2009 Primates Meeting: Helnan Palestine Hotel January 31, 2009
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Helnan Palestine Hotel on Alexandria's Corniche
The site of the 2009 primates meeting. Photo taken Jan 31, 2009.
Uganda violence is spreading: CEN 1.31.09 p 8. January 31, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Episcopal Church of the Sudan.comments closed
The Lord’s Resistance Army have killed 64 people in the Dioceses of Maridi and Mundri over the past four weeks, a situation report released by the Episcopal Church of the Sudan finds, with the violence now spread across 10 dioceses along the Ugandan and Congolese borders.
Since Christmas Day, LRA rebels have attacked villages across a hundred mile swath of territory along the Sudan’s border from the Central African Republic to Uganda. Approximately 500 people have been killed and over 100,000 driven from their homes and villages to escape the fighting.
Confirmation of atrocities committed by the LRA are being compiled by the church’s Sudanese Development and Relief Agency (SUDRA). An initial assessment for the dioceses of Maridi reported that between Dec 24 and Jan 2, 39 people were killed in five villages south of Maridi and 11 bodies were “found in the bush towards the Congo border.”
The LRA had also kidnapped 17 young boys and girls aged 10 to 14 in Maridi, and so far, “none has been released.” Over 5000 refugees are now sheltering in Maridi, the Rev. Simon Peter Modri reports.
Between Jan 4 and 11, the LRA moved east into Mundri, destroying five more villages, killing 14 and abducting 19 young boys and girls. “Such evil acts caused panic and havoc in the entire population; as a result they fled leaving behind the remaining house hole properties; and field crops ready for harvest, now been destroyed by wild and domestic animals including wild fire,” Mr. Modri wrote. “People in Mundri are in danger,” he said.
Individual reports from church leaders have also catalogued the violence. On Jan 20 the Bishop of Ibba, the Rt. Rev. Wilson Kamani emailed that “yesterday at midnight” the chief of one village was “attacked and gunned down and latter chopped to death” by soldiers from the LRA. He urged the Sudan’s friends in the West to turn their hearts and prayers to the beleaguered country.
On Jan 22, the Bishop of Salisbury said he would press the government to take action on the Sudan. The attacks by the LRA could also lead to the collapse of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the decades long civil war between the Muslim North and Christian South Bishop David Stancliffe said. “I will support a tabled question in the House of Lords next month intended to encourage more vigorous support of the [peace agreement] CPA by HM Government,” he said.
“In the meantime I appeal for prayers for the whole of Sudan and its people, but most especially at this time for our friends Bishops Bismark Avokaya of Mundri, John Zawo of Ezo, Justin Arama of Maridi, Wilson Kamani of Ibba and Bullen Dolli of Lui – and for the clergy and people in their care,” Bishop Stancliffe said.
Virginia go-ahead on same-sex rites: CEN 1.30.09 p 6. January 31, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Human Sexuality --- The gay issue, Virginia.comments closed
The Episcopal Church’s largest diocese has begun the move towards accepting same-sex blessings. On Jan 23 the annual council of the Diocese of Virginia approved a six-week “listening process” for 12 congregations to explore pastoral blessings for same-sex couples.
While stopping short of endorsing rites for the blessing of same-sex unions or gay marriage, the diocese’s Windsor Dialogue Commission submitted two model two liturgies to bless same-sex relationships and one to celebrate celibate same-sex relationships for review. The “majority” of the commission “believes that the time is right for same-gender unions to be blessed,” the report said, but added that given the restraints imposed by the Windsor Report “liturgies should not be authorized” at this time.
Virginia Bishop Peter Lee said 12 congregations, working in pairs, will report back to the diocese by Easter on the proposed liturgies, at which time a second committee will “evaluate the reports and determine next steps.”
While the voice vote to adopt the pastoral blessings program was close, conservatives remaining within the diocese were resigned to its passage as most of their leaders have quit the Episcopal Church over the past three years. Long considered a “middle of the road” diocese within the Episcopal Church, the defection of over 15,000 of the dioceses 95,000 members to the Nigerian-led Convocation of Anglican Churches in North America (CANA) has pushed the diocese to the left.
Recife not joining the ACNA: CEN 1.31.09 p 6. January 31, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of North America, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
The Bishop of Recife, the Rt. Rev. Robinson Cavalcaniti writes that reports that his diocese has voted to join the Anglican Church of North America. In a letter to The Church of England Newspaper written on Jan 22, Bishop Cavalcanti, who was wrongly identified in the accompanying photograph, stated the account presented in the Jan 23 issue of this newspaper of his diocesan convention, “Brazilian diocese links with Americans”, p 6 was an accurate account of the Dec 4-6 meeting, save for the claim that Recife joined ACNA.
“We had no debate or deliberation in the Synod of this subject,” he stated, noting however that the synod had voted to join the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans and had voted “to express solidarity with the formation of a new Anglican orthodox province in North America.”
We regret the error.
Another bishop “released” in the US: CEN 1.31.09 p 7. January 31, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Canon Law, Church of England Newspaper, Fort Worth, Secession.comments closed
US Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori has “released” the Assistant Bishop of Fort Worth from the ordained ministry, saying that she had accepted the voluntary renunciation of orders given her by the Rt. Rev. William Wantland.
On Jan 23, Bishop Schori stated this action was taken in response to the Forward in Faith leader’s letter of Nov 15. She wrote that Bishop Wantland “stated that as a result of the Diocese of Fort Worth’s recent attempt to realign with the Province of the Southern Cone, ‘I am . . . now canonically affiliated with the Southern Cone and its Primate, The Most Rev. Gregory Venables.’ Bishop Wantland then declared that ‘I am no longer a member of the Episcopal Church.” These statements make clear that Bishop Wantland has chosen to leave the Episcopal Church and that he no longer wishes to carry out the responsibilities of ordained ministry in this Church.”
As a result she had accepted “Bishop Wantland’s voluntary renunciation of his Orders in the Episcopal Church and have removed and released him from our ordained ministry.”
Bishop Wantland responded that the Presiding Bishop was either a liar or a fool. In a statement released by the Diocese of Fort Worth, Bishop Wantland said his Nov 15 letter “specifically declared that ‘I am not resigning my Orders’,” and that her actions did not conform to church canons.
“I can only conclude that either you (1) do not understand the plain and fairly simple language of either the Canons or my letter to you, or (2) have deliberately violated the Canons for your own purposes and contrary to your obligation as a Christian not to bear false witness,” he said.
The Bishop of Fulham, the Rt. Rev. John Broadhurst, on Jan 23 said Forward in Faith was “appalled” by Bishop Schori’s “intentional disinformation and abuse of Church Law.” He noted that while she acknowledged that Bishop Wantland had transferred to the Province of the Southern Cone, her claim to then have deposed him from his clerical orders was a demonstration of “her disregard for other provinces of the Anglican Communion and the canons of her own TEC denomination.”
“Clearly her statements misrepresent Bishop Wantland’s letter,” Bishop Broadhurst wrote.
Written to respond to cases where a bishop leaves the Episcopal Church for the Roman Catholic church, the canon used by Bishop Schori against Bishop Wantland states the “bishop is released from the obligations of all ministerial offices, and is deprived of the right to exercise the gifts
Canadian bishop resigns to join Anglican Network: CEN 1.31.09 p 6. January 31, 2009
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A one-time candidate for election as Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada has quit that church to join the breakaway Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC). On Jan 23 the Rt. Rev. Ronald Ferris, retired Bishop of Algoma announced he had been received by Presiding Bishop Gregory Venables into the Province of the Southern Cone.
“After 28 wonderful years as Bishop, first in the Yukon and then in Algoma, I am delighted to embark on a new challenge – new church development,” Bishop Ferris said, adding that his decision to “relinquish the licence” he held from the Anglican Church of Canada was not “taken quickly or lightly.”
A spokesman for Canadian Archbishop Fred Hiltz said the primate received the news of Bishop Ferris’ secession “with regret.”
“Bishop Ferris has served the Anglican Church of Canada well. He has a long-standing service and dedication as bishop,” Archdeacon Paul Feheley said in a statement released on behalf of the archbishop.
While disappointed with the news, the archbishop nonetheless “respects and understands when people follow their conscience.” Bishop Ferris “has always been a strong conservative voice in terms of his beliefs and he has held on to that,” he said.
A resident of British Columbia, Bishop Ferris will plant churches for ANiC in the jurisdictions of the Anglican Church of Canada’s Dioceses of New Westminster and British Colombia as well as assist ANiC Bishop Donald Harvey’s episcopal ministry.
A candidate for election as primate of the Canadian church in 2004, Bishop Ferris was elected Bishop of the Yukon in 1981 and was translated to the Diocese of Algoma in Ontario in 1995, retiring on Sept 30, 2008.
Bishop Ferris will join the former Bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, the Rt. Rev. Donald Harvey and the former Bishop of Brandon, the Rt. Rev. Malcolm Harding in providing episcopal leadership under the oversight of Bishop Venables for ANiC. Founded in 2007, ANiC has three bishops, 66 clergy, 26 congregations and an average Sunday attendance of 3200.
The secession of the highly regarded Bishop of Algoma comes as a blow to the Canadian Church. While Bishop Ferris had supported ANiC within the Canadian House of Bishops and was considered the leading voice amongst its conservative, his secession was unexpected.
However, it did draw warm words from Bishop Harvey. The newest addition to the ANiC fold has a “true pastor’s heart and is wholeheartedly dedicated to Christ’s ministry and service. I am grateful for the privilege of ministering together.”
Unity talks with Methodists held: CEN 1.31.09 p 6. January 31, 2009
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Visible corporate reunion was the topic of the first meeting this month of the Anglican-Methodist International Commission for Unity in Mission. Organized by the Anglican Consultative Council and the World Methodist Council, the dialogue commission met the week of Jan 11 in Mexico City at the offices of the Anglican Diocese of Mexico.
Chartered in November 2007 by the Anglican-Methodist International Consultation, the commission seeks to advance the “full visible unity of the Church of Christ” and to “monitor and resource relations between Anglicans and Methodists” that would meet this goal, a press statement said.
The Anglican delegation, led by the Bishop of Down and Dromore, the Rt. Rev. Harold Miller, and their Methodist counterparts reviewed local and regional relations between the two churches, and proposed an agenda for its next meeting in February 2010. “The members of the Commission left the meeting with enthusiasm about the work to be done, and the possibility of the reconciliation of our two traditions,” the press statement reported.
CMS merger with SAMS given the go ahead: CEN 1.30.09 p 6. January 31, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, La Iglesia Anglicana del Cono Sur de America, Mission Societies/Religious Orders.comments closed
A Special General Meeting of the Church Mission Society (CMS) has endorsed plans for the merger of the venerable mission agency with the South American Mission Society (SAMS).
Meeting at the CMS’ mission centre in Oxford on Jan 20, the merger was endorsed by a vote of 99 percent in favour. A result the CMS trustee chairman, the Rt. Rev. Paul Butler of Southampton called “hugely encouraging” for the society’s coming work in Latin America and Spain.
Messages from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams and the Primate of the Southern Cone, the Most Rev. Gregory Venables were read out to the meeting, supporting the work of the two societies.
On Nov 29 the General Council of SAMS (GB) voted “to approve in principle” the merger by an 80 to 20 percent margin to approve the concordat. The former Assistant Bishop of Pittsburgh and Suffragan Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe, the Rt. Rev. Henry Scriven took up the combined work of the two agencies on Jan 1. The vote comes after two years of discernment by the two mission agencies.
Welsh Primate: New Province is ‘Total Nonsense’: TLC 1.28.09 January 28, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of North America, Church in Wales, Living Church, Primates Meeting 2009.comments closed
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On Jan. 24, Archbishop Barry Morgan of Wales told delegates attending the annual council meeting of the Diocese of Virginia he would oppose the creation of the ACNA with “every fiber of his body.” Another North American province was “total nonsense,” he said, according to a report by Anglican blogger Mary Ailes, but the archbishop conceded that his views were in the minority among primates.
The degree of support for the ACNA among the primates is uncertain, but a core group representing a near majority have given public and private assurances of support. On Dec. 5 five primates from the steering committee of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) met with the Archbishop of Canterbury at Canterbury Cathedral telling him that Bishop Duncan and the ACNA had their full support.
The political strength of the GAFCON primates will be tested against Archbishop Morgan and supporters of The Episcopal Church. The proposed agenda, however, seeks to avoid a direct decision, calling for further dialogue on the issue of rites for the blessing of same-sex unions, the consecration of non-celibate homosexual clergy to the episcopate, and the violation of traditional diocesan boundaries by overseas bishops.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams solicited the views of his fellow primates in crafting an agenda that includes business sessions on global warming, international finance, coordination of development work among church agencies, and the Communion’s theological working group. Time has been set aside for a discussion of the agenda for the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, in May, the proposed Anglican Covenant, and a presentation from the Windsor Continuation Group.
It is unlikely the agenda for the five-day gathering will go unchanged. At their meeting in 2005 in Northern Ireland and in 2007 in Tanzania, the primates insisted on confronting the issues that had split the Anglican Communion.
