Report from CoGS November 11-13
On Sunday, November 13, 2022, the penultimate session of the Council of General Synod concluded. This meeting as with the past few was a hybrid meeting with some of us gathering in person at Queen of the Apostles and some via Zoom.
Our agenda included Morning Prayer and bible study, we received various reports including PWRDF and financial reports and participated in two important but brief training sessions, one on Safer church practices with Mandy Marshall from the Anglican Communion office and another on Dismantling Racism.
You can find the reported highlights of the meeting in far more detail through the Anglican Church of Canada and Anglican Journal reports linked below:
Saturday, November 12 Coverage
Anglican Journal Coverage posted November 13
Our next meeting in March will be the last for this council as we prepare to elect new members for the work of the next Triennium.
Of particular concern, as we prepare to gather again for General Synod in Calgary, is the composition of the council.
Going forward, it will be important for us to consider who we elect to do this work. At present, with the exception of the members of ACIP (the Anglican Council of Indigenous People) and a couple of others, CoGS primarily consists of white, middle to late-aged people. If we are truly going to do the work of the church in the world, we will need to be cognizant of the makeup of this council. This was addressed at the end of our meeting on Sunday, in which we spoke about recruitment for CoGS, encouraging members to think about who is elected from each diocese.
I look forward to our last meeting in March.
Offered with gratitude,
The Reverend Marnie Peterson, Representative to CoGS from the Diocese of New Westminster