Influential Sydney Diocese Elects 1st Non-White Abp. May 6, 2021 Highlight, News The Very Rev. Kanishka Raffel, dean of Sydney’s St. Andrew’s Cathedral, was unanimously elected as the 12th Archbishop of Sydney by the diocese’s synod on May 6. Raffel, a London-born Sri Lankan and a Buddhist convert to Christianity, will be the first person of color to lead the vibrant conservative evangelical diocese, which has great power and influence in the GAFCON network.
An Australian Postcard from the Future March 18, 2021 Features, Highlight Blessings amid the gloom and Zoom, where the COVID toll has been relatively low.
Australian Disability Activists Discuss ‘Ableism’ March 17, 2021 Features, Highlight Sixteen years ago, B.J. and her husband had a son with cerebral palsy. She was told she would never work again and that their marriage would not survive. But God had other ideas.
Australian Diocese Strapped for Cash and Clergy March 12, 2021 Updates The Rt. Rev. Mark Calder, Bishop of Bathurst in rural New South Wales, desperately needs priests, but is short of funds to pay for them. 17 of the Australian diocese’s 27 multi-church parishes are currently vacant, and the diocese still owes about $2 million Australian dollars (USD $1.55 million) to the victims of sexual abuse.
Tribunal Authorizes Same-Sex Blessings in Australia November 13, 2020 Highlight, News The Anglican Church of Australia's highest legal authority has ruled on narrow legal grounds that a liturgy for same sex blessings approved in 2019 by the Diocese of Wangaratta is valid, and that the Diocese of Newcastle may revise its clergy discipline rules to prohibit disciplinary action against priests who enter into same sex marriages.
Geoffrey Smith Elected Australian Primate in Second Round Vote April 9, 2020 News Smith, the Archbishop of Adelaide, won handily in ballots cast electronically because of COVID-19 restrictions, three weeks after a deadlocked electoral board failed to reach a majority in all three houses.
Deadlocked Australian Electors Name Aspinall Interim Primate March 25, 2020 News Centrist Geoffrey Smith failed to win an election by a single vote in four of seven ballots, as conservatives held out in favor of GAFCON-Australia chair Richard Condie.
Australian Primate Steps Down Before Same-Sex Marriage Showdown December 6, 2019 News Philip Freier's early resignation allows a new primate to be elected before this summer's General Synod, which will likely respond to respond to endorsements of same-sex marriage in two dioceses while aiming to preserve unity as a "mixed economy church."
Australian Diocese Agrees to Delay Same-Sex Marriages September 12, 2019 News Wangaratta Bishop John Parkes will comply with the Australian primate's request to wait until the church's Appellate Tribunal renders a judgment on his diocese's authorization of same-sex marriages.
Australian Bishop Vows to Test Church Ban on Same-Sex Marriage August 15, 2019 News "We've been frozen on the issue of same-sex couples now for many years — 25 years or more... So I think somebody has to break the deadlock and it might as well be me."
