Thomas Stone appointed canon to the ordinary for Diocese of Quincy

From ELO -

Provisional Bishop John Clark Buchanan of the Peoria, Illinois-based Diocese of Quincy has appointed the Rev. Thomas Stone to serve as canon to the ordinary for the reorganizing diocese.
"In the Episcopal Church, the Canon to the Ordinary functions in support of the Bishop in his ministry of oversight in the diocese and the wider church," Buchanan said when announcing the May 10 appointment. "The Canon is much like a chief of staff."

Stone will assist with administrative tasks on a diocesan, provincial, and national level, and with parish visitations, congregational support and clergy placement, said he is looking forward to the challenges and opportunities of the new ministry.

"The Canon to the Ordinary serves at the invitation and pleasure of the bishop for the benefit of the people of the diocese," said Stone in a prepared statement. " I hope to serve both well." Stone will be based at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Peoria.

Buchanan said that Stone's appointment is another indication of the diocese's steady progress.

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_122471_ENG_HTM.htm

Calif. Bishop Respects ‘Very Key Symbol’

From The Living Church-

Responding to requests from two bishops elsewhere in the Anglican Communion, the Bishop of El Camino Real did not attend the consecration of Bishops Diane Jardine Bruce and Mary Glasspool in Los Angeles on May 15.

A friendship began forming among the Rt. Rev. Mary Gray–Reeves and her two brother bishops — the Rt. Rev. Michael Perham, Bishop of Gloucester, England, and the Rt. Rev. Gerard Mpango, Bishop of Western Tanganyika, Tanzania — during the Lambeth Conference of 2008. The bishops formed companion relationships among their dioceses, and celebrated those new ties during a service in September 2009 at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, San José, Calif.

Bishop Gray–Reeves wrote that her fellow bishops asked her to abstain from granting consent to Bishop Glasspool’s election or from participating in her consecration.

“In our system, it is consents that allow a bishop to be ordained,” Gray–Reeves wrote in a letter requested by Louie Crew, founder of Integrity, a nonprofit organization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Episcopalians and their supporters. “I consented to Mary’s election without hesitation. The laying on of hands makes a bishop, and in other provinces where there is no consent process like ours, this is a very key symbol.”

Gray–Reeves wrote that she “did not come easily to the decision of not attending,” adding: “But the truth is, Mary and Diane had plenty of bishops to get the job done, and my hands were not needed there on May 15th. They were needed to reach other places and so I did.”

More here-

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2010/5/25/el-camino-real-bishop-respects-very-key-symbol

A church hungry for change

From The London Guardian-

Sitting in the rain with 100,000 people at the closing service of the recent Munich Kirchentag, I noticed that my free plastic rainhood was surplus stock from the August 2005 Cologne World Youth Day. Then the sun shone, the crowds cheered, and the pope grinned his most benevolently vulpine grin, amidst talk of a Catholic renaissance in Germany. The showers held off five years ago, but it's all over now.

For Bavarians, Catholicism is a way of life, not a dogmatic package. It's a matter of identity rather than conformity. The Bavarian Catholic church is too firmly embedded to be, as one traditional journalistic cliche has it, rocked by sexual abuse scandals. However what is usually described as a crisis of trust runs though its heart, as 'Blackpool' runs through Blackpool rock. Old certainties are not holding up well, and lay progressives are on the march.

If I wanted to devise an exquisite form of torture for English RC reactionary critics of the second Vatican council, I would force them to sit as I did recently with tens of thousands of Bavarian Catholics, cheering enthusiastically for the ending of compulsory celibacy, women's ordination, and birth control.

At one point I heard Fr Klaus Mertes, the Jesuit theologian who blew the whistle on sexual abuse at the Canisius College in Berlin, crack a joke — if it carries on like this, the only people we will be able to ordain will be women. Laughter spread through the 8,000 in the hall, followed by a rousing round of rugby club applause.

More here-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/may/25/munich-kirchentag-catholic

Church assets belong to parish, not clerics

From Zimbabwe-

It pains me to see the Anglican Church Diocese of Harare in such turmoil just because of a fight of bishops who want to control the assets of the church.

The fight is not about the welfare of parishioners who actually paid for the building of the churches and are the people who maintain them from their contributions which are monies left after paying utility bills to various local government authorities, school fees etc.

It is about power.

All the parishioners want is to follow the footsteps of our Lord and prepare themselves for the time they will be reunited with Him after death.

The parishioners pay the salaries of the bishops and priests, the very people that are preventing them from going on their knees in prayer in the very church buildings they built from their contributions.

