Bishop of Rochester’s suprise resignation: CEN 3.30.09 March 31, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, House of Lords.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper’s Religious Intelligence Section.
The resignation of the Bishop of Rochester has come as a surprise to leaders of the conservative wing of the Anglican Communion, American, Australian and Pakistani church leaders tell The Church of England Newspaper.
On March 28, a diocesan press statement said the Rt. Rev. Michael Nazir Ali would stand down on Sept 1 as Bishop of Rochester to “work with a number of church leaders from areas where the church is under pressure, particularly in minority situations, who have asked him to assist them with education and training for their particular situation.”
Dr. Nazir Ali appended a personal note to the announcement saying he and his family thanked “God for his blessings and for friends we have made in the Diocese in the past 15 years. I am so grateful to God for the friendship and loyalty of those around us and ask for people’s prayers as we take this step of faith ‘not knowing where we are going’ (Heb 11:8).”
Details of Bishop Nazir Ali’s new work have not been finalized, the diocese noted, leading to speculation that the 59 year old bishop might be preparing for another role in the Anglican Communion in light of his high profile stance within the conservative wing of the church.
However, the General Secretary of the Church of Pakistan, Humphrey Peters tells The Church of England Newspaper the news of the resignation came as a surprise. “So far we have no idea nor have we heard anything from Bishop Michael Nazir Ali. But, in case he feels like working for Church in Pakistan in these most critical times, the Church will be more than happy to welcome him.”
A spokesman for the Gafcon movement, stated while its leaders were generally aware of Dr. Nazir Ali’s wish to move on, they had no specific knowledge about his Saturday announcement.
Speculation that Dr. Nazir Ali might take a leadership role in the third province movement in the US was downplayed by its leaders, who noted that there was no shortage of bishops in the breakaway group. Dr. Nazir Ali had sought out posts in the US in the past, and in 2004 explored becoming dean of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, however US sources expect the conservative leader to lend his considerable talents to the church in the developing world.
In an encomium to Dr. Nazir Ali appended to the diocesan announcement of his retirement, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams said, “Bishop Michael’s decision to undertake this new and very challenging ministry will leave a real gap in the ranks of English bishops. His enormous theological skill, his specialist involvement in the complex debates around bioethics, his wide international experience and his clarity of mind and expression have made him a really valuable colleague, and he has served the Church and the wider society with dedication and distinction.”
“In his new work with churches in minority situations, he will need all our prayer and support. It is a courageous initiative and a timely one. I am personally very glad that I shall still be able to draw on his expertise and friendship, and wish him every strength and blessing in his work,” Dr. Williams said.
Guyana must find a new bishop: CEN 3.27.09 p 8. March 29, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of the West Indies.comments closed
The Chancellor of the Diocese of Guyana has written to the House of Bishops of the Church of the Province of the West Indies seeking the bishops’ intervention following last month’s failed election in the South American country.
On Feb 12 delegates to a special meeting of synod held in Queenstown were unable to elect a bishop to succeed the Rt. Rev. Randolph George, who retired in December after 29 years as bishop. The failed Guyana election has also postponed the selection of a new archbishop for the province as the canons require a full House of Bishops to name a new primate.
The Rt. Rev. Santosh Marray, a Guyanese native who served as Bishop of the Seychelles from 2005 to 2008 and who last month was appointed to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Pastoral Visitor’s programme, won two thirds of the clergy vote. However, the rector of St. Philips, Georgetown, the Rev. Andy Carto won two thirds of the lay vote. A two-thirds majority is required in both houses for election.
Local radio station Demerara Waves reported the balloting was suspended after tellers found that more ballots had been cast than the number of eligible voters present.
Diocesan chancellor Desiree Bernard asked the House of Bishops to appoint a bishop, a course open to the diocese in the event of a deadlocked election. An appointment is expected soon so as to permit the full House of Bishops to elect a successor to Archbishop Drexel Gomez who retired in December.
Scottish Anglican’s call for “gracious restraint”: CEN 3.27.09 p 8. March 29, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Human Sexuality --- The gay issue, Scottish Episcopal Church.comments closed
The Scottish Episcopal Church will honor the Lambeth call for “gracious restraint” and refrain from authorizing rites for the blessing of same-sex unions, not permit the consecration of a non-celibate gay bishop, nor engage in “cross-border” violations of diocesan boundaries.
In a statement released on behalf of the Scottish College of Bishops on March 23 by the Primus, Bishop Idris Jones of Glasgow and Galloway, the bishops offered a response to the communiqué from the Alexandria primates’ meeting and to the “Anglican moratoria.”
The college welcomed “the fact that the Priamtes were able to talk honestly and openly together” in Alexandria, and that “despite the alienation and pain felt by many parts of the Communion, there was nevertheless a spirit of graciousness in evidence.”
While recognizing the truth of the “Lambeth Indaba” document that stated “there is widespread support” for an Anglican moratoria, the Scottish bishops stated that “in practice,” there will be “difficulties in the moratoria being upheld across the Communion.” The bishops also stated their discomfort with the phrase “moratoria,” noting that it implied a “temporary suspension of activity which had previously been current.”
The Scottish College of Bishops pledged to honour the ban on gay bishops, writing “that, for the time being, all who have responsibility within the process of the election of any new diocesan bishop should seek to act within the spirit of the requested moratorium.”
The Scottish Episcopal Church was not of one mind on this issue. However, the “repercussions of the consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson” were severe, and that a further consecration “could reasonably be expected to have a very significant impact on the life and position of the Province within the Anglican Communion.”
Bishop Jones, who on March 4 announced that he would be retiring from office at the end of July, stated the Scottish Church distinguished between pastoral blessings of same-sex unions and liturgical or sacramental rites for the blessing of same-sex unions. The Scottish bishops “expressed its gladness to note that the concern of the Windsor Report and of the Primates’ Communiqué issued in February 2005 had not been with such informal pastoral responses to individual situations but was rather about the official authorization of a liturgical text for the blessing [gay] unions.”
Nonetheless, the “fluidity in the debate” and the divisions within the Scottish Church on this issue were such that “at the current time, members of the College remain of the view that it would, certainly be premature, and some would say wrong, to authorize a rite for such blessings.”
The question of cross-border incursions was not a live issue for the Scottish church “as no member” of the College of Bishops had engaged in the practice and the College believed that the communion’s existing ecclesial boundaries “should be observed.”
Archbishop Makgoba criticizes Madagascar “power grab”: CEN 3.27.09 March 28, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean, Politics.comments closed
| The Archbishop of Cape Town has issued a call to prayer to the people of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, asking that they keep the people of Madagascar in their hearts.
Archbishop Thabo Makgoba’s March 19 letter follows a report by the Primate of the Indian Ocean, Archbishop Ian Ernest who reported on March 16 that “weeks of opposition protests and turmoil on the Indian Ocean island have killed more than 135 people” Archbishop Ernest reported that earlier that day the army had thrown “its weight behind opposition leader Andry Rajoelina and stormed a presidential palace in the heart of Antananarivo. The army also seized the central bank. Tanks and scores of soldiers are still guarding the buildings.” Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
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Look beyond internal divisions urge Episcopal Bishops: CEN 3.27.09 March 28, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, House of Bishops.comments closed
| The US House of Bishops has released a pastoral letter calling for the church to turn its gaze away from its internal divisions toward the mounting economic hardships threatening the world.
Meeting from March 13-18 at a retreat center in North Carolina, the bishops elected a new bishops for Central Ecuador, discussed the pastoral implications of the secession of former Southern Virginia Bishop David Bane to the Southern Cone-led ACNA, reviewed legislation likely to come before this summer’s general convention, received presentations on prospects for full communion with the Moravian Church, and heard support from some of its members for the controversial bishop-elect of Northern Michigan. However, the global financial meltdown was the sole topic raised in the bishops’ pastoral letter from the meeting. Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
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Muslim Priest and Buddhist Bishop-Elect Are Raising Questions About Syncretism: Christianity Today 3.27.09 March 27, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Christianity Today, Syncretism, The Episcopal Church.comments closed
The debate is not just academic. In two current cases, Episcopal clergy are under scrutiny for practicing and promoting other religions. On February 12 a devotee of Zen Buddhism was elected bishop of the Episcopal Church’s Northern Michigan diocese. Meanwhile, a Seattle-area priest has been given until March 30 to decide whether she is a Muslim or a Christian as her bishop will not permit her to profess both faiths.
Read it all in Christianity Today.
Melbourne Archbishop’s Khatami invite enrages Jews: CEN 3.27.09 March 27, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Australia, Church of England Newspaper, Iran, Islam, Judaism.comments closed
| A reception for the former president of Iran Mohammad Khatami hosted by the Archbishop of Melbourne has sparked protests from Jewish leaders.
In a March 13 letter declining an invitation to tea at the home of Archbishop Philip Freier to meet President Khatami, the leader of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, John Searle urged the archbishop to cancel the reception, saying it was “inconceivable that the Anglican diocese would choose to host such a man or even to meet with him.” However, Dr. Freier urged Jewish leaders to attend the reception, saying it would be an opportunity for dialogue between Jews and Muslims. Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
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Canadian Anglican and Catholic bishops battle over oil: CEN 3.27.09 March 27, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Canada, Church of England Newspaper, Environment.comments closed
| The development of the Athabasca oil sands has led to dueling pastoral letters from Northern Alberta’s Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops. Bishop Luc Bouchard of the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Paul has called for a halt to mining, saying its development “constitutes a serious moral problem.” However, Archbishop John Clarke of the Anglican Diocese of Athabasca has endorsed development, chastising those who were “vilifying one of the most exciting and challenging projects in Canadian history.”
