Sydney votes for diaconal and lay presidency

Meanwhile Sydney is doing its own thing with the sacraments and the Church Times reports that it may effect GAFCON relationships.


SYDNEY DIOCESAN SYNOD has affirmed that deacons — including women deacons — may preside at holy communion. In a motion moved by a Sydney regional bishop, Dr Glenn Davies, the synod accepted arguments that there was no legal impediment to deacons’ presiding, given that, under a 1985 General Synod canon, deacons are authorised to assist the priest in the administration of the sacraments.

A report accompanying the mo tion argued that, because deacons can administer the sacrament of bap tism “in its entirety”, and because “no hierarchy of sacraments is ex pressed in describing the deacon’s role of assisting the presbyter,” deacons are therefore authorised to “administer the Lord’s Supper in its entirety”.

Bishop Davies told the Synod that the Archbishop could not prevent a deacon’s “administering the Lord’s Supper”. But the motion, though it also affirmed lay presidency, could not approve lay people’s presiding at Sunday services, as the Archbishop would need to license them, Bishop Davies said. “The Archbishop will not license a lay person at this time.” This reluctance is believed to relate to Sydney’s relationship with the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) bishops.

Another Sydney regional bishop, the Rt Revd Peter Tasker, supported an attempt to remove general af firma tion of lay and diaconal presid ency from the motion out of concern for a potential adverse GAFCON re sponse, but the amendment was lost.

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=65336

Clergy numbers up, but laity down

From the weekly "Church Times" of London.

MORE CLERGY are being trained and ordained in the Church of England than for a decade, but the numbers worshipping have con tinued to drop, says the Church Statistics report for the year 2006-07, which was issued this week.

There were also more younger clergy (under 40) being accepted for training. Over three years, their numbers rose from 188 in 2004 to 243 last year. The Church recom mended 595 candidates for training during the year — the greatest number in a decade. In 1994, only 408 candidates were recommended for training.

To support these and other in creasing costs, the average parish ioner gave £5.38 a week to the Church in 2006 (the figure based on the numbers on parish electoral rolls). But parish expenditure grew faster than giving.

In the nine years between 1998 and 2006, recurring expenditure in creased by 49 per cent, but recurring income increased by 45 per cent. Over the same period, the amount the Church spent on capital costs increased by 70 per cent, while its “one-off income” (for instance, from appeals to meet those costs) increased by 66 per cent.

In 2006, PCCs had a total income of £826 million, and expenditure of £792 million — £46 million of which went to other charities and missions.

The report gives a total of 20,355 licensed ministers — clergy, Church Army officers, and Readers — and, in addition, 1568 chaplains, as well as about 7000 retired ministers with permission to officiate.

On the lowest-attended Sunday in October 2006 — the month on which the report’s churchgoing statistics are based —622,000 adults were in church, com pared with 660,000 in church on the lowest-attended Sunday of the four recorded in October 2005.

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=65309

Sid Hudson, 93; Pitched For Senators in 1940s- Dies

Mr. Hudson began his professional baseball career in 1939 with the Sanford Lookouts of the Class D Florida State League. He was 6-foot-4 with a good fastball, and he posted a 24-4 record and an earned-run average of 1.79. He also hit .378.

The Senators bought his contract in 1940 for $5,500. Washington Post columnist Bob Considine described Mr. Hudson as "the million-dollar beauty Clark Griffith found in the 10-cent store of baseball, the Florida State League."

Manager Bucky Harris called him "the cleverest young fellow I've seen come along since Schoolboy Rowe broke in under me with the Tigers in 1931. Fellows like him don't learn how to pitch in a couple of years. He's in an advanced stage because he's just naturally a pitcher."

More Here -

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/23/AR2008102303270.html

Chance of a ghost in church

From the "You can't make this stuff up" department. "Researchers" are looking into a report of "ectoplasmic activity" at a Staten Island Church !

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Does more than just the Holy Spirit inhabit a Richmond church?

That's the question that Staten Island-based Eastern Paranormal Investigation Center (EPIC) seeks to answer after returning last night to St. Andrew's Episcopal Church to continue an investigation begun in May, when the team encountered some unusual ectoplasmic activity during its first visit.