In an interview with the Anglican Journal of Canada, Archbishop Fred Hiltz said that he and Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori, along with the primates of Uganda, Pakistan and South Africa have been asked to prepare briefings on issues facing their churches around the issue of human sexuality. Leaders of the GAFCON movement also have been asked to present a paper on the third province movement in North America.
However, a spokesman for Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda said he was unaware of any request by Archbishop Williams for him to prepare a reflection paper. The primates of Pakistan and South India previously notified Archbishop Williams that they would be unable to attend. The deans or senior bishops of provinces currently without primates-the West Indies, Central Africa, and Melanesia-will represent those churches.
First printed in The Living Church magazine
US Presiding Bishop deposes Church of England Bishop: CEN 1.28.09 January 28, 2009
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| The Presiding Bishop of the US Episcopal Church has announced that she has deposed a bishop of the Church of England from the ordained ministry.
On Jan 23, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori announced that she had accepted the voluntary renunciation of ministry given to her by the Rt Rev Henry Scriven, Mission Director for South America of the newly merged South American Mission Society (SAMS) – Church Mission Society (CMS) and removed him from the ranks of the ordained ministry. Under the terms of American Canon law Bishop Scriven is now “released from the obligations of all ministerial offices, and is deprived of the right to exercise the gifts and spiritual authority as a minister of God’s word and sacraments conferred in ordination.” However in a statement given to The Church of England Newspaper, Bishop Scriven denied that he had ever renounced his orders, and stated that he was at a loss to understand the presiding bishop’s actions. Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
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Primates’ Meeting to avoid divisive issues: CEN 1.28.09 January 28, 2009
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The agenda for next week’s 2009 Primates’ Meeting will avoid taking action on the problems dividing the Anglican Communion, focusing its energies on discussion on how to discuss keeping the conflicting truth claims within the church.
The Feb 1-5 meeting at the Helnan Palestine Hotel in Alexandria will open with a morning retreat led by the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams followed by worship at St Mark’s pro-Cathedral. Business sessions will be interspersed over the week with worship and excursions to local sites, including the Alexandria School of Theology and the newly renovated Bibliotheca Alexandrina. However it is unlikely the agenda for the five-day gathering will survive unscathed. At their meeting in 2005 in Northern Ireland and in 2007 in Tanzania the primates rebelled, forcing the meeting to address the issues that had split the Anglican Communion. Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
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Pakistan to abolish blasphemy laws: CEN 1.23.09 p 8. January 28, 2009
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The government of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari will introduce legislation annulling the country’s blasphemy laws. In a Jan 14 interview the Minister for Minorities, Mr. Shahbaz Bhatti promised that the laws “will be abolished.”
Under Pakistan’s penal code section 295C, blasphemy against the prophet Mohammed is a criminal offense. The laws however have been used to persecute Christians and members of minority Muslim groups. The laws have been widely condemned by civil rights groups as capricious and arbitrary as blasphemy is not defined under the code, and prosecutions can be brought on the word of one complainant. Cases of commercial and personal rivalries between Muslims and Christians have led to trumped up charges of blasphemy to clear away rivals, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) and other civil rights groups have claimed.
As of mid 2008, 892 Christians and Muslims have been jailed for blasphemy, while 25 others accused of blasphemy have been murdered by mobs since the law as introduced 22 years ago.
In an interview with the ANS news service, Mr. Bhatti said “religious minorities have been neglected, victimized and oppressed in Pakistan.”
“They have faced constitutional and institutionalized discrimination and inequality,” he said, adding the government of President Zardari was “committed to address the long-standing issues of minorities. We are making all-out efforts to uplift and empower minorities.”
In a meeting at Lambeth Palace on Dec 18, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams thanked Pakistani High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan for his government’s efforts in protecting minority rights.
Dr. Williams shared with the Pakistani High Commissioner concerns expressed by the Bishop of Peshawar, the Rt. Rev. Mano Rumalshah of the difficulties Christians were facing in the country. The ambassador told Dr. Williams his government had given minority rights a high place on its legislative agenda.
A spokesman for the archbishop told The Church of England Newspaper that Dr. Williams thanked the High Commissioner for his government’s initiatives but observed that what was said officially in Islamabad was sometimes not what happened on the ground, and this had been the experience some minorities, including Christians in Peshawar.
In a private meeting in Islamabad on Dec 30, the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt. Rev. Michael Nazir-Ali also thanked President Zardari for his government’s commitment toward the protection of minority rights. According to a government press release, President Zardari spoke of the importance of “interfaith harmony” and “tolerance” in battling “militancy” and thanked the Church of Pakistan for its services towards the country’s “national interests.”
Papua New Guinea schism healed: CEN 1.27.09 January 27, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea, Church of England Newspaper, Syncretism.comments closed
Archbishop George Ambo
First published in The Church of England Newspaper’s Religious Intelligence section.
Church leaders in New Guinea report that a schism led by retired Archbishop George Ambo has been healed and that the former archbishop reconciled with the church before he died.
The Bishop of Popondetta, the Rt. Rev. Joseph Kopapa reported that the “late bishop” was “reconciled to his Creator and the Church” on his deathbed last year, and issued a statement of contrition for his involvement with a ‘cargo cult’.
In 2007 The Church of England Newspaper reported that Archbishop Ambo had fallen away from the church and with a former Anglican nun, Sister Cora, had founded Puwo Gawe, meaning “come see”—one of four “cargo cults” operating in Oro Province of Northeastern New Guinea. Cargo cultists believe in the imminence of a new age of blessing and prosperity, whose sign will be the arrival of cargo from heaven.
While the cargo cults first arose in the mid-Nineteenth century when Melanesians first came in contact with the West, they spread quickly during World War II when the American and Australian armies established large supply depots. God’s failure to return discouraged many, but the cults survive led by charismatic leaders.
Returned missionaries from New Guinea tell CEN Sister Cora claimed to have received a vision of the spirits of the dead returning to Oro Province accompanied by large quantities of cargo. Their return was a sign of a the eschaton, and inequality, suffering, and death would now cease.
Archbishop Ambo was a dupe of Sister Cora, Bishop Kopapa said. The “late Father” had started Puwo Gawe “to help Anglicans who had drifted away from the Church.” This “very good intention had been abused” by the “coordinators” of the cult “who used the good name and reputation of this great man for their own ends to spread false messages and teaching such as ‘Cargo Cult’, in order to gain for themselves money and popularity.”
“The late Father was not aware that these followers of his were misrepresenting him and using him for their own selfish ends,” Bishop Kopapa said and had “asked for forgiveness from the Church of Papua New Guinea and the World-wide Anglican Communion.”
The bishop reported that “at his private confession with an Anglican priest” the former archbishop “received Absolution.”
The House of Bishops of the Church of Papua New Guinea urged the Puwo Gawe devotees to follow the archbishop’s example and also make “their private confession with their parish priest and returning to the Church.”
Northern Michigan Bishop Nominee Has Background in Buddhism: TLC 1.26.09 January 26, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Living Church, Syncretism.Tags: Northern Michigan
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The Diocese of Northern Michigan is set to elect as its bishop a priest who once received “lay ordination” in Buddhism. On Jan. 23, a diocesan search committee announced that a single candidate had been put forward to stand for election as bishop at the diocese’s special electing convention Feb. 21 at St. Stephen’s Church, Escanaba.
The Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester, rector of St. Paul’s, Marquette, and St. John’s, Negaunee, was put forward by the diocesan search team to stand for election as bishop/ministry developer under the “mutual ministry model” used by the small, rural diocese on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. A priest of the diocese since 2001, Fr. Forrester also serves as ministry development coordinator and newspaper editor for Northern Michigan.
In recent years, he also was a practicing Buddhist, according to the former Bishop of Northern Michigan, the late Rt. Rev. James Kelsey. In his Oct 15, 2004 address to the diocese’s annual convention, Bishop Kelsey took note of some of the milestones among the lives of members of the diocese. After recognizing recent university graduations, the bishop said Fr. Forrester “received Buddhist ‘lay ordination’,” and was “walking the path of Christianity and Zen Buddhism together.”
Fr. Forrester did not respond to requests for clarification or comments on how as presumptive bishop he would model the two faiths in his episcopacy.
The director of the Office of Pastoral Development, the Rt. Rev. F. Clayton Matthews told The Living Church that background checks for the nominee were “still in progress,” and “at this point” the question of Buddhist lay ordination had not been addressed. However, a “background check does not cover that sort of thing,” he observed.
The Diocese of Northern Michigan has a “particular theological process” that it has been using to call its bishop based upon the mutual ministry model, Bishop Matthews said. He had been “monitoring” the process, but said he had only “just heard” of the nomination. He added that he could not verify if what Bishop Kelsey said in 2004 was an accurate statement of the nominee’s current beliefs.
If Fr. Thew Forrester was an Episcopalian-Zen Buddhist, and if he was elected by the special convention as bishop, objections to his being seated in the House of Bishops would be raised, according to one senior diocesan bishop. That bishop said he hoped the House of Bishops was “still sufficiently faithful to recognize the total self-contradiction this would involve and deny consent.”
Bishop’s appeal over Lord’s Resistance Army: CEN 1.26.09 January 26, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Episcopal Church of the Sudan, Terrorism.comments closed
| The Anglican Bishop of Mundri has issued an appeal to the leaders of the Anglican Communion to use their influence to bring an end to the depredations of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Southern Sudan.
While the world’s focus for the past three weeks has been on the Battle of Gaza, a deadlier war has been underway in the Sudan. The pillage of South Sudan has so far drawn no international condemnation from the great powers. In a Jan 16 email to ReligiousIntelligence.com, the Rt Rev Bismark Monday, Bishop of Mundri wrote “we in Sudan are tired of war and we don’t need any more suffering caused by the war.” The latest round of fighting follows upon a two-decade civil war between the Muslim Arab North and Christian African South as well as the ongoing war between Arab Muslims and African Muslims in Darfur. The latest outbreak of violence was incomprehensible as the LRA was a “Ugandan rebel force. We don’t understand if they are fighting against their government, why they should bring their war into Mundri?” the bishop asked. He called upon the “world community” and the “Anglican Communion” to “put pressure on both the government of Uganda and the LRA to bring an end to this war.” The LRA “should leave us alone,” Bishop Bismark said. “Why cause unnecessary suffering to us in our homes?” Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper’s Religious Intelligence section. |
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Priest kidnapped and beaten in Pakistan: CEN 1.23.09 p 8. January 25, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of Pakistan, Persecution, Property Litigation.comments closed
An Anglican priest was abducted, beaten and held for two days by unknown assailants, the Diocese of Peshawar reported last week.
On Jan 9, the Rev. Tanzeel Zafar was kidnapped off the street by two men while traveling from the diocesan headquarters in Peshawar’s Cantonment area to his home. He was beaten and then released two days later near the gates of St. John’s Cathedral, the Rt. Rev. Mano Rumalshah reported.
In a statement released by the diocese, Bishop Rumalshah said that upon his release the 28 year old priest was “immediately rushed to Lady Reading Hospital and given emergency treatment. He is deeply traumatized and has been severely beaten.”
The case is under investigation by the police, the diocese said, and the perpetrators are at large, their identities unknown. Mr. Zafar is the priest-In-charge of Charsadda and Shabqadar parish and is also an assistant in Mardan Parish, in the North West Frontier Province.
Bishop Rumalshah noted with sadness that “kidnapping in the area goes unabated. And it really affects the whole community especially when religious leaders are abducted.”
Violence and threats against Christians and against Muslims who do not follow the strict Islamic code of the Taliban have risen sharply in recent months in Peshawar, Mardan and the Swat Valley. On Jan 17 the Pakistani government reported the Taliban had issued an edict against girls’ schools in the Swat Valley, claiming they were un-Islamic. Government schools have closed and some 300 private schools are not expected to reopen later this month following the end of the winter break in light of the Taliban warnings.
Reuters reports the Taliban have destroyed 175 girls’ schools in recent months. Fighting between government troops and the Taliban has caused many to flee the Swat Valley for the neighboring towns of Mardan and Peshawar.
The Christian community in the North West Frontier has not been able to meet the threat from militant Islam with a united front, as internal disputes have divided the church. Last August, a Diocese of Peshawar priest who had been studying in Norway, the Rev. Peter Majeed, was consecrated Bishop of the Northern Diocese Mardan by the former Church of Pakistan Bishop of Karachi, the Rt. Rev. Arne Rudvin.
Bishop Rudvin, who had been Lutheran Bishop of Mardan before the Lutheran Church merged with the Anglican Church to form the United Church of Pakistan, consecrated Bishop Majeed to re-establish the Lutheran succession in Pakistan, claiming the Church of Pakistan was corrupt and had succumbed to Western liberalism.
The August issue of the Diocese of Peshawar newspaper condemned the consecration saying it “insulted the position of bishop.” The diocese noted that its European partners, the Danmission, the Norwegian Mission Society, the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission, and the Church of Scotland “condemned the totally illegal consecration” and did not recognize Bishop Majeed’s claims.