Spread across 54,000 sq miles of sparsely populated Northern Alberta, the Athabasca oil sands contain an estimated 1.7 trillion barrels of heavy oil or bitumen, and are roughly equal to the world’s total proven reserves of conventional petroleum. Commercial extraction of oil from the tar sands began in 1967, but recent developments in oil extraction technology as well as the spike in world petroleum prices has led to considerable private and government investment in the region. Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
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G20 must take quick action says Archbishop Makgoba: CEN 3.26.09 March 27, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Church of England Newspaper, Development/Economics/Govt Finances, Environment.comments closed
| Archbishop Thabo Makgoba has called upon the leaders of the G20 group of nations to take “swift and decisive action” on global warming, saying that recent deadly floods in South Africa, Namibia, Angola and Mozambique were evidence of a changing climate.
In a March 24 statement issued a week before the meeting of world leaders in London, Archbishop Makgoba said “we have had enough of talking. The international community cannot continue to prevaricate while countries like ours are increasingly suffering inestimable human cost, in deaths, displacement, and the destruction of livelihoods.” Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
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Lambeth’s £288,000 deficit due to incompetence: CEN 3.26.09 March 26, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Lambeth 2008.comments closed
Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper.
Poor planning, inexperienced management, and weak financial controls contributed to a £288,000 deficit for the 2008 Lambeth Conference, a report released last week by the Archbishops’ Council and the Church Commissioners has concluded.
The management team, conference structure and business practices were not up to the job, the report found, stating that the “arrangements in place for the 2008 conference were less robust than they needed to be.”
The conference’s opaque management structure had left no one in charge, with the result that there had been a “disconnect between design on the one hand, and capacity and execution on the other.” The lack of clear lines of authority had led to cost overruns, with the financial team “not always aware” of the commitments made by conference management staff.
Two examples cited by the report were the “failure to recognise a commitment for expenditure of £411,000 on the Big Top” the blue tent that served as the principle venue for conference meetings, and IT support. The conference finance director “did not know” about the Big Top bill, while the conference “organiser did not know it was not in the budget.” Rather than charging a flat fee for internet usage by conference goers, the University of Kent changed the conference for individual log-ons, leading to a bill of £80,576—over £65,000 over budget.
The report stated that “at no stage in its review did the group find any evidence of financial malpractice or dishonesty.” However it questioned the competence of the conference team, asking “whether the match between available skills and needs was as good as might be wished. Specifically the conference required people with: a good understanding of the wider church and the expectations and ways of working of key stakeholders; strong commercial and financial skills; and ideally experience of delivering a high-profile complex conference for participants with different languages and from different cultures.”
Income was lower than expected due to the boycott by over 200 bishops, but was also hampered by poor planning. There was also no relation between the fees charged conference participants and actual costs, the report stated, with the conference determined on a political rather than fiscal basis.
Fundraising also began late and had been hampered by the political uncertainties within the Communion, the report noted, while the 2004 decision by the ACC to discontinue setting aside funds for the conference left it chronically short of funds.
Charted as a condition for the extension of an emergency loan in July from the Archbishops’ Council and the Church Commissioners to keep the Lambeth Conference solvent, the review committee led by John Ormerod, a former partner of accountancy firm Deloitte, with the Rt. Rev. Tim Stevens, Bishop of Leicester, Dr Christina Baxter, principal of St John’s College, Nottingham, and Timothy Walker, Third Church Estates Commissioner, submitted its report on Feb 16.
It offered 16 recommendations to the Anglican Consultative Council and other “stakeholders” in the conference that stressed the need for sound business practices and clear lines of authority, and that planning for Lambeth 2018 begin so as to avoid the problems of the last conference.
Blair to bring peace to the Philippines: CEN 3.26.09 March 26, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Arms Control/Defense/Peace Issues, Church of England Newspaper, Episcopal Church of the Philippines.comments closed
| Tony Blair has been tapped by the government of Philippine President Gloria Arroyo to broker a peace deal between the Manila government and Muslim rebels. On March 24 Mr. Blair met with President Arroyo at the Malacañang Palace in Manila with Mrs. Arroyo to discuss ways of ending the 30 year old Muslim secessionist campaign on the southern island of Mindanao.
A government spokesman told reporters Mr. Blair’s experience in Northern Ireland, as well as his current work as envoy to the Middle East on behalf of the “Quartet”: the US, UN, EU and Russia, made him an ideal choice. “The president is confident Tony Blair, with all his experience, can contribute a lot to resolving our peace and order problems in Mindanao,” deputy presidential spokeswoman Lorelei Fajardo told reporters. Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper’s Religious Intelligence section. |
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Episcopal Church wins property battle: CEN 3.25.09 March 25, 2009
Posted by geoconger in CANA, Church of England Newspaper, Property Litigation.comments closed
| The Episcopal Church has scored another legal win this week in its battle with congregations seeking to quit the church and keep their property. On March 24 a Colorado Springs trial court held that the congregation of Grace Church & St Stephen’s, which in 2007 quit the Diocese of Colorado for the Nigerian-affiliated Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), may not quit the diocese and keep their property.
In a 28 page rule, Judge Larry Schwartz held that trusteeship of the £12 million property should be vested in the portion of the congregation loyal to the diocese. Attorneys for the diocese had argued that a parish is a subsidiary unit of a diocese, and holds property in trust for the diocese. The parish had argued that under the “neutral principles of law” doctrine ownership should be determined by looking at the underlying title deeds. Grace Church had been incorporated as an independent not for profit corporation and had not deeded its property to the diocese. Judge Schwartz held that the parish’s “founding documents, various bylaws, relevant canons of the general church and consistent parish loyalty to the diocese over most of its 135 year existence demonstrate a unity of purpose on the part of the parish and of the general church that reflects the intent that all property held by the parish would be dedicated to and utilized for the advancement of the work of [the Episcopal Church].” “While freedom of religion recognizes the right of any faction within a church to leave that church whenever they choose, the trust that has been created through past generations of members of Grace Church and St. Stephen’s prohibits the departing parish members from taking the property with them,” the court ruled. |
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Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper.
Sex victims urged to come forward: CEN 3.20.09 p 9. March 23, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Abuse, Anglican Church of Australia, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
The Diocese of Adelaide has released a statement urging victims of sexual abuse at the hands of clergy and church workers to come forward and accept the church’s assistance of aid.
On March 12 the diocese said the sentencing of former Church of England Boys Society youth leader Andrew Dawson-Ryan on indecent assault and gross indecency charges of young boys “may help the survivors and their families move towards healing.”
Dawson-Ryan, 60, was sentenced to 18 years in prison after having been found guilty of 17 counts of abuse. District Justice Gordon Barrett told Dawson-Ryan that he had shown no remorse for his crimes and had abused his position of trust. The former youth leader-the fifth Church of England Boys Society youth leader jailed for pedophilia in Australia must spend 10 years in prison before he will be eligible for parole.
The judge noted that even then, “I do not know to what extent the community can be confident you will not succumb again to the temptations that led you to this offending,” The Australian reported.
On Oct 24, Adelaide Archbishop Jeffrey Driver told his synod the diocese had paid out over £2 million to settle 80 sexual abuse claims. In 2004, the diocese was confronted with claims for damages from up to 100 young men allegedly sexually abused by clergy and diocesan youth workers. The scandal forced Archbishop Ian George to resign after a diocesan review found his management of the crisis unsatisfactory.
The synod agreed to sell portions of Bishopscourt, the diocese’s episcopal palace to help pay the abuse claims.
In a statement released after the sentence was handed down, the diocese said it had been in “touch with and providing assistance to seven survivors of Dawson-Ryan’s abuse and hopes that the conviction and sentencing may encourage others to come forward and seek help.”
“Any sex abuse survivors who have not yet been assisted by the Anglican Church are urged to get in touch to arrange pastoral and financial support,” it said.
Canada–two more parishes quit: CEN 3.20.09 p 9 March 23, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Canada, Anglican Church of North America, Church of England Newspaper, Secession.comments closed
Two British Columbia parishes have quit the Anglican Church of Canada and have affiliated with the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC). The votes by St Matthias in Victoria and St Mary’s Nanoose Bay increase the breakaway group’s ranks to 28 parishes served by three former Anglican Church of Canada bishops and 73 priests and deacons.
By a vote of 170 in favor and 10 opposed, St Matthias withdrew from the diocese on March 8 and joined the traditionalist breakaway group led by Bishop Don Harvey, the former Bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador. The congregation has left its property to the diocese and a remnant group and on March 15 began worshipping at a local community center.
The 200 members of St Mary’s Church on Feb 8 also voted to quit the diocese. However the rural congregation has stayed in its building and is engaged in litigation with the diocese over its ownership.
On March 12, Bishop James Cowan of British Columbia accused the breakaway group of being dishonest and divisive. Those who had quit had given “us assurances” that “they would never do what they have just done.” ANiC had also been dishonest in its “presentation of the facts” which had “allowed them to lead others to leave the diocese. I am shocked by this and see, under the guise of lofty intent and purity of motive, instead the subversion of the mission of the Church,” he said.
“I pray that all those who are acting in this way will repent and be restored to a place of peace somewhere in the greater Body of Christ on earth,” Bishop Cowan wrote.
However, Bishop Harvey said he was “delighted to welcome” the congregations. “By aligning with the Anglican Network in Canada, they join a growing movement of Anglicans throughout North America seeking to remain in the mainstream of global and historic Anglicanism.”
New dioceses for Sudan: CEN 3.20.09 p 9. March 23, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Episcopal Church of the Sudan.comments closed
The Episcopal Church of the Sudan has created two new dioceses, carving the Dioceses of Pakong and Akot out of the Diocese of Rumbek in the Lakes State of Southern Sudan.
On Feb 15 the provincial synod endorsed the creation of the two new dioceses, bringing the total number of dioceses to 27. The Primate of the Sudan, Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul Yak inaugurated the Diocese of Pacong on March 12 and appointed the Assistant Bishop of Rumbek, the Rt. Rev. Joseph Maker as bishop-nominee. On March 13, Archbishop Deng inaugurated the Diocese of Akot, appointing Rumbek’s second assistant bishop, the Rt. Rev. Isaac Dhieu as bishop-nominee.
