Church urges the Indian government to ban GM foods: CEN 11.20.09 p 5. November 26, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of South India, Environment, Farming.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Church of South India (CSI) has urged its government to ban the cultivation of Genetically-modified (GM) foods in India. On October 15, the Indian government’s Genetic Engineer Approval Committee (GEAC) authorized the commercial cultivation of Bt brinjal, the trade name for genetically modified eggplant, or aubergine. The decision must now be affirmed by environment minister Jairam Ramesh. |
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Developed by the Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company or Mahyco, an affiliate of US multi-national Monsanto, Bt brinjal was initially approved by the GEAC in 2007. Bt, or Bacillus Thuringiensis, is a bacterium that produces crystal proteins that are toxic to many species of insects and pests. The resulting genetically modified crop produces higher yields.
There are no known adverse effects of Bt brinjal seeds, AB Rai, the principal scientist at the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research which conducted the tests, told Dow Jones. However, protests from NGOs and church groups over the health safety and environmental impact of GM foods caused the government to ask for a second review.
“My objective is to arrive at a careful, considered decision,” Mr Ramesh told reporters last month, after GEAC gave its approval to Bt brinjal.
If approved Bt brinjal will be India’s first GM food crop. In 2002 the Indian government approved the cultivation of Bt cotton, a move that has led to the doubling of the nation’s cotton crop, making it one of the leading cotton exporters in the world. The GEAC is also studying genetically modified cabbage, cauliflower and peas with an eye towards authorizing their cultivation.
The environmental activist group Greenpeace denounced the decision, saying GEAC had “mindlessly” approved Bt brinjal despite “informed scientists and citizens of the country” raising safety concerns. The Ecological Concerns Committee of the CSI urged the government to reject the GEAC decision. Committee chairman Dr Mathew Koshy Punnackadu said GM foods poised troubling theological, environmental and economic concerns, and the church could not remain silent on this issue.
“It is obvious that the introduction of Bt brinjal will contaminate the large number of traditional brinjal varieties available to us, particularly those with unique medicinal properties. This will also shift the control of seeds from the farmers to profit-hungry corporations that have already established a virtual monopoly over seeds through the new patent regime,” the Ecological Concerns Committee said.
“What is at stake is not only our food security but also our food sovereignty. Disempowerment of small and marginal farmers and their displacement by aggressive models of corporatised agriculture are the inevitable consequences,’’ the statement said.
New lawsuits filed in US church disputes: CEN 11.20.09 p 6. November 25, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Property Litigation, The Episcopal Church.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Episcopal Church’s legal wars continued unabated last week, with new lawsuits in Tennessee, and appeals filed in Pittsburgh, Georgia and San Joaquin. The Diocese of Tennessee on Oct 30 filed suit against St Andrew’s Church in West Nashville, asking a state court to grant it control of the parish’s property. In 2006 the congregation quit the diocese to affiliate with the Diocese of Quincy and is now part of the Anglican Church of North America. |
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Tennessee caught many observers by surprise as it had been numbered among the conservative communion partners group, which had pledged to abide by the Windsor Report process, including the primates’ call for a halt to lawsuits.
The Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh announced last week that it would appeal against a lower court ruling granting control of the diocese’s assets to a loyalist faction aligned with the national church. “Our decision to appeal is for the purpose of protecting the mission of our 51 local congregations. Left uncontested, the award of all diocesan assets to the minority party, a group that comprises only a third of the parishes that were a part of our diocese when we withdrew from the Episcopal Church, would establish a precedent that we believe the minority would use to take steps to seize all the assets of all our local parishes,” the diocese said.
The loyalists’ bid to keep all of the assets of the diocese, “which is supported by the aggressive leadership of the Episcopal Church, is unfair, unreasonable, and unconscionable,” Pittsburgh said. On Oct 29, Christ Church in Savannah, Georgia, appealed a lower court’s ruling granting control of the oldest church in the state to the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia.
“This is another step in what we knew would be a long process,” said the Rev Marcus Robertson, Rector of Christ Church. The parish’s lawyer Neil Creasy said he believed they would win on appeal. “The Supreme Court of South Carolina is the only state supreme court to have ruled in a case involving facts, law and issues similar to ours. It ruled in favour of the local congregation. We are confident of a similar result here,” he said.
In California’s Fifth District Court of Appeal in Fresno, briefs were filed last week in the case of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin v the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin. In June a lower court granted summary judgment to the Episcopal diocese in its bid to seize the assets of the Anglican diocese. The lower court declined to hear arguments proffered by the Anglican diocese on the question of whether a diocese may secede from the national church and issued an order granting relief to the Episcopal diocese — the loyalist faction in San Joaquin.
Canon law commentator AS Haley noted the decision in the San Joaquin case would likely have an impact on the cases underway against Fort Worth, Quincy and Pittsburgh.
The “current leadership” of the Episcopal Church “is contending that once it joins the Church, a Diocese must forever remain a part of that organization. It has neither language nor logic on its side, but it still makes the argument,” he said, noting the Fresno appeals court will be the first “appellate court in any State to evaluate the merits of the Church’s case.”
Utility urged to drop new coal-fired plants: CEN 11.20.09 p 5. November 25, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Church of England Newspaper, Environment.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Archbishop of Cape Town has urged the nation’s electric utility, Eskom, to rethink its plans for building new coal-fired electricity generating plants, saying South Africa should do its part in helping reduce global warming. In a statement released on Nov 6 following the resignation of the CEO of the state-owned utility, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba said he wanted to make public concerns he had shared with the corporation’s management in recent weeks. |
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“We believe we have a responsibility to God and to future generations to care for this planet – our home – and not to put its well-being at risk because of short-term gain, or the idolatrous pursuit of money,” Archbishop Makgoba said.
On Sept 18, the archbishop wrote to the chairman of Eskom’s board of directors to express “deep concern” with plans to build “yet more coal-fired plants for the production of electricity. This plan of action continues in the face of growing public discourse about the need for South Africa to reduce its release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, a major cause of climate change, and to look seriously at both greater efficiency in energy use and renewable energy sources.”
He asked Eskom and the government’s Minister of Public Enterprises, Barbara Hogan, to give “strong and decisive leadership” on finding a way forward “on energy generation and use.”
Archbishop Makgoba conceded it was “unrealistic” to expect an answer “right now” to the country’s energy needs, but he urged the utility to “consider carefully alternative sources of energy which may ‘seem’ more expensive but which will represent huge savings for our planet – and all who inhabit it.” The Bible speaks of our calling to be stewards of creation, the archbishop said. “May God guide, direct, and bless” government and business leaders “and each one of us, as, in our various capacities – whether professional or personal – we seek to discharge with integrity this responsibility to our environment, our planet” he said.
Statistics released by Eskom show that 89 per cent of South Africa’s primary energy needs are derived from fossil fuels. The country emits about 400-million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year, which represents one per cent of total emissions on the global scale. And, with the advent of new coal-fired electricity-generating stations and new coal- and gas-to-liquids fuel plants, South Africa’s emissions are likely to rise still further.
Eskom must soon decide on whether it will build a new coal-fired power station as the country’s growth has outstripped the available power supply.
Speaking at the eighth Coaltrans South Africa conference in Johannesburg in September, the head of Eskom’s planning division Kannan Lakmeeharan said South Africa’s power supply and demand situation would remain tight. Eskom had a generating capacity and the ability to import up to 43.5 GW, but would require an additional 20 GW of electricity by 2020 to meet energy needs.
Sydney gives its backing to American traditionalists: CEN 11.13.09 p 6. November 24, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican Church of North America, Church of England Newspaper.1 comment so far
The Anglican Church of North America (ACNA) received a boost last month from the Diocese Sydney after its synod endorsed a resolution backing the formation of the third Anglican province in North America. However, a similar motion brought before the Diocese of Melbourne’s synod narrowly failed.
On Oct 28, the Diocese of Sydney’s Synod overwhelmingly adopted a resolution welcoming the “creation of the Province of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) under the leadership of Archbishop Bob Duncan.”
It noted the GAFCON Primates’ Council’s “recognition of the ACNA as genuinely Anglican” and their recommendation that “Anglican Provinces affirm full communion with the ACNA.” It also asked its diocesan standing committee “seek to have a motion brought to the General Synod affirming that the Anglican Church of Australia be in full communion with the ACNA.”
The Bishop of North Sydney Glenn Davies explained the resolution “does not expressly state that the Diocese of Sydney is in full communion, but merely ‘expresses its desire to be in full communion’,” with the ACNA.
“Why the fudge?” he wrote on the diocese’s website. “Well the Diocese of Sydney is part of the Anglican Church of Australia, whose Constitution defines those with whom we are in communion,” he said.
At its Oct 7-10 synod a resolution backing the ACNA was brought before the Diocese of Melbourne. The resolution noted “with great sadness the divisions” that had arisen in North America, and thanked the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams for his July 27, 2009 statement on the crises.
The resolution stated that it regarded “those who have formed themselves into the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) as authentic Anglican Christians” and extended the “hand of Anglican Christian fellowship” from Melbourne to the ACNA and “longs for our fellowship with them to be renewed and formalised within the structure of the Anglican Communion; and (d) Respectfully asks the Archbishop [of Melbourne] to convey the substance of this motion to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the leaders of the ACNA.”
Following thirty minutes of debate the resolution was put to a voice vote. The chairman of the meeting was unable to determine the outcome, and a show of hands revealed the resolution failed 150 to 175.
After the Sydney vote, Archbishop Duncan said, “We welcome this recognition from the Diocese of Sydney and look forward to working with them and our other overseas Anglican partners in spreading the Gospel and building a Communion that is truly Christ centered and missional.”
New Cathedral planned for Uganda church: CEN 11.13.09 p 6. November 24, 2009
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The Church of Uganda will hold a groundbreaking ceremony next week for the construction of a new cathedral for the Diocese of Kampala. On Nov 15 Archbishop Henry Orombi will lead services marking the start of a three year project to build a 5000-seat church to replace All Saints Cathedral.
Originally built in 1912 as a chapel to Kampala’s European hospital, at independence in 1962 the chapel was reconstituted as a parish church. In 1972 the church was named a pro-Cathedral and presently serves as the seat of the Bishop of Kampala, who serves as Archbishop of Uganda.
The rapid growth of the Anglican Church in Uganda has led to severe overcrowding in the church. For the past ten years overflow from the 9:30 congregation has led to the use of three tents pitched outside the church to accommodate the crowd.
The £3 million project will double the worship space for the colonial church, the church reports and will be funded by the contributions of the congregation. Between 1999 and 2006 the congregations acquired three adjacent lots for the new church. The completed cathedral complex will be seven-times the size of the present structure and included office and meeting space, as well as commercial space to provide income to the church, a spokesman reported.
Ghana warning over church divisions: CEN 11.13.09 p 7. November 24, 2009
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The Anglican Church in Ghana is losing members to the Catholic and independent churches due to the Communion’s divisions over gay bishops and blessings, the House of Bishops of the Church of the Province of West Africa learned last week.
In a meeting following the consecration of the new Bishop of Sunyani on Oct 25, the rector of the Sunyani Polytechnic Institution, Prof. Kwasi Nsiah Gyabaah warned the bishops the Anglican church’s place in Ghanian society was imperiled.
While the church had played an important role in the social and economic development of the country, the disputes ranging in the wider Anglican world had harmed the reputation of the church. “Although many of you may not share my opinion, the Anglican Church in particular, is now in a sorry state,” he said.
The bishops were told they could not control the image of the church, which had been damaged by developments outside the country, as well as by the church’s slow response in explaining its stance on the issues to its people.
A divided and uncertain Anglican Church also had to compete with the sports, popular culture and other recreational activities in vying for the attention of people. However, a return to an authoritarian model of church governance was not the answer, he said, urging the church to be both culturally relevant as well as firmly tied to the unchanging word of God.
On Oct 25, the Primate of the Church of the Province of West Africa, Archbishop Justice Akrofi of Accra consecrated the Dr. Festus Yeboah-Asuamah, a Sociology Lecturer as Bishop of Sunyani.
A parish priest and lecturer in sociology at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Bishop Yeboah-Asuamah was educated at KNUST, the University of Ghana, International Theological Seminary and Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, and the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration. He succeeds the Rt. Rev. Thomas Brient who retired in December 2008 after eleven years in office.
