There's a Time to Laugh

Lambeth Conference 'dominated by western bishops'

"Surprise surprise, Sergeant Carter", he said tipping his hat. Lambeth was dominated by the west. Well if the "Global South" decides not to show up what do you expect?

"The majority of African bishops boycotted the Lambeth Conference with 209 of the continent’s 324 diocesan bishops absent. As many African as American bishops attended Lambeth with the continent sending 127 bishops: 115 diocesan and 12 suffragan. Bishops from every Province but Uganda registered for the conference. Two Nigerians bishops took part. The Church of Nigeria had one registration: the Rt Rev Cyril Okorocha of Owerri. However, Bishop Okorocha pulled out of the meeting at the last minute after having faxed in a confirmation of his attendance on July 19. The second Nigerian bishop at Lambeth was a Roman Catholic archbishop, part of the seven-man team from the Vatican. One Rwandan bishop was present, and Kenya had 17 bishops registered. However, only five of the Kenyan bishops were present for Lambeth and one left after the bishops’ retreat."

http://www.religiousintelligence.com/news/?NewsID=2554

More good stuff happening in the Episcopal Church

A story from Galveston Texas about Michael Gemignani, associate rector at La Marque’s St. Michael’s Episcopal Church - he offers a vision of church a little different from the many mega-church models.

“I pastured an Episcopal church in Freeport for some 16 years,” he said. “Within two or three years after arriving, I gave a series of sermons on healing. And I offered the laying on of hands and anointing for healing within our regular Eucharistic services. “I thought only a few would come forward. Everyone came up. And they kept coming up each first Sunday, year after year, and were still doing so when I retired. I was told we had some physical healings, but people came again and again because they sensed God’s power in the sacrament of healing. Deep healing was taking place and people felt it or they could not have continued to come again and again. Lives were changed.”
http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=da87b4b692658559&-session=TheDailyNews:42F941281418400D74tOQ146B6DE

You can read all the good stuff posts by typing "good stuff" in the blog's search engine.

For the love of Christ

An interesting piece from the Manchester Guardian by a Julie Burchill who describes herself as "a Christian Zionist, a Christian feminist and a Christian socialist. But the Christian part has become the most important"

"Today, atheism is big business with the success of books like The God Delusion. If you want to get ahead, be a heretic! Something, however, has been lost. Say the word "atheist" 100 years ago and it conjured up a vision of sexy, freewheeling rebels celebrating life, love and creativity in their rejection of a higher power. Say it now and a vision of fun-hating killjoys, desperately scared that somewhere a Christian is having a good time by singing lustily in church on a Sunday morning, comes to mind. And, sadly, the alleged "humanist morality" never happened – to this day, 80% of all unpaid and unself-interested voluntary and charity work is faith-driven."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/14/religion.anglicanism

There's a response here but it's not as interesting as the original (IMHO) -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/21/religion.anglicanism

Trinity Cathedral Pittsburgh News Release.

I can only interpret this news release to mean that Trinity Cathedral will not be a part of the realignment.

August 22, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TRINITY CATHEDRAL RESOLUTION ENVISIONS CONTINUED ACCESS FOR ALL

This September, Trinity Cathedral members will be discussing a resolution of Cathedral Chapter that would make it possible for Trinity to continue to be the cathedral church for all who are currently part of the diocese, regardless of their future Anglican affiliation. Their work has the full support of Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan.

The Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh will consider whether or not to realign as a diocese with another province of the Anglican Communion during its annual meeting on October 4. While a majority of the diocese's elected deputies supported the proposition on its first reading at the diocesan convention in 2007, other individuals and congregations have made it clear that they will remain with The Episcopal Church in the event that realignment receives final approval.

The resolution states that the Cathedral "does not wish to be compelled to make an exclusive choice" between Anglican worshipping communities. It goes on to lay out a practical system by which the Cathedral could serve both groups. That system envisions giving seats on the Cathedral's governing bodies to representatives of both contingents, inviting the bishops of both to serve as co-presidents of the Cathedral Chapter, and working with both on issues such as clergy appointments.