Peter Majeed had “cheated and deceived” the diocese by accepting a diocesan scholarship to study in Norway, but “instead he got himself consecrated,” the diocese charged.
On Sept 7, Bishop Majeed was installed as the Lutheran bishop and took possession of St Paul’s Lutheran Church in Mardan, Bishop Rudvin’s former see. On Sept 19, a Pakistani court permitted Bishop Majeed to keep possession of the colonial era church and its adjacent properties. However, threats of violence and litigation between the parties have left the situation unsettled. After the court verdict a mob surrounded St Paul’s and sought to drive the bishop out of town.
Claims advanced by the Rt. Rev. Ijaz Inayat, whose consecration as Bishop of Karachi is disputed by other bishops in the Church of Pakistan and whose office is not recognized by Lambeth Palace, that Bishop Rumalshah had unlawfully alienated church property, turning over the Afghan Mission Hospital in Peshawar in 2006 to a developer, were unfounded, the General Secretary of the Church of Pakistan, Humphrey Peters told The Church of England Newspaper.
In October, Bishop Inayat brought suit against Bishop Rumalshah, seeking a court order to block the development of the property in the Peshawar cantonment. Bishop Rumalshah told CEN the accusations of misconduct were hurtful and false. The old Afghan Mission Hospital building was unsound, and its redevelopment permitted the construction of new diocesan facilities that allowed the dicoese to continue its mission of serving the community, Bishop Rumalshah said.
Nigeria puts faith in Sunday Schools for revival: CEN 1.23.09 January 25, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of Nigeria, Education.comments closed
| From the Church of England Newspaper’s Religious Intelligence section.
The House of Bishops of the Church of Nigeria has issued a call for an invigoration of the Sunday school movement to combat atheism and secularism. Meeting at the Ibru Centre in Agbarha-Otor in the southern Delta State from Jan 5-10 the church’s 140 bishops and 13 newly elected bishops, focused their attentions on church revival. The bishops noted the “the alarming growth of secularism, new age movements and militant atheism in Western Society,” and lamented its pernicious effect on young people. The antidote was Sunday school. “The Sunday school movement has lost its place in many Western Churches with the result that the youth are defenceless against the false gospels propagated by the media. We believe that there is an urgent need to equip Sunday school teachers and youth workers with creative, well designed programmes if we are to avoid a similar fate with our own young people who will be ‘sheep without a shepherd’ if we fail to respond,” the bishops said. Sunday school must also be coupled with “Bible-centred discipleship.” The bishops called upon all “clergy and congregations” to renew their commitment to the study of Scripture and also called upon all congregations “to establish a healing ministry as a central element of their common life and ministry to the community.” In other business, the bishops reaffirmed their support of their primate, Archbishop Peter Akinola (pictured), and the Gafcon movement within the Anglican Communion. Archbishop Akinola shared with the bishops the results of his December meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. The bishops responded that while they supported his efforts to “build bridges”, there could be “no compromise on the need for genuine repentance” by the Episcopal Church. |
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Australian Primate attacks time-limit on sex claims: CEN 1.23.09 p 6. January 24, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Abuse, Anglican Church of Australia, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
| Laws that block victims of childhood sexual abuse from bringing their claims to court after they turn 21 are “harsh and inequitable” the Primate of Australia, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall of Brisbane has charged.
Copies of correspondence between Dr Aspinall and the Queensland government obtained by the Weekend Australian, show the Anglican leader has sought for several years to overturn the law of laches, or “time defence” in sexual abuse cases. Under Australian law a claim of abuse incurred as a child must be made before the victim turns 21, otherwise it can be barred by the doctrine of laches — the failure to assert a claim in a timely manner. The Australian Church’s insurance companies have relied upon the “time defence” rule in fighting claims of compensation for abuse suffered by children at the hands of pedophiles employed by the church. Churches were bound by contract with their insurance companies to use the time defence rule in contesting abuse claims, Dr Aspinall noted. However, a change in the law would now guarantee abuse victims their right to a day in court, he said. Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper’s Religious Intelligence section. |
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Burma launches new crackdown on religious groups: CEN 1.23.09 p 8. January 24, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Myanmar, Church of England Newspaper, Persecution.comments closed
| Burma’s military junta has begun a new round of anti-Christian campaigning, pro-democracy activists have claimed. On Jan 13 the Democratic Voice of Burma reported the Ministry of Religious Affairs had ordered the closure of the country’s house churches.
Many Christians in Rangoon and across Burma worship in private residences as the government has forbidden the construction of new churches since it came to power in the early 1960s. The DVB said the government summoned the owners of buildings being used for religious gatherings and instructed them to cease all meetings, or warned that the buildings would be seized. The order affects some 100 congregations in Rangoon, the Mizzima news agency reports, representing some 80 per cent of the churches in the city. The city’s colonial-era churches, where religious services are closely monitored by the state, so far appear to have escaped closure. Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper’s Religious Intelligence section. |
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Brazilian diocese links with the Americans: CEN 1.23.09 p 6. January 23, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of North America, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
Updated 1.25.09 …. A correction to this story. Bishop Cavalcanti writes that the synod voted to join the Fellowship of Confession Anglicans and to express its solidarity with the ACNA—-it did not vote to join ACNA.
The source for this information, a news report on the Recife diocesan website, has since been taken down. The other facts as reported in this story are correct, the bishop writes, save for this one point. I regret the error. GC
The synod of the Diocese of Recife has voted to leave the shelter of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone and affiliate with the third province movement in North America.
At its Dec 4-6 meeting in Jaboatão dos Guararapes the ex-Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil (IEAB) diocese voted to join with the ex-Episcopal Church dioceses of Pittsburgh, Quincy, Fort Worth and San Joaquin, along with a number of continuing American and Canadian Anglican and African-led jurisdictions, to form the new province.
The move from the Southern Cone to the third province will take place in June at the Anglican Church in North America’s founding convocation in Fort Worth.
Recife also agreed to amend its canons to bring it in line with the new province passing an ordinance forbidding the consecration of women priests to the episcopate, and also created an archdeaconry based in Rio de Janiero to oversee Anglican churches in Southeast Brazil that have seceded from the IEAB.
Although Recife ordains women to the diaconate and priesthood, the decision to conform its canons to the new province and forbid the consecration of women priests to the episcopate passed overwhelmingly. A spokesman noted the vote was taken the same day as Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti (pictured) ordained the Rev. Pamela Schmaling to the priesthood.
In his synod address, Bishop Cavalcanti also announced the formation of an archdeaconry for South and Southeast Brazil. Under its canons, the jurisdiction of the diocese ran to the nine states of Northeast Brazil. However, its canons permit for “reason of necessity” the creation of ecclesial jurisdictions under the oversight of its bishop outside the diocese. Since 2005 the diocese has had an American archdeaconry overseeing breakaway parishes in Florida, Oregon and Washington in the United States.
Like the United States, the response of the Brazilian Church to Recife has been to depose its clergy and seek legal control over the parish property. In 2005, Bishop Cavalcanti and 32 of the dioceses clergy were deposed by the national church—in proceedings that traditionalists said violated Brazilian canon law. Approximately 95 percent of the lay members of the diocese followed the bishop and clergy out of the IEAB to the Province of the Southern Cone.
The IEAB reconstituted the remnants into a new IEAB Diocese of Recife, and at present there are two Anglican jurisdictions in Northeast Brazil. On Oct 30 the diocesan standing committee rejected suggestions that it was a “continuing church.”
“We are part of the Anglican Communion, part of the Global South, partners of the Networks of the Anglican Communion in the US and Canada, partners of the Common Cause Movement, of GAFCON, signing on to the Jerusalem Declaration and the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, in permanent dialogue with all the orthodox expressions of Anglicanism, seeking to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit in this slow, difficult, but inevitable realignment,” they said.
Man convicted of priest’s death: CEN 1.23.09 p 6. January 23, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of the West Indies, Crime.comments closed
A Jamaican jury has returned a verdict of manslaughter against a Kingston man accused of murdering an Anglican priest, the Rev. Richard Johnson. On Jan 14 a jury rejected the prosecution’s claim of premeditated murder, and the defence’s contention of self-defense, finding that while 25 year old laborer Prince Vale may have been provoked and acted out of anger, he was nonetheless guilty of manslaughter.
On the evening of Nov 12, 2006 Vale stabbed the priest to death after an altercation at the rectory of St Andrew’s Church, Stone Hill. Vale was observed leaving the rectory and in a statement given to the police, admitted stabbing Fr. Johnson. Initial reports of the stabbing focused on the city’s high crime rate—and the case led to a public outcry for more vigorous policing.
Vale claimed to have been propositioned by the vicar, and slashed him with his knife when the priest became violent after Vale refused his sexual advances. However, in further testimony, Vale admitted that he had been intimate with the vicar on other occasions.
After the verdict was read, Vale broke down pleading for mercy from the judge before being taken away. Sentencing will take place on Feb 4.
Had he been convicted of capital murder, Vale most likely would have been hanged. In 2004 the Jamaican Court of Appeal abolished mandatory death sentences for capital murder, permitting judges to hand down life sentences or the death sentence.
Last year the Bishops of the Church of the Province of the West Indies entered the death penalty debate, urging its abolition across the Caribbean.
California Decision Gives Hope to Both Sides: TLC 1.25.09 p 6. January 22, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Living Church, Los Angeles, Property Litigation.comments closed
The California Supreme Court has issued a double-edged verdict in the Episcopal Church property cases, handing both the Diocese of Los Angeles and three breakaway parishes a defeat in their bids to control disputed church properties.
By a vote of 6 to 0—with the seventh judge issuing a separate opinion that agreed with the ruling but rejected the legal arguments of the majority—the California Supreme Court rejected The Episcopal Church’s arguments that the state must defer to the church in adjudicating church property disputes. The justices held that California courts must use “neutral principles” of law to resolve church property dispute, giving no deference to claims made by the church hierarchy not found in the underlying title and corporate charters.
“[T]o the extent the court can resolve a property dispute without reference to church doctrine, it should apply neutral principles of law,” the court held. “The court should consider sources such as the deeds to the property in dispute, the local church’s articles of incorporation, the general church’s constitution, canons, and rules, and relevant statutes, including statutes specifically concerning religious property.”
At the same time, the Court rejected the parish’s motion to dismiss the suit and upheld an appellate court decision finding in favor of the diocese, arguing that the application of the neutral principles test in this case did not permit the parishes to withdraw from the diocese and keep their property. “When it disaffiliated from the general church, the local church did not have the right to take the church property with it,” Associate Justice Ming Chin wrote for the majority.
‘Good News’ on Both Sides
The court’s nuanced ruling prompted widely divergent reactions from the parties. The Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, Bishop of Los Angeles, said the diocese was “overjoyed with the conclusive opinion” handed down by the court as “we have prevailed in all areas of law addressed in this case.”
Canon John Shiner, chancellor for the diocese, said the decision was “final, conclusive, definitive,” and ended the litigation in favor of the diocese.
However, the lawyer for the three parishes, Eric Solhgren, said the “good news” was that the court had “firmly come down on the side of neutral principles of law.” He noted the decision would have a “wide and favorable impact for churches throughout California that seek to change their denominational affiliation.”
Mr. Sohlgren stated he was perturbed, however, that the Court appeared to have altered its interpretation of California probate law by accepting the claims of The Episcopal Church’s “Dennis Canon” that it could bind property held outright by a parish, by virtue of an act of the church’s national legislature.
Before the Jan 5 ruling, California law had held that an interest in real property could only be created by an instrument in writing executed by the owner of the property following the common law tradition of the “Statute of Frauds.”
Grounds for Appeal?
The court’s exclusion of churches the protection of the statute of frauds was “problematic” and “somewhat curious,” said Wicks Stephens, chancellor of the newly formed North American province. He noted the California court’s interpretation of the US Supreme Court 1979 decision Jones v Wolf permitting states to use “neutral principals of law” could be considered grounds for an appeal to Washington.
Mr. Sohlgren said “no decision” had yet been made whether to file a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court, but noted the parish was weighing all of its options. The California court’s decision takes effect in 30 days and the parties have 15 days to file for reconsideration or clarification.
“The facts on the ground won’t be changed” Mr. Sohlgren said, and the parishes would remain in the property until a trial court issued a judgment ordering they leave.
While taking great pains to review the law in its 40-page decision, the court’s decision was somewhat nebulous in its practical applications, as it affirmed the appellate court’s decision in favor of the diocese that the matter be sent back to the lower court for trial, but rejected the appellate court’s legal reasoning that the court’s must defer to church hierarchies in deciding property disputes. It issued no new judgment in favor of either party, instead vacating the judgment awarded the parishes by the trial court in 2005.
Although the litigation began in September 2004, no testimony or evidence has been presented to the courts, as the abstract question of which legal theory governs the dispute has been under review for the past four years.
“The matter will now return to the Orange County Superior Court for further proceedings, and we look forward to presenting evidence and additional legal arguments that [the parishes] should prevail under neutral principles of law,” Mr. Sohlgren said.
