Nigeria hails ‘signs and wonders’ ministry: CEN 2.27.09 p 6 February 28, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of Nigeria, Hymnody/Liturgy.comments closed
The Most Rev Ephraim Ademowo, Archbishop of Lagos
“Signs and wonders” should become the mark of the Anglican Church in Africa, the Archbishop of Lagos, Dr. Ephraim Ademowo said last month at service marking the collation of two archdeacons.
He urged a “return to apostolic tradition practiced in the early church characterized by miracles, signs and wonders;” saying it should become “the new direction of the Anglican Church today.”
The Anglican Communion’s largest church with an estimated 18,000,000 active members, the Church of Nigeria has been challenged by the equally fast growing Pentecostal churches of West Africa. In recent decades it has taken on board many of the elements of the charismatic renewal movement as well embarking on a programme of African enculturation, drawing upon African resources for liturgical renewal.
One of the pillars of the Gafcon movement for the reform and renewal of the Anglican Communion, the Church of Nigeria’s cultivation of charismatic gifts, critics charge, will lead to splits with Gafcon’s Anglo-Catholic and conservative Evangelical wings.
Drawing upon the Reformers, signs and wonders, or modern day miracles, have been viewed with suspicion within traditional Anglican circles. In his Institutes, John Calvin wrote, “Those miraculous powers and manifest workings which were dispensed by the laying on of hands, have ceased; and they have rightly lasted only for a time.”
Martin Luther viewed claims to signs and wonders with skepticism, writing in his Sermons of the Gospel of St John that modern claims of the miraculous were “tom foolery” of the devil devised for “chasing people hither and yon.”
Dr. Mark Thompson, Dean of Moore College in Sydney told The Church of England Newspaper that he believed that the “signs and wonders” mentioned in the New Testament were “part of the apostolic era.” The “great sign of the Spirit’s work today is faith, given and nourished as the word of God is heard.”
Too great a reliance upon “signs and wonders,” Dr. Thompson feared, could lead to “a lack of confidence that the word of God has transforming power.”
While there appears a wide distance on the question of miracles between the evangelicals of Sydney and Lagos, both sides tell CEN the discussion begins with Scripture.
In his sermon, Dr. Ademowo sought to differentiate an Anglican approach to modern miracles from the Pentecostal churches by commanding the new archdeacons to put their whole trust first in the Bible. By solely relying on the word of God and not the temptation of private revelations, the new archdeacons would be protected from error.
“Be disciplined and cling to the Father, Son and Holy Ghost and your charisma as a pastor, prophet and teacher will be enhanced for effective ministration,” Dr. Ademowo told the new archdeacons.
South African bishops attack medicine ban: CEN 2.27.09 p 6. February 28, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Church of England Newspaper, Health/HIV-AIDS.comments closed
The House of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa has denounced as “irresponsible” and shortsighted last year’s decision by the government of the Free State in South Africa to end distribution of anti-retroviral (ARV) medication to HIV patients due to a budget crunch.
Meeting in Modderpoort in the Free State from Feb 16-20, the Bishops said they were “shocked” by the government’s decision. Cutting off medicine to HIV patients due to a “shortage of funds” was medically and morally indefensible.
Last week the government of Free State premier Beatrice Marshoff lifted a four month moratorium on the health services distribution of ARVs. An estimated 15,000 existing patients were placed on waiting lists by the government while the number of those turned away for initial treatments is unknown.
Since the moratorium went into effect, at least 30 HIV positive people have died each day in the Free State, the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society said. According to a “conservative” projection of the Society, 20 HIV infected babies are born each month in the Free State, of which half will die before their first birthday.
In their statement, the Bishops said the Department of Health was well aware that ARVs must be taken consistently for it to be effective. “If medication is withdrawn wholesale from a large group of citizens, the impact on the lives of patients, and on the work of health professionals, will be enormous. Such deliberate action by a Department of Health is irresponsible,” the bishops said.
“We wholeheartedly support the South African Constitution’s affirmation that access to health care is a right of all citizens, and call on provincial and national government, in the name of God, to find a way to prevent this human catastrophe immediately.
“We assure those affected – patients, families, health workers and government – of our prayers and our support,” the bishops’ statement said.
Anglican-Buddhist is elected Bishop in Northern Michigan: CEN 2.24.09 February 24, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Uncategorized.comments closed
| The Anglican Communion’s first Anglican-Buddhist Bishop was elected this week at a special convention of the Diocese of Northern Michigan. The sole candidate on the ballot, the Rev Kevin Thew Forrester received the support of 88 per cent of the delegates and 91 per cent of congregations, according to a diocesan news release.
The nomination of Fr Forrester sparked controversy last month, when the diocese announced that he was the sole candidate for election. Critics charged it was unseemly that a single candidate was chosen by the search committee — which included Fr Forrester among its members — to stand for election. Concerns were also raised about the suitability of a professed Buddhist who said he had received Buddhist “lay ordination” and was “walking the path of Christianity and Zen Buddhism together” being consecrated a bishop. Known also by his Buddhist name, “Genpo” which means “Way of Universal Wisdom”, Fr Forrester holds progressive views on a number of traditional Christian doctrines. Writing in the diocese’s news letter he stated: “Sin has little, if anything, to do with being bad. It has everything to do, as far as I can tell, with being blind to our own goodness.” Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
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Second Fort Worth Diocese Created: CEN 2.23.09 February 23, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Fort Worth, Secession.comments closed
| Episcopalians loyal to the national Church in New York have formed a second Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth at a special convention held Feb 7.
The new diocese, formed around five congregations and individual Episcopalians who declined to follow the majority out of the Episcopal Church into the Province of the Southern Cone, invited the Bishop of Kentucky, the Rt Rev Edwin Gulick to serve as its provisional bishop for the next six months, and elected diocesan officers. Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
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Archbishop defends Sharia comments: CEN 2.20.09 February 22, 2009
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The Archbishop of Canterbury speaking to the question of Sharia law at a Feb 5 press conference in Alexandria, Egypt
Published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has affirmed his comments on the potential for Sharia and civil law to co-exist in Britain.
In a BBC radio interview on Feb 7, 2008 given before a lecture at the Temple Church on “Civil and Religious Law in England: A Religious Perspective” Dr. Rowan Williams stated that it “seems inevitable” some parts of sharia would be enshrined in this country’s legal system.
Dr. Williams’ comments sparked weeks of heated and at times vitriolic criticism, but in July Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, the then Lord Chief Justice endorsed the archbishops remarks, and subsequent reporting has revealed that the government had already permitted five sharia courts to act as mediators under the Arbitrations Act. Islamic tribunals have also been afforded the privilege of settling disputes between divorcing couples, and having their verdicts then endorsed by civil courts.
Asked on Feb 5, 2009 at the closing press Conference of the Alexandria Primates Meeting, whether a year on from the controversy, had not his views been shown to have been right, Dr. Williams responded that “it’s been quite interesting to see how a number of fairly senior people have, on the one hand, observed that certain kinds of a limited aspects of Muslim law are imaginable within a British legal framework without upsetting the apple cart of undermining human rights.”