According to Cathedral Provost Canon Catherine Brall, the draft resolution was prepared over the last several months by the Cathedral Chapter and sent to all active members of the Trinity on August 22. Cathedral parish members will have a number of opportunities to discuss the resolution over the next three weeks, and then will come together for a final all-parish meeting on September 14.

Canon Brall praised the work of the Chapter, saying that the ideas encapsulated in the resolution "grew out of a very thorough and wonderful season of Chapter members seeking to envision how Trinity Cathedral might best position itself to fulfill its unique identity and destiny as a historic Penn Land Grant Church deeded to foster and preserve Anglican and Episcopal worship."

Bishop Duncan also thanked the Chapter for their work and commended the resolution to the Cathedral parish membership. "Trinity Cathedral, more than any other church building in the diocese, belongs not just to whoever may "win" the right to administer it in our sad divisions, but to all of us, to the city, and the whole region. I see this resolution as a good initiative to acknowledge and protect that unique role and to protect the Cathedral's future as Mother Church of all Anglicans and of the City," he said.

The Cathedral Chapter Resolution is available here (pdf):

http://www.pitanglican.org/news/local/filesforposting/resolution082208.pdf

This story is available online at:

http://www.pitanglican.org/news/local/trinitycathedral082208

Biblical Reasons for Staying

The Rev. Philip Wainwright of St. Peter's Brentwood (Diocese of Pittsburgh) wrote a thorough Biblical treatment - making a case for staying in the Episcopal Church. I thought it was worth revisiting on its first anniversary of publication.

We all accept the significance of Jesus’s prayer for His followers and their perfect unity, the last thing He prays for, as far as we know, before His arrest, trial and crucifixion; and we all agree on the significance of the unity and fellowship described in the Acts of the Apostles and elsewhere in the New Testament. What we are not so agreed about is what that unity looks like in practice. Our initial assumption may be that it looks like people all believing the same thing, and all living according to the same moral standards, but but when we look closely at all that the New Testament says about this, we find that it’s not so simple.

I'll post a link to the right for easy future reference.

http://parishtoolbox.org./media/Biblical_reasons_for_staying.pdf

Conservatives grow wary of mixing church, politics

From the Associated Press a report on the way conservative Christian thinking is shifting. Looks like the Moral Majority days are over.

"Fifty percent of conservatives think churches and other places of worship should stay out of social and political matters, up from 30 percent four years ago, according to a survey released Thursday by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

That significant shift in conservative thought has brought the country to a tipping point on the question: a slim majority of Americans - 52 percent - now think churches should keep out of politics."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/REL_RELIGION_POLITICS_POLL?SITE=NCAGW&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Workers find solace from Mammon in church

London Times reports on something positive coming out of the credit crisis -people going to church. Imagine, hard times driving people to God ! This is about St. Peter's Anglican Church in East London.

"Bibles and BlackBerrys may not be not an obvious combination but Jeremy Marshall, chief executive officer of private banking at Credit Suisse, who often takes the service, thinks the growing congregation may have something to do with the credit crunch.

“When times get tougher people think more about why they are here and they may ask themselves if there is more to life than making money,” he said. The streamlined services skip the hymns. “We stick to half an hour because many of our congregation have quite significant time constraints,” Mr Marshall explained."

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article4584174.ece

African food crisis is part of a ‘silent tsunami’

Church Times report on the crisis in East Africa. More examples of the church doing good work for the benefit of others.

“We could see a lot of fields were ploughed, but nothing was growing, as they had been forced to eat the seed. That’s led to this problem of a decline in agricultural production. We visited a number of families whose children were severely malnour ished, and one family had decided to sell their share in a cow to raise money to buy food. “We also went to a market and spoke to grain traders, who said the price of grain had gone up three- fold since January, and people in the community could not afford to buy anything from the market.” Tearfund has set up an emergency feeding programme, targeting malnourished children, and a seed-distribution loan scheme, under which, it is hoped, farmers can repay in kind in the future. It is also working through a network of 70 churches to set up a money-saving scheme to help the community in lean times in the future.