What should the parishioners do?

The only available avenue left for them is for representatives of the parishioners, who are neither bishops nor priests, to approach the Supreme Court on a constitutional right of worship.

They should take over their churches and employ new bishops and priests of their choice and leave out those that are bickering to their own fate.

The Zimbabwe Constitution guarantees the freedom of worship.

Priests who want to personalise church assets are denying parishioners this freedom.

Surely our eminent jurists can see the denial of justice the parishioners are suffering.

Is it asking too much to choose your own leaders of the church to minister to you according to the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Maybe it would have been better if we had followed his footsteps of not owning any building but got his message from the hills and shores of rivers and lakes.

More here-

http://www1.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=19214&cat=10

Women are the invisible homeless: Rein

From Australia-

Homeless women are vulnerable and terrified of being attacked in cities across Australia and the community must open its heart to them, the Prime Minister's wife says.

Therese Rein was guest speaker at Brisbane's St John's Cathedral annual Loaves and Fishes luncheon on Tuesday.

The cathedral was transformed into a fisherman's wharf as 740 people tucked into bread rolls, fish and chips to raise money for a new women's homeless shelter.

Ticket sales generated $15,000 towards the project and the church hoped donations on the day would bring the kitty to $30,000.

Ms Rein, who is patron of homeless organisation Common Ground, told the audience homeless women often couch-surfed to avoid rough sleeping.

"Sleeping rough is even more dangerous for women," she said.

"They're sleeping in hidden nooks and crannies, wandering the streets until they collapse with exhaustion, terrified they'll be attacked."

More here-

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/women-are-the-invisible-homeless-rein-20100525-wa9a.html

Veggies for the needy

From Tulsa-

Just like Jesus, the Rev. Susanne Methven answered a question with a story this week when asked why St. John's Episcopal Church was growing an organic garden to feed the hungry:

"Last summer, a street person was helping me carry in vegetables at Iron Gate (soup kitchen). There was a green pepper on top of the basket, and he said, 'Can I have that green pepper?'

" 'Of course,' I said.

" 'It tastes like home,' the homeless man said."

St. John's, at 4100 S. Atlanta Place, is one of several area churches that have started gardens to grow food for the needy and for their own members.

Methven, the associate rector at St. John's, said the church was inspired to put in a garden this spring after it participated last year in a large community garden at First Seventh Day Adventist Church of Tulsa, 920 S. New Haven Ave.

She delivered the first fruits of the garden Tuesday to Iron Gate, which is associated with Trinity Episcopal Church downtown. The produce included kohlrabi, radishes, lettuce, spinach and mustard greens.


Read more
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20100525_18_A1_TheRev580729

Early Retirment for Chuck Collins over crisis in church

May 19, 2010
Dear Christ Church family,

I am writing to inform you that I will be retiring as your rector September 1, 2010. With the encouragement and support of our wardens and vestry, I will not be returning after my sabbatical and vacation this summer. May 30 will be my last Sunday at Christ Church.
Nine years ago Clancy Wolliver called for the vestry and search committee to invite me to be your rector.

It was a dream come true, and Ellen, our children and I all felt it was God’s calling. Ministering among you at Christ Church has been the most spiritually demanding and fulfilling years of my 29 years as an Episcopal priest. Thank you for your amazing and generous support when my family and I needed you, for your patience when I failed you, and for your steadfast commitment to God and hisWord. It has been an honor to serve one of the really great congregations in The Episcopal Church.

For my failures and successes, I have loved you, the people of Christ Church.
I’m sure it will not surprise anyone that my decision to take early retirement is because of a crisis of conscience. Even though I was born and raised in The Episcopal Church, it has moved further and further away from the Gospel to which I committed my life and I have concluded that there is no future for me in this spiritual environment.

More here-

http://www.cecsa.org/clientimages/44722/forumarticles/chuckretirementmay2010.pdf

Why Johnny Can't Read the Bible

From Christianity Today-

Americans love their Bibles. So much so that they keep them in pristine, unopened condition. Or, as George Gallup Jr. and Jim Castelli said in a widely quoted survey finding, "Americans revere the Bible but, by and large, they don't read it."

Anecdotes abound. Time magazine observed in a 2007 cover story that only half of U.S. adults could name one of the four Gospels. Fewer than half could identify Genesis as the Bible's first book. Jay Leno and Stephen Colbert have made sport of Americans' inability to name the Ten Commandments—even among members of Congress who have pushed to have them posted publicly.

