Palm Sunday service goes eco-friendly

Nearly 2,000 years ago, an excited crowd welcomed Jesus by going green: spreading fresh-cut branches before him on his last, fateful trip into Jerusalem.

For Palm Sunday today, Second Presbyterian Church is going green, too, by displaying "eco-palm" fronds harvested in an environmentally friendly, economically sustainable way.

More than 640,000 eco-palm fronds will be waved today by 2,500 congregations, including seven in South Hampton Roads. The palms are marketed by the Center for Integrated Natural Resource and Agricultural Management at the University of Minnesota.

Waving and displaying palm branches is a tradition at many Protestant and Catholic churches on Palm Sunday, which starts the Holy Week devotions that culminate on Easter.

The practice commemorates Gospel accounts including John, chapter 12, saying Jesus' admirers "took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, 'Hosanna!' " as he rode into Jerusalem.

The Rest-

http://hamptonroads.com/2009/04/palm-sunday-service-goes-ecofriendly

Top Episcopal Church bishop visits Peoria

An unprecedented visit to Peoria on Saturday by the top leader of the Episcopal Church was welcomed by some local churches but was largely ignored by the 19 that have broken away from the national organization.

The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori, called a special synod at St. Paul's Cathedral to name new leadership within the Peoria-based Diocese of Quincy and "to get the diocese back on its feet."

"It was remarkable to experience this synod," Jefferts Schori said after the special convention. "Everything passed unanimously, which is rare."

The Right Rev. John Clark Buchanan, a retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri, was elected the diocese's provisional bishop.

The Peoria-based Diocese of Quincy voted in November to leave the national Episcopal Church and realign with the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone following months of arguments between the local and national Episcopal groups on issues such as homosexuality and the ordination of women.

More here-

http://www.pjstar.com/news/x551068656/Top-Episcopal-Church-bishop-visits-Peoria

Canadian Anglican serves dynamically in Uganda

From the Anglican Church of Canada. (I didn't think that Canada and Uganda were in communion any longer)

Full of hearty laughter, the Rev. Canon Paul Jeffries spoke to staff at the Anglican Church of Canada's national office last week about his work as principal of Bishop McAllister College, Kyogyera in southwestern Uganda. The former Volunteer in Mission (VIM) from the Diocese of Fredericton is celebrating 10 years of unusual, passionate ministry.

It's a ministry that includes running 10 km races alongside gangly teenagers.

But to back up: the story began many years ago when Mr. Jeffries was serving at a parish in rural New Brunswick. He remembers he was on his day off, contentedly reading the newspaper, when his bishop called. Startled, Mr. Jeffries asked, "What's wrong?" but the answer wasn't bad news, only an encouragement to serve in the companion diocese of Eldoret, Kenya.

After lots of prayer, some chats with former VIMs, and a sudden case of adventurousness, Mr. Jeffries went to Kenya for a year, where he said he "caught the Africa bug." He then returned to Canada to discern his vocation and eventually settled on a teaching placement at Bishop McAllister College.

The rest is here.

http://news.anglican.ca/news/stories/2044

New bishops in joint consecration in Wales

From the BBC

Rev Canon Gregory Cameron will become the 76th Bishop of St Asaph, in Denbighshire.

Meanwhile, Rev Canon David Wilbourne will be consecrated as Assistant Bishop of Llandaff.
The Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan will be joined at the public service by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.

Canon Gregory, 49, was elected Bishop of St Asaph in January. He was formerly Deputy Secretary General of the Anglican Communion Office.

Canon David, 53, was appointed Assistant Bishop of Llandaff in February. He was previously vicar of Helmsley in the Diocese of York.

More than 30 serving and retired bishops from Wales and other provinces of the Anglican Church will be at the service to consecrate the new bishops.

They will take part in a procession to lead the bishops-designate into the cathedral, along with senior clergy, church registrars and chancellors and representatives from other Christian denominations.

More here-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/7982497.stm

Signs, signs everywhere signs #14

Now that's what I call inclusive !

Good Stuff In TEC: North Carolina

Church offering career planning at program on April 25

Life as many people have known it is changing. The plummeting stock market, falling housing prices, declining job security, rising national debt, environmental problems, war - the list goes on and on. It's enough to make even the strongest feel powerless.

Despite these circumstances and hurricane-force winds of change, there is opportunity - an opportunity to bring power, passion, and purpose to life and career.

All Saints Episcopal Church in Gastonia presents "Reengineer Your Career" with Randy Siegel. In this information-packed workshop participants learn how to:

-- Align their career and life, with their true wants, needs, and core values.

-- Identify and secure their ideal job.

-- Package, present and promote themselves.

Additionally, participants will learn an eight-step process to identify career options that:

-- Utilize their attributes, skills, experience and education.

-- Offer opportunities in the new economy.

-- Meet their wants, needs and match their core values.

http://www.gastongazette.com/articles/program_32471___article.html/april_career.html

You can see all of the Good Stuff posts by clicking on Good Stuff in the labels below.