"You literally heard sobbing," said Arthur Matos, 38, of Port Richmond, the group's co-founder, of the earlier findings. "There were footsteps as if someone was walking past. You felt like you were being watched. And these chimes kept moving and then stopping very quickly."

After such a spook-tacular first examination, Matos was determined to further explore the possibility of a specter at the 300-year-old church.

http://www.silive.com/news/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/122492522691000.xml&coll=1

Jury finds Episcopal bishop did not commit fraud in defrocking of priest

During the four-day civil trial, Moyer's attorney, John Lewis, presented documents suggesting Bennison concealed from Moyer his plan to remove him without a church trial. However, the 12-member jury never got to deliberate whether that constituted fraud.

Instead, Judge Joseph Smyth instructed jurors to first determine if the diocese engaged in fraud when it asserted that Moyer "abandoned the communion of the Episcopal Church" in 2002.

That question was the "gateway" to all the other questions, Smyth told them, and trumped the question of whether Bennison deceived Moyer about a trial.

If they decided fraud did not "pervade" the diocese's decision process regarding the abandonment of communion, Smyth said, the case was over.

In less than three hours - including lunch - the jury announced that it had reached a verdict. When it returned, the forewoman told the judge that only two jurors had found fraud on the critical question.

The verdict seemed to shock Moyer, who shook his head slightly and then gazed down at the table.

The judge smiled broadly as the courtroom began to empty. On Wednesday, after Bennison's attorney, Mary Kohart, asked him to throw the case out on constitutional grounds, Smyth said from the bench that he was uncomfortable with civil courts' judging the internal workings of a church. The jurors had been in recess at the time of those remarks.

More here-

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/158/story/484839.html

Episcopal Diocese wins appeal of Fallbrook case

In California if you leave the Episcopal Church you leave the property. The California Supreme court is expected to rule in the Los Angeles cases by the end of the year.

The civil lawsuit claimed that the leaders of what became St. John's Anglican Church are not the legitimate officers because they are no longer Episcopalians. According to the lawsuit, new officers elected by members who did not break away from the congregation should have authority over the property.

Vista Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Stern disagreed in her November 2006 ruling.

On Tuesday, the appeals court determined that under church law, once the breakaway group renounced its membership in the Episcopal Church, group members could no longer serve as members of the congregation's governing council or as directors of the corporation that holds the church's assets.

The rest is here-

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20081024-0710-1bo24episcopalwin.html

Lemming Pledge #4

Game 2- Rays 4, Phillies 2

The Rays took an early lead and Upton showed up to play as the series is now tied at one game a piece. Carlos Ruiz holds on to the ball for a great play at the plate in the second. For you soccer fans out there the series ends when one team wins four games.


The Rays showed a lot Thursday night. B.J. Upton rebounded from his poor opener to have a hand in their first three runs. James Shields proved worthy of his nickname of "Big Game" with a stellar start when they needed it most. David Price displayed that well-beyond-his-years ability to get the biggest outs at the end of the game. And the Rays showed again they could come back from a big loss with a bigger win, beating the Phillies 4-2 in Game 2 to even the best-of-seven World Series at a game apiece. "I think we showed what we showed the whole season," Cliff Floyd said. "This is how we play. I'm hoping at the end of the season nobody has a heart attack around here because it's just so intense, so tight. Every situation comes up — eighth inning, ninth inning, there's always something going on with us." Thursday that meant taking a 4-0 lead without really hitting the ball hard (seven hits, all singles), scoring on two groundouts; a single on which the trail runner was thrown out at the plate, and a safety squeeze to score Floyd, 35.

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/baseball/rays/article868723.ece

Good Stuff in TEC: Ohio

Volunteers warm to Toledo 'blanket blitz'

One piece of fabric at a time, one snip of the scissors at a time, and tying one knot at a time, Mary Wabeke and Judy Meeks - and about 150 volunteers - are hoping to make enough blankets in the next few days to keep 500 people warm this winter.

It's called the "Blanket Downtown with Love" event, organized by Trinity Episcopal Church in Toledo. And it's actually easier than it sounds - they're "no sew" blankets made by taking two pieces of fleece, cutting a fringe along the edges, and then tying the fringe of the two pieces together.

"It's very simple," said Bud Gartz, a volunteer who was helping at the church yesterday. "All you've got to do is tie knots.