Perhaps the first step toward improved Bible literacy is admitting we have a problem. A 2005 study by the Barna Group asked American Christians to rate their spiritual maturity based on activities such as worship, service, and evangelism. Christians offered the harshest evaluation of their Bible knowledge, with 25 percent calling themselves not too mature or not at all mature.

And we know it's not "those other churches." We are not surprised by a 2004 Gallup finding that a mere 37 percent of teenagers can find the quotation from the Sermon on the Mount when given four choices. And we are not surprised that only 44 percent of born-again teenagers could do the same.

More here-

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/may/25.38.html

Cardinal Kasper in Liverpool: 'Ecumenism requires courageous risks'

From Liverpool-

More than two thousand Christians from throughout Merseyside and region gathered at Liverpool's two Cathedrals on the Feast of Pentecost in a visible celebration of their unity. They were joined on their ecumenical journey between the two Cathedrals along Hope Street by Cardinal Walter Kasper, the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, who had travelled from Rome for the occasion.

He preached at the Two Cathedrals service which began at the Anglican Cathedral and following the procession along Hope Street, concluded at the Metropolitan cathedral. It was at Pentecost in 1982 that Pope John Paul II visited Liverpool and processed along Hope Street between the two Cathedrals and celebrated Mass, and since that time, the Two Cathedrals Service has regularly taken place on Pentecost Sunday, with thousands of pilgrims celebrating unity by walking along Hope Street.

Another significant landmark was the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Covenant of Unity, signed by Merseyside's church leaders in the Anglican Cathedral in May, 1985.

Cardinal Kasper referred the challenges of ecumenism and the importance of walking in unity 'on the road of hope' in his sermon, before joining in the walk along Hope Street.

He said we read in the Acts of the Apostles how everybody heard the apostles in their own language and were united in listening to the same message. 'But this new unity and new universality was not at all a uniformity, it meant unity within diversity and diversity within unity. And what else is the goal of ecumenism today other than this kind of unity within diversity of all believers in Jesus Christ.'

But as we all know, said the Cardinal, there does not exist only unity and love. 'This reality is against Christ's will, is against the testament he left us on the eve of his death when he prayed that all be one...this reality of a divided Christendom is sin and is a scandal. It damages the holy task that is the mission given by the Spirit to spread the Gospel all over the world in order to reconcile peoples and to bring them together.'

More here-

http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=16189

Renegade bishop loses control of church

From Zimbabwe-

Excommunicated former bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Manicaland Elson Madoda Jakazi has lost his bid to cling to church property despite resigning from the Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA) that controls the diocese.

Jakazi is among a group of senior Anglican clergymen who include controversial former Harare Bishop Nolbert Kunonga who resigned from the CPCA that they accused of condoning homosexuality. The senior bishops and their supporters have however refused to let go OF church property despite ceasing to be members.

In a ruling handed down last Wednesday High Court Judge Chinembiri Bhunu said that Jakazi lost his claim to authority over diocesan property when he resigned from the Manicaland Diocese in September 2007.

“Once the first applicant’s resignation letter was received by the Archbishop of the Anglican Church of the Central Africa the first applicant automatically ceased to be an employee or member of that church organisation without any further formalities,” Bhunu said in a ruling that will certainly have a lot a bearing on Kunonga’s attempts to retain control millions of dollars worth of property belonging to the Harare Diocese

“Having ceased to be an employee of the church organization he automatically stripped himself of any rights and privileges arising from the contract of employment, membership or his status as a bishop of that church organization,” said Bhunu who dismissed Jakazi’s application with costs.

Bhunu noted that Jakazi was not dismissed but voluntarily left the CPCA. “That being the case, he can hardly be heard to complain or cry foul. Any appeal or review which he may launch means he is appealing or seeking a review of his own conduct. This is wholly untenable and illogical such that it must be incompetent at law,” the judge said.

The ruling, unless appealed, effectively puts to an end the dispute over control of the Manicaland Diocese, which Jakazi had continued to claim was under his charge despite quitting the CPCA, the body under which the diocese falls.

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31167:renegade-bishop-loses-control-of-church-&catid=70:sunday-issue

Female priest ordained in Italy by rebel Catholics

From The London Guardian-

A 35-year-old Sicilian became the first Catholic woman to be ordained in Italy on Saturday.

Maria Vittoria Longhitano is a member of the breakaway Old Catholic church. But she was made a priest at the Anglican church of All Saints in Rome ‑ an act some in the Vatican are likely to see as provocative, not least because the organist at the service was dismissed by the Catholic hierarchy after deciding to change sex.