Canterbury's Recognition of ACNA Unlikely

From The Living Church

The Anglican Church in North America is unlikely to be recognized by the See of Canterbury, a leader of the American Anglican Council said on April 1.

“We do not believe that Canterbury will recognize us, at least while the current archbishop is still in office,” said the Rev. J. Philip Ashey, the AAC’s chief operating officer and chaplain, in a brief speech in the suburbs of Richmond, Va.

Father Ashey spoke at a public library in Henrico County at the invitation of the Richmond Anglican Fellowship. About 70 people attended his speech.

Echoing the sentiments of the Jerusalem Declaration, Fr. Ashey suggested that Canterbury’s recognition will be less important as various provinces in the Global South recognize the ACNA. He said representatives from Kenya, Rwanda, the Southern Cone of South America, and Uganda are expected to attend a provincial assembly in Texas in June, where the ACNA will vote on a proposed constitution and canons.

Fr. Ashey said he was part of a panel of bishops and lawyers who have drafted canons for the ACNA, which plans to release the proposed canons within a few weeks. He said the canons will make clear that all property belongs to congregations rather than dioceses; that bishops will be nominated by dioceses on a slate of three and chosen by a College of Bishops; and that all bishops must warn each other when a transferring priest has engaged in misconduct.

More- (including a line about blowing things up!)

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/4/3/aac-official-canterburys-recognition-unlikely

Good Stuff in TEC: Iowa

Episcopalians explore new church in Indianola

Warren County worshipers will now have an Episcopalian church in the Indianola area starting this weekend.

The first service of the Episcopal Church will be at 11 a.m. Sunday, April 5, in the music room at Emerson Elementary School, 1109 E. Euclid Ave. in Indianola. The Rev. Ronald Osborne will preside.

The Episcopal diocese had discussed having a church in the area and Osborne decided to take on the project during his retirement. He is using advertising, the Internet and word-of-mouth to get the church started.

“We are doing this on a shoestring,” Osborne said. “We’ve got meager resources, but we know we’ve got some people resources and those are the most important things anyway.”
His daughter Ann Osborne Gribbins will serve as the church cantor and lead the worship music. Gribbins was raised Episcopalian, but had attended a different denomination church for years. She’s excited to return to an Episcopal Church.

“I’m just looking forward to feeling comfortable going to church again and working with my dad,” Gribbins said. “I haven’t been to church with my dad since I was a kid.”

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090404/INDIANOLA01/90331067/-1/ENT06

You can see all of the Good Stuff posts by clicking on Good Stuff in the labels below.

Windsor process, covenant to top Anglican Consultative Council agenda

From Episcopal Life Online-

The Anglican Communion's most representative legislative body -- the Anglican Consultative Council -- will consider two documents at its upcoming meeting that "are key to discerning a way forward for the Anglican Communion in light of recent stresses caused by differences over matters of human sexuality," according to an April 3 news release from the Anglican Communion Office.
The two documents to be discussed by the ACC when it convenes May 1-13 in Kingston, Jamaica, are the proposed Anglican covenant and the Windsor Continuation Group's final report that was made public during the early February meeting of the leaders, known as primates, of the communion's provinces.

The latest draft of an Anglican covenant is expected to be released next week ahead of the ACC meeting. The Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner, one of two Episcopal Church members on the Covenant Design Group, told ENS April 3, at the conclusion of the design group's latest meeting, that it is "warmly commending this draft" to the ACC, which is the only communion body with the authority to ask the Anglican provinces to sign onto the covenant.

The Windsor Continuation Group has been charged with addressing questions arising from the 2004 Windsor Report, a document that recommended ways in which the Anglican Communion can maintain unity amid diversity of opinions, especially relating to human sexuality issues and theological interpretations. Its report calls for the development of a "pastoral council" and supported Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams' plan to appoint "pastoral visitors" to assist in healing and reconciliation within the communion.

The continuation group also addressed the moratoria on same-gender blessings, cross-border interventions and the ordination of gay and lesbian people to the episcopate. "If a way forward is to be found and mutual trust to be re-established, it is imperative that further aggravation and acts which cause offence, misunderstanding or hostility cease," the group's report states. At their February meeting, the primates called for "gracious restraint" with respect to such actions.

More-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_106680_ENG_HTM.htm

BNP puts Jesus on its poster

From the Church Times

THE British National Party (BNP) will use a picture of Jesus and a text from St John’s Gospel on its bill boards for the European elections in June.

Its poster quotes the words of Jesus: “If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you,” followed immediately by the question, “What would Jesus do?” and the instruction: Vote BNP.
The campaign reflects the party’s concerted attempt to portray itself as defender of Britain’s Christian heritage and “Christian” values.

Nick Griffin, the party leader, invited supporters in an email message this week to preview the billboard, which, he says, is “aimed at attracting even more Christian voters”. The message criticises the Church of England in particular for passing a resolution at the February Synod that membership of the BNP was incompatible with being a member of the clergy.