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=62144

No comment - Really I mean it !

From The New Yorker. Is it just me or does it look like the guy on the left is wearing a bishop's hat ?

FAQ #4 What was the probelm with the Episcopal election in South Carolina?

Q- Wasn't Mark Lawrence's election as Bishop of South Carolina controversial and consents denied in many places because he was conservative?

A. That may have been true in some places but the majority of resistance to Mark's election was because many falsely believed that he would do in South Carolina what Pittsburgh is threatening to do, that is realign. When it became clear that he had no such intentions the consents were easily attained.

You can see all of the Frequently Asked Questions by typing FAQ into the blog's search engine.

FAQ #3 Future Bishops in the Diocese

Q. If we stay in he Episcopal Church isn't it true that the Diocese of Pittsburgh will never be able to get the bishop we want in the future?

A. There is no evidence that this is true. In the diocese of South Carolina Mark Lawrence received the majority of consents (from Bishops and Standing Committees) the first time they were requested but many of them were submitted in the wrong form. When Standing Committees were asked for them again he received the requested number easily. Further, the Diocese of Dallas recently elected a suffragan Bishop (Paul Lambert) who is conservative and had no problem receiving the necessary consents from Bishops and Standing Committees.

You can see all of the Frequently Asked Questions by typing FAQ into the blog's search engine

His face sure rings a bell ?

Anybody know who this 1954 graduate of Episcopal High School in Alexandria Virginia is ? Answer in the comments .

Good Stuff: Trinity Wall Street makes Lambeth videos available on line

Trinity Episcopal Church Wall Street is making the Lambeth videos available on line.

The videos on this page were shown at the outset of each day of the 2008 Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Communion. The conference, recently concluded, was attended by nearly 700 Anglican bishops from around the world, and these videos introduced participants to the day's theme.

http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/welcome/?lambeth

Woman priest enlisted to find best book

Didn't know about the Ramsey Prize. Look forward to hearing the results later this year. Oh, and I think someone needs to buy some vowels.

Nominations are currently being processed and a shortlist of titles contending for the Prize will be announced in December 2008. The winner of the 2009 Michael Ramsey Prize will be announced at the Hay-on-Wye Literary Festival, in May 2009.

The Michael Ramsey Prize, awarded every two years, and worth £15,000, aims to encourage the most promising contemporary theological writing and to identify it for a wider Christian readership. The biennial prize was inaugurated by Archbishop of Canterbury in 2005 to commemorate Dr Ramsey, who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1961-1974, and his commitment to increasing the breadth of theological understanding of people in general.

http://www.religiousintelligence.com/news/?NewsID=2534

Franciscan University in Steubenville copes with fatal crash

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette headline today about a treagedy in Stuebenville WV. It begins with a reminder of the ministry we're to be about.

"It was his day off, and the Rev. Dean Borgmeyer had plans for Tuesday -- shopping, buying supplies for incoming students at Weirton Madonna High School, maybe even catching a movie. But the day got away from him while he dithered in the rectory at St Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in Weirton Heights. He wasn't sure he wanted to fight construction-zone traffic or empty his gas tank for an unnecessary trip. He couldn't think of a film he really wanted to see. Just before 5 p.m., his telephone rang. "

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08234/905960-455.stm

Dioceses of Pittsburgh membership

Diocesan leadership likes to talk about the growth of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. This is an excerpt from a pastoral letter in 2007 -

"In trying times, St. Paul instructs us not only to be steadfast and immovable, but also to “abound in the work of the Lord, knowing that in Him [our] labor is not in vain.” All of us need to stay focused on the mission: locally, regionally, nationally and globally. Despite the trials of this season the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh continues to prosper. One sign of this is the statistics available from the Episcopal Church itself. When adjusted for population growth or loss, our diocese, over the last twelve years, is number three in the nation among ninety-nine Episcopal dioceses for growth in average Sunday attendance. (South Carolina, another Network diocese, was number one and Nevada was number ninety-nine.)"

