Fourteen new Deacons for the Church of God
Please pray for the fourteen men and women to be ordained Deacon by The Most Rev’d Dr Ric Thorpe, Archbishop of Melbourne in his Cathedral Church of St Paul at 10.30am on Saturday, 7 February 2026. Please pray too for their friends and families and those among whom they will minister.
Sarah Elizabeth Coe Holy Trinity, Oakleigh
Callum Robert Dawson St George's, Malvern
Patrick Donohoe City on a Hill, Melbourne Foothills
Joel Daniel Henderson Holy Trinity, Bacchus Marsh
Samuel Jabro Christ Church, Berwick
Julie-anne Kay Laird All Saint's, Greensborough
Liying Ying (Simon) Li St Paul's Cathedral
Michelle Suzanne Loveday St Mark's, West Reservoir
Amanthi Menaka Lynch Glen Waverley Anglican Church
Andrew Stuart Murray St Margaret's, Eltham
Don Hong Dang Nguyen St John's, Highton
Anh Khoi Phuong City on a Hill, Melbourne West
Peter Ross Steven City on a Hill, Whittington
Brendan Robert Wright City an a Hill, Geelong
If you are unable to attend in-person you may also join the livestream here.
An update from VAT
This update was originally sent to members and friends of VAT on 20 January 2026.
An update from VAT
Dear members and friends,
We were saddened to learn the new that the Diocese has decided to close The Melbourne Anglican. We take this opportunity to share this news with you.
A copy of the letter from the Interim CEO of the Diocese is available here. The closure has come about because of “the financial realities currently facing the Diocese”, he stated.
Dr Muriel Porter has written a helpful article (which you can find below) addressing, amongst other things, the lack of consultation with synod members.
You may also have now received a message from The Revd Kirsty Brown, Chair of the Archbishop in Council Finance Committee with an invitation
to share with you the 2026 Diocesan budget that was recently approved by Archbishop in Council. The budget paper will be sent to you on 28 January 2026 and there will be an optional Budget Briefing on Wednesday 11 February online at 5.30pm. If you would like to attend, please register here. If you have any queries prior to the information session, please feel free to send them through to me at kjbrown@melbourneanglican.org.au and we will attempt to respond to them at the session.
Multi-faith Vigil, Thursday 22nd January, 11.15am
On the National Day of Mourning for the Bondi terror attack, Thursday 22 January at 11.15am, St Paul’s Cathedral is hosting heads of Christian churches, together with leaders of the Jewish and Muslim communities to mourn the victims and pray for peace in our national and world. All are welcome. You can find more details here.
Ordination of Deacons, Saturday 7th February, 10am
Join this significant event at St Paul’s Cathedral as The Most Revd Dr Ric Thorpe, Archbishop of Melbourne, ordains deacons to serve in the Diocese of Melbourne.
Welcome to Archbishop Ric, Tuesday 10th March, 3pm
We ask you to save the date for our welcome function for Archbishop Ric on Tuesday 10 March 2026, 3pm at St George’s Malvern. More details to come. Spread the word!
Lenten Quiet Day with Dr Paula Gooder, Saturday 14th March
We invite you to register for a Lenten Quiet Day Dr Paula Gooder (Canon Chancellor, St Paul’s Cathedral, London) at the Chapel of Trinity College Melbourne. You can find more details and book free tickets here.
Yours in Christ,
Michael Shand AM KC
President
Victorian Anglicans Together
The sad sudden closure of The Melbourne Anglican
18 January 2026
By Dr Muriel Porter
The news that TMA has been closed is causing shock across the Diocese of Melbourne. The diocese’s interim Chief Executive Office, Matthew Crichton, confirmed the news in an email to the clergy, weeks after rumours circulated that the TMA staff were made redundant on the eve of Christmas.
According to Mr Crichton, the closure has come about because of “the financial realities currently facing the Diocese”. The decision was made by Archbishop in Council “earlier in 2025”, apparently after “a careful and considered review”, he said. It would be good to know how wide-ranging that review was, because people outside the Council, including people with an interest in the matter, did not know about the decision until the closure email.
If there had been a normal Synod meeting last October – there wasn’t one because there was no Archbishop in place – the Council’s budget would have been up for discussion. There would have been an opportunity to debate the decision, to see if there was any way this could have been avoided. And we would not have been taken by surprise. Synod members could have reported the news to their parishes, and it would have been made known in the final editions of TMA.