The Old Catholic church broke with the Vatican in the 19th century in protest at the adoption of the doctrine of papal infallibility. It is in full communion with the Anglicans.

Longhitano, who is married, told the congregation: "I have opened the way. Catholicism means universality, and without women it is mutilated." She said she was convinced the laity in Italy were "ready to welcome a female ministry" and that in her native Sicily people often asked her: "Why don't we have the joy of women priests?"

The first Italian woman to become a priest was Teodora Tosatti, who was ordained in 2006, but the service was held outside Italy, in Bonn, Germany.

More here-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/23/female-priest-ordained-italy-maria-longhitano

Nominees in Springfield

From Springfield-

The Standing Committee is pleased to announce the names of the priests (with ages at time of
Nominating Synod, position title, church or institution and diocese of canonical residency) for the
Nominating Synod, who have submitted the requested information on or before Thursday, May 13,
2010, the Feast of the Ascension, the date specified for such submissions. They are:

http://www.episcopalspringfield.org/documents/NOMINEESLIST-NominatingSynod_001.pdf

Student's Sewanee suit to get U.S. trial

From Chattanooga-

A September trial is set in a case alleging mistreatment of a freshman who says he had to leave Sewanee: The University of the South with no recourse for defending himself against a rape allegation.

The trial, in U.S. District Court in Winchester, Tenn., could reveal the identities of the student and his parents. The court so far has granted anonymity to protect them from what they say was a false rape allegation that never led to criminal charges.

At issue is whether Sewanee, an Episcopal school, followed its own as well as federal protocols for resolving allegations of sexual misconduct among students.

Colleges and universities that receive federal funding, such as Sewanee, must at least follow the federal protocol, which includes giving "due process to both parties involved" and investigating complaints thoroughly.

But the 45-page lawsuit filed in June 2009 by "John Doe" and his parents claims the school never did that. The lawsuit claims the school "recklessly" pieced together an incompetent investigation that disregarded Mr. Doe's rights and ignored the female accuser's "serious chemical and psychological issues."

Mr. Doe and his parents are seeking a $1 million judgment for, among other things, "injury to reputation." They also want Sewanee to pay $2 million in punitive damages.

Mr. Doe's attorney, Charles B. Wayne, of Washington, D.C., declined to comment on the case.

The university has answered the allegations by denying any negligence in its handling of Mr. Doe's case, court records show. A Sewanee spokesman said that the school does not comment on pending litigation.

More here-

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/may/22/students-sewanee-suit-to-get-us-trial/

Some Harlem Churches in Fight for Survival

From The New York Times-

From the second to last pew at All Souls’ Episcopal Church in Harlem on a recent Sunday morning, Sylvia Lynch, 80, lifted a hand toward the rafters and sang praises through a haze of burnt incense.

Her voice was steady and strong, as was her grip on the cane she leaned on as she stood and sang and peered over the sparsely populated pews, peppered mostly with older women with fancy hats and hair as gray as her own.

“I came up through Sunday school, and I’m still here,” Ms. Lynch said, taking a step into an aisle at the 104-year-old church after the last hymn. “Back then, it was packed. You couldn’t get a seat.”

All Souls’ Church, on St. Nicholas Avenue, and any number of the traditional neighborhood churches in Harlem that had for generations boasted strong memberships — built on and sustained by familial loyalty and neighborhood ties — are now struggling to hold on to their congregations.

The gentrification of Harlem has helped deplete their ranks, as younger residents, black and white, have arrived but not taken up places in their pews. Longtime Harlem families, either cashing in on the real estate boom over the past decade or simply opting to head south for their retirement, have left the neighborhood and its churches. Then there are the deaths, as year by year, whole age bands are chipped away.

More here-

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/nyregion/24harlem.html?src=me

Tom Ehrich: Ordination is a day; ministry is a lifetime

From Springfiled Il.

In a whirlwind month of yesteryear, I graduated from seminary, was married and ordained.

I joined a team planning the consecration of our new bishop.

Thinking no church large enough, planners had rented a basketball arena for this epic event.

On the day itself, I kept waiting for eager Episcopalians to pour into the arena’s 16,000 seats, where Elvis Presley had just played his final concert. But they didn’t. Some came, but the hall felt empty to this self-absorbed young clergyman.

That should have been a sign that the world wasn’t holding its breath while we ordained a bishop. Although the new bishop was a fine man and would lead capably, even our own folks had other things to do.