If you want to see what those numbers look like its here -

http://12.0.101.92/reports/PR_ChartsDemo/exports/ParishRPT_820200895538AM.pdf

The pastoral letter can be found here-

http://www.pitanglican.org/news/local/pastoralletter012907/view?searchterm=primatial

China, the Olympics and the Bible

A Commentary on China and its (in)tolerance of Christianity. Persecution enables church growth? Who would have thunk it ?

"During the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and '70s, all religious activity -- including the possession of Bibles -- was banned in China. The Three-Self Patriotic Church was terminated, despite promises by church leaders to remain "patriotic." Christian activities were driven underground into house churches and, much like the early church under Roman persecution, this underground church movement thrived despite persecution. The more repressive the government became, the more the church grew."

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_100040_ENG_HTM.htm

Good Stuff TEC is doing

From the Diocese of Iowa -

Iowa Flood Report
Article & Photos by The Rev. Pat Genereux, Coordinator, Diocesan Office of Disaster Relief
[August 5, 2008] It’s hard to believe that its been well over six weeks since the first reports of massive flooding in Iowa. After those first emails from Wendy Abrahamson, then Maureen Doherty, others poured in as fast as the waters breached levees and begin destroying homes and businesses. From Waverly to Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, from Iowa City and Coralville to Oakville, Burlington and points south the lives of thousands of Iowans were plunged into the nightmare and chaos that some have been calling Iowa’s “Katrina.”

Out of this chaos rose a different kind of flood; a flood of fellow Iowans stepping up to help one another in those first hours and days of the devastation, and a flood of phone calls from around the Episcopal Church with of help in the form of gifts of money and the presence volunteers. Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) stepped in with an initial grant for flood victims, and the folks from Louisiana called and offered their assistance in the persons of Katie Mears (an native Iowan working for the Diocese of Louisiana in rebuilding homes) and Peter Nunnerly, another staff person from Louisiana, as well as any advice we wished to tap into.

Bishop Alan asked me to help with the coordination of flood relief efforts, especially from the many Episcopal volunteers from outside the Diocese and to work with ERD in continuing funding efforts. The Bishop asked the local coordinators to gather with Katie Mears, which we did at the end of June, in order to look at how we could work together and begin planning “All Hands” work days; the first of which was held on the Fourth of July weekend in Cedar Rapids. Others have been held in the Cedar Falls-Waterloo area, and just this past weekend in Des Moines and Iowa City. For information on the newly created Diocese of Iowa Office for Disaster Relief, visit www.iowaepiscopal.org.

The waters may have receded in most places but the needs of flood victims have not. However, to the surprise of many that is not universally true. Across the Mississippi from Burlington, what’s left of the village of Gulfport is still standing in water, but it is hoped that in the next week or so homeowners can began to go back to assess the damage. In other places, some families are still mucking out flood debris, removing damaged household items, salvaging what they can, or tearing out walls, duct work, and wiring while others are hoping to begin rehabbing. The hardest hit will probably not get any rebuilding started before the snow flies. In fact despite promises made by State and Federal agencies some forms of assistance, especially funding, may not happen as fast and as much as hoped for. I heard many groans of dismay at the news that Congress will not be taking up the issue of federal assistance for Iowa until after the summer recess.

On August 3, the Des Moines Register reported on the story of Cedar Rapids resident, Patricia Jordan and her daughter. Patricia, who is also blind, lost her rented home to the flood waters. Patricia and her daughter may end up in a homeless shelter. Patricia, the Register reports, is going to have lots of company in her plight as the destruction of inexpensive housing in places like Cedar Rapids will be gone. The present state of the economy is going to make life even more difficult for these folks and those who lost jobs as a result of the flooding. The aid they receive will be minimal to nothing. Our sisters and brothers in New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast know exactly what this means.

There is still a lot more to do. We will continue to keep you posted. Funds as well as helping hands are still very much needed. For information about donations, visit www.iowaepiscopal.org. If you want to help by volunteering please contact volunteer coordinators, The Rev. Betsy Lee and The Rev. Susanne Watson Epting, at floodvolunteer@yahoo.com. They will put you in touch with one of the local coordinators.

