I’m here in Canterbury for the annual meeting of the Compass Rose Society, an International Organization which seeks to support the ministry of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Anglican Communion. Over 270 members from 8 countries make common cause in providing resources for our Anglican brothers and sisters in different parts of the world.
The meeting starts later today at 2:00 p.m. when we will gather to hear reports from the Rt. Rev. Philip Poole, President of the Society and the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, Secretary General of the Anglican Communion. We will also hear an update on the Windsor Continuation Group from the Chair of the Group, Bishop Clive Handford and from Bishop Victoria Matthews, also a member of the WCG. We will attend Evensong in the Cathedral tonight and then enjoy a free evening on the streets of Canterbury.
Canterbury Cathedral
On a personal note, it is wonderful to return to Canterbury Cathedral, mother church of the Anglican Communion, a place where prayer to God has been offered daily for over 1,400 years as well as countless private prayers from individual pilgrims. Ours is a global communion called to manifest unity in diversity, to be orthodox yet open, and to engage God’s mission in the rapidly changing world of the 21st century. We do this as spiritual descendants of Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, who arrived on the coast of Kent as a missionary to England in 597 AD. Mission is at the heart of our genesis story as a Communion. May it ever be so.
I’ll sum up today’s events in my next post.
