Obama's Muslim Outreach Named Top Religion Story of 2009

From Religious News Service- (see number nine)

President Obama's speech to the Muslim world has been ranked by the nation's religion journalists as the top religion story of the year.

The June speech in Cairo, in which the president quoted from the Quran and said America will "never" be at war with Islam, was ranked as the No. 1 religion story by members of the Religion Newswriters Association.

Evangelical leader Rick Warren, whose invocation at Obama's inauguration was greeted by protests from gay-rights groups, was named the 2009 Religion Newsmaker of the Year.

The entire top 10 is as follows:

1. President Obama promises a new start of Muslim-U.S. relations in a speech at Cairo University.

2. Health care reform, the key topic in Congress for much of the year, includes religious groups urging assistance for "the least of these" and groups like the Roman Catholic bishops seeking restrictions on abortion funding.

3. Considered a devout Muslim, Maj. Nidal Hasan, the accused gunman in the Fort Hood massacre, prompts a review of the role of Islam in terrorism, with some fearing a backlash.

More here-

http://blog.beliefnet.com/news/2009/12/obamas-muslim-outreach-named-t.php

Good Stuff in Tec: Group ensures inmates' children aren't forgotten

From The Washington Post-

Ronnie Boyd, 42, was at a crossroads when he walked out of the Arlington County jail this time last year. His release meant he would be able to see his two children for the holidays, but it also meant that because he was unemployed, he had few gifts to offer them.

Then he learned of Offender Aid and Restoration's Project Christmas Angel, which provides gifts for children of inmates or those recently released from jail. Through the Arlington agency's program, Boyd's son and daughter received gifts with handwritten notes from their father last year.

"The most important thing for me was to see the smiles on their faces, knowing that I was able to make them happy even under these circumstances," Boyd said.

People who work in OAR's programs or are in need are also eligible to have gifts donated to their families. Project Christmas Angel, which has provided offenders' children with gifts for more than 20 years, gave three gifts each to 412 children last year.

The gifts come with personalized cards from parents and do not mention how they were purchased. Children often have no idea that OAR has provided the presents, said Elizabeth Jones, the group's director of development and special projects.

More here-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/16/AR2009121601285.html

Anglican high court petition eyed in LB

From Long Beach-


Lawyers and congregants for several local Anglican parishes that broke away from the Episcopal Church of the United States will be carefully watching developments in the case of another breakaway church in La Crescenta.

St. Luke's Anglican Church, which lost its property to the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles in a court dispute after it left the larger church, is petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to review its case.

The church has filed a writ asking whether the California courts are violating the United States Constitution.

All Saints Church in Long Beach is one of three Southland Churches that originally broke away from the Episcopal Church in 2004 and remains embroiled in a similar legal dispute.

St. James Church, another of the original three dissident churches, was turned down earlier when it asked the high court to review its case.

At that time, Eric Sohlgren, a lawyer representing both St. James' and St. Luke's, theorized the Supreme Court may have demurred because the St. James case was still in court.

Typically, he said, the high court prefers to consider cases after they have played out at the state level.

St. Luke has already lost its court case and appeal, so the Supreme Court is its last resort.

More here-

http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_14014810

Breakaway parish appeals case involving L.A. Episcopal diocese

From the LA Times-

An Anglican congregation evicted from its La Crescenta church in October after it lost a legal battle with the Episcopal Church asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to hear its case.

Congregants at St. Luke's of the Mountains Anglican Church voted in 2006 to leave the Episcopal denomination over theological differences, including the consecration of a gay bishop in New Hampshire. The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and the national church sued to retain the church's property.

California courts have repeatedly ruled against the breakaway parish, saying the St. Luke's property was held in trust for the diocese and the national denomination.

In October, the state Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

Soon after, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ordered the St. Luke's congregation to leave.

The breakaway parish has since taken up quarters in a rented Seventh-day Adventist chapel in Glendale.

The congregation's attorney, Eric Sohlgren, said its leaders hope the U.S. Supreme Court will establish a uniform approach for state laws to follow in church property disputes.

In October, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in a similar property dispute that has pitted the Los Angeles diocese and the national church against another breakaway congregation, St. James Anglican Church of Newport Beach.

More here-

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-church17-2009dec17,0,4669057.story

Precious Items Salvaged From Ashes Of Historic Whitby Church

From Toronto-

It’s been a terrible week for the parishioners at All Saints’ Anglican Church in Whitby after the historic structure went up in flames, but there’s some good news as precious items have been salvaged from the ashes of the blaze.

Flames broke out at the 143-year-old church, described by some locals as “the prettiest building" in Whitby, Monday, causing widespread damage. A reverend carried some important items out of the charred church Tuesday, and All Saints’ prized stained-glass windows, amazingly, are still intact.

The church has been declared structurally sound with most of it salvageable.

Nearly 100 Christmas hampers were destroyed in the blaze, but donations have been pouring in and parishioners who organize the holiday program to help the city’s neediest families say they’ve collected more than enough clothes, food, toys and other gifts to distribute.