Mr Griffin asks: “What has become of the Christian church in this country? Instead of inclusively ‘embracing all’ which the church claims as its basis, certain groups within that body have banned people from their ranks. . . . Surely if God calls a man to his service, no church has the right to contradict HIS holy will!”

Jonathan Bartley, co-director of the think tank Ekklesia, which has been monitoring the BNP’s identification with Christianity, said of the billboard: “This is clearly a gross misrepresentation of both Jesus Christ and Christianity. Jesus was completely opposed to bigotry.

“But the Church must critically reflect on how it is aiding the far-Right. Leading figures within the Church of England have become far more vocal recently in their calls to ‘stem the tide of secularism’ and to defend the predominant ‘Christian culture’ of Britain.”

More-

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=72708

Design Group works on Anglican covenant revision

From Episcopal Life Online-

The group charged with "designing" a covenant that could be used as a unifying set of principles among the provinces of the Anglican Communion met March 30-April 3 in Cambridge, England to work on a new revision of the text.
"A completed revision of the proposed covenant has been finished, along with a commentary explaining our work," the Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner, one of two Episcopal Church members on the Covenant Design Group, told ENS at the conclusion of the meeting. "We have taken seriously the array of responses received from the provinces and from around the communion and larger church."

The latest incarnation of the Anglican covenant, along with the design group's commentary, is expected to be "posted on the Anglican Communion website sometime next week," said Radner.

The design group, Radner says, is "warmly commending this draft" to the Anglican Consultative Council -- the communion's main legislative body and the only instrument with the authority to ask the Anglican provinces to sign onto the covenant -- for discussion at its May 1-13 meeting in Kingston, Jamaica.

The Covenant Design Group was appointed by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams on behalf of the primates and has been meeting since January 2007. The soon-to-be-released draft will be the third version of the covenant released by the design group. The provinces of the Anglican Communion had until March 9 to submit responses to the second draft (St. Andrew's Draft) for consideration by the design group at its meeting this week.

The idea for an Anglican covenant was first cited in the 2004 Windsor Report (paragraphs 113-120) and has been supported by all the instruments of communion as a way for the Anglican Communion to maintain unity amid differing viewpoints, especially on human sexuality issues and biblical interpretation.

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_106676_ENG_HTM.htm

Pittsburgh: Orthodox Church elects new bishop

Leaders of the Pittsburgh archdiocese of the Orthodox Church in America rejoiced yesterday that an Ohio-born monk, who local clergy and laity had overwhelmingly nominated as their bishop, has been elected by other bishops of the church.

"Glory to God! Glory to God!" said an elated Father Patrick Carpenter, press officer for the Archdiocese of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania.

He had just spoken by phone to Bishop-elect Melchisedek, 66, who lives in a monastery in Greece.

The bishop-elect said in a Facebook posting that he "has finished waiting and has started packing for Pittsburgh."

Many archdiocesan leaders had worried that the Holy Synod of Bishops would reject November's unprecedented first ballot nomination and that the Pittsburgh archdiocese might be merged with Philadelphia. The late Archbishop Kyrill of Pittsburgh died in June 2007, as the church was reeling amid a $4 million financial scandal at its national headquarters.

In November, Metropolitan Jonah was elected to the church's top post as a reformer, and he responded quickly to a letter last month from Pittsburgh's Archdiocesan Council, which expressed concerns about why the bishops had taken four months to vote on their nominee.

A March 22 meeting between Metropolitan Jonah, Bishop Tikhon of Philadelphia, who has overseen the Pittsburgh archdiocese, and the Archdiocesan Council ended talk of a merger. The Synod of Bishops elected its new member for Pittsburgh at its regular meeting, which ended yesterday.

More here-

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09093/960329-85.stm

Provisional Bishop Named for Quincy

The Rt. Rev. John Clark Buchanan has been nominated to serve as provisional Bishop of Quincy. Bishop Buchanan and other newly appointed diocesan leaders must be confirmed by delegates to a special reorganizing convention to be held April 4 at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Peoria, Ill.

Bishop Buchanan currently serves as the Parliamentarian of the House of Bishops. He was Bishop of West Missouri from 1989-1999, and recently completed a term as an assisting Bishop of Southern Virginia.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori will call the special synod to order and will also officiate at a service of Morning Prayer prior to the start of the business meeting.

The diocese is filling positions vacated when a majority of clergy and lay delegates to the annual synod last November voted to disaffiliate from The Episcopal Church. Those congregations and clergy are now under the oversight of the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone.

Along with the cathedral, congregations which have committed to remaining with The Episcopal Church include St. John’s, Kewanee; St. James’, Lewistown; and St. James’, Griggsville. A minority of members from churches in Moline and Rock Island have formed a new Episcopal congregation in Moline named All Saints’.

In addition to electing new diocesan leadership, the special synod is expected to approve a new budget and rescind resolutions and articles of the constitution which separated the diocese from The Episcopal Church.