The two new bishops will formally take possession of their dioceses after their nominations are confirmed by the Sudanese House of Bishops at their next regular meeting.
Located in the Lake State of Southern Sudan, the Diocese of Rumbek and its two offspring suffered greatly during the decades long civil war between north and south. From 1992 to 2002 the Bishop of Rumbek, the Rt. Rev. Gabriel Roric Jur was absent from the diocese.
Considered a quisling by many Christians for his service to the National Islamic Front government, Bishop Roric served as Deputy Foreign Minister of the Sudan and is presently the chairman of the government’s Inter-Religious Dialogue Commission. In 2004 Bishop Roric Jur endorsed the Khartoum government’s imposition of Sharia law on Christians in Northern Sudan.
In 2003 Archbishop Joseph Marona deposed Bishop Roric Jur for being absent from his diocese for ten years. Bishop Roric Jur responded by forming with the help of the Khartoum government the Reformed Episcopal Church in the Sudan with a second deposed bishop, Peter El-Bersh. With the end of the civil war, Bishop Roric Jur’s church has lost ground as the Khartoum government pulled its support of the breakaway group.
Indians quit US church: CEN 3.20.09 p 9. March 23, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Secession, South Dakota.comments closed
| Members of nine congregations closed last year on a Sioux Indian reservation have quit the Diocese of South Dakota and formed the Lakota Oyate Episcopalian Church.
On March 14, the clergy and members of the nine redundant rural churches created the new group, which they say will not be affiliated with either the Episcopal Church or its rival Anglican Church in North America, to oversee the reservation churches. Speaking to the Rapid City Journal, Lori Ann Two Bulls said the group has petitioned the tribe’s Land Committee to transfer ownership rights to the church properties from the diocese to the Lakota Oyate Episcopalian Church. It asked the tribal council to allow it to “continue operating the churches expelled by The Episcopal diocese,” she explained. Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
Blame the recession on the government, says Archbishop: CEN 3.20.09 p 8 March 21, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Development/Economics/Govt Finances.comments closed
Flawed government policies, not greedy bankers, was the cause of the global economic crisis, the Archbishop of Canterbury said last week at a lecture entitled: “Ethics, Economics and Global Justice.”
Speaking in Cardiff on March 7, Dr. Rowan Williams offered an overview of the ethical challenges that governments faced in rebuilding the global capital system, and urged them to adopt free trade policies that would not freeze the developing world out of the recovery through protectionist trade policies.
“It is a little too easy to blame the present situation on an accumulation of individual greed, exemplified by bankers or brokers, and to lose sight of the fact that governments committed to deregulation and to the encouragement of speculation and high personal borrowing were elected repeatedly in Britain and the United States for a crucial couple of decades,” he said.
“Warnings went unheeded” that the economy was in danger Dr Williams said. “People’s rational capacities, it seems, were blunted, and unregulated global capitalism was assumed to be the natural way of doing things, based on a set of rational market processes that would deliver results in everyone’s interest.”
The pursuit of short term electoral success had also led to the failure of governments to govern. “A badly or inadequately regulated market is one in which no-one is properly monitoring the scarcity of credit, and this absence of monitoring is especially attractive when governments depend for their electability on a steady expansion of spending power for their citizens.”
He warned: “If an economy resting on financial services rather than material production offers more choice, a government will lean in this direction for electoral advantage, since its claim to be taken seriously is now grounded in its ability to enlarge the market in which individuals operate to purchase the raw materials for constructing their identities and projects.”
At its heart, “the origin of economic dysfunction and injustice” was “pride – a pride that is manifest in the reluctance to let go of systems and projects that promise more and more secure control, and so has a bad effect on our reasoning powers,” Dr. Williams said.
The way forward was to cultivate an ethic of patience and fiscal prudence, and rebuild trust within the capital markets. “We need to…try to restore an acknowledgement of the role of trust as something which needs time to develop; and so also to move away from an idea of wealth or profit which imagines that they can be achieved without risk, and to return to the primitive capitalist idea of risk sharing as an essential element in the equitable securing of wealth for all”
Short term solutions, such as the adoption of protectionist policies to shelter domestic markets and industry was immoral, Dr. Williams said.
“Morally, protectionism implicitly accepts that wealth maintained at the cost of the neighbour’s disadvantage or worse is a tolerable situation – which is a denial of the belief that what is good for humanity is ultimately coherent or convergent. Such a denial is a sinister thing, since it undermines the logic of assuming that what the other finds painful I should find painful too – a basic element of what we generally consider maturely or sanely ethical behaviour. Practically, protectionism is another instance of short-term vision, securing prosperity here by making prosperity impossible somewhere else; in a global context, this is inexorably a factor in ultimately shrinking potential markets.”
Gordon Brown boost for California gay campaigners: CEN 3.20.09 p 6. March 21, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Human Sexuality --- The gay issue.comments closed
In a reception for Gay and Lesbian activists at 10 Downing Street last week, Prime Minister Gordon Brown took the unusual step of commenting on commenting on California’s same-sex marriage ban, saying the referendum that led to a ban on the court-ordered introduction of gay marriages was “unacceptable.”
Speaking of his visit to the United States to meet with President Barack Obama, on March 6 Mr. Brown said “what I saw in America told me what we have to do. This Proposition 8, this attempt to undo the good that has been done.”
“This attempt to create divorces among 18,000 people who were perfectly legally brought together in partnerships, this is unacceptable and shows me why we always have to be vigilant, why we have always got to fight homophobic behaviour and any form of discrimination.”
Prior to last year’s court California Supreme Court decision mandating gay marriage, the state of California permitted same-sex civil partnerships comparable to the civil partnerships introduced in Britain in 2005. Mr. Brown’s support for the concept of gay marriage as a right, whose opponents are guilty of bigotry may presage the government’s next move in this area, critics fear.
The prime minister’s comments came the same day as lawyers presented arguments before the California Supreme Court on the legality of Proposition 8. Supporters of gay marriage, including the Episcopal Dioceses of Los Angeles and California, have filed suit to overturn the referendum which added the phrase “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California” to Section 7.5 of Article I of the California Constitution.
A decision is expected within the next few months.
Church’s concern over Sharia law rule: CEN 3.20.09 p 8. March 20, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of Pakistan, Islam, Persecution.comments closed
The Church of Pakistan will take a wait and see approach to the deal forged last month by the government of the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Islamist militant group the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah-Mohammadi (TNSM) that imposed Sharia law on the Swat Valley.
The General Secretary of the Church of Pakistan, Humphrey Peters told The Church of England Newspaper that it was “not very clear” what form of Sharia law was under consideration in the former princely state of 1.8 million people, located 100 miles northeast of Peshawar.
“We are closely watching what type of law will be implemented, and then we will manage to see and comment on its implications,” Mr. Peters said.
On Feb 16 the NWFP government and the leader of the TNSM, Sufi Mohammad Khan, agreed to a truce to end two years of fighting that according to records released last year by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan had lead to the deaths of at least 400 civilians and the destruction of over 1000 homes.
The push to impose Sharia law in Swat and the NWFP has followed a political, then military trajectory. In 2003 the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), a coalition of six Islamic parties governing the NWFP passed the Sharia Act in the provincial assembly, giving Sharia law equal weight to Pakistan’s secular civil law code. In July 2005 the assembly passed the Hasba Act, which sought to give legal effect to the passage of the Sharia Act
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Before the Hasba Act was signed into law by the provincial governor, President Pervez Musharraf intervened and directed the attorney general to petition the Supreme Court to overturn the law under Article 186 of the 1973 Constitution. The government argued that provincial assemblies may legislate only “subject to the Constitution” and “subject to, and limited by, the executive authority expressly conferred by the Constitution or by law made by the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament).”
The Supreme Court ruled the Hasba Act was unconstitutional and blocked the implementation of Sharia law. The current round of fighting began in July 2007, when the TNSM declared war.
Founded in 1992 by Sufi Mohammad Khan, in 2002 the charismatic leader of the TNSM was jailed by the government and the leadership of the militant group passed to Khan’s son-in-law Maulana Fazalullah.
Fighting broke out in July 2007 when Fazalullah ordered a jihad, holy war, on the army in retaliation to the military operation that cleared by force Islamabad’s Red Mosque, the Lal Masjid, of Islamist militants. A ceasefire was negotiated in 2008, and Khan released from jail, but the fighting quickly resumed. On Jan 31, 2009 Karachi’s Dawn newspaper estimated that Khan’s 4000 guerillas were arrayed against 12,000 government troops in the valley.
The Human Rights Commission has denounced the TNSM’s campaign to impose Sharia law as an “appalling” breach of civil liberties. Pakistani press reports say the TNSM has beheaded dozens of civilians opposed to their rule, displaying the severed heads as a warning to others. Women accused of prostitution have been forced to dance before their captors, who then kill them. Non-Islamic businesses such as barbershops, video and cd stores, have been burnt to the ground and many have been forced to flee the valley to seek safety in Peshawar.
The TNSM has called for the closing of all girls’ schools, saying that women’s education is contrary to Islamic law. Since the conflict began, Dawn reported, an estimated 170-200 girls’ schools have been destroyed by the militants. In negotiating the truce, the TNSM agreed to allow girls to be educated to the Grade 5 (to the age of 11), while the government has pledged to open all schools. But many parents are keeping their children at home until they see if the truce holds.
Mr. Peters noted that under “proper Sharia law” there is “much protection for the minorities, but then they may become the second class citizens with less civic rights, which means the minorities will become foreigners within their own home land.”
Islamic jurisprudence also forbids the imposition of Sharia law on non-Muslims, he added, with freedoms of worship, trade and family law. “But despite all these points, we are closley watching what type of law will be implemented, and then we will manage to see and comment on its implications,” he said.
Popular support for Sharia law or the TNSM in the Swat Valley appears slight. In the 2008 General Elections the pro-Islamist MMA party returned won only 9 of the provinces 96′s seats in Parliament, and returned no MP’s from the Swat Valley, while the secular Awami National Party won 31 seats in the province, including most of those in the Swat area. The TNSM did not field candidates in the election as it believes democracy is un-Islamic.
