Canada: Shared national office gets mixed reviews

By Marites N. Sison
staff writer
posted April 3, 2011

The idea of a shared national office, possibly located in Ottawa, for the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), is receiving mixed reviews from respective executive councils. In fact, said Archbishop Fred Hiltz, leadership of the Anglican Church of Canada may need to “step back” and consider more carefully the benefits of a shared national office.

He was speaking at the first joint meeting here, from Mar. 31-Apr.3, of the Council of General Synod (CoGS) and the ELCIC’s National Church Council (NCC).

At present, the national office of the Anglican Church of Canada is in Toronto; the ELCIC is headquartered in Winnipeg.

The idea of establishing a shared national office, which originated with the Joint Anglican-Lutheran Commission, was based on thinking that moving to Ottawa might allow the churches to directly engage with the federal government on issues of mutual concern, particularly social justice. “We can engage government with our current structures; we don’t need a translocation of staff,” was the response of one table group following discussion. the rest