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/4/3/provisional-bishop-named-for-quincy

Top Anglican legislative body to meet in Jamaica

The Anglican Consultative Council, made up of lay people, clergy and bishops from the 38 Anglican Provinces of the Communion, meets in Kingston Jamaica May 1 - 13, to consider among other things, mission in the 21st century, the future structure of the worldwide Church, and theological education.

The ACC meets approximately every three years under the presidency of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who will give a presidential address on May 11.
Foremost on the agenda for this, the 14th meeting of the Council, will be consideration of a Covenant for the Provinces of the Anglican Communion and reception of the final report of the Windsor Continuation Process. Both of these documents are key to discerning a way forward for the Anglican Communion in light of recent stresses cause by differences over matters of human sexuality.

In a letter sent to all ACC members, Anglican Communion Secretary General Kenneth Kearon says: “Our 11 days together will provide an opportunity for us to engage with the Mission of the Anglican Communion through the work of its commissions, networks and working groups as well as experience something of the life and vitality 0f the local Anglican Church."

Many of the networks and working groups that help profile various areas of interest in the Anglican world including peace and justice, the international women’s network and inter-faith concerns will report during the meeting. Ms Hellen Wangusa, the Anglican observer at the United Nations will speak on mission.

The ACC’s opening service will be on Sunday May 3 at the National Arena. On Sunday, May 10, ACC delegates will participate in Mission Sunday at various churches across the Diocese. The closing event will be a service to be held at the Cathedral of St. Jago de la Vega, Spanish Town, on May 12.

More here-

http://www.aco.org/acns/news.cfm/2009/4/3/ACNS4593

Bishop prays in glass box display

From the "You Can't Make This Stuff Up" Department-

An Anglican bishop has taken a leaf out of illusionist David Blaine's book by sealing himself in a glass display.

The Bishop of Middleton, the Rt Rev Mark Davies, said prayers for an hour in a window display at Nexus Art Cafe in Manchester city centre.

The bishop is aiming to highlight to passers-by that there can be loneliness and isolation in urban areas.

The exhibition is part of a 40-day event organised by Sanctus1, a city centre Christian community.

Leader of the group, Rev Ben Edson, said the project was intended to remind people of Lent and the anonymity of a busy city life.

More here including video-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/7978246.stm

Good Stuff In TEC: West Texas

Youth Ministry and Transformative Environments

I spent this past weekend in San Antonio, TX with some new friends at St. Luke's Episcopal Church and a few other churches within the Diocese of West Texas. I led several conversations for a couple dozens students around mission, community and identity formation - some of the very things we've recently been discussing on this blog.

Each of the conversations were punctuated with experiential learning environments consisting of such activities as sharing food and conversation with the homeless, collecting food for a local help pantry, participating in the Eucharist, intentional conversations in which to discuss the experiences, numerous forms of art expressions and so on.

I've come away from the experience feeling very inspired and encouraged. Possibly the most inspiring element to the weekend was the relational composition I noticed between the various groups of students.
I've spoken to and trained many students at various gatherings throughout North America over the last decade or so and never have I more clearly witnessed a sense of true community and cooperative learning than while at St. Luke's.

More here-

http://blog.beliefnet.com/jesuscreed/2009/04/youth-ministry-and-transformat.html

You can see all of the Good Stuff posts by clicking on Good Stuff in the labels below.

Fire Destroys Historic Seminary Building

An overnight fire in Waukesha County leaves nothing but a pile of rubble behind at a historic building.

Nobody was hurt, but the structure, part of the Nashotah Episcopal Seminary, was destroyed.
The fire broke out around 12:30 a.m. Friday morning.

The two-story house was engulfed in fire.

Investigators said that nobody currently lives in this house, a historic building set in the heart of the Nashotah House Episcopal Seminary.

The seminary was founded in 1842. It covers 365 acres of land, nestled along the shore of upper Nashotah Lake.

http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/42379197.html

Good Stuff In TEC: Florida

Innovative prison program being launched

Marking a new vision for prison ministry nationwide, the Episcopal Diocese of Florida will be celebrating a landmark collaboration on April 16 with the non-profit Prisoners of Christ.
The celebration will be led by Bishop Samuel Johnson Howard. All those interested in prison ministry across northern Florida are invited to gather to dedicate this flagship ministry at 7 p.m. at the Church of the Nativity, 8373 Normandy Blvd., on Jacksonville's west side. A reception on site will follow the dedication and celebration co-hosted by the diocese and POC.

The dedication and celebration of this new ministry will highlight the recently-formed partnership between Prisoners of Christ (POC) and the extensive prison ministry of the diocese. Hosting the event are Episcopal clergy and lay people involved in prison ministry within the Diocese's 25 north Florida counties.

"This is the first of its kind," Howard noted. "Now, in addition to working behind bars in the 30 prisons in the diocese, we have an opportunity --between Prisoners of Christ and the diocese -- to meet the physical and spiritual needs of those ex-offenders and their families, and to continue to minister to the families of those still incarcerated." POC president Wesley Paxson Sr. and executive director Dan Palmer echoed and affirmed Howard's sentiments.

