Having recently returned from my first venture ‘over East’ from my new base in Perth, three ‘C’s’ are top of mind. They are the:
- content of Anglican Identity in the Anglican Schools Commission as a whole
- collaboration with the range of people invested in the pursuit of a deeper sense of being Anglican in each of our schools, and
- the importance of context in an organisation made up of schools in different places with various needs which nevertheless seek to build the wellbeing of their communities within an Anglican framework.
What the content of Anglican Identity might be in the ASC is less a deep mystery than it is a broad mission. To be Anglican, put simply, is to tap into that famous balancing act between maintaining an equally high regard for scripture, reason, and tradition and then allowing our experience to inform each of those three legs of the Anglican stool. On this basis, it is not difficult to generate content to engage with when visiting schools in the East or in the West. Anything that connects us with biblical ideas and values, with clear and logical thinking that is important in any educational setting, grounded in the heritage of our particular branch of the Christian Church, is grist for the mill.
Collaboration with the range of people invested in the pursuit of being Anglican in our schools is a little more demanding. This is because there are sixteen schools in three Anglican dioceses at opposite ends of a very big country. The joys of being with the stakeholders in the four Eastern schools was tempered with the knowledge that collaboration cannot always be in person, as desirable as being physically present to each other may be. What is key is the expectation that working together – whether at a distance or in the same room – always demands a genuine exchange of ideas. It requires the trust to be open to conversation and critique, the preparedness to modify our favoured plans to suit the needs of others, and the willingness to share dreams and cast visions together.
The importance of context cannot be overstated. I’ve described Anglican Identity as a broad mission, and part of its genius is its translatability to people of different places, cultures, and needs. So, there is no success to be gained from taking a ‘cookie cutter’ approach to the investment of our schools in being genuinely Anglican. This is because, for Anglicans, substance takes precedence over style any day of the week. This means there is rightly room in ASC schools for the entire breadth of Anglican expression: low church, high church, and somewhere in between – hopefully giving our students and staff an experience of the diversity we value so highly in our mission statement.
Early signs of a strong and vital Anglican Identity existing in the schools, East and West, that I have visited in the last four weeks are exceptional. In continuing to get to know the ASC community, I expect I’ll do well to keep the three ‘C’s’ of content, collaboration, and context close. For it will surely help to know what I am talking about (the content), who my conversation partners and colleagues are (collaboration), and how it all fits into a range of school and diocesan settings (context).
The Reverend Doctor Eleanor O’Donnell
Director of Anglican Identity