End in sight for Kunonga? CEN 3.20.09 p 8. March 20, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Zimbabwe.comments closed
The end appears nigh for Dr. Nolbert Kunonga and his stranglehold on the Diocese of Harare, sources in Zimbabwe tell The Church of England Newspaper. Kept in power solely through the support of regime, “Mugabe’s bishop” appears to have lost the support of the security services.
On Sunday, Anglicans were able to worship unmolested inside some of their churches for over a year after the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Commissioner Augustine Chihuri publicly withdrew his support for Dr. Kunonga.
Following his split with the Church of the Province of Central Africa in 2007, Dr. Kunonga created the Anglican Church of Zimbabwe. The Province responded by deposing Dr. Kunonga and appointing retired Bishop Sebastian Bakare to the see. Litigation over the control over diocesan properties ensued and last year the Harare High Court issued an order directing Dr. Kunonga and Dr. Bakare to share the use of church facilities pending the outcome of litigation.
Support for Dr. Kunonga is almost non-existent among the lay members of the diocese, and is confined to a handful of family members and clergy supporters. However, he has had the backing of the Mugabe regime, and supported by the security services he has defied the court’s order to share the properties.
Anglicans attempting to worship inside their churches have been met with force, with arrests and beatings at the hands of the police have been reported across the diocese. However, in the wake of last month’s power sharing agreement between President Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party and the opposition MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, support for Dr. Kunonga appears to have softened in Harare’s corridors of power.
In a letter to his diocesan clergy sent earlier this month, Dr. Bakare reports that Police Commissioner Chihuri has signed an affidavit denying he ordered the ZRP to ignore the high court order. Dr. Bakare has urged his clergy and their congregations to return to their churches, and last Sunday led worship in one parish.
Sources in Zimbabwe tell CEN the security services entered the Sunday service while Dr. Bakare was presiding, but backed away from a confrontation. The Times’ correspondent in Harare reported that when confronted by the riot police—a special shock force used by the regime to quell dissent, Dr. Bakare stated, “If you want to attack me, I am in your hands.”
Confronted with the police commissioner’s affidavit and Dr. Bakare’s stand, the riot police backed down and the service continued.
Charity ordered to cut links with al-Qaradawi organisation: CEN 3.20.09 p 10. March 19, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & the Middle East, Israel, NGOs.comments closed
A member of the Interfaith Group for Morally Responsible Investment (IMRI) has come under sharp criticism from the Charity Commissioners and has been ordered to break off relations with an organization headed by radical Muslim cleric Yusuf Al-Qaradwi.
The trustees of Interpal—which has been banned in the US, Canada and Australia for its links to the terrorist group Hamas—had “not taken sufficiently rigorous steps to investigate allegations about some of their partner organizations”; had not “put in place adequate due diligence and monitoring procedures to be satisfied that these organisations were not promoting terrorist ideologies or activities”; and had “not adequately managed” its relationship with Al-Qaradwi’s “the Union for Good.”
The Charity Commissioners “concluded that the charity’s continued membership of the Union for Good was not appropriate.” However the commission said there was insufficient evidence presented to its investigators to substantiate claims that beneficiaries were promoting terrorism.
Interpal and the IMRI have been at the forefront of lobbying efforts before the Church of England’s Ethical Investment Advisory Group and General Synod calling for divestment from Israel.
A London-based charity set up in the early 1990′s to provide healthcare to refugees in the West Bank, Interpal was investigated by the Charity Commission in 1996 and in 2003 after allegations that it its funds were sent to Hamas, and the current investigation was prompted by a 2006 Panorama programme which reported that some of its funds had gone to Hamas supporters. No evidence however has been unearthed by the Charity Commissioners in support of these charges.
However in 2003 the US and Australian governments banned Interpal followed by the Canadian government in 2006, stating they believed it to be a front organization for Hamas and terrorist financing.
While it could not substantiate these charges, the Charity Commission said Interpal “must disassociate itself” from the Union for Good led by Al-Qaradawi. Its association with Al-Qaradwi, who “promoted violence as a legitimate form of resistance in support of the Palestinian cause” was questionable the commission said.
The Rev. Stephen Sizer, vicar of Christ Church, Virginia Water told The Church of England Newspaper, that although he could not speak for IMRI, “for the third time the Charity Commissioners have vindicated Interpal and I am delighted to be associated with their charitable and humanitarian work. “
The inquiry found that “there has been nothing brought to the inquiry’s attention that suggests that the charity’s funding has been siphoned off for inappropriate or non-charitable purposes,” he said. “Please can we leave these folk to get on with their vital humanitarian work?”
Now a bishop is blacklisted in the USA: CEN 3.19.09 March 19, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, House of Bishops, Southern Virginia.comments closed
| The American Church’s blacklisting of conservative clergy has spread to the episcopate. On March 9 the former Bishop of Southern Virginia, the Rt Rev David Bane informed Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori that he was resigning from the US House of Bishops and had been received into the Province of the Southern Cone, were he will serve as an assisting bishop in the Diocese of Pittsburgh to the Rt Rev Robert Duncan.
Considered a moderate conservative within the Episcopal Church, Bishop Bane told Bishop Jefferts Schori that his decision to quit the Episcopal Church arose after he had spent three years seeking priestly employment within the Episcopal Church.. |
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| Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
Episcopal Church wins San Diego property case: CEN 3.17.09 March 17, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Property Litigation, San Diego.comments closed
| The California Supreme Court has backed the Episcopal Church and a local diocese against a breakaway San Diego congregation in a closely watched church property case. On March 11, the Court dismissed the petition for appeal of St John’s Fallbrook, upholding the appellate court’s ruling in the case of New v. Kroeger that a vestry may not vote to disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church and continue to exercise control over the church property.
“This is a very important decision in favour of the Episcopal Church,” the chancellor of the Diocese of San Diego, Charles Dick, said in a prepared statement as “it vindicates our position that the actions of the dissident congregation were extralegal and in excess of their legal authority.” On Oct 21, the Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed a judgment by a San Diego County trial court, which held that California law permitted a vestry to amend parish bylaws in order to quit the Episcopal Church. Using the “neutral principles” approach, which looks only to the property deeds and legal charters, the trial court permitted St John’s Fallbrook to amend its bylaws to remove its accession to the canons of the Episcopal Church. However, the appeals court held that a parish vestry was not empowered to make this decision as the diocesan canons and national church canons had been incorporated into the parish bylaws. As the parish’s articles of incorporation stated it would continue “perpetually” as a part of the Episcopal Church, a vote by the vestry to leave would be ultra vires. The appeals court accepted the lower court’s use of “neutral principles,” but then said the trial court had erred in not looking at diocesan canons for guidance. Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper’s Religious Intelligence section. |
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Canadian churches protest at uranium mining expansion: CEN 3.16.09 March 16, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Canada, Church of England Newspaper, Environment.comments closed
| The Anglican bishops of Saskatchewan have joined their Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Ukrainian Catholic brethren in protesting against government plans to expand uranium mining in the prairie province, and permit the construction of a privately owned nuclear power plant.
