Farewell to Archbishop Aspinall
Homilies & Addresses
“Your promotion in the Diocese of comprehensive Anglicanism is an important legacy for maintaining unity in the Anglican Church in this Diocese moving forward. Your chairing of the Diocesan Synod has been legendary. Your dry wit and good humour have lightened many a long Synod session,” said The Hon. Justice Debra Mullins AO on the occasion of the Archbishop’s farewell
Archbishop, it is a mark of your desire for no fuss that all I am asked to do is to give a vote of thanks, and not a speech, on behalf of the Diocese for more than 20 years of outstanding leadership in this Diocese. During that same period, you have also been an outstanding leader in the national Church and not just when you served as Primate between 2005 and 2014.
When you arrived in the Diocese in 2002, you immediately had to confront the issue of how the Diocese deals with complaints of child sex abuse and ensures that the Church is a safe place for children and all vulnerable people. You have guided the Diocese to be a survivor focussed church and a church with policies and processes to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.
You have led us strategically, but the detail does not escape you. If there is a mistake in a set of minutes, you will spot it. Governance to you is not just a word. You used the Diocesan structures for effective oversight of the extensive and varied Diocesan activities.
As Archbishop you have made many difficult decisions. You have not been afraid to make the difficult decisions, but would spend time in exploring the options and the consequences of those options to reach what you felt was the right decision. You never accepted advice without testing it. This ensured your advisers were well prepared and ready to justify the advice. You got better advice as a result.
Your Presidential addresses to the Diocesan Synod and your sermons have been inspiring. Your promotion in the Diocese of comprehensive Anglicanism is an important legacy for maintaining unity in the Anglican Church in this Diocese moving forward.
Your chairing of the Diocesan Synod has been legendary. Your dry wit and good humour have lightened many a long Synod session.
Phillip, the Diocese, and the Province also, has benefitted from your wise leadership and counsel and your zeal for mission and ministry.
Christa, the Diocese has also benefitted from the support given by you to Phillip in his role as Archbishop and from your involvement in the Diocese.
Phillip and Christa, you have many friends here in Brisbane who are so pleased you plan to remain in the Diocese. We give thanks for our good fortune in having you Phillip as our Archbishop and wish you both good health and God’s blessings as you embark on the next stage of your journey.
Jump to next article