The Diocesan web site, www.iowaepiscopal.org, will lead you to more information and the latest news. We are working hard to keep everything updated and current.

Thank you all who have given of your time and treasure to help relieve the distress of those whose lives have been overcome by wind and water. Your grace-filled ministry and work offers hope and comfort to those in need.

Gay rights activist accuses Vatican of "moral vandalism"

You really couldn't make this stuff up. Newman is pictured in his ten gallon hat. Apparently he was Brokeback before Brokeback was cool.

"The gay rights activist Peter Tatchell claims the Vatican is promoting “an act of moral vandalism” for requesting the removal of the body of a Victorian British Cardinal from his grave.

"The Vatican has asked for the body of John Henry Newman to be transferred from his grave at a cemetery in Rednal, near Birmingham to the Oratory Church in Edgbaston, prior to an expected decision by the Church to declare Newman "blessed", a penultimate step on the path to sainthood, in 2009.

Arguably the most famous convert to Catholicism in Victorian England, Newman was originally an Anglican clergyman who spearheaded the Oxford movement which attempted bring the Church of England back to what he viewed as its Catholic origins. After a prolonged bout of self-questioning, Newman converted to the Catholic Church in 1845. Upon his death in 1890, Newman was buried alongside his close friend, former companion and fellow convert, Father Ambrose St John. Previously, they had shared a house.""

Its all here -

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4566639.ece

FAQ #2 Discipline in the Anglican Communion

Q. Why doesn't the Anglican Communion exercise church discipline with the American Church?

A. The provinces of the Anglican Communion are autonomous entities and there is no Communion wide system for discipline. Clergy of the Episcopal Church who are thought to have stepped outside the bounds are disciplined by diocesan structures and Bishop's by a national structure which involves the House of Bishops. There is no question that the American church's record on discipline is spotty at best but there are examples of the system working. In Philadelphia, Bishop Bennison was recently tried for behavior he engaged in several decades ago and found guilty. And last year Ann Holmes Reading, a priest from Rhode Island, serving in Washington State, claimed to be a Muslim. Her Bishop "pulled her collar".

The Bennison story is here

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/21930664.html

and more recently here

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/26902229.html

and the Ann Holmes Reading story is here

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003777863_webpriest06.html

You can see all of the Frequently Asked Questions by typing FAQ into the blog's search engine

E. J. Dionne on Evangelicals and politics

In the category of "further signs of the impending Apocalypse" E. J. Dionne has nice things to say about today's evangelicals.

"Just a few years back, who would have imagined that Barack Obama and John McCain would hold a discussion of this sort in a church? Who would have thought that the session would be moderated by an evangelical pastor who was emphatic in counting both the Democrat and the Republican as his "friends"? Who would have predicted that the issues of abortion and gay marriage would not dominate the pastor's queries?

Oh yes, and who would have anticipated that the passions of the pastor in question would be engaged not in the divisions created by the culture wars but in the imperative of civility in politics and the plight of the world's 148 million orphans? Here's betting that the next president will help those orphans find homes.

The notion that Christianity in general and evangelicalism in particular are by nature right-wing creeds has always been wrong. How can a faith built around a commitment to the poor and the vulnerable be seen as leading ineluctably to conservative political conclusions?"

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/5951666.html

One of the best pitchers in professional baseball has died and I'll bet you never heard of her !

Dottie Collins who pitched for the All American Girls League during the second world war has died at the age of 84. For you soccer fans out there - yes there really was a professional women's league at one time.

"Some four decades after she retired, Ms. Collins reflected on major-league ballplayers and said she was none too impressed in light of her feats. "I pitched and won both games of a doubleheader once pitching underhand," she told Susan E. Johnson in "When Women Played Hardball." "I think I could have pitched a doubleheader overhand, too," she said. "I don't think it would be that hard. Nowadays, the men can't do it, but hell, they can't do nothing.' "

I guess she was living proof that "there's no crying in baseball"- you can read it all here

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/17/BA4612CKOO.DTL

Bishop Katherine gets it right on Bennison

The Presiding Bishop weighs in on the trial and upcoming sentencing of Bishop Bennison in Philadelphia.

