Full text: Archbishop of Canterbury's presidential speech

From the Guardian -Full text at link at bottom-

In the last few weeks we've seen a number of topics coming up in public discussion, all centring on one set of questions – a set of questions which I think reflects painfully accurately some of the problems we face in our church, locally and internationally. The heated debates around the equality bill brought this out in one way, some of the renewed flurries of pressure and anxiety about euthanasia and assisted dying in other ways. And as we look forward to our own debates later in the year on women bishops and on the Anglican Covenant, we may see the parallels. And in the middle of all the frustration that many feel about deferring the debate on women bishops, perhaps we can at least ask how we can spend the intervening time constructively, looking again at whether we might learn anything from the way our culture is moving that will help us maintain some level of health or maturity in our church. That is the task I'm going to attempt, with some trepidation, today .

(snip)

But when the affirmation of that good takes the form of pre-empting the discernment of the wider Anglican (and a lot of the non-Anglican) fellowship, and of acting in ways that negate the general understanding of the limits set by Bible and tradition, there is a conflict with another undoubted good, which is the capacity of the Anglican family to affirm and support one another in diverse contexts. The freedom claimed, for example, by the Episcopal church to ordain a partnered homosexual bishop is, simply as a matter of fact, something that has a devastating impact on the freedom of, say, the Malaysian Christian to proclaim the faith without being cast as an enemy of public morality and risking both credibility and personal safety. It hardly needs to be added that the freedom that might be claimed by an African Anglican to support anti-gay legislation likewise has a serious impact on the credibility of the gospel in our setting.

Its all here-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/09/full-text-archbishop-canterbury-speech

Archbishop of Canterbury appeals for unity over gay clergy and women bishops

From The London Guardian-

Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, attempted today to bind together the warring factions of the Church of England by appealing for both conservatives and liberals to show mutual tolerance and understanding over issues of gay equality and women bishops.

He also placed the church firmly against any liberalisation of the law on assisted dying, describing the granting of a right to die as a moral mistake and an upsetting of the balance of freedoms.

However, his warning to Anglicans not to demonise opponents was immediately undermined by a pugnacious statement by the archbishop of Uganda, Henry Orombi, who, with immaculate timing, insisted on his church's support for homophobic legislation under consideration by the Ugandan parliament.

Williams, who described such legislation as infamous and repugnant, insisted in his address to the Church of England's General Synod, meeting in London: "Our job is not to secure purity but to find ways of deciding such contested issues that do not simply write off the others in the debate as negligible, morally or spiritually unserious or without moral claims."

But the archbishop stoutly defended the recent opposition of bishops in the Lords to the government's equality legislation, seeking to define how far the church could discriminate, particularly against gay people, in making secular appointments.

More here-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/09/archbishop-canterbury-general-synod-address

Church of England is 'living in the past', says BBC's head of religion

From The London Telegraph-

Aaqil Ahmed, a controversial executive whose appointment last year prompted more than 100 complaints, said: "I think all the faiths should be treated in the same way. I don't believe in treating any faith differently."

He dismissed claims that the BBC was marginalising religion as overly simplistic and argued that Christianity, in particular, was already covered well on television.

His comments come on the eve of a debate at the General Synod, the Church's parliament, over the BBC's treatment of Christianity.

There has been growing concern at top levels of the Church over the corporation's approach to religion, with warnings that it must not ignore its Christian audience.

Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, met last year with Mark Thompson, the BBC's director-general, to discuss religious broadcasting.

Bishops, clergy and lay members of the General Synod will vote this week on a motion calling on the state broadcaster to explain why its television coverage of Christianity has declined so steeply in recent years.

Output has fallen from 177 hours of religious programming on BBC television in 1987/88 to 155 hours in 2007/08 - a period during which the overall volume of programming has doubled.
However, in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Ahmed, an award-winning programme-maker, said that the Church's criticisms were too simplistic.

More here-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7174716/Church-of-England-is-living-in-the-past-says-BBCs-head-of-religion.html

Communion, Order, And Dissent Or “The Revenge of Puss And Boots”

A lengthy but good paper by Phil Turner from ACI-

I owe it to my readers to provide an explanation of a puzzling title. What does a discussion of “communion, order, and dissent” have to do with the well-known and well-loved children’s story of Puss and Boots? Remember, in the story, the hero can only reach his goal if he listens to a despised cat that he must take as his companion on the way. It would seem that the point of the story is that attention must be given to what we might otherwise despise if we are to succeed in our more “high flown” endeavors.

