The new Anglican Dean of Sydney has made history. Kanishka Raffel, who was officially installed as Dean of Sydney last Thursday, is the first person from a non-European background to hold the role in the church’s history in Australia.
“No, it probably doesn’t cross my mind … I just feel like me,” the Dean said.
But his appointment heralds a bid by St Andrew’s Cathedral to cater for the changing demographic of its congregation, with a rise in parishioners from Asian and sub-continent backgrounds.
It also presents a opportunity for the church to access and attract new followers, Dean Raffel said, pointing to census statistics that 56 per cent of the City of Sydney’s population have both parents born overseas compared to the state average of 36 per cent.
(a) the dean wants to reach out to the growing multi-ethnic population, and their different cultures;
(b) the cathedral has a history of opposition to anything that smacks of catholic taste and ritual (like the whole Sydney diocese). See the end of the article for a reference to this;
(c) supposing immigrant Anglicans from a high church background (West Indies; Papua New Guinea; Solomon Islands; etc) ask for vestments, sacred music, candles, requiem remembrance of their dear departed loved ones …
… will the cathedral oblige?