The innovative and visionary approach of this partnership allows Prisoners of Christ to use the parish hall facilities of Jacksonville's Church of the Nativity (Episcopal) as POC headquarters, while the church itself is staffed by prison ministry volunteers, both lay and clergy. This combination of prison ministry and programs, sharing the Church of the Nativity campus while serving incarcerated and former prisoners as well as the families of prisoners, is the first of its kind in The Episcopal Church.

http://www.staugustine.com/stories/040309/religion_040309_014.shtml

You can see all of the Good Stuff posts by clicking on Good Stuff in the labels below.

Bishop discusses expulsion of priest

A Providence News Video about Ann Holmes Redding and Bishop Geralyn Wolf (pictured)

http://www.turnto10.com/jar/news/local/article/bishop_discusses_expulsion_of_priest/12076/

Breakaway congregations form new Anglican diocese

At least eight conservative congregations in Western Washington — including two that left the Episcopal Church — are forming a new Anglican diocese in the Northwest.

The Cascadia Diocese, as it's being called, is the latest local example of the deep divisions splitting the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion over issues such as Scriptural authority and church teachings. The differences erupted in 2003 when the Episcopal Church confirmed the election of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire.

The Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch — or province — of the 77-million-strong worldwide Anglican Communion.

The Western Washington congregations are seeking to become part of the Anglican Church in North America — itself a newly formed conservative rival to the more liberal Episcopal Church and Anglican Church of Canada.

The rival province was formed last December by groups that included four U.S. dioceses and a number of parishes that had broken away from the Episcopal Church. This new province intends to seek the approval of leaders in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

(snip)

Other congregations involved in the formation of the Cascadia Diocese include several from the Reformed Episcopal Church. The Reformed Episcopal Church, which is not recognized by the Anglican Communion, formed in 1873 when it broke off from what later became the Episcopal Church. It has more than 100 congregations in the U.S. and Canada, its own prayer book and does not ordain women.

The rest is here-

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008976514_anglican03m.html

WESTERN NEW YORK: Search committee told to honor Resolution B033

From Episcopal Life Online-

The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York has told a newly formed bishop search committee that they are expected to "honor the mind of the Episcopal Church regarding acceptable candidates for the episcopate as expressed through the General Convention."

The Standing Committee said in a posting on the diocese's bishop search website that the requirement referred to Resolution B033, passed by the Episcopal Church's General Convention in June 2006.

In Resolution B033, General Convention called upon standing committees and bishops with jurisdiction to "exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion."

Under the canons of the Episcopal Church (III.16.4 (a)), a majority of bishops exercising jurisdiction and diocesan standing committees must consent to the ordination of a bishop within 120 days of receiving notice of her or his election. (If the election occurs within 120 days of a meeting of General Convention, the convention is asked for its consent.)

The Rev. Eric Williams, chair of the Western New York standing committee and rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Jamestown, told ENS April 2 that "we do understand that the letter of B033 does not relate to search committees at all."

"So we are taking a step -- and probably a somewhat controversial step -- of interpreting that and offering our guidance to the search committee," he said. "But it is not our intention to muzzle the search committee or prevent them from doing their discernment. In the end, they have to make these difficult discernment choices as they do their work over the next year and a half, and this is really an invitation to see their work in the context of the whole Episcopal Church."

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_106665_ENG_HTM.htm

'Religion beat' caught up in US journalism changes

News coverage of the religious landscape in the United States has in recent years gained visibility because of increased interest in issues related to religion but now faces an uncertain future, given a state of flux in U.S. journalism, say prominent religion journalists.

“The religion beat is suffering collateral damage," reporter Michael Paulson, who covers religion for the Boston Globe newspaper, told members of the Religion Communicators' Council, an interfaith professional association, at its annual meeting, which took place in Boston from March 26 to 28.

During a panel discussion, Mr. Paulson along with Rachel Zoll, who covers religion for the Associated Press news agency, and John Yemma, the editor of the Christian Science Monitor, told of frustrations and discouraging trends ranging from the reduction of staff to all-out elimination of sections devoted to religious reporting in U.S. newspapers.

The journalists noted that The New York Times now has only one reporter covering religion at the national level, instead of two, while the well-respected Dallas Morning News ditched its weekly section on religious news, which many observers considered the best in the field.

More here-

http://www.anglicanjournal.com/100/article/religion-beat-caught-up-in-us-journalism-changes/?cHash=e82a53b95b

Christians unite to ‘Put People First’

TWO THOUSAND Christians marched on the capital last weekend to highlight the plight of the poor.

Ahead of London’s G20 Summit, a number of Christian organisations including Tearfund, CAFOD, World Vision, Micah Challenge, Progressio and The Salvation Army marched under the banner “Put People First” in a parade of 35,000 people. Speaking to a congregation of 1200 at the ecumenical service in Central Hall before the rally, the Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, said those in the developed world must not forget those in the poorest parts.