Any extra donations will be given to other community groups.

Donations are still being accepted Wednesday at Whitby’s Henry Street High School.

The flames broke out around 5am and authorities are still trying to confirm arson as a cause. Firefighters reportedly discovered a broken window and gas cans scattered on the ground nearby when they arrived on scene.

Police are now searching for three suspicious people seen in the area before the fire started.

http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/local/article/65981--precious-items-salvaged-from-ashes-of-historic-whitby-church

Comparative Christology in Dallas

From the Living Church-

Sparks glowed and winked only momentarily on Dec. 12 when the Episcopal Church’s longest-serving evangelical bishop and its Presiding Bishop discussed the Second Person of the Trinity.

With the Diocese of Dallas’ two traditionalist bishops listening from the front row, the Most Rev. Jefferts Schori and the Rt. Rev. William C. Frey delivered modulated addresses on set topics: “Who is Christ for Me?” and “Who is Christ for the World?”

Only in response to questions did the presiding bishop cause, a couple of times, any considerable shaking of heads in an audience of more than 500 at the Church of St. Michael & All Angels, for decades one of the Episcopal Church’s largest and wealthiest parishes.

One questioner sought her views on the value of protecting unborn life. Bishop Jefferts Schori said the issue of abortion “raised the tragic question of whose life and privileges” deserved to triumph, the mother’s or the unborn child’s. She left the matter at that, philosophically speaking.

Another questioner brought up the bodily resurrection of Christ. Did she believe there had been one? She had (clearly) not been there herself, she said. The disciples believed it had happened. She went on: “The only permanent healing is the Resurrection of Christ.”

In one of her lectures she called Jesus’ sacrificial death “a fully divine participation in humanity, a making-holy (which is what sacrifice means) of the meaning of his life, and all human life.” Thus: “The resurrection is sacramental fruit of sacrifice.”

Bishop Frey, who was expelled from Guatemala by a military junta in 1971, said the church’s work is not limited to social engagement.

“[E]vangelism is our primary calling,” Bishop Frey said. “It would sell Jesus short to imply that he’s simply an example for us to follow, or another one of the world’s moral teachers. He’s a doer — the one who acts with power to transform us from what we are to what we can become.”

More here-

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/12/16/comparative-christology-in-dallas

Wyoming: Four Nominees Remain

From The Living Church-

One nominee has withdrawn from the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming’s search for its ninth bishop, but four nominees remain. The diocese has set Dec. 21 as the deadline for nominees by petition.

The diocese announced on Dec. 12 that the Very Rev. Robert Neske, Dean of St. Mark’s Pro-Cathedral in Hastings, Neb., had withdrawn his name.

The four nominees are:

• The Rev. Rebecca Brown, rector, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Foxboro, Mass.

• The Very Rev. Canon F. Michael Perko, Ph.D., canon to the ordinary/ecclesiastical authority in the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande.

• The Rev. Canon Dr. Clark Michael Sherman, rector, St. James Episcopal Church, Bozeman, Mont.

• The Rev. John Sheridan Smylie, rector, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Casper, Wyo.

The diocese has distributed the four nominees’ résumés [PDF]. It plans to distribute more detailed profile information after it announces any nominees by petition.

More here-

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/12/15/four-nominees-remain-in-wyoming

New Center to Focus on Religion and Politics

From The New York Times

Washington University in St. Louis will open a new academic center in January that will focus on the intersection of religion and politics and will be named for a former Missouri senator, John C. Danforth.

The John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics will eventually have five full-time faculty members, offer an undergraduate minor and sponsor conferences and lectures, Mr. Danforth, a former three-term Republican senator, said in an interview.

An ordained Episcopal priest and author of a book titled “Faith and Politics,” Mr. Danforth said the center would strive to be ideologically neutral and spark open-minded discussion on religion and politics. “I think all of us benefit from thinking about these issues more deeply, in a more scholarly way that is respectful to all points of view,” he said.

But Mr. Danforth, who also served as a special envoy to Sudan during former President George W. Bush’s administration, also acknowledged that the type of topics the center is likely to take up can be controversial and can spark back-and-forths that include what he called the “I’m right, you’re wrong, God’s on my side” point of view.

“My hope is to build into the D.N.A. of the center that this is going to be a place of coming together,” Mr. Danforth said, adding that “this is not going to be a place with a particular political ax to grind.”

The St. Louis-based Danforth Foundation — a charitable foundation started by William H. Danforth, the founder of Ralston Purina and the former senator’s grandfather — is kicking in a $30 million endowment gift to help the center get started.

More here-

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/new-center-on-religion-and-politics-to-be-named-for-former-mo-senator/

UK's first woman bishop could be Alison Peden, Scots chaplain and mum

From The London Times-

The first woman bishop in the United Kingdom could soon be appointed after a woman was shortlisted for a vacancy in Scotland.

Canon Alison Peden, 57, who is married with children, is one of three candidates being considered as the new diocesan bishop for Glasgow and Galloway in the Scottish Episcopal Church.