That was 1977. If we had been paying attention to such outcomes, we would have known a steep decline was in its 13th year. After three decades of growth up to 1964, mainline Protestant congregations were hemorrhaging members, as all but a handful of denominations are dwindling today. It was time to rethink everything.


More here-

http://www.sj-r.com/features/x2084257214/Tom-Ehrich-Ordination-is-a-day-ministry-is-a-lifetime

New Episcopal bishop consecrated during four-hour service in Greenville

From Upper South Carolina-

“You are their bishop. You are our bishop. You are my bishop,” the Rev. Dorsey F. Henderson said as he handed his shepherd’s staff to the Rev. William Andrew Waldo on Saturday.

Waldo, in an elaborate four-hour service at Christ Church in downtown Greenville, became the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina, a 22-county region that includes 28,000 members from Columbia to the Upstate.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, and with the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, officiated at the service making Waldo, 56, the 1,046th bishop in the history of the 2.4-million member Episcopal Church U.S.A. and the eighth bishop of Upper South Carolina.

More than 20 bishops from across the country laid hands on Waldo, calling on God to fill him “with such love of you and of all the people, that he may feed and tend the flock of Christ, and exercise without reproach the high priesthood to which you have called him.”

Henderson, who has led the diocese since 1995, has reached the mandatory retirement age for bishops of 72. Friends said he has bought a boat and plans to spend plenty of time fishing.

More here-

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20100523/NEWS/305230020/New-Episcopal-bishop-consecrated-during-four-hour-service-in-Greenville

Utah diocese elects Scott B. Hayashi as bishop

From Utah- ELO-

The Rev. Canon Scott Byron Hayashi was elected May 22 as 11th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah, pending required consents from a majority of bishops with jurisdiction and standing committees of the Episcopal Church.
Hayashi, 56, canon to the ordinary in the Diocese of Chicago since 2005, was elected on the second ballot out of a field of three nominees. A fourth nominee, the Rev. Canon Mary Sulerud, withdrew after the first ballot.

Hayashi received 73 of 128 votes cast in the lay order and 20 of 38 cast in the clergy order at a special electing convention at St. Mark's Cathedral in Salt Lake City. An election on that ballot required 65 in the lay order and 20 in the clergy order.

Pending a successful consent process Hayashi would succeed the Rt. Rev. Carolyn Tanner Irish, 70, who was elected in 1996 and a year ago announced her decision to retire.

During nearly 25 years of ordained ministry Hayashi has served inner city, suburban and rural congregations in California, Utah and Washington.

After his 1984 ordination to the diaconate (June 2) and priesthood (Oct. 1) he served for five years as vicar to two small rural mission congregations -- St. John the Baptist Episcopal Mission in Ephrata, and St. Dunstan's Episcopal Mission in Grand Coulee -- in the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane, Washington.

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_122373_ENG_HTM.htm

Election results here-

http://www.episcopal-ut.org/bishop_election

Churches and Arizona Immigration Law

From Religion and Ethics Weekly-

LUCKY SEVERSON, correspondent: The reaction for and against the law has reverberated from Main Street through the halls of government to the sanctuaries of churches. This is Bishop Kirk Stevan Smith of the Arizona Episcopal diocese.

BISHOP KIRK S. SMITH (Episcopal Diocese of Arizona): Along with many other religious leaders I think it’s a terrible law. Legal things are important, political things are important, but people’s basic human rights are the most important thing, and that’s where the churches have an obligation, in my way of thinking, to stand up.

SEVERSON: But even among the clergy there is a divide. Religious leaders like the Reverend Tim Smith of Scottsdale, Arizona, support the law. Smith was a nondenominational pastor for 30 years, now a spiritual advisor.

REVEREND TIM SMITH: I think it’s a cry for help from the legislature, from the governor.

More here-

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/may-21-2010/churches-and-arizona-immigration-law/6322/

New assistant bishop led multifaith effort in Nebraska

From Maryland-

The Rt. Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton, bishop of Maryland, has appointed an assistant bishop to serve full time in the Episcopal diocese for two years, beginning after Bishop John L. Rabb's recently announced retirement takes effect Jan. 1, 2011.
The Rt. Rev. Joe Goodwin Burnett, bishop of Nebraska, will serve as assistant bishop of Maryland, effective April 1, 2011.

"It gives me great pleasure to know my colleague and friend Joe Burnett will be able to accept my invitation to come to the Diocese of Maryland to assist us during these years of transition," Sutton said in a statement accompanying the appointment. "He is known as a leader in the Episcopal Church, whose experience, intellect and wit will be greatly appreciated by everyone here."