He added that “people are maybe beginning to distinguish the general question of Muslim law and the extremes of appalling practice which disfigure it in so many parts of the world or the extremes of trying to push Sharia law upon an entire society. So I think there is a drift of understanding of what I was trying to say, perhaps I like to think so.”
However, the drift towards understanding does not appear to be universal with conservative church and political figures rejecting Dr. Williams’ arguments. Monmouth MP David Davies (Con.) told the Western Mail that he did not believe there was “any drift in public support whatsoever towards incorporating Sharia law, not least among the many Muslims who have fled to this country in the hope of receiving human rights.”
A Home Office report leaked to the Guardian also takes a dim view of Sharia law and its proponents. According to a Feb 17 report, the government’s new plan to combat Muslim extremism and defeat terrorism by tackling its root causes called Contest 2, will label as an “extremist” those who promote Sharia law in Britain.
Australian Church calls for blasphemy abolition: CEN 2.20.09 February 22, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Australia, Church of England Newspaper, Free Speech.comments closed
Blasphemy should be abolished as a crime under Australia’s federal and state penal codes, the Standing Committee of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia has argued in a submission to the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
“We look for a society where religious discourse is conducted in safety and security, and people are free to disagree without danger or social exclusion or harm to person or property,” the church said in its submission in response to the AHRC’s paper, “Freedom of Religion and Belief in the 21st Century project.”
“These conditions will entail the freedom to engage in robust debate and disagreement about religious beliefs and practices,” it said.
Launched in September, the “Freedom of Religion” project seeks to set the terms of debate for church state relations in the coming decades. Conducted in partnership with Monash University, RMIT University and the Australian Multicultural Foundation, the project seeks to determine whether there is adequate protection against discrimination based on religion or belief, and how federal, state and territory governments are managing incitement to religious hatred.
The paper also looks at the extent of the influence of organized religion on government as well as the “commitment to interfaith understanding and inclusion in Australia at present.”
It also addresses the contentious issue of human sexuality, asking how diverse sexuality is perceived within the various faith communities, how faith communities can become inclusive of people of diverse sexualities, and whether religious organizations should be permitted to bar people from employment due to sexual orientation.
In its response, the church said it endorsed the proposed Religious Freedom Act making it unlawful to discriminate on the grounds of religion in the area of employment, “provided there are appropriate exemptions.”
Religious tests should be permitted when it is a qualification for employment, the church said, urging the adoption of a legal exemption that allows a “distinction, exclusion or preference in connection with employment” for religious organizations, including schools, social service agencies, hospitals and other charitable institutions, when the religious qualification is “derived from the doctrines, tenets, beliefs or teachings of a particular religion.”
The church also supported the “abolition of the common law offence of blasphemy and the repeal of any laws creating the offence of blasphemy.” Under Australia’s Federal Constitution blasphemy is not an offense at common law. However Section 118 of the Broadcasting & Television Act 1942 prohibits the broadcast of “matter which is blasphemous, indecent or obscene.”
Blasphemous libel is a criminal offense in several Australian states, though there have been no prosecutions in recent decades. While Queensland and Western Australia have no blasphemy laws, Australia’s other states and territories carry the offence on the statute books. In Victoria the last attempt to prosecute blasphemy as a common law offence occurred in 1919, but the Transport (Passenger Vehicles) Regulations 1994 forbids passengers on public transport from using “any blasphemous, indecent, insulting, offensive, profane, violent or threatening language or gesture to the annoyance or hindrance of any other person.”
A balance between civil liberties and religious rights need be found, the church said. “We value and want to keep the freedoms and rights Australians enjoy, which are delivered by Australian law, and have in turn been shaped and informed by Judeo-Christian thought,” the church saidl
“We recognise and affirm the cultural diversity that exists within Australia, and the need to respond thoughtfully to increasing religious diversity. But any policy initiatives arising from debate about freedom of religion and belief should not compromise these freedoms and rights,” the standing committee argued.
The closing date for submissions for the “Freedom of Religion” project is Feb 28.
US: 100,000 Defect: CEN 2.20.09 p 8. February 22, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of North America, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has eclipsed the Church in Wales, the Scottish Episcopal Church and 10 other provinces in the number of active members, statistics released this week by the ACNA report.
The average Sunday attendance for the ACNA’s 693 congregations is 81,311, with an estimated membership in excess of 100,000, the report finds. By way of comparison, the Church in Wales, whose Archbishop Dr. Barry Morgan has vowed to fight recognition of the ACNA with “every fiber” of his being, has a total membership of 70,353 and the Scottish Episcopal Church 53,553.
US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has claimed that secessions from The Episcopal Church to the breakaway groups have been minimal, and the ASA for the Episcopal Church remains ten times as large: 768,476 in 2007 with an active baptized membership of 2,116,749.
The African-overseen churches comprise the bulk of the ACNA’s membership. The Anglican Mission in the Americas under the oversight of Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda reports an ASA of 21,6000 in 180 congregations. The Convocation of Anglicans in North America under the oversight of Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria reports that its 69 congregations have an ASA of 9,828.
Uganda’s 51 American parishes report an ASA of 7,000, while Kenya and the Southern Cone’s American 55 American parishes have an ASA of 10,000.
The four dioceses that quit The Episcopal Church and are under the temporary oversight of Presiding Bishop Gregory Venables of the Southern Cone: Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Quincy and San Joaquin have 163 congregations with an ASA of 16,483—a figure that does not include those congregations that have opted to remain with the national Episcopal Church.
The Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) reports that its 24 congregations have an ASA of 3,400, while the Reformed Episcopal Church—an evangelical group that seceded from the Episcopal Church in the Nineteenth century-reports that its 150 parishes have an ASA of 13,000.
“Based on a firm Sunday attendance average of 81,311 people, it is reasonable to very
conservatively project that more than 100,000 Anglicans in North America are active members of a congregation of the proposed province,” the ACNA concluded.
Of the Communions 38 provinces, 12 have a smaller number of members: Bangladesh, Brazil, Hong Kong, Indian Ocean, Japan, Jerusalem & Middle East, Korea, Mexico, Myanmar, Scotland, Southern Cone, and Wales.
Primates Welcome New Patriarch: CEN 2.20.09 p 8. February 22, 2009
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The Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Cyril I
The Primates of the Anglican Communion have written to Cyril I (Kyrill) congratulating him upon his election as Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.
In a letter dated Feb 2 sent from the 2009 Primates Meeting in Alexandria, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams conveyed the primates “warm and fraternal greetings to you, our brother in Christ, on your election to the Patriarchate of Moscow and All Russia. This is an ancient and noble office, and one to which all the Christian world looks for an exemplary Christian witness.”