Archbishop blamed for Vatican offer: CEN 11.13.09 p 7. November 20, 2009
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The Archbishop of Canterbury’s shameful failure of leadership lies behind the Pope’s offer of a home for alienated Anglicans, the primates’ council of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GAFCON/FCA) said in a statement released on Nov 10.
While Pope Benedict XVI’s offer of an “Apostolic Constitution” for those Anglicans wishing to be received into the Roman Catholic Church was a “gracious one” that “reflects the same commitment to the historic apostolic faith, moral teaching and global mission” proclaimed by GAFCON in 2008 in its Jerusalem Declaration, it was also profoundly embarrassing and shameful for the Anglican Communion, the GAFCON primates’ council said.
Writing on behalf of the group of seven archbishops representing some 50 million Anglicans, Archbishop Peter Akinola said we are “grieved that the current crisis within our beloved Anglican Communion has made necessary such an unprecedented offer.”
The Pope’s offer is a “grave indictment of the Instruments of Communion:” the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Anglican Consultative Council, the Lambeth Conference and the Primates Meeting. “Their failure to fully address the abandonment of biblical faith and practice” by the American and Canadian churches has “now brought shame to the name of Christ.”
However, it was not yet time to write off Anglicanism they said. The Anglican Communion had a “bright future” so long as it remained “grounded in the Holy Scriptures” and was obedient to its call to evangelize those who did not know Christ.
Anglicanism was doing quite well within the GAFCON churches of the Anglican Communion they said. “We are convinced that this is not the time to abandon the Anglican Communion. Our Anglican identity of reformed catholicity, that gives supreme authority to the Holy Scriptures and acknowledgement that our sole representative and advocate before God is the Lord Jesus Christ, stands as a beacon of hope for millions of people,” they said.
“We remain proud inheritors of the Anglican Reformation,” Archbishop Akinola said, and now was the “time for all Christians to persevere confident of our Lord’s promise that nothing, not even the gates of hell, will prevail against His Church.”
Archbishop criticizes Vatican church plan: CEN 11.13.09 p 7. November 20, 2009
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The Archbishop of Wales, Dr. Barry Morgan has criticized Pope Benedict XVI’s offer of personal ordinariates for Anglicans seeking to enter the Roman Catholic Church, saying the Oct 20 statement from the Vatican was an unhelpful interference in the life of the Anglican Communion.
On Nov 9, Dr. Morgan stated, the announcement had come as “a surprise” to the Church in Wales, adding that it was “unfortunate that it has happened at a time when great efforts are being made by the Archbishop of Canterbury to keep the worldwide Anglican Communion united.”
He noted that within the Church in Wales, “there are tensions and disagreements on a range of issues. I recognise that in some cases, these may be so insurmountable that people feel they would be better placed in a different church where they would be able to accept all its doctrines.”
Tensions remain high between the Welsh bishops’ bench and Anglo-Catholics in the wake of Dr. Morgan’s Sept 17, 2008 statement that the Church in Wales would not appoint a new “flying bishop” for traditionalists. In his address to the Welsh Church Assembly last year, Dr. Morgan said “there remains a continuing place in the Church in Wales for those unable to accept the ministry of women priests, but we do not believe that this is contingent upon appointing another Provincial Assistant Bishop and it is therefore our decision not to appoint.”
Traditionalists should trust the good intentions of the Bishops’ bench as they “remain committed to serving every person and every parish within our respective Dioceses,” Dr. Morgan said, adding that he believed that ‘flying bishops’ were not “consistent with Anglican ecclesiology.”
The decision not to honour the Provincial Assistant Bishop plan, created by the then Archbishop of Wales Dr. Rowan Williams, provoked outrage from Forward in Faith, which accused Dr. Morgan of undermining Dr. Williams’ attempts to keep the Welsh Church united.
In his statement on the Vatican’s offer, Dr. Morgan said he hoped that the Church in Wales will “will all stay together and work through our differences, recognising that what we have in common is far greater than that which would drive us apart.”
“In the Church in Wales, the bishops remain committed to maintaining a continuing place for all its members regardless of their position on this or any other issue,” he said.
Unionists back Church in row over school funding: CEN 11.13.09 p 7. November 20, 2009
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Unionist members of the Northern Ireland Assembly lent their support last week to the Church of Ireland in its battle with the Republic of Ireland’s Education Minister Batt O’Keefe over cuts in state funding for Protestant schools.
During a debate over Education cooperation between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland at Stormont, Democratic Unionist member Mervyn Storey challenged the Northern Ireland education minister, Caitriona Ruane (Sinn Féin) to intercede with her counterpart, Mr. O’Keefe on behalf of Protestant schools in the Republic.
Given the cut in funding and the “the subsequent remarks made by the Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork, Paul Colton, that those cuts made the Irish Republic a hostile place for the children of the Protestant minority, and the fact she always tells the House how important equality is to her, what representation has the Northern Ireland Minister of Education made to the Minister in the Irish Republic to ensure equality of treatment?” Mr. Storey asked.
Mrs. Ruane responded that she believed that “all sectors throughout the island of Ireland should be treated in a fair and equal manner,” and that this was the policy of the government “in this part of Ireland.”
However, Mr. Storey’s concerns would best be met by writing to “Minister in the South of Ireland, she said.
Ulster Unionist member Danny Kennedy rose and said the minister’s remarks were “unsatisfactory;” pressing Mrs. Ruane to support the Church of Ireland’s campaign in support of fair treatment for Protestant schools.
Mrs. Ruane repeated that she believed that “all sectors should be treated in an equal and fair manner,” which prompted cries of “shame” from the Unionist benches, forcing the speaker to call the assembly to order and move to the next item of business.
On Nov 1, Bishop Colton posted a comment on his “Twitter” account reporting he had received sectarian letters of abuse in response to his comments last month. “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at some of the anonymous, sectarian letters I’ve opened today in response to Protestant schools debate,” he wrote.
Speaking last month in Cork, Bishop Colton accused Mr. O’Keeffe of hiding behind his lawyers advice on the funding of Protestant schools. “Are we seriously to believe that the founding fathers and framers of our Constitution envisaged a situation where this Republic would become a hostile place for the children of the Protestant minority?” he asked.
The dispute centers round the government’s cut of €2.8 million in funding to 21 Protestant schools.
Scottish alcohol plan backed by bishops: CEN 11.13.09 p 7. November 20, 2009
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The bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church have backed the Scottish Government’s proposed bill to regulate the sale and consumption of alcohol. “If our nation and each of us within it is to have a healthy future then the nettle that is alcohol misuse must be grasped,” the Bishop of Aberdeen & Orkney, Dr. Robert Gillies said on behalf of the college of bishops in a Nov 5 statement.
The proposed Alcohol Bill includes provisions to establish a minimum pricing policy to reduce alcohol consumption by raising prices. It would ban “irresponsible promotions” and restrict marketing in supermarkets, promote the sale of smaller bottles of wine and spirits, introduce a “social responsibility fee” and raise the drinking age to 21 in some areas.
Bishop Gillies said that while some “bits of the Bill are going to be controversial,” there was a need to tackle alcohol abuse in Scotland.
There was a growing “gap” in society between those “enjoying a drink as a normal and respectable social activity and those who misuse it,” he said. “Sadly a laissez-faire, free-for-all attitude that lacks responsibility for oneself and for others seems to rule the day.
“Far too many people view each approaching weekend as an occasion to descend to a state where they are out of control and out of mind, making our city and town centres unpleasant, threatening and unwelcome places,” the bishop said.
The government’s Healthier Scotland campaign reports that alcohol consumption in the UK has more than doubled since 1950, and that the misuse of alcohol costs the Scottish economy around £2.25 billion each year
Scotland needs a “real, lasting, social and cultural change” in its attitude towards alcohol, he said. Alcohol abuse, anti-social behavior, social and cultural degradation, “none of this helps make Scotland an attractive place,” Dr. Gillies said
Brisbane cathedral is consecrated: CEN 11.13.09 p 6. November 18, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Australia, Church of England Newspaper.add a comment
| First printed in The Church of England Newspaper.
One hundred and three years after construction began, St John’s Cathedral was officially consecrated by the Archbishop of Brisbane, Dr Phillip Aspinall last week. Approximately 1,400 people, including Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull and ecumenical guests celebrated the consecration of the Gothic Cathedral on Oct 29. |
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“This was one of the last Gothic construction projects in the world to be completed and to see the vision become a reality in my time here is a real honour,” Dr Aspinall said. Designed by English architect John L Pearson in 1889, St John’s Cathedral is believed to be the last Gothic Cathedral to be completed. Construction began in 1906 and the first stage was completed in 1910.
Stage two began in 1968 and was completed in 1968. The third stage of the construction costing £20 million began in 1989 and was completed on Nov 11, 2008 when the last 13 metre-tall bell tower weighing 22 tonnes was lifted into place. Over 100,000 stones were used in the construction process, which followed the medieval pattern of building around a design of load-bearing masonry.
The archbishop said the completed Cathedral is a testament to the efforts of all those people and will stand as a monument to optimism, determination and faith for many generations to come. “I have said before that this magnificent building is more than blocks of stone and tiles. It reflects the hopes and dreams of people and it belongs to the people.
Pearson was asked what he thought was the “mark of a good church. He responded ‘the question to ask oneself on entering a church is not ‘is this admirable?’, ‘is this beautiful?’, but ‘Does it send you to your knees?’ I say that St John’s fits the description of a good Church and Pearson would be proud,” Dr Aspinall said.
Evangelical rebuff for the Pope’s invitation: CEN 11.13.09 p 5. November 18, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church News, Church of England Newspaper, Roman Catholic Church, Traditional Anglican Communion.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Pope Benedict XVI’s overture towards traditionalist Anglicans has been taken up by the English-branch of the Traditional Anglican Communion, but resoundingly rejected by the evangelical wing of the Anglican Communion. On Oct 29 the synod of the Traditional Anglican Communion in Great Britain endorsed a resolution thanking the Pope for his “forthcoming Apostolic Constitution allowing the corporate reunion of Anglicans with the Holy See, and requests the Primate and College of Bishops of the Traditional Anglican Communion to take the steps necessary to implement this Constitution.” |
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The assembly asked that the former Anglican Bishop of Matabeleland, the Rt Rev Robert Mercer CR be appointed the Vatican’s ordinary in Great Britain.
However, on Oct 28 the Diocese of Sydney’s synod adopted a resolution urging “all Anglicans to reject the Vatican’s proposal.” While the Communion’s largest evangelical diocese has worked closely with its Roman Catholic counterpart on social issues for many years, the doctrinal divisions between Calvinists and Roman Catholics are too great to be overcome by a common distaste for the agenda of liberal Anglicanism, a member of the Sydney standing committee told Religious Intelligence.
The Bishop of Recife, the Rt Rev Robinson Cavalcanti on Nov 2 observed the “crisis which Anglicanism currently faces will not be solved by returning to the other side of the river Tiber, but by crossing the bridge of the river Cam(bridge), to get back to the impassioned debates of the White Horse Tavern” and historic Anglicanism.
“We must become more, not less Protestant. Reformation, yes: Rome, no!” Dr Cavalcanti said.
The Rev Rod Thomas, chairman of Reform, on Oct 20 stated that Anglicans concerned about protecting the faith “need not go to Rome because we now have the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans which holds together those who want to stop the orthodox faith being eroded.”
He noted that if a clergyman was “really are out of sympathy with the C of E’s doctrine, as opposed to the battles we are having over women’s ministry and sexuality, then perhaps it is better they make a clean break and go to Rome.” On Nov 9 the Church Society released a statement saying the “proper rejection of theological liberalism” did not lead to a “turning to the Church of Rome and its unbiblical teachings and practices.
“Theological liberalism and the unscriptural teachings and practices of the Church of Rome are contrary to the Bible and to the historic doctrines of the Church of England as a Protestant, Reformed, Evangelical and catholic church,” the Council of the Church Society declared.
In his November 3 letter to the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba said: “It is hard to judge what precisely is intended by this move [of Benedict’s], at whom it is directed, or what the implications are likely to be for our own Province and people. When we know more, I will certainly write and share my response with you, though at present it seems there will be no major effect on us in Southern Africa.”
The Anglican Bishop of Spain, the Rt Rev Carlos Lopez-Lozano, criticized the Vatican for trying to take advantage of the internal debates within the Anglican Communion for its own benefit. In a statement released to the press, Bishop Lopez Lozano noted that from the 19th Century to the present “the Church of Rome has been trying to absorb the greatest possible number of Anglican faithful and churches.”
