PM# 40069670 3Friends 6From lab to 8Ashes through table: to thick The ashes, and future dust thin of food? to dust ANGLICAN JOURNAL Since 1875 vol. 144 no. 2 february 2018 In wake of Trump decision, Hiltz calls for prayers for Jerusalem Tali Folkins including Archbishop Suheil Dawani, pri- STAFF WRITER mate of the Anglican Province of Jerusalem Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the and the Middle East, voicing disapproval Anglican Church of Canada, has called for and worry. prayers for Jerusalem after U.S. President “We are certain that such steps will Donald Trump’s decision December 6 to yield increased hatred, conflict, violence recognize the city as the capital of Israel and suffering in Jerusalem and the Holy and move the U.S. embassy there from Tel Land, moving us farther from the goal of Aviv. unity and deeper toward destructive divi- Hiltz also condemned Trump’s “unilat- sion,” the church leaders said in the letter, eral action,” saying it had set off violence in released shortly before Trump’s official the Holy Land. announcement. “We ask from you Mr. In a statement released December 8, President to help us all walk towards more Hiltz said he was joining those expressing love and a definitive peace, which cannot PHOTO: KYRYLO GLIVIN/SHUTTERSTOCK “serious concerns” about Trump’s declara- be reached without Jerusalem being for all. Jerusalem is home to sites holy to all three Abrahamic faiths—Christianity, tion. He cited a letter jointly issued by 13 “The Holy City can be shared and Islam and Judaism. leaders of Christian churches in Jerusalem, See Church, p. 11 Brandon ex-priest pleads Saskatchewan Anglicans share guilty to theft from diocese church with Roman Catholics Tali Folkins Tali Folkins Christmas service at the Roman Cath- STAFF WRITER STAFF WRITER olic church instead. When they arrived Noah Njegovan, a former priest who once In the early afternoon of Christmas Eve, on Christmas Day, they were surprised served as executive archdeacon of the 2016, Chad Geis, chair of the pastoral to see a sign bearing the words “Closed diocese of Brandon, has pleaded guilty council at the Roman Catholic Church until further notice” on the door. to stealing more than $190,000 from the of the Immaculate Conception in Over the next few days, Geis was diocese. Qu’Appelle, Sask., arrived at the church able to find someone to fix the church’s Njegovan entered the guilty plea he had known since his childhood to get boiler, but when it came back on, it be- December 11, according to a statement things ready for the Christmas morning came clear that water had frozen in the released by the diocese the same day. As of mass. lines supplying the church’s radiators, press time, a sentencing hearing, including From the moment he stepped in, bursting them. submissions from the Crown and defence he knew something was amiss. It was “It was like a sprinkler everywhere, lawyers, was scheduled for January 9. FILE PHOTO oddly cold inside. The thermometer water coming out of everything,” Geis The theft charge, laid in 2015, stems Noah Njegovan has relinquished his read -5° C. Christmas services ended up says. from Njegovan’s use of a corporate credit ordained ministry and repaid the being cancelled at the church while Geis The Immaculate Conception parish- ioners were then faced with the ques- card while he was executive archdeacon money he took from the diocese. tried to find out what was wrong with tion of what to do with their church. between January 2010 and August 2012. the boiler. Water damage from the burst pipes Njegovan also served at the time as Two and a half blocks away, at St. a range of purchases, including a Netflix was just one of a number of challenges assistant to his father, then-Bishop of Peter’s Anglican Church, there were no subscription and massages. confronting the 110-year-old building. Brandon James Njegovan. Christmas services planned either. Its The diocese did not detect these charges There were already problems with the He used the credit card 1,003 times congregation of eight to 10 active mem- at first because Njegovan paid off the card by walls, and the leaking roof had started during that period, racking up $192,000 in bers receives sacramental ministry once making withdrawals from a diocese savings to cause plaster on the ceiling to break bills for unauthorized private purchases, a month from a retired priest who also account using online banking, Crown off, threatening to fall down. By January according to the Winnipeg Free Press. ministers to other churches, and they attorney Marnie Evans told the court. 