The churches of the Anglican Communion, Dr. Williams said, had “always valued and respected their links to the Orthodox Churches, and not least their warm relations with the Patriarchate of Moscow, and we trust that these fraternal bonds may be upheld and sustained in the years ahead as you embark on your ministry.”
Pope Benedict XVI earlier welcomed Cyril’s election writing, “May the Almighty also bless your efforts to seek that fullness of communion which is the goal of Catholic-Orthodox collaboration and dialogue.”
Metropolitan Cyril of Smolensk and Kaliningrad was elected Patriarch in a secret ballot Jan. 27 at Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow. The son and grandson of priests, Cyril led the church’s department for external relations since 1989. He received 508 of the 700 votes cast by delegates to the church’s Senior Council, defeating conservative rival, Metropolitan Clement of Kaluga and Borovsk, who received 169 votes. The third candidate nominated by bishops, Metropolitan Filaret of Minsk and Slutsk, withdrew before the vote and urged his supporters to back Metropolitan Cyril.
Considered the most progressive of the three candidates, Cyril had championed closer relations with the Roman Catholic and Western Churches. However, in an interview with reporters on Dec 29, Cyril said he was strongly opposed to any church reforms.
“The Church is conservative by nature, as it maintains the apostolic belief,” he told the Inter-Fax news agency. “If we want to pass the belief from one generation to another for centuries, the belief must be intact. Any reform damaging the belief, traditions and values is called heresy,” he said.
During the 2008 Lambeth Conference the Russian Orthodox Church warned Dr. Williams that the consecration of women bishops and further liberalizations on gay clergy would end irreparably damage Anglican-Orthodox relations. Following the consecration of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003 the Russian Orthodox Church ended all ecumenical contacts with the Episcopal Church.
Cyril has also been a staunch supporter of President Vladimir Putin, and like the Russian leader is alleged to have served in the KGB. An examination of the KGB’s archives by a committee of the Russian Duma, or parliament, led by dissident priest Fr. Gleb Yakunin in 1992 found that many of Russia’s bishops were agents of the KGB. The former Patriarch, Alexy II was identified as an agent codenamed “drosdov” (blackbird) while Cyril was alleged to be an agent code named Mikhailov. All three candidates for election as Patriarch on Jan 27, Cyril, Clement and Filaret were alleged to have been one time agents of the KGB.
Catholic Diplomat Honored: CEN 2.20.09 p 19 February 22, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Roman Catholic Church.comments closed
Mgr Donald Bolen at the 2009 Lambeth Conference
The Archbishop of Canterbury has awarded the Cross of St Augustine to the Roman Catholic Church’s desk officer for Anglican affairs. In a private ceremony last month at Lambeth Palace, Dr. Rowan Williams recognized Msgr. Donald Bolen’s seven years as the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity’s officer for relations with the Anglican Communion and the World Methodist Council.
Dr. Williams commended Msgr. Bolen for his “theological acumen and spiritual discernment” and work towards fostering closer relations between Anglicans and the Vatican as co-secreetary of ARCIC, the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, and IARCCUM, the International Anglican Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission.
A priest of the Archdiocese of Saskatchewan, Msgr. Bolen returned to Canada in January and currently holds the Nash Chair in Religion at Campion College in Regina, Saskatchewan. Instituted by Archbishop Michael Ramsey in 1965, the Cross of St. Augustine was awarded to non-Anglicans for their work in fostering Christian unity. In recent years Dr. Williams has also awarded the Cross, a circular medallion bearing a replica of the eighth-century Cross of Canterbury with an engraving of the throne of St Augustine in Canterbury Cathedral on the reverse, to Anglicans for service to the wider church.
‘Stop scapegoating social workers: CEN 2.20.09 p 8 February 21, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Scottish Episcopal Church, Youth/Children.comments closed
THE FORMER Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Rt Rev Richard Holloway, has come to the defence of social workers, saying the profession has become modern Britain’s scapegoat for society’s ills.
In a robust defence of the social work profession in the wake of the Baby P case — the London toddler who was visited by workers and other professionals 50 times before he lost his life at the hands of his mother, her partner and a lodger in 2007 — Dr Holloway argued that society vents its “frustrations” for failed families on social workers.
There was a “noisy culture of blame at work in Britain today” he argued that was “stoked and orchestrated by the tabloid press.” Social workers needed “broad shoulders and secure personalities today, if they are to bear the unfair criticism they often attract,” Dr Holloway argued. However, recent surveys found that almost three quarters of those who used social work services were satisfied with the help they received.
It was, however, within the government’s grasp to turn things round. “The banking crisis and a couple of colossally expensive wars have shown that when we want to, or think we need to, we are capable of putting money and ideas to work to deliver the outcome we want,” Dr Holloway said.
“Why can’t we get society to apply that same urgency to the social problems that confront us and attack them with deep, imaginative, well resourced, evidence-based responses that will achieve slow generational change, the only kind of change that will endure,” he noted.
Speaking in Edinburgh on the 40th anniversary of the Social Work Scotland Act of 1968 Dr Holloway traced the breakdown of society to the collapse of traditional social and employment structures, and a failure of parenting and schooling of children.
The changing industrial face of Britain over the last 40 years contributed to the decline of social standards, he argued. “The institutions that once gave [the poor] a motive for responsible living, such as holding down a tough, demanding job with its own culture and honour, and presiding, however clumsily, within a marriage and family that was the primary context for the nurture and socializing of children, have largely disappeared, and with them the main ways the human community traditionally disciplined and integrated children into the social contract.”
This “shattering of the structures” had led to the “breeding ground for despair” that gave rise to destructive social behaviour. Many children in these post-industrial, postmodern homes had never learned the “necessary disciplines and constraints of living alongside others in civil society.”
As they grow, “inevitably, they offend against society’s norms and come to the attention of its authorities, presenting either as offenders or as being themselves at risk because of parental neglect, cruelty or both. These moral orphans are thrown to the state to deal with, and it is social workers, and to some extent teachers, who are called upon to do remedial catchup with inadequate resources, in the context of a society increasingly uncaring in its attitudes to troubled, often feral children,” he said.
“That is tough enough; but social workers are sometimes called upon to fulfill another role in society, that of ritual scapegoat,” Dr Holloway argued.
Scenes from Alexandria: The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Secretary for Anglican Affairs February 21, 2009
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The Rev Canon Joanna Udal, the Archbishop of Canterbury's Secretary for Anglican Communion Affairs. Photo taken Feb 5, 2009 in Alexandria, Egypt
Scenes from Alexandria: Indian Ocean and Tanzania February 21, 2009
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The Primates of the Indian Ocean and Tanzania, Archbishops Ian Ernest and Valentino Mokiwa
Scenes from Alexandria: A troop of primates February 21, 2009
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A break in the action of the 2009 Primates meeting in Alexandria.
Scenes from Alexandria: Hong Kong and South America February 21, 2009
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The Primates of Hong Kong and South America, Paul Kwong and Gregory Venables on Feb 1 at the Helnan Palestine Hotel in Alexandria.