‘Disappearing bishop’ to return: CEN 1.20.09 January 20, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, New Hampshire, Politics.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper’s Religious Intelligence section.
Barack Obama’s disappearing bishop will reappear on Jan 20, the Presidential Inaugural Committee said in a statement issued Monday, and an edited version of Bishop Gene Robinson’s invocation given at the start of the inaugural festivities on Sunday will be played on “jumbotron” viewers for crowds gathering for the inauguration.
Amidst considerable partisan hoopla the New Hampshire bishop was chosen to give an invocation at the start of the “We are One” concert at the Lincoln Memorial—the opening event for the president’s inauguration which would be broadcast live across the United States on the cable television channel HBO.
However, the live broadcast of the concert did not begin until after Bishop Robinson’s prayer was concluded, while many of those in attendance could not hear the bishop as the public address system was not working properly. In an interview with National Public Radio on Jan 19, Bishop Robinson said he did not know why his invocation was scheduled for 2:25 pm Eastern Time while the concert broadcast was scheduled to commence at 2:30 pm.
Conservative political and religious pundits enjoyed a rare moment of schadenfreude at the New Hampshire bishop’s expense. “God still has a sense of humor,” one pundit noted, while a magazine editor likening the sound and screen blackout of the publicity minded bishop to the lightning strike on York Minster after Bishop David Jenkins’ consecration.
Gay activists were incensed by the slight, however, with bloggers positing a host of reasons for the bishop’s disappearance from the airwaves. However the leader of the Episcopal Church’s gay lobby group, Integrity, the Rev. Susan Russell put a brave face on the farce. “Any disappointment that Bishop Robinson’s powerful opening prayer was not part of the HBO broadcast pales in comparison to the power of his iconic presence at the Lincoln Memorial on this historic occasion,” she said.
Technical glitches were blamed for the sound black out at the Lincoln Memorial, while a schedule mishap was blamed for Bishop Robinson’s absence from the broadcast. On Monday, the Presidential Inaugural Committee took responsibility for the “omission”.
“We regret the error in executing this plan ¬ but are gratified that hundreds of thousands of people who gathered on the mall heard his eloquent prayer for our nation that was a fitting start to our event,” Josh Earnest, a spokesman for the inaugural committee, was quoted as saying.
HBO said that it hopes to include the disappearing bishop in future re-broadcasts of the concert. However, the version available for instant viewing on HBO.com does not carry the invocation.
Inauguration concert cuts Bishop’s comments: CEN 1.19.09 January 19, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, New Hampshire, Politics.comments closed
First published in the Church of England Newspaper’s Religious Intelligence section.
The Bishop of New Hampshire disappeared from America’s television screens on Sunday as the live broadcast of President-elect Barack Obama’s inaugural festivities omitted the opening prayers of Bishop Gene Robinson.
A long time supporter and active campaigner for President-elect Obama Bishop Robinson had been invited by the Presidential Inaugural Committee to give a prayer at the inaugural concert. The invitation came after activists protested Obama’s selection of Rick Warren to give the invocation at the president’s swearing in ceremony.
The slight of Bishop Robinson—whether accidental or deliberate—will likely enrage those on the left unhappy with the Obama team’s move to the political center. Gay activists had charged the Obama campaign with treachery for having solicited their support during the election, but dumping them once victory was in hand. The selection of Rick Warren was especially galling as the California Baptist had been a vocal supporter of Proposition 8—the state initiative that overturned the California Supreme Court’s legalization of gay marriage.
HBO, a cable network owned by Time-Warner Communications, had been given exclusive broadcast rights to the “We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial”, the Opening Celebration for the 56th Presidential Inaugural held at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
HBO said it would be broadcasting the “event that evening on an open signal, working with all of its distributors to allow Americans across the country” with cable television the opportunity “to join in the Opening Celebration for free.”
The cable network’s press statement said the “Opening Celebration will be a declaration of common purpose and new beginnings. The Sunday afternoon performance will be grounded in history and brought to life with entertainment that relates to the themes that shaped Barack Obama’s campaign and which will be the hallmarks of his administration.”
Calls to HBO’s media office asking why the New Hampshire cleric’s invocation was omitted from the broadcast were not returned as of our going to press. However, complaints from gay activists to HBO over the disappearance of Bishop Robinson were answered with an email saying a technical “glitch” was at fault.
HBO’s glitch was not the only failure that afternoon, as at least one of the large speaker towers at the Lincoln Memorial was turned off for Bishop Robinson’s prayer, prompting chants of “we can’t hear you” from the crowd.
Concert goers reported that while Bishop Robinson could be seen on the “Jumbotron” viewer, he could not be heard by the crowd—estimated at 750,000 by organizers. One person present told CEN that the HBO logo did not appear on the jumbotron until after Bishop Robinson’s prayer was concluded—apparently indicating the prayer as a pre-concert event.
Those close to the front of the podium, including a reporter for Christianity Today, reported the sound system was working around the stage—and privately recorded videos of the invocation were taken, showing that Bishop Robinson did indeed appear that day.
The text of the prayer released by the Bishop’s office reads:
“O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will bless us with tears – tears for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women in many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.
Bless this nation with anger – anger at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.
Bless us with discomfort at the easy, simplistic answers we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth about ourselves and our world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.
Bless us with patience and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be fixed anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.
Bless us with humility, open to understanding that our own needs as a nation must always be balanced with those of the world.
Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance, replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences.
Bless us with compassion and generosity, remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable.
And God, we give you thanks for your child, Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.
Give him wisdom beyond his years, inspire him with President Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for all people.
Give him a quiet heart, for our ship of state needs a steady, calm captain.
Give him stirring words; We will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.
Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.
Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.
Give him strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.
And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking far too much of this one. We implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand, that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity, and peace.
Amen
Anglican Church chided over Rwanda ‘gospel’: CEN 1.19.09 January 19, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Rwanda, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper’s Religious Intelligence section.
The Anglican Church let down the people of Rwanda by preaching a false gospel whose pious words were not backed up by right actions, Prime Minister Bernard Makuza said at the consecration service of the new bishop of Butare. While he lauded its economic and social development work on behalf of the country, the central task of the church, he argued, was to preach a Gospel that led to the transformation of the inner man. “Churches and religions should embark on teachings that help Rwandans to change their mindset, behaviour and way of doing things. Church teachings must be followed by action” Makuza said on Jan 10. The perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide that left almost one million dead included outwardly pious and respectable Christians, the prime minister reminded the congregation gathered for the installation service for the Rt Rev Nathan Gasatura, the third Bishop of Butare. For the past few years, the Diocese of Butare had been divided between supporters and opponents of the former bishop, the Rt Rev Vénuste Mutiganda. Last July, Bishop Mutiganda — who had also been estranged from the Rwandan House of Bishops — broke ranks and attended the 2008 Lambeth Conference. While seated by conference organizers as the Bishop of Butare, Bishop Mutiganda had resigned his see upon leaving the country, and after the conference emigrated to the United States. In September a diocesan synod chose two candidates to replace Bishop Mutiganda, and in October, Bishop Gasatura was appointed by the House of Bishops. In 2004 Bishop Gasature was named chairman of Rwanda’s National AIDS Control Commission and at his election was the Marketing and International Relations Director of World Vision International. In an interview with The New Times the new bishop said his work will centre round the moral and economic transformation of the 80,000-member diocese served by 30 congregations and 40 clergy. The preacher at the half-day ceremony, the Rt Rev Edward Muhima of the Church of Uganda’s Diocese of North Kigezi urged the new bishop to seek first the moral regeneration of his diocese before embarking on social change. “People who are broken morally cannot build a broken nation or Church. Rwanda will only be a great nation if its people are morally upright,” he said. |
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Presiding Bishop told to keep out of Fort Worth: CEN 1.16.09 p 6. January 16, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Fort Worth.comments closed
The violation of internal diocesan boundaries by outside bishops violates American canon law and the undertakings made by the bishops attending the 2008 Lambeth Conference, a US bishop has charged in a letter sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primates and US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.
On Jan 8, the Bishop of Fort Worth, the Rt. Rev. Jack Iker and the diocesan standing committee wrote to Bishop Schori urging her “not to bring further discord into the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth,” by crossing diocesan boundaries to convene a special convention.
“Visiting a special convention with the expressed purpose of creating a rival diocese is an unprecedented and unwarranted invasion of, and meddling in, the internal affairs of this diocese. You have no canonical authority to do what you propose to do,” they said, reminding Bishop Schori of her condemnation of such actions in response “to such a visit to your own province from a fellow primate last year.”
On Jan 11, copies of the letter were received sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s chief of staff and sent to the primates of the Anglican Communion and on Jan 12 a copy was faxed to the Presiding Bishop’s office in New York.
While Fort Worth leaders was writing to the Presiding Bishop, the Presiding Bishop was writing to the Fort Worth clergy, summoning them to attend the special convention on Feb 7.
Last month Bishop Schori removed Bishop Iker from office, claiming that a press release he had given denouncing her attempts to remove him from office, was a voluntary statement of resignation. The Episcopal Church’s clerical directory has since removed Bishop Iker from its list of clergy.
The Fort Worth clergy—who overwhelmingly endorsed the secession during their November meeting of Synod—remain on the roles of the church. However, a diocesan spokesman noted that the letters to the clergy from New York calling the special convention had omitted their clerical titles and honorifics—suggesting that they too would be shortly laicized like their bishop.
On Jan 7 Bisohp Schori released a statement saying she had called the convention because there is “no bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, or any qualified members of the Standing Committee.”
Supporters of the national church living in the Diocese of Fort Worth working under the banner of the Steering Committee of North Texas Episcopalians have worked with Bishop Schori to create a new diocese, and have been interviewing potential candidates to serve as their provisional bishop.
Under the Episcopal Church’s Canon III.13.1 “a diocese without a bishop may, by an act of its convention, and in consultation with the Presiding Bishop, [may] be placed under the provisional charge and authority of a bishop of another diocese or of a resigned bishop.” However, the canons do not permit the Presiding Bishop to depose a sitting Standing Committee or call a diocesan convention.
These actions were “profoundly uncanonical, and they also prevent needed reconciliation talks from proceeding within this diocese,” Bishop Iker said.
The members of the North Texas Steering Committee had not availed themselves of the legal mechanisms already in place to withdraw from the Diocese of Fort Worth, he said, and by their own choice “remain under that constitution and canons. According to our diocesan constitution, special conventions can only be called by the Bishop and Standing Committee, and we have not called for such a meeting. We urge you to focus your pastoral ministry within your own province.”
Obama invites Gene Robinson to pray at Inaugural Celebration: CEN 1.16.09 p 5. January 16, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, New Hampshire, Politics.comments closed
Barack Obama has moved to blunt criticism from gay activists that he had abandoned their cause once he secured his election as President by inviting the ‘gay’ Bishop of New Hampshire to give an invocation at the start of a musical concert at the Lincoln Memorial on Jan 18.
On Jan 12 the Presidential Inaugural Committee announced that the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson would give an invocation at the start of “We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial.”
The selection of Bishop Robinson to offer a prayer at one of the outlying events of the inauguration follows the Jan 10 announcement by the Obama team that the leader of the Disciples of Christ, a liberal-leaning denomination with approximately 690,000 members in the United States and Canada, the Rev. Sharon Watkins, had been chosen to preach at the National Prayer Service on Jan 21 at the Washington National Cathedral.
President-elect Obama had come under harsh criticism from gay activists for selecting the Rev Rick Warren to give the invocation at the inauguration ceremony on Jan 20. When the Warren announcement was made last month, Bishop Robinson told the New York Times the news had come as a slap in the face, adding that the God [Mr. Warren is] praying to is not the God that I know.”
In an email posted to an Episcopal Church related blog called The Lead, Bishop Robinson said it would be “an enormous honor to offer prayers for the country and the new president.” Bishop Robinson will offer a brief prayer at the start of a televised two-hour concert featuring performances by hip-hop, R&B, rock, pop and country music starts including Bono, Garth Brooks, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, Renee Fleming, John Mellencamp, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, and James Taylor and dramatic readings by actors Jamie Foxx, Queen Latifah and Denzel Washington.
“I am humbled and overjoyed at this invitation, and it will be my great honor to be there representing the Episcopal Church, the people of New Hampshire, and all of us in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community,” Bishop Robinson said.
A vocal supporter of Senator Obama during the election campaign, on Sept 4 the New Hampshire bishop released a letter calling for Lesbian Gay Bi-Sexual and Transgender voters “put our differences and disappointments aside, and get behind [Barack Obama as] the one candidate who has our interests at heart.”
In an interview with the Boston Globe last year, Bishop Robinson acknowledged his close identification with the “gay movement” in the United States. “As much as I wanted to be known as the good bishop, and not the gay bishop, there’s no escaping,” he said, adding that he would “love just to be a simple country bishop, but that just doesn’t seem to be in the cards.”