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081024/NEWS16/810240330

You can read all of the good stuff posts by typing good stuff into the blogs search engine.

Executive Council Responds to San Joaquin and Pittsburgh

Episcopal News Service on Executive Council (General Convention at rest) responding to the situation in the two remnant Dioceses.

During the closing sessions of its four-day meeting in Helena, the seat of the Diocese of Montana, the council passed four resolutions that speak to various aspects of its commitment to the new leadership of the dioceses of Pittsburgh and San Joaquin, as well as to other "similarly situated dioceses."

* Agreed (via Resolution A&F075) to make available up to $700,000 in 2009 for clergy salaries and other expenses in San Joaquin and other similarly situated dioceses, joined the Presiding Bishop in recognizing the current members of the San Joaquin and Pittsburgh standing committees; and "commend[ed] the work of all those involved in supporting the efforts by Dioceses to exercise their pastoral and fiduciary responsibilities in regard to the ownership of properties and funds."

* Recognized (via Resolution NAC039) "the extraordinary challenges" presented by the departure of the bishops and numerous clergy and laity in San Joaquin and Pittsburgh; commended Jefferts Schori, Anderson, and the staff of the Episcopal Church Center for the "pastoral care and support offered the clergy and people of those dioceses as they work to restructure their dioceses in order to continue to minister to the Episcopal Church in their areas;" supported the depositions of William Cox, John-David Schofield and Robert M. Duncan; and commended Jefferts Schori's request that Episcopalians to pray for all persons departing or remaining in those dioceses and for God to "lead us to new paths of reconciliation and common mission."

* Committed (via Resolution CIM035) to "being proactive in assisting dioceses whose leadership has chosen to leave the Episcopal Church" including asking the presiding officers appoint a strategy response team to assess needs, determine appropriate responses, report to council; and to meet with diocesan leaders and other interested persons in the Diocese of San Joaquin during the council's January 30-February 2 sessions in Stockton, California.

* Expressed (via Resolution NAC042) a desire to seek reconciliation with those who have left the Episcopal Church.

All here-

http://www.episcopal-life.org/79901_101892_ENG_HTM.htm

Local Papers on Bishop David Jones

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette

"Bishop Jones' experience in Virginia, especially his pastoral care for congregations that continued with the Episcopal Church, provides us a great resource and guiding hand," said the Rev. James Simons, president of Pittsburgh's diocesan Standing Committee, which will continue to govern the diocese until another bishop becomes the ecclesiastical authority. One of Bishop Jones' duties will be to help search for an interim bishop to serve here for a year or two.

Bishop Jones was born in Youngstown and raised in West Virginia. In his youth he often shopped in Pittsburgh and "rooted for the Pirates and the Steelers," he said.

More here-

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08298/922467-85.stm

And The Tribune Review

Jones will have no ecclesiastical authority in Pittsburgh. He may, on occasion, be asked to perform sacramental duties. Jones will continue as Virginia's bishop suffragan and maintain his residence there, spending time in Pittsburgh as needed.

Jones has close connections to the Pittsburgh area, but never had an official tie to the diocese. Born in Youngstown, Ohio, and raised in West Virginia, he often visited Pittsburgh.

"I bought my first suit at Kaufmann's ... and rooted for the Pirates and Steelers," he said.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/search/s_594912.html

Bishop Bennison’s defense rests case

So much litigation so little time (in Philadelphia).

Montgomery County Court Judge Joseph Smyth, who is overseeing a (sic) unusual civil lawsuit brought by an Episcopal priest against his bishop, sent jurors home this afternoon after defense lawyers representing Bishop Charles E. Bennison Jr. rested their case.

John Lewis, who is representing the plaintiff, the Rev. David Moyer, told Smyth he was surprised by the suddenness of the defense's action and was not prepared to make closing arguments today.

Smyth ordered the trial to reconvene at 9 a.m. tomorrow for closing arguments and his instructions to the jurors, after which they will start deliberations.

Moyer is suing Bennison, head of the five-county Diocese of Pennsylvania, on grounds that he wrongfully defrocked Moyer six years ago. Bennison's lawyers have argued that the First Amendment bars civil courts from intervening in the internal affairs of a religious institution.