Scenes from Alexandria: Mexico February 21, 2009
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The Primate of Mexico, Archbishop Carlos Touche-Porter on Feb 1 at the Helnan Palestine Hotel in Alexandria.
Scenes from Alexandria: Kenya February 21, 2009
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The Primate of Kenya, the Most Rev. Benjamin Nzimbi during a break of the 2009 Primates Meeting at the Helnan Palestine Hotel in Alexandria on Feb 1.
Scenes from Alexandria: The Press February 21, 2009
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Matthew Davies of ENS interviewing some of the primates during a break in the meeting at the Helnan Palestine Hotel in Alexandria.
Scenes from Alexandria: The Closing Press Conference February 20, 2009
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The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Primates Media spokesman, Archbishop Philip Aspinall at the closing press conference of the 2009 Primates Meeting on Feb 5. First published in the Church of England Newspaper.
Scenes from Alexandria: US and York February 20, 2009
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Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and the Archbishop of York conferring at the Primates Meeting in Alexandria. First published in The Living Church magazine.
Scenes from Alexandria: West Africa February 20, 2009
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The Primate of West Africa, Archbishop Justice Akrofi of Accra at St Mark's Cathedral on Feb 1, 2009
Scenes from Alexandria: The West Indies February 20, 2009
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The Rt. Rev. Errol Brooks, Bishop of Northeast Caribbean and Aruba at St Mark's Cathedral, Alexandria on Feb 1, 2009.
Scenes from Alexandria: Burundi and Rwanda February 20, 2009
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The Primates of Burundi and Rwanda, Archbishops Bernard Ntahoturi and Emmanuel Kolini at St Mark's Cathedral in Alexandria on Feb 1, 2009.
Scenes from Alexandria: Southeast Asia February 20, 2009
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The Primate of Southeast Asia, Archbishop John Chew of Singapore at St Mark's Cathedral, Alexandria on Feb 1, 2009
Scenes from Alexandria: Egypt February 20, 2009
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The former Bishop of Egypt, the Rt. Rev Ghais Malik at St Mark's Cathedral, Alexandria on Feb 1, 2009.
Scenes from Alexandria: Ireland February 20, 2009
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The Primate of All Ireland, Archbishop Alan Harper of Armagh outside of St Mark's Cathedral, Alexandria on Feb 1, 2009.
Scenes from Alexandria: Wales & Australia February 20, 2009
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The Primate of Wales, Archbishop Barry Morgan, and the Primate of Australia, Archbishop Philip Aspinall entering St Mark's Cathedral in Alexandria, Egypt on Feb 1, 2009
Scenes from Alexandria: The Primates plus one. February 18, 2009
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The Primates gathered for a group photo, with the Guardian's Riazat Butt.
Scenes from Alexandria: The Archbishop of Canterbury February 18, 2009
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The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams at St Mark's Cathedral, Alexandria on Feb 1, 2009
Scenes from Alexandria: Wales February 18, 2009
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The Primate of the Church in Wales, the Most Rev. Barry Morgan, Mrs. Morgan, and the Bishop-elect of St. Asaph, Canon Gregory Cameron outside St. Mark's Cathedral, Alexandria on Feb 1, 2009
Scenes from Alexandria: Canada February 18, 2009
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The Primate of Canada, Archbishop Fred Hiltz outside St Mark's Cathedral, Alexandria on Feb 1, 2009.
Scenes from Alexandria: Scotland February 18, 2009
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The Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, Bishop Idris Jones of Glasgow and Galloway
Scenes from Alexandria: Southern Africa February 18, 2009
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The Primate of Southern Africa, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town outside St Mark's Cathedral, Alexandria on Feb 1, 2009
Scenes from Alexandria: Southern Cone February 18, 2009
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The Primate of the Southern Cone, Presiding Bishop Gregory Venables of Argentina
Scenes from Alexandria: Nigeria February 18, 2009
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The Primate of Nigeria, Archbishop Peter Akinola outside St Mark's Cathedral in Alexandria, Feb 1, 2009
Mixed reactions greet Alexandria communique: CEN 2.13.09 p 7. February 14, 2009
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Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper.
Liberals and conservatives have voiced mix reactions to the Alexandria letter to the church from the 2009 primates meeting. Pressure groups on the left and right have reacted with dismay to the centrist approach taken by the document, while primates on both sides of the political spectrum have endorsed the document.
On Feb 5 US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori told a reporter from the Episcopal News Service that she was encouraged by the tone of the communiqué. However, the call for continued “gracious restraint” made by the primates would have to be addressed by the General Convention in July.
“We are going to have to have honest conversations about who we are as a church and the value we place on our relationships and mission opportunities with other parts of the communion and how we can be faithful with many spheres of relationship at the same time,” she said.
“That is tension-producing and will be anxiety-producing for many, but we are a people that live in hope, not in instant solutions but in faithfulness to God,” the Presiding Bishop added.
Conservative primates gave the agreement high marks. “Archbishop Peter Akinola is pleased, I’m pleased, my brother Henry [Orombi] is pleased” with the outcome of the meeting, Bishop Venables told The Church of England Newspaper on Feb 5.
Alexandria had been a cathartic moment for the primates, Bishop Venables explained. “There is the recognition that this whole thing is falling to bits.” Past statements had left him feeling “is this just pushing the ball forward down the pitch?” In Alexandria the primates agreed “this is a broken communion. Let’s start with that and see where we go,” he said.
For traditionalists two different faiths were in contention. “A liberal expression of Christianity is not Christianity” as we know it, Bishop Venables said. Addressing this gap need take place before structural or legislative solutions were imposed on the church.
There was a visible and an invisible church, they said. “Being an Anglican without knowing Jesus” conferred membership “in a club” and not in the true church, Archbishop Orombi said. Acknowledging this division, they said, was a necessary step towards resolving the disputes.
Pressure groups gave mixed responses to the Alexandria Communiqué. In an unusual convergence of views, the Church Society and Integrity—a conservative evangelical group and a gay lobbying group—criticized the communiqué and the primates for usurping its authority.
On Feb 6, the Rev. David Philips for the Church Society argued the primates were not the proper body to deal with the disputes of doctrine and disciple within the Communion. He argued that “though there is honour and respect shown to the four instruments of Communion no international body exercises judicial authority over any of the constituent parts.”
The Rev. Susan Russell of Integrity also stated the primates had not the authority to dictate terms of the Episcopal Church. The moratorium against gay bishops and blessing endorsed by the primates is a “matter for General Convention” of the Episcopal Church, she argued.
However the two strongly parted company on the implications of the communiqué. Mr. Philips observed that while the “Lambeth Conference is dysfunctional and the Primates Meeting appears to be impotent,” a number of provinces were taking action against the Episcopal Church.
“Several provinces broke fellowship with the US and Canadian provinces” and were supporting the breakaway Anglican congregations of North America. “This is how the Communion is supposed to work.”
