Dear Friends,

The Rector here. I commend to you this week's letter from the Archbishop. 

I wish to highlight something the Archbishop alludes to in this correspondence, that the Electoral Synod (at which the Archbishop's successor will be elected), originally scheduled for the 30th of May, will be officially postponed to the 12th of September. Under our canon laws, once the Diocesan Bishop submits his or her resignation, it cannot be rescinded, and so Archbishop Cutler will be retiring at the end of June as planned. Until the new bishop is installed (which won't likely be until sometime in the mid-autumn - perhaps October would be my guess) canon law dictates that the administrative functions of the bishop over the diocese will fall to a council of three senior clergy. If my understanding is correct, the list of candidates for the Archbishop's successor will be released sometime late next week. 

And now, on to the Archbishop's thoughts for the week.

Blessings,

Fr. Ian+

To:         To Clergy and People of the Diocese

Date:     May 6th, 2020

 Dear Friends,

We are obviously living through a period of great uncertainty. In our desire to share as much information as possible in order to lessen the anxiety we may be overwhelming people with too much stuff to keep track of. So this week I am going to keep my letter to the diocese very short.

Request for information.

Last week the synod office sent two requests for information to all parishes. One is a request for parish financial information from treasurers. This information is critical to our application for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy. Please ensure it gets to Glen Greencorn as soon as possible. If you have any questions about the information please contact him. (ggreencorn@nspeidiocese.ca)

The second request for information is a “Parish Activity Log”. The information from the log will help us get a clearer picture of what is happening in parishes in this time of disruption. A portion of this information will be shared with the General Synod. It will be valuable both for the historical record and to help inform Diocesan Council decisions as the Covid 19 response continues. We plan to share the good news stories and ideas of how our congregations and parishes are adapting ministry and mission. Please contact Canon Gordon Redden if you have questions about this form. (gredden@nspeidiocese.ca)

I realize that no one particularly likes filling in forms. These are not “make work” projects - this information is important to us right now. Even as we are trying to share information with parish leaders and members of the diocese, we also require information from you. 

Tolerance for Uncertainty-covid-19-Workbook.

After coping with uncertainty and settling into new routines we now find ourselves longing for this all to be over. Perhaps it is warming weather and sunny days but these restrictions seem to have been going on forever. It is far too soon to lift them all and we need to appreciate that for the common good we must remain committed to fighting this pandemic. Our Primate has shared a workbook developed by a group of psychologists which may help you sort through the emotions that this time is raising. The link is below.

Electoral Synod

Yesterday a memo was sent to Synod Delegates to give notice that we do not believe that we will be able to gather for the Electoral Synod on May 30. The alternate date for the Synod is September 12 2020. The list of nominees will be released on May 16. Please keep the nominees, Synod members and our diocese in your prayers as we continue to prepare for this important decision. There will be more information about the interim time following my retirement and before a new bishop can be installed following the Diocesan Council meeting on June 13. In the meantime I ask you to keep using the prayer resources for “What’s Next?”.

Blessings,

 The Most Reverend Ron Cutler

Archbishop of Nova Scotia & Prince Edward Island