Media Contacts:

Frank Johnson

613-233-1621

Ven. Désirée Stedman

613-234-4024

Sean Reid

613-299-3393

 

Ottawa Anglican Gathering Launched to Provide Strength, Unity and Encouragement

 

- Anglican Gathering of Ottawa provides much needed community for those who wish to remain steadfast to traditional Anglican teaching and beliefs –

 

Ottawa, ON, September 14, 2004 – Anglicans from across Eastern Ontario seeking to remain faithful to the traditional teachings and beliefs of the worldwide Anglican Church today launched the Anglican Gathering of Ottawa (AGO), a vibrant and growing community of Anglicans within the Diocese of Ottawa. The AGO is focused on uniting, strengthening and encouraging Anglican parishes and individuals in the Ottawa-area who seek to adhere to biblical and Anglican tradition, while steadfastly calling on the Anglican Church of Canada to remain faithful to Scripture and mainstream Christian beliefs.

 

“These are troubled times for our Anglican church here in Ottawa, across Canada and around the globe,” said Frank Johnson, Chair of the Anglican Gathering of Ottawa Executive. “The principal aim of the AGO is to help provide renewed support, energy, inspiration and voice to Ottawa-area Anglicans who wish to remain loyal to the teachings and beliefs of the majority of our worldwide Anglican Communion.”     

 

The traditional Anglican beliefs of the AGO are aligned with the 1994 Montreal Declaration of Anglican Essentials (www.forsuchatime.ca/montreal_final.pdf). The AGO begins its ministry at a time when an increasingly liberal agenda, as reflected at the 2004 General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, threatens the future of our national church and the entire global Anglican Communion.

 

“Many traditional Anglicans in our Diocese are feeling tremendous pain as a result of this crisis in our Church, particularly those who currently find themselves in more liberal parishes,” said Ven. Désirée Stedman, Rector of St. Matthew’s Anglican Church in Ottawa. “The AGO is here to provide hope, encouragement and support for the many Anglicans who are deeply troubled by the tragic departure from the authority of Scripture that our Canadian church has taken in recent months.”

 

Recognizing that we are all sinners in need of redemption, the AGO strives to:

 

·        Be a prophetic voice calling the Anglican Church of Canada to repentance and to a return to faithfulness to Scripture

 

·        Bring Anglicans in the Diocese of Ottawa together regularly for worship, encouragement and teaching, and to be a faithful witness to biblical and traditional Anglican teaching within our Diocese

 

·        Provide guidance and assistance to those parishes or individual Anglicans who wish to remain faithful to traditional Anglican teaching and beliefs

 

·        Prepare for any eventuality in the deepening crisis within the Anglican Church of Canada and the Global Anglican Communion

 

For more information on the Anglican gathering of Ottawa and its activities, please visit www.anglicangathering.ca.