My point is that hierarchy, the subject of this conference, is an aspect of church order, and both have become something like the cat in Puss and Boots. We cannot reach our more noble goals without these unwelcome sources of help. Nevertheless, for some years we have neglected these despised companions, and as a result our church and our communion are in a terrible mess. Indeed, our seminaries do little or nothing to introduce future clergy to the importance of church polity. I remember when I was in seminary the arguments about church order that so engaged the Reformers were mentioned, but only in passing. Polity, we were told, is a subject we ought to “bone up on” because there would be polity questions on our General Ordination Exams. The message was clear. Hierarchy and order are not very important subjects. Yet, here we are at the beginning of the 21st Century faced with fiercely debated polity issues. The debate centers on the communion wide challenge of an Anglican Covenant and on a domestic legal battle over the meaning of the constitution and canons of The Episcopal Church (TEC). The former challenge might produce a divided communion and/or result in TEC becoming a second track form of Anglicanism. The latter might produce a change in our constitution effected by a secular court rather than constitutionally mandated procedures.

More here-

http://www.anglicancommunioninstitute.com/2010/02/communion-order-and-dissent-or-the-revenge-of-puss-and-boots/

New split in Church of England over women bishops

From The London Guardian-

Conservative evangelicals in the Church of England today became the latest group to threaten to split the church if it decides to consecrate women bishops.

At the start of this week's meeting of the General Synod, the church's parliament, in London, they warned that their clergy would in future be trained outside the Church of England if the proposals go ahead later this year.

The pressure group Reform, which claims to represent 350 ordained clergy and which has a track record of threatening action unless it gets its way, claimed its parishes would raise money to train their own clergy and would accordingly reduce payments to the Church of England.

The conservative evangelicals oppose women's ordination to the clergy, let alone the episcopacy, joining High Church Anglo-Catholics – with whom they share little else in common theologically or doctrinally – because they believe the Bible does not allow women to be in "headship" of any organisation, including businesses or the family.

In a statement signed by 50 vicars and endorsed by one suffragan bishop, Wallace Benn, the Bishop of Lewes, they said: "We are not for a moment saying women are less valuable than men … this is the point we find hardest to communicate, since the world about us equates value with power … In the end this is an issue about our view of Holy Scripture and this is why it matters to us so much as ministers of the Word."

More here-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/08/church-of-england-women-bishops

Trads left in cold by plans for women bishops, Bishop to disclose.

From The London Times-

The chaos of the Church of England's move towards consecrating women bishops is revealed in the statement the Bishop of Manchester will make to the General Synod tomorrow. Read the news story in The Times today. Articles of Faith has obtained a copy of this statement. In it he says:

'...proposals for a recognised society, some sort of transfer or vesting, or for adopting the simplest possible legislative approach all got initial amber lights, that is to say, we agreed to consider them further.. We then did some serious work on these models, particularly to tease out the pros and cons of the society model and to understand exactly what it might mean in terms of who exercised what jurisdiction and on whose authority.... The Revision Committee voted by a clear majority to reject the society option but, by a similarly clear majority to go for the transfer or vesting route....


...after more than six months work we had rejected all the options which would have involved conferring some measure of jurisdiction on someone other than the diocesan bishop. The legislation that the Revision Committee sends back to the Synod will, therefore, be on the basis that any arrangements that are made for parishes with conscientious difficulties about women’s ordination will be by way of delegation from the diocesan bishops. That much is already clear.'

More here-

http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2010/02/trads-left-in-cold-by-plans-for-women-bishops-bishop-to-disclose.html

Dr Rowan Williams to challenge infighting over gays and women bishops

From The London Times-

The Archbishop of Canterbury will fight threats of disintegration in the Church of England with what is expected to be a forceful intervention at the General Synod today.

Dr Rowan Williams is determined to challenge the increasingly bitter infighting sparked by disagreements over women bishops in England and gay ordinations in the US.

In one of the most important presidential addresses of his seven-year archiepiscopacy, described by one insider as a “brilliant piece of work”, the Archbishop is expected to salvage hope from the despair felt by many Anglicans over pressure brought by the liberal, evangelical and Catholic wings of the established Church.

Anglican leaders are increasingly concerned at the way that the Church’s tussles over women and gays is hindering its mission to proclaim the gospel to the nation. The synod was told yesterday that the Church of England was suffering a “testosterone deficit” caused by a “seriously out-of- line” gender balance. The synod heard anecdotal evidence suggesting that women are playing an increasingly important role in the Church, and when it comes to attendance bishops should be actively pursuing missions directed at men.

More here-

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7019963.ece

General Synod: Church of England suffering from 'testosterone deficit

From the London Telegraph-

A question tabled at the Synod by Canon Simon Bessant, of Sheffield, called on the Church to redress the problem where with women seriously outnumbered men in congregations.