"Bishop Bennison should not be permitted to resume his episcopate in the Diocese of Pennsylvania under any circumstances," Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori wrote the court in late July. "His credibility and lack of appropriate pastoral sensitivity . . . demonstrate he could not effectively lead the Diocese" or any other diocese "now or in the future," Schori argued."

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/26902229.html

I think it has something to do with the pointy hats

More good stuff TEC is doing

A very brief AP article run in the Washington Times mentioning the good work that TEC has done with hurricane relief on the Gulf coast.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/aug/14/religion-news-in-brief-1/

The Economist on Rick Warren as Billy Graham's successor

What I like about Rick Warren is his desire to be involved in the great social issues of our day. That would be issues plural not some narrow agenda. I also seem to remember him saying that he would work side by side with those who have the same mission regardless of theological differences.

"This required entrepreneurial skills of a high order. Mr Graham founded two of the most powerful organisations in post-war evangelicalism, Christianity Today and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Mr Warren has become a one-man dispenser of “purpose”. More than 400,000 pastors have attended his seminars on the “purpose-driven church”, and more than 30m people have bought his book, “The Purpose-Driven Life”. Mr Graham has preached to some 215m people in 185 countries. Mr Warren, though not yet in that league, is also going global, not only with his preaching but also with his charitable work. He is now emphasising poverty, HIV-AIDS, global warming and overseas aid."

http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11920933

A Time magazine piece about his social work is here

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1830147,00.html

I'm with you Warren

"My God this is a hell of a job! I have no trouble with my enemies...But my damn friends they're the one's that keep me walking the floor nights."

Warren Gamaliel Harding

Can anything good come out of TEC? Yes !

I was contacted by a priest of the church who had previously served in the Diocese of Pittsburgh and who's been reading the blog. He sent me the link to the ministry he works with, The Seamen's Church Institute. This is a good example of needed and effective ministry taking place in the Episcopal Church today.

http://www.sciphiladelphia.org/

Viewpoint: At Saddleback, the wall stands firm

Ruth Ann Dailey on political debates, Jerry Falwell, Rick Warren, and Roger Williams.

"There's a considerable distance between a religious test for public office and a voter's inspection of a candidate. As the Rev. Warren said weeks before the event, "I believe in the separation of church and state, but I do not believe in the separation of faith and politics, because faith is simply a worldview, and everybody's got a worldview." Anguished by the bitter church-state battles of my lifetime, I am grateful for Rick Warren's achievement. From the wall of separation's creation more than 350 years ago to its careful tending Saturday night, the Baptist tradition of the inviolability of the individual conscience has served the nation imperfectly, but well."

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08231/905139-152.stm

FAQ #1 the Authority (or lack of) of the PB

FAQ #1 - Why would we want to be under the authority of the current Presiding Bishop?

A. We are not under the authority of the Presiding Bishop. The American Church does not have an Archbishop like much of the rest of the communion. Archbishops tend to have an enormous amount of authority in their Provinces. The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church has three main duties: 1. To preside at the House of Bishops as first among equals 2. To preside at the consecration of new bishops (and in the case of the current Presiding Bishop when invited) and 3. To visit every diocese during her nine year term. Even with this last point the Presiding Bishop may not exercise Episcopal office in a diocese without the permission of the ecclesiastical authority. Indeed, in Pittsburgh a parish has requested permission to have her come to preach and celebrate. Permission was denied and she has respected that decision.

Note: Stay tuned for more Frequently asked Questions in the days to come.

The discussion of religious differences online is not a game

An excellent think piece by Andrew Brown of the Manchester Guardian on how the Internet has coarsened our debate. Parental warning there is some language that you wouldn't find in an American paper and might be deemed offensive.