Burnett broke the news to Nebraska lay and clergy members in a letter dated May 15 -- coincidentally, his 62nd birthday.

After 44 consecutive years of full- or part-time work in the church as a student pastor and youth minister, seminarian, parish priest, seminary professor and bishop, Burnett said it was time to step back from the all-consuming work of a diocesan bishop. After working approximately two years with Sutton, now finishing his second year as bishop of Maryland, Burnett plans to move toward full retirement.

More here-

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/art_life/display.htm?StoryID=105258

Episcopal bishop to be consecrated today

From Upper South Carolina-

Hundreds of Episcopalians, including the leader of the U.S. church, will gather in Greenville today for the ordination and consecration of the Rev. W. Andrew Waldo as the eighth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina.

The diocese includes eight churches in York, Chester and Lancaster counties.

The service at Christ Episcopal Church will draw Bishop Katharine Jefferts-Schori, presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church, leaders and laity from across the diocese, across the U.S. and at from least one foreign country with the presence of the bishop of Haiti.

It also will represent a coming home of sorts for the Georgia-born and Alabama-raised Waldo, who is returning to his native South after years as rector of a Minnesota congregation.
His brother, the Rev. Mark E. Waldo Jr., rector of St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Millbrook, Ala., will preach the ordination sermon, and his father, the Rev. Mark Waldo Sr., will read a portion of the liturgy.

Two of the bishop-elect's sons will play musical selections.

Read more:

http://www.heraldonline.com/2010/05/22/2187629/episcopal-bishop-to-be-consecrated.html#ixzz0oejcLn6E

Episcopal leader Jefferts Schori says anger over gay ordination has eased

From South Carolina-

The Episcopal Church USA and its sister churches in the worldwide Anglican Communion have stronger relationships in many ways now than before the American church angered the more conservative members by consecrating a gay bishop, the church's presiding bishop said Friday.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, the national leader of the Episcopal Church in 16 countries, including its 2.4 million members in the U.S., is in Greenville for the consecration today of a new bishop for the Diocese of Upper South Carolina, the Rev. Andrew Waldo.

She said fallout from the 2003 decision to consecrate Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire appears to have settled out for the most part.

“The reactivity right now is much, much less than it was seven years ago,” she said during an interview at Christ Church, where Waldo's consecration will take place.

“I think the church, and certainly the part of the church in the United States, is reasonably clear about where we're going, even though everybody doesn't agree. And those in the church, I think, are willing to live with that tension.”

Some Episcopalians who believe Scripture is clear in condemning homosexuality have left the church and formed an alternative province, while some parishes, including one in Aiken County, have left the denomination.

More here-

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20100522/NEWS/305220007/Episcopal-leader-Jefferts-Schori-says-anger-over-gay-ordination-has-eased

Special Report: Anglican Mission’s Structural Relationship within the ACNA

From The Anglican Church in North America-

For the past year Bishop Chuck Murphy and Archbishop Bob Duncan have been seeking to clarify the Anglican Mission’s structural relationship within the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). This clarification, as required by our original protocol, is necessary as we approach the ACNA Provincial Council to be held June 8 – 9.

By way of background, the Constitution and Canons of the Anglican Church in North America were drafted such that various groups might be integrated into the provincial structure of the ACNA as jurisdictions. In addition, the Canons made provision for another level of association designated as “Ministry Partners”. The Ministry Partner membership status as defined in the Constitution and Canons of the ACNA actually outlines very succinctly the appropriate relationship between the Anglican Mission and the ACNA as they seek to work together in church planting across North America. This status allows for entities such as ministry organizations, dioceses, seminaries and even monastic orders “to support each other in ministry to extend the Kingdom of God”, and the Anglican Mission is happy to join with other groups who have or seek this Ministry Partner status.

As a founding member of the ACNA, the Anglican Mission has invested significant time and energy into its formation and has been strongly supportive of the Province and Archbishop Duncan’s leadership. In light of this support, the Anglican Mission initially chose the jurisdictional option for membership in the ACNA while maintaining its identity as a missionary outreach of Rwanda. This “dual citizenship” approach, however, has resulted in significant confusion within the Anglican Mission and the ACNA regarding membership in two provinces, and more importantly, is inconsistent with the Constitution and Canons of the Province of the Anglican Church in Rwanda. Practically speaking, this jurisdictional/membership status became untenable and non-sustainable.

More here-

http://www.theamia.org/new/news/

Thieves steal historic half-ton bell from church

From Atlanta (I just thought it was interesting)

A copper bell that has been with a local church since its founding in 1868 has gone missing.