Ms. Russell argued the gay moratorium serves to scapegoat “a percentage of the baptized by excluding them from a percentage of the sacraments of the Body of Christ is participating in the appeasement of bigotry.” She said her group would campaign to overturn the Episcopal Church’s current agreement to ban gay bishops and blessings.
Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan, whose deposition by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori drew harsh comment from the primates in Alexandria, gave a cautious welcome to the document. Writing on Feb 6 he said he was “grateful for the public recognition” by Archbishop Rowan Williams and the primates that the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) desired to remain Anglican and “be Anglican and to be in relationship with the Anglican Communion.”
CANA Bishop Martyn Minns applauded the communiqué’s “consistent stand for biblical truth and the importance of reconciliation between all peoples and their Creator,” the “unanimous reaffirmation of the entirety of Lambeth 1:10 as the Church’s teaching on human sexuality,” and the call for a “period of gracious restraint.”
However, Bishop Minns noted that he was not optimistic the Episcopal Church would honor the primates’ requests as it “continues to initiate punitive litigation on a massive scale. To date, there are at least 56 lawsuits initiated by The Episcopal Church, or its dioceses, against individual churches, clergy and vestries across the country.”
‘No schism in the communion’ Dr Williams tells the primates: CEN 2.13.09 p 7. February 14, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Primates Meeting 2009.comments closed
There is no schism in the Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury declared at the close of the 2009 primates meeting in Alexandria, Egypt.
However, the 35 Anglican leaders gathered Feb 1-5 at the Helnan Palestine Hotel formally acknowledged the “deep divisions” and impasse over seemingly “irreconcilable” differences on doctrine and discipline surrounding homosexuality.
Over four days of closed door meetings, the primates received presentations on the Sudan, Zimbabwe, global warming, the international financial crisis and the coordination of the church’s independent relief and development agencies. However, the focus of the conference, Dr. Rowan Williams explained on Feb 5 had been “ecclesiology. What kind of church are we?”
The closing communiqué stated the communion was beset by “mistrust” and theological tension. The way forward, in the short term, was for Dr. Williams to “initiate a professionally mediated conversation which engages all parties at the earliest opportunity” and to appoint “pastoral visitors” to act as “consultants in situations of stress and conflict.”
The way out of the impasse would be found in an Anglican Covenant, which would set the parameters of common Anglican polity, the primates said. “Unless the Covenant is robust and accepted, the federal model is on the horizon” for the Anglican Communion, Dr. Williams told a press conference at the close of the meeting.
The communiqué reaffirmed the church’s teachings on human sexuality, as stated in the 1998 Lambeth Resolution 1.10, called for a continued and broadened “Listening Process” that Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda said meant including the voices of conservatives, and affirmed the moratoria on gay bishops and blessings, and violations of ecclesial jurisdictions.
Dr. Williams conceded that the “moratoria are holding rather badly on both sides” but added that they were not “completely ignored.” Cross-border violations and gay blessings continued, but he said that the third moratorium had held as there were no new gay bishops. “We are trying to see the glass as half full and not half empty,” he explained.
He outlined three points he thought salient to the week’s discussions brought by a report given by the Windsor Continuation Group (WCG). The WCG had urged a shift in the ecclesiological relations within the Communion. Dr. Williams said these called for a “shift of focus” from a church perceiving itself to be “autonomous with accountability added on” to one where a church saw itself as “autonomous and accountable.”
The WCG also urged a rethink of the relationship between the four instruments of Communion: the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the Primates’ Meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council.
The breakaway groups in the US and Canada remained part of the Anglican Communion, Dr Williams reported, but their “institutional relationship” remained “unclear.” The primates also condemned the deposition of the breakaway bishops and clergy in North America. The communiqué “deplores” these “actions that deepen division or give rise to suspicion or hostility,” Dr. Williams said, citing the text of the communiqué.
The primates also backed the WCG’s recommendation for mediation between the ACNA and the US and Canadian Churches. Dr. Williams said that a mediation process had begun in Brazil between the Diocese of Recife and the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil, and he hoped this would lead to an eventual reconciliation.
Outside the meeting, conservatives voiced skepticism that mediation would work. Fort Worth Bishop Jack Iker noted the Panel of Reference created after the 2005 primates meeting was given a similar mandate and its recommendations had been ignored by the Episcopal Church. The Bishop of Recife, the Rt. Rev. Robinson Cavalcanti stated he was unaware of any mediation project underway between his diocese the Brazilian church.
However, Dr. Williams said the effort to reconcile the divided church was worth making.
Archbishop launches appeal after bush fires: CEN 2.13.09 p 8. February 13, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Australia, Church of England Newspaper, Disaster Relief.comments closed
The Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr. Philip Freier has launched an appeal to aid in the wake of brush fires that have left almost 200 dead and destroyed over 750 houses.
On Feb 9 Victoria Premier John Brumby reported during a tour of the hard hit Mudgegonga region in Eastern Victoria that 173 people were confirmed dead following the weekend brush fires, with an additional 50 people missing and presumed dead. The fires have left hundreds of people homeless and burned over 3000 square kilometers, destroying whole towns.
The Diocese of Melbourne reported that the church in Kinglake was destroyed on Feb 7, while other local parishes were offering shelter and support to those displaced by the fires.
Bishop Stephen Hale of the Eastern Region has reported what information is available on how the weekend’s bush fires have impacted upon the Anglican parishes in the affected communities.
Following a tour of the Kinglake area, Archbishop Freier told Anglican Media Melbourne he was profoundly saddened by the scale of the devastation and loss of life, and also greatly moved by the love and care people on display.
Those outside the devastated areas could help by contributing to the appeal, he said. It would enable the church to “these devastated and grieving communities to rebuild and start again,” he said.
A quick and coordinated response to the tragedy was essential, he noted. “We learned important lessons after the 1983 bush fires about working with the community to rebuild a sense of hope and purpose,” Dr. Freier said. “Our recovery co-ordinating committee is ready to respond now and in the months ahead.”
“These fires have been a cruel blow to the communities already affected by drought,” Dr. Freier said on Feb 8, “and it will call upon all of our faith and resilience to see each other through these times.”
Governor General Quentin Bryce said the Victorian fires were a grave national emergency, and she has urged all Australians to do what they can to help the victims.
In a televised address she asked all Australians to come to the aid of their countrymen. “I know our capacity for giving and doing, for I see it wherever I travel throughout our nation and beyond, I urge all Australians to find the best and bravest of it, and put it to work,” she said.
Bennison appeal lost: CEN 2.13.09 p 8. February 13, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Pennsylvania.comments closed
The former Bishop of Pennsylvania’s request for a modification of his sentence of deposition from holy orders was denied last week by a church tribunal in Philadelphia. On Feb 4, the Court for the Trial of a Bishop declined to modify its sentence removing the Rt. Rev. Charles Bennison from the ministry for having covered up the sexual abuse of a young girl committed by his brother, John Bennison, when Bishop Bennison was a parish priest in California in the 1970′s.