In a joint statement released on Feb 26, the Anglican bishops of Saskatoon and Qu’Appelle questioned whether the government had fully studied the environmental risks of nuclear development in the province. A government-appointed panel is expected to release a report this month encouraging “value-added” initiatives to expand the uranium industry. Saskatchewan is the world’s largest producer of uranium ore and last year a private company, Bruce Power, began work on a feasibility study for building a nuclear generating station. Before any decision is taken, the bishops said it was “critical that any recommendations be made only after full and open consultation with the people of this province.” Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper’s Religious Intelligence section. |
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New Questions over “Buddhist” Bishop: CEN 3.15.09 March 15, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Northern Michigan, Syncretism.comments closed
| Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper’s Religious Intelligence section
Questions of propriety and legality are being raised in the US Episcopal Church in the wake of the Feb 21 election of the Rev Kevin Thew Forrester as Bishop of Northern Michigan. While initial concerns centered round Dr Forrester’s claims to be a practitioner of Zen Buddhism and Christianity, subsequent questions have been raised over his role in the closed electoral process where he was the sole candidate. In the Episcopal Church, diocesan bishops are elected either by the diocesan convention, or through an election organized by the House of Bishops or Province. While Canon III.11.1 permits each diocese to order its election according to local rules, it does require a “process of election.” Critics charge that in Northern Michigan no valid election took place as delegates to the special convention were asked to affirm the selection of Dr. Forrester by the Episcopal Ministry Discernment Team (EMDT) — led by Dr Forrester, and no other candidates were permitted to stand for election. Following his selection last month, The Living Church magazine reported that the bishop-elect had received “lay ordination” as a Buddhist and according to the former Bishop of Northern Michigan, the Rt Rev James Kelsey, “walk[ed] the path of Christianity and Zen Buddhism.” In an interview with the Diocese of Michigan’s The Record, Professor Fredrica Harris Thompsett of the Episcopal Divinity School, an advisor to the Northern Michigan discernment team, said there were already a “number of bishops in the current House [of Bishops] who engage in and have experience of Buddhist practices of mediation.” In a prepared statement Dr Forrester clarified his relationship with Zen Buddhism, writing “lay ordination has a different meaning in Buddhist practice than in the Christian tradition. The essence of my welcoming ceremony, which included no oaths, was a resolve to use the practice of meditation as a path to the truth of the reality of human suffering. Meditation deepens my dwelling in Christ-the-healer.” He also denied that he followed two faiths, telling the Marquette Mining Journal, “there’s one faith and it’s Christianity.” His Christian faith had been “deepened by my meditative practice and I’m eternally grateful to Zen Buddhism for teaching me that practice and receiving me as an Episcopal priest.” While the bishop-elect’s Buddhist musings were a source of titillation and outrage on the right, others have raised concerns over the way the election process unfolded, and Dr Forrester’s fidelity to Christian doctrine. At his parish, St Paul’s in Marquette, Michigan, Dr Forrester often substitutes home-made rites for the authorized liturgies. The Eucharistic prayer that the bishop-elect wrote for Easter season 2008 stated: “In the ancient days, at the dawn of time, You leaned over creation scooped it to your breast and breathed the moist breath of life. … The fire of your Spirit kindled a love between Mary and Joseph; a fire that became the roaring flame of eternal compassion—the heart of Jesus.” On March 13, the annual convention of the Diocese of South Carolina urged Dr Forrester’s election be rejected arguing it was not “confident that this is someone who will preach and uphold the apostolic Trinitarian Faith.” South Carolina urged the “Bishops and Standing Committees of all other Episcopal Dioceses,” a majority of whom must affirm the Northern Michigan election, “carefully and thoroughly to study especially those writings, statements, and sermons of the Reverend Kevin Thew Forester pertaining to the Doctrine of the Trinity and the nature of God.” The Executive Board of the Diocese of Dallas on March 10 questioned the legality of the election, saying no valid election had been held. In planning the election Northern Michigan said its new bishop would not be given the authority of a traditional bishop, but would be part of a 12-person Episcopal Ministry Support Team (EMST). “While the Bishop will carry out the roles designated by the Constitution and Canons such as ordination, confirmation, and attendance at the House of Bishops, other “episcopal/ apostolic/ oversight” roles will be fulfilled by members of the [EMST],” the discernment committee said. The Northern Michigan discernment team stated it would choose a single candidate for bishop and present that person to the diocese. “It is the team’s hope that the people of this diocese will also discern and agree that this person is truly the best fit to share the ministry here in this diocese. At the election a yes vote would affirm the election of the new Bishop/ Ministry developer and ministry support team. A no vote would stop that process and we would have to go back to discerning once again.” Such a process “raises significant concerns,” Dallas said. “There was no election in that diocese as Fr Forrester was the only candidate put forward. [Dallas] consented to an election in the Diocese of Northern Michigan, not the appointment of the bishop by a small committee.” By asking the Diocesan Convention to “affirm the election of the new Bishop” chosen by the discernment committee, the Northern Michigan process on its face violates canon law, legal commentator AS Haley noted. “Truly, it was an election designed by a Zen Buddhist,” Mr Haley wrote. “The choice was to vote for one: you may (a) choose the Rev Kevin Thew Forrester and the team of Ministry Developers, or (b) choose the team of Ministry Developers, including the Rev Kevin Thew Forrester. Such a choice is the electoral equivalent of the sound of one hand clapping,” he said. |
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Israel Chides US Presiding Bishop: CEN 3.13.09 March 13, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & the Middle East, Israel.comments closed
Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper’s ReligiousIntelligence.com section.
Claims that the Israel discriminated against Jerusalem’s Anglican and Lutheran bishops by blocking their attempt to entre Gaza last month are unfounded, the Israeli government has declared.
On March 10, the Israeli Embassy in Washington released a statement chiding US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and Lutheran Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson for erroneously concluding the two bishops had been singled out
The two church leaders wrote Ambassador Sallai Meridor on Feb 6 to express their “grave concerns” and to seek an explanation for “the denial of entry to Gaza” on Feb 4 of the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, the Rt. Rev. Suheil Dawani, and the Lutheran Bishop of Jordan and the Holy Land, the Rt. Rev. Munib Younan.
“Although they had received assurances from the Israeli government that they would be allowed to enter, and while the other three members of the delegation were allowed to proceed” the two bishops were prevented from carrying out their “pastoral” visit to Gaza.
“We are concerned that they were not allowed freedom of movement into Gaza to carry out their pastoral responsibilities,” the two presiding bishops wrote, and “we hope that, having discovered the cause of their denial, you will assure that they will be permitted to enter as soon as possible.”
The Israeli government responded that on March 10 “Israel facilitated a pastoral visit to the Gaza Strip,” granting them a “special pastoral exemption” to “fulfill their religious duties.”
Minister Counselor at the Israeli Embassy Martin Peled stated that the two bishops Feb 5 letter “strongly implied that Israel was somehow discriminating against Bishops Younan and Dawani as Palestinians. However, quite to the contrary, as you would have discovered had an inquiry been made in an appropriate manner, the Bishops were denied entry because they were being treated as any Israeli citizen or legal resident would be treated.”
It was “unfortunate” that the two bishops had “seized” upon the incident to “to imply that Israel was denying Palestinian clergymen the ability to perform their pastoral duties.”
“It is truly a shame that both of the American church bodies chose to turn what was a resolvable issue into an excuse for disseminating a baseless and slanted account of the incident,” Mr. Peled-Flax noted.
The Anglican Communion has been caught up short in recent years, accepting assertions made by Anglican leaders in the region that have not been borne out. In 2005 a harsh report on Israel presented to the Anglican Consultative Council provoked controversy while in 2002 claims by Anglican Bishop Riah Abu al-Assal that Israel had perpetrated a massacre in Jenin and that its “army regularly seized male civilians of all ages from their homes and used them as human shields,” were distributed by the Anglican Communion News Service. Subsequent investigations proved this to be baseless.
Bishops’ Mugabe plea: CEN 3.13.09 p 5. March 13, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Zimbabwe.comments closed
Dr. Kunonga
The Anglican Bishops of Central Africa have released a statement “cautiously” welcoming Zimbabwe’s national unity government, and have urged strongman Robert Mugabe to honor the accord and release all political prisoners.
In a pastoral letter released on March 1 following the consecration of the Bishop of Bulawayo—former Coventry vicar the Rt. Rev. Cleophas Lunga, the Central African bishops prayed that the coalition government of President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai “will faithfully commit themselves to the fulfilment and spirit of the objectives enshrined in the Global Agreement.”
The settlement comes “after a long period of political polarisation which created immense suffering of the people,” the bishops wrote, adding that the terms of the treaty remained unmet.
“We are concerned about the continued detention of some political and human rights activists which is indicative of business as usual contrary to the spirit and objectives of Global Agreement,” the bishops wrote. “The continued detention of the activists is not conducive to the spirit of reconciliation and to the promotion of peace and justice. Justice delayed is justice denied,” they said.
On March 4, US President Barack Obama voiced his skepticism of President Mugabe’s compliance with the treaty, and announced the US would maintain its sanctions against the leaders of the regime—which include the former Bishop of Harare, Dr. Nolbert Kunonga for another year.
A spokesman for the US State Department said his government did not “see a lifting of sanctions at this time as being particularly helpful, because we have not seen any change come out of the coalition government as far as the Mugabe side has concerned. We have not seen a release of political prisoners in as large numbers as there should be. We remain deeply troubled at ZANU-PF’s consistent lack of commitment to the power-sharing agreement, and much remains to be done to gain the confidence of the international community.”
For sanctions to end, Robert Mugabe must “release all political detainees and end politically directed violence and intimidation; repeal repressive legislation; open access for humanitarian groups and NGOs; and have a commitment to macroeconomic reform,” the US spokesman said on March 5.
Canadian diocese to go ahead with gay blessings: CEN 3.13.09 p 5. March 11, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Canada, Church of England Newspaper, Human Sexuality --- The gay issue, Hymnody/Liturgy.comments closed
The Rt. Rev. Michael Bird, Bishop of Niagara
The Bishop of Niagara has informed the Archbishop of Canterbury that his south central Ontario diocese will begin blessing same-sex unions.
Writing in the March issue of his diocesan newspaper, the Rt. Rev. Michael Bird said that in January he met with Dr. Rowan Williams at Lambeth Palace to brief the archbishop on the work that diocese had undertaken on creating sacramental rites for the blessing of same-sex unions and that it was his intention to authorize gay blessings.
Bishop Bird wrote that he had related Niagara’s “experience of the incredible contribution that gay and lesbian people have made and continue to make in every aspect of our church’s life and witness, and expressed the overwhelming desire on the part of two synods to move forward with the blessings of committed same-sex relationships for couples who have been civilly married.”
He wrote that he told Dr. Williams the diocese’s call to “prophetic justice-making has made us even more determined to become a more open and inclusive church” and break the Canadian House of Bishops and Lambeth moratorium on the introduction of gay blessings.
On Nov 8, Bishop Bird told his diocesan synod that he intended to ask “for a rite to be developed for the blessing of same-sex couples who have been civilly married, along with a process to enable these blessings to take place that will at the same time honour the diversity of tradition and theology that exists across Niagara.”
At its 2007 meeting, by a vote of 239-53 the Niagara synod asked the bishop to allow those clergy “whose conscience permits” to bless gay marriages. However, in Oct 2008 the Canadian House of Bishops called for a stay of liturgical experimentation for gay weddings. Canada’s General Synod would take up the issue in 2010, the bishops said.
Dr. Williams’ response was less then fulsome. Bishop Bird wrote the archbishop had thanked him “for such a full and detailed report and he indicated how important this opportunity was for him to hear from me personally.”
The March edition of the Diocese of Ottawa’s newspaper Crosstalk also announced plans for blessing same-sex unions. The Bishop of Ottawa, the Rt. Rev. John Chapman, announced that a committee had been formed to address the question of same-sex blessings.
If the committee reports back favourably on the innovation “in the spirit of experiential discernment,” he said he planned on permitting St. John the Evangelist Church in Ottawa to begin the blessings. However, “this is as far as I am prepared to move on the matter until General Synod 2010,” he wrote.
The Rev. Ephraim Radner, Dean of Wycliffe College in Toronto, told the National Post the decisions to authorize the blessings was “provocative and hostile.”
A member of the Anglican Covenant Design Group, Dr. Radner said these actions served to make “much worse by ratcheting up the antagonisms,” further dividing the church.
Rumours of Roman reunion ‘are unfounded’: CEN 3.09.09 March 9, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Roman Catholic Church.comments closed
| The rumours of an impending reunion of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) with the Roman Catholic Church are unfounded, the primate of TAC reports.