Under Scottish church rules Dr Peden, currently rector of Holy Trinity Church in Stirling and also a college chaplain and canon of St Ninian's cathedral in Perth, is not allowed to comment.

She is up against Dr John Applegate, 53, an academic and the Very Rev Gregor Duncan, 59, Rector of St Ninian’s Church, Pollokshields.

The Scottish Church is the most liberal of the Anglican provinces in the British Isles and is close in sympathies to the US Episcopal Church, where a lesbian, Canon Mary Glasspool, was a few days ago elected as a suffragan in the Los Angeles diocese and is awaiting confirmation from that church's bishops. The US Episcopal Church, in the colonial era a mere outpost of the London diocese, gained independence in the 18th century after the Revolution when the Bishop of London refused to consecrate a new bishop and so he went to Scotland to be consecrated instead.

More here-

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6957067.ece

Story from the Telegraph is here-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/6818523/Scottish-mother-may-be-UKs-first-female-bishop.html

No fireworks at Episcopal bishops' debate in North Dallas

From The Dallas Morning News-

One bishop spoke deliberately, professorially, with flashes of droll humor and poetic phrasing. The other told stories from his long ministerial career, rounding them off with insights into Christian faith and practice.

"I heard a great deal of convergence," Frey said afterward.

The three-hour Saturday morning event packed the 700-seat sanctuary of Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in North Dallas, which brought the speakers in as part of a lecture series.

Jefferts Schori, the Episcopal Church's first female presiding bishop, has been criticized by theological conservatives on a number of fronts, including for refusing to say that belief in Jesus is the only way to heaven.

The Rev. Robert Dannals, rector of Saint Michael and All Angels, sought to balance the program with Frey, a longtime leader of the Episcopal Church's traditional wing.

That wasn't enough for one local Episcopal priest, who said he and five colleagues wrote a letter to Bishop James Stanton of the Diocese of Dallas, protesting his decision to allow Jefferts Schori's visit. (Under Episcopal law, a diocesan bishop must give permission for a working visit by another bishop.)

More here-

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/city/dallas/stories/DN-episcopal_13met.ART.Central.Edition1.4bd941e.html

Oral Roberts, Evangelist, Dies at 91

From The New York Times-

Oral Roberts, the charismatic Pentecostal evangelist whose televised ministry attracted millions of followers worldwide and made him one of the most recognizable and controversial religious leaders of the 20th century, died Tuesday in Newport Beach, Calif. He was 91.

The cause was complications of pneumonia, said Melany Ethridge, a spokeswoman for Mr. Roberts.

At the height of his influence, Mr. Roberts sat at the head of a religious, educational and communications enterprise based in Tulsa, Okla., that managed a university, conducted healing “crusades” on five continents, preached the gospel on prime-time national television and published dozens of books and magazines.

By 1985, the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and the university that bore his name employed more than 2,300 people and earned $110 million in revenue. The expanse of Mr. Roberts’s ministry, coupled with his fiery preaching, tycoonlike vision and jet-set lifestyle, also attracted persistent questions throughout his career about his theology and his unorthodox fund-raising techniques, although no credible evidence of malfeasance was ever produced. Some of the harshest criticism was generated by former members of his staff.

Mr. Roberts, who rose from stifling poverty and a nearly fatal case of tuberculosis as a teenager, rarely fought back in public. He was convinced, he said, that God had spoken to him directly as a young man and ordered him on the path, pursued with uncommon entrepreneurial energy, to “put Jesus into my focus at the center of all my thoughts, my dreams, my plans, my accomplishments, my destiny and any legacy I might leave behind.”

His influence derived from his intimate understanding of those who turned to him for worship. They were white and black and Hispanic, the poor and the ill, hard-working people who could not afford an abundance of material possessions but whose dreams of health and prosperity were tied to an abiding love of God.

More here-

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/16/us/16roberts.html

Australian Firm Hopes to Cash In by Giving Away Light Bulbs

From The New York Times-

How can a company give away millions of products, help poor people, address climate change and turn a profit? A boutique energy company run by the unlikely partnership of an Anglican priest and a handful of business executives thinks it has the key.

The Melbourne company, Cool nrg International, is handing 30 million energy-efficient light bulbs out to poor and middle-income families in Mexico in a bid to capture a previously untapped corner of the carbon offset trading market and to nudge the developing world toward cleaner energy.

Cool nrg is one of a growing number of businesses trying to cash in on the multibillion-dollar market for carbon offsets approved by the United Nations under its Clean Development Mechanism, a program created by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to fight emissions of greenhouse gases. The program allows wealthy countries that have binding greenhouse gas targets to offset their emissions by investing in clean technology in developing countries, which have no targets.

The Mexican venture, called Cuidemos Mexico, or Let’s Take Care of Mexico, is the first C.D.M. project to focus on reducing energy demand by improving efficiency at the household, rather than the industrial, level. It is also the first project to receive “programmatic” status, meaning that it can be introduced at multiple sites without needing U.N. approval each time.

