may become like a signet ring, carrying the authority of Jesus, teaching Your people to obey everything He has commanded, and making disciples of all nations.

Lord, it is our hearts’ desire that the Anglican Church of Canada be rebuilt upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the cornerstone. All authority is given to Jesus in heaven and in earth. Rebuild this church on Jesus, dear Lord. Amen.

Haggai, Matthew 28:18-20, Ephesians 2:20

Thanks to Jill W. at Lent & Beyond.

I’m not going to GS, and I won’t even to be able to keep tabs on the action from home.  I’m off on a business trip tomorrow morning.  After changing planes in Vancouver, I’ll fly right past Winnipeg to the nation’s capital.  There I expect to be kept locked up for the rest of the week in all-day meetings with various government-type people.  I'll have to catch up with GS in the evening.

Previous related posts:

• Retired Anglican archbishops support same-sex blessings
• Most BC Synod delegates support same-sex blessings
• Yukon Diocesan Synod rejects same-sex blessings
• Canadian Anglican leaders urge caution on motions to accept same-sex blessings
• Council of General Synod tries to pull a fast one

As I blogged last week, Whitehorse General Hospital has been in an uproar over the conduct and policies of CEO Michael Aeberhardt.  A private letter signed by 40 doctors, a majority of the hospital’s physicians, called on Mr Aeberhardt to resign.

Interviewed by the Yukon News, Yukon Medical Association president Dr Rao Tadepalli refused to detail the letter's contents, saying only that the doctors believed that Aeberhardt’s edicts were having a potentially damaging effect on patient care.

It is now reported that Aeberhardt will not resign, but intervention by Chair of the hospital’s Board of Trustees, Craig Tuton, has smoothed things over—for now.  In fact, Mr Tuton is now managing the man hired to be the hospital’s manager.

“Tuton has taken on the responsibility of handling the CEO situation,” said Tadepalli.
. . .
Tuton has been working with the doctors and relations are on the mend at the hospital, said Tadepalli.
. . .
Tuton has started attending meetings and reviewing policy.

“So that the CEO doesn’t have a free hand in policy,” said Tadepalli.

“And we’re certainly glad and happy that Craig Tuton has taken on the responsibility of managing his CEO.

This development is absurd.  Aeberhardt was appointed only last October but, during his brief tenure, has managed to alienate the hospital’s doctors, nurses, and support staff.  He is doing such a wretched job as CEO that the Chair of the Board of Trustees has apparently been given veto power over his decisions.

The Yukon News quotes Dr Tadepalli discussing an arbitrary and poorly thought-out policy change implemented by Mr Aeberhardt after zero consultation with affected staff.  It’s far from the only one.

Previous related post: Whitehorse General Hospital rocked by public criticism, low morale

In a lengthy eye-witness report, Peter Hitchens argues that the most dangerous threat facing Israel is not hostile Muslim neighbours but internal political and demographic trends.  Arab citizens of Israel resent what they perceive as disadvantageous treatment relative to Jewish Israelis, and they are having more babies—thus creating a potential time-bomb for the Jewish state.

Arabs comprise 20% of Israel's citizenry and Muhammed is already the most popular name for baby boys born there.

One Arab Israeli said gloomily to me that while the first and second intifadas (Arab uprisings) had been in the West Bank and Gaza, "the third intifada will be on the streets of Nazareth and Jaffa, right inside Israel itself".

If he is right, then there is no end to the misery. Israel's Arabs are here, and not going away. If their discontent were to turn to anger, if their leaders were to urge them on the streets, there is no saying where things might end.

Bedouin Arabs, once a small minority in southern Israel, look set to become the majority in the region by 2020.  There are forecasts that Jerusalem could be majority Arab by 2040.

More ethnic division has arisen from the almost one million Russian-speaking Jews admitted during the final years of the Soviet Union.  At least, they seemed to be Jewish at the time, but it turns out about half of them are not.  Many claim no religion; some are Christian.

Recently, to the annoyance of Orthodox Jews, several hundred Russian recruits to the Israeli army insisted on swearing their oath of allegiance on the Christian New Testament alone.

As well, Hitchens sees the bloody Gaza civil war as proof that a Palestinian state would provide no benefit at all for Palestinians, neither would it remove the external threat against Israel.  The real long-term problem, however, is within.

Read the whole thing.

Previous related posts:

• One-third of Palestinians cannot afford to eat properly
• Israeli Jews use Christian donations to help Muslims
• Christians being driven from the Holy Land
• Israel: The most important foreign policy issue of our time

UPDATE (19 Jun.): Kateland in the comments links to the American-Israel Demographic Research Group, which argues that Jewish Israelis do not face a demographic disadvantage vis-a-vis Israeli Arabs.

The collect for today, the 2nd Sunday after Trinity, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:

O Lord, who never failest to help and govern them whom thou dost bring up in thy stedfast fear and love; Keep us, we beseech thee, under the protection of thy good providence, and make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: 1 St John 3:13-24
The Gospel: St Luke 14:16-24