By ACNS staff
The Revd Canon Dr Alyson Barnett-Cowan was thanked for her faithful service to the global Anglican/Episcopal family at a farewell reception last night at the Anglican Communion Office (ACO) to mark her retirement as Interim Secretary General of the Anglican Communion.
Canon Barnett-Cowan is stepping down after six months in the interim leadership role, following six years of service as the Anglican Communion’s Director for Unity, Faith and Order.
Colleagues honoured Canon Barnett-Cowan’s skilful leadership and many achievements during her engagement with the Anglican Communion, which began in 1987 as a member of the Anglican-Lutheran International Commission, continued as theological advisor to the 1998 and 2008 Lambeth Conferences, as member of the Windsor Committee and contributor to the Windsor Report, and as member of the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations from 1998 to 2008.
Appointed a member of the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order, she ended up serving as director rather than as member.
Canon Barnett-Cowan also collaborated with the World Council of Churches on behalf of the Anglican Communion and accompanied the Archbishop of Canterbury in his historic visit to the 2013 WCC Assembly in Busan, Korea.
Canon Elizabeth Paver, Vice-Chair of the Anglican Consultative Council, said the Standing Committee felt profound relief at hearing that Canon Barnett-Cowan had agreed to serve as Interim Secretary General because “we knew we were in capable hands”.
In addition, the position of Directory for Unity Faith and Order was a position Canon Barnett-Cowan had “filled with expertise, sensitivity and aplomb during some very difficult times for the Anglican Communion,” said Canon Paver.
She noted the “pioneer” role Canon Barnett-Cowan had played as the first ordained woman to serve as Anglican co-secretary to a total of six international bilateral dialogues.
Gareth Powell, Methodist co-secretary of the Anglican-Methodist International Commission for Unity in Mission, remarked that the success of a true ecumenist lay not only in being able to understand one’s own perspective but in having done one’s homework, prayed with and wrestled with Christians of other traditions and in being able to reflect back what had been heard.
“We are deeply grateful not only for how you’ve represented the [Anglican] Communion but how you have enabled us to see ourselves,” he told Canon Barnett-Cowan.
The Rt Revd Nigel Stock, Bishop at Lambeth, spoke on behalf of the Archbishop of Canterbury of the “extraordinary contribution” that Canon Barnett-Cowan had made and praised her quiet sense of humour. In difficult situations, “you have done so much to keep people talking and contributing to those things which have held us to the point where we are at the moment and the fact that those conversations go on.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury recognised in particular the contributions Canon Barnett-Cowan had made to her own church, the Anglican Church of Canada, Bishop Stock said, reading from a letter from the Archbishop. “As a theological student, your arguments in favour of the ordination of women convinced significant theological leaders to support that development.”
Archbishop Justin Welby also noted the ministry of Canon Barnett-Cowan and her husband, the Revd Bruce Barnett-Cowan, in isolated communities in the North of Canada, serving predominantly First Nations communities, as well as Canon Barnett-Cowan’s involvementsin ecumenical dialogue at the national level.
The guidance and support Canon Barnett-Cowan had provided for ACO staff during a time of considerable transition had been invaluable, said Archbishop Welby. “Your faith in Christ... your commitment to your colleagues and to the life and mission of the Anglican Communion are the lasting memories you’ll leave with all your colleagues,” he concluded.
Canon Barnett-Cowan said it had been a huge privilege to be able to serve the Anglican Communion, together with so many people working towards the unity of God’s church. “It has blessed my life more than I can say.”
She said she was looking forward now to “returning home” and beginning a new chapter of her ecumenical engagement as President of the Canadian Council of Churches.