The court rejected the request to impose a lighter sentence of suspension or admonition, but noted that its ruling did not “alter the church’s deep and abiding compassion” for Bishop Bennison, saying they hoped the finality of its verdict would allow him to find “reconciliation and peace.”
Lawyers for the former bishop said they were “very disappointed” by the decision, saying it was “unwarranted” given the facts before the court. “The court’s unwillingness to recognize the victims’ desire over 30 years to not see the bishop punished and its disregard for both the evidence presented at trial and the additional evidence uncovered after trial amount to a grave injustice against a man who has served the Episcopal Church faithfully for four decades,” his lawyer said.
Bishop Bennison’s attorney announced that his client would take his case to the appellate Court of Review. Under canon law, the former bishop has 30 days to file his appeal, with a hearing to following within 60 days.
Priest’s killer gets 12 years: CEN 2.13.09 p 8 February 13, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of the West Indies, Crime.comments closed
A Kingston man convicted last month by a Jamaican court of the murder of an Anglican priest has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.
On Feb 3 Supreme Court Judge Norma McIntosh rejected 24-year old Prince Vale’s request for clemency and told the 24-year old Kingston man his plea of self-defence offered no mitigation for the murder.
A Jamaican jury on Jan 14 returned a verdict of manslaughter against Vale for the Nov 12, 2006 killing of the Rev. Richard Johnson, rector of St Andrew’s Church, Stone Hill. It rejected Vale’s claim that he had been propositioned by the vicar, and slashed him with his knife when the priest became violent after Vale refused his sexual advances. However, the jury declined to convict Vale of capital murder, which in Jamaica may lead to a hanging.
In her summing up, Judge McIntosh noted the defendant had admitted he had exchanged sexual favours for cash with the priest before the night of the murder, and that this “greed” had inexorably led to his downfall.
US Church–No Covenant before 2015: CEN 2.06.09 p 6. February 11, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Covenant, Church of England Newspaper, The Episcopal Church.comments closed
The Executive Council of the US Episcopal Church has recommended a six year delay before voting on the Anglican Covenant.
At the close of its three day winter meeting on Jan 31 in Stockton, California, the Executive Council endorsed a report from a task force that recommended the delay on adopting the Covenant, and voiced strong criticism of the most recent draft of the document.
The Anglican Covenant will be presented the Communion at the May meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in Kingston, Jamaica. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori last year urged the church not to take up the Covenant at the July meeting of General Convention saying more time was needed. However conservative critics said the delay was politically motivated, noting that when the issue of affirming the election of a partnered gay priest was brought before Convention in 2003, a similar timeframe was not found to be objectionable by the church’s liberal hierarchy.
Waiting until the 2015 General Convention “would provide a fruitful opportunity for [the Episcopal Church] to hear the voices of other members of the Anglican Communion as they discuss future drafts.”
The report also said dioceses would not be permitted to endorse the Covenant by themselves, as it could only “be embraced on the provincial level, that is, The Episcopal Church, and not on a diocesan level.”
Sanctions for bad behavior contained in the Covenant’s appendices were held objectionable, and violated The Episcopal Church’s autonomy. “Care needs to be taken that our conversations around an Anglican Covenant do not draw us necessarily toward a hierarchical model of a church union or even the perception of Anglicanism as a singular global church,” the reports said.
“Matters of moral authority and interdependence amongst the churches result from mutuality, not from regulation,” said the report, which was adopted unchanged by the council, save for the movement of a coma Bishop Jefferts Schori said.
Toronto’pastoral’ same-sex blessings: CEN 2.06.09 p 6. February 11, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Canada, Church of England Newspaper, Human Sexuality --- The gay issue, Hymnody/Liturgy.comments closed
The Diocese of Toronto has agreed to allow pastoral services of prayer and blessing for same-sex couples, but will not authorize sacramental rites for the blessing of same-sex unions or gay marriages.
At a Jan 29 diocesan council meeting, Bishop Colin Johnson announced that a year-long consultation process conformed to the Canadian House of Bishops’ 2007 statement committing the church to “develop the most generous pastoral response possible within the current teaching of the church.” The policy stops short, however of authorizing formal rites for the blessing of same-sex unions.
The proposal put forth by Bishop Johnson and his four episcopal assistants stated that the bishops would give permission to a “to a limited number of parishes, based on episcopal discernment, to offer prayers and blessing (but not the nuptial blessing) to same-sex couples in stable, long-term, committed relationships.”
Congregations seeking to implement the pastoral blessings would need to receive the prior authorization of the bishop, and a “particular rite will not be authorized.”
According to a report printed in the Toronto diocesan newspaper, the decision to authorize services for same-sex couples was a pastoral response to the needs of a particular constituency, and would not be brought before the diocesan synod for legislative action.
He said the diocese was “committed to remaining in alignment with the decisions and recommendations of General Synod and Lambeth,” and that “at the same time, we are trying to act in accordance with the House of Bishops’ statement to develop the most generous pastoral response to our local situation. Given that, we think that a pastoral response and not a legislative one is the correct way to move forward.”
“There is no result that will fully satisfy those on all sides,” Bishop Johnson was quoted as saying by his diocesan newspaper. “But at the moment this is what we, as bishops, feel is the right thing to do.”
In an open letter to the Toronto bishops, the Dean of Wycliffe College in Toronto, the Rev. Ephraim Radner said the distinction drawn by the diocese between pastoral and sacramental blessings was too fine.
“It is hard to escape the fact that the process you have now set in motion-one that involves public proposals, discussions, synodical actions, and all dealing with a way of ordering a particular ‘pastoral response’ that involves episcopal oversight and particular permissions, following directives that involve the nature of prayers – cannot avoid being seen as one of ecclesial ‘authorization’ of liturgical matters surrounding same-sex unions,” he said.
Dr. Radner, one of the leaders of the Anglican Communion Institute, and a member of Anglican Covenant Design Group, said the new policy ran contrary to the wider mind of the Communion. While the bishops may have believed they were only giving a structure to a an arrangement for “private prayers”, the “very process you are following” calls for “formal, episcopal, diocesan, public, liturgical prayers of blessing.”
It would be “very difficult indeed to make the case and persuade others” that what Toronto had now done violated the Lambeth Conference moratorium and had in opposition to the “concerns of many Anglicans around the world.”
Melanesia to be renamed: CEN 2.06.09 p 6. February 11, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Melanesia, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
Delegates to the 12th General Synod of the Church of the Province of Melanesia have voted to rename their province the Anglican Church of Melanesia. Meeting at St. Nicholas High School in Honiara on the island of Guadalcanal on Nov 8, delegates from the church’s 8 dioceses adopted the constitutional amendment with the aim of affirming the province’s membership in the wider Anglican Communion.
Other decisions taken at the meeting include changes to the composition and structures of various church boards, regulations governing the emoluments of non-stipendiary clergy, and the formation of a Commission on Justice, Reconciliation and Peace.