Reactions to the Robinson’s invitation by President Obama in the US press have focused more on the President-elect’s skills at populating the pulpits at the various inaugural events with a conservative white Baptist minister, an African American minister active in the Civil Rights movement, a woman minister from a liberal denomination, and the gay bishop of New Hampshire. While rewarding church leaders from his political base with peripheral spots at the inauguration, political analysts view Obama’s choice of the influential conservative Rick Warren to take center stage as a pragmatic move towards America’s political and cultural center.
However, Catholic League president Bill Donohue said the selection of Bishop Robinson was offensive to traditionalist Roman Catholic voters.
“President-elect Barack Obama says he wants to unite Americans, and yet he chooses the most polarizing person in the Episcopal Church, Bishop Gene Robinson, to offer a prayer at one of his inaugural events,” Mr. Donohue said calling the New Hampshire bishop “an embarrassment to rank-and-file Episcopalians” and an anti-Catholic bigot.
The two-hour concert will feature performances by a cross-section of hip-hop, R&B, rock, pop and country music starts including Bono, Garth Brooks, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, Renee Fleming, John Mellencamp, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, and James Taylor and dramatic readings by actors Jamie Foxx, Queen Latifah and Denzel Washington.
Jerusalem appeals for hospital aid: CEN 1.16.09 p 6. January 16, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & the Middle East.comments closed
The Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem’ Al Ahli Arab Hospital has issued an appeal for assistance to aid the civilian casualties in the battle for Gaza.
On Jan 10, the hospital reported it was receiving upwards of 40 casualties per day from the fighting. “This increased surgical load places strains on related hospital departments – anesthetics, suture material, operating room linens and equipment, bandages, and surgeons themselves,” a spokesman for the diocese reported.
Further strains on the hospital’s resources have come from casualties transferred from Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, which also doubles as a command post for Hamas’ military commanders. Speaking on Israel’s Army Radio, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter on Jan 12 said Hamas leaders had taken refuge in the Shifa Hospital, and have been using it as a safe haven during the fighting.
Because of its neutral noncombatant status, the Al Ahli Hospital has not come under direct assault, but the Diocese reports that nearby missile strikes against Hamas military units have shattered the glass doors and windows in the hospital. A shortage of plastic sheeting has led to the use of plastic garbage bags to cover the windows, the hospital reported.
“Food is in increasingly desperate need,” as is diesel fuel and cash. “Without the fuel for the generator the hospital would have no electricity, which would greatly impact its ability to operate,” it reported.
On Jan 7, Bishop Suheil Dawani, the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem issued an appeal for aid for “our Hospital and our heroic staff.”
“While several among our Staff have suffered loss and injuries within their own families, they are representing all of us as a witness of God’s love to all people,” the bishop said, urging Christians to “pray for communal Palestinian and Israeli peace” and to “remember these dedicated individuals who cannot leave, but most importantly do not want to leave, but continue to do all they can to help.”
Ghana leaders “must overcome divisions”: CEN 1.16.09 p 7. January 16, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of West Africa, Politics.comments closed
John Atta Mills
The Church of the Province of West Africa has called upon Ghana’s political leaders to put their political passions to one side and work together to ensure the peace and economic stability of the nation.
In a statement released on Jan 8 by the Primate of West Africa, Archbishop Justice Akrofi of Accra, the Anglican Church said “Let us continue to pray that each and all, especially the leadership, would be imbued with such right vision, sense of purpose and mission as will secure our peace, security and unity – no violence, no chaos, no bitterness.”
On Sunday Dec 7 Ghana went to the polls to elect a new parliament and president. Interest in the election was high as the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches in Ghana moved Sunday services back to Saturday evening or to early Sunday morning to give all eligible voters a chance to cast their ballot. No candidate received an outright majority in the first round, and a runoff was held on Dec 28 between former vice-president John Atta Mills (pictured) of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and former foreign minister and attorney general Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic party (NP).
Mills was certified as the winner on Jan 3 receiving 4,521,032 votes, (50.23%) to Akufo-Addo’s 4,480,446 votes (49.77%)
The Ghana elections were closely watched by democracy activists and church leaders, in the hope that a peaceful transition of power in the West African nation would remove the taint of the failed elections last year in Kenya and Zimbabwe and the military coups in Mauritania and Guinea, and serve as a model for political development for the rest of the continent.
In a message released following President Mills inauguration, Archbishop Akrofi said the results showed that although Ghana was politically divided, its political leaders should work towards building the common good of the whole nation. Political leaders should set an example and help Ghana “tame our tongues,” halting the political rhetoric that had led to minor outbursts of violence in the run up to the election.
“All must cultivate humility,” Archbishop Akrofi said.
“Humility does not mean lying down to be walked all over. It is the disposition that refuses to think more highly of oneself than one ought to; it means the generosity to make excuses for all others than for oneself.”
Nigeria to test wedding couples: CEN 1.16.09 p 8. January 15, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of Nigeria.comments closed
There will be no race to the altar in the Church of Nigeria’s Diocese of Ogbaru. Couples seeking to marry in the church must first undergo pregnancy, genotype and HIV testing before a license would be granted, the Rt. Rev. Samuel Ezeofor told the Nigerian Tribune last week.
These tests were necessary, Bishop Ezeofor said, to ensure that Christian marriage was decent and honorable.
The results of HIV and genetic testing would not bar couples from marrying, he said, but would allow them to be properly counseled as to how to conduct their lives with these disabilities.
The bishop also voiced his displeasure with immodest wedding dresses, saying there had been occasions where the bride and her matron of honor had dressed in an unseemly fashion. While stylish, bare midriffs and other décolletage fashions were not appropriate for a church wedding.
In future, all wedding dresses would have to be vetted by the local vicar’s wife before the ceremony, the bishop said, to ensure that standards were being upheld.
‘America’s pastor’ backs traditionalist Anglicans: CEN 1.16.09 p 5. January 15, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Los Angeles, Politics, Popular Culture, Property Litigation.comments closed
The Rev. Rick Warren addressing traditionalist Anglicans at 2005′s Hope and a Future Conference in Pittsburgh
America’s Pastor, the Rev. Rick Warren has entered the Anglican wars, giving his full support to the third province movement in its fight with the Episcopal Church. In a show of evangelical solidarity, the California Baptist has also offered his assistance in planting Anglican congregations in Southern California independent of the Episcopal Church’s Diocese of Los Angeles.
On Jan 9, Mr. Warren wrote to leaders of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) offering to house conservative congregations at his Saddleback Community Church who were threatened with eviction from their properties in light of Jan 5 California Supreme Court decision.
Mr. Warren’s support for Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan along with his support of Proposition 8—the successful ballot initiative that overturned gay marriage in California—has long angered the liberal hierarchy of the Episcopal Church. In 2005, he shared a platform with the Anglican archbishops of the Global South movement at the “Hope and a Future” Conference in Pittsburgh and backed its call for the Episcopal Church to return to its doctrinal roots.
They “already considered me an adversary after partnering on projects with [Archbishops] Kolini, Orumbi, and Nzimbi, and writing the Time bio on [Archbishop Peter] Akinola,” Mr. Warren wrote.
In recent weeks the criticism has intensified with attacks launched by the Bishops of Washington and New Hampshire against President-elect Barack Obama for giving Warren center stage at the new president’s inauguration in light of his Proposition 8 lobbying.
“Since last summer… I’ve been on Gene Robinson and other’s attack list for my position on gay marriage,” Mr. Warren said.
He told the Third Province leaders that he stood “in solidarity with them, and with all orthodox, evangelical Anglicans,” he said, offering the “campus of Saddleback Church to any Anglican congregation who need a place to meet, or if you want to plant a new congregation in south Orange County.”
The Rev Peter Frank of the ACNA told CEN the third province was pleased with the support. “All along Rick Warren and many other Christian leaders have reached out to support us,” the Mr. Frank said. “This gesture will be helpful as the parish considers its options.”
The Rev. Richard Crocker, rector of the lead parish in the California lawsuit, St James Newport Beach said he was “encouraged by this sign of support from the Christian community.” He was “overwhelmed that Warren had “graciously offered us space, should we need it.”
However, St James had no immediate plans to move out of its Newport Beach facility. “Since the Episcopal Church has never received a judgment against us,” Mr. Crocker said, the breakaway congregation would not be moving out of the building. “We are presently considering our options including an appeal to the US Supreme Court.”
Lord’s Resistance Army regroups in the Congo: CEN 1.16.09 p 7. January 15, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of the Congo, Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of Uganda, Episcopal Church of the Sudan, Terrorism.comments closed
Driven from its stronghold in the Garamba forest of the Congo, the Lord’s Resistance Army has regrouped near the Sudanese town of Maridi bringing death and destruction in its wake, the Anglican Bishop of Maridi reports.
In a Dec 31 email to the Bishop of Down & Dromore, the Rt. Rev. Harold Miller, and to the bishops of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, the Bishop of Maridi, the Rt. Rev. Justin Badi Arama said Christmas was celebrated with “both tears and joy” in his diocese.
Beginning on Christmas Eve the LRA began its attacks. “Six people have been killed two by gunshot and the rest by chopping with pangas and axes,” the bishop said. “Sixteen people abducted, nine children and the rest are elderly men and women. Seventeen houses burnt and properties looted and destroyed, especially food items.”
Almost 5000 people have been driven from their villages to the South and East of Maridi, taking shelter in the town center, Bishop Badi Arama reported.
On Dec 14 elements of the Ugandan, Congolese and South Sudan armies, supported by Ugandan jet aircraft, attacked LRA base camps in the Garamba forest of the Bas Uélé district of the Congo. The strikes against the rebel group which has terrorized Northern Uganda came after LRA leader Joseph Kony (pictured) failed to appear at a Nov 29 meeting to sign a final peace agreement.
Ugandan church leaders had cautioned against military strikes, warning it would atomize the LRA. Past strikes against Kony’s troops have succeeded in breaking up his forces, estimated to number between 650 and 1000, but following the campaign the LRA has been able to regroup and recommence its terror campaign.
On Jan 3 the Kamala Monitor reported that according to sources in the Ugandan army, Kony had separated from the main body of his troops and was north of Maridi, along the fringes of the Garamba forest. A region of dense tropical forest not easily monitored by air, Kony can move south to Uganda from Maridi or West into the Central African Republic, using the forests to hide as he rebuilds his army.
While Kony and the LRA decide upon their next move, the people of Maridi have become the latest casualties of the 22 year old guerilla war. “Please pray for us that this situation may improve soon,” Bishop Badi Arama said.
Nigerian Primate hits out at feminism: CEN 1.09.09 p 5. January 14, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of Nigeria, Youth/Children.comments closed
The two-parent family is the central building block of society, the Archbishop of Nigeria has argued in his Christmas address to the church. Feminism and absentee fathers were contributing to the social breakdown in Nigeria, he warned, for bad parenting produced bad children which led to a bad future for all.
Absent fathers and neglectful mothers had spawned children who were “bundles of evil and vices due to improper upbringing,” Archbishop Peter Akinola said.
The result of these absent or neglectful role models could be observed “even on Sunday mornings” when children who are “supposed to be in the Church to worship God” can be found marking “their attendance at pitches where they gather for the game of football or go to pubs to drink, smoke and sniff hard drugs.”
The breakdown of family life was a “frightening development,” he said, made worse by those who “take pride in being single parents. If by death a partner is snatched away, this is understandable. We pray for people of such experience that they will be comforted.”
However there were “some men in our society who are utterly irresponsible with carefree attitude and who will not pay attention to their children,” Archbishop Akinola said. “Likewise are the so called societal ladies, the feminists” who have “little or nothing to offer our younger generation in morals or values.”
Drawing upon the Nativity story, Archbishop Akinola said that in Palestine, as in Africa today, “culturally and religiously” it was “a sin for unmarried females to be put in the family way.”
Yet God sent the angel Gabriel to “reveal His plan and purpose of redemption to Joseph and required him to take care of Mary.” Joseph “handled the situation so well that Mary was saved from embarrassment, shame and untimely death. The husband and wife lived together happily raising the Holy Child as a family. Every child needs constant loving parental care (mother and father playing their roles jointly),” the archbishop said.
Modern Nigeria needed to follow this example, for it is in the best interest of “our Nation and Church” that “we call all parents, fathers and mothers to make it a point of duty to jointly nurture the children in the fear and love of the Lord,” Archbishop Akinola said, for “if our Lord, Jesus the Christ, God incarnate enjoyed full parental care, we mortals can do no less.”
Gregory Cameron to be next Bishop of St Asaph: CEN 1.09.09 p 5. January 14, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Consultative Council, Church in Wales, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
The Deputy Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Counsel, Canon Gregory Cameron, has been elected the 76th Bishop of St Asaph.
On Jan 5 the Electoral College of the Church in Wales elected Canon Cameron (49) bishop in succession to the Rt. Rev. John Davies following a closed door meeting at St Asaph Cathedral.
“I am conscious that for the family of St Asaph the choice of a new bishop is a profoundly important point in their life and that of the Gospel in North-East Wales,” Canon Cameron said.
