Hi-Tech solution planned for PSC, church meetings

The Church is to set up a sophisticated video-conferencing facility which will enable Provincial Standing Committee (PSC) to meet online this year. In future, the system will also enable smaller meetings to be held virtually, saving on the Province’s travel budget.

A meeting of the PSC Service Committee, which plans the Committee’s meetings, heard details of the facility this week. It will enable Diocesan PSC delegations across Southern Africa to be in video contact with Archbishop Thabo Makgoba and Provincial office-bearers in Cape Town and elsewhere.

Agenda papers are expected to be available online next week. The meeting will begin on the afternoon of Tuesday September 22 and continue until Thursday September 24.

The meeting will include a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the constitution of the Province, which was formed by the Dioceses of Cape Town, Grahamstown, Natal and St Helena in 1870.

PSC includes episcopal, clerical and lay representatives from each Diocese in the Province and meets annually. It comprises about 120 people, including representatives of organisations.

During the Service Committee meeting, Archbishop Thabo reported that a number of clergy or their spouses had died of COVID-19 since the last meeting, and a priest had been shot dead in the Diocese of Natal the previous night. He sent condolences to the families of all clergy and members of their families who had died.

The Service Committee asks parishioners to use the following prayer for PSC:

Almighty God, our refuge and strength;
as we face the realities of the Covid-19 pandemic,
keep us mindful of your saving power,
strengthen us to care for one another, and
teach us new ways of protecting your planet,
for you led your people out of exile,
you walked the road to Calvary,
and you continue to equip us for ministry with your Holy Spirit,
One God, world without end.
Amen