Plagued by a decade of social and political unrest, the Solomon Islands needed to hear from a single voice speaking on behalf of the country’s largest Christian denomination on social justice issues, the synod concluded.
Decisions taken by the Melanesian synod take effect after each diocesan synod gives its endorsement to the bill.
Primates tell Mugabe to go: CEN 2.06.09 p 1. February 11, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Primates Meeting 2009, Zimbabwe.comments closed
The primates of the Anglican Communion have issued a plea for the international community to intervene in Zimbabwe, but have stopped short of backing Archbishop of York John Sentamu’s call for armed intervention.
On Feb 2 the leaders of the Anglican Communion held a closed door session on the situation in Zimbabwe and heard presentations from the Primate of Southern Africa, Archbishop Thabo Makogba and the Dean of Central Africa, Bishop Albert Chama. In a statement released the next day, the archbishops offered their prayers and love in a time of cholera and societal collapse to the embattled people of the Central African country, telling them that they had not been forgotten.
Yet the world must act, the archbishops said, and take steps to end the crisis “due directly to the deteriorating socio-political and economic situation in Zimbabwe.”
The regime should a “total disregard for life” and was responsible for the “systematic kidnap, torture and killing of the Zimbabwean people” they said. The primates had no faith that any power sharing agreement with President Mugabe would work and called upon him “to respect the outcome of the elections of 2008 and to step down. We call for the implementation of the rule of law and the restoration of democratic processes.”
The primates asked the Archbishop of Canterbury and Archbishop Ian Earnest of the Indian Ocean as chairman of the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa (CAPA) to appoint a representative to Zimbabwe on behalf of the Communion, “to exercise a ministry of presence and to show solidarity with the Zimbabwean people.” In 1985 the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Robert Runcie appointed the Rt. Rev. Keith Sutton, Bishop of Lichfield as his envoy to South Africa to support the anti-apartheid campaign.
They asked CAPA and the All African Council of Churches to meet with Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi, the head of the African Union, and urge Africa’s political leaders to take action to end the regime.
In a press conference held following the release of the statement, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town said that on March 31, 2008 the people of Zimbabwe spoke “loud and clear,” saying that Robert Mugabe “needs to step down.”
However, Archbishop Makgoba declined to endorse Archbishop John Sentamu’s Dec 7 call for armed intervention to end the regime. “In a situation of war, of high or low intensity” it was the poor not the powerful who suffered, he said.
The international community should “explore all available avenues before you through in the towel” and use force to effect regime change in Zimbabwe, Archbishop Makgoba said.
Archbishop Makgoba called for quick action as the potential for violence was high. “We are worried about the signs we see,” he said, adding that the regime had had a history of violence. “We know in Matabeleland how many people were killed,” he said, in reference to the 1983 massacres of tens of thousands of political and tribal opponents of Robert Mugabe by units of the Zimbabwean army.
Lambeth Conference facing £500,000 debt: CEN 2.06.09 p 6. February 10, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Lambeth 2008.comments closed
Fundraising failures pushed the 2008 Lambeth Conference into a half million pound deficit, report financial statements for the July 16 to Aug 3 conference seen by The Church of England Newspaper.
At year’s end, total income for the gathering of 617 Anglican bishops was approximately £4.4 million, while expenses were approximately £4.9 million, giving a shortfall of £501,783. A surplus from the 1998 conference, however, has reduced the loss to £313,000.
Initial estimates by conference staffers pegged the loss at almost £2 million. On Aug 7, the officers of the Lambeth Conference Company, a charitable corporation chartered in 2007 to manage the conference, asked the Archbishops’ Council to extend an emergency loan to keep the company solvent.
The conference company’s trustees, ACC General Secretary Canon Kenneth Kearon, General Synod Secretary General William Fittall, and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s chief of staff, Christopher Smith met on Aug 11 with the Board of Governors of the Church Commissioners, and an interest free £600,000 loan was extended to the company.
In a statement released on Aug 8, Canon Kearon said “the projection of a deficit in the immediate period following the Conference was always recognized,” and that “the shortfall in funding is unclear as bills come in to be settled, but it is likely to be approaching £1 million.”
The conference budgeted income at £5.4 million and expenses at £5.58 million. Adding in the surplus from 1998, organizers hoped to end the conference with a surplus of £25,000.
The Anglican Communion comprises 729 dioceses, missionary districts, and ecclesial entities divided into 38 provinces and six extra-provincial jurisdictions. Approximately 260 dioceses and jurisdictions within the Communion were not represented by their diocesan bishops at Lambeth. While a number of sees are vacant and some bishops were prevented from coming, 214 bishops from 10 provinces boycotted the conference.
From Africa’s 324 dioceses, 200 diocesan bishops (61 percent) were identified as having refused Dr. Rowan Williams’ invitation. No Nigerian or Ugandan bishops attended Lambeth. Initial reports that one of Rwanda’s nine bishops attended the meeting proved false. While the Rt. Rev. Vénuste Mutiganda, the Bishop of Butare was present at Lambeth—he had resigned his see before leaving for Canterbury.
The boycotting bishops and their spouses led to a reduction in projected conference fee income by £494,000. However accommodation costs for bishops and spouses came in £523,000 under budget.
The principal cause of the conference shortfall came in the Lambeth Conference Fund Appeal. Organizers forecast raising £1.44 but collected only £1 million.
In October, the Archbishops’ Council and the Church Commissioners launched an investigation into the shortfall. A report from the panel, whose members include John Ormerod, a former senior partner with Deloitte, representatives from the Archbishops’ Council, the Rt Rev Tim Stevens of Leicester and Christina Baxter along with Third Church Estates Commissioner Timothy Walker, is expected by mid-year.
Here is a letter to the editor of The Church of England Newspaper that offers a clarification to this story:
Feb 13, 2009
Sir, Your story under the heading ‘Lambeth Conference facing £500,000 deficit’ (February 6, page 5) may have inadvertently misled readers. It was announced last August that the Archbishops’ Council and the Church Commissioners had each agreed to provide an interest free loan to the Lambeth Conference Company to enable it to meet its financial commitments while fundraising efforts continued. Although the two bodies agreed to loan up to £600,000 each if needed, further fundraising and lower than expected expenditure meant that the company in the event drew down only £188,000 of the loan from each body. It has subsequently repaid £50,000 each to the Council and the Commissioners.
The loans currently outstanding to cover the deficit, therefore, stand in total at £288,000 not £500,000.
Peter Crumpler
Director of Communications
Archbishops’ Council, Church of England
Church pressure on Tamil Tigers: CEN 2.06.09 p 6. February 10, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Arms Control/Defense/Peace Issues, Church of Ceylon, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
Church leaders in Sri Lanka have called upon the Tamil Tigers stop using civilians as human shields against attacks by government forces. Last week the Sri Lankan military broke a decade long stalemate in that country’s civil war, and captured a number of strongholds held by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam-the Tamil Tigers (LTTE).