In an interview published on Feb 25 in The Messenger Journal, TAC Archbishop John Hepworth said that no formal reply had been made by the Vatican in response to its request for corporate reunion. 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. It reported that the CDF decided not to create a “uniate” Anglican rite, but create an ecclesial entity outside the Roman Catholic diocesan system with its own clergy and membership. A member of the CDF has disputed the claim, telling an American Catholic newspaper he was unaware of any decision on the matter. TAC has “taken the advice of those with whom we have been meeting, and not sought any particular structure,” Archbishop Hepworth said, and it understands that “no existing canonical structure might prove appropriate.” However he hoped the Vatican would be “open to new forms of community within the Church.” “When there is a reply,” from the Vatican, the archbishop said, it would be presented to “a full meeting of our College of Bishops, and to formal meetings of each of the general synods.” Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
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Vatican blocks Whitsun inter-faith service: CEN 3.06.09 p 7. March 8, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Australia, Church of England Newspaper, Roman Catholic Church.comments closed
The boundaries of Anglican-Roman Catholic common worship were marked this week in Australia after the Vatican nixed plans for a joint Whitsunday service of confirmation and Eucharist in Newcastle, while the archbishops of Brisbane issued a common Lenten pastoral letter, announcing plans for a common service of “repentance” for the church’s sectarian squabbles.
The Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments last week asked Roman Catholic Bishop Michael Malone of Maitland-Newcastle to cancel a joint confirmation service scheduled for May 31 at the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral. Bishop Malone and the Anglican Bishop of Newcastle, the Rt. Rev. Brian Farran explained Rome had “expressed concern about a simultaneous celebration and the possibility of confusing messages being given to the people.”
The two bishops said they were disappointed with the decision. In April 2008 the two dioceses, along with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay endorsed a “Tri-Diocesan Covenant” to promote the sharing of church resources.
Speaking at the launch of the Covenant last year, Bishop David Walker of Broken Bay said, “This Covenant is a pledge to continue the things that we are doing together, and a commitment to be open to further involvement in the future. It is also a challenge to our respective communities to enter, formally or informally, into closer relationships with other Christians.”
The Newcastle Herald noted that organizers of the event were surprised by the Vatican’s letter as the Roman Catholic dioceses had not informed Rome of their plans.
On March 2, Brisbane’s two archbishop’s, Roman Catholic Archbishop John Bathersby and Anglican Archbishop Phillip Aspinall issued a joint Lenten pastoral letter on the dioceses’ 150th anniversaries.
The two archbishops enumerated the joint programmes shared by the two churches and noted “the personal friendship between past archbishops and bishops of our respective churches has been constant, and provided a springboard for a happy flowering of ecumenical co-operation, especially since the early 1960s.”
However, past relations “between the churches” had been marred by “sectarianism, suspicion, and hardness of heart.”
To atone for these past sins, on March 27 a joint service at the Anglican St John’s Cathedral will be held to make a “common act of repentance for our ecumenical and other failings of Christ over the last 150 years, and to re-dedicate ourselves to the work of Christ in co-operation and goodwill to one another in the years ahead.”
The archbishops also announced plans to renew their 1984 Common Declaration and endorse a new Covenant of Understanding that would see the two churches “pray for one another,” celebrate an “annual Ecumenical Liturgy of Reconciliation,” permit bishops to preach in each other’s churches and hold a joint clergy day each year, while exploring “co-operative use of church plant and resources,” and theological education.
Dr Williams plans to attend US General Convention in July: CEN 3.06.09 p 7. March 8, 2009
Posted by geoconger in 75th General Convention, Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams will travel to the United States in July and attend two days of the Episcopal Church’s General Convention in Anaheim, California.
A spokesman for Lambeth Palace told The Church of England Newspaper Dr Williams will visit the US General Convention from July 7-9 before returning for the start of General Synod in York. The Episcopal News Service has reported that Dr. Williams will participate in Bible Studies at the triennial meeting of the church’s synod and will be a keynote speaker at a global economic forum on July 8.
This will be Dr. Williams’ first visit to the US General Convention. However in 2007 he attended the New Orleans meeting of the US House of Bishops, garnering mixed reviews. While many bishops praised his efforts at stabilizing the communion, others on the left, Bishop M. Thomas Shaw of Massachusetts, and the right, Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, expressed their disappointment with Dr. Williams’ leadership.
On Sept 20, 2007 after addressing the American bishops in private sessions, Dr. Williams heard concerns and complaints from some two dozen bishops. Anglo-Catholic Bishop Keith Ackerman of Quincy told Dr. Williams that the changes of doctrine and discipline made over the past twenty years in the Episcopal Church no longer made it recognizably part of the catholic church.
The Bishop of New Hampshire Gene Robinson attacked Dr. Williams saying that although he had supported him in the past, he could no longer do so as the archbishop’s juxtaposition of fidelity to the catholic faith and fidelity to the aspirations of gay clergy to higher office was one of the “most dehumanizing things” he had heard.
Other bishops rubbished Dr. Williams and his office as Archbishop of Canterbury, denigrating his motives and his knowledge of the American Church. They explained that the catholic faith meant not fidelity to theological norms, but to inclusion of all people. The bishops explained that the revision of the Baptismal service in the American 1979 Prayer Book had created a doctrine of a “baptismal covenant” that made inclusion and social activism the primary sacramental virtues.
Comments posted to the listserve for members of the House of Deputies of the General Convention indicate that past displeasure with Dr. Williams’ decisions will likely be raised afresh by delegates to this year’s General Convention. However, the weakening of the conservative bloc by secessions and retirements will likely see the majority of complaints come from one direction.
Pastoral Visitors are unveiled, but traditionalists are sceptical: CEN 3.06.09 p 5. March 8, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Pastoral Visitor programme.comments closed
Written with Matt Creswell
AMERICAN Church leaders claimed this week that the Archbishop of Canterbury’s new group of Pastoral Visitors is ‘too little, too late’. As the number of lawsuits between the Episcopal Church (TEC) and breakaway conservative groups approaches 60, some say the initiative – intended to help repair the torn fabric of the Anglican Communion- lacks integrity.
On March 2 Lambeth Palace announced that the team of three retired bishops, two clergymen, and a retired British army general had their first meeting from Feb 25-28 at the Virginia Theological Seminary outside Washington.
Created in response to the recommendations of the Windsor Continuation Group, on Feb 5 Dr Williams told a press conference in Alexandria the “pastoral visitors” would “act as consultants in situations of stress and conflict” across the Communion. But the Rev Philip Ashey, Chief Operating Officer for the American Anglican Council, a grouping of conservative Anglicanism, was deeply concerned about Lambeth’s response. Speaking from Atlanta, Georgia, he said: “Every pastoral visitor programme suggested so far has admitted the participation of the parties who have been aggrieved, those people who have left TEC.”
He continued: “Still no contact has been made by any Pastoral Visitors so we have no reason to believe that a seminar they attended at Virginia Theological Seminary by the people who are, in part, the leadership of TEC, will make much difference.”
Ashey went on to say: “We have no confidence that the process is going anywhere.” In addition he said that the timing proved troublesome as both Archbishops Venables and Orombi had hoped that the visitor process would have been completed before the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) meets in Jamaica this May; this now seems unlikely. Ashey said: “We are deeply concerned that the Pastoral Visitor scheme is too little, too late.”
His concerns were echoed by Canon Chris Sugden, the coorganiser of the Gafcon conference in Jerusalem. He said: “Until and unless they meet and talk with the people who actually have these grievances the whole process lacks integrity.”
At their first meeting, the visitors attended a briefing facilitated by the Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Rt Rev Peter Price, with presentations on the Anglican Covenant process led by the Dean of Wycliffe Theological Seminary in Toronto, Dr Ephraim Radner, and on the Windsor Continuation Group led by the Bishop of West Texas, the Rt Rev Gary Lillebridge.
The canon to Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori, Dr Charles Robertson and the Presiding Bishop’s Deputy for Anglican Communion Affairs, Bishop Herbert Donovan, along with the Principal Secretary to Canadian primate Archbishop Fred Hiltz, the Ven Paul Fehely, spoke to the issues facing their churches. Canon Robertson told the Episcopal News Service he was encouraged by “open and honest communication” with the pastoral visitors and that the Episcopal Church would “participate in any conversation that helps promote greater clarity and mutual understanding in the Anglican Communion.”
The leaders of the Anglican Church in North America learned of the creation of the pastoral visitor’s programme when contacted by The Church of England Newspaper, prompting Fort Worth Bishop Jack Iker to say that “it’s always comforting to know that others meet to talk about you, while avoiding talking to you.”
Appointed by Dr Williams to the Pastoral Visitor team were:
The Rt Rev Santosh Marray, the former Bishop of the Seychelles retired in 2008. A native of Guyana, Bishop Marray served in the Diocese of Florida at the time of his election in 2005, and is presently a member of the Anglican Covenant Design Group.
The Rt Rev Colin Bennetts, the former Bishop of Coventry retired in 2008. Bishop Bennetts also serves as chairman of the International Centre for Reconciliation (ICR) based at Coventry Cathedral. Formed after the bombing of the Cathedral in 1940, the ICR is “committed to reconciliation in various situations of violent conflict, some related to religious dispute and others fuelled by different factors.”
The Dean of Liverpool, the Very Rev Justin Welby. Appointed Dean of Liverpool Cathedral in 2007, Dean Welby also is affiliated with ICR, serving as its co-director from 2002-2005, and then as Sub-Dean and Canon for Reconciliation Ministry at Coventry Cathedral from 2005-2007.
The Rt Rev Simon Chiwanga, the former Bishop of Mwapwa retired in 2007. For 18 years Bishop Chiwanga served on the Anglican Consultative Council successively as delegate from Tanzania, vice-chairman and chairman, stepping down at ACC-12 in 2002.