“I am both stunned and honoured by the choice of the Electoral College and hope that by God’s grace I can at least in part live up to people’s expectations. I will need the prayers of all the diocese and the church as we find a way forward together.”
A native of Wales, Canon Cameron read law at Lincoln College, Oxford and theology at Downing College, Cambridge and earned further degrees in theology and canon law at University College in Cardiff and University of Wales College, and prepared for the ministry at St Michael’s College, Llandaff.
Ordained deacon in 1983 and priest in 1984 in the Diocese of Monmouth, Canon Cameron was Assistant Curate at St Paul’s, Newport and then Team Vicar in the Rectorial Benefice of Llanmartin. He served as chaplain and head of religious studies at Wycliffe College in Gloucester and in 2000 was appointed chaplain to the then Archbishop of Wales, Dr. Rowan Williams.
In 2003, Canon Cameron followed Dr. Williams to London and was appointed Director of Ecumenical Relations for the Anglican Consultative Council, and Deputy Secretary General in 2005. At the ACC, he oversaw the Communion’s ecumenical partnerships and facilitated the publication of the ARCIC report “Growing Together in Unity and Mission” and Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue report “The Church of the Triune God”.
In 2003 Canon Cameron was appointed to the Lambeth Commission on Communion and has since served as secretary of the various committees that have arisen from the Windsor Report, including the Windsor Continuation Group and the Anglican Covenant Design Group.
In a statement released following the election, the Archbishop of Wales, Dr. Barry Morgan welcomed Canon Cameron’s return to Wales. He was an “immensely gifted man with wide experience of the worldwide Anglican Communion and of our ministry here in Wales. I look forward to working with him and welcoming him back to his home Province.”
Anglican clergy in bid to remove bishop: CEN 1.09.09 p 8. January 12, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Australia, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
Clergy and lay leaders of the Diocese of Ballarat are in open revolt against their bishop, the Rt. Michael Hough, and have filed charges against him with the Anglican Church of Australia seeking his ouster for conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy.
On Jan 3, The Age newspaper of Melbourne reported that half of the diocese’s clergy had filed complaints against Bishop Hough with the church’s Primate, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall who has forwarded them to the newly formed Episcopal Standards Commission for review.
The push to oust Bishop Hough follows an unsuccessful drive by members of the neighboring diocese of The Murray to oust their bishop, the Rt. Rev. Ross Davies. On Sept 22, Bishop Davies returned to work after a year’s sick leave following charges leveled that he failed to appropriately respond to allegations that his archdeacon had engaged in sexual misconduct.
An internal church report in 2005 found that the allegations against Archdeacon Coote were “credible”, however, Bishop Davies is alleged to have taken no action other than refer him to a therapist. An investigation into the allegations is on-going.
A review of the charges against Bishop Davies last year found insufficient evidence to bring him before a tribunal. However, on Nov 30, the Adelaide Sunday Mail reported that Bishop Davies was asking for almost £500,000 from the diocese in return for his early retirement.
The complaints lodged with Dr. Aspinall against the Bishop of Ballarat centre upon the breakdown of the pastoral relationship between the bishop and his clergy. A member of the Ballarat Cathedral chapter, Euan Thompson told The Age that Bishop Hough was “a difficult, obnoxious, prickly person who has poor people skills and an abrasive manner. He upsets people.”
An unnamed clergyman stated that when Bishop Hough “gets upset with a priest, he sends a long, denigrating and abusive email marked ‘strictly personal and confidential’. It was when we got together we found a whole series of people had been treated that way.”
Bishop Hough responded that he had no intention of stepping down from office and that those unhappy with him were a small group of disaffected clergy unable to adapt to changing circumstances. There was no case for him to answer he argued, “I’d have to do a lot worse than what they are accusing me of. Traditionally, it’s the big ones – adultery, theft, heresy” that would lead to removal from office.
The Special Tribunal Canon passed at the 2007 General Synod enumerates crimes for which a bishop may be investigated. Breaches of faith, ritual or ceremony, drunkenness, failure to honour lawful debts, unchastity, violation of the constitution, canons and ordinances of the Anglican Church of Australia and violation of a bishop’s consecrations vows are grounds for review.
Bishop Hough has been charged under an additional catch-all category of conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy: “conduct, whenever occurring, which would be disgraceful if committed by a member of the clergy, and which at the present time is productive, or if known publicly would be productive, of scandal or evil report.”
Should the Episcopal Standards Commission find the allegations credible, the bishop would be brought before a tribunal to answer the charges, and if found guilty could be dismissed from office.
Melanesian Church prepares for election: CEN 1.09.09 p 8. January 12, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Melanesia, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
The Church of the Province of Melanesia has set a date for the election of a new Archbishop and Primate for the Anglican Church in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia.
Drawn from the province’s 8 dioceses, the members of the Provincial Electoral Board will meet from March 3-5 at the convent of the Community of the Sisters of the Church on Guadalcanal to elect a successor to Archbishop Ellison Pogo KBE.
Archbishop Pogo stepped down from office on Dec 7 after 14 years of service as archbishop of the province upon reaching the age of mandatory retirement on his 61st birthday. Active in the affairs of the wider Anglican Communion, Archbishop Pogo served as chairman of the 2008 Lambeth Conference Design Group and in October was awarded the Cross of St Augustine by the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams for his service to the church.
Elected Bishop of Ysabel in 1981, Archbishop Pogo was translated to the Diocese of the Central Solomon Islands in 1994 when elected archbishop, and was made a Knight Commander of the British Empire in the 2000 honours list.
On Dec 7, Archbishop Pogo presided at his final service as primate of the province at St. Barnabas’ Cathedral in Honiara. Solomon Islands Prime Minister Derek Sikua lauded his accomplishments as leader of the 250,000 member church saying, “Sir Ellison has left a legacy of spiritual and trustworthy leadership that is full of respect”.
The new Archbishop of Melanesia will be consecrated on May 31 at St Barnabas Cathedral.
Former Australian primate dies, aged 89: CEN 1.09.09 p 8 January 12, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Australia, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
The former Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia, Archbishop John Grindrod KBE died on Jan 3 following a long illness. He was 89.
“Sir John led the Anglican community during an important period in which some difficult issues were addressed the Archbishop of Brisbane Dr. Phillip Aspinall said on Jan 5.
Educated at Repton and Queen’s College, Oxford, Archbishop Grindrod served his curacy at St. Michael’s Hulme in the Diocese of Manchester, before emigrating to Australia. He served as the incumbent of parishes in Manchester and in Queensland and Victoria before being appointed Archdeacon of Rockhampton.
Elected Bishop of Riverina in 1966, he was translated to the Diocese of Rockhampton in 1971, and elected Archbishop of Brisbane in 1980. In 1982 he was elected Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia, and was made a Knight Commander of the British Empire in the 1983 New Year’s honours list.
During his seven years as Primate of the newly renamed Anglican Church of Australia—until 1981 it was known as the Church of England in Australia—Archbishop Grindrod fostered closer relations with the Roman Catholic Church and championed the cause of Australia’s aborigines. Within the Anglican Church he oversaw the passage of canons permitting the remarriage of divorced persons in the church, the admission of children to Holy Communion, and the ordination of women to the diaconate.
As Bishop of Rockhampton, Archbishop Grindrod was chairman of the Australian church’s Liturgical Commission which in 1978 published An Australian Prayer Book—the first new prayer book authorized for use in Australia after the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.
The late archbishop was a “much loved and admired member of the Anglican Community. He was a great man of the people and he displayed empathy, care and compassion to all. He will be sadly missed,” Dr. Aspinall said.
Pastor Rick Warren Offers Support for ACNA: TLC 1.09.09 January 10, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Living Church, Los Angeles, Property Litigation.comments closed
First published in The Living Church magazine.
Pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren has entered the conflict within The Episcopal Church over title to church property, offering his full support to the breakaway congregation of St. James in Newport Beach, Calif., and the third province movement known as the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).
In a letter obtained by Christianity Today, Pastor Warren offered the former congregation of the Diocese of Los Angeles shelter on the campus of Saddleback Community Church following the Jan. 5 California Supreme Court decision on church property disputes. The influential minister also pledged his congregation’s support in planting new ACNA congregations in Orange County.
“We stand in solidarity with them, and with all orthodox, evangelical Anglicans,” he wrote, and offered the “campus of Saddleback Church to any Anglican congregation who needs a place to meet, or if you want to plant a new congregation in south Orange County.”
Larry Ross, a spokesman for Pastor Warren, confirmed the authenticity of the document saying it was “a private letter sent out to conservative Anglican leaders” on Jan 9.
In the letter, Pastor Warren noted that the Episcopal Church has “already considered me an adversary after partnering on projects with [archbishops] Kolini, Orumbi, and Nzimbi, and writing the Time bio on [Archbishop Peter] Akinola.”
In November 2005, he shared a platform with the Anglican archbishops of the Global South movement at the “Hope and a Future” Conference in Pittsburgh, organized by Bishop Robert Duncan, and he backed conference leaders’ call for The Episcopal Church to return to its doctrinal roots.
Pastor Warren was a prominent voice in the support of the Proposition 8 campaign to overturn the California Supreme Court decision permitting gay marriage. In his letter, Pastor Warren wrote that “since last summer… I’ve been on Gene Robinson and others’ attack list for my position on gay marriage.” Last month Bishop John Chane of Washington wrote that he was “profoundly disappointed” that Pastor Warren was chosen to give the invocation at the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama.
The Rev. Peter Frank, director of communications for the ACNA, told The Living Church the ACNA leadership was pleased with the show of support.
“All along Rick Warren and many other Christian leaders have reached out to support us,” Deacon Frank said. “This gesture will be helpful as the parish considers its options.”
The Rev. Richard Crocker, rector of St. James’, said he was “encouraged by this sign of support from the Christian community.” He was “overwhelmed” that [Pastor] Warren had “graciously offered us space, should we need it,” but said the congregation has no immediate plans to move out of its Newport Beach facility.
The Bishop of Los Angeles in a lighter moment January 9, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Album (Photos), Los Angeles.comments closed
The Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno of Los Angeles
Fort Worth bishop demands right to answer ‘abandonment’ charges: CEN 1.09.09 p 6. January 9, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Canon Law, Church of England Newspaper, Fort Worth.comments closed
The Bishop of Fort Worth has called upon US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori to honor due process and the rule of law, and give him an opportunity to respond to charges he has “abandoned” his priestly orders.
On Dec 31, the Rt. Rev. Jack Iker—speaking through his attorney Marshall Searcy—wrote to Bishop Schori contesting the legality of her attempts to remove him from office and from the ordained ministry. He charged the Presiding Bishop had perverted the rule of law in the church and that her novel interpretations of the canons in aid of expelling out the last Anglo-Catholics from the Episcopal Church were creating further division within the Anglican Communion.
By her actions, Bishop Schori had descended to the level of farce, Mr. Searcy said—for like the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland the Episcopal Church’s “constitution and canons mean whatever you and your council say they mean, ‘nothing more, nothing less’.”
The US Presiding Bishop released a statement on Dec 5 saying she had accepted Bishop Iker’s renunciation of orders, saying the bishop’s intent could be divined though a press release.
This renunciation was a “fiction” that permitted the Presiding Bishop to circumvent the canons to achieve a desired political end, he charged. The “only reaction one can have to this farcical and imperious action is (again) one of sadness. It so perverts the canons and constitution of your province as to create doubt as to the legitimacy of any provision of your so-called ‘canonical law’ and leaves the clear impression that lawful authority simply does not exist” in the Episcopal Church, Bishop Iker’s lawyer wrote.
It was the “position of Bishop Iker” that the “true basis” of her complaint was that Fort Worth did not “adhere to the social agenda advanced under your tutelage.” This progressive agenda was “at odds with not only Bishop Iker’s reverent beliefs” but with those of the “vast majority” of the clergy and lay members of the Diocese of Fort Worth, the lawyer stated.
He urged the presiding bishop to allow Bishop Iker to respond to the “ludicrous charges” leveled against him, and permit the matter to be adjudicated under the church’s disciplinary canons. However, it was Fort Worth’s “gloomy prediction” that Bishop Schori would have “neither the courage, equity nor conviction” to do the right thing.
As of our going to press, no response has been made to Bishop Iker’s request for a trial.
South Africa urged to act on Zimbabwe: CEN 1.09.09 p 7. January 9, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Church of England Newspaper, Persecution, Politics, Zimbabwe.comments closed
(The Rt. Rev. Jo Seoka of Pretoria)
The Bishop of Pretoria has called upon the President of South Africa to consider armed intervention in Zimbabwe to remove Robert Mugabe from power in Zimbabwe.
On Jan 1, the Rt. Rev. Johannes Seoka challenged President Kgalema Motlanthe to “exercise his responsibility as the chair of Southern African Development Community, to mobilise SADC forces to go to Zimbabwe as peacemakers” to resolve the humanitarian crisis now.
The government had neither responded to the collapse of Zimbabwe nor to the plight of the hundreds of thousands of refugees streaming into South Africa. “People continue to be detained without trial, and to die of diseases of impoverishment such as cholera,” the bishop said.