Now parishioners will be told only if their vicars decide to tell them. Otherwise, they’ll find out when the next expected edition fails to turn up, because the December edition said nothing about the closure. TMA’s valuable weekly digital newsletters, ‘Newsstand’ and ‘Best of the Week’, that brought us religion news from around the world as well as the Diocese, have also ceased publication.
It seems the staff knew nothing of their fate when they put the December edition to bed, as they asked people to engage with them through letters. Write to us, they said. The letters section, they said in a notice, was ‘your voice’.
Sadly, our voice has now gone. In future, Mr Crichton says, “communications from the Diocese will be shared through the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne (ADOM) website and official social media channels”. Does this mean there will be no avenue for clergy and parishioners to have their say, to engage with the Diocese and each other?
And how will parishioners who are not comfortable with using social media find out what is going on? How will they engage with the church’s life beyond their parish? That is the sad reality behind this decision. Parishes are already largely isolated from diocesan life. Now they will be even more isolated. The diocese’s social cohesion – a term we are hearing a lot about in the wider world at present – may well be severely compromised.
TMA was the most highly awarded and respected diocesan newspaper in the country. It gave us much more than official diocesan news. Just look at the final edition – it contained articles about Gaza’s only Christian hospital, about the flooding crisis in South Sudan, a reflection on the state’s First People’s treaty, about AI and the doctrine of sin, book reviews, and much more. It provided rich food for our spiritual journey, as well as news.
The closure brings to end unbroken communication with the people of the Diocese that began in 1850, just three years after the Diocese was founded, with the creation of The Church of England Messenger. The names have changed over the years – the publication became TMA in 1994 – but for more than 170 years, the Diocese has had “a regular newspaper presence reflecting Anglican life, faith and witness in this place”, as Mr Crichton says.
It is well known that the Diocesan budget needs some urgent and far-reaching repair. Presumably other diocesan services are facing closure too. While we are also concerned about the financial realities, we must mourn that our core means of communication had to cease.
Dr Muriel Porter is a professional journalist, was a regular contributor to the TMA and its immediate forerunner, SEE. Dr Porter is a Member of the Committee of Victorian Anglicans Together.
A Christmas Reflection from Archdeacon Colleen O’Reilly
12 December 2025
At the dawn of time you wrought from nothing a universe of beauty and splendour. [Then] in the fullness of time you sent your Son to be born of Mary, bright image of your glory.
APBA Thanksgiving 2.
Members and friends of Victorian Anglicans Together will recognise these words from Thanksgiving 2 in The Holy Communion service, Second Order in A Prayer Book for Australia, 1995. The prayer makes explicit the relationship of God’s creation of all that is, and God’s incarnation in the coming of Jesus, the Word made flesh.
Christmas invites us to celebrate so much more than simply the birth of Jesus. It is an opportunity each year to focus on the unfolding story of God’s unwearied love for God’s creation, of which we are a part, but which is far older than even humanity ourselves, and far larger than even the edges of the universe we have so far detected.
When we look upon the infant Jesus in the manger scenes or on the Christmas cards we gaze into the mystery of the intertwining of God’s divinity and our humanity, into the wedding of heaven and earth, into the Word, the very being of God, made the same fragile, vulnerable flesh of which you and I are made.
If that does not take your breath away, or evoke your wonder, I am not sure how else God might lift your eyes. God’s hope is that you will see even the stars and angels rejoicing to accompany such a remaking of creation that begins with the birth of a child in the most ordinary of circumstances.
Of course, we love our familiar ways of keeping Christmas in our parishes and our homes, the well-known carols and readings, the special meals, and the family gatherings. Enjoy it all but with a larger heart and mind; with a looking beyond to the coming of the Holy One beyond defining, beyond containing, who embraces us with a steadfast and irrevocable commitment of love beyond our full imagining.
The love made known through the Christmas story is the same love and remaking of creation we celebrate in Easter and embrace for ourselves as, over the years of faithful attention, we are formed by the gift of Holy Spirit into the likeness of Christ, once the baby we so gladly welcomed.
The Ven. Colleen O’Reilly AM SCP
Vice-President - Victorian Anglicans Together
Archdeacon Colleen O’Reilly is a respected Australian Anglican priest and advocate for inclusive leadership, currently serving as Acting Vicar of the Parish of St Paul’s Kew East and Archdeacon of Stonnington in the Diocese of Melbourne. She has been a passionate champion for women’s ordination and leadership in the Church since the 1970s and was made a Member of the Order of Australia for her significant service to the Anglican Church and religious education.
President’s Christmas message to members and friends
12 December 2025
Dear members and friends
Victorian Anglicans Together join in extending to Archbishop Ric Thorpe and his wife Louie a warm welcome and best wishes for his episcopal ministry in the diocese.