He said there was ''plenty'' of anecdotal evidence that the gender balance in congregations is getting ''seriously out of line''.

In a question to the House of Bishops of the Church of England, he asked whether the Church was debating the ''profound theological issues'' implied by a ''gender imbalance''.

The Rt Rev Michael Hill, Bishop of Bristol, told the General Synod meeting in London that ''every soul'' is precious to the Lord and the gospel is the same for men and women alike.
''I believe every bishop is concerned to build a well-balanced church and mission amongst men and young people is on everyone's agenda,'' he said.

Asked about what efforts were being made to attract more people into Church of England congregations, Dr Philip Giddings, chairman of the Church's Mission and Public Affairs Council, told the General Synod that patterns of attendance in the Church of England were changing.
"Given such factors as the aggressive secular attacks on all faiths and the deepening time pressures on people in work, evangelism in parishes and dioceses is bearing fruit from difficult ground," he said.

More here-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7191223/General-Synod-Church-of-England-suffering-from-testosterone-deficit.html

The Anglican communion "is over"

Video from the BBC-

When it comes to issues of gender and sexuality the Church of England is a church divided.

From women bishops to gay clergy Anglican leaders have papered over the theological cracks by avoiding taking decisive action.

This week the church's governing body, the General Synod, meets in London.
Stephen Sackur asks the Bishop of Fulham John Broadhurst, how much longer Anglicans will stay together in a communion of convenience.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/8505019.stm

Anglican day of reckoning coming

From The Washigton Times-

On Wednesday, there wil be an important vote in London on whether the Brits will side with a nascent would-be 39th North American Anglican province that has split with the U.S. Episcopal Church.

The General Synod, the governing body for the 27-million-member Church of England (on paper that's who belongs but real attendance is only a few million per Sunday) will vote whether to align themselves with the 100,000-member Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). That is about one-tenth the membership of the U.S. Episcopal Church. Some Canadian Anglicans are part of the ACNA as well. The London Times explains a bit of the background here.

The ACNA, meeting last June in Bedford, Texas, adopted a constitution and appointed its first archbishop (Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh) to head the new church, which is constituted of former Episcopalians who left the denomination over issues of biblical authority, which had been simmering since the late 1960s, and the 2003 consecration of V. Gene Robinson as the denomination's first openly gay bishop. Several Anglican provinces have signified they will recognize the ACNA but the big kahuna is the Church of England. Once the ACNA gets recognized by enough of the current 38 provinces of the worldwide Anglican Communion as a legitimate Anglican body in North America, it's only a matter of time before they supplant the Episcopal Church, which at this moment claims it is the sole approved Anglican presence north of the Mexican border.

More here-

http://washingtontimes.com/weblogs/belief-blog/2010/feb/08/anglican-day-of-reckoning-coming/

Church of England at loggerheads over women bishops

From the Washington Post-

The Church of England said on Monday it would go ahead with installing women as bishops, but a delay in draft legislation has left liberals and traditionalists alike uncertain about how the plan will work in practice.

Together with homosexual bishops and same-sex marriages, the ordination of women is among the most divisive issues facing the Anglican Communion, which has 77 million members worldwide.

Some Anglo-Catholics in the Church of England, the Anglican mother church, have threatened to leave and switch to Rome after an offer made last October by Pope Benedict.

Church leaders at the General Synod, or parliament, were due to discuss women bishops at a week-long meeting in London this week, but the Revision Committee, assigned to draft legislation, failed to meet the deadline.

The committee, which is struggling to accommodate liberals who demand equality and traditionalists who want to keep an all-male senior clergy, will present draft proposals in time for the next Synod in July, in York, northern England.

Anglicans in the United States, Canada and New Zealand have women bishops, although the Scottish Episcopal Church failed to elect Britain's first woman bishop in a ballot last month.

More here-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/08/AR2010020802318.html

God goes to the Office

From USA Today-

Jesus instructed his followers not to serve both God and mammon. Buddha taught his followers to abandon all earthly attachments. But in the past few years, a new workplace spirituality movement has proclaimed the exact opposite and seeks to transform capitalism away from narrow materialism. Many wonder whether it will work, but the better question is whether we want our work to be holistic and all-consuming.

According to the workplace spirituality movement, creativity at work is a spiritual process that involves the whole person and not just the intellect or manual skill, and the new class of knowledge workers is devoting more of their time to work because they find deep meaning and a sense of purpose on the job. Today, clergy from various traditions serve as corporate chaplains, and the new faces of spiritual leadership are organizational development consultants who lead employees through creativity-enhancing spiritual practices. Overall, the contemporary workplace is regarded as a community, open to spirituality in the same way that it is hospitable to friendship and love.