“It is imperative we stand with people in this global emergency,” he said. “The G20 Rally is our opportunity to make the case for a global society that is committed to tackling poverty, injustice and climate change with the aim of creating a brighter future for the many and not just the few.”

Dr Chartres urged people to put pressure on world leaders ahead of their key December meeting in Copenhagen. He said: “If we take more than our fair share of the Earth’s resources and if we contribute to climate change then it is going to be the most vulnerable and poorest people in the world who suffer first. “We’ve mortgaged some of our children’s tomorrow to fund our today.”

The secretary general of the Zambia Episcopal Conference, Father Joe Komakoma, said: “Whereas rich countries can afford to come up with stimulus packages, worth billions of pounds, the poor countries, like Zambia have limited opportunities to cope with the current global downturn.”

The Rev Joel Edwards, International Director of Micah Challenge, said: “For the first time in human history we have reached the place where we are potentially irreversibly damaging our environment.

More here-

http://www.religiousintelligence.com/news/?NewsID=4171

Unsung Heroes – the hunt is on!

The Church of England has teamed up with Country Life magazine to hunt for an elusive species: the unsung hero! Rural churches and chapels are often the thriving hubs of their communities. Together, Country Life and the Church of England are looking for the unsung volunteers - of any denomination - who keep them alive.

The competition – to be launched in the magazine’s Easter edition (8 April) – will be seeking the volunteers who keep rural churches, chapels and churchyards thriving and at the centre of their communities. The aim is to highlight the wide range of voluntary activities taking place in and around those buildings – from maintaining the fabric against all odds to developing and taking forward an imaginative community use of the building.

As the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, writes in a special Country Life article to launch the competition: “In our countryside, armies of unsung heroes are keeping the circulation going in the community’s body. They are organising community celebrations and simple local services like mothers and toddlers groups or drop-in centres. But they are increasingly stepping into the gaps that have opened up in rural society in the last ten years or so.”

The Easter Country Life will include all the details of the Unsung Heroes competition, an entry form and instructions on how to submit nominations. Groups of church or chapel members can get together to nominate their own special Hero.

More here-

http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/pr3709.html

Churches unite in repentance

REPRESENTATIVES of Beaudesert’s Anglican and Catholic parishes arrived together for the joint Act of Repentance at St John’s Cathedral in Brisbane capturing the spirit behind one of the key sesquicentenary celebrations of 2009.

Catholic parish priest Fr Bernie Gallagher and Rev David Lunniss, of the Anglican parish, made the trip with 24 of their parishioners by bus, sitting together in the cathedral later for the event.

Nearly 500 people attended the Act of Repentance on March 27 at St John’s Cathedral. A combined choir from St John’s and St Stephen’s Cathedral took part.

The celebration acknowledged that in the Churches’ 150 years of co-existence in Brisbane there had been failures on both sides to live up to the full Gospel message.

St Stephen’s Cathedral dean Fr Ken Howell, one of the event organisers, said many present at the “well attended and prayerful event” had expressed their gratitude at the opportunity provided by the Act of Repentance to gather together.

The sentiment was shared by Anglican Rev Canon Richard Tutin who said the level of attendance and involvement had “surpassed all expectations”.

Among highlights had been Archbishop John Bathersby and Anglican Archbishop Phillip Aspinall’s prayers for forgiveness on behalf of their communities, Fr Howell said.

http://www.catholicleader.com.au/index.php?id=4805

When J.P. Morgan Came to Town

Long article on J.P. Mrgan and his dedication to the Episcopal Church-

For months the stock market had tottered. But the spark that ignited the panic was set by an unscrupulous engineer, Frederick A. Heinze, who had amassed considerable wealth from copper mining. He’d purchased control of a bank to use its assets to back continued stock speculations. When his investments failed, his bank collapsed after depositors made a run on its holdings. This closure triggered runs on other banks and the financial crisis became full-blown. When New York’s second largest bank, Knickerbocker Trust, ran out of cash and other banks refused to shore it up, it closed. In October 1907 the streets of New York’s financial district were flooded with frantic and angry customers and investors withdrawing their holdings.

Who to call? President Theodore Roosevelt was in the wilds of Louisiana at the time hunting black bears — but could have done little anyway. The secretary of the Treasury rushed to New York but there was no central national bank and no Federal Reserve system in place at that time to offer stability.
The one man with the clout, intelligence, resources and moxie to restore order was J. Pierpont Morgan.

So where was he while banking was under siege? Morgan had arrived in Richmond Oct. 1, becoming comfortably ensconced for three weeks at the Episcopal convention. America’s most powerful man didn’t intend to interrupt his church work. As much as he loved lording over Wall Street or collecting rare books and old-master art, he was above all else an ecclesiastical groupie. He couldn’t get his fill of the Episcopal Church, whether sitting alone in a darkened corner of his own understated, St. George’s Episcopal Church in New York listening to an organist practice, or debating with high-ranking clergy an arcane point of church governance.

