IMPACT

The Revd Canon Dr Tim Naish, Canon Librarian at Canterbury Cathedral, writes about the Canterbury Course for new Bishops of the Anglican Communion.

Canterbury Courses

‘I do believe that this [programme] is saving the Anglican Communion conference by conference.’  This feedback from one participant in the February 2019 Canterbury Cathedral Course for newly appointed Anglican bishops from across the world reflects its aspirations. The annual programme enables about 30 ‘baby bishops’ from diverse countries, cultures and expressions of Anglicanism to gather and to learn from one another. In 2019 there were 29 present from 17 different countries from all continents except Antarctica – from Japan to Madagascar, New Zealand to Pakistan. This time only two (from Brazil and Canada) were women, but we have had more.

The purpose is not to teach those present ’how to be a bishop’. The eleven day gathering had sessions led by expert communicators on Leadership, Climate Change, Sexuality, Anglican History and Identity, Inter-faith Engagement, and the like; but the real heart of the time was simply people encountering one another, worshipping together in the Cathedral, sharing food, spending time in group discussion, making friends, learning about the various contexts in which Anglicans bear witness to Jesus as Lord – and so in many cases overcoming uncertainty or prejudice about those whose tradition or theology was very different from their own. A day is spent each year in London visiting the Anglican Communion Office and Lambeth Palace.

Except for the Lambeth Conference once in ten years, there is no comparable opportunity for bishops to have such a wide cross-Communion encounter. That it happens (like the Conference) in Canterbury allows a feel of ‘neutral territory’ through the sense, strong for many, that here is the ‘Mother Church’ of the Communion.

Those from richer parts of the world find their own funding; the Foundation enabled bursaries in 2019 to be given to 19 other participants – in most cases, return travel from their own country, and conference costs. The Cathedral also runs a similar annual programme for seminarians and the newly ordained.

The Revd Canon Dr Tim Naish
Canon Librarian, Canterbury Cathedral