"This dismissal, in advance, of everything your opponents might say as meaningless is the hallmark of all popular philosophical or religious discussion on the internet. It's odd to find it so enthusiastically embraced by academics, because it is not so very different at all from the demand of students opposed to all uncomfortable learning that anything they don't understand should be removed from the syllabus. In County Fermanagh, religious differences were real enough for people to kill one another: my great-grandfather is buried in Enniskillen, which was the scene of one of the worst bombings. Perhaps because of that, people learned not to give offence unless there was something really serious at stake. But online, everything feels like a game, and in the teeth of all the evidence we persist in believing that there is a clear sharp line between gaming and reality."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/aug/14/internet.religion

"Pray 'n' tell" woman seeks to justify herself

Daily Telegraph commentary on the woman who "leaked" Rowan's correspondence on the gay issue.

""Anglicans can make up their minds what to do with the information."

Indeed we can. And when the Silly Season has passed, Ms Pitt's action will be seen for what it was: A cheap shot on behalf of those frustrated that the Anglican Communion was holding together after all.

Dr Williams is an assiduous letter writer. He will try to engage any correspondent, time allowing, in the exploration of his and his correspondent's faith. That and the ability to hold a valid personal life alongside, but not interfering with, his professional role as Archbishop of Canterbury is a considerable pastoral commitment. Sadly, no such noble motives can be attached to Ms Pitt's actions and correspondence."

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/george_pitcher/blog/2008/08/15/pray_n_tell_woman_seeks_to_justify_herself

Church Times says Diocese of Ft Worth is going to Rome.

In spite of protestations to the contrary The Church Times is reporting that the Diocese of Ft. Worth is going to Rome, lock stock and barrel.
(On Aug 18th I received an e-mail from Pat Ashworth at The Church Times who wanted you all to know that this article had gone to press before Bishop Iker issued his denial even though it was published afterward.)

"A record of a meeting between clergy members of the US Episcopal diocese of Fort Worth, which has aligned itself to the province of the Southern Cone, and the RC Bishop of Fort Worth, the Most Revd Kevin Vann, came to light this week. The clergy are requesting the necessary guidance for making a proposal to lead the diocese into full communion with Rome. The clergy say that they have the “unequivocal support” of the Bishop of Fort Worth, the Rt Revd Jack Iker. They describe the Archbishop of Can ter bury as “incapable of provid ing decisive leadership”, and declare that “a magisterium is absolutely essential”. They describe the Roman Catholic Church as “the one true Church”, and insist: “The Protestant/ Low Church teachings, the Liberal experiential teachings are just not true [their italics]. The Catholic faith, the Catholic practice, the Catholic teaching — is true.”"
Its all here-

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=61855

Of course the bishop of Ft Worth has denied this. I posted that several days ago. It can be found here-

http://3riversepiscopal.blogspot.com/2008/08/anglican-diocese-of-fort-worth-is-not.html

True Christian Unity? Reflections on the Lambeth Conference

The Rev Dr. Ephraim Radner has a long but very good analysis of the hopes for the Anglican Communion post-Lambeth. Ephraim was one of the drafters of the Anglican Covenant and committed to staying in the Episcopal Church. There are several other pieces on the blog by him.

"And what if churches and bishops and dioceses simply continue to “do what is right in their own eyes”, despite the consensus of the Conference’s voice? The Archbishop noted that “if the north American churches don’t accept the need for moratoria then, to say the least, we are no further forward”; indeed, we “continue to be in grave peril” and the hopes of the Covenant itself are undermined. ACI reiterates its view that there is a need for some concrete response of relationship now in the face of rejection of moratoria if the Communion is to get beyond its current morass, even in spite of the new clarities offered above. The rejections of the moratoria are already evident in some cases, and likely soon in others on all sides. Unless the Pastoral Forum, the Primates, the Joint Standing Committee and the Archbishop are willing to respond relationally, according to the reasonable and Christian parameters that a “communion” embodies and intends, what was seen as a way forward is no doubt only a glimpse before a backward fall."

http://covenant-communion.com/?p=837#more-837