The company’s executive director is Nic Frances, 48, a charismatic former stockbroker turned Anglican priest who has been given a seat at the World Economic Forum in recognition of his success in setting up socially responsible enterprises.

More here-

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/business/global/15bulb.html

Australian bishop urges prudence as Anglicans join Catholic Church

FromThe Catholic Spirit-

Incorporating traditionalist Anglicans into the Catholic Church must be a "slow, cautious and prudent" path of implementing Pope Benedict XVI's apostolic constitution, said the bishop in charge of the process in Australia.

On November 9, the Vatican published Pope Benedict's apostolic constitution "Anglicanorum Coetibus" ("Groups of Anglicans") along with specific norms governing the establishment and governance of "personal ordinariates," structures similar to dioceses, for former Anglicans who become Catholic.

Melbourne Auxiliary Bishop Peter J. Elliott, a former Anglican himself, told The Record Catholic newspaper of the Archdiocese of Perth Dec. 11 that such Anglicans are in for a difficult next few years as the ordinariate is established in Australia.

The prelate, appointed to oversee the process at the bishops' November 23-27 plenary meeting, said that while the Church of England made some pastoral provision for these traditionalist Anglo Catholics, the Anglican Church has done nothing for them in Australia; "and the generous offer of Pope Benedict (XVI) comes to them in that context."

"They are at a stage of praying and discerning," Bishop Elliott said. "Obviously some are very tied to the churches where they worship, and great sacrifices will be required of them.

"They will have to give up worshipping in familiar places that they love dearly and seek fellowship with like-minded Anglicans on the journey into full unity with the Catholic Church."

More here-

http://thecatholicspirit.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2953&Itemid=33

Catholics Being Drawn to the Anglican Use Liturgy

From Catholic Online-

When the Vatican recently announced the reception of Anglican communities into the Catholic Church it was a dream come true not only for Anglo-Catholics seeking their own pastoral provision, but also for many Roman Catholics with Anglican backgrounds.

Over the last thirty years there has been a quiet but steady trickle of Anglicans into the Roman Catholic Church. In the American province of the worldwide Anglican Communion, “The Episcopal Church,” it began with alterations to the Book of Common Prayer in 1979 and increased with the ordination of female clergy, along with the widespread acceptance of homosexuality.

Springfield Missouri is home to about four Episcopalian parishes and two continuing Anglican parishes. There was one small Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) parish about ten years ago, but it was later disbanded and the chapel sold. That being said, there are currently no Anglican parishes within the city that are interested in entering the emerging Anglican Ordinariates within the Roman Catholic Church.

However, that does not mean Springfield is lacking individuals with Anglican backgrounds who have taken interest in accepting the pope's offer. That being the case, a few pioneering Christians are starting their own prayer group in Springfield, with the intent of eventually forming an Anglican Use parish under the pastoral care of the soon to be Anglican Use ordinary bishop. They've named their group simply “Anglican-Use Catholics of Springfield Missouri.”

They have made their presence known to the Anglican Use Society, and are seeking direction from officials within that organization. They have also made their presence known to the diocesan bishop of the "Anglican Church in America," the provincial affiliate of the TAC. Likewise, they have notified their local Roman Catholic diocesan bishop of their intent.

More here-

http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=35022

St. Francis suit could go to jury

From El Paso-

When St. Francis on the Hill Episcopal Church voted to leave the Episcopal denomination in October, members of the El Paso parish intended to keep the church building and other property.

Now as the parishioners of the renamed St. Francis on the Hill Anglican Church, they are suing the denomination in a preemptive strike to prevent it from attempting to take back the property.

Such disputes are not uncommon, but this case could become the first of its kind to make it to a jury trial. Previous cases stemming from parishes and dioceses withdrawing from the Episcopal Church have been decided by judges. No case has so far made it to a trial by a jury.

The St. Francis case had been headed to trial Oct. 2, but after a hearing Sept. 17, the case was delayed until Feb. 5. The delay will give Judge Gonzolo Garcia of the 210th District Court in El Paso time to rule on motions that could determine the outcome of the case without a trial.

“Give me a summary judgment and let them appeal,” St. Francis attorney Richard Munzinger said at the hearing.

“We won’t enforce any action until the Court of Appeals (also) has ruled,” said Harrel Davis, who represents the Episcopal Church.

The dispute arises from the perception by some Episcopalians that the church denomination has drifted to the left. Rumblings of discontent were heard as far back as the 1970s when the church first ordained women.

But the movement to leave the national church began in earnest after the Episcopal Church elected a gay man to become a bishop in 2003.

Once the largest Episcopal parish in El Paso, the Church of St. Clement in Downtown also disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church, but first made arrangements to pay the diocese $2 million for the property.

More here-

http://elpasoinc.com/readArticle.aspx?issueid=263&xrec=4749

Archbishop of Canterbury Condemns Uganda's Anti-Gay Law

From Beliefnet-

After weeks of intense pressure from Episcopal gay rights groups, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has condemned the "shocking severity" of proposed anti-gay laws in Uganda.