2017, the congregation decided they A civil suit filed by the diocese against wanted to offer the priest the option of He also hid credit card statements and would not be able to raise the estimated Njegovan in 2014 alleged that he used lied to church auditors, telling them the putting on a service at a larger church with more children, says warden Jean $250,000 needed to repair the building, the card, among other things, for cash withdrawals from the savings account were Geis says. advances of $90,000, $47,000 for meals for something else, she said. Kurbis. So Kurbis and some other pa- and bar bills, $13,000 for hotels, $6,800 for He was also charged with fraud, but this rishioners had made plans to attend the See Sharing, p. 9 three trips to Las Vegas and $31,000 for See Diocese, p. 11 2 anglican journal • february 2018 WORLD4 Hiltz, Welby discuss Lambeth preparations within the church, and the wider Theme for 2020 Communion, “for us to find a way to live conference: ‘God’s with our differences” in a respectful and gracious way. “That’s where the church Church for God’s World’ needs to be moving. I think gone are the days when we spend huge amounts of time Joelle Kidd trying to convince the other of the truth we STAFF WRITER hold.” Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Hiltz and Welby also discussed the Anglican Church of Canada, returned potential for resolutions to be passed at December 4 from a week-long trip to the the conference. The challenge is that “the U.K., where he met with Archbishop of resolutions are not binding,” says Hiltz. Canterbury Justin Welby and discussed, “Historically, we’ve had neither a desire nor To access stories a capacity to make them binding. So that’s exclusive to the web, among other things, preparations for the go to anglicanjournal. Lambeth Conference of Bishops in 2020. very different, for instance, from the polity com Hiltz has been making the annual of Rome.” • Hiltz: ‘God is trip since 2007, a chance, he says, to While the 1998 Lambeth Conference speaking into the share “matters pertinent to the life of the passed a number of resolutions, some weariness, wariness Anglican Church of Canada” with the controversial, the 2008 conference passed and worry of the archbishop, as well as to meet with the staff none, he notes. “We kind of went from one world’ of the Anglican Communion Office. extreme to the other,” says Hiltz. He adds, Themed “God’s Church for God’s “Given some of the really important topics World,” the event will mark the 100th we’re going to be engaged in conversation anniversary of the 1920 Lambeth about, it might be very appropriate Conference, which, Hiltz says, “was one that a resolution comes out of those of the first conferences where there were conversations.” significant resolutions about the church’s Hiltz says he and Welby also talked presence in the world, and work in the about integrating the bishops with their world.” Hiltz says Welby is hoping the spouses to a greater degree than in years 2020 conference will “capture some of that past during the 2020 conference. “Having spirit.” the spouses’ and bishops’ programs a bit Hiltz says that issues such as climate more integrated is actually not a bad thing change, human trafficking, poverty and from the point of view that it’s a reflection peace in the Middle East will “loom large” of the fact that in many parts of the world, at the conference. Another such issue is the spouses of the bishops have a really same-sex marriage, which was discussed 5Archbishop Makgoba, stated a desire at the Primates’ big role in their diocese,” says Hiltz. “In Meeting that these conversations would at the meeting of the primates in October, Fred Hiltz, Africa, for instance, a lot of bishops’ not “reopen…a huge discussion on the spouses would be really strong leaders in at which consequences were imposed on primate of the the Scottish Episcopal Church for voting in nature of marriage.” However, Hiltz Mothers’ Unions, so they tend to work June to allow same-sex marriage in church. Anglican Church concedes this is “a tall order.” alongside their husbands.” Hiltz says the challenge will be to of Canada, in “How we give due respect…to They also discussed the regional “contain” the conversation: “Not to shut it the vestry of theological perspective, to cultural Primates’ Meetings that will take place down, but to contain it in such a way that Canterbury perspective, to political and legal based on a decision made at the meeting in it doesn’t take over the conference, that Cathedral, where perspective—within the diversity of October. Primates in different regions will it doesn’t dominate everything and filter our world and the churches within the be gathering to share issues that they and through every other conversation.” he preached on Anglican Communion, the majority of their countries’ House of Bishops want to The primate adds that both Welby the first Sunday which are national churches—it’s going to be on the agenda for the conference, which and the primate of the Anglican Church of Advent.