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20081023_Bishop_Bennisons_defense_rests_case.html

NY court: Episcopal diocese owns church building

The Episcopal Church wins the property fight in New York (Rochester). From Newsday. (Lt. Kaffee didn't even argue the case. ).

In a property dispute stemming from the national Episcopal rift over the ordination of a gay bishop, New York's top court ruled Thursday that the Rochester Diocese can keep the building once occupied by the breakaway All Saints Anglican Church.

Trial and midlevel appeals courts sided with the diocese, concluding it was entitled to the property under the rules of the church. The Court of Appeals agreed unanimously Thursday, saying All Saints had agreed years earlier to abide by a trust agreement covering ownership of the property.

With about 100 similar cases around the country, diocese attorney Thomas Smith said this appeared to be the first to reach a state's top court, though a midlevel California court reached the same conclusion this week. "Hopefully this will serve as the binding precedent in New York and a valuable precedent in other states," he said.

More-

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--episcopalfinances1023oct23,0,580813.story

and here -

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wxxi/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1397075&sectionID=1

Bishop David Jones to be "Consulting" Bishop for Pittsburgh

This just in -

The Rt. Rev. David Colin Jones, the bishop suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, has accepted an invitation from the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh to serve as a “consulting bishop” as it rebuilds.

Bishop Jones will provide the Pittsburgh diocesan Standing Committee — the current leadership team — practical advice on the details of diocesan administration, clergy deployment, and support for congregations remaining in the Episcopal Church in the United States.

“Bishop Jones’s experience in Virginia, especially his pastoral care for congregations that continued with the Episcopal Church, provides us a great resource and guiding hand,” said the Rev. James Simons, President of Pittsburgh’s Standing Committee.

The Diocese of Virginia, like Pittsburgh, has seen a handful of parishes seek to “realign” with other Anglican churches outside of the United States. As the bishop suffragan, or assisting bishop, in Virginia, Jones’s primary responsibility is for missions and church planting, and he is known to be passionate about church growth.

More here-

http://www.episcopalpgh.org/bishop-to-advise/

And from ENS

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_101879_ENG_HTM.htm

When Christian groups reunite, watch out for the next split

From the Economist. An article about how "splitting" gets into a church's DNA.

Some of the issues at stake are familiar from other Christian battlegrounds, such as the Anglican Communion, where the question of gay rights has split southern-hemisphere conservatives from northern liberals. The Dutch traditionalists reject female pastors and same-sex unions. But the Dutch old-timers’ deeper objection is to sloppy mixing of two traditions: their own Calvinism, stressing the “depravity” of mankind, and the Lutheran view, which is a bit gentler. “We pledged to follow the original Reformist path, and it is a biblical calling that you must continue to do what you promised,” says Willem van Vlastuin, a “restored” church pastor who serves 1,300 souls in the coastal town of Katwijk.

Before 2004, conservatives in the Netherlands’ reformed churches (there were two with similar names) could rub along with the liberal camp because they still belonged to bodies that claimed, at least, to be Calvinist. Once the waters were muddied by throwing in a new, Lutheran set of beliefs, the conservatives marched out. Just as happened with the Russian reunion, some clerics hovered between the amalgamated body and the dissidents, in a few cases switching sides more than once.

http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12432281

World Series- Phillies open with victory

The Phillies win a squeeker in Tampa Bay. For you soccer fans out there this is the first world series game Philadelphia has won since 1993.

There is no telling how this journey will end, but this is the start a championship-starved franchise and city had been searching and hoping and praying for.
The Phillies waited 15 years, and seven long days, to play again in the World Series. They didn't disappoint as Cole Hamels and Chase Utley seized the moment in a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.

Hamels continued to elevate his status as one of the best big-game pitchers in Phillies history. Utley came through with a two-run home run in the first inning to silence a boisterous crowd.

"Maybe he doesn't even realize where he is right now," lefthander Jamie Moyer said of Hamels. "But at some point he will."

"If you want to take the wind out of the sails and shut up the cowbells, get some home runs," manager Charlie Manuel said of Utley. "That will do it. Except at Citizens Bank Park. If you hit enough there they ring the bell. They ring the Liberty Bell."

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/20081023_Phillies_open_with_victory.html

Judge decides to keep hearing church case

More on the Bennison Moyer feud in Philadelphia.