However, the defection to Rome of those Anglicans enamored with Roman Catholicism would in the end help the Anglican Church as it would “deepen our own identity and Anglican vocation.
While the Anglican Church in Malaysia had a good working relationship with the Roman Catholic Church, “merger is another question” altogether, Bishop Ng Moon Hing told the UCAN news agency.
‘No boycott’ claim over new Swedish Bishop’s consecration: CEN 11.13.09 p 6. November 18, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Church of Ireland, Church of Sweden.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.Reports the Churches of England and Ireland boycotted the consecration of a partnered lesbian priest as Bishop of Stockholm are not true, spokesmen for the Archbishop of Canterbury and Archbishop of Armagh tell Religious Intelligence.com.
However, no episcopal representatives from the Churches of England or Ireland, the Church in Wales or the Scottish Episcopal Church were present for the Nov 8 consecration of the Rev Eva Brunne by Swedish Archbishop Anders Wejryd of Uppsala. |
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On Nov 3 the Swedish Christian newspaper Dagen reported the Church of England and Church of Ireland would ‘boycott’ the ceremony as a sign of their displeasure with the ordination of Pastor Brunne, who lives with her female partner, a fellow Church of Sweden pastor, the Rev Gunilla Lindén.
A spokesman for Archbishop Alan Harper, Primate of the Church of Ireland, said that while the substance of the comments attributed to Dr Harper were correct, the Archbishop “did not give such a statement to a Dagen journalist.”
Dr Harper would “not think of this in terms of a ‘boycott’,” the spokesman explained. An invitation had been received, he noted, but had been declined. The Archbishop of Armagh “has conveyed to the Church of Sweden that the Church of Ireland will not be officially represented at the episcopal consecration in Uppsala,” the spokesman said as the “Church of Ireland is observing the moratorium” on the consecration of partnered ‘gay’ clergy.
A spokesman for the Archbishop of Canterbury said the Church of England would be represented by the Area Dean of the Baltic and Nordic States of the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe, the Rev Nicholas Howe, chaplain of St Peter and St Sigfrid’s Church in Stockholm.
A “diary conflict” would prevent Mr Howe from attending the consecration, Lambeth Palace said, but he would be present for the reception that would follow. The Church of England’s Diocese of Portsmouth, which is twinned with the Diocese of Stockholm, would also be sending a representative to the reception.
Speaking to the Church of Sweden’s newspaper, the Kyrkans Tidning, Archbishop Wejryd said he did not expect Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to attend. “We send invitations to those with the highest rank. That’s why the Archbishop of Canterbury received an invitation, but no one expected him to say yes.”
The consecration of Pastor Brunne follows upon the Oct 22 vote by the Kyrkomötet, the Church’s governing assembly to permit clergy to conduct same-sex church weddings.
Writing to the Archbishop of Uppsala on June 26, the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England said the adoption of gay marriage by the Swedish church would be “problematic.”
The “teaching and discipline” of the Anglican Communion was that “it is not right either to bless same-sex sexual relationships or to ordain those who are involved in them,” the Archbishops’ Council said.
The way the Church of Sweden had gone about introducing gay marriage liturgies was worrisome, the Suffragan Bishop in Europe, the Rt Rev David Hamid said. The Porvoo Agreement which joined the Church of England and Church of Sweden in full Eucharistic fellowship committed the partners to consultations with one another on issues of faith and order.
“Such a consultation has not happened on the matter of gender-neutral marriage,” Bishop Hamid said.
Bishop of Leicester in key Lords role: CEN 11.13.09 p 4. November 18, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, House of Lords.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Anglican Bishop of Leicester has been appointed convenor of the Lords Spiritual, the Church of England’s lead bishop in the House of Lords. On Nov 2 the Rt Rev Tim Stevens said he was “pleased to have been asked to take on the role in order to ensure that the voice of the bishops is clearly heard in Parliament at a time of significant change and challenge for the nation.” |
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In announcing the appointment, Dr Rowan Williams noted the role of the convenor was “key to ensuring the contribution that the Lords Spiritual make to the life and work of the House is the best that it can be.”
He “brings great wisdom and the experience to the role,” Dr Williams said, adding “ I am sure that his wise counsel will be greatly valued.”
Bishop Stevens succeeds the Rt Rev Kenneth Stevenson as convenor of the Lords Spiritual. The Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Rev Michael Perham has been appointed to fill the seat in the Lords of Bishop Stevenson, who retired in September.
It’s an honour and a privilege to speak for the Church and to speak for Gloucestershire in Parliament,” Bishop Perham said. No date has yet been set to introduce the new Lord Spiritual to Parliament.
Australian court ruling is blow to gay lobby groups: CEN 11.13.09 p 6. November 18, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Australia, Church of England Newspaper.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Homosexuals should not be accorded protected status akin to race, religious belief or gender, an Australian appellate court has held. |
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The Nov 1 court ruling, which permits church-affiliated agencies the right to provide social services in a manner that does not violate their religious principles, has drawn praise from Anglican and Roman Catholic leaders, who argue the country’s anti-discrimination laws have been used to attack religion. An administrative appellate tribunal held the Wesley Mission’s foster care agency was not obligated to accept a gay couple as foster parents, overturning a lower court ruling that forbad the Wesley Mission from using religious or ethical criteria in selecting those whom it would engage as foster parents.
A same-sex couple brought suit against the Wesley Mission after the agency denied their application to foster a child because they were homosexuals. An Administrative Tribunal found in favor of the two men, awarding them £5500 in damages, and ordering the agency to amend its selection criteria so as not to discriminate against homosexuals.
On appeal, the ruling was reversed and sent back to the lower court for a re-hearing. Presiding Magistrate Nancy Hennessy instructed the lower court to take into account the religious sensibilities of Wesleyanism, and whether the agency would be obligated to reject the same-sex couple in order to be faithful to its beliefs.
Anglican and Catholic leaders applauded the decision. Sydney’s Cardinal George Pell told the Sydney Daily Telegraph that “it is important to protect people from unjust discrimination but it is ridiculous to claim discrimination every time we show a preference for some people over others.
“Anti-discrimination laws should not be used to change how church agencies organise themselves,” he said.
On Oct 21 Cardinal Pell led a delegation of 20 church leaders to Canberra to meet with Attorney General Robert McCelland to protest against plans to introduce a national charter of human rights. Writing in The Australian, Cardinal Pell said a charter would be used by anti-religious zealots to attack religious schools, hospitals and charities.
“If these protections are to be revised, it should be done by MPs answerable to the people, not by judges or human rights commissars,” Cardinal Pell said. Unable to attend the Canberra meeting due to a meeting of the Diocese of Sydney’s synod, Archbishop Peter Jensen told The Australian he backed Cardinal Pell.
“We strongly support human rights, but we don’t think a charter such as this is necessary or even effective in protecting the rights of the most vulnerable people in our community. It may in all likelihood make things worse, particularly in the area of religious freedom,” Dr Jensen said.
Blackburn rebuffs Pope’s invitation to Anglicans: CEN 11.13.09 p 5. November 18, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Roman Catholic Church.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Bishop of Blackburn will not be taking the Pope up on his offer of a home for disaffected Anglicans in the Roman Catholic Church. In an interview given to the Lancashire Telegraph, the Rt Rev Nicholas Reade said “I am Bishop of Blackburn, and I will continue to be until the good Lord releases me from it.” |
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At a joint press conference in London held by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of Westminster plans for a “personal ordinariate” for Anglicans who sought to enter into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church, while maintaining some aspects of their Anglican identity were announced.
Bishop Reade said the Pope’s offer was “very generous” but “I would have to say I don’t expect many to go” over to Rome.
“The Church of England is a big tent and while there are boundaries to what Anglicans believe, we are a Church that makes room for everyone,” he said. The point of friction in the Church of England for Anglo-Catholics today was the issue of “whether we have women bishops. It’s not quite as simple as saying ‘we have women judges and a woman Prime Minister’. I would hope we could come up with a stance that’s able to appeal to both sides.”
Bishop Reade said he would not be going over to Rome. “I would want to see my time out as Bishop of Blackburn. In other words, I could only cease to be Bishop of Blackburn if ill health, death or retirement intervened.”
MPs question Church’s non-stipendiary ministers: CEN 11.13.09 p 5. November 13, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Questions on the Church of England’s non-stipendiary ministers were raised last week in the House of Commons, with the member for Stroud, Mr David Drew (Lab) submitting a written question to the member for Middlesbrough, the Second Church Estates Commissioner Sir Stuart Bell (Lab.) asking “how many full-time and part-time non-stipendiary ministers are currently registered by the Church of England?” |
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On Oct 26, Sir Stuart answered that as of year’s end 2007 there were “3,198 licensed non-stipendiary ministers” in the Church of England. However, “it is not possible to say how many were full- and part-time as requested,” he said as “non-stipendiary ministers are usually employed outside the Church and some minister regularly while others minister only occasionally.”
Sir Stuart added that in addition to licensed NSM clergy there were 1,568 Church of England clergy serving as hospital and school chaplains, chaplains to the forces, and on the staff of theological colleges. “Information on whether [these chaplains] are full-time or part-time is not held centrally,” he noted.
Archbishop to meet Pope on Nov 21: CEN 11.06.09 p 3. November 12, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England Newspaper, Roman Catholic Church.add a comment
The Archbishop of Canterbury and Pope Benedict XVI are scheduled to meet on Nov 21 at the Vatican, Lambeth Palace has confirmed.
The agenda and itinerary of Dr. Williams’ trip to Rome have not yet been released by the Lambeth Palace press office. However, Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ of the Vatican Press office told reporters that Dr. Williams and Pope Benedict would meet on Nov 21 while the archbishop was in Rome to attend a ceremony honouring a deceased cardinal who had worked for Christian unity.
A spokesman for Lambeth Palace told The Church of England Newspaper that Dr. Williams’ trip to Rome had been planned before the Oct 20 announcement by the Vatican of the creation of “Personal Ordinariates” for Anglicans wishing to enter into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.
Speculation of a rift between the Dr. Williams and the Pope over the Vatican’s overture to the Traditional Anglican Communion, and claims that Dr. Williams had been angered by the move, were ill-informed, sources close to Dr. Williams told CEN.
Dr. Williams was told of the proposed “personal ordinariates” two weeks before the public announcement, the source said. What had come as a surprise was the short notice that the announcement would be made on Oct 20. This had prompted some annoyance, CEN’s sources said, but to suggest Dr. Williams was angered by the creation of the ordinariates for Anglicans seeking to enter the Roman Catholic Church was incorrect.
Dr. Williams respects the integrity of those individuals who believe themselves called to be received by the Roman Catholic Church, CEN was told. The political ramifications upon the Church of England of the overture were of secondary interest, the source said, adding that until the proposed Apostolic Constitution was released, detailing what the Vatican would offer disaffected Anglo-Catholics, it would be premature to speculate on the matter.
On Oct 31, the Vatican press office said the final text of the plan would be released shortly and that the “technical work” on the document “will be completed by the end of the first week of November.”
Fr. Lombardi also denied reports published in an Italian newspaper that infighting in the Vatican over clerical celibacy was delaying publication of the document.
He released a statement from Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, saying there was “no substance to such speculation” and that the delay was due to “technical” issues of “ensuring consistency in canonical language and references.”
Anglican deacons, priests and bishops would be “accepted by the Ordinary as candidates for Holy Orders in the Catholic Church.”
“Unmarried ministers must submit to the norm of clerical celibacy” while the “the admission of married men to the order of presbyter” would be made on a “case by case basis.”
“With regard to future seminarians, it was considered purely speculative whether there might be some cases in which a dispensation from the celibacy rule might be petitioned. For this reason, objective criteria about any such possibilities (e.g. married seminarians already in preparation) are to be developed jointly by the Personal Ordinariate and the Episcopal Conference, and submitted for approval of the Holy See,” Cardinal Levada said.
The creation of the “personal ordinariates” did not represent a rejection of ecumenical relations with Anglicans, the retired Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor said on Oct 29.