A small but significant number of companies make a spiritual connection specifically to the Christian tradition, and owners of these organizations tend to be evangelicals. When founder Truett Cathy faced a business crisis at Chick-fil-A, now a growing fast-food enterprise, he made glorifying God one of the corporation's goals. At Chick-fil-A's corporate headquarters in Atlanta, company meetings sometimes include prayer. Cathy also requires that all his stores be closed on Sunday.

More here-

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2010/02/column-god-goes-to-the-office-.html

Local priest featured on “What Not to Wear”

From St. Louis-

A good time was had by all at a recent viewing party for a new episode of the popular Learning Channel series “What Not to Wear.” WNTW, as it is known to fans, is one of those makeover shows that takes people who are in the frumpy-to-normal range of appearance and makes changes to their clothes, hair, and makeup that are supposed to leave them looking absolutely fabulous. As the promo for the show put it, this was an episode about Emily, a “typical single girl with one divine difference…she’s an Episcopal priest.”

I don’t know Emily very well, but I was interested to see how a colleague in ministry would handle this challenge. And it’s clear that she considered the makeover a challenge. Like most of us, she was comfortable with a certain way of dressing and she wasn’t too sure about trying something completely different. Emily is a young, smart, and very accomplished person who had decided that, in terms of her appearance, blending in was more important than standing out. Besides the usual obstacles to looking her best–limitations of time, money, energy, and the vision to know what really does look best (I’d hate to have to face that 360-degree mirror myself!)–Emily also has the hurdle of sticking to what’s appropriate for a priest.

Which is where the show got really interesting. The hosts were genially clueless about the life of an Episcopal priest, but they were unafraid to ask the obvious, though impertinent, questions: Can a (currently single) priest date? Is it okay to look sexy when you’re not at work? Are you always representing the Church, or only when you’ve got your collar on? It quickly became clear that talking about a female priest’s body was not very comfortable for anyone, including the priest herself. But for a basically kind of silly TV show, I thought they handled it fairly well.

More here-

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/civil-religion/entertainment/2010/02/local-priest-featured-on-what-not-to-wear/

The politics of inconsequence My experience with the episcopal church shows how meaningless efforts towards democracy can be

From The London Guardian-

Here in the US, the Episcopal Church (ECUSA) is run on strictly democratic lines. Each parish is a private corporation with a vestry, consisting of lay members of the congregation, as its board of directors. The governing body of the national church is General Convention, which includes House of Bishops and House of Deputies consisting of elected lay and clergy representatives from each diocese.

Of course it makes not one whit of difference. Priests run their churches as they please and the national church's policies are set by the überpriests, cardinal rectors and bishops who've managed to shinny up the greasy pole of ecclesiastical office politics. Church politics in ECUSA mimics secular US politics at its dirtiest, in a virulent, concentrated form. There is lobbying and logrolling, clergy are bullied, laypeople are manipulated and in the end the policy-makers, iron fist in velvet glove, get their way.

Episcopalians watched this political process play out for over 20 years as the church's organisational elite campaigned to win support for the blessing of same-sex unions and the ordination of openly non-celibate homosexuals. After winning their protracted battle for liturgical revision, policy-makers turned their fancies to sexuality and, in 1985 induced General Convention to approve a resolution calling to "dispel myths and prejudices" against homosexuality. In 1994, after extensive politicking, and long before the ordination of Bishop Gene Robinson, General Convention approved a resolution calling for a report on rites for the blessing of same-sex unions.

More here-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/feb/08/general-synod-anglican-episcopal-church

Bishop Elliott Explains the Anglican Ordinariate: 'United in Communion But Not Absorbed'

From Catholic Online-

Catholic Online readers throughout the Globe have shown tremendous interest in the coming entry into full communion of many of our Christian brethren in the Traditional Anglican Communion.

As Editor in Chief, I have written extensively on this historic event. I have expressed my opinion that this is a response to the Prayer of Our Lord Jesus to the Father "That They May Be One" (John 17) and marks the beginning of a move toward the coming reunion of the One Church of Christ in the Third Millennium.

We are happy to present an insightful article written for the "Messenger Journal", the publication of the Traditional Anglican Communion entitled United in Communion, But Not Absorbed by Roman Catholic Bishop Peter J. Elliott.

The Bishop gives a deeper explanation of the implications of the invitation to members of the Traditional Anglican Communion. In so doing he not only shares his compelling personal journey to full communion but explains the extraordinary theology of ecclesial communion behind the Apostolic Constitution for Anglicans.

