The Anglican Diocese of Ballarat-Bishop's Blog

General Synod | 30/10/2007

I am beginning to write this from the back row of General Synod (day 6), though will have to finish it when I return to Ballarat. We are, at the moment, debating a canon calling the Church to undertake some specific steps in addressing the environmental issues facing our planet. It is a strange sensation and really does speak volumes about who we are as a Church. There is nothing in the proposed bill that is objectionable. It is all good stuff but the whole idea of setting in place some specific mechanism for reducing our carbon footprint as a Church is crazy. Laws will not change us. The proposals put into the canons cannot force any church community to change. Nothing wrong with the content but in reality it is little more than just a 'feel good' bill. And, as we near the end of synod, I suspect that this is what is of primary importance to our Church: being correct, or at least, appearing correct and looking good in the eyes of the world around us.

Foster Care, Women in the Episcopate and the Rural Urban Divide | 04/10/2007

At the moment Bennita and I have in our care, a beautiful four week old baby boy. He came to us as his foster parents last week and will be with us for the next three weeks while family services work on his future. He follows on from two beautiful twin girls (six months old) who graced our family for a few weeks while their foster parents went away for a break. Someone asked the other day how we manage to take in these babies and do all of the other things that we do. I do not know really but we are aware of just how blessed we are to be able to share in the lives of these little ones of God. They come to us troubled and we have no other responsibility but to love them to bits. They come to us, grace our lives and allow us to love them. They then go off with our prayers and hopefully to take a little of the love that we could share with them into the next stage of their lives. We do not notice the work side of it, just rejoice in what we receive from these little one. We thank God each day for these joyful lights that he shares with us to brighten up our lives.

The Drought, Women in the Episcopate & General Synod | 30/09/2007

I was in the Wimmera on the weekend and talking to farmers and community members there, it is clear that the drought is far from over. It continues to grind away at the lives of most families and we are still to feel its full impact. It must be really nice to live in Melbourne and know that there is water to spare on gardens and lawns - even though there are clearly going to be problems over the summer. City people are insulated from the drought and its impact, except when they feel the bite on the cost of food. But in the rural communities, it hits families and individuals at all kinds of levels.