Network, Common Cause Represented at Myanmar Consecration
Bishop Henry Scriven, assistant bishop of the Anglican Communion Network diocese of Pittsburgh, represented the Network and the Common Cause Partnership at the consecration of Stephen Than Myint Oo as Archbishop of the Province of Myanmar on February 17.
The Enthronement, which was held in Yangon (Rangoon), was attended by Anglicans from all over the world, said Bishop Scriven. Those present included Archbishop John Chew of the Province of Southeast Asia, Bishop Michael Scott-Joynt who represented the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bishop Carolyn Irish of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah.
In his enthronement address, Archbishop Stephen said “I will seek God’s will and purpose first rather than my individual concepts, vision, and personal feeling in accomplishing His mission (or) goal that is set before me. For that, I will obey Him and go forward without turning to the right or to the left.”
“The most humbling aspect of the trip was that I was treated as an honored guest, not just a visitor or even a friend. Bishop Stephen took me to a local church on the Sunday morning of his enthronement and translated for me when I preached. He insisted on accompanying me to the airport when I left even though he had many meetings of the bishops and clergy of the Province to attend,” said Bishop Scriven.
The Network is pledged to ongoing relationships with the Province of SE Asia and the Province of Myanmar. There is a Missions Roundtable Consultation in Bangkok in October at which the Province of Myanmar will make a presentation.
The Anglican Relief and Development Fund, a ministry launched by the Network, has also been active in Myanmar. In 2006, it supported an effort to provide health care to tens of thousands of people in the dioceses of Sittwe and Toungoo by training 110 health care workers.
Forward in Faith North America, whose members form a non-geographical convocation of the Network, work with the diocese of Pha-an, which is establishing village primary schools and developing a community learning program for adults using the school venues and equipment.
Forward in Faith is also helping to fund a tutoring program at the Pha-an diocese’s hostels, to assist Christian young people in attaining the qualifications they need in order to teach in the Diocese’s schools.
“The diocese is well-organized, and despite the adversities it faces, has developed a clear master plan. The plan and its execution are entirely the diocese’s: our part has been to help provide resources so it can carry out that plan to the benefit of all the people of the region, and in doing so introduce and commend the Gospel,” said Forward in Faith’s vice-president, the Rev. Canon Warren Tanghe.