The spiritual leader of the 77 million-member Anglican Communion also said that "I can't see how it could be supported by any Anglican who is committed to what the Communion has said in recent decades."

Williams' comments were made during an interview published Saturday (Dec. 12) with The Telegraph, a British newspaper.

Williams had been heavily criticized by American gay rights advocates, particularly since he said the election of a lesbian as an Episcopal bishop in Los Angeles raised "very serious questions" about whether the Episcopal Church should remain a full member of the Anglican Communion.

"The Archbishop of Canterbury has failed to exercise moral leadership to protect gays and lesbians in Uganda and has instead exercised political pressure to attack a bishop-elect in Los Angeles because she is a lesbian," reads a statement from a Facebook page devoted to pressuring Williams. As of Monday (Dec. 14), the page had more than 4,530 members.

A number of U.S. religious leaders and gay rights groups have already condemned the proposed Ugandan laws, which would imprison gays and lesbians as well as people who counsel them. The Anglican Church of Uganda, however, has opposed only the proposed death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality."

The Anglican Communion, which includes both the Episcopal Church in the U.S. and the Anglican Church of Uganda, has been bitterly divided over homosexuality for years. Many conservative Anglicans, particularly in Uganda and other parts of Africa, view gays and lesbians as sinful.

More here-

http://blog.beliefnet.com/news/2009/12/archbishop-of-canterbury-conde.php

Episcopal Head Responds to Election of Lesbian Bishop

From Christian Post-

Prayer and discernment" are needed as Episcopal leaders decide whether to confirm the election of a partnered lesbian as bishop suffragan, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said.

The head of the about 2 million-member denomination provided a limited response to the recent election of the Rev. Canon Mary D. Glasspool in the Diocese of Los Angeles.

Glasspool, who has been with her partner for 19 years, must be approved as an assistant bishop by the bishops and standing committees of The Episcopal Church's other 108 dioceses within 120 days.

"The process isn't finished until it's finished," Jefferts Schori said Saturday, according to The Associated Press.

The Episcopal leader made her comments at a news conference in Dallas just after delivering a lecture on "Who is Christ" alongside a more conservative bishop – the Rt. Rev. William Frey – at Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church.

Jefferts Schori, who has previously said that Jesus is not the only way to God and heaven, presented a carefully worded paper Saturday morning, mentioning only once the urgency for full inclusion of gays and lesbians in all structures of the church, as observed by Cheryl M. Wetzel, editor of The Anglican Voice.

During the lecture, she stated, "The challenges of our current age include the ancient human desire to find a scapegoat, with the familiar targets in this society right now being Muslims and immigrants and gay people. Jesus' own witness is to continually reject that kind of response, for it always ends in violence and diminution of life," as reported by The Dallas Morning News.

The Episcopal Church – the U.S. arm of Anglicanism – widened rifts in the global body when it consecrated its first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson, in 2003. In an effort to prevent schism, Anglican leaders from across the Communion, including those in the United States, in 2006 passed a resolution urging restraint concerning the election of bishops whose "manner of life" – namely partnered homosexuals – would cause offense to the wider Anglican Communion.

More here-

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20091214/episcopal-head-responds-to-election-of-lesbian-bishop/

Valley properties contested after Episcopal Church split

From The Fresno Bee-

Two years ago this week, the Diocese of San Joaquin seceded from the U.S. Episcopal Church, launching a legal battle over church property that is now headed toward a decisive showdown.
The rebel diocese changed its name and became a founding member of a new church, the Anglican Church in North America. But religious and legal experts say holding on to its property -- including real estate and cash -- will prove to be far more challenging.

Already, a Fresno County Superior Court judge has handed a critical victory to the national Episcopal church, which sued not long after the San Joaquin diocese voted to break away. The diocese is appealing that July ruling.

Several legal issues in the case remain to be decided. But even the breakaway diocese acknowledges it will likely lose if it cannot persuade the 5th District Court of Appeal to overturn Judge Adolfo Corona's ruling.

As both sides wage a battle of legal briefs in the state appeals court and await its decision, about $1 million in diocesan assets remains frozen.

More here-

http://www.fresnobee.com/lifestyle/faith-and-values/story/1746401.html

Episcopal bishop seeks prayer in rift over gays

From AP-

The Episcopal Church should respond with "prayer and discernment" to the recent election of a lesbian priest as an assistant bishop of the Los Angeles diocese, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said Saturday.
Although the Rev. Mary Glasspool of Baltimore was elected earlier this month, she must be approved by a majority of Episcopal dioceses before she can be consecrated, and that could take several months, said Jefferts Schori, the church's head.

"The process isn't finished until it's finished," she said.

The Episcopal Church is the Anglican body in the United States. In 2003, it caused an uproar by consecrating its first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

The following year, Anglican leaders asked the Episcopal Church to hold off on electing another gay bishop while they tried to prevent a permanent break in the fellowship.

But in July, the U.S. church's top policy making body affirmed that gay and lesbian priests were eligible to become bishops despite pressure from other Anglicans.