More here-

http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=35363

Have Faith in Love

From the New York Times-

THE election, two months ago, of the Rev. Mary Glasspool, a priest who has been in a committed relationship with another woman for more than 20 years, as a suffragan (assistant) bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, has brought added turmoil to the Episcopal Church in the United States and to the worldwide Anglican Communion. There has been sporadic schism since the regular ordination of women as priests in 1977 and especially since the election of the Rev. Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003. He is the first openly gay bishop in the history of those Christian bishops — Anglicans, Roman Catholics and Greek and Russian Orthodox among them — who trace their succession back to the apostles.

In protest, several dozen parishes have aligned themselves with conservative Anglican bishops in Africa, and the Roman Catholic Church has offered to take in disaffected Episcopalians. In 2008, the leadership of the Anglican Communion, to which the American church belongs, tried to keep things together by urging the Americans not to elect other openly gay people as bishops until the Communion could establish more common ground. The Los Angeles electors’ choice of a gay woman as bishop has pushed the denominational envelope to the point of tearing.

More here-

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/opinion/08lax.html

Archbishop of York's offensive blunder: suggests ex-Anglicans in Ordinariate would not be proper Catholics

From The London Telegraph-

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has suggested that ex-Anglicans who join the Roman Catholic Church as part of the Pope’s Ordinariate Scheme will not be “proper Catholics”. He made this claim in an interview with BBC Northern Ireland journalist William Crawley, who has put the transcript on his blog.

Dr Sentamu is displaying what appears to be deplorable ignorance. To put the record straight: any Anglican joining the Ordinariate will be as Catholic as the Pope. It’s as simple as that. Hat-tip to an Anglican friend who intends to follow this course of action and, like me, is outraged at Dr Sentamu’s misrepresentation.

Here’s the relevant section of the interview:

Archbishop Sentamu: “If people genuinely realise that they want to be Roman Catholic, they should convert properly, and go through catechesis and be made proper Catholics. This kind of creation [the Apostolic Constitution] — well, all I can say is, we wish them every blessing and may the Lord encourage them. But as far as I am concerned, if I was really, genuinely wanting to convert, I wouldn’t go into an ordinariate. I would actually go into catechesis and become a truly converted Roman Catholic and be accepted.”

More here-

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100025297/archbishop-of-yorks-offensive-blunder-suggests-ex-anglicans-in-ordinariate-would-not-be-proper-catholics/

Church set for new row over gay clerg

From the London telegraph-

Leading conservative clergy have declared their support for a motion at this week's General Synod which would ally the Church with the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).
This was formed in opposition to the consecration of Gene Robinson, the first openly homosexual bishop, and the actions of liberals in the Episcopal Church of the US, which is the official Anglican body.

However, the House of Bishops has tabled an amendment to the Synod motion which would seek to defuse the issue by postponing a decision until next year.

The Rt Rev Nicholas Reade, Bishop of Blackburn, is opposed to the stance taken by his colleagues. He said: "I am hoping for a sign of early support for ACNA, not a report coming back to Synod by the end of 2011."

The Rt Rev Wallace Benn, Bishop of Lewes, a fundamentalist on the Church's evangelical wing, said: "It seems to me that the House of Bishops' motion is just needlessly undermining, delaying and prevaricating."

The original motion, put down by Lorna Ashworth, an evangelical from the Chichester diocese, comes after the Episcopal Church elected a homosexual priest, Mary Glasspool, to be a suffragan bishop in the Los Angeles diocese.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7174792/Church-set-for-new-row-over-gay-clergy.html

The Road Home: State's new Espiscopal leader brings worldy persepctive

From Hartford CT.

Bishop-elect Ian T. Douglas’ heart is drawn to two different places these days. One brought him to where he is now; the other will form his future.

Douglas, a former missionary to Haiti, was elected Oct. 24 as the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut and, while he won’t be consecrated until April 17, he’s finished teaching at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., and is settling in at Diocesan House on Asylum Avenue, waiting for his office to be painted.

Douglas, 51, has spent his ministry primarily involved in world mission, looking outside the Episcopal Church’s boundaries to the church’s role in the worldwide Anglican Communion. But he decided to run for bishop of Connecticut because of what’s within the state’s boundaries.

“It was Haiti and l’Eglise Episcopale d’Haiti (the Episcopal Church of Haiti) that actually gave me my vocation,” Douglas said last week. “While my life has been one whose boundaries literally were the four corners of the Earth, or the ends of the Earth … I felt like God is guiding me to go deeper rather than broader.”

More here-

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/02/07/news/doc4b6e30cfde4d3790758947.txt

Crew of 9 at Episcopal Church Center abruptly fired; now they need a miracle

From The New York Daily News-

They worked for years cleaning and maintaining the Episcopal Church Center in midtown Manhattan. But after they were fired on Dec. 30, nine hard-working people are in desperate need of divine intervention.