In his Richard Stewart Memorial Lecture entitled “ARCIC: Dead in the Water or Money in the Bank?” delivered at Worth Abbey, Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said he wanted to “emphasize that this response of Pope Benedict is no reflection or comment on the Anglican Communion as a whole or of our ongoing ecumenical relationship with them,”
However, the “repeated requests by many Anglicans, not only from England but from other provinces of the Anglican Communion” prompted the response, which should not be seen as “unecumenical but rather as a generous response to people who have been knocking at the door for a long time,” he said.
Backing starts to grow for the Anglican Covenant: CEN 11.06.09 p 5. November 12, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand & Polynesia, Anglican Church of Australia, Central Florida, Church of England Newspaper, Church of Ireland, South Carolina, Western Louisiana.add a comment
The Church of Ireland, the American dioceses of Western Louisiana and South Carolina and the New Zealand dioceses of Christchurch and Nelson have endorsed the Ridley-Cambridge draft of the Anglican Covenant, joining Central Florida in backing the Archbishop of Canterbury’s plan for creating a structure to manage the divisions over doctrine and discipline dividing the Anglican Communion.
On Oct 24, a special convention of the Diocese of South Carolina approved a resolution by a margin of 88 to 12 per cent that “endorses” the Anglican Covenant “as it presently stands, in all four sections, as an expression of our full commitment to mutual submission and accountability in communion, grounded in a common faith.”
Delegates to the Oct 9-10 annual convention of the Diocese of Western Louisiana also affirmed their support for the Covenant and backed Bishop Bruce MacPherson’s endorsement of the Anaheim Statement, which reaffirmed his commitment to remain part of the Anglican Communion and the Anglican Covenant process.
By a show of hands the convention adopted a resolution which “fully affirms” Western Louisiana’s “commitment to the Windsor principles, including the formation of, and future adoption of an Anglican Covenant as a means of supporting the ongoing work of our bishop and the efforts of the broader Communion to preserve our unity.”
The convention further stated that it “supports the ongoing work on the Ridley Cambridge draft including section 4.”
In his presidential address to his diocesan synod on Sept 24, the Bishop of Nelson, the Rt. Rev. Richard Ellena said the Anglican Covenant was “the Archbishop of Canterbury’s only strategy for holding the communion together.”
In September, Christchurch and Nelson took note of the actions of ACC-14 in Jamaica and stated they supported “in principle” the Covenant process and commended the Ridley-Cambridge draft “as it currently stands as the practicable means available to make the Anglican Communion Covenant process become effective in the life of the Anglican Communion.”
On Sept 15, the standing committee of the Church of Ireland’s General Synod endorsed a report created by the church’s Anglican Covenant Working Group. “Having considered Section 4 of the [Ridley-Cambridge] Draft Anglican Covenant very carefully, and bearing in mind a full range of points of view, we believe that the text of Section 4 as it stands commends itself in the current circumstances,” the working group said.
Delegates to the annual synod of the Diocese of Sydney last week also voiced their approval of the Anglican Covenant, voting on Oct 28 to ask the Anglican Church of Australia’s General Synod Standing Committee to bring the Anglican Covenant to the September 2010 General Synod “in such a manner as to enable each diocesan synod to consider the document.”
Student clemency ruling welcomed by Archbishop: CEN 11.06.09 p 6. November 12, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Church of England Newspaper.add a comment
The Archbishop of Cape Town has waded into the racially charged ‘Reitz affair,’ backing the University of the Free State’s (UFS) decision not to punish four white students for allegedly humiliating five black cleaners in a mock initiation ceremony.
On Oct 29 Archbishop Thabo Makgoba endorsed the “brave and bold” decision by university head Jonathan Jansen not to expel the students, residents of the Reitz men’s dormitory at the University. By exercising clemency, the university was creating a climate of mercy and tolerance that could transform the culture that had spawned the incident, the archbishop said.
The four white students were accused of humiliating five black cleaning staff in an initiation-type ceremony which they filmed. The cleaners are seen in the video on their hands and knees eating food which had apparently been urinated into by a white student.
The incident touched a racial and political nerve within South Africa and criminal charges were brought against the four students, while disciplinary proceedings were initiated by the university.
However, the newly appointed UFS rector Prof. Jonathan Jansen, a black South African, announced the university was withdrawing disciplinary charges against them in a gesture of reconciliation.
The move was denounced by the ruling African National Congress party, while Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande called it a “superficial tradeoff which further impugns the dignity of the victims.”
However, Archbishop Makgoba disagreed, saying the decision to pursue “restorative justice” was in the best interests of those concerned, as well as for all of South Africa.
The “aim of restorative justice is to bring about solutions that go far beyond addressing wrong-doing, and instead aim to bring healing and wholeness – first, to the victims of injustice, but also to the entire underlying situation. It recognises that sometimes wrong-doing is only a symptom of something greater that is not as it should be, and that needs to be addressed too,” the archbishop said.
Bad acts can become the “crucible in which new beginnings are forged; and the wrong-doing is transformed into a stepping stone to a better future,” he said.
“Christians follow a God of both justice and redemption, who promises new beginnings for those who repent and acknowledge their wrongdoings; and who calls for forgiveness in response,” the archbishop wrote.
He offered his prayers and support to Prof. Jansen saying he hopes the university will “succeed in his pursuit of a just and comprehensive resolution that ultimately benefits not only all those involved in this shameful incident, but also the wider university community – and especially its students, so that they may go on to become reconciling leaders for the good of our nation.”
Call to abolish blasphemy law: CEN 11.06.09 p 6. November 12, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of Pakistan, Persecution.add a comment
The Church of Pakistan has called upon its government to repeal the nation’s blasphemy laws, saying the legislation designed to protect the integrity of Islam was being used to persecute Christians for financial and political gain.
In a statement released following a meeting of its Executive Committee on Oct 21, the Church of Pakistan said the recent spate of attacks on Christians “has raised yet again the whole issue of the status and security of the religious minorities in an overwhelmingly Islamic country like Pakistan.”
Citing the July 31 attack on Gojra, where 10 Christians were killed by mob of Muslim militants, the Church of Pakistan said its members were “victimized under the false pretext of either having desecrated the Holy Quran or insulting the holy Prophet of Islam.”
“Such cases have become rampant during the recent decades as the Pakistani society has become increasingly intolerant of fellow Pakistanis, based on their religious identity,” they said.
The Blasphemy Law was being “blatantly and maliciously abused for the harassment and marginalization of Christians” and “almost all such cases arise out of personal disputes and malice or to gain some political points or even for some sinister covert operations,” they said.
They urged the government to repeal the Blasphemy Law, and introduce safeguards for the country’s minority communities. “We strongly demand of the Political Parties to resist all temptations to use the ‘religion card’ for political gains and instead use their influence and network to foster peace and harmony among all communities,” they said
German peace award for South African bishop: CEN 11.06.09 p 6. November 12, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Church of England Newspaper.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Bishop of Natal has been honoured by a German foundation for his work in bringing peace to Zimbabwe and South Africa and his advocacy on behalf of Durban shantytown residents. On Oct 30 the Rt Rev Rubin Philip was awarded the 2009 International Bremen Peace Award at a ceremony at the city’s town hall. Bishop Philip stated he would use the €15,000 award to support the construction of a school in the rural town of Mpophomeni, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). |
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The bishop was nominated by the KZN Christian Council for his work in April 2008 in blocking a shipment of weapons aboard a Chinese ship in Durban from being transshipped to Zimbabwe. Bishop Philip and the Diakonia Council of Churches were successful in having a court issue an injunction halting the shipment, and for mobilising dockworkers to refuse to unload the vessel.
Bishop Philip was also honoured for his work on behalf of Abahlali baseMjondolo, a democratically elected organization representing the residents of the Kennedy Road shantytown outside Durban.
Two people were killed in an attack on shack-dwellers in the Kennedy Road in September by a mob allegedly organized by a faction of the African National Congress (ANC). The ANC has denied responsibility for the attack.
Last week Bishop Philip called upon the government to convene a “judicial commission of inquiry into the violence, destruction of property and displacement of residents.”
The CEO of the KZN Christian Council, the Rev Phumzile Zondi-Mabizela told the Natal Witness the award was a “fitting recognition of the bishop’s contribution to peace in Southern Africa and KwaZulu-Natal”.
“His activity is well documented, from the time of his involvement in the struggle against apartheid. He is on record as an independent prophetic voice at a time where the religious and the political leadership in southern Africa seem to be blunt and callous on matters of peace, justice, human rights, the plight of the poor and the integrity of creation.”
Launched in 2003 by the Threshold Foundation, the Bremen Peace Award recognises those who “have the courage to cross thresholds” and display “exemplary commitment to justice, peace and the integrity of creation.”
Lesbian loses out in bishopric election: CEN 11.06.09 p 6. November 12, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Minnesota.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Episcopal Church avoided a showdown last week with the Anglican Communion after the Diocese of Minnesota passed on electing a partnered lesbian priest as bishop. On Oct 31 the diocesan synod elected the Rev Brian Prior of Spokane, Washington as the ninth Bishop of Minnesota on the fifth ballot. Among the five candidates standing for election was the Rev Bonnie Perry, rector of All Saints Church in Chicago. An openly gay priest, Ms Perry has lived with her partner Congregationalist minister the Rev Susan Harlow for 22 years. |
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Ms Perry, who stood for election as Bishop of California in 2006, was nominated following the 2009 General Convention’s decision to end the ban on gay bishops requested by the wider Anglican Communion. In Minnesota, she polled fifth in the first round of voting, fourth in the second round, fifth in the third round, and then withdrew from the election before the fourth round of voting.
The election of the Episcopal Church’s next ‘gay’ bishop may occur on Dec 5, as two gay priests, the Rev John Kirkley of San Francisco and the Rev Canon Mary Glasspool of Baltimore are standing for election for the two open suffragan bishop positions in the Diocese of Los Angeles.
New military diocese for Kenya: CEN 11.06.09 p 5. November 9, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Kenya, Church of England Newspaper.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Anglican Church of Kenya has created its 31st diocese, raising its Chaplaincy to the Armed Forces to the status of a “Military Episcopate”. At a service at St Paul’s Garrison Church at the Kahawa army barracks outside Nairobi, the Protestant Suffragan Bishop for the Armed Forces, Colonel the Rt Rev Peter Wanyonyi Simiyu was enthroned as Bishop-in-Ordinary for the Armed Forces. |
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A former British Army Garrison chapel, St Paul’s will serve as the pro-Cathedral of the new diocese, the ACK reports.
In 2007 Bishop Simiyu was appointed the first Protestant suffragan bishop to the armed forces. Born in 1956 in the Bungoma District, Bishop Simiyu was ordained in 1978 in the Diocese of Butere and served as a parish priest before being commissioned as an army chaplain in 1985. His duty stations have included assignments as garrison chaplain at the Isiolo Barracks, Kenyatta Barracks, Lanet Barracks and Moi Barracks. In 2000, he served with the UN’s peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone, and in 2004 was appointed Principal Chaplain (Protestant) to the Army.
Anglicans Respond Coolly to Swedish Consecration: TLC 11.07.09 November 7, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of Ireland, Church of Sweden, Living Church.2 comments
First published in The Living Church.
Swedish press reports that the Church of England and Church of Ireland will boycott the consecration of a partnered lesbian priest as Bishop of Stockholm are not true, spokesmen for the Archbishop of Canterbury and Archbishop of Armagh told The Living Church.
Nevertheless, no episcopal representatives from the Churches of England or Ireland, the Church in Wales or the Scottish Episcopal Church will be present for the Nov. 8 consecration of the Rev. Eva Brunne by Swedish Archbishop Anders Wejryd of Uppsala.
The Swedish Christian newspaper Dagen reported on Nov. 3 that the Church of England and Church of Ireland will boycott the ceremony as a sign of their displeasure with the ordination of Pastor Brunne, who lives with her partner, a fellow Church of Sweden pastor, the Rev. Gunilla Lindén.
Paul Harron, a spokesman for Archbishop Alan Harper, Primate of the Church of Ireland, said that while the substance of the comments attributed to Dr. Harper were correct, the archbishop “did not give such a statement to a Dagen journalist.”
Dr. Harper would “not think of this in terms of a ‘boycott,’ ” Mr. Harron said. The archbishop received an invitation, he said, but declined to attend.
The Archbishop of Armagh “has conveyed to the Church of Sweden that the Church of Ireland will not be officially represented at the episcopal consecration in Uppsala,” Mr. Harron said, as the “Church of Ireland is observing the moratorium” on the consecration of clergy with same-sex partners.
David Brownlie-Marshall, a spokesman for the Archbishop of Canterbury said the Church of England will be represented by the Area Dean of the Baltic and Nordic States of the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe, the Rev. Nicholas Howe, chaplain of St. Peter and St. Sigfrid’s Church in Stockholm.
A “diary conflict” will prevent Fr. Howe from attending the consecration, Mr. Brownlie-Marshall said, but he will attend a subsequent reception. The Church of England’s Diocese of Portsmouth, which is twinned with the Diocese of Stockholm, will also send a representative to the reception.
Speaking to the Church of Sweden’s newspaper, the Kyrkans Tidning, Archbishop Wejryd said he did not expect the Archbishop of Canterbury to attend. “We send invitations to those with the highest rank. That’s why the Archbishop of Canterbury received an invitation, but no one expected him to say yes.”
The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire, said he had “no plans to attend the consecration,” but noted that “it’s wonderful to see a church which chooses its bishops based on their experience, skills, and faithfulness, rather than on gender, sexual orientation and the like — a commitment I believe the Episcopal Church has now made.”
The consecration of Pastor Brunne follows the Oct. 22 vote by the Kyrkomötet, the church’s governing assembly, to permit clergy to conduct same-sex church weddings.
Writing to the Archbishop of Uppsala on June 26, the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England said the adoption of gay marriage by the Swedish church is problematic.
The “teaching and discipline” of the Anglican Communion is that “it is not right either to bless same-sex sexual relationships or to ordain those who are involved in them,” the Archbishops’ Council said.
The way the Church of Sweden has gone about introducing gay-marriage liturgies is problematic, said the Suffragan Bishop in Europe, the Rt. Rev. David Hamid. The Porvoo Common Statement, which joined the Church of England and Church of Sweden in full Eucharistic fellowship in 1992, committed the partners to consultation with one another on issues of faith and order.
“Such a consultation has not happened on the matter of gender-neutral marriage,” Bishop Hamid said.
Parish share figures revealed: CEN 10.30.09 p 4. November 6, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper.add a comment
Tables detailing the ‘parish share’ contributed to each diocese by its church members have been given to Parliament by the Second Church Estates Commissioner, Sir Stuart Bell.
In response to a written question from the member for Stroud, Mr. David Drew (Lab.) on Oct 15, Sir Stuart reported that the 2007 figures for the Church of England, excluding the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe and the Diocese of Sodor & Man varied widely, from a high of £461 per church member in the Diocese of Bradford to a low of £123 in the Diocese of Rochester.
Sir Stuart noted the “parish share is not necessarily paid for out of members’ voluntary giving,” but was the “best proxy” in response to the question of what average financial contribution was made to each diocese by each of its parishioners.
In response to a second question, Sir Stuart noted the Church Commissioners provided 15 per cent of the “running costs” of the Church of England in 2005 and 2006—the last years “for which whole-Church figures are available.”
| Diocese | Parish share contributed to diocese per church member (£) |
| Bath and Wells | 314 |
| Birmingham | 326 |
| Blackburn | 292 |
| Bradford | 461 |
| Bristol | 421 |
| Canterbury | 362 |
| Carlisle | 335 |
| Chelmsford | 369 |
| Chester | 299 |
| Chichester | 291 |
| Coventry | 341 |
| Derby | 349 |
| Durham | 313 |
| Ely | 310 |
| Exeter | 333 |
| Gloucester | 294 |
| Guildford | 428 |
| Hereford | 286 |
| Leicester | 360 |
| Lichfield | 339 |
| Lincoln | 234 |
| Liverpool | 279 |
| London | 338 |
| Manchester | 299 |
| Newcastle | 300 |
| Norwich | 379 |
| Oxford | 358 |
| Peterborough | 365 |
| Portsmouth | 302 |
| Ripon and Leeds | 406 |
| Rochester | 123 |
| St Albans | 351 |
| St Edmundsbury and Ipswich | 333 |
| Salisbury | 306 |
| Sheffield | 343 |
| Southwark | 414 |
| Southwell and Nottingham | 356 |
| Truro | 284 |
| Wakefield | 343 |
| Winchester | 350 |
| Worcester | 340 |
| York | 298 |
Two new Lords Spiritual prepare to take their seats: CEN 10.30.09 p 4. November 6, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, House of Lords.add a comment
Two new ‘Lords Spiritual’ will be introduced to Parliament next month. On Nov 3 the Bishop of Lichfield, the Rt. Rev. Jonathan Gledhill will be introduced to the House of Lords by the Bishops of Wakefield and Ripon and Leeds, while on Nov 24 the Rt. Rev. Anthony Priddis will be introduced by Bishop Gledhill and the Bishop of Manchester.
The two will be added to the roster of “duty bishops,” leading prayers in the Lords and participating in debates.
Bishop Gledhill said he looked forward to his work in Parliament. “I have been surprised at the strength of conviction from people of other faiths and none who have said to me that they value the contribution of the bishops in the Lords and that this is part of the constitution which should not be meddled with,” he said.
“Christian leaders have played an active role in parliament since at least the time when the Witans, consulted by Saxon Kings, were attended by religious leaders. The very name ‘Westminster’ reminds us of the Christian origins of our constitution, and in each generation Christian leaders have been active in contributing to our laws and advancing the values which underpin them,” he said.
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the Bishops of London, Durham and Winchester are seated by right of office in the House of Lords, the remaining 21 Lords Spiritual are composed of the 21 other senior diocesan bishops.
Bishop attacks corrupt politicians: CEN 10.30.09 p 8. November 6, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of Central Africa, Corruption.1 comment so far
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Bishop of Eastern Zambia has denounced political leaders who use public office to enrich themselves at the expense of their country. In a sermon preached at an ordination at St Luke’s Cathedral in Msoro on Oct 18, the Rt Rev William Mchombo warned that “politics, instead of being a tool to serve others has been reduced to a level where it is seen as a quick step from rugs to riches.” |
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“Some people even go to the extent of peddling lies — like building bridges where there are no rivers — and using vulgar language or purely tribal remarks in order to win votes for political office,” he said.
The bishop’s remarks come amidst growing civic unrest with the government of President Rupiah Banda’s decision not to pursue corruption charges against former President Frederick Chiluba. On Oct 2 the Bishop of Central Zambia, the Rt Rev Derek Kamukwamba called for national protests in response to the government’s decision. For democracy and the rule of law to be preserved it was necessary the appeals process “be exhausted and there should be no shortcuts,” Bishop Kamukwamba said.
The divide between the rich and poor in Zambia had widened in recent years, Bishop Mchombo said, such that we “live in a world today where a few people swim in riches and the majority drown in poverty, pollution, disease and violence.”
Small steps such as the maintenance of roads would do more for the people of the Central African country than grandiose projects. “A subsistence farmer cannot access the market owing to deplorable roads,” the bishop said, and “at the end of the day, the produce is sold to briefcase buyers.” In its leader of Oct 19, the Zambia Post endorsed the bishop’s call for clean government, stating that “it is true that most of our people are seeking political leadership positions as a stepping stone to government resources, to enriching themselves.”
“Elections in this country are no longer generally seen as a competition to serve,” the newspaper said. “They are increasingly becoming a competition for financial survival.”
Sudan creates four new dioceses: CEN 10.30.09 p 6. November 6, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Episcopal Church of the Sudan.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Episcopal Church of the Sudan (ECS) has created four new dioceses and elected seven new bishops at meeting of the provincial synod and House of Bishops in Juba last week. On Oct 24, five priests were elected to serve as the first Bishops of Terekeka, Pacong, Akot, Twic East and Nzara. Elections were also held to fill the vacant sees of Wau and Rejaf, while the sees of two new dioceses were left unfilled: Wad Medani and Aweil. |
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The Feb 15 provincial synod created the Dioceses of Pakong and Akot out of the Diocese of Rumbek in the Lakes State of Southern Sudan and the dioceses’ two assistant bishops: the Rt Rev Joseph Maker and the Rt Rev Isaac Dhieu were nominated to stand for election as diocesan bishops. Both bishops ran unopposed and the House of Bishops confirmed Bishop Maker as Bishop of Pakong and Bishop Dhieu as Bishop of Akot.
The Diocese of Terekeka was carved out of the diocese of Juba in January 2009, and the Assistant Bishop of Juba the Rt Rev Micah Leila nominated as its first bishop by the provisional diocesan synod. Bishop Leila faced no opposition in his election and was confirmed in the post.
The Diocese of Nzara was carved out of the Diocese of Yambio along Sudan’s border with the Congo earlier this year. The Diocese of Yambio’s development officer, the Rev Samuel Enosa Peni ran unopposed in the election and was confirmed in office.
The new Diocese of Twic East faced a contested election after the archbishop’s commissary Archdeacon Joseph Mabior Garang was killed on Aug 28 by gunmen. The Assistant Bishop of Bor, the Rt Rev Ezekiel Diing polled three quarters of the votes cast and was named bishop-elect of Twic East in the Diocese of Juba was killed last month.
In the election to fill the vacant see of the Diocese of Wau, the Rev Moses Deng Bol received 62 per cent of the votes cast and was named bishop-elect, while the former General Secretary of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan Canon Enock Tombe polled 76 per cent of the votes cast and was elected Bishop of Rejaf.
The Diocese of Aweil was inaugurated last week, formed from the an archdeaconry of the southern diocese of Wau, while the Diocese of Wad Medani was carved out of the southern half of the Diocese of Khartoum along the Blue Nile. The first enthronement for the new bishops will take place on Nov 1 in Terekeka, the ECS reported.
Archbishop wants laws on advertising aimed at children tightened: CEN 10.30.09 p 6. November 6, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Australia, Church of England Newspaper, Youth/Children.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Anglican Archbishop of Adelaide has called upon the Australian government to institute a code of practice for advertising directed towards children, arguing that the reliance upon sex to sell products to children was a form of “corporate paedophilia.” Speaking to the opening session of the Diocese of Adelaide’s annual synod on Oct 23, Archbishop Jeffrey Driver denounced marketing that presented children in sexually provocative ways. |
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“Children have a right to their childhood, but it is being taken from them through the hyper-sexualised environment in which they now grow up,” he said, adding that “at an increasingly early age,” children were being “caught up” in a culture of sex, violence and drugs.
Girl’s clothing often was a “highly sexualised, mini versions of adult fashion,” while some child’s magazines advised five- and six-year-olds “how to look hot and catch a boy,” the archbishop said.
“There are strong suggestions that this premature sexualisation of children could play a role in grooming children for paedophiles, preparing children for sexual interaction with older teenagers or adults,” Archbishop Driver said. The archbishop’s concerns about the debasement of children have also been a matter of concern for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. In 2007 Dr Williams endorsed the Children’s Society report entitled Commercialisation of Childhood that found that children were being “engulfed” by sexually suggestive images about how they should look and feel, and what items they should own.
Dr Williams said there was “an increasing political and social consensus that something needs to be done to safeguard children from the worst excesses of direct marketing and the pressures of commercialisation.”
Bishop says no to capital punishment: CEN 10.30.09 p 8. November 5, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of the West Indies, Crime.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Bishop of the Bahamas has denounced government plans to restore capital punishment. In his charge to the diocese’s 109th synod gathered at Christ Church Cathedral in Nassau, Bishop Laish Boyd told delegates that hanging was “not a deterrent to crime.” “The disregard for human life and a perverted value system which allows a person to maim or to kill another in a dispute, are realities that capital punishment cannot ever address, even though a hanging may satisfy the desire for retribution,” he said on Oct 21. |
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On Dec 19, 2008 St Kitts and Nevis hanged Charles Laplance for the 2006 murder of his wife — the first execution in the West Indies since the execution for murder of David Mitchell in the Bahamas in 2000.
Following Mitchell’s hanging there was a de facto ban on capital punishment in the English-speaking Caribbean in the wake of a 2000 ruling by the Privy Council, which lengthened the appeals process for those convicted of capital crimes to approximately five years. The five-year process effectively ended executions, as a separate law banned excessively long imprisonments for prisoners on death row.
Political pressures upon the Caribbean governments to respond to the sharp rise in crime has led to a restoration of capital punishment. In November 2008, the Jamaican parliament rejected a ban on capital punishment, with the Trinidad parliament following suit in February. The Bahamas legislature is currently debating restoring capital punishment. As of Sept 18, 2009 the West Indian nation recorded 59 homicides, Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest reported last week.
“The real issue is the fragmentation of relationship and of family life as we know it,” Bishop Boyd said, as “too many children are being born to parents who are unable to socialize and care for them properly. What we need is for parents to be parents and to raise children to honor and respect God and humanity. We have strayed far from this in some quarters and we need to get back to it.”
At their Nov 2008 meeting, the House of Bishops of the Church of the Province of the West Indies called for an end to capital punishment. “Mindful of our Blessed Lord’s repudiation of ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’ and, that in our prayer, study, reflection and experience, the death penalty has not been proved to be a deterrent,” the bishops called on “our people to stand with us in our opposition to the death penalty.”
Irish row erupts over school funding: CEN 10.30.09 p 8. November 5, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of Ireland, Education.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Church of Ireland’s Bishop of Cork has accused Irish Education Minister Batt O’Keefe of hiding behind his legal advisers in a row over a cut in government funding for Protestant schools. In a speech given last week at Midleton College, Cork, the Rt Rev Paul Colton denounced the “brutality and financial back street butchery inflicted on Protestant schools in last year’s budget.” |
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Protestant secondary schools were removed from the free education scheme, after more than 40 years, with grants for caretaker and secretarial expenses discontinued. In his Oct 20 charge to the Dublin and Glendalough synod, Archbishop John Neill charged the cuts were politically motivated, with the government assuming that Protestant schools only catered to the wealthy.
The Irish government had mounted a “very determined and doctrinaire effort… to strike at a sector which some officials totally failed to understand,” the archbishop said.
In a statement given to the Dáil on Oct 20 Mr O’Keefe defended the government decision to withdraw the €2.8m subsidy saying the attorney general had advised him that it was unconstitutional. However, he declined to release the report saying it was confidential, adding that the Church of Ireland had so far failed to come up with alternatives to the Budget cuts.
Bishop Colton responded, “Are we seriously to believe that the founding fathers and framers of our Constitution envisaged a situation where this Republic would become a hostile place for the children of the Protestant minority?” Mr O’Keefe was hiding “behind secret advice about the document, not his alone, but the charter of the people of this country – our Constitution,” the bishop charged.
He also denied the government’s assertion the Church of Ireland had not offered its own proposal, noting he had met “with some of the Minister’s most senior officials” to discuss the issues.
“Our proposal is this and for clarity I state it, yet again, publicly, we want our schools, in their uniquely difficult situation, restored to parity with schools in the free scheme, where they have been since free education was introduced 42 years ago,” he said.
However the minister “chooses not to hear it,” Bishop Colton charged.
Lawsuits launched after tsunami fraud: CEN 10.30.09 p 8. November 4, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of South India, Corruption.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Episcopal Relief & Development (ERD) of the American Episcopal Church has filed suit against the Church of South India (CSI) to recover £1 million allegedly stolen by its former General Secretary Dr Pauline Sathiamurthy. Detectives from the Central Crime Branch of the Madras police arrested Dr Sathiamurthy and three members of her family on Oct 13, after the church turned over the results of an internal investigation to prosecutors. |
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In a statement released on Oct 23, ERD said that two years ago it had “approached the local Church authorities with concerns when CSI failed to complete the financial reporting and required audits outlined in our agreement for 2005 and 2006. As a result, we suspended work with CSI and implemented an in-depth effort to account for the missing funds. After a lengthy process, we deeply regret that we have been forced to take legal action.”
“While this situation is highly unusual,” it said, “we strive to honour our commitment to the people we serve around the world and the generosity of our faithful donors.”
The funds sent to the CSI were “only a portion of our tsunami response work,” ERD added, noting that “as per standard plans and procedures, clean audits were completed with our church partners in both North India and Sri Lanka.”
However, “as this is a legal matter, we cannot comment further about the current situation. We have faith in the Indian judicial system and believe this case will be handled fairly,” ERD said.
Zuma appeal to South African clergy: CEN 10.23.09 p 8. November 4, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Church of England Newspaper, Politics.add a comment
South African president Jacob Zuma has urged religious leaders in the Western Cape to work with the government to combat racial and ethnic strife.
Speaking to approximately 500 religious leaders at a meeting held at Bishopscourt, the home of the Archbishop of Cape Town Thabo Makgoba on Oct 17, President Zuma “called on religious leaders to work together in dealing with the perception that the Western Cape is racially divided,” said the president’s spokesman Zizi Kodwa.
The president’s meeting with religious leaders comes amidst shifting political fortunes for South Africa’s religious groups, with the president turning to conservative and traditional religious leaders to bolster his regime, freezing out liberal denominations and church organizations from the country’s corridors of power.
South Africa was a religious and interfaith state the president told me the meeting. But many of its citizens had forgotten the Biblical principle of “love thy neighbour,” leading to a breakdown of community and social order.
Religious leaders had an important part to play in building society, and should continue to speak out on social and moral issues, the president said. The problems of crime, deteriorating public services and morals, and poverty were top of the list for the religious leaders present.
On Oct 16, Archbishop Makgoba said the agenda for the day’s meeting would center round “what it means to be human in the context of protests and strikes over the delivery of services to our people; and how the religious community can maintain a critical engagement with the President.”
President Zuma’s meeting with the religious leaders comes amidst a shift in the political fortunes of South Africa’s churches. The South African Council of Churches (SACC), a long time political ally of the African National Congress (ANC) party has fallen out of favor with President Zuma and the ruling faction of the ANC, after it was seen to have backed former President Thabo Mbeki in the party’s leadership struggle.
The conservative National Interfaith Leadership Council (NILC) has stepped into the gap, offering its support to the president. Among the council’s twenty leaders are four ANC MP’s and including ANC chief whip Mathole Motshekga and former Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool.
In September the Rev. Nthabiseng Khunou, an ANC MP and member of the NILC secretariat, told the South Africa’s Mail & Guardian the NILC would “play a role” in revisiting legislation legalising abortion and gay marriage.
“I know most churches want them abolished, so the reason for NILC is to give a voice to people who don’t have it,” Mr. Khunou said.
Priest sent to jail for rape: CEN 10.23.09 p 2. November 4, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Abuse, Church of England, Church of England Newspaper.add a comment
A West Yorkshire vicar has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for having raped two boys.
The Rev. Peter Hedge was convicted on Oct 16 of two counts of rape and of having committed 30 indecent assaults after trial at the Bradford Crown Court. The abuse took place over seven years while he was curate at St Margaret’s Church in Thornbury and as vicar of Holy Trinity, Queensbury in the Diocese of Bradford.
Upon passing sentence, Judge Peter Benson told Mr. Hedge he was a “dreadful disgrace” and had abused his office as a priest of the Church of England. “As a result of your conduct, which really defies description in its wickedness, you not only robbed these young men of their childhood, you scarred their young lives.”
The court heard testimony that Mr. Hedge had given cash to young boys to enable them to purchase cannabis, later molesting them.
The diocese suspended Mr. Hedge in 2007 after the allegations were made public. The Bishop of Bradford, the Rt. Rev. David James, the Bishop of Bradford, said the “clergy of the Church of England are expected to uphold the highest moral standards; by committing these very serious crimes Peter Hedge has betrayed the trust put in him by the people of Thornbury and Queensbury.
‘”My thoughts and prayers are with the victims who have been deeply damaged by someone who should have been nurturing them and keeping them safe. And I thank them for their courage in coming forward to give evidence,” Bishop James said.
“The Diocese of Bradford now has stringent policies in place. We have adopted codes of good practice which help prevent abuse and these are regularly reviewed,” the bishop said.
Covenant blow from Episcopalians: CEN 10.23.09 p 6. November 4, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Covenant, Church of England Newspaper, The Episcopal Church.1 comment so far
The Executive Council of the Episcopal Church has unanimously endorsed a report that rejects the proposed disciplinary provisions of section IV of the Anglican Covenant. The Council also offered an oblique criticism of dioceses that have endorsed the Covenant, saying such moves were unhelpful and premature.
On Oct 8, the Executive Council released its official response to the Ridley Cambridge Draft of the Covenant, following a survey of the church’s General Convention deputies. The “majority of [diocesan] deputations and individual deputies” were “not convinced” that the “covenant in its current form will bring about deeper communion.”
The idea of a covenant was “un-Anglican” for some American Episcopalians while one unnamed deputy said the “document incorporates anxiety.”
A “majority of respondents do not support the fourth section of the draft covenant,” the report said, with one diocesan deputation arguing the disciplinary provisions of the covenant created a “system of governance contrary to our understanding of Anglicanism and establishes a punitive system executed by a select committee.”
The report criticized “some in the Episcopal Church and beyond who want to prejudge the General Convention’s decision on the Anglican Communion covenant. We find such predictions and pronouncements premature and unhelpful.”
Asked by The Church of England Newspaper who these unhelpful Episcopalians were and why their actions were unhelpful, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said she did not know. “I did not write the response. It was written by the committee that gave the report,” she said.
“The reality is that the General Convention has not acted as yet to adopt a covenant because text is not final,” the presiding bishop noted.
Not all of the comments received were negative however as one diocesan deputation argued that “a governance section is needed to maintain a covenant.”
At its May meeting, the Anglican Consultative Council endorsed the first three sections of the Ridley Cambridge draft: I) “Our Inheritance in Faith”; II) The Life We Share with Others: Our Anglican Vocation”; III) “Our Unity and Common Life,”, but asked the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams to empower a committee to review criticisms of section IV) “Our Covenanted Life Together,” which creates a dispute resolution mechanism for the communion.
On May 28, Dr. Williams appointed Archbishop John Neill of Dublin, Archbishop John Chew of Singapore, Eileen Scully of the Anglican Church of Canada, and Bishop Gregory Cameron of St. Asaph in the Church in Wales to review section IV.
The working group will meet Nov 20-21 in London and give their recommendations to the Joint ACC-Primates Standing Committee meeting Dec 15-18.
Financial setback over New York investments: CEN 10.30.09 p 6. November 3, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
A New York court ruling has handed the English Church Commissioners a major financial setback, making it likely that will lose all of its $70 million investment in a New York real estate partnership. Last week the New York State Court of Appeals ruled that property developers Tishman-Speyer and BlackRock Realty had illegally raised rents on thousands of apartments in the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village development on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. |
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The Church Commissioners had provided $70 million in equity financing for Tishman-Speyer’s $5.4 billion investment in 2006. However, the purchase of the 11,000-unit 80-acre development from MetLife came at the height of the New York property bubble, and a recent report from Realpoint, a credit rating agency, estimated the property had a current value of $2.13 billion.
The 2006 deal was financed with 80 per cent debt, with Tishman-Speyer and BlackRock Realty along with investors such as the Church of England and the California and Florida public employees’ pension funds putting down 20 per cent of the purchase price in cash.
Rental income however only covered 58 per cent of the debt at the time of the purchase. In order to amortize the debt, the partnership needed to end the rent-controlled status of several thousand apartments and charge free-market rates. However, the Court of Appeals ruled : “The current and former owners of the properties, respectively, were not entitled to take advantage of the luxury decontrol provisions of the Rent Stabilization Law (RSL)1 while simultaneously receiving tax incentive benefits under the City of New York’s J-51 program.”
The ruling could cost the partnership $200 million in rent repayments to tenants, leaving it likely the project will collapse by years’ end, real estate analysts report. A spokesman for the Church Commissioners confirmed to The Church of England Newspaper that it did hold an equity position in the deal, but declined to speculate as to its current valuation.
Suicide bomb damages Iraq church: CEN 10.30.09 p 6. November 3, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & the Middle East, Iraq, Terrorism.add a comment
| First printed in The Church of England Newspaper.
The suicide bombing of Iraq’s Justice Ministry has badly damaged St George’s Memorial Church, the “Vicar of Baghdad” Canon Andrew White reports. On Oct 25 two car bombs exploded outside the Justice Ministry and a provincial government building at 10:30 am local time in Baghdad. Initial estimates report 147 people were killed in the blast and 721 wounded. |
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No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks, which analysts believe are designed to destabilise the country in the run up to the January general elections.
US President Barack Obama said the attackers showed a “hateful and destructive agenda,” while Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the attacks were a “terrible reminder of the threat from violent extremism. Such acts of terrorism can have no justification, and must be condemned without reservation.” In an email sent to supporters, Canon White wrote that the attacks had “done serious damage to the church compound, the clinic, the bookshop, the school rooms and the mothers’ union buildings. “
An Aug 19 bombing had blown out the church’s windows, he said, but Sunday’s attack “hit the church much more powerfully. Even the window frames and the doors were blown out. All of the cars in the compound and the Danish Memorial were destroyed.”
“Destroyed fragments” of those killed in the blast were “thrown through windows of the church, making the clean-up operation yet more unpleasant. Many of our staff and church members remain unaccounted for,” he said. Canon White stated the “carnage was terrible, but it could have been even worse. At 10.30am this morning, when the bombs exploded, there was no one in the church. If the bomb had been just a few hours later, the glass from the windows would have ripped through the congregation causing terrible human damage.
He added that “yesterday an enormous tree fell down outside the church, which prevented the suicide bomber from detonating his explosives where they would have caused maximum damage.”
“It is days like today that reminds us why our work in Iraq is absolutely essential,” Canon White said.
“We must continue to provide a place of worship for Iraqi Christians. We must continue to treat the medical needs of Iraqi civilians. And we must continue to engage with the senior religious leaders from across the sectarian divides, working with them to challenge the belief systems that lie behind this terrible slaughter,” he said, urging supporters to help him rebuild the shattered church and restore its outreach to the community.
Two US dioceses back Anglican Covenant: CEN 10.30.09 October 30, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Covenant, Church of England Newspaper, South Carolina, Western Louisiana.1 comment so far
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Dioceses of Western Louisiana and South Carolina have endorsed the Ridley-Cambridge draft of the Anglican Covenant, joining Central Florida as the third American diocese to formally back the Archbishop of Canterbury’s plan for creating a structure to manage the divisions over doctrine and discipline dividing the Anglican Communion. On Oct 24, a special convention of the Diocese of South Carolina approved a resolution by a margin of 88 to 12 per cent that “endorses” the Anglican Covenant “as it presently stands, in all four sections, as an expression of our full commitment to mutual submission and accountability in communion, grounded in a common faith.” |
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Delegates to the Oct 9-10 annual convention of the Diocese of Western Louisiana also affirmed their support for the Covenant and backed Bishop Bruce MacPherson’s endorsement of the Anaheim Statement, which reaffirmed his commitment to remain part of the Anglican Communion and the Anglican Covenant process.
By a show of hands the convention adopted a resolution which “fully affirms” Western Louisiana’s “commitment to the Windsor principles, including the formation of, and future adoption of an Anglican Covenant as a means of supporting the ongoing work of our bishop and the efforts of the broader Communion to preserve our unity.”
The convention further stated that it “supports the ongoing work on the Ridley Cambridge draft including section 4.”
The South Carolina convention restated its evangelical credentials, declaring it believed the “doctrine, discipline and worship” of the Episcopal Church was found in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, “the Creeds, the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral and the theology of the historic prayer books.”
It also adopted a resolution authorizing the withdrawal “from all bodies of the Episcopal Church that have assented to actions contrary to Holy Scripture” and the “doctrine, discipline and worship of Christ” as held historically by the church and Anglican Communion “until such bodies show a willingness to repent of such actions.”
The resolution does not pull South Carolina out of the Episcopal Church, Bishop Mark Lawrence said, but states its rejection of the recent actions taken by the General Convention. South Carolina also declared the July 2009 General Convention resolutions authorizing gay clergy and creation of gay liturgies to be “null and void” in the diocese.
In his convention address Bishop Mark said the General Convention was “not the answer to the problems of the Episcopal Church,” but had “become the problem. It has replaced a balanced piety in this Church with the politics of one-dimensional activism. Every three years when the Episcopal Church train pulls into the station of General Convention more traditional, catholic and evangelical Episcopalians get off the train and do not return.”
Sudan civil-war could re-ignite, warn church leaders: CEN 10.23.09 p 8. October 30, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Episcopal Church of the Sudan.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Church leaders in the Sudan have issued a statement warning that the failure of the governments in Khartoum and Juba to implement the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) could reignite the 22-year-old civil war. If the CPA “had been fully and honestly implemented from the outset, a peaceful, attractive unity would have had chance in Sudan,” said the group on Oct 12 that includes Anglican Archbishop Daniel Deng of Juba, Roman Catholic Archbishop Paulino Lukudu Loro, and the leaders of the Presbyterian, Pentecostal, and reformed churches of the country. |
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“However, since the signing of the CPA, every protocol has either not been fully implemented or is under discussion for less-than-full implementation, and therefore unity is no longer attractive, especially to Sudanese Christians and those in the marginalised areas.”
Contrary to the provisions of the peace treaty, Sharia law was still being enforced by the Khartoum government, national elections have been postponed, as has a promised referendum on independence for Southern Sudan. The government in Khartoum had also failed to disclose the revenues received from oil drilling in several disputed areas, the church leaders said.
“Consequently there is a widespread lack of confidence by Southerners and other marginalised people in the fairness or true democracy of the upcoming elections and referendum because of a general lack of trustworthiness and transparency from the Northern government,” they said.
Violence was also tearing apart South Sudan with guns flowing into the region to arm rival tribes and factions of the SPLA. “In all these incidents of violence it has been the case that Southern Sudanese have for various reasons fought Southern Sudanese, a fact that leads the churches to urge our people to unite in this crucial time and not to jeopardise the CPA through infighting.” Archbishop Deng and the other church leaders called upon the international community to intervene and enforce the terms of the peace treaty. “If the CPA is made to work, it must be fully implemented by both signatories and must be fully supported by those guarantor governments who promised to do so in 2005.”
“If the CPA is renegotiated or is allowed to fall apart, war or oppressive unity will be the outcome, with serious effects for the whole region,” they warned.
Membership drops in the Episcopal Church: CEN 10.23.09 p 7. October 29, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, The Episcopal Church.2 comments
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Membership and average Sunday attendance in the Episcopal Church have continued their downward spiral, statistics released by the church last week report. Average Sunday attendance for the Episcopal Church’s domestic dioceses declined by three per cent from 2007 to 2008; with an additional 22,565 people missing from the pews last year. Average Sunday attendance for 2008 was 705,257. |
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The church’s membership, counted as active baptized members, also declined by three per cent, falling by 59,457 to 2,057,292. The rate of decline in attendance and membership also rose last year, with the 10-year rate of decline in attendance rising from 13 to 16 per cent, and the 10-year rate of decline in active membership rising from 10 to 11 per cent.
Fifty per cent of US Episcopal churches saw a decline in attendance last year, while only 35 per cent registered growth. The median average Sunday worship attendance in 2008 was 69.
For the first time the church’s income fell, with recorded “pledge and plate” income falling by 0.2 per cent.
Critics assert the numbers may be overstated as some dioceses have not recorded the secession of breakaway congregations. While the Diocese of San Joaquin recorded a membership drop of almost 8,000, or 77 per cent — reflecting the secession of a majority of its congregations, the Diocese of Los Angeles continues to carry St James Newport Beach’s 1,500 members on its books — even though the congregation’s fight to quit has already taken the fight to the US Supreme Court.
At the autumn meeting of the Executive Council meeting, the Church’s two presiding officers declined to answer questions on membership.
The President of the House of Deputies, Mrs Bonnie Anderson told reporters that the statistics had been “circulated to the Executive Council.” However, “we’re not going to be talking about those per se. Our agenda’s pretty full and we’ll probably be taking those up in the future at our next meeting,” she explained. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori stated she was “not able to comment” on what the numbers were, as “I don’t have it in my head.”
However, some liberal leaders had claimed the decline had been stemmed. Speaking to the New York Times at the July 2009 General Convention, Bishop Robinson said his diocese was bucking national trends and had grown, and numbered “15,000 people.”
“We have received so many Roman Catholics and young families,” he said, “particularly families who are saying, ‘We don’t want to raise our daughters in a church that doesn’t value young people’,” such that the diocese “grew by three per cent last year.”
The report issued this week showed that New Hampshire did buck the national trend, with its membership rising from 14,160 to 14,501, but this did not translate into more people in the pews, as attendance continued to decline, falling a further 1.1 per cent from 4,281 to 4,234.
Bats pose pricey problem for Church of England: CEN 10.30.09 p 4. October 28, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Bats in British belfries has become an expensive problem for the Church of England, the Second Church Estates Commissioner told Parliament last week, in response to a query from the member for North-West Norfolk about the church’s work with Natural England on protecting rare bats found in church roofs. Speaking for the Church of England, Sir Stuart Bell told Mr Henry Bellingham (Con) the Archbishops’ Council was working with Natural England as well as English Heritage, the Bat Conservation Trust and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to “strike a sensible balance between the protection of church buildings and their contents, and the protection of bats.” |
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Mr Bellingham asked Sir Stuart whether he was aware that a number of churches in his constituency have had much-needed restoration work delayed by Natural England, which had required “lengthy and costly bat surveys.”
While it was important to preserve Britain’s bats, it was “more important to make an absolute priority of conserving our great heritage,” he said, prompting the member for Salisbury, Mr Robert Key (Con.) to rise and interject that the affair struck him as being “batty.”
Sir Stuart thanked the member for Salisbury for his wit, and turning to Mr Bellingham, said that several hundred parish churches had the expense of bat surveys. A “handful” of churches had “serious problems” with bats in roofs and belfries where they had caused “significant damage and great inconvenience.” Sir Stuart did not provide an estimate of bat costs, but added that he would “be happy to take up with Natural England” the concerns Mr Bellingham had raised of giving priority to bats over churches.
Redundant churches earn Church £4m: CEN 10.23.09 p 4. October 28, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
ales of redundant church buildings netted the Church of England almost £4 million in 2008, the highest total in 10 years, the Second Church Estates Commissioner told Parliament on Oct 15. In response to questions from John Robertson MP (Glasgow, North-West) (Lab) about the net proceeds and conditions of sale placed upon the disposal of closed church buildings, Sir Stuart Bell said the Church of England last year realized “just under £4 million.” |
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“We take great care when we sell a redundant church,” Sir Stuart said, and “have very strict criteria on redundant churches and what uses they can be put to after sale.”
The “proceeds from the sale of closed churches are used to support dioceses in the work of the living Church,” he said, adding that since the Pastoral Measure came into effect, “we have distributed £32 million in such support, also supporting the preservation efforts of the Churches Conservation Trust which is co-funded by the Government.”
Sir Nicholas Winterton, the member for Macclesfield (Con) rose to ask “what consideration does the hon. Gentleman give to the work of the Churches Conservation Trust?”
Sir Stuart responded the sales proceeds are used “in some measure” to support the preservation efforts of the Churches Conservation Trust. While 2008 sales “were the highest for over a decade” the current market is “less encouraging, however, given the economic climate.”
In response to a question from Mr Peter Bone, the member for Wellingborough (Con) about whether this money is “reinvested” in new church buildings, Sir Stuart said “the purpose of the sales proceeds is essentially to support the dioceses in their work, which might, of course, include building a new church.” “If we are closing down churches, it would be nice sometimes to open others,” he said.
New archbishop for Toronto: CEN 10.23.09 p 6. October 28, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Canada, Church of England Newspaper.3 comments
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Anglican Bishop of Toronto has been elected metropolitan archbishop of the ecclesiastical province of Ontario. Bishop Colin Johnson was elected on the second ballot at the Oct 15 provincial synod held in Cochrane, Ontario. He is the fourth metropolitan archbishop elected in the Anglican Church of Canada this year. On Sept 25 the ecclesiastical province of British Columbia and Yukon elected the Bishop of Kootenay, the Rt Rev John Privett as archbishop of the western Canadian province. This follows upon the Sept 11 election of the Bishop of Fredericton, the Rt Rev Claude Miller as Archbishop of the ecclesiastical province of Canada, and the June 11 election of the Bishop of Keewatin, the Rt Rev David Ashdown as Archbishop of the Province of Rupert’s Land. |
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Archbishop Johnson succeeds Archbishop Caleb Lawrence, the Bishop of Moonsonee whose term as metropolitan of the province which included the dioceses of Moosonee, Algoma, Ontario, Ottawa, Toronto, Niagara and Huron, ends in October.
Archbishop Johnson was educated at the University of Western Ontario and received his ministerial training at Trinity College, Toronto. Ordained deacon in 1977 and priest in 1978 by the Bishop of Toronto, Archbishop Johnson served in parish ministry from 1977 to 1992 when joined the staff of the Bishop of Toronto as his Executive Assistant. In 1994 he was appointed Archdeacon of York, and elected area-bishop of Trent-Durham in the diocese in 2003. In 2003 he was elected diocesan bishop.
