Latest Stories
Doing Year 12 in 2020
Bishop Mark recently recorded a message for Year 12 school students, encouraging them with a reminder of the unchanging truth that education is far more about the people we are becoming than the facts that we remember, which is why times of challenge can sometimes be...
Deacon Profile – Judy Holdsworth
I am an Honorary Deacon serving The Southern Monaro Parish for the last twelve years. I have lived in the Bombala region for twenty three years now. When I arrived in Bombala, I was not sure where my ministry would take me, having been involved in Lay Ministry for...
When a Pandemic Prevents a Synod
Over two weeks in September Diocesan Update zoom meetings were held in four regions across the Diocese, in lieu of the Annual Synod in Goulburn, which will now take place in April 2021. Bishop Mark opened his presentation by sharing a slide show of the year set to the...
The Nearness of God
I remember a conference on the nature of God in Christian and Islamic traditions I attended in Edinburgh some years ago (in the days when travel to the far side of the earth was both normal and affordable). At one stage in the proceedings Professor Mona Siddiqui, who...
Pailthorpe’s Regional Lifestyle in Bungendore
Reverend Michael and Chloe Pailthorpe were recently featured in Regional Lifestyle Magazine - Queanbeyan-Palerang Feature. The piece highlights their ministry in Bungendore and the thriving Phil’s Emporium Op Shop which they operate in partnership with Anglicare. In...
Commissioning of Reverend Rick Lewis in Braidwood
Braidwood Parish’s new Priest-in-Charge was commissioned on Saturday, 22nd of August, in St Andrew’s, Braidwood. With COVID restrictions carefully observed, members of the parish and community gathered to welcome the Reverend Rick Lewis and pray for him as he was...
The Gentleman Convict in Yass
Between 1788 and 1868 approximately 162,000 convicts arrived in the Australian Colonies from Britain. It is likely that someone reading this edition of Anglican News is descended from one or more of those convicts. I know of at least one former Prime Minister and an...
Church Matters
Recently Associate Professor Bonita Sawatsky invited me to co-present about church engagements to a small group via ZOOM® in Canada. The invitation made me think. Does the Anglican church currently matter? In the article ‘Church, Disability and Rurality: The lived...
Dinner with a Difference
It is a strong desire of Monica Short (wife of our Bishop, Mark) to support the spouses of staff in our Diocese of Canberra & Goulburn. A large part of the ministry of our organisation Anglican Mothers’ Union Australia (AMUA) is hospitality. Mothers’ Union has...
Standing for Election in Faith
Bishop Mark asked if I would write about my experience as a person of faith standing for election. The simple answer is that putting yourself forward to represent and work for your community, being in the public gaze and the media spotlight, is not easy; but knowing...