Autumn of 1907 was high season in Virginia. The year marked not only the 300th anniversary of the Jamestown settlement, but also the tercentenary of the Episcopal church, which established Christianity in the English-speaking New World. In October, while the eyes of the world were on the World’s Fair in Norfolk, Richmond was host to one of the largest and most prestigious gatherings in its history. One hundred Episcopalian bishops from around the world were among some 1,000 delegates at the three-week conference.

“Prelates Arrive for Convention … Bishop of London and J. P. Morgan at Cynosure,” a News Leader headline announced in the Oct. 1 afternoon edition. The newspaper would cover the proceedings breathlessly until adjournment.

http://www.styleweekly.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=BD253555BD1D45419705BFBBA80CED27

Church Pension Fund portfolio declined in 2008 but investments 'well-positioned,' report says

he Church Pension Fund's investment portfolio declined by 18.8 percent in 2008, but still has approximately $1.3 billion more in assets than liabilities, according to a recent report mailed to fund participants.
"No one knows the duration of the current global economic and financial problems, but the fund remains in an enviable position," wrote Dennis Sullivan, Church Pension Fund president, in a March 20 introduction to "Perspective," a periodic newsletter from his office.

"Despite the recent declines, the fund's reserves are sound and benefits are secure," the newsletter said. "We do not know what the next months will bring, but we believe the investment portfolio is well-positioned for the long term."

As of December 31, 2008, preliminary figures show that the fund's assets were $7.45 billion and liabilities were $6.2 billion, according to the newsletter. The investment portfolio's decline of 18.8% in 2008 compared to a 37% decline during the same period in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, a broad gauge of U.S. stock market performance.

"The fund's 33% allocation to bonds cushioned the decline from equities," the Perspective newsletter noted, adding that the portfolio's "broad diversification" in its equities investments helped insulate the fund against the larger losses seen by other investors. Those investments include hedge funds, event arbitrage (purchasing securities of companies experiencing major events such as acquisition or reorganization), distressed debt (purchasing bonds of companies experiencing financial trouble) and absolute return strategies (aimed at producing a return even if markets are trending down).

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_106646_ENG_HTM.htm

Can you say "Islamopalian"? - Ann Holmes Redding Roundup

Links to the Ann Holmes Redding Story

First the Seatle Times-

The Episcopal Church has defrocked Ann Holmes Redding, the Seattle Episcopal priest who announced in 2007 that she is both Christian and Muslim.

Bishop Geralyn Wolf of Rhode Island, who has disciplinary authority over Redding, informed the priest of her decision in a letter today.

Wolf found Redding to be "a woman of utmost integrity and their conversations over the past two years have been open, honest and respectful," according to a press release from the Diocese of Rhode Island.

"However, Bishop Wolf believes that a priest of the Church cannot be both a Christian and a Muslim."

"I am very sad," Redding had said Tuesday. "I'm sad at the loss of this cherished honor of having served as a priest."

She also said she was sad at what seems to her to be a narrow vision of what the church accepts.

Redding, who had formerly served as director of faith formation at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral on Capitol Hill, announced in June 2007 that for more than a year, she had also been a Muslim — drawn to the faith after an introduction to Muslim prayers moved her profoundly.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008961581_webdefrocked01m.html

Episcopal Life-

http://www.episcopal-life.org/81803_106650_ENG_HTM.htm

Christian News Wire

http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/797849914.html

Atlanta Journal Constitution

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2009/04/01/muslim_priest_defrocked.html

‘Muslim Priest’ Deposed

The Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf, Bishop of Rhode Island, deposed a Rhode Island priest on April 1 who claimed to be both a Christian and a Muslim.

For more than 20 years Ann Holmes Redding served in other dioceses. Since 2001, she has lived in the Diocese of Olympia, but she remained canonically resident in Rhode Island under Bishop Wolf’s pastoral oversight. In 2007, Ms. Redding revealed in an article in Episcopal Voice, the Diocese of Olympia’s monthly newspaper, that she had made the Muslim profession of faith and that she saw no contradiction in remaining an Episcopal priest.

After conferring with Ms. Redding, Bishop Wolf issued a pastoral direction giving Ms. Redding the opportunity to reflect for one year on the doctrines of the Christian faith, her vocation as a priest, and the conflicts inherent in professing both Christianity and Islam, Bishop Wolf said in a statement issued at the time. The pastoral direction was extended for an additional three months in June.

In October, after the second expiration of the pastoral direction, the Rhode Island standing committee determined that Ms. Redding’s formal admission into another religious body not in communion with The Episcopal Church constituted abandonment as defined by the canons and constitution of the General Convention of The Episcopal Church and Bishop Wolf inhibited Ms. Redding. The inhibition expired on March 31. In order for the inhibition to be lifted, Ms. Redding needed either to renounce her priestly orders or withdraw from the Muslim faith. In an interview with the Seattle Times, Ms. Redding said being a Muslim did not preclude her from being a Christian.