Midway through a civil trial in which a priest is suing the Episcopal bishop who defrocked him, the judge hearing the unusual case suggested yesterday that the dispute might belong in a church court, and he appeared close to throwing it out of Montgomery County Court.
The Rev. David Moyer, rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, alleges that Bishop Charles E. Bennison Jr., suspended head of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, "fraudulently" removed him from the priesthood six years ago without a hearing before diocesan officials. Moyer seeks unspecified damages for loss of employment and mental suffering.

The case could establish a legal precedent allowing clergy in hierarchical religious institutions to sue their superiors in civil court. American courts have a long tradition of not intervening in churches' internal affairs.

Judge Joseph Smyth said the case, already in its third day, raised "important" legal issues regarding separation of church and state, but he decided to allow the trial to proceed.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20081023_Judge_decides_to_keep_hearing_church_case.html

Church needs time to consider covenant, says Presiding Bishop

But apparently the Presiding Bishop wants to go slowly. (See previous post) Danger- danger!

But the Presiding Bishop said that if the ACC decides to do that, "my sense is that the time is far too short before our General Convention for us to have a thorough discussion of it as a church and I'm therefore going to strongly discourage any move to bring it to General Convention," Jefferts Schori told the Executive Council. "I just think it's inappropriate to make a decision that weighty" that quickly, she added.

http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/news/?NewsID=3118

or

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_101764_ENG_HTM.htm

Covenant Design Group publishes Lambeth Commentary; provinces have until March 2009 to respond

The Covenant is coming. The Windsor process is moving onward.

The Covenant Design Group has published a document "which sets out the responses of the bishops at the Lambeth Conference in their discussions of the St. Andrew's Draft for an Anglican covenant," an October 22 news release from the Anglican Communion Office announced.

The 33-page Lambeth Commentary, compiled at the Covenant Design Group's recent meeting in Singapore, has been sent to all 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion "to assist in their discernment and response to the St. Andrew's Draft," the news release said.

The provinces have until March 9, 2009 to respond to the St. Andrew's Draft, which will also be sent -- along with the Lambeth Commentary -- to ecumenical partners of the Anglican Communion, inviting their reflections and responses.

The Covenant Design Group says it hopes that the Lambeth Commentary "will stand alongside the St. Andrew's Draft as a critique and as a stimulus for study and response. We are grateful to the bishops at the Lambeth Conference for the honesty and wisdom of their responses, and the opportunity that it has given us to address some commonly voiced concerns."

http://www.episcopal-life.org/79901_101833_ENG_HTM.htm

Conflict resolution methods recommended for warring bishops

From the London Times- (Don't think even Danny Devito will help much).

Warring Anglican bishops could be forced to confront each other in divorce-style "mediation" or conflict resolution, under proposals published today.

Theologians and canon lawyers responsible for drawing up the drafts of a new covenant, a document which is intended to re-unite the divided Anglican Communion around agreed practices and beliefs, have proposed that different forms of conflict resolution be examined to see if any might be suitable for use by Anglican bishops.

The document, drawn up after consultations with the bishops attending Lambeth Conference earlier this year, discusses the various types of conflict resolution that might be suitable.

Possible models include professionals involved in arbitration, mediation and reconciliation.

More here-

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4996033.ece

Local congregation finds new hope

South Dakota moves to make sure another parish is secure

A New Hope

This year, meeting places for the congregation varied between the FIS Chapel and Eastman Hall. Just when its members started to lose hope in ever having their own facility again, and wondering what to do with the windows, Barnhardt gave them the good news.

“He just said to me, 'how would you like a church to worship in?'” said Margo Zephier, senior warden of lay ministry of the Episcopal Church of Flandreau.

By way of an anonymous donation of $35,000, a United Thank Offering grant of $15,000 and a $50,000 loan taken out by the Episcopal Diocese, a new church facility is being built for the small, hopeful congregation. And in other good news, The Rev. Charlie King was appointed to serve St. Mary's in a permanent basis, the first permanent minister that the church has seen in four years. In another bit of good news for the congregation, all seven of the refurbished windows from the old facility will be used in the construction of the new facility. And Barnhardt promised the congregation that it would have its facility in time for Christmas Eve services.