"We came to work on Dec. 30 as every day, hoping to leave a little earlier to celebrate the new year," said Bronx native Héctor Miranda, a father of three. "But when we got to the building we were told that we no longer worked there. Just like that. They picked the date well to fire us."

Now, without the means to support his family, Miranda has no idea how he will pay the rent.

"Even worse," he said, "without health coverage I don't know how I am going to pay for my wife's treatment. She is a diabetic, you know."

The workers lost their jobs - which paid standard wages and benefits - when the church canceled the contract with Paris Maintenance, a union cleaning contractor, and replaced it with the nonunion Benjamin Enterprises.

The workers belong to SEIU Local 32BJ, which is helping them organize demonstrations outside the church to protest what the union calls "the unlawful termination" of the porters - and to demand that they be offered jobs by the new contractor.

"We have called Benjamin Enterprises and asked to keep our jobs, but we haven't received any response," the workers said in a letter addressed to presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, and to Bonnie Anderson, president of the church's house of deputies.

Read more:

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bronx/2010/02/07/2010-02-07_abruptly_fired_church_crew_needs_miracle.html#ixzz0equEss0E

Bishop of Sothern Virginia denies consent for Glasspool

February 4, 2010

To All Clergy in the Diocese of Southern Virginia

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

I am writing to inform you that I have decided not to consent to the election of the Rev'd Mary Glasspool as suffragan bishop of Los Angeles.

This decision comes after much prayer and reflection and after considerable struggle with what I believe to be a most difficult situation.

Everything I know about Mary Glasspool assures me that she is an experienced, faithful priest with extensive diocesan experience and strong leadership skills.

I believe she would make a wonderful bishop and that she is an excellent match for the Diocese of Los Angeles. Her election there was logical and appropriate.

Nevertheless, it is clear to me that the ordination of an openly Gay woman to the episcopate will - at this time - have a serious negative impact on our relationship with the wider Anglican Communion, and that it may very well strain - to the breaking point - those bonds of affection which we have come to value with others, even with those who may agree with us.

This, in turn, would limit or damage our future ability to offer leadership to the wider church around matters of sexuality and social justice, as well as limit our participation in shared programs for mission.

Let me assure you that this decision has not been an easy one for me. I believe that Mary Glasspool is the "right" person for the Diocese of Los Angeles.

I am and will continue to be an advocate for the inclusion of Gays and Lesbians in the Church.

Yet, I also believe that timing does matter and that sometimes it is necessary to practice restraint for the sake of preserving and maintaining relationships.

At this time, there are precious relationships at stake in this decision, ones that go a long way in defining who we are as people of a common table.

During the next few months in particular, please keep the entire leadership of the Church in your prayers.

In Christ,

+ Herman Hollerith IV

New bishop sets goals for Episcopalians

From Savanna-

In his first convention with the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia, the Rt. Rev. Scott A. Benhase called for Episcopalians to establish three guiding principles: To proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, to serve "the lost and the left out," and to be good stewards of the church's resources.

"As your bishop, it is my expectation that when I visit your congregation, I will see clear evidence that these guiding principles and these core identities are present in your common life."

About 250 clergy, church leaders and others attended the Friday morning address at the diocese's 189th convention.

The Diocese of Georgia includes 70 parishes spread over the southern two-thirds of the state.

Through his half-hour speech at the DeSoto Savannah Hilton, Benhase set ministerial goals and addressed the diocese's financial struggles.

Revenue in 2010 was expected to decline 4 percent, mostly due to a smaller carry-forward from the previous year, according to a financial report posted on the diocese's Web site.

The budget showed tithing - described as "pledges"- remained about the same.

"Some of the financial challenges we face are due to the larger economic recession in which this country still suffers," he said.

But some problems preceded the recession, he said.

"It's been there much longer. We've been drawing on past financial reserves to fund current ministry. This must stop."

More here-

http://savannahnow.com/news/2010-02-06/new-bishop-sets-goals-episcopalians

BOOK REVIEW: How an ecstatic movement failed

I read this several months ago. It is fascinating-

Gin was the "quickest way out of Man-chester," the Marxist historian Eric Hobs-bawn observed in "The Age of Revolution." Flight from the difficult and dreary often found its wings in alcohol or narcotics, while ecstatic religion could also provide the opiate that relieved the pains of life.

It has been ever thus. Religious movements that release the believer from his trials through connection with the divine can be found in most faiths: Sufism in Islam, the Hasidic movement in Judaism and Pentecostalism in modern Christianity are but a few examples. Some ecstatic movements flower under the guidance of a charismatic leader then fade upon his passing.