“I am very sad,” she told the Times. “I’m sad at the loss of this cherished honor of having served as a priest.”

A statement issued by the Diocese of Rhode Island, said that Bishop Wolf found Ms. Redding “to be a woman of utmost integrity and their conversations over the past two years have been open and respectful. However, Bishop Wolf believes that a priest of the Church cannot be both a Christian and a Muslim.”

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/4/1/muslim-priest-deposed

Bishop Thomas E. Breidenthal of Southern Ohio says "No" to Thew Forrester

March 31, 2009

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ

I am writing to inform you of my decision not to consent to the consecration of Kevin Thew Forrester as Bishop of Northern Michigan. I did not want to make a public statement before I shared my concerns with the Standing Committee. I was able to do this at their meeting last Friday, March 27.

Two subjects have arisen as matters of concern in the wider discussion of consent for this Bishop-elect. I want to be clear that these matters have not contributed to my refusal of consent.
First, the internal process which led to Bishop-elect Thew Forrester's election. In my view, it violated no canons, and, although I have questions about it, these have not entered into my decision to withhold consent. Second, some have voiced concern that Bishop-elect Thew Forrester has been recognized by the Zen Buddhist community as one who practices Zen Buddhist meditation in an exemplary fashion and accepts the basic ethical principles of Buddhism. I have no problem with this. Many Christians have deepened their own faith through Buddhist prayer practices, and in my view the moral framework of Buddhism is largely consonant with that of Judaism and Christianity.

But obviously I do have concerns. These concerns lie closer to home. My own reading of Bishop-elect Thew Forrester's sermons over the last year (these sermons were available on the website of his parish church, St. Paul's, Marquette, Michigan, as of March 16, but are no longer posted) reveals an understanding of the Christian narrative that is troubling to me. I have spoken about this with the Bishop-elect on the phone, and he has followed up with e-mails, but I remain troubled.

According to Thew Forrester, Jesus revealed in his own person the way that any of us can be at one with God, if only we can overcome the blindness that prevents us from recognizing our essential unity with God. The problem here is that the death of Jesus as an atonement for our sins is completely absent, and purposely so. As I read Thew Forrester, nothing stands between us and God but our own ignorance of our closeness to God. When our eyes are opened, atonement (not for our sins, but understood as a realization of our essential unity with God) is achieved. Thew Forrester's rejection of salvation understood as an atonement for sins we cannot procure for ourselves is not an idea he is merely exploring. In a very consistent manner, he is developing this idea. In materials he submitted to the House of Bishops earlier this month, he has shared with us his own revision of the Prayer Book rite for Holy Baptism, in which references to salvation are replaced with references to union with God.

I would not worry about this so much if Thew Forrester were merely speculating about alternative ways of understanding the Christian faith. I would not even worry so much if it were simply a matter of the content of a number of sermons (although I think we should expect to be accountable for what we preach). But, as his revision of the Baptismal rite makes clear, he appears to be settled in his conviction that our relation to Christ is not about salvation from a condition of objective alienation from God, but about a more realized union with God.


Why is Thew Forrester's teaching troubling to me? Because it flies in the face of what I take to be the conviction at the heart of our faith tradition, namely, that we are in bondage to sin and cannot get free without the rescue God has offered us in Jesus, who shouldered our sins on the cross. Our tradition certainly declares God's closeness to us and God's love for us, but insists that this is solely due to God's gracious initiative, made known to us in Jesus. In other words, Jesus in his singular closeness to God is as much a reminder of our alienation from God and from God's ways as he is God's word to us that we are loved despite our collective wrongdoings.
Some may say, "So what?" Should the Episcopal Church not allow as much latitude as possible when it comes to theological reflection on the meaning of Jesus in our lives? Yes, of course. We are a church that values a broad range of opinion on practically every subject. Yet our (unrevised) Baptismal liturgy (Book of Common Prayer, beginning at p. 299) is extremely clear about what it means to be a follower of Jesus: we are to turn to him - the same Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified and rose again and continues to invite us into a personal relationship with him - and accept him as Savior. Whatever else we have to say about Jesus follows from that (even though different people may end up saying quite different things).

I cannot emphasize enough that clarity about our relationship to Jesus through our baptism is especially important as we move on from the Lambeth Conference, where the bishops of the Episcopal Church pointed repeatedly to our Baptismal rite as evidence of our commitment to Jesus as Lord.

I write this with a heavy heart. Kevin Thew Forrester served as an assistant in the parish where some years earlier I was ordained a priest and served as an assistant. He has been raised up by a sister diocese in our own Province V, and I know how highly he is regarded there and what a blow it would be to the people of Northern Michigan if he were not to receive the requisite consents to be consecrated. But I also know that the Episcopal Church needs at this crucial juncture in the life of the Anglican Communion to be clear that all our hope is founded in the cross.

Faithfully,
+Tom Breidenthal

Bishop Thomas E. Breidenthal
Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio