Don’t blame us, says Vatican: CEN 11.20.09 p 7. December 3, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Roman Catholic Church.add a comment
It is not the Vatican’s fault that ecumenical relations with the Anglican Communion have soured, Cardinal Walter Kasper has declared. The Anglican Communion’s civil wars over women and gay bishops are the primary obstacles to Catholic-Anglican ecumenical dialogue Cardinal Kasper said in an interview published in L’Osservatore Romano.
Cardinal Kasper, the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity said in an article published on Nov 15 in the Vatican’s official daily newspapers that ecumenical relations between the Vatican and the Anglican Communion would not be harmed by Anglicanorum Coetibus, the apostolic constitution for Anglicans seeking to join the Catholic Church.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams’ Nov. 19-22 visit to Rome “demonstrates that there has been no rupture and reaffirms our common desire to talk to one another at a historically important moment,” he said.
Cardinal Kasper said Dr. Williams telephoned him for an explanation before the constitution was announced. “We talked about the meaning of the new apostolic constitution, and I reassured him about the continuation of our direct dialogue, as indicated by the Second Vatican Council and as the Pope desires.”
Dr. Williams “has maintained a balanced attitude since he was informed” of the constitution. “Our personal relations are friendly and transparent. He is a man of spirituality, a theologian.”
The obstacles to ecumenical dialogue come from the internal tensions in the Anglican world, Cardinal Kasper said. (“In realtà oggi gli unici ostacoli al dialogo ecumenico possono venire dalle tensioni interne al mondo anglicano.”)
“A group of Anglicans asked freely and legitimately to enter the Catholic Church,” he noted. “It was not our own initiative. They turned first to our council, and as president I replied that it is the competence of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.”
He stated that his office had not been directly involved in the creation of the constitution, but had seen the document before its release and had offered its views. The impetus for the constitution had arisen from Vatican II and the “direct dialogue” with the Anglican Communion that followed.
Cardinal Kasper said we “certainly cannot oppose if an Anglican or a group of Anglicans wants to enter into full and visible communion with the Catholic Church. The Pope opened the door with kindness. He showed a road. He offered a real possibility that certainly is not opposed to ecumenism.”
“To think, as some commentators have, that the Pope made this decision because he only wants to ‘enlarge his empire’ is ridiculous,” he said.
The practical implementation of the constitution were unclear he said. “First we need to know specifically who and how many Anglicans are determined to seize this opportunity.”
The Catholic Church will examine each group seeking reunion on a “case by case basis,” he said. “You cannot only be a Catholic because you are in disagreement with the choices of your own confession.”
In the wake of Vatican II there had been “great hopes” of closer relations and reunion between Anglicans and Roman Catholics, but the ordination of women first to the priesthood, then to the episcopate, the consecration of a homosexual bishop and the blessing of same-sex unions had caused “serious inner tensions” within the Anglican world and also “widened the ditch” between Catholics and Anglicans.
These criticisms of Anglicanism’s liberal drift were not unique to the Catholic Church, he added, as the Evangelical wing of the communion was also opposed to these innovations. However, Cardinal Kasper said he expected Evangelicals to reject the invitation to become Roman Catholics.
Both liberals and evangelicals in North America have rejected the constitution. In his address to the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC)—the Canadian wing of the Anglican Church in North America, Bishop Don Harvey said he found the Vatican’s offer “offensive in the extreme.”
“Apart from being an intrusion at the very highest levels of one major church into the internal affairs of another, under the guise of being ecumenical, this invitation offers very little that is new,” Bishop Harvey said on Nov 12.
The Episcopal Church’s ecumenical officer, Bishop C. Christopher Epting on Nov 16 observed the constitution “be understood as ‘pastoral’ but is not necessarily very ecumenical.”
“This is ‘come home to Rome’ with absolute clarity,” Bishop Epting said and “flies in the face of the slow, but steady progress made in the real ecumenical dialogue of over forty years.”
Police investigate priest’s murder: CEN 11.20.09 p 6. December 3, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Church of England Newspaper, Crime.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Police in South Africa are investigating the murder of a lecturer at the College of the Transfiguration, the Anglican Church of Southern Africa’s residential theological college. On Nov 10 the body of the Rev Clive Newman was discovered in his rooms in college by the school’s rector, the Rev William Domeris. The 45-year-old priest had been bludgeoned to death. |
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“I went to look for him in his room because he didn’t pitch up for class. In fact, he didn’t even come to church on Sunday but nobody was worried. We thought he was just sick,” Dr Domeris said. “I then found him in his room at 10am. I didn’t look at the body. I only saw the feet and, judging by the smell in the room, the body was obviously decomposed,” he told the South African press.
A note had been pinned to Fr Newman’s door saying he would be away for the weekend. Police are looking for a man seen loitering around the college and for Fr Newman’s car, which was missing.
“We are shocked and weep with the college community and Fr Clive Newman’s family,” Archbishop Thabo Makgoba said, adding that “we are also comforted by the knowledge that Christ who wept at the grave of his friend Lazarus is with us in our grieving. In the scriptures, he assures us ‘Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted’.”
“We pray for God’s healing and for the perpetrators that they may come to realize the enormity of their actions,” he said.
In 1991 Newman’s testimony led to the conviction of two serial killers. Antonie Wessels and Jean Havenga attacked Newman at random, slitting his throat and leaving him for dead. However, he survived the attack and regained his voice — later rejoining his church choir — and identified his attackers.
Wessels and Havenga were convicted of the assault and of the murder of three other men during a cross-country crime spree. Wessels was hanged but the 16-year-old Havenga was given a 25-year sentence.
Patriarch Paul of Serbia dies: CEN 11.20.09 p 5. December 3, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Serbian Orthodox.add a comment
Patriarch Paul of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) has died. Confined to his sick bed in a Belgrade military hospital since Nov 13, 2007, Paul died in his sleep on Nov 15. He was 95 years of age.
The patriarch’s body will lie in state at Great St Sava Cathedral in Belgrade until his funeral on Nov 19 at the Rakovica Monastery.
Elected spiritual leader of the Serbian Church in 1990, Paul served as Archbishop of Peć, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci, and Patriarch of Serbia. Born in the waning days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Croatia, Paul entered holy orders in 1948 and in 1957 was elected bishop of Raš-Prizren in Kosovo.
In October 2008 Paul offered to resign as Patriarch due to ill health, but the Holy Synod of Bishops declined to accept his resignation. However, the Synod designated the church’s senior bishop, Metropolitan Amfilohije Radović of Montenegro as an ecclesial regent for the ailing patriarch.
Following the formal announcement of the patriarch’s death by the Synod of Bishops, forty days of mourning will be observed, and a successor will be elected by the bishops on the fortieth day.
Under current canon law, the Synod selects three nominees, and the patriarch is then selected by lot from among the three.
During his tenure as Patriarch, Paul led the church from the margins of Serbian society under the Communist government to one of the key players on the country’s political and social scene. A champion of the rights of the minority Serb population in Kosovo, Paul had written and preached extensively on the cultural destruction of Serbian churches in Kosovo by Albania nationalists and the diaspora of Serbian Kosovars from the province.
He was criticized for his perceived ties to former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosavić. However, Paul managed to keep the SPC from being tied to the fortunes of any one political party or leader, while keeping the church at the center of Serbia’s national revival.
Russian Orthodox threat to Lutheran Church: CEN 11.20.09 p 7. December 3, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, EKD, Russian Orthodox, Women Priests.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Russian Orthodox Church has threatened to suspend ecumenical relations with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany (EKD) in the wake of the election of Bishop Margot Kaessmann as its leader. On Nov 11 the Russian newspaper Kommersant quoted the head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk as having said Moscow might suspend dialogue with the EKD as it did not recognize the validity of women ministers. |
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“We planned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our dialogue with the Lutheran Church in Germany in late November or early December. The 50th anniversary of the dialogue will become the end of it,” Archbishop Hilarion said.
“We can develop the dialogue, but there raise lots of simple protocol questions. How will the Patriarch address her or meet with her?” the Russian Church representative said.
On Oct 28 the EKD elected Bishop Kaessmann of Hanover as its first female leader. The sole nominee to succeed Bishop Wolfgang Huber of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia as chairman of the EKD’s church council, Bishop Humber polled 132 out of 142 votes at the national synod meeting in Ulm.
Elected Bishop of Hanover in 1999, Bishop Kaessmann made headlines in 2007 when she filed for divorce from her husband of 26 years. However, her marital difficulties did not appear to play a role in the vote.
Bishop in appeal for Iranian convert: CEN 11.27.09 p 6. December 1, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Iran.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The former Anglican Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali has called upon the Home Office not to deport an Iranian Christian living in exile in England, saying the man would be in danger if sent back to Iran. Dr Nazir-Ali’s plea comes the day after two Iranian Christian women were released from Tehran’s Evin prison, Release International reports. Maryam Rustampoor and Marzieh Amirizadeh Esmaeilabad, converts to Christianity from Islam, were jailed for 259 days for apostasy and Christian proselytising.. |
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The two were released from prison but still face trial. On Nov 19 Dr Nazir-Ali said he was “thankful” the two had been freed “without conditions of bail and pray that justice will be done for them and for others who are being held in Iran in due course.”
“At the same time it seems ironic that while Maryam and Marzieh have been released by the Iranian authorities, the Home Office in this country is proposing to deport an Iranian Christian,” he said. “Amir – not his real name – attends an Orthodox church in the north of England and is on the church committee. It seems clear that if he is deported he will face interrogation, arrest and possible imprisonment in Iran simply because he is a Christian.
“I appeal to the Home Office to allow Amir to remain free and to continue living in safety in this country,” Bishop Nazir-Ali said.
In June 2009, a legislative committee of the Iranian parliament, the Majlis, rejected a bill brought by the government of President Mahmoud Amadinejad mandating the death penalty for male apostates from Islam, and life imprisonment for female apostates. The country’s ruling Guardian Council, however, can overrule the legal and judicial commission of the Majlis and restore the penalty. Islam’s five major schools of jurisprudence, the Madh’hab, call for the death penalty for those who leave Islam for another faith.
Bishop MacDonald: ‘Catholicity Is At Stake’: TLC 12.01.09 December 1, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Canada, Living Church, The Episcopal Church.add a comment
First published in The Living Church magazine.
The Rt. Rev. Mark MacDonald has questioned Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori’s assertion that he must renounce his orders as a bishop of the Episcopal Church because of his ministry in Canada.
The former Bishop of Alaska and Assistant Bishop of Navajoland now serves as the Anglican Church of Canada’s National Indigenous Bishop.
Bishop MacDonald told The Living Church he was “shocked and surprised” by the Presiding Bishop’s remarks on his ministry, adding that he has “written to her asking for clarification.”
“I am on loan to the Anglican Church of Canada under the PB’s supervision. I have an unofficial position, with no set authority or jurisdiction,” he said.
“I was in conversation” with the Presiding Bishop “well before I took the position” in Canada, Bishop MacDonald said. “I had never heard at all that this would be seen as a de facto renunciation of my orders.”
The question of Bishop MacDonald’s orders arose after the Rt. Rev. Keith L. Ackerman, SSC, wrote to Bishop Jefferts Schori that he wished to serve as a bishop in the Diocese of Bolivia. She responded to Bishop Ackerman on Oct. 7, writing that “as you know there is no provision for transferring a bishop to another province,” and releasing him from his orders as a bishop of the Episcopal Church.
Through her press officer, Neva Rae Fox, the Presiding Bishop has declined to answer questions about the orders of Bishop MacDonald and other bishops serving outside the Episcopal Church. On Oct 22, however, she sent an email message to the House of Bishops regarding Bishop Ackerman.
“We have been and will be consistent regarding our canons, which clearly state that The Episcopal Church can accept the ministry of a bishop of The Episcopal Church functioning temporarily in another province of the Anglican Communion, when it is clear that that province does not seek to undermine or replace the ministry of this Church,” she wrote, although she did not cite which canon forbids such an action.
“Such temporary duty requires the full and informed consent of the respective ecclesiastical authorities,” the Presiding Bishop wrote. “The ministry of Mark McDonald is an example, but as his position becomes permanent, his loyalty will have to be to the Anglican Church of Canada, rather than The Episcopal Church, and a recognition of his renunciation of orders in this Church will be necessary.”
Bishop MacDonald sees no such necessity. The Rt. Rev. Edward Leidel, retired Bishop of Eastern Michigan, “is more official than I am,” and is a congregational coach in the Diocese of Huron, Bishop MacDonald said, noting too that the Rt. Rev. Walter Jones, the former Bishop of South Dakota, became Bishop of Rupert’s Land from 1983 to 1993. Neither bishop had to renounce his orders.
“I would like to see clarification from the PB on this issue,” he said. “There has to be a better way. I would like to see our canons embody the understanding of the catholicity of the church.”
The “indelibility of orders is not the issue,” Bishop MacDonald said. The “Christological doctrine of the catholicity of the church is at stake.”
Ugandan church mulls new law: CEN 11.27.09 p 18. November 27, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of Uganda, Human Sexuality --- The gay issue, Politics.add a comment
The Church of Uganda has come under fire from gay activists in the UK for failing to speak out against a proposed law that would toughen the East African nation’s sodomy laws.
However the furore in church circles over the “Anti-Homosexuality Bill” speaks more to the rift between the African and Western Anglicans than to the politics of the proposed legislation. The campaign mounted in the West to defeat the bill will likely change few minds in Uganda, while the Church of Uganda’s response will likely been seen in Britain as moral cowardice in the face of injustice.
One senior Ugandan cleric told The Church of England Newspaper, “The Church of Uganda is not passive about current issues, but we have chosen not to be publicly confrontational. People will work behind the scenes to influence current events and discuss issues with the players rather than go to the newspapers. For example, you will never know when the Archbishop meets with the President. This is the way we Ugandans do things, which is different from the West.”
“There’s very little influence to stop the legislation of a law, an institute, in practice by the church,” Archbishop Henry Orombi explained on June 22, 2008. “The church’s practice is to preach, to proclaim, so that people who find themselves in a position where they go away from the word of God, the same word of God can bring them back to life.”
The Church of Uganda is unlikely to address publicly the merits of the Anti-Homosexuality bill before parliament senior church leaders tell CEN, but will seek to educate and instruct the country’s leaders on the moral issues raised by the debates. During the reign of Idi Amin, the Church of Uganda spoke out against the injustices and abuses of his regime, yet the manner in which it confronted the government was very different than that favored by the Church of England and its governments. Archbishop Janani Luwum’s confrontation with Idi Amin, which ultimately led to his martyrdom, was behind closed doors in a private meeting with the President.
On 14 Oct MP David Bahati of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) tabled a private-members bill before parliament entitled the ‘Anti-Homosexuality Bill’ that would stiffen Uganda’s sodomy laws.
British colonial era laws prohibiting “carnal knowledge against the order of nature” remain on the statute books of Uganda as do similar laws in Tanzania and Kenya. Bahati’s bill seeks to establish a legal definition of homosexual acts and provide for their criminalization. Consensual homosexual acts between adults would be subject to penalties of up to 10 years imprisonment, while “aggravated homosexuality”—homosexual relations with a minor or homosexual acts committed by an HIV-positive individual—would be a capital crime or merit life imprisonment.
Article 13 of the bill imposes a seven year term of imprisonment or fine for promoting homosexuality, while organizations found guilty under the law would be closed down. Failure to inform would be an offence under the act punishable by imprisonment.
If enacted, the proposed law would follow a trend of increased state sanctions against same-sex conduct in East Africa. On April 22, 2009 President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi approved that country’s first sodomy law, which states that “whoever has sexual relations with a person of the same sex is punished by a prison sentence of 3 months to 2 years and a fine.”
In Rwanda political leaders have also called for the criminalization of homosexual relations. While homosexual acts are punishable if one participant is under the age of 18 under the 1977 Penal Code, legislators aligned with President Paul Kagame have called for the introduction of sodomy laws punishing all homosexual acts.
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other civil liberties groups as well as the British and French governments denounced the Bahati bill saying it violates human rights and would stigmatize people live with HIV/AIDs in Uganda.
The Rev. Sharon Ferguson, Chief Executive of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM) in Britain said the bill was “unjust, cruel and can only strike terror in the hearts of LGBT people, their families, friends and supporters”
She added she was “particularly distressed that many Christian groups including Churches in the Anglican Communion in Uganda appear to be supporting the proposals.”
On Nov 6 the Church of Uganda released a statement saying it was “studying the proposed ‘Anti-Homosexuality bill’ and, therefore, does not yet have an official position on the bill.”
It did, however, restate its official position opposing the death penalty and affirming the Church is a safe place for those struggling with sexual brokenness to receive pastoral care. It also restated its traditional views on marriage and human sexuality and its opposition to the blessing of same-sex unions and the ordination of non-celibate homosexuals to the ministry.
On Nov 7 the Ugandan Provincial Secretary, Canon Aaron Mwesigye, told CEN the church was “still studying” the bill.
He added that they stood “behind our previous statements” condemning homophobic violence articulated by Archbishop Henry Orombi at Gafcon.
“Violence by one individual against another is wrong, whether it is homosexual assault of children in schools or violence against homosexuals. We uphold the sanctity of all life,” Canon Mwesigye said.
On Nov 13 the LGCM reported that the Archbishop of Canterbury’s office declined to respond to a request for comments on the law, while the Archbishop of York’s office said Dr Sentamu “will not be making a statement on this issue.”
“If ever there was a time for the Archbishops to speak out to protect human rights, is this not it?” the LGCM asked. Comments on Anglican-blogs also turned sharply against the Church of Uganda for its perceived inaction on the bill.
However, the Anti-Homosexual Bill is a private-members bill, not a government bill, sources note. While Bahati is a member of the ruling coalition, he is not a government minister. Bahati’s reasons for introducing the bill are unclear, though he was linked in May to power struggle in the top echelons of the NRM.
However, the decision whether to back the bill rests with President Yoweri Museveni. As party leader President Museveni controls the NRM and the NRM fields over 300 members of Parliament to the opposition’s 50. NRM MPs are subject to “party discipline” with voting decisions being determined directly under the president’s control during the monthly NRM caucus meetings.
On Nov 15 President Museveni indicated he was sympathetic to Bahati’s concerns, but signaled he would not endorse the bill as written. “I hear European homosexuals are recruiting in Africa,” he said, in an address to a youth awards banquet, warning against ‘foreign’ corrupt practices.
However, he added “We used to have very few homosexuals traditionally. They were not persecuted but were not encouraged either because it was clear that is not how God arranged things to be.”
While Museveni is President of Uganda and leader of the NRM, his power is not absolute, analysts note, as he cannot go beyond the consensus of the country’s political, military, traditional and religious leaders.
The church’s role in lobbying the government, one senior Ugandan cleric explained, was to avoid partisan politics but preach the practical lessons of the Bible. Public political lobbying demanded by activists in the UK is not how the Church of Uganda operates. “The church will tend to make statements to guide moral thinking rather than interfere in ‘word-smithing’ proposed legislation,” the Kampala cleric said.
He cited the Nov 12 funeral oration given by the Assistant Bishop of Kampala Zac Niringiye at the funeral of Major General Kazini as an example.
Preaching to the president and senior army leaders, Bishop Niringiye warned the government that it must address its failings and internal rivalries. “I do not have to be a prophet of doom to predict NRM’s collapse if you don’t deal with these weaknesses,” the bishop said.
It was too late for the dead general to mend his ways, but “you Generals, if you do not respond to this wake-up call, you are doomed,” he said.
Global warming ‘is new CofE religion’: CEN 11.27.09 p 4. November 27, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Environment.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Global warming is the new faith of the Church of England, a Tory MEP declared last week. Writing in the Leicester Mercury on Nov 16, East Midlands MEP Roger Helmer stated the “Church of England seems to have abandoned religious faith entirely and taken up the new religion of climate alarmism instead.” |
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“Many commentators have remarked on the similarities between religion and climate alarmism,” Mr Helmer said, as “both are based more on faith than on evidence. Both warn of dire consequences unless we have faith and change our way of life.”
Mr Helmer, who resigned from the Conservative Party’s frontbench in Europe when the party leadership jettisoned its promised referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, noted with approval the comment by children’s author and former Anglican priest GP Taylor, that “many bishops spend more time preaching about climate change than preaching a gospel of salvation” and that the Church of England had become the “spiritual arm of New Labour.”
The “world is cooling” and not warming, Mr Helmer said, arguing that “more and more scientists around the world are breaking cover to challenge the theory of man-made global warming” and called for the church to have “more faith in God, and less in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.” The Bishop of Leicester told the Independent he was “surprised and saddened” by Mr Helmer’s remarks. Bishop Tim Stevens noted that Mr Helmer had not offered his “extraordinary view that the earth is cooling” when he spoke at a climate change debate at Leicester Cathedral.
While the consensus among the top echelon of the Church of England is that man-made global warming is a threat to the planet, a growing number of climate scientists have disputed this view. In the United States a petition endorsed by 32,000 scientists including the late Edward Teller argues the claim of “settled science” and an overwhelming “consensus” in favor of the hypothesis of human-caused global warming and consequent climatological damage is wrong.
“No such consensus or settled science exists,” they argue, noting that “human-caused global warming hypothesis is without scientific validity and that government action on the basis of this hypothesis would unnecessarily and counterproductively damage both human prosperity and the natural environment of the Earth.”
One of the most pugnacious critics of the global warming, Ian Plimer, a professor of mining geology at Adelaide University, argues in his recently released book, Heaven and Earth — Global Warming: The Missing Science, that the proposition that anthropogenic global warming is a confidence trick played upon the public by fundamentalist environmentalists and callously adopted by politicians who thrive on creating public anxiety.
Plimer notes that fears of carbon dioxide building in the atmosphere are misplaced, as the current levels are at their lowest point in 500 million years, and that atmospheric carbon dioxide is only 0.001 per cent of the total amount of the chemical held on the earth’s surface. Mankind, he argues, contribute an insignificant fraction to the atmospheric presence of carbon dioxide.
Indian Government blocks church sales: CEN 11.27.09 November 27, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of North India, Corruption.add a comment
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Government of India’s Maharashtra state has ordered the halt of all sales of Anglican Church property, pending an investigation into insider dealing and corrupt practices in the administration of church lands in the Diocese of Bombay. Last week Maharashtra charity commissioner NV Deshmukh rejected the application of the Bombay Diocesan Trusts Association (BDTA) to sell two churches to developers. Under Indian law the “property was allotted for the specific purpose of religious worship of the established Church of England and for no other purpose,” Deshmukh stated, noting that if the property is used for any other purpose, trusteeship passes from the church to the Indian government. |
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The decision follows an interim report released in April by the state’s charity commission that accuses the former Bishop of Bombay, the Rt Rev Baiju Gavit of defrauding the church by illegally transferring title of church property to developers.
While Anglican attention has focused on the 60 US church property lawsuits, the DNA India news service reports that over 5,000 church property lawsuits are making their way through the Indian courts.
Ownership of India’s Anglican churches has seen several imperfect attempts at consolidation. In 1927 Parliament passed the Indian Church Act and Indian Church Measure, which created an autonomous Church of India, Burma and Ceylon (CIBC) out of the Church of England in India. Under the terms of the Act trusteeship of properties held by the viceroy passed to the CIBC.
However title to the majority of India’s Anglican properties were not held by the government, but by local trusts, mission agencies and dioceses, while garrison churches and other church properties on government land remained under state control.
Upon independence in 1948, the government of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru decreed that title to property held in trust for the church by the government would pass to the state. Local church trusts and associations would administer the properties, and if the church became dormant the land would pass back to the government.
Local laws have also hindered the consolidation of property ownership. When the Church of North India was formed in 1970, the BDTA — owner of over 4,000 church properties, declined to turn over title to its properties, citing the Bombay Public Trust Act, which forbad the transfer of ownership of church properties to entities based outside of the state of Maharashtra.
An investigation by the government found there was an ongoing pattern of fraud in the sale of church lands. In a report dated April 18, 2009, VR Patil, the Maharashtra law and judiciary department’s legal adviser, found that a “bogus” corporation entitled the Bombay Diocesan Trust Association (BDTA) Pvt Ltd had been created to “grab the properties of genuine Christian trusts” — the BDTA Ltd and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in the Dioceses of Bombay.
“The bogus trustees indulged in many illegal activities to grab the property of BDTA Ltd and SPG by taking advantage of the similarity in name of the bogus trust with the complainant’s trust,” the Patil’s report said. Among the “bogus trustees” was Bishop Gavit and a number of clergy and synod officers, DNA India said.
The April inquiry found 20 past and 18 pending property deals involving the “bogus” trust and recommended a criminal investigation.
Last week’s decision to block the sale of BDTA properties held by the lawful trust, appears unrelated to the alleged scam, however, the charity commission is seeking a full accounting of all church lands. Sandeep Gaikwad, president of the CNI’s Synod All-India Legal Committee told Bombay’s Daily News & Analysis “these salaried bishops and priests were indulging in disgusting, shameful activities” in defrauding the Christian community.
However, “the community will see to it that these people are prosecuted and punished by the government,” he said.
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
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| 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.