“I feel very honoured and apprehensive in some ways about the workload, but challenged by the position and looking forward to serving,” Archbishop Johnson told the Anglican Journal, adding that he hoped as archbishop he would be a provincial voice calling for the government to combat poverty and social inequality.
Rebuff for Vatican offer to Anglicans: CEN 10.30.09 p 3. October 28, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Communion, Church of England Newspaper, Roman Catholic Church, Traditional Anglican Communion.1 comment so far
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper
A mass exodus of overseas Anglo-Catholics in response to last week’s announcement of a proposed Anglican enclave within the Roman Catholic Church is unlikely, a review of the Communion by The Church of England Newspaper finds.
While overseas leaders acknowledge that individual Anglicans may take advantage of the provisions of the proposed Apostolic Constitution for the creation of “Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans entering the Catholic Church,” no diocese or province is set to quit the Anglican Communion for Rome. |
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In jurisdictions where traditional Anglo-Catholics predominate: the Provinces of Central Africa, Tanzania, West Africa, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the West Indies; the Australian dioceses of The Murray and Ballarat and the US dioceses of Fort Worth, Quincy and San Joaquin—individuals may take up the Vatican’s offer, but no institution is likely to follow. Nor is the offer likely to divide North American conservatives into rival Anglo-Catholic and Evangelical camps, its leaders tell CEN.
For the liberal and evangelical wings of the Communion, the statement is an encouraging sign of ecumenical progress and recognition by the Vatican of the Anglican ethos, but not a “live issue.”
“It’s not too much of an issue in New Zealand,” Archbishop David Moxon said, adding that he was unaware of anyone considering the offer. But “the fact that the Pope can receive a small group of traditionalist Anglicans into the Roman Catholic Church without too much complication means that quite a lot of common ground exists” between the churches, he said.
Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria and the leaders of the Global South primates group also welcomed the Pope’s “stance on the common biblical teaching on human sexuality, and the commitment to continuing ecumenical dialogue,” but said adoption of an Anglican Covenant was a better way to fulfill “God’s divine purposes” for “one, holy, catholic and apostolic church of Jesus Christ.”
Archbishop Robert Duncan of the ACNA welcomed the statement, describing it as “recognition of the integrity of the Anglican tradition within the broader Christian church.”
“While we believe that this provision will not be utilized by the great majority of the Anglican Church in North America’s bishops, priests, dioceses and congregations, we will surely bless those who are drawn to participate in this momentous offer,” he said on Oct 20.
US Anglo-Catholic leader Bishop Jack Iker of Fort Worth said the proposal was a “very generous and welcoming offer” for those seeking to maintain “certain aspects of the Anglican way of worship, spirituality, and ethos while entering into full communion with the Pope.”
However, “not all Anglo-Catholics can accept certain teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, nor do they believe that they must first convert to Rome in order to be truly catholic Christians,” Bishop Iker said on Oct 20 noting that “other Anglicans who desire full communion with the See of Peter would prefer some sort of recognition of the validity of Anglican orders and the provision for inter-communion between Roman Catholics and Anglicans.”
Bishop Ross Davies of The Murray told The Age he was “shocked and pleased” by the announcement as it provided a “way to leave with dignity.” But he did not expect a “great stampede” of Australian Anglo-Catholics to Rome as a result.
For evangelical Anglicans, submission to Rome was a non-starter. Archbishop Eliud Wabukala of Kenya told the BBC’s Network Africa programme there was “no possibility” of his submitting to Rome. “The Protestant family understands faith in different ways, for example, the idea of the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper, the interpretation of ministry,” he said.
Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda said the Vatican’s offer was directed towards traditionalists in England and the white commonwealth countries. “The Archbishop of Canterbury sent us letters welcoming the offer, but it is essentially to deal with the local England context and does not apply to other provinces,” he said.
The Anglican Churches of Africa do not need the Vatican’s helping hand to combat liberalism because “it is strong on biblical theology,” Archbishop Orombi told a Kampala newspaper.
The Episcopal Church’s ecumenical officer Bishop Christopher Epting observed the “announcement reflects what the Roman Catholic Church, through its acceptance of Anglican rite parishes, has been doing for some years more informally” and would not harm ecumenical relations.
Canadian Archbishop Fred Hiltz concurred, writing on Oct 22 that “among the vast majority of Anglicans and Roman Catholics in Canada and in the world there is a genuine commitment to build on 40 years of formal dialogue between our Communions.”
“While this announcement from the Vatican creates some shock waves, I do not believe them to be seismic,” he said. “I believe the greater will of the whole church while acknowledging our ‘real but imperfect communion’ is to continue steadfast in dialogue,” Archbishop Hiltz said.
Bishop urges calm after Government is suspended: CEN 10.23.09 p 6 October 27, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of the West Indies, Politics.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Bishop of the Bahamas has urged residents of the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) to “respect and support” the colonial governor following the decision by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to suspend local government in the British Overseas Territory. Speaking to the press during his pastoral visitation to Providenciales, the Rt Rev Laish Boyd, Bishop of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, said he understood the allegations of corruption that led Britain to suspend the government of Chief Minister Michael Misick had led to feelings of “fear, anger, frustration and embarrassment” among islanders. |
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However, he urged islanders to “not lose hope” and “respect and encourage the new remedial and analytical processes that have been set in motion” to rebuild the country.
In an Oct 12 statement to Parliament, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the Rt Hon Chris Bryant, reported the government on Aug 14 had instructed Governor Gordon Wetherell to issue an Order in Council “suspending ministerial Government and the House of Assembly for a period of up to two years. The Order also suspended the constitutional right to trial by jury in TCI.”
A government commission found there was “information in abundance pointing to a high probability of systemic corruption and/or serious dishonesty in TCI,” Mr Bryant said, adding that “this, together with clear signs of political amorality and immaturity and of general administrative incompetence, demonstrated a need for urgent suspension in whole or in part of the constitution and for other legislative and administrative reforms.”
The commission further recommended the “institution of criminal investigations in relation to [Chief Minister] Michael Misick, and four of his former Cabinet ministers,” he said.
A special prosecutor has been appointed along with an Advisory Panel chaired by the Governor, the minister said, while advisors have been dispatched to reform the government and implement measures to “limit public expenditure, increase revenue and bring the islands’ debt under control.”
Bishop Boyd urged residents of the TCI to “respect and support” Governor Wetherell and help bring good government to the West Indian territory.
No compensation for bells, church is told by Minister: CEN 10.23.09 p 4. October 27, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The government has no plans to compensate the Church of England for its contribution of church bells to the war effort. In a written question to the government, the Rt Hon Graham Brady, Conservative MP for Altrincham and Sale West, asked if the Minister for Culture, Media and Sport “will bring forward proposals to ensure that grant-making bodies for which his Department has responsibility give preference to those places of worship which donated their bells as a contribution to munitions in the Second World War in awarding grants for the replacement of church bells.” |
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In response, the member for Barking and Minister for Culture and Tourism, Lady Hodge said there were “no plans to influence grant-giving polity” in this way.
However, she noted churches did benefit from other government grants. The “Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme makes grants equivalent to the VAT incurred in making repairs to places of worship that are listed buildings. Eligible works include repairs to bells, their ringing mechanisms and bell frames.”
Grants for the replacement of church bells “would only be considered under the scheme where they are damaged beyond economic repair,” Lady Hodge said, noting that “another source of funding” for churches was the Heritage Lottery Fund which had awarded “£12,148,814 to 237 projects that have involved the repair, conservation and restoration of church bells and bell-frames throughout the UK.”
Women clergy now make up 15 per cent of Anglican clerics: CEN 10.27.09 October 27, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Women Priests.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Women vicars comprised 15 per cent of the parochial-incumbent status clergy of the Church of England at the close of 2007, the Second Church Estates Commissioner told Parliament last week. At the end of 1997, six per cent of parochial-incumbent status clergy — or 426 overall — were women, whereas in 2007, 15 per cent, or 974, were women,” Sir Stuart Bell said on Oct 15. However, the number of full-time parochial clergy had also fallen over the past 10 years, from 7,471 at the end of 1997 to 6,450 on Dec 31, 2007. |
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The member for the Vale of York, Miss Anne McIntosh (Con) asked Sir Stuart what the Church of England would do to arrest this decline and “increase the number of parish priests, particularly in rural areas.”
“Because the number of priests has fallen, the size and number of parishes that they are being asked to look after has risen. That is putting huge pressure on them, and is obviously quite stressful,” Miss McIntosh said.
Sir Stuart responded that the Church of England was “keen for stipends to be flexible enough to allow it to put clergy where they can best be deployed, consistent with preventing their mobility from being impeded.” He added that the number of ordinands had also risen to 552 in 2007, “the highest number since 2000.”
The Church of England welcomed the “upward trend” but “owing to deaths and retirements the number of stipendiary clergy is falling overall,” he said. The Church recognised that the amalgamation of parishes, particularly in rural areas had increased the “work load of priests,” Sir Stuart said, “but how we deal with it shall have to be discussed with the Archbishops’ Council.”
Indian Church chief arrested in fraud investigation: CEN 10.23.09 p 8. October 27, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of South India, Corruption.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Detectives from the Central Crime Branch of the Madras police have arrested the former General Secretary of the Church of South India (CSI) and three members of her family. Dr Pauline Sathiamurthy is accused of stealing almost £1 million of the £2.2 million sent by Episcopal Relief & Development (ERD) to the CSI to help in relief efforts following the 2004 tsunami. Dr Sathiamurthy, her husband, daughter and nephew were arrested on Oct 13 following a 10-month investigation by police. The alleged thefts came to light in 2007 when the Rev Moses Jayakumar was appointed General Secretary of the CSI in succession to Dr Sathiamurthy. |
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Upon assuming office Fr Jayakumar found that a request for an accounting for the funds from ERD had been ignored by Dr Sathiamurthy, and the NGO had cut off funding to the CSI pending an audit.
The CSI asked retired Madras High Court Judge J Kanagaraj to investigate.Dr Sathiamurthy declined to cooperate with the investigation, but Judge Kanagaraj found that she had appointed her husband to oversee the construction of houses built for survivors of the tsunami, her daughter to head up medical relief efforts, and her nephew to serve as a liaison officer for tsunami rehabilitation work — all at inflated salaries.
In December 2008 Fr Jayakumar turned the Judge Kanagaraj’s report over to the police, who began a criminal investigation, leading to the handing down of arrest warrants last week. The daughter of the former moderator of the CSI and Bishop of Tiruchi-Thanjavur, Dr Solomon Doraisawmy, Dr Sathiamurthy and her co-defendants are currently lodged in Puzhal prison in Madras.
In a statement released last week, ERD said it hoped the “Indian authorities will work quickly to resolve this matter. [ERD’s] sole desire is that this money be used to benefit the people who were impacted by the tsunami, as originally intended. As this is a judicial and legal matter in India, we cannot comment further about the current situation.”
New survey to explore rural ministry needs: CEN 10.23.09 p 4. October 26, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Farming.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Arthur Rank Centre has initiated a survey of the Church of England’s 19,000 rural churches to find out what is working in rural ministry, and where the church is falling short in serving the countryside. The survey is the first stage of a £180,000, 3-year training project to strengthen churches in the countryside, which was commissioned in response to urgent calls from church leaders earlier this year. Organisers expect it to reveal “significant shortcomings” in training resources for lay people which they believe could well “hamper the life and work of the rural church.” |
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“We are interested in real life people in the pews and real leaders: what training and resources they are using and how useful and relevant it is to their mission and ministry. The questionnaires will allow us to build a detailed picture of resources and learning across all denominations in England, and find out where the gaps are,” Simon Martin, the programme’s project officer said.
“There is some excellent, creative work going on out there and now we have the funding to find out what people at grassroots level find useful and relevant; and to work together with the churches to build a comprehensive programme of training and resources for everyone,” he said.
Preliminary results from the survey will be ready in spring 2010, and will be published as a database of results and a report with detailed analysis of the findings. The next stage of the Rural Life and Faith project will be to work with those who have become involved through the mapping exercise to design, test and promote resources appropriate for the needs revealed by the survey, a spokesman for the Rank Centre said.
