Episcopal Press and News
BRAZIL: Anglican archbishop urges solidarity, prayers following devastating floods
Episcopal News Service. January 18, 2011 [011811-05]
Matthew Davies
The Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil is calling for prayers and support after a week of devastating floods and mudslides near Rio de Janeiro have claimed more than 670 lives and left about 13,000 people homeless.
Archbishop Mauricio Andrade of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil, or Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil (IEAB), in a Jan. 17 letter to the church, expressed his gratitude for the many messages of solidarity from around the world, including from Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.
Andrade has called on all IEAB parishes to use their Sunday collections in support of those affected by the disaster.
"I count on the participation of all communities in Brazil's Anglican appeal for solidarity, with the assurance that it will be given specifically to people in need of support, solidarity and comfort," said Andrade, in his pastoral message posted in Portuguese on the provincial website here.
Karla Avila, program officer for Episcopal Relief & Development, said the agency has been in contact with the Diocese of Rio de Janeiro about the flooding and its response. "While the diocese is in the process of assessing and identifying needs, Episcopal Relief & Development stands ready to support the response to all those suffering," she said.
The IEAB became an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion in 1965 following long-standing partnerships with the U.S.-based Episcopal Church.
In 1990, at the celebration of the centennial of the church in Brazil, the presiding bishops of the Episcopal Church and the IEAB agreed to try to reconnect the two provinces.
The result came at the 76th General Convention in July 2009, when the Episcopal Church agreed (via Resolution A130) to enter into a new covenant with IEAB titled "Commitment to be Companions in Christ." The covenant calls for the provinces to pray for each other's life and faith, commit to develop and support diocesan companion relationships, and "discern and support other initiatives that will mutually enrich the ministry and mission of both provinces."
The IEAB now includes 120,000 Anglicans in nine dioceses and one missionary district covering the entire country.
Other church and ecumenical groups in Brazil are gathering resources to help the thousands affected by the recent flooding disaster.
ACTAlliance said its member organizations in Brazil, including Christian Aid-Brazil, Koinonia, the Lutheran Federation of Diaconia, Ecumenical Coordinator of Services, and Diaconia, "will work together to help the affected populations," according to an Ecumenical News International article.
In a Jan. 17 release, ACTAlliance also said that "community-based churches in the [affected] cities have already deployed emergency response and offered solidarity with the victims."
Brazil's Catholic bishops have launched a campaign to help flood victims, the ENI news story noted, citing a Catholic News Service article that said churches were making their buildings available to "shelter people left homeless by the flooding and receive the bodies of victims."
Australia floods challenge church
Meanwhile in Australia Jan. 18, storms lashed the Brisbane area with golf ball-sized hail and 60 mph winds during the latest round of rain in nearly seven weeks of flooding. The devastation in the State of Queensland has spread to Victoria. At least 30 people have died in Queensland.
Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, primate of the Anglican Church of Australia, acknowledged to worshippers gathered Jan. 16 at All Saints' Anglican Church that such destruction and loss of life can cause people to ask, "Why does God allow floods and other natural disasters to wreak such destruction and cause such pain and grief?"
Aspinall's reply is that "there's no clear satisfying answer" to the kind of question that people have wrestled with for centuries.
"When you look closely at Jesus' life you see that his strength and power and might are expressed chiefly in the way he shows mercy and compassion and gives himself in risky, sacrificial service. That's what the presence and power of God look like," he said. "Now that puts a whole new slant on the way we look at what we've been through in this last week, because we've seen an enormous amount of that kind of thing."
He reminded the worshippers of the "outpouring of care and generosity and assistance we've seen," noting that "it's been called the second flood -- a tidal wave of love and care."
Aspinall's complete sermon is here.
A sampling of messages of support, including ones from Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town Desmond Tutu, has been posted here on the Brisbane website.