Lutheran named to key Anglican post

Winnipeg Free Press ^ | 3 October 2011 | Brenda Suderman

[Cronos]

The first Anglican church in Western Canada, St. John's Anglican Cathedral is poised to make history again with the appointment of a Lutheran pastor as priest of the cathedral and dean of the diocese.

Rev. Paul N. Johnson, an ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, takes over as incumbent priest of the cathedral and dean of the diocese of Rupert's Land in January 2012, becoming the first Lutheran minister to hold those offices in Canada and perhaps the world.

"This is the first time, as far as we know, that a Lutheran will be serving an Anglican diocese as dean," says Johnson, 56, who spent seven years as assistant to the national Lutheran bishop and is now interim priest at All Saints Anglican Church.

"To me it's a very positive sign of movement in the right direction between the churches." Johnson's posting comes a decade after the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Anglican Church of Canada signed the Waterloo Declaration, which provides for full communion between the two denominations. Both groups recognize each other's baptisms, sacraments and ordinations, which means a Lutheran pastor can serve in an Anglican parish and an Anglican priest can be called to a Lutheran church.

"We are delighted to hear of this appointment, especially as it indicates another step in deepening our full communion," says ELCIC National Bishop Susan Johnson. Nationally, a dozen Anglican priests work in Lutheran churches and nine Lutheran pastors are serving Anglican congregations.

...For the people of St. John's Cathedral, hiring a Lutheran pastor for an Anglican congregation is more than another footnote in the history books. The people of the cathedral are confident that appointing Johnson as priest of the cathedral and dean of the diocese is noteworthy beyond the Anglican Church.

[Cronos]

interesting news

[sockmonkey]

Bizarre news.