Its all here-

http://www.moodycountyenterprise.com/main.php?story_id=3266&page=23

Bishop Donovan named Deputy for Anglican Communion Relations

From Anglican Communion News Service. Herb will do a wonderful job in this position.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori announced on October 20 the appointment of the Rt. Rev. Herbert A. Donovan, Jr. as Deputy to the Presiding Bishop for Anglican Communion Relations.

In this newly-developed position, Bishop Donovan will serve as the liaison for the Episcopal Church to the other 37 Provinces in the Anglican Communion, as well as to international groups, organizations and partners.


"I am honored to be asked by our Presiding Bishop to assist in the work of the Church within the Anglican Communion at this important time in our life together," noted Bishop Donovan.

"I am delighted that Bishop Donovan has accepted the call to serve as Deputy for Anglican Communion Relations," commented Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori. "His experience and relationships within the Anglican Communion will be of immense help in this work, though his own manner of leadership is the greatest asset. I am grateful for his willingness to aid and augment our work around the Communion by putting his abundant gifts to work yet again."

"I am delighted that the Presiding Bishop has decided to appoint Bishop Herb Donovan as Deputy for Anglican Communion Relations," said the Rev. Dr. Ian Douglas, Professor of Mission and World Christianity at Episcopal Divinity School. "Because of new relationships engendered between bishops at the Lambeth Conference of 2008, The Episcopal Church is poised to move forward in God's mission with sister and brother Anglicans around the world in new ways at this time."
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/digest/index.cfm/2008/10/22/Bishop-Herbert-A-Donovan-named-to-new-post

Lemming Pledge #3

Church work ‘can’t replace public sector’, bishop warns

English Bishop reflects on the role of the church as a social agency.

Churches and voluntary agencies are not a “backstop for the public sector,” the Anglican Bishop of Chelmsford has told the Government.

Bishop John Gladwin raised the issue during a debate he initiated in the House of Lords on the role the Government envisages for churches and faith communities in delivering welfare services.

He told peers: “The strength of the churches and, indeed, of other voluntary agencies is in their being local and offering a faith that motivates people to action.

“They have historically been the stimulators of prophetic and innovative action in the field of neighbourly care.”

He said debate should focus not on “filling gaps in state provision but on the positive role that these communities can play in meeting the needs of our society”.

Bishop Gladwin said: “The 20th century, with the development of the welfare state, saw the growing marginalisation and privatisation of religion and the increasing dependency of people on the state for social provision.

“You and I live in a double bind as a result of that experience. On the one hand, religion is viewed as a private and personal matter rather than something primarily of public concern. Religion is a hobby, a leisure-time pursuit outside the framework of public life.

More here-

http://www.religiousintelligence.com/news/?NewsID=3109

PBS to feature U2charist and other local aid efforts in York

From the New Hampshire coast -

"Religion and Ethics Newsweekly" will feature St. George's Episcopal Church as part of an upcoming episode examining faith and humanitarian aid in the United States. The PBS program took interest after learning about the church's U2charist — a communion service featuring the music from the Irish rock band U2, dancing, and a call to help end global poverty — and the work of York residents Tom and Jane Sweeney. The Sweeneys recently returned from Ethiopia where they adopted their 6-month-old son Gus.

"We were looking for places that illustrate how people of faith help out people all over the world," said Kim Lawton, managing editor of "Religion and Ethics Newsweekly."

"The rector here put us in touch with a family here that has been very involved in outreach and we thought they would be great illustrations for the story," she said.

When first contacted about the television interview, Sweeney was excited about the opportunity to spread the message about global outreach.


"I think it's important to get the word out, and this is one avenue for us to do that," she said. "The extreme poverty in this world is just not necessary, and we can make an impact on that by just one person doing one thing. Our thing was to adopt Gus."

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20081022-NEWS-810220328

Appeals court sides with Episcopal Church

A California court awards the property to the Episcopal Church.

An appeals court sided with the Episcopalian Church on Tuesday in its dispute over who runs a Fallbrook congregation that two years ago decided to end its affiliation with the larger entity.

St. John's Parish broke away from the Episcopal Church USA in July 2006 and aligned with an Anglican diocese in Uganda. After the change, the congregation continued to meet in the same church.

The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego and some members of St. John's who did not want to break away from the Episcopal Church sued St. John's Anglican in September of that year, claiming the Anglican congregation did not have the authority to claim ownership of the building.