“As a spiritual leader and the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Pretoria, I challenge my own government first, to send a delegation on a fact-finding mission that will inform and empower us to act decisively to rescue the innocent nationals of Zimbabwe, both in their country” and in refugee camps in South Africa “where they are being treated to a fate worse than animals.”
In his Christmas letter to the Diocese of Harare, Bishop Sebastian Bakare urged Zimbabweans not to lose faith in the face of the “litany of challenges” confronting Zimbabwe: “Cholera, hunger, HIV/AIDs, lack of health care, homelessness, unemployment, poverty, corruption, kidnappings, callousness, harassment, you name it.”
The outbreak of Cholera, which as of year’s end had infected over 30,000 the UN reported was especially grim, Dr. Bakare said. “As I write, some families are nursing their relatives who are suffering from the effects of Cholera expecting them to die any time, others stay indoors unable to come out from their houses because of the unbearable stench of sewage flowing in front of
their doorsteps, while still others are burying their dead. We hear of a horrific case where one family lost 5 children in 36 hours.”
He said the cry that “God has abandoned us. The devil is in charge” had become a “common expression in Zimbabwe.” But the bishop reminded them that “the Lord does not fail his chosen.”
Citing Psalm 10, Dr. Bakare wrote the Lord will avenge the people of Zimbabwe and “break the power of the wicked and malicious. … Lord, you hear the desire of the people. You will incline your ear to the fullness of their heart to give justice to the orphans and oppressed, so that people are no longer driven in terror from the land.”
He urged the embattled people of Zimbabwe to have patience and to celebrate Christmas for the “Prince of Peace [is] bringing about justice and peace to an unjust world.”
Fiji Church says it will remain apolitical: CEN 1.09.09 p 8. January 9, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand & Polynesia, Church of England Newspaper, Politics.comments closed
The Anglican Church in Fiji will not take a stand on the Draft People’s Charter put forward by interim prime minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama. Speaking to Fijilive on Dec 7, the Dean of Suva, the Very Rev. Ifereimi Cama said the Anglican Church would not follow the lead of the Methodist or Roman Catholic Churches and intervene in politics.
The dean’s remarks came during a week of festivities that marked the 100th anniversary of the Diocese of Polynesia held at the cathedral in Suva that included the Archbishops of New Zealand and Melbourne along with guests from across the Pacific.
Fiji’s current round of political instability began in Dec 2006 when the leader of the armed forces, Commodore Bainimarama, overthrew the government of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase. The new civilian government appointed Commodore Bainimarama interim prime minister in Jan 2007, and elections have been tentatively scheduled for March 2009 for a new parliament. However, the Bainimarama government has said that a People’s Charter needs to be in place that governs the nation before elections can be held.
The Methodist Church in Fiji has called for its members to reject the 11-point draft charter, which does away with the distinction under law between ethnic-Fijians and Indo-Fijians (Fijian citizens of Indian descent) and opens the country up to economic development. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Suva, Msgr. Petero Mataca is co-chairman of the National Council for Building a Better Fiji—a pro-Charter group created by the government to rally support.
A central plank of the Charter is land reform. Approximately 80 percent of the land is owned by native Fijian clans, controlled by local chiefs. In recent years, a number of chiefs have refused to renew leases to Indo-Fijian sugar planters, leading to the closure of farms and migration of farm laborers in to the city.
The Charter stated that “vast amounts of land in Fiji currently lie idle or are greatly under-utilised,” and promises to “address the land question by ensuring a “security of tenure and equitable returns to both landowners and tenants through a market-based framework for utilisation of land”—providing security of tenure to Indo-Fijian planters while also providing security of ownership to ethnic Fijian landowners, a hitherto difficult task.
Dean Cama said the Anglican Church was doing its “best to give our people the freedom of choice in terms of deciding for themselves in what to accept and what not to accept.”
Amongst Fiji’s Christian churches, the Anglican Church is unique in drawing its members from across the country’s racial divide and its bishops represent the country’s cultural and racial divisions. The Bishop of Polynesia, Jabez Bryce, whose cathedral is in the capital of Suva, was born in neighboring Tonga of mixed Scottish-Tongan heritage, while his suffragans, Bishop Qiliho of Vanua Levu and Bishop Gabriel Sharma of Viti Leu West are ethnic Fijian and Indo-Fijian, respectively.
The country’s two other main Christian groups, the Methodist and Roman Catholic churches draw their members primarily from the native (Methodist) and Indian (Catholic) populations. The ethnic and Indo-Fijian populations are roughly the same size with a small Anglo-Fijian and Chinese community found in the professions and in business.
Speaking to Taonga magazine after the conclusion of the centennial celebrations, New Zealand Archbishop David Moxon said that “inevitably, with such vast tracts of geography involved, there are traditional rivalries, different interests, and national agendas – and yet somehow [the Diocese of Polynesia has] achieved this multi-coloured, multicultural, multilingual phenomenon.”
Double-edged verdict in California ruling: CEN 1.07.09 January 7, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Los Angeles, Property Litigation.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper’s ReligiousIntelligence.com section.
The California Supreme Court has issued a double-edged verdict in the Episcopal Church property cases, handing both the Diocese of Los Angeles and three breakaway parishes a defeat in their bids to control disputed church properties.
By a vote of 6 to 0—with the seventh judge issuing a separate opinion that agreed with the ruling but rejected the legal arguments of the majority—the California Supreme Court rejected the Episcopal Church’s arguments that the state must defer to the church in adjudicating church property disputes. The judges held that California courts must use “neutral principles” of law to resolve church property dispute—giving no deference to claims made by the church hierarchy not found in the underlying title and corporate charters.
“[T]o the extent the court can resolve a property dispute without reference to church doctrine, it should apply neutral principles of law,” the court held. “The court should consider sources such as the deeds to the property in dispute, the local church’s articles of incorporation, the general church’s constitution, canons, and rules, and relevant statutes, including statutes specifically concerning religious property.”
At the same time, the Court rejected the parish’s motion to dismiss the suit and upheld an appellate court decision finding in favor of the diocese, arguing that the application of the neutral principles test in this case did not permit the parishes to withdraw from the diocese and keep their property. “When it disaffiliated from the general church, the local church did not have the right to take the church property with it,” Associate Justice Ming Chin wrote for the majority.
The court’s nuanced ruling prompted widely divergent reactions from the parties. Los Angeles Bishop J. Jon Bruno said the diocese was “overjoyed with the conclusive opinion” handed down by the court as “we have prevailed in all areas of law addressed in this case.”
Canon John Shiner, chancellor for the diocese said the decision was “final, conclusive, definitive,” and ended the litigation in favor of the diocese.
However, the lawyer for the three parishes, Eric Solhgren told The Church of England Newspaper the “good news” was that the court had “firmly come down on the side of neutral principles of law,” noting the decision would have a “wide and favorable impact for churches throughout California that seek to change their denominational affiliation.”
Mr. Sohlgren stated he was perturbed, however, that the Court appeared to have altered its interpretation of California probate law by accepting the claims of the Episcopal Church’s Dennis Canon that it could bind property held outright by a parish, by virtue of an act of the church’s national legislature.
Before Monday’s ruling, California law had held that an interest in real property could only be created by an instrument in writing executed by the owner of the property following the common law tradition of the “Statute of Frauds.”
The court’s exclusion of churches from the protection of the statute of frauds was “problematic” and “somewhat curious,” said Wicks Stephen the chancellor of the third province. He noted the California court’s interpretation of the US Supreme Court 1979 decision Jones v Wolf permitting states to use “neutral principals of law” could be considered grounds for an appeal to Washington.
Parish attorney Eric Sohlgren told CEN that “no decision” had yet been made whether to file a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court, but noted the parish was weighing all of its options.
The California court’s decision takes effect in 30 days and the parties have 15 days to file for reconsideration or clarification.
“The facts on the ground won’t be changed” Mr. Sohlgren said, and the parishes would remain in the property until a trial court issued a judgment ordering they leave.
While taking great pains to review the law in its 40-page decision, the court’s decision was somewhat nebulous in its practical applications, as it affirmed the appellate court’s decision in favor of the diocese that the matter be sent back to the lower court for trial, but rejected the appellate court’s legal reasoning that the court’s must defer to church hierarchies in deciding property disputes. It issued no new judgment in favor of either party, instead vacating the judgment awarded the parishes by the trial court in 2005.
Although the litigation began in September 2004, no testimony or evidence has been presented to the courts, as the abstract question of which legal theory governs the dispute has been under review for the past four years.
“The matter will now return to the Orange County Superior Court for further proceedings, and we look forward to presenting evidence and additional legal arguments that [the parishes] should prevail under neutral principles of law,” Mr. Sohlgren said.
English bishops call for Israel to be punished over Gaza attacks: CEN 1.07.09 January 7, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Church of Ireland, Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & the Middle East, Israel, Scottish Episcopal Church, Terrorism, The Episcopal Church.comments closed
First published by The Church of England Newspaper’s ReligiousIntelligence.com section.
The bishops of Winchester, Exeter and Bath and Wells have lent their support to a campaign to punish Israel for its military offensive against Hamas in Gaza. On Jan 5 the Rt. Rev. Michael Scott-Joynt, the Rt. Rev. Michael Langrish and the Rt. Rev. Peter Price joined over 200 public figures in calling upon Prime Minister Gordon Brown to block plans to lower trade barriers between the EU and Israel for being in what they claim is the Jewish state’s breach of international law.
The Jan 5 petition published in the Guardian comes amidst growing unease from Anglican leaders over the battle for Gaza. Church leaders have criticized Israel’s “disproportionate” response of invading Gaza to put an end to rocket attacks launched by the extremist group Hamas.
Rocket attacks against civilian targets in Israel began in 2001 from territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority. The pace quickened in 2005 following Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza with the number of launches rising from 50 per month before the withdrawal to 50 per day by early 2008, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs reported. By December the number of attacks had increased to 80 per day, prompting Israel to move into Gaza to put an end to the violence.
Following the invasion, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams released a statement on Dec 31 condemning the escalating violence. He called upon “all those who have the power to halt this spiral of violence to do so.”
Dr. Williams urged world leaders to bring a “new initiative” to that would bring a ceasefire to the region. “Without such a sign of hope, the future for the Holy Land and the whole region is one of more fear, innocent suffering and destruction,” he said.
The Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church echoed the call for peace. The Bishop of Glasgow & Galloway, Dr. Idris Jones said the “escalation of violent reaction to the situation in the Gaza strip by both communities involved is to be greatly deplored,” for military means alone would not bring a “peaceful and just settlement.”
The Anglican and Roman Catholic Primates of Ireland, Archbishop Alan Harper and Cardinal Seán Brady also issued a joint statement calling upon the “authorities in both Israel and Gaza immediately to disengage and cease all hostilities to enable a permanent ceasefire to be negotiated. Only when violence has ceased will it be possible to begin to negotiate a peace that will last,” they said.
The Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, the Rt. Rev. Suheil Dawani declined to blame either side for the latest outbreak of fighting, but lamented the loss of life. “The heavy loss of Palestinian lives and the serious wounds and injuries to many hundreds of innocent bystanders require the immediate cessation of hostilities for the well being and safety of both the Palestinian and Israeli communities, and especially for Gaza and the nearby Israeli population centers,” he said.
American Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori however called upon Israel to pull back as the incursion into Gaza could spark a regional war. “Israel’s disproportionate response to the rockets being fired into its cities may well encourage violence beyond Gaza and Israel,” she warned, calling for “all parties [to] unite behind an immediate ceasefire.”
The petition endorsed by the three bishops called for immediate action in light of the “horrific events of the past days.” It demanded the British government “revoke its support” for new trade agreements and for the European Parliament to “to refuse to endorse any extension of existing agreements and to use its influence to prevent any upgrades of EU benefits to Israel until it abides by its international legal and humanitarian obligations.”
Church supporters of Israel however called the unilateral ceasefire demand naïve. Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East said that while many church leaders were calling for a ceasefire, “we challenge them to acknowledge not only the human suffering, but the political realities in the region.”
“In November 2001, Hamas, which openly declares its commitment to the destruction of the State of Israel, began a terror campaign launching rockets from Gaza into civilian targets within Israel,” stated the Rev. Bruce Chilton, Professor of Religion at Bard College in New York.
“It was Hamas that chose not to extend the existing cease-fire on Dec 18, resuming hundreds of attacks on the civilian population in Southern Israel. It is Hamas that chooses, with the Israeli army sitting right outside Gaza, to continue to target civilian areas in towns behind the army,” he said.
Rick Warren role angers liberals: CEN 1.02.09 p 1. January 7, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Human Sexuality --- The gay issue, Politics, The Episcopal Church.comments closed
Liberals in the United States have denounced President-elect Barack Obama for selecting the Rev. Rick Warren to give the invocation at his Jan 6 inauguration, calling his choice of the conservative Evangelical a betrayal of his gay supporters.