At the service of Installation on 30 November 2025, he summarised the priorities for the diocese: prayer, mission, church planting, developing leaders, and schools.
It is, as the Archbishop has said, a new season for the diocese. Victorian Anglicans Together seeks to proclaim the Good News in word and deed, in a way that engages all people in their diversity.
We look forward to working constructively in this ministry:
Offering support where we can to parishes and their representatives facing the challenges that will arise
Bringing relevant news and developments to the attention of members and friends
Encouraging fellowship and discussion among our members and friends on issues of importance, including parish revitalisation
Preparing for next year’s synod, offering support and guidance to parishes and their representatives.
Members of Victorian Anglicans Together participated in a lively conversation about ministry in the year about to close and in the future at VAT’s end-of-year gathering at St George’s Malvern on 4 December. You can read a full report in the News section.
We also commend to you the accompanying Christmas reflection from our Vice-President, Archdeacon Colleen O’Reilly.
We offer our special thanks to the Rt Rev’d Genieve Blackwell (Administrator), the Rt Rev’d Dr Alison Taylor (Assistant Bishop) and Dr Leanne Beagley (Interim CEO) for their ministry in the Diocese during the vacancy in the See. We also wish the new Interim CEO, Matthew Crichton, well in his new role.
We offer Bishop Brad Billings congratulations and best wishes on his election as Archbishop of Adelaide.
The VAT Committee sends you their greetings and blessings for a joyous, holy and wonder-filled Christmas and Epiphany season.
Yours in Christ
Michael
Michael Shand AM KC
President - Victorian Anglicans Together
Michael Shand AM KC is a distinguished Australian barrister and church leader with deep experience in commercial, equity and church law and governance. He has served as Chancellor of the Anglican Dioceses of Melbourne and Ballarat, lectured in church law, and been recognised for his service to both the Anglican Church and the legal profession, including being appointed a Member of the Order of Australia. As President of Victorian Anglicans Together, Michael brings thoughtful leadership grounded in justice, integrity and faithful engagement with contemporary church life.
End-of-year gathering - Reflecting on the passing year and looking ahead
12 December 2025
Members of Victorian Anglicans Together participated in a lively conversation about ministry in the year about to close and in the future at VAT’s end-of-year gathering at St George’s Malvern last Thursday.
Leading the conversation, the Revd Dr Alex Ross, vicar of St John’s East Malvern and St Agnes’ Glen Huntly, responding to questions from Archdeacon Colleen O’Reilly, spoke warmly of some pleasing aspects of 2025 in his parishes. With a gradual growth in numbers in both churches, some new services had been introduced, reflecting a deepening sense of devotion. Alluding to the teaching that the prime Christian duty is to worship God, he said that worship was always the highlight for him: “We need to take worship very seriously”. He added that we need to remember that the Gospel and pastoral care change people’s lives. “We can take it for granted, but we can see profound changes in people’s lives”.
The conversation widened into a general discussion about the changing pattern of those seeking ordination, and the role of examining chaplains. Those offering in recent times were older than in previous years, were coming much later in their studies, and had often had a previous career. Some, coming at the end of their theological studies, simply expected they’d be ordained. It was the examining chaplains’ role to discern whether they really had a call to the ordained ministry.
Some potential ordinands were already lay ministers in their parishes, and stayed on in the same parish once ordained, and so missed the opportunity to experience the fullness of Melbourne Anglicanism. Concern was also expressed that some recently ordained clergy lacked a clear understanding of Anglican polity. This was a formation issue, Archdeacon O’Reilly said.
With increasing numbers of ordinands coming from Ridley College and City on a Hill churches, there was a clear need for more ordinands from the catholic wing of the church through Trinity College Theological School. This needed to turn around to fully reflect the diversity of Melbourne Diocese, but there was no “magic wand”.
Given we no longer have General Synod or diocesan lay education programs as were provided in the past, a program offering intentional education for parishioners is needed. It would not just deepen parishioners’ theological understanding and spirituality but would also foster vocations. If modest funding can be identified, perhaps such a program might become a component of diocesan plans for parish revitalisation.
Dr Muriel Porter OAM
Muriel Porter is a Melbourne-based Anglican journalist, author, historian and commentator who has written widely on the life and challenges of the Australian Church and society. A long-serving lay member of the Anglican Church of Australia’s General Synod, she has been a key advocate for the full equality of women and LGBTQ+ people in all aspects of church life. Her many books and articles bring informed, courageous insight to conversations about faith, justice and the future of Anglicanism.