But from its roots in working-class Los Angeles 100 years ago, Pentecostalism has flourished in Africa, South America and in parts of Asia. It has become the fastest-growing segment of American religious life - even moving into the political spotlight with Sarah Palin and the 2008 presidential race.

In the early 1960s, the Christian charismatic renewal movement of signs and wonders made the jump into the "mainline" - and Julia Duin, religion editor of The Washington Times, deftly chronicles its meteoric rise and collapse in the Episcopal Church, focusing on the saga of the Rev. Graham Pulkingham and Houston's Church of the Redeemer.

More here-

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/feb/03/how-an-ecstatic-movement-failed/

SOUTH DAKOTA: Bishop appeals to Episcopal Relief and Development after ice storms down 3,000 power lines

From Episcopal Life Online-

Bishop John Tarrant of the Episcopal Diocese of South Dakota has requested emergency disaster relief funds from Episcopal Relief and Development to assist residents affected by winter storms and massive power outages on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation.
Ice storms downed an estimated 3,000 utility poles, leaving about 30,000 residents in two communities without water, electricity or heat for at least a week, said Randy Barnhardt, diocesan canon to the ordinary, during a Feb. 5 telephone interview from his Sioux Falls office.

"We are gathering relief funds and have designated Feb. 14 as a day for all the churches in this diocese to help with ice storm relief," he added.

The diocese had been able to disburse about $2,000 for purchase of propane gas for those with propane heaters. "But you can't help 30,000 people with $2,000, so we do the best we can," he said.

Tribal Chairman Joe Brings Plenty declared a state of emergency on the reservation, which is about the size of the state of Connecticut and encompasses 14 Episcopal congregations.

"The loss of electricity has also knocked out the reservation's aging water system," said the tribal chairman, who had also asked the federal government to declare a state of emergency on the reservation. "We have no running water on the entire reservation, it is also affecting reservation communities such as Faith, whose water is supplied from pipes running through the reservation," he added.

Meanwhile, snow continued to fall Friday and another storm system was on the way, said Virginia Traverfie, senior warden of Emmanuel Church in White Horse, who lives on the reservation.

More here-

http://www.episcopal-life.org/81803_119217_ENG_HTM.htm

'Friends need us' : Episcopal Diocese of Miss. heads to Honduras

From Mississippi-

While Haiti ranks as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Honduras is second.

That's why the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi has conducted an annual Honduras Medical Mission since 1982.

Every two years, participating Mississippi parishes pass on the responsibility of leading the mission. Madison's Chapel of the Cross is in charge for 2010-2011.

Scott Lenoir, Chapel of the Cross priest associate, will be taking his fifth trip as a member of the Honduras Medical Mission Team when the group leaves next week to spend a week in San Joaquin. The city serves as a hub for outlying villages.

"Even in light of the Haitian tragedy, our friends in San Joaquin need us this year more than ever," Lenoir said.

A team of around 30, including those from medical, dental and veterinarian fields, are sent to Honduras annually.

Physicians see up to 3,500 patients during the five-day clinic, supplying free medicine and treating patients for intestinal parasites. Dentists pull hundreds of teeth, and vets treat hundreds of animals.

For the past decade, the mission has also sponsored Kinder Mississippi, a Christian education and feeding program. It pays for transportation, uniforms and school supplies of San Joaquin children who want to study in San Antonio, a nearby town with a public middle school.

More here-

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20100206/FEAT04/2060317/1020/feat/-Friends-need-us----Episcopal-Diocese-of-Miss.-heads-to-Honduras

Snowstorm piles it on Pittsburgh, Western Pennsylvania

Completely off topic but I sure am glad I'm in South West Florida right now!

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette-

Ideally, you're sitting in the comfort of your home right now, reading your favorite newspaper with the heater working and the refrigerator stocked.

And, if you're following the advice of local authorities, you're just going to hunker down and stay put.

Because of the snowstorm that blanketed the region with a projected 8 to 12 inches during the night, getting around today could be complicated at best and, at its worst, dangerous. A winter storm warning issued by the National Weather Service for Western Pennsylvania remains in effect through 6 tonight. Areas to the south and east of the city were expected to be hit hardest.

"It's coming down thick, and we're going to get it all night," said Dave Bowers, a meteorologist with AccuWeather in State College, Centre County. "If you do decide to go out, you're going to have a lot to dig out of."

Early this morning the Port Authority announced it would offer limited service today because of continuing problems with road conditions. Read more details about the restricted service.

Duquesne Light was reporting about 9,000 customers without power last night due to the storm. Most of the outages were scattered throughout Allegheny and Beaver counties.