A trial judge ruled in favor of the breakaway members. But the 4th District Court of Appeal ruled Tuesday that the breakaway members "lacked the power and authority" to change the bylaws and articles of incorporation in place when it affiliated with the Episcopal Church in 1973.

Washington D.C. attorney David Booth Beers, who represents the Episcopal Church, said in an e-mail he had not yet read the ruling and thus declined to comment.

Eric Solhgren, the attorney for the breakaway members, said his clients are "seriously considering" asking the state Supreme Court to review the case.

"Our view is that the ruling is in error," Solhgren said, adding that the state's highest court is already considering a similar case.

The ruling does not take effect for at least 30 days. In the meantime, Solhgren said, the church is "still meeting, active, and growing."

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/10/21/news/sandiego/z817e1767a2c2f44f882574e900839e48.txt

History muddies battle over church

An update on the Virginia property dispute. Christ Church will deed its property to the dioceses.

And on Sunday in Alexandria, members of the historic Christ Church voted overwhelmingly that, should it be proved their parish owns part of the Falls Church land, they wish to deed it to Virginia Episcopal Bishop Peter J. Lee. When asked about the nature of the vote and an exact tally of "yes" and "no" votes, senior warden Rawles Jones said "no comment." The court hearing - and the church vote - is part of a multi-trial lawsuit that has lasted a year and is thought to be the largest property lawsuit in Episcopal Church history.

When conservatives left the denomination in late 2006 and early 2007, they took millions of dollars of property with them, including property dating back to Colonial times. Circuit Judge Randy I. Bellows has ruled against the diocese several times, saying the conservatives have a right to the property, thanks to a unique Virginia state "division" statute dating back to the Civil War. The diocese, in turn, has reached back to Colonial times to help establish a claim to the land.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/21/history-muddies-battle-over-church/

'Stand up and speak up,' Bonnie Anderson urges Grace Cathedral congregation

Episcopal News Service-

House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson encouraged a Grace Cathedral congregation October 19 to "get into trouble, not stay out of trouble" by exercising moral authority and leadership through keeping baptismal promises.

"That is the way of the cross. It is from Jesus, a servant, a troublemaker that we take our moral leadership direction," said Anderson, while preaching at the San Francisco cathedral's Sunday morning service. "And if we follow it, if we keep our baptismal promises, we are willingly vulnerable and we will get into trouble.

More here

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_101748_ENG_HTM.htm

The Right Rev Richard Wood--Campaigner against black oppression, Dies

From the Guardian-

The Right Rev Richard Wood, who has died aged 88, was one of several English-born Anglican clergymen to be expelled from Namibia (formerly South West Africa) for standing up to the brutal treatment of the colony's black people. In a celebrated case in 1974, he initiated an action in the South African courts that halted the flogging of South West Africa People's Organisation (Swapo) freedom fighters by the black puppet regime in Ovamboland. For his sins, South Africa's then prime minister, John Vorster, kicked him out.

Wood was born in Oldham, Lancashire, the son of a cotton-mill engineer. He trained as an electrical engineer, and at the outbreak of the second world war joined the RAF, working on Fairey Battle light bombers at an airfield in Épernay, France. After the war, while working in India, he was inspired by a Tamil priest to become a devout Christian. He was ordained in 1953 and emigrated to South Africa two years later.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/21/religion-southafrica

There's a God-shaped hole in Westminster

Opinion piece from the London Times on the lack of faith in governement in Britain.

Certainly, politicians find it easier to “come out” as atheists than to profess that they have a religious faith. Nick Clegg, David Miliband and George Osborne have all said recently that they do not believe in God - something that would be unthinkable in the United States, where presidential candidates compete to win over religious voters. Although David Cameron sends his daughter to a church school, he describes his faith as being “like Magic FM in the Chilterns”, something that fades in and out, as if he is rather embarrassed by the whole idea.

There is a curious mismatch here. MPs place their hands on a Bible when they swear the Oath of Allegiance on taking up their seats; prayers are said every day in Parliament - and yet the favourite book for politicians on holiday last year was The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins' atheist tract. It would be hard to find an MP who prefers the God-fearing C.S. Lewis to the divinity-baiting Phillip Pullman.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/rachel_sylvester/article4981344.ece