The large copper bell, weighing anywhere between 600 and 1,000 lbs, belongs to Antioch African Methodist Episcopal Church. It was discovered missing sometime around April 19 or 20, James Simon, church administrator, told the AJC.

“Some actually cried when we discovered it was gone,” Simon said. “It feels like a part of the church’s personality is gone.”

The bell had been sitting on a pallet in the back of the church since they moved to their current location on S. Hairston Road in 1995. Plans had been to have it remounted at the new location.

“When we moved here from Decatur we had to pay someone to move it,” Simon said. “That’s just how heavy it is.”

More here-

http://www.ajc.com/news/thieves-steal-historic-half-532169.html

GTS announces financial plan, explores possible sale of property

From Episcopal Life Online-

General Theological Seminary's Board of Trustees has agreed on a series of steps that they say will assure that the Manhattan-based school will continue "for the next several years."

The trustees said in a news release that they agreed May 18 to create a $10 million operating reserve fund that could be built in part by selling as many as four residential apartments in the seminary building known as "Chelsea." The fund will also be built by what the release called "special philanthropic efforts, which have already resulted in $1.5 million in firm commitments."

The apartments, which according to the release have an estimated value of $8 - 10 million, have been rented to outside tenants for the last six years and have never been used for seminary purposes. The trustees approved the steps needed to turn the property into condominiums for possible sale.

The trustees also called for an effort to renegotiate part of the seminary's debt "to reduce interest payments and permit more manageable cash flow," according to the release.

The trustees committed themselves "to pursue all productive avenues for conversations with other seminaries and institutions of the Episcopal Church to consider creative collaborations and common programs," the release said, adding that "such conversations have already begun." No details of those conversations have been released.

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_122348_ENG_HTM.htm

She was naked. He was there

From The Church Times (attached to an article on the move towards woman Bishops)

A WOMAN BISHOP might have been useful during the House of Bishops meeting in York, after a naked woman guest triggered a fire alarm in the early hours of Tuesday morning, writes Bill Bowder. In the event, one of the bishops present offered the woman his dressing gown.


There were about 50 bishops staying at the Park Inn in York. The Bishop of Wakefield, the Rt Revd Stephen Platten, reported that they had to evacuate the hotel when the fire alarm went off.

“The alarm seems to have been triggered when two young ladies, who were pickled, came back late at night. One of the two ladies was naked, and one of the bishops had to take his dressing gown off to cover her nakedness. I think the other woman was also trying to take her clothes off, too, but she was stopped in time.”

The Bishop of Worcester, Dr John Inge, said: “It would be a good ethical test on a board game to ask what you do if you are a bishop and you open the door to find a naked lady outside. I think that throwing your dressing gown out passes the test.”

More here-

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=95034

Orthodox Anglicans in US and England plan clergy swap

From Christian Today-

Orthodox Anglicans in North America are inviting priests in the Church of England to make a show of solidarity by taking part in a clergy swap.

The Anglican Church in North America was formed last year by Anglicans who broke away from the liberal Episcopal Church in the US. It is proposing the swap in the wake of last Saturday’s consecration by TEC of its first partnered lesbian bishop.

ACNA said the clergy swap would be an opportunity for Church of England parishes and clergy to express their solidarity and friendship with ACNA churches.

Participating clergy will be matched to churches with similar preaching and ministry styles and serve the pulpit for a period of three to four weeks in January and July or August next year.

In a letter of invitation to Church of England clergy, Paul Perkin, Chair of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans in the UK and Ireland, and Secretary Chris Sugden, said the swap would be of “mutual benefit”.

“We are writing in the wake of the letter from the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church to the Primates of the Anglican Communion that her consecration of a woman in a partnered same-sex relationship represents the mind of the majority of elected leaders in the Episcopal Church,” they wrote.

More here-

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/orthodox.anglicans.in.us.and.england.plan.clergy.swap/25942.htm

Displaced Anglican church finds new home All Souls will move into a former home-improvement store.

From Florida-

When the pastor at Mandarin’s All Souls Anglican Church tells his Jacksonville flock to take a hike around 10 a.m. Sunday, it’s OK this time.

They will be going home.

The Anglican church members will walk to a new sanctuary at the former First Coast Home Center at 4042 Hartley Road, a happier walk than many made July 15, 2007, when they left the church they had called home for 28 years due to a split from the Episcopal church.

