No Longer Strangers: Ministry in a Multicultural Society

A.J. Pell is the rector of Holy Trinity Cathedral, Diocese of New
Westminster, British Columbia.

Like other churches in Canada, the Anglican Church of Canada has begun
to recognize that the changing ethnic composition of Canadian society in
general is haltingly beginning to be reflected in parish life. But how
to come to grips with this reality in a Christian and constructive
manner seems to elude Anglicans. Thus when a group of Toronto Anglicans
asked Archbishop Michael Peers to explore ways to reflect and
acknowledge the growing multicultural, multi-ethnic nature of the
Anglican church, the result was the commissioning of a report,
“Ministry in a Multicultural Society” for the 1992 General Synod.
Its author, Romney Moseley, was a professor in the Faculty of Divinity
at Trinity College, University of Toronto, who died less than a month
before Synod met.

The so-called Moseley Report was the product of a two-year study of the
Anglican Church of Canada. A total of 5700 questionnaires (10 per
parish) were sent out across the country, with one-third responding.
This study revealed an ambivalence among Canadian Anglicans, who
expressed concerns about British ethnocentrism in the church, about a
possible loss of Anglican identity in a multicultural mix, and about
racial biases in church and society.

This thin volume combines a summary of the Moseley Report, questions to
help individual readers or groups reflect on the report, a set of six
Bible studies and a dialogue between two Asian Canadian Anglicans on the
issues raised by the report, a collection of prayers, the 1992 General
Synod’s policy statement, and a copy of the questionnaire. The result
is long on good intentions and short on substance. Though imperfect in
terms of methodology, the book is a useful reflection on Anglicans and
multiculturalism in the 1990s.