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• St Mary’s celebrate
• Diocesan Council news
• A musical pilgrimage to Canterbury
• MUCFL AIDS play
• What’s happening?
St Mary’s celebrate
Sunday 7 September saw our Cathedral almost full for the celebration of
its patronal festival. The Choir of the Collegiate Girls’ High School
together with the Men’s voices of the Cathedral Choir led the singing.
The anthems,’African Lullaby’ and ‘Xa Ukholwa Ku Krestu’, were
beautifully sung by the girls.
Bishop Bethlehem spoke on relationships using Mary’s humbleness in
hearing and then obeying God’s call to her. He spoke on our relationship
with God, with spouse, neighbour, the church and in ‘the market place’,
needing to be one of love. He said we need to first talk to God to gain
the strength to be able to obey the commission to ‘Go into the world to
love and serve the Lord.’ The celebration service was followed by a
delicious breakfast feast.
Pic: Collegiate Choir Mistress, Nicky Fyvie, receives a Thank you bouquet
from Estelle Fraser.
Diocesan Council news
[ Mark Derry
]
At the recent Diocesan Council meeting held at St Paul’s, Parsons Hill
on Saturday 30 August the following is of interest:
Churchwardens’ Handbook
The Churchwardens’ Handbook has been distributed to parishes at a cost
of R6.75 per copy. An index would be distributed shortly for insertion
in the book. About 150 additional copies with non-standard punched holes
were available from the Diocesan Office at no extra cost for those who
needed spare copies.
Growing the Church
The Provincial GtC project was launched in Johannesburg during the
weekend of 19 – 21 September. Bishop Bethlehem added that The Anglican
Church of Southern Africa was decreasing numerically, except in
Mozambique, Namibia and Angola. Hence the first part of the drive, under
the leadership of Andrew Watt, rector of St Nicholas, Charlo, to
increase numbers spiritually and numerically in the diocese was being
launched at a number of venues in the latter part of September.
Diocesan structures
A model setting out the accountability and responsibility of the
proposed Resource Management Committee was required and it would be sent
to the Chancellor and Registrar to examine. The meeting acknowledged
that Synod would want full details of all the proposed arrangements.
iindaba – Editorial Policy
An editorial policy document for iindaba was adopted. The composition of
the editorial committee is: Neville Lobb (chairman); Christopher Holmes
and Mark Derry (clergy members) and Frankie Simpson (editor).
Motherwell Mission Districts
The proposal by Archdeacon Zweli Tom that Bishop Bethlehem resurrect the
Motherwell Mission District Commission as a matter of urgency was agreed.
Diocesan secretary – successor:
Charles Qoto, the chairman of the standing committee appointed to attend
to finding a successor to Keith Rae, reported that the committee had met
twice and looked at the mandate from the Bishop and minutes of the
previous diocesan council meeting. It had been decided that an
advertisement would be placed on the Churchnet website. The original
deadline had been moved to 22 September. The envisaged appointment date
has been extended to 1 November. The revised mandate has also required
the standing committee to look into the appointment of an Internal Auditor.
Executive Officer Appointment
David Grobbelaar observed Mark Derry had been the Bishop’s Personal
Assistant for the past four months. The proposal that he become the
Bishop’s Executive Officer was accepted.
Hofmeyr Ministry
Michael Julius explained that the families living in the northern part
of the archdeaconry were not always able to attend services in town. It
had been agreed that the spiritual growth of the families concerned
would be enriched if they were to link up with other families in the
area. This proposal is to be forwarded to the St Martin’s Parish Council.
The Cremer Commission
This Commission concerned a vision of mission and ministry in the
Cradock archdeaconry. The Commission had recommended that the diocese
consider putting in resources and giving the ministry some time to
develop in order to sustain itself. The great need was to find ways and
means of securing funding from overseas to enable the vision to become
reality.
A musical pilgrimage to Canterbury
[ Maureen de Villiers
]
It was late evening and inside the Cathedral it was dark, save for faint
splashes of colour delicately etched on the towering pillars by the
outside floodlights shining through the magnificent stained glass
windows. The silence inside the Cathedral was broken only by the
shuffling of feet as 127 Summer School “pilgrims,” each holding a
lighted candle, followed in the footsteps of countless pilgrims before
them. We paused in respectful silence at the site where Thomas Becket
was brutally murdered in 1170, before making our way to one of the
chapels in the crypt where we sang the ancient office of Compline.
What a wonderful introduction this was to the week- long Royal School of
Church Music International Summer School and Conference held in
Canterbury. Seventeen countries were represented and South Africa
boasted a contingent of 11 delegates, including our chairman, Jenny
Yates, Maureen de Villiers and Philip Burnett, the director of the
Rhodes University Chamber Choir as well as our national chairman, Dr
Kevin Williams.
Each day began with Sung Morning Prayer in the Cathedral Crypt and the
rest of the day was spent attending workshops, seminars and choir
practices. The evenings would end with Compline in a nearby church. One
evening we sang a Taizé service and on another evening we attended a
splendid concert given by the renowned Youth Millennium Choir. One of
the highlights of the week was singing a Festival Service in the Quire
of the Cathedral.
We were immediately impressed by our new Director, Lindsay Gray’s,
friendliness and approachability. He is a real “hands on” person, with
his ear to the ground, and is passionate about RSCM. It was great being
able to meet up with with Gordon Appleton, who directed our Summer
School at the beginning of the year, and Leah Perona-Wright, who visited
PE last year to promote the “Voice for Life” training scheme.
Christopher Moore, the previous organist of Grahamstown Cathedral, also
paid a brief visit.
The presence of such a large group of people, from all corners of the
earth, was an encouraging indication of how far the influence of the
RSCM has spread. We came away from the School feeling exhilarated, not
only from all that we had learnt and experienced, but from being able to
share together, with so many people of different nationalities, our love
of Church Music.
MUCFL AIDS play
Professional nurses and teachers who are members of the All Saints’ MU
Christian Family Life branch put on a very informative play about AIDS
at the workshop on Gender Based Violence. If any parishes or groups
would like them to present this excellent play in their churches they
can contact Pamela on 072 425 2359.
What’s happening?
An invitation to visit “Descendants of Miles Bowker” on Facebook
Margaret Manning says, “This is a new group for all Bowker descendants”.
Just follow the link: http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=643569646&k=YYB633R3R32MX1LGQBWXU
Calling all the men, women and children of the diocese Join the march
against ‘Gender Based Violence’ on 29 November.
Departure is at 10h00
from robots at the bottom of Albany Rd / Govan Mbeki and marching to the
City Hall. Suggested scripture for the placards and further details will
be sent to the parishes but please diarize the date now and get your
walking shoes ready so that everyone will know that the Anglican Church
means business in their fight against violence.
An invitation to celebrate half a century of ministry
Roy Snyman tssf
- ordained priest 50 yrs ago in Advent by Bp Archibald Cullen. A “Fr
Roy’s Festival” will take place in our cathedral at the 09h30 Mass of
Sunday 7 December. The PE Oratorio Choir will join the cathedral choir
and sing a simple but special Mass. A Special Preacher is to be invited.
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