Home has been Mandarin Middle School for Sunday services since then. Now Sunday’s 1.5-mile hike is to the flock’s future, which was almost under their noses, said the Rev. Gene Strickland.

“We had been looking at other properties, and several parishioners had been driving past it for some time as we prayed for the right place,” said the pastor. “One saw the 'For Sale’ sign that he hadn’t noticed for the year he had driven by it. We stopped to talk to the owner and two days later we had a contract and everything fell into place.”

Looking around the former home-improvement store with a wooden deck, pergolas and seven miniature home fronts that will soon house church offices, member Lynn Lindsey said it seems like the answer to a prayer.

More here-

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-05-20/story/former-home-improvement-store-becomes-new-home-displaced-anglican-church

Resenting African Christianity

From The American Spectator- (I'm not sure the author understands The Episcopal Church's relationship to Anglicanism)

Fast growing African Christianity, both evangelical and Catholic, is transforming global religion and affecting American Christianity, particularly its debates over homosexuality. The U.S. Episcopal Church, of course, has been prominently roiled by controversy since its 2003 election of an openly homosexual bishop, now joined by a newly elected openly lesbian bishop. African Anglican bishops, overwhelmingly conservative, have steadfastly encouraged the global Anglican Communion to sanction U.S. Episcopalians for their heterodoxy. But the Anglican Communion's authority is mostly symbolic, and the Episcopal Church governs itself. A new communion, the Anglican Church in North America, is largely for orthodox former Episcopalians, many of whom have placed themselves under the authority of African bishops.

Considerably less publicized but no less significant is the United Methodist Church, which now almost uniquely among liberal-led, old-line denominations continues to affirm orthodox teachings on marriage and sexual ethics. The traditionalist stance, dismaying to its liberal elites, is thanks partly to the denomination's growing African membership. Unlike the U.S. Episcopal Church, which is almost entirely U.S. members plus some small dioceses from Latin America and Taiwan, United Methodism is more fully international, with about one third of its members in Africa. Amid growing United Methodist churches in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria, among others, and a U.S. church losing about a 1,000 members weekly, the 11.4 million denomination likely will soon be majority African. At the church's next governing General Conference in 2012, probably 40 percent of the delegates will come from outside the U.S., even further diminishing liberal hopes.

More here-

http://spectator.org/archives/2010/05/21/resenting-african-christianity

Episcopal diocese to elect new bishop this weekend

More from Utah-

A new bishop will be chosen for Utah's Episcopal diocese Saturday, replacing retiring Bishop Carolyn Tanner Irish, who has served the region for 14 years.

Tanner Irish submitted her resignation in January of last year and was the first woman west of the Potomac River to be elected as an Episcopal bishop, signaling a trend for the ordination of women in the church. Saturday's election, which is the 11th in 143 years, will be the pinnacle of a nearly two-year process that is akin to selecting the Queen of England, since both processes have roots in the Anglican Church, according to Utah diocese spokesman Craig Wirth.

"In the Episcopal Church, the bishop is the liturgical and business leader of the whole diocese," he said. "The bishop really sets the tone for how things are done."

Utah's diocese, he said, has been known as progressive.

Delegates from 25 parishes across the state and in Page, Ariz., will vote on the four final candidates until a majority is reached. Wirth said it is doubtful that a new bishop will be selected after only one vote, and traditionally it takes two or three, "if history repeats itself." As voting continues and if delegates cannot agree on one candidate, candidates have the right to withdraw from the election.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700034051/Episcopal-diocese-to-elect-bishop.html

Bishop Carolyn Tanner Irish becomes first woman to win Giant in Our City Award

From Utah-

Bishop Carolyn Tanner Irish became the first individual female recipient of the Giant in Our City Award, presented Thursday by the Salt Lake Chamber.

"When they first announced that, I felt deeply that it recognized all women," Bishop Tanner Irish said. "I still feel that way, and that's why it's important to me. It's not about me. It's about the larger community, not only of women, but all people."

Bishop Tanner Irish is the 10th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah and the first woman to lead a major denomination in Utah. She joined the likes of LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley, Larry H. Miller, Jon Huntsman Sr., Mitt Romney, Ellis Ivory and Roger Boyer when she became the 30th recipient of the award during a reception at the Grand America Hotel Thursday night. According to the Salt Lake Chamber, Bishop Tanner Irish's greatest passion is championing people, which makes her a perfect recipient of the award.

When speaking about her life, she said it's impossible to choose her favorite accomplishment, but she can choose three of her favorites.

More here-

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700034058/Tanner-Irish-receives-award.html