The Archbishop of Canada, His Grace Andrew Hutchinson, Wednesday paid a courtesy call on Vice-President James Michel at State House and later hailed the blooming partnership which exists between the Anglican Dioceses of Seychelles and Montreal.

The archbishop was accompanied at State House by his wife Lois and Seychellois Bishop French Chang-Him.

The archbishop's visit in Seychelles is in the context of the partnership between the Anglican Diocese of Seychelles and that of Montreal, where there is a large number of Seychellois.

In fact, the archbishop and his wife form part of a bigger delegation who are here on a familiarisation visit.

In an interview with the press after his meeting with VP Michel, Archbishop Hutchinson described relations between the two dioceses as very friendly and healthy, a liaison which has been very fruitful in terms of the exchange of knowledge in the past couple of years.

He noted that the Anglican communion, which has some 75 million members worldwide, was continuously designing specific partnerships to facilitate exchanges between different dioceses. Subsequently, the relation between the dioceses of Seychelles and Montreal was an example of such partnerships, he added.

" ... so the Diocese of Seychelles and Diocese of Montreal are now in an official partnership and that means that Bishop Chang-Time and other people from his Diocese will be able to visit Montreal any time," said Archbishop Hutchinson, who is also known as "The Ordinary", that is the Chaplain General of all armed forces in Canada.

Archbishop Hutchinson then explained that the delegation's visit here was to allow them to express solidarity with their Christian brothers and sisters, learn how the Diocese of Seychelles exercises its ministry as well as in what ways the churches could be of help to each other.

Their visit are also bringing them to different parishes around Mahe as well as on other islands, such as Ile Denis where the Archbishop was expected to hold a mass. Other members of the delegation were expected to do the same on Praslin.

As for his meeting with the Vice-President, Archbishop Hutchinson said he was briefed on the government's views and challenges as well as on its position towards churches.

"I'm also here to reassure the government that one of the aspects of our partnership is that in Montreal, every day, Christians are praying for Seychellois and Seychelloise. We do that not only for members of our churches but also for people in government," he said.

Referring to the over 10,000 Seychellois currently residing in Montreal, Archbishop Hutchinson said the majority of them were church-goers and "one of our parishes is particularly a welcome centre for them".

He revealed that the priest from that parish was also part of their delegation, which means that he will have a lot in terms of information to share with his congregation when he goes back home.

Bishop Chang-Him on his part said that the local Diocese would gain a lot from the visiting delegation, especially in sharing of experience on a broad range of issues.

He said there had been a lot of efforts over the past couple of years to strengthen the partnership between the two dioceses and which had brought him to Montreal on several occasions.

"A lot of Seychellois in Montreal are Anglican so they get involved in the Anglican church and its activities. This is excellent as we know they are keeping their faith alive and it is also very good for the young people," said Bishop Chang-Him.

Bishop Chang-Him also took the opportunity to thank a member of the delegation for the donation of pews to the new St Paul's Cathedral. The pews were previously in a parish in Montreal but are now being donated to the local cathedral.

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