The USPG’s Regional Desk Officer for Africa, the Rev Canon Chad Gandiya. A native of Zimbabwe, Canon Gandiya was the former Dean of Bishop Gaul Theological College in Harare.
Major General Tim Cross, CBE. The former chief logistics officer of the British Army, Gen Cross was deputy head of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance in Iraq. Active with several charities in his retirement he is also a Visiting Professor at Nottingham and Cranfield Universities and the Army Adviser to the House of Commons Defence Committee.
The template for the pastoral visitor programme was “informally” laid down in 2006 “between the province of Brazil and the Southern Cone over the question of Recife,” Dr Williams said on Feb 5. Bishop Patrick Harris of Southwell and Bishop William Godfrey of Peru “were appointed to go and investigate the situation in the Province, discuss with various people and propose some ways forward,” he said.
“And although it’s taken a couple of years to move things on, some of those recommendations are bearing fruit,” the archbishop said, adding that it “in some cases” a pastoral visitor scheme “could be helpful.” The pastoral visitor will report to Dr Williams. No funds have been appropriated for the programme at this time from the budget of the ACC, and the pastoral visitors, like the ill-fated Panel of Reference, have the authority only to recommend solutions to the divisions of doctrine and discipline within the Anglican Communion.
Dr. Tutu issues warning to ANC: CEN 3.06.09 p 7. March 6, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Nobel laureate and former Primate of Southern Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu has issued a warning to the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party that it not take for granted its grip on political power in South Africa.
“Those who become arrogant, who become drunk with power, who seemingly are unassailable: Watch out,” Archbishop Tutu said at a March 1 memorial service for the late anti-apartheid leader Helen Suzman.
A long time independent voice for the South Africa’s poor and dispossessed, in recent years Archbishop Tutu has been criticized for his fealty to the ANC. Commenting on the split within the ANC in an Oct 5 interview with South Africa’s Sunday Times, Archbishop Tutu said he would not vote in the next election unless the ANC resolved its internal divisions.
His comments were met with disappointment from democracy activists, while the leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) Helen Zille charged that the archbishop’s apparent support for one-party rule was “reckless.” Political commentator Stanley Uys said his remarks “were discouraging” and undermined the progress in race relations long championed by the archbishop.
At his Suzman memorial speech, Archbishop Tutu distanced himself from the ANC. He reminded the congregation, which included former President Thabo Mbeki, Zulu political leader Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi and other political and civic leaders, that the apartheid era National Party had been “returned election after election with increasing majority. Waar is hulle nou? (Where are they now?),” he said in Afrikaans.
“Those who hold power and are afflicted by arrogance must know they are ultimately going to get their comeuppance, for ultimately power is service.”
The archbishop urged South Africa not to “sideline people” because of race or party politics, according to a report printed by SAPA, and predicted the country’s best days were yet to come.
Sudan primate calls for help against the LRA: CEN 3.06.09 p 7. March 6, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Episcopal Church of the Sudan.comments closed
The Primate of the Sudan, Archbishop Daniel Deng of Juba has called upon Britain and the United States to intervene in the conflict in East Africa and end the depredations of the Lord’s Resistance Army.
Speaking to the BBC last week, Archbishop Deng said the governments of South Sudan, Uganda, the Congo and the Central African Republic appeared unable to end the 20 year reign of terror of the LRA. International support from the West was needed to capture LRA leader Joseph Kony and “bring him to book.”
On Dec 14 elements of the Ugandan, Congolese and South Sudan armies, supported by Ugandan jet aircraft, launched operation ‘Lightning Thunder’, attacking LRA base camps in the Garamba forest of the Bas Uélé district of the Congo. The strikes came after Kony failed to appear at a Nov 29 meeting to sign a final peace agreement.
The US Army’s African Command seconded 17 military advisers to the Ugandan People’s Defence Force for ‘Lightning Thunder’ according to a report in the New York Times, and also provided equipment, satellite intelligence and the jet fuel for the Ugandan air force. Last month Israel’s Ambassador Jacob Keidar told the Kampala Monitor that his government also would offer military or intelligence support to defeat the LRA.
“The LRA rebels are committing the most terrible crimes to human beings and I really think they should be gotten rid of,” Mr. Keidar told the Monitor, saying his government will consider “positively, very favorably” requests for assistance.
Northern Ugandan church leaders, however, have urged restraint. In December, the former Anglican Bishop of Kitgum, the Rt Rev Macleod Ochola speaking on behalf of the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative said ‘Lightning Thunder’ would only scatter the LRA and prolong the conflict. Twenty years of campaigning had not defeated the LRA the bishop said, urging the government to return to the negotiating table.
Driven from the Congo’s Garamba forest by ‘Lightning Thunder’, the LRA has moved east over the past ten weeks unleashing a campaign of terror against the South Sudan with reports from local church leaders of destroyed crops and villages, murder and kidnappings.
On Feb 28, the Diocese of Ezo in South Sudan wrote to supporters in the UK detailing LRA attacks in its area. The Diocesan Administrator, Levi Bona, stated that in March 2008 the LRA attacked Ezo and ransacked the diocesan headquarters.
They returned on Dec 26 and in six separate incidents, attacked villages surrounding Ezo, burning crops, destroying homes and killing 16. One village headman-”the husband of one of our Mother’s Union members”-was hacked to death by the LRA and Mr. Bona reported that over 9,000 people have been driven from their homes. Almost 7000 Congolese refugees have taken shelter in Ezo since a Dec 25 massacre at a Catholic church killed 425.
“Seven parishes have been greatly affected and the tendency of Sunday services is now very low because people fear to be attacked by LRA during prayers, Mr. Bona said.
Refugees in Ezo “are sleeping under trees, have nothing to eat or cover with, medicine and all the basic needs are needed. We thank the UN for the little support they have taken to the Congolese refugees recently but the internal displaced persons have not yet receive any help,” he said.
Mr. Bona appealed to “our Christian brothers and sisters for support in form of food, non food items and medicine on behalf of these suffering people.”
International Community should “help Zimbabwe”: CEN 3.06.09 p 7. March 6, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of Central Africa.comments closed
Archbishop Thabo Makgoba
The Archbishop of Cape Town has urged the international community to come to the aid of Zimbabwe, arguing that although the coalition government of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was not ideal, it represented a step forward in resolving the country’s humanitarian and economic crisis.
Speaking at St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town on Feb 25, Archbishop Makgoba stated that despite the “reservations” many held about the viability of the coalition government, “it is right now the only hope which the people of Zimbabwe have, and we must do all we can to make it work.’
“The injustice, the oppression, the hunger, the deprivation they have suffered is hard for us to grasp,” he told the Ash Wednesday congregation. Zimbabwe’s needs are “desperate: the most basic medication for clinics and hospitals; money to pay for the marking of last year’s exam papers, let alone civil servants’ salaries.”
He appealed to “all South Africans” and the international community “to give generously in response to the pleas for assistance of Prime Minister Tsvangirai.” Pray for the people of Zimbabwe, Archbishop Makgoba said, and pray especially as “new circumstances with the power-sharing government unfold.”
The archbishop’s call for prayer for Zimbabwe followed upon the pastoral letter of the Southern African House of Bishops’ Feb 16-19 meeting in Modderpoort.
“We must pray for the country and its new government; for the right treatment of Zimbabweans in neighbouring countries and for fair treatment at the hands of police and officials, especially in South Africa,” the bishops said.
US bid to authorise same-sex blessings: CEN 3.06.09 p 7. March 6, 2009
Posted by geoconger in 75th General Convention, Church of England Newspaper, Newark.comments closed
The General Convention of the US Episcopal Church will be asked to authorize rites for the blessing of same-sex unions at their triennial meeting in July. On Jan 31 the Diocese of Newark synod endorsed a resolution asking the General Convention to amend the national church’s canons governing Holy Matrimony, making them gender neutral.
Newark’s Resolution 2009-05 asks the national church to amend Canon 18: Of the Solemnization of Holy Matrimony, substituting the words “two persons” where the words “a man and a woman” now appear, and to amend Canon 19: Of Regulations Respecting Holy Matrimony, to substitute the word “spouse” where the words “husband or wife” appear.
Delegates to the Newark synod also asked their diocesan clergy to henceforth record services solemnizing same-sex civil unions in the parish register “in a manner identical to the recording of marriages,” and stated the diocese’s intention of asking the national church to amend its canons making this innovation church wide.
Originally set down as a resolution to be adopted without debate, but removed from the synod’s “consent calendar” after protest, the resolution to amend the church’s marriage canons stated that it would not authorize any further public rites for same-sex blessings, but would modify existing rites “when the needs of the congregation so require.”
It was “important that The Episcopal Church modify its canons to reflect the gender neutrality now reflected in the law in those states where the law permits” gay marriage, the resolution said.
Recording gay marriages in parish registers was a matter of justice, the second resolution averred.
“Until same-sex couples are accorded full marriage rights it is incumbent upon the Church to recognize their unions in an identical manner as opposite-sex couples and to give civil unions the same dignity and respect bestowed on opposite-sex marriages. The Church does justice and exercises pastoral care by requiring clergy to record civil unions in the Parish Register” in states that have permitted gay marriage, the resolution said.
At their Feb 1-5 meeting in Alexandria, the Primates urged the Episcopal Church to maintain its moratorium on gay bishops and blessings as did the 2008 Lambeth Conference. While many US dioceses have called for an end to the moratorium enacted at the 2006 General Convention, it is unclear whether the church as a whole will repudiate Lambeth, the primates and Dr. Rowan Williams’ call for “gracious restraint.”
N. Ireland petrol bomb attack is condemned: CEN 3.06.09 p 8. March 6, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of Ireland, Terrorism.comments closed
The Church of Ireland has condemned a petrol bomb attack on a car parked outside a church hall and parish church in Country Fermanagh last week.
A dissident group is suspected of launching the attack on the Clogh War Memorial Hall on the evening of Feb 25, while approximately a dozen members of Holy Trinity Church in the Aghadrumsee parish group were playing bowls inside the building. The device failed to explode and no injuries were reported.