Speaking on the 61st anniversary of Sri Lank’s independence last week, President Mahinda Rajapaksa send the end of the war was in sight
He promised full civil rights to the Tamil minority of Northern Ceylon once law and order was restored. “I pledge to you today, that these people who share our motherland, will be liberated and given the equality and all rights that they are entitled to, under the Constitution,” the Sri Lankan President said.
The 25 year old civil war waged between the majority Sinhalese government and Tamil separatists in the north and east of Sri Lanka has left over 63,000 dead and tens of thousands displaced by the fighting. Both the Tamil Tigers and the government have come under criticism for their conduct towards civilians in the disputed regions.
“The LTTE claims to be fighting for the Tamil people, but it is responsible for much of the suffering of civilians” in the disputed territories, said Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch on Dec 15. “As the LTTE loses ground to advancing government forces, their treatment of the very people they say they are fighting for is getting worse.”
Human Rights Watch accused the Tamil Tigers of forced recruitment of soldiers by requiring each family to supply two or more soldiers to its ranks. The Tamil Tigers have also instituted a pass system at road junctions and other strategic points—forbidding civilians to flee to government-held territory to escape the fighting.
With government forces closing in, the Tamil Tigers have blocked people from fleeing from the fighting. In a joint statement issued with the island’s Roman Catholic bishops, the Anglican Bishop of Colombo, the Rt. Rev. Duleep de Chickera, and the Anglican Bishop of Kurunegala, the Rt. Rev. Kumara Ilangasingha called for the rebels to leave civilians alone.
“There should be no restriction of the civilians’ right to life and movement,” they said.
Forth Worth ‘not going to Rome’: CEN 2.6.09 p 5. February 10, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Fort Worth, Roman Catholic Church.comments closed
The creation of a “personal prelature” for members of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) by the Vatican will have no “corporate” impact on Anglo-Catholics, a spokesman for the Diocese of Fort Worth tells The Church of England Newspaper.
While individuals might wish to join the Roman Catholic Church the breakaway Diocese of Fort Worth had no plans on withdrawing from the Anglican Communion, diocesan spokesman Suzanne Gill said last week.
On Jan 28, The Record, a weekly Roman Catholic newspaper in Australia reported that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) had recommended that TAC be “accorded a personal prelature akin to Opus Dei” by Easter. A member of the CDF disputed the claim, telling an American Catholic newspaper he was unaware of any decision on the matter.
According to the report in The Record, TAC—a continuing Anglican Church—would be united as a body with the Roman Catholic Church, but be outside the existing diocesan system with its own clergy and membership.
In October, the semi-official Jesuit bi-weekly La Civiltà Cattolica predicted that the “corporate unity” under discussion between the Vatican and traditionalist Anglicans “will not be a form of uniatism as this is unsuitable for uniting two realities which are too similar from a cultural point of view as indeed are Roman Catholics and Anglo-Catholics.”
“The Holy See, while sympathetic to the demands of these Anglo-Catholics” for corporate reunion, “is moving with discretion and prudence.” Opposition to the ordination of women to the ordained ministry and to gay bishops and blessings “is not enough,” the newspaper said. Anglo-Catholics should be motivated not by a rejection of Anglicanism but by the “desire to join fully the Catholic Church,” Fr. Paul Gamberini SJ wrote.
To accommodate the request for corporate reunion with TAC, The Record reported that in October the CDF rejected “uniate” status for TAC, recommending instead an Anglican personal prelature modeled upon Opus Dei, the semi-autonomous ecclesial society within the Catholic Church that functions as a global diocese.
The former president of Forward in Faith North American and priest of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, the Rt. Rev. David Moyer—who currently serves as a Bishop in TAC, told CEN he welcomed the news and prayed “that it is true. The TAC’s College of Bishops is of one mind as we have been seeking a communal and ecclesial way of being Anglican Catholics in communion with the Holy See, at once treasuring the full expression of catholic faith and treasuring our tradition.”
However, Bishop David Chislett, a former priest of the Anglican Church of Australian and a bishop of TAC told CEN “nothing there is new, in the sense that it reiterates old speculation” save for the idea of an “announcement” after Easter. [N.B. Bishop Chislett was misdescribed in the print version of this story. He is priest of the ACA licensed in the Diocese of The Murray and a bishop of TAC--an ecclesial dual citizen. GC]
Bishop Chislett said there “is ongoing discussion” but “on this particular matter the ecclesiastical gossip columns feeding off each other do nothing to help; nor do they really shed light on the matters.”
In Oct 2007 the TAC bishops made a formal submission to the Vatican, saying they “accept that the most complete and authentic expression and application of the Catholic faith in this moment of time is found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and its Compendium, which we have signed, together with this letter as attesting to the faith we aspire to teach and hold.”
On July 5, 2008 the prefect of the CDF Cardinal William Levada assured TAC “of the serious attention which the Congregation gives to the prospect of corporate unity raised in that letter”, and said that “as soon as the Congregation is in a position to respond more definitively concerning the proposals you have sent, we will inform you,” as the “situation within the Anglican Communion in general has become markedly more complex.”
A spokesman for the Diocese of Fort Worth said the TAC announcement would not alter its plans as there was no corporate will for the diocese to submit to Rome. However, there could well be individual members of the diocese who would wish to join the new entity, she said. However, pending an official announcement from the Vatican, the diocese would be withholding official comment.
As a diocese, Fort Worth would remain within the Anglican Communion. “Everything our bishop says and all that we do as a diocese indicate our intention to continue as a body in the apostolic succession, handed down unchanged in essentials to future generations,” she said.
Bishop Moyer noted the discussions between TAC and the Vatican were “for the benefit of all Anglican Catholics. It didn’t matter which Apostle arrived first at the empty tomb on Easter morning.”
“All Anglo-Catholics need to understand who they are, what their foundation is, and what the ecclesial trajectory has been for many generations,” he said.
Scenes from Alexandria: The Episcopal Church February 7, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Album (Photos), Primates Meeting 2009, The Episcopal Church.comments closed
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of the Episcopal Church following her presentation on Feb 2 to the Primates Meeting in Alexandria
Scenes from Alexandria: Melanesia February 7, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Album (Photos), Anglican Church of Melanesia, Primates Meeting 2009.comments closed
The Rt. Rev. Charles Koete, Bishop of the Central Solomon Islands and senior bishop of the Anglican Church of Melanesia
Scenes from Alexandria: Central Africa February 7, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Album (Photos), Church of the Province of Central Africa.comments closed
The Rt. Rev Albert Chama, Bishop of Northern Zambia and Dean of the Church of the Province of Central Africa. Photo take 2.05.09 at the Primates Meeting in Alexandria
The Archbishop of the Sudan at the inauguration of the Diocese of Terekeka February 7, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Episcopal Church of the Sudan.comments closed
Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul Yuk. Photo taken 1.24.08 by the Rev. Charles Ogeno
