Next Sacred Circle planned for June 2020

Mississauga, Ont.

The next gathering of Sacred Circle—a meeting of Indigenous Anglicans from across Canada—will be held June 14-19 in Orillia, Ont., the Council of General Synod (CoGS) heard Friday, Nov. 8.

Sacred Circle—the largest gathering of the Indigenous Anglican church—is normally held every three years. It met most recently in August 2018, so the next meeting will come a year earlier than usual. But organizers felt that after the passing of a number of resolutions at General Synod last July formalizing the creation of a self-determining Indigenous church within the Anglican Church of Canada, they wanted to move as quickly as possible on “putting some meat on the bones of what a self-determining Indigenous church will look like,” Canon Murray Still, co-chair of the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples (ACIP), told CoGS.

The agenda, he said, will include topics such as finances and stewardship, with the short-term objective of setting up some benefits for currently non-stipendiary Indigenous Anglican clergy, he said.

Still also said the first meeting of Sacred Beginnings, a gathering for youth that ACIP hopes will be annual, is planned for March 15-18 in Beauséjour, Man. The main goal, he said, will be to help young Indigenous Anglicans learn about their spiritual heritage. It will be attended by about 32 people.