In a statement released by the Church of Ireland Press Office, the Archdeacon of Clougher, the Ven. Cecil Pringle lamented a return to sectarian violence. “If the motive was either political or sectarian then that would be unfortunate,” he said. “It must be hoped that after forty wasted years all people would see that the only way forward for any community is in reconciliation, mutual respect and tolerance.”
Ulster leaders condemned the attack, seeing it as part of a wider republican campaign to destabilize the area. Fermanagh & South Tyrone Ulster Unionist MLA Tom Elliott said the attack “was obviously targeted at the local Protestant community.”
“I believe this is another element to the dissident republican campaign in the south-east Fermanagh area that has witnessed several murder attempts over the last number of months,” he said.
Uganda orders bishop to resign: CEN 3.06.09 p 6. March 6, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of Uganda.comments closed
The Church of Uganda has directed the Bishop of Namirembe, the Rt. Rev. Samuel Ssekadde to resign. Writing to the bishop on Feb 23 Provincial Chancellor Barnabas Tumusingize directed the bishop to announce his resignation at during the 10:00 service at the Namirembe Cathedral on March 1, and vacate his office immediately.
During the service, “you will read and sign your oath of abdication. This is in line with the provisions of Article 13(f) of the provincial constitution that requires all bishops to retire upon attaining the age of 65 years which you did on the 31st day of January 2009,” the letter said.
Elected Bishop of Namirembe in 1992, Bishop Ssekadde had announced that he was staying in office until December 6, 2009, even though church canons mandated that he retire by his 65th birthday on Jan 31.
On Feb 21 the Ugandan House of Bishops elected his successor, the Rt. Rev. Wilberforce Kityo Luwalira, and announced that he would be consecrated on May 31.
The House of Bishops also elected a bishop for the new diocese of East Rwenzori. The Rev. Canon Edward Bamucwanira will become the bishop of the Church of Uganda’s 33rd diocese on Aug 9.
Treasury orders Kunonga assets frozen: CEN 2.27.09 p 6. March 2, 2009
Posted by geoconger in British Foreign Policy, Church of England Newspaper, Zimbabwe.comments closed
The Rt. Rev. Nolbert Kunonga
The Treasury has ordered British banks to freeze any funds or assets held by the former Bishop of Harare, Dr. Nolbert Kunonga.
On Jan 27, the government released a “Financial Sanctions Notification” stating that in conjunction with European Commission Regulation No 77/2009 “all funds or economic resources belonging” to 27 individuals and 36 corporations tied to the regime of Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe “must be frozen.”
Number 13 on the list is Dr. Kunonga, whom the Treasury describes as a “self-appointed Anglican Bishop” whose “followers have been backed by the police in committing acts of violence.”
In 2002 the US State Department and the EU ordered a ban on Dr. Kunonga’s movements, forbidding his entry into Europe or the US. The 2009 Treasury circular stated that “no funds or economic resources are to be made available, directly or indirectly, to or for the benefit” of Dr. Kunonga or the list of banned regime supporters.
“Financial institutions and other bodies and persons in the UK are required to check whether they maintain any accounts or otherwise hold any funds or economic resources for the persons named and, if so, they should report to the Treasury details of all funds or economic resources that they have frozen in accordance with Article 6 of Regulation 314/2004,” the circular stated.
A long time ally of the regime, Dr. Kunonga is the only clergyman sanctioned by the EU or the US for his complicity with the crimes of the Mugabe regime. In a 2004 report the US State Department said that the Mugabe regime had “bypassed canonical law to install” Dr. Kunonga as Bishop of Harare and had rewarded him for his loyalty to the regime. “In October 2003, Kunonga seized a formerly white-owned farm ten miles from Harare and evicted fifty black workers to make way for his own staff.”
On Feb 12 Dr. Kunonga gave the invocation at the swearing in of the country’s new government. Reading from Ezekiel Chapter 37, Dr. Kunonga likened the fragile coalition of President Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party and the opposition MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to the “valley of dry bones.”
The coalition government was “the work of God to make Zimbabweans speak with one voice and govern and control their own destiny,” Dr. Kunonga told the small audience at Harare’s State House.
“Zimbabweans today are being called to create a situation that is tolerable and acceptable to us all,” Dr. Kunonga said to the new leaders in the service broadcast to the nation. “The leaders have no choice but to make things work. It’s time to bury the past and continue with what is progressive and beneficial to us all.”
Sudan bishops hold first retreat in 25 years: CEN 2.27.09 p 8. March 2, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Episcopal Church of the Sudan.comments closed
The Episcopal Church of the Sudan held its first Bishops’ retreat in a quarter century last week, with the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey and other guests leading workshops to strengthen the church’s episcopal ministries.
From Feb 11-16 the bishops met in the South Sudan city of Yei, close to the border with the Congo and participated in a series of Bible studies, prayer meetings and classes. Retired Assistant Bishop of Virginia the Rt. Rev. Frank Gray spoke of the need for forgiveness and reconciliation in the wake of 24 year civil war and on-going conflicts in Darfur and with the Lord’s Resistance Army along the border with the Congo.
Taking as his text, Acts chapter 20, Lord Carey lectured on the principles of episcopal ministry, while Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda addressed issues of the acculturation of Anglicanism in an African context.
While physically devastated by the war between the Muslim north and Christian south, the Episcopal Church of the Sudan has seen tremendous growth in recent years and has an estimated 4 million members spread across 25 dioceses. Archbishop Daniel Deng of Juba welcomed the opportunity of gathering the church’s bishops to learn from Lord Carey and the other foreign guests, saying closer links with the Church of England and Church of Uganda would benefit all Christians in the Sudan.
Asylum granted Iranian convert: CEN 2.27.09 p 6. March 2, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand & Polynesia, Church of England Newspaper, Immigration, Persecution.comments closed
New Zealand’s has granted asylum to an Iranian convert to Christianity, holding that Ali Panah would likely face persecution for his religious beliefs if forced to return to Iran.
On Feb 13 the Refugee Status Appeals Authority ends Panah’s five year fight to avoid deportation to Iran, and also overturns earlier New Zealand court rulings which implied that Christian converts from Islam were not persecuted by the Iranian government.
Panah has been held in administrative custody for 20 months for refusing to sign papers that could lead to his expulsion and had staged a 52 day hunger strike before being paroled into the custody of the Anglican Church of New Zealand last year. He had won the backing of Archbishop David Moxon who pleaded for the government to exercise clemency on his behalf, saying that returning Panah to Iran “would be unsafe.”
In its pleadings with the court, the Immigration Service contested Panah’s assertion that he would be persecuted if returned to Iran. On Sept 3, 2007 Immigration Minister David Cunliffe stated “there’s been no reported case of a deportee being killed or severely persecuted on return to Iran.”
However, legislation brought by the government of President Mahmoud Amadinejad before the Iranian Majlis last year now imposes the death penalty for apostates from Islam. Panah’s lawyer, Grant Illingworth, QC hailed the court’s decision telling the New Zealand Herald that his client would likely be “punished for apostasy,” which is “punishable by the death penalty.”
The Iranian apostasy law likely swayed the court in Panah’s favour, as two other appellate courts have backed the government and its claim that Iran does not persecute Christian converts.
While skeptics have questioned Panah’s conversion, claiming it was an act of expediency, the Anglican Church of New Zealand has backed Panah, offering him shelter and support throughout the proceedings. Archbishop Moxon along with Anglicans close to the Mr. Panah have vouched for the veracity of his conversion.
Following the verdict, Panah said: “I am very happy about the decision, it means a new life for me in New Zealand … and I really want to thank everyone who has prayed for me and supported me.”
Pastoral Visitors Hold Inaugural Meeting: TLC 3.02.09 March 2, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Living Church, Primates Meeting 2009.comments closed
First printed in The Living Church magazine.
A team of pastoral visitors appointed by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams held its first meeting last week at Virginia Theological Seminary.
Created in response to the recommendations of the Windsor Continuation Group’s report to the primates’ meeting in Egypt last month, Archbishop Williams said the pastoral visitors will “act as consultants in situations of stress and conflict” across the Anglican Communion.
The pastoral visitors met at Virginia Theological Seminary Feb. 25-28 for an initial briefing facilitated by the Rt. Rev. Peter Price, Bishop of Bath and Wells in the Church of England.
Participants received reports on the Anglican Covenant design process from the Very Rev. Ephraim Radner, dean of Wycliffe Theological Seminary in Toronto, and from the Rt. Rev Gary Lillibridge, Bishop of West Texas, on the work of the Windsor Continuation Group.
The Rev. Canon Charles Robertson, canon to the Presiding Bishop, and the Rt. Rev. Herbert Donovan, deputy to the Presiding Bishop for Anglican Communion relations, gave the pastoral visitors an overview of the situation in The Episcopal Church, while the Ven. Paul Fehely, principal secretary to the primate, summed up the situation in the Anglican Church of Canada.
Appointed by Archbishop Williams to the pastoral visitor team were:
* The Rt. Rev. Santosh Marray, who retired in 2008 as Bishop of the Seychelles in the Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean. Bishop Marray served in the Diocese of Florida at the time of his election in 2005, and is presently a member of the Anglican Covenant Design Group.
* The Rt. Rev. Colin Bennetts, retired Bishop of Coventry in the Church of England. He also serves as chairman of the International Centre for Reconciliation (ICR) based at Coventry Cathedral.
* The Very Rev. Justin Welby, dean of Liverpool Cathedral (England). Dean Welby was formerly sub dean and canon for reconciliation ministry at Coventry Cathedral.
* The Rt. Rev. Simon Chiwanga, retired Bishop of Mwapwa in the Anglican Church of Tanzania. For 18 years he served on the Anglican Consultative Council.
* The Rev. Canon Chad Gandiya, former dean of Bishop Gaul Theological College in Harare, Zimbabwe, and