The Archbishop of Canterbury called for gracious restraint on the matter, but Jefferts Schori said Saturday that "there was never any time frame attached to that request."

She added that she didn't know whether six years was long enough to wait but "the church is in the process of discerning that."

More here-

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jzw85Io7SKBEfEHOweJ2KcTOw0cwD9CI2HBG0

Presiding Bishop of US Episcopal Church to Visit Liberia in January

From Liberia-

The Episcopal Diocese of Liberia is scheduled to play host next month to the most important visitor it has welcomed to the country in many years.

The Most Reverend Katherine Jefferts Schori, 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States, will arrive in Liberia on Saturday, January 2, 2010 on a weeklong visit.
Bishop Schori will be the special guest of Bishop Jonathan B.B. Hart and his wife, Mrs. Frances A. Hart.

Rt. Rev. Hart was himself elected bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Liberia nearly a year ago, on January 19, 2008.

Previously elected the ninth bishop of Nevada, Schori is the first woman elected as primate of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Her election took place at the church’s 75th General Convention, held in Columbus, Ohio in 2006, the same year President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was inaugurated President of Liberia, the first woman elected to lead an African country.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Church of England, is the considered by many the overall leader of the Anglican Communion, but that position has always been occupied by men.
Bishop Schori took office on November 4, 2006, following her investiture as Presiding Bishop at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

An elaborate program has been planned for her visit. On Sunday, January 3, at 10 a.m., she will participate in a solemn high mass at Trinity Cathedral. The following day she will be the guest of honor at a Special Convocation at Cuttington University, which will begin at noon. There, the presiding bishop will most likely receive an honorary degree.

On Tuesday, January 5, prayer time with Episcopalians at St. Andrew Chapel, Trinity Cathedral, will take place, beginning at 10 a.m. Later in the afternoon, she will visit Bromley Mission in Clay Ashland, the Liberian Diocese’s oldest institution for girls.

On the Day of Epiphany, January 6 (celebrated as the day the Baby Jesus was taken to the temple to be dedicated), Bishop Schori, accompanied by Bishop Hart, will attend holy mass at the St. Thomas Episcopal Church on Camp Johnson road. Later that morning, she will meet with Bishop Hart and his clergy in St. Andrews Chapel, Trinity Cathedral. In the afternoon, she will visit the Rafiki Children’s Village in Schiefflin, and at six o’clock p.m. will attend Choral Evening Prayer at St. Stephen Episcopal Church at 10th Street, Sinkor.

More here-

http://www.liberianobserver.com/node/3352

Election of lesbian agitates Anglicans

From Christian Century-

The election of a lesbian priest as a bishop in the Episcopal Church is likely to cause further problems in the divided Anglican Communion, said Arch bishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.

"The election of Mary Glasspool by the diocese of Los Angeles as suffragan [assistant] bishop-elect raises very serious questions not just for the Episcopal Church and its place in the Anglican Communion, but for the communion as a whole," said Williams, the spiritual leader of the 77-million Anglicans worldwide, in a December 6 statement.

Glasspool, who has served as canon, or assistant, to the bishops of the Diocese of Maryland, has lived in a two-decade partnership with another woman. She is the first gay candidate elected as bishop since the Episcopal Church in July opened all levels of church service to gays and lesbians in committed relationships.

As Williams noted, Glasspool's election still has "to be confirmed, or could be rejected, by diocesan bishops and diocesan standing committees." That process could take several months. He said the decision "will have very important implications."

The election in 2003 of V. Gene Robinson, who lives with a longtime male partner, as bishop of New Hamp shire caused a furor in the Anglican Com munion, which includes the 2.2-million-member Episcopal Church.

Robinson praised the December 5 election of Glasspool in comments to the Los Angeles Times. "This has been an amazing six and a half years, [but] it's been lonely," he said.

In a statement from Australia, the Anglican archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, said that confirmation of Glass pool's election would "make clear beyond any doubt whatsoever that the [Episcopal Church] leadership has chosen to walk in a way which is contrary to scripture and will continue to do so."


More here-

http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=8089

Anglican 'Santa' barred from giving gifts to children at detainee centre

From The London Guardian-

It started out as a well-intentioned attempt to bring festive cheer to some of society's most neglected members – the hundreds of children who each year are caught up in the UK's asylum system.

But when the Anglican church's leading expert on Father Christmas, dressed as St Nicholas himself, arrived with one of Britain's most distinguished clerics to distribute presents to children held at the Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre in Bedfordshire, things took a turn straight out of Dickens.

An unedifying standoff developed that saw the security personnel who guard the perimeter fence prevent St Nicholas, the patron saint of children and the imprisoned, from delivering £300 worth of presents donated by congregations of several London churches.

In a red robe and long white beard, clutching a bishop's mitre and crook, St Nick – in real life, the Rev Canon James Rosenthal, a world authority on St Nicholas of Myra, the inspiration for Father Christmas – gently protested that he was not a security threat, but to no avail.