Read more:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10037/1034038-455.stm#ixzz0el24nZ67

Anglican Archbishop Calls for New Executive Leadership

From Christian Post-

The Anglican Communion should reshuffle its executive leadership, said a conservative archbishop who has resigned from the body citing its failure to challenge liberal developments in two Western national churches.

He pointed out that Western churches have been smothering opposition to their acceptance of homosexuality from churches they are financially supporting by threatening to withdraw that aid.

“The current ACC and SCAC (the executive body of the Anglican Communion) should resign,” said The Most Reverend Dr Mouneer H Anis, who leads the physically largest and most diverse Anglican province.

He said: “It is incomprehensible to think of dioceses (an administrative territorial unit administered by a bishop) or provinces (mostly national or regional churches but also city or subnational churches) that have not committed themselves to covenantal relationship to participate in the decision making processes that affect the life of those dioceses or provinces that have adopted and signed the Covenant. A new Anglican Consultative Council and SCAC, or at the very least an ad hoc Standing Committee, must be formed.”

The archbishop was expressing his personal views on the Anglican Covenant in his January 30 letter of resignation from the standing committee of the executive body of the worldwide Anglican Communion because of its failure to challenge, in its December 2009 meeting, The Episcopal Church’s (the U.S. national church) recent public declarations that homosexuals may be appointed as pastors and bishops and that the church may bless same-sex unions.

More here-

http://sg.christianpost.com/dbase/church/2428/section/1.htm

Obituary: Father Michael Harper

From The London Telegraph-

He left the Anglican Church in 1995 however after its decision to ordain women priests. Received into the Antiochian Orthodox Church, he became Dean of its communities in the United Kingdom and Ireland and held the office of archpriest.

Harper embraced the Anglican evangelical tradition following an intense conversion experience while attending a service in the chapel of King's College, Cambridge during his first undergraduate year at the university. He decided to seek Holy Orders, and spent six years as a curate at All Souls, Langham Place, in London's West End; the rector there, John Stott, was leading the revival of evangelicalism in the Church of England.

Between 1958 and 1964 Harper was chaplain to the Oxford Street stores, and in 1962 he had another dramatic experience while reading the Epistle to the Ephesians. "It was earth-shattering," he said, "everything leapt off the page." As a result he concluded that he had received "Baptism in the Spirit", which linked him with the so-called neo-Pentecostal movement that was then spreading rapidly in North America. This involved "speaking in tongues", healings, casting out demons and other unusual events.

John Stott was unhappy about this development in a member of his staff, as he regarded the movement as "unbalanced and unhealthy", and Harper was asked not to preach on the subject in All Souls. Their personal relationship was affected for a time, but harmony was eventually restored.

More here-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/religion-obituaries/7158633/Father-Michael-Harper.html

Controversial billboard clergyman no longer Archdeacon

From New Zealand-

The Anglican clergyman behind a controversial Christmas billboard of Joseph and Mary in bed is no longer Archdeacon of Auckland, but the city's Anglican Bishop denies he has been sacked.

Bishop John Paterson said Archdeacon Glynn Cardy's position was always going to come up for renewal in April and his leaving had nothing to do with the billboard.

The bishop told a parishioner in a letter many people had found the billboard offensive and he had asked Mr Cardy to apologise to his fellow clergy, Newstalk ZB reported.

Bishop Paterson added he would no longer be the Archdeacon of Auckland.

The billboard posted in December outside St Matthew in the City showed Mary and Joseph in bed with a caption reading "Poor Joseph, God was a hard act to follow".

It was vandalised three times before the church took it down permanently.

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/92097/controversial-billboard-clergyman-no-longer-archdeacon

Uganda: Obama ridicules anti-gay bill

From Afrik.com- (Interesting take on the genesis of discrimination against gays)

U.S. President, Mr. Barrack Obama has condemned the sponsor of Uganda gay bill, and questioned Uganda’s conscientiousness, in a breakfast meeting he held with religious leaders in Washington.

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has distanced himself from the bill, saying it does not represent the views of his government. "We may disagree about gay marriage, but surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are, whether it is here in the United States or... more extremely, in odious laws that are being proposed more recently in Uganda,” Mr. Obama was quoted as saying.

(snip)

Discrimination against homosexuals in Uganda has its root in the doctrines of the St. James Church after it seceded from the Episcopal Church of the United States, claiming resentment over the idea of gay bishops. St. James church subsequently sought—and found—protection among the conservative Anglican bishops of the Anglican Church in Uganda.

According to reports, the archbishop of Uganda, Henry Luke Orombi, took St. James church under his wing and has since campaigned relentlessly against homosexuality. However, the spiritual head of the Anglican Church, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, has condemned the anti-homosexuality bill that is before the Ugandan Parliament.

More here-

http://en.afrik.com/article16895.html