A vocal supporter of California’s Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage, Rick Warren has stepped into the shoes of the Rev. Billy Graham to become “America’s pastor” and arguably the most influential clergyman in the United States. He has also earned the enmity of progressive Episcopalians by his close association with Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan, Ugandan Archbishop Henry Orombi and other leaders of the “religious right.”
New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson, who had been an early and vocal support of Mr. Obama told the New York Times the selection of Mr. Warren “was like a slap in the face.”
Rick Warren’s God was not Gene Robinson’s God, the controversial bishop said. The symbolism of the choice was troubling he explained as the new president was “putting someone up front and center at what will be the most watched inauguration in history, and asking his blessing on the nation. And the God that he’s praying to is not the God that I know.”
Mr. Obama has defended his choice of Rick Warren, with spokesmen saying the selection was an attempt to reach out to the country’s tens of millions of evangelicals-the great majority of whom endorsed his opponent John McCain in the November election.
The president of the gay pressure group Integrity, said “Warren is a not only a vocal opponent of LGBT equality who does not believe in evolution, he has compared abortion to the Holocaust and backed the assassination of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. His views are far outside the religious mainstream and his credentials are steeped in an ‘Old Time Religion’ of narrow exclusionism that ill prepares us for the challenges of the 21st century,” the Rev. Susan Russell said.
Ms. Russell said the choice of Mr. Warren was “particularly painful” to gay activists, and represented a betrayal of Mr. Obama’s core values. The selection was “antithetical to the President-elect’s core values of inclusion, tolerance and the celebration of difference” and a “significant step back after many steps forward.”
Writing on Dec 18, the Bishop of Washington John Chane said he also was “profoundly disappointed” by the Warren choice as the “president-elect has bestowed a great honor on a man whose recent comments suggest he is both homophobic, xenophobic, and willing to use the machinery of the state to enforce his prejudices.”
While lauding Rick Warren’s AIDS work in Africa, Bishop Chane denounced him for having “allied himself with men such as Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda who seek to ‘purify’ the Anglican Communion, of which my Church is a member, by driving out gay and lesbian Christians and their supporters.”
A long time friend of conservative American Episcopalians, Warren—a Baptist minister—was a speaker at the 2005 Pittsburgh Conference sponsored by Bishop Duncan, sharing a platform with Archbishop Peter Akinola and other Global South archbishops, and supporting the aims of the traditionalist movement in the US.
Windsor Continuation Group meets, but is short on progress: CEN 1.02.09 January 6, 2009
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The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Windsor Continuation Group (WCG) has concluded its post-Lambeth Conference meeting on Mustang Island in Texas, but has not released details of the four-day gathering.
The WCG is expected to forward its recommendations to Dr Rowan Williams for consideration at the February primates meeting in Alexandria, and at the May meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in Jamaica. However, events appear to have outpaced the WCG’s relevance as both left and right have rejected its plea for restraint on gay bishops and blessings, and cross-border incursions by bishops.
The six member team led by the former Presiding Bishop of the Middle East and Jerusalem, Bishop Clive Handford was appointed by Dr. Williams in February, and offered three presentations to the bishops of the 2008 Lambeth Conference, calling for a moratorium on gay bishops and blessings, and a “holding bay” for disgruntled conservatives.
It also rejected the “proliferation of ad hoc episcopal and archiepiscopal ministries,” asserting that such arrangements “cannot be maintained within a global Communion.”
However eight US dioceses have called for the repeal of the Episcopal Church’s pledge not to consecrate a gay bishop, and last week the Bishop of Los Angeles authorized gay blessing rites in his diocese. In Canada five dioceses have affirmed their desire to begin work on gay blessings.
The Dec 3 formation of the Anglican Church in North America by traditionalists, under the guidance of the Gafcon primates is likely to further limit the WCG’s relevance to the Anglican scene.
A degree of mistrust amongst conservatives arising from the manipulation of the 2008 Lambeth Conference is a further obstacle the WCG will need to overcome for its work to achieve a measure of relevance in the wider communion, one bishop told the Church of England Newspaper.
Comments made by Fort Worth Bishop Jack Iker in Indaba and plenary sessions on the position of conservatives in the US were redacted from the daily listening documents — with the assurance however, that the WCG would hear his concerns. A spokesman for the Fort Worth bishop told us that although the WCG was meeting in Texas, he had not been contacted by the committee to explain his views. A spokesman for the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh and its Bishop Robert Duncan said it also had had no contact with the WCG.
The Bishop of New Hampshire told us on Dec 18 that “no member of the Windsor Continuation Group, nor anyone representing it, has been in touch with me or my office.” Bishop V Gene Robinson noted that the progressive wing of the church had sought to participate in the dialogue and that “prior to Lambeth” the New Hampshire “General Convention deputation and I painstakingly went over the Covenant and offered our written feedback on each part of the Covenant, as well as its overall intent. I have no idea whether or not that feedback was passed along or read.”
Coventry vicar is new Bishop of Matabeleland: CEN 1.02.09 p 5. January 6, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Zimbabwe.comments closed
A Coventry vicar has been appointed Bishop of Matabeleland. Meeting at St. John’s Cathedral in Bulawayo on Nov 8, the the Matabeleland diocesan synod elected as bishop the Rev. Cleophas Lunga, rector of the Caludon Team Ministry in Coventry.
Born in Bulawayo, Bishop-elect Lunga worked as a legal clerk before entering Bishop Gaul Theological College in Harare. Ordained deacon in 1993, and priest the following year, Bishop-elect Lunga served as an assistant at St John’s Cathedral and as diocesan youth minister before being appointed rector of the multi-racial parish of All Saints & St Modwen’s in Bulawayo in 1999.
In 2003 he emigrated to the UK taking up the post of team vicar of St Catherine’s in Stoke Aldermoor, then team rector of the Caludon group of parishes with responsibility for Wyken and Stoke Aldermoor. During his time in Coventry, Bishop-elect Lunga earned an MA degree at Coventry University.
“In Coventry I have been welcomed and very much loved. Encouraged to share my African heritage, I have been tremendously blessed by the experience I have gained here. I have learnt to listen to people’s stories with respect and work towards nurturing hope through love.,” the new bishop said.
“As we are praying during this process we are also looking forward to the possibility of returning to my other homeland and journeying with others who have a zeal for the Lord,” he said.
Dr. Christopher Cocksworth, the Bishop of Coventry welcomed the election saying Bishop-elect Lunga was “an excellent priest who has given a great deal to the Diocese of Coventry.”
“Although we are sorry to lose him, I know that he will have so much to contribute to the Diocese of Matabeleland. My prayers are with him and his family as they await the confirmation of his election and prepare for all that lies ahead,” Dr. Cocksworth said.
African bishop chosen a last: CEN 1.02.09 p 1. January 6, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of Central Africa.comments closed
The deadlock over the appointment of a bishop for the Diocese of Upper Shire has been broken by the Central African House of Bishops. At their Dec 16 meeting the bishops appointed the diocese’s vicar-general to succeed Archbishop Bernard Malango as bishop of the central Malawi diocese. At 30 years of age, the Rev. Brighton Malasa will be the youngest bishop in the Anglican Communion.
The election in Upper Shire has been marred by political and racial wrangling since the Feb 16 the electoral synod deadlocked after six ballots. The two candidates, the Rev. Jeremy Sheehy, the former principal of St. Stephen’s House, Oxford and Canon Alinafe Kalemba, Dean of the Zomba Theological College split the vote after three other candidates, the Archdeacon of Bradford the Ven. David Lee, and the Rev. Steven Hart, rector of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Albany, New York withdrew their names at the start of the balloting as did the Rev. Howard Nasolo of Zomba.
Former provincial secretary Fr. Eston Pembamoyo told The Church of England Newspaper the “house was divided between those who said no to the mzungu [white man] and those who said no to the black man.” Under Central African canon law the diocese’s twelve electors and the Province’s nine electors must elect a candidate by a two-thirds majority.
“Those who said no to the black man said so because they thought he was being imposed on the people because he is from another diocese, and those who said no to the mzungu said so because they thought it was not time now to look to the West for the Gospel,” he told CEN.
Under Central African canon law if an electoral synod fails to elect a bishop, the appointment falls to the House of Bishops. However, a coalition of diocesan clergy filed suit against the Province to block the House of Bishops from appointing a new bishop, arguing the choice of the diocesan electors had been Fr. Sheehy, and that the province should honor that request.
On June 13 a Malawi high court judge lifted the injunction after finding the complaint had not been properly notarized. An appeal to the Malawi Supreme Court in Blantyre failed, opening the door for the House of Bishops to act last week at their biannual meeting in Lusaka.
A former chaplain to Archbishop Malango, Bishop-elect Malasa has served as vicar-general of the diocese since the archbishop’s retirement.
Euro block on VAT cut: CEN 1.02.09 p 4. January 6, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, EU.comments closed
Britain’s treaty obligations with the European Union prevent the Treasury from reducing the VAT rate on church repairs, the Second Church Estates Commissioner told Parliament on Dec 11. The government could not act on its own to reduce VAT on building repairs for churches as “we need the consent of all other member states,” Sir Stuart Bell said.
The statement came in response to questions from Anne McIntosh, MP (Vale of York) (Cons.) on giving to churches and VAT. Total giving to the Church of England in 2006 was “nearly £537 million, including £70 million of reclaimed gift aid,” Sir Stuart said, while cash collections in churches totaled £56 million.
The average donation to the Church of England is £8.64 a week, or £450 a year, he said, “but that is more than double the amount given by the average adult in the UK to all the other charities they support, so the Church clearly benefits from that dedication.”
In Nov 2000 Gordon Brown told the House of Commons that he was planning to reduce the level of Value Added Tax on Church repairs from 17.5 per cent to five per cent in response to lobbying by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. George Carey and Bishop of London, Dr. Richard Chartres—a move that would have saved the Church of England about £20 million a year.
After the European Commission rejected the rate cut, in 2001 Mr. Brown offered a “Church Repairs Grant” on repairs to “listed buildings used as places of worship,” compensating listed cathedrals, churches, chapels, mosques and temples for more than two thirds of their 17.5 per cent VAT bill on repairs—effectively reducing the VAT rate to five per cent.
In his budget speech on 17 March, 2004, the Chancellor proposed permitting listed “churches and sacred places” the ability to reclaim the full VAT “wiping out their liability in full.” However, modern buildings were not covered by the grant.
Under pressure from Britain, in July the European Commission issued a proposal that would allow the government to reduce VAT to five per cent on “the renovation, repair, alteration, maintenance and cleaning of housing and of places of worship and of cultural heritage and historical monuments recognised by the Member State concerned.”
The changes would take place by 2010 and would apply to all buildings—raising the effective VAT rate from zero to five percent for listed buildings, and lowering the rate for unlisted buildings from 17.5 to five percent.
Acknowledging “the principle” that the Prime Minister “is minded to lower VAT” in certain instances, Miss McIntosh asked if the “hon. Gentleman join me in renewing our campaign to obtain a reduced VAT rate on church repairs.”
Sir Stuart responded that “we have a reduction in VAT through a method introduced by the Prime Minister when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer.” However, he held out the possibility that the Church Repair Grants might not be withdrawn. “That is still available and it has no time limit,” he said.
Virginia court ruling a blow for the US Church: CEN 1.2.09 p 3. January 6, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Property Litigation, Virginia.comments closed
A Virginia state court handed the Episcopal Church its fourth straight legal defeat last week, -permitting 11 congregations to secede and take their parish properties with them.
On Dec 19, Judge Randy Bellows held that a state law that permitted congregations to secede from their denominations with their properties when a schism has occurred, applied to the situation within the Episcopal Church.
The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia have “no legal right to our property” according to the court ruling, said a spokesman for the congregations, Jim Oaks. “We have maintained all along that our churches’ own trustees hold title for the benefit of these congregations. It’s also gratifying to see the judge recognize that the statute means what it says-it’s ‘conclusive’ of ownership.”
Litigation between the parishes, including two of the largest and wealthiest in the state, Truro Parish and The Falls Church began in Jan 2007 after negotiations collapsed. Last week’s ruling is the fourth legal defeat for the Episcopal Church. On April 3, Judge Bellows held that a schism, or division as defined by state law, had taken place within the Episcopal Church. He had also ruled that state law, not canon law, controlled the disposition of property, and rejected claims by the Episcopal Church that the state law as unconstitutional.
Bishop Martyn Minns of CANA said the decision was a “great victory for religious freedom.”
“While on paper this has been a battle about property, the division within our church has been caused by TEC’s decision to walk away from the teaching of the Bible and the unique role of Jesus Christ,” he said.
“Our position has always been that we have a right to continue to hold dear the same things that our parents and most of the leaders of the Anglican Communion have always believed. The Bible is the authoritative word of God and is wholly relevant to all Christians today and for generations to come.”
US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia would appeal the rulings. “We are not surprised — or discouraged — by the adverse aspects of today’s decision,” she said, adding that she was “optimistic” that she would prevail on appeal. “The decisions in this case have no relevance for the property litigation brought by dioceses with the support of the Episcopal Church before courts in other states,” she added.