Then as St Nicholas, accompanied by the Rev Professor Nicholas Sagovsky, canon theologian at Westminster Abbey, attempted to bless the gifts, the increasingly angry security guards called the police. The resulting ill-tempered and surreal impasse between church and state was videotaped by asylum seeker support groups and could become an internet viral hit.

The row comes amid mounting concern about the treatment of children in immigration removal centres. Last week senior doctors called for an immediate end to the "profoundly harmful" detention of children in immigration removal centres. In today's Observer a number of leading children's authors – including Michael Morpurgo, Michael Bond and Philip Pullman – have signed a letter calling for an end to child detention.

More here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/dec/13/santa-yarls-wood-father-christmas

Upper South Carolina Results

Results Ballot by Ballot in Upper South Carolina-


http://www.edusc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=104&Itemid=81

Minn. priest elected new Episcopal bishop in SC

From Upper South Carolina-

A priest from Minnesota has been elected the new bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina.

The State of Columbia reports that the Rev. W. Andrew Waldo won on the third ballot over five other candidates. Waldo is the pastor of Trinity Episcopal Church in Excelsior, Minn.
Waldo says he is excited to return to the South, where he has family.

Waldo was picked by more than 350 clergy and lay delegates who spent the day in worship and prayer before the vote.

Three South Carolinians were among the six candidates.
Waldo will take over for retiring Bishop Dorsey F. Henderson Jr.

http://www.thestate.com/statewire/story/1068176.html

Critics of Cecil Bothwell cite N.C. bar to atheists

From Asheville NC

North Carolina's constitution is clear: politicians who deny the existence of God are barred from holding office.

Opponents of Cecil Bothwell are seizing on that law to argue he should not be seated as a City Council member today, even though federal courts have ruled religious tests for public office are unlawful under the U.S. Constitution.

Voters elected the writer and builder to the council last month.

“I'm not saying that Cecil Bothwell is not a good man, but if he's an atheist, he's not eligible to serve in public office, according to the state constitution,” said H.K. Edgerton, a former Asheville NAACP president.

Article 6, section 8 of the state constitution says: “The following persons shall be disqualified for office: First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God.”

Rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution trump the restriction in the state constitution, said Bob Orr, executive director of the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law.

“I think there's any number of federal cases that would view this as an imposition of a religious qualification and violate separation of church and state,” said Orr, a former state Supreme Court justice.

In 1961, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Maryland's requirement for officials to declare belief in God violated the freedom of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Additionally, Article VI of the U.S. Constitution says: “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”

More here-

http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20091208/NEWS01/912080327

Rowan Williams raps government for treating religion as a 'problem'

From the London Guardian-

The archbishop of Canterbury has accused the government of treating religious faith as a "problem" whose followers are "oddities".

Dr Rowan Williams said ministers were wrong to think that religion was no longer relevant in modern Britain.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, he criticised Labour for looking at religious faith as "an eccentricity", rather than recognising its contribution to society.

"The trouble with a lot of government initiatives about faith is that they assume it is a problem, it's an eccentricity, it's practised by oddities, foreigners and minorities," he told the paper.

"The effect is to de-normalise faith, to intensify the perception that faith is not part of our bloodstream. And, you know, in great swaths of the country that's how it is."

The archbishop said political leaders should be more open about their own religious beliefs – and the impact these had on their policies.

"I think part of establishing their human credentials is saying, 'This is where my motivation comes from. I'm in politics because this is what I believe.' And that includes religious conviction."

Williams also dismissed Pope Benedict XVI's invitation for disaffected Anglicans to join the Catholic church as "theologically rather eccentric".

More here-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/dec/12/rowan-williams-government-religion-problem

Episcopal Church Membership Drops by 3 Percent

From Beliefnet-

Domestic membership in the Episcopal Church dropped by 3 percent in 2008, continuing a decline in which the denomination has lost almost 200,000 American members since 2004, according to Episcopal researchers.

The Episcopal Church now counts slightly more than 2 million members in about 7,000 U.S. parishes. Church leaders say they are pleased, however, that the denomination is growing in its non-domestic dioceses, particularly in Haiti and Latin America, where the church counted about 168,000 members in 470 parishes last year.

Still, the church is "swimming against some difficult cultural tides," Matilda Kistler, who heads a state-of-the-church committee in the denomination's House of Deputies, said in a statement.

"We find ourselves facing a society that is gravitating toward secularism," Kistler said. "We also believe that the church-going segment of the public is aging significantly, though the committee will be seeking more definitive data to ascertain if that is so."

Kistler acknowledged that "internal conflicts within the Episcopal Church have also distracted from the message of hope our clergy and lay leaders seek to share."

In 2003, the church consecrated an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire, setting off a furor among conservative Episcopalians and the global Anglican Communion, which counts the Episcopal Church as its U.S. branch. Four dioceses and dozens of parishes have since left the Episcopal Church, some to join a rival denomination, the Anglican Church in North America.

On Saturday (Dec. 5), Episcopalians in Los Angeles elected a lesbian priest as an assistant bishop, despite pleas from Anglican bishops throughout the world not to elect any more gay bishops. The Rev. Mary Glasspool must still have her election confirmed by a majority of the church's diocesan standing committees and bishops before she is consecrated as a bishop.

http://blog.beliefnet.com/news/2009/12/episcopal-church-membership-dr.php

Child bishop tradition continues at Woodbury's Christ Church

From New Jersey- (I'm tempted to say that "child bishop" is a redundancy but that wouldn't be nice)

On Dec. 7 Christ Episcopal Church in Woodbury seated its second child Bishop during the observance of The Feast of Saint Nicholas. Selecting a Child Bishop is a tradition of many English cathedral choir schools and collegiate chapels. This year, Megan Steffney, a sixth grader, was selected as this year’s Child Bishop.She was vested in full Episcopal regalia, processed to the altar, took her seat at the Bishop’s chair, and offered the Homily and the Prayers of the People during the service.Following the Mass, the congregation celebrated the evening in the parish hall with a pizza party.

Students in the church’s fourth, fifth, and sixth grade Sunday school classes were invited to compose an essay answering the question “Who was Saint Nicholas and why is his example of being merciful so important to imitate?” The student who offered the best response was selected as the Child Bishop, and presented her essay response to the congregation as the Homily. Christ Church, founded in 1856, is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey and the Worldwide Anglican Communion.

http://www.nj.com/gloucester-county/towns/index.ssf/2009/12/child_bishop_tradition_continu.html

Jesus Nearly Banned at White House Inn

From Fox-

I can see the headlines now: "Gate-crashers Enter White House; Jesus Kept Out!" Except it almost happened. Really.

I was reading the New York Times Sunday Styles section yesterday (yep, I'm straight) when I came across an article about embattled White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers -- she's the one who broke with previous White House tradition by inviting herself to the state dinner when she should have been at the door keeping out the loopy riff-raff.

But in the twelfth paragraph of the article there was a real bombshell: It said that earlier this year at a luncheon with other previous White House social secretaries, Ms. Rogers claimed that this year the White House would have a "non-religious" Christmas celebration. (For those of you confused by that, it's just like a "non-religious" Yom Kippur celebration, or a "non-Irish" St. Patrick's Day celebration, or an "international" July 4th celebration.)

The Times article continued:

"The lunch conversation inevitably turned to whether the White House would display its crèche, customarily placed in a prominent spot in the East Room. Ms. Rogers, this participant said, replied that the Obamas did not intend to put the manger scene on display — a remark that drew an audible gasp from the tight-knit social secretary sisterhood. (A White House official confirmed that there had been internal discussions about making Christmas more inclusive and whether to display the crèche.)"

In the next sentence we learn that this radical idea was eventually scotched. (Perhaps the "audible gasp" from the bipartisan audience tipped them off.) But the fact that it was going to happen reveals a level of political tone-deafness in the current administration that is staggering. To most average Americans -- who did not grow up in an Ivy-League, inside-the-Beltway hothouse governed by the rules of the French Revolution -- the idea of keeping Jesus out of "the people's house" at Christmas evokes disturbing images of the Holy Family being turned away from the Inn, or worse yet, images of Herod. But to a super-secular White House afraid to offend anyone -- except for average Americans -- it probably just seemed like another fab "progressive" innovation.


More here-

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2009/12/07/eric-metaxas-white-house-creche-jesus-christmas/

The Great Consolidator

From The American Spectator-

For all the sturm und drang that rolled off the British newspaper presses in late October, you'd think the Limey scribblers were sounding the alarm over an imminent threat to the realm rather than reporting on a pair of religion news conferences. It was as if the bishop of Rome had scrambled a new Spanish Armada and personally set sail for Canterbury -- guns at the ready, popemobile retrofitted for a water landing.

"An Unholy Battle for the Market Share of Our Souls" complained the normally pro-market Financial Times. "Pope Benedict Opens New Front in Battle for the Soul of Two Churches," observed the Observer. "Desperate Bishops Invited Rome to Park Its Tanks on Archbishop's Lawn," said those crack armchair generals at the Times. It's all about "Un-leashing the Counter-Reformation," figured the Economist. "Former Archbishop Attacks Pope for Anglican Overtures" whinged the Independent. "The End of the Anglican Communion" was ominously announced by the Guardian. But not to worry, old boy, said the Telegraph, "The Queen Will Stand Up to Pope Benedict."

What really happened, on October 20, is that the Vatican...made an announcement. Nothing changed immediately; nobody was hired, fired, promoted, pilloried, or even excommunicated; and no new dogmas were propounded. It's not clear that any change whatsoever will have been undertaken by press time, because Rome's gears do grind slowly. But the world moved that day because the Vatican let us all in, with press conferences in both Vatican City and London, on the broad outline of its thinking about what to do with the great number of conservative Anglicans who no longer feel at home in their own church.

More here-

http://spectator.org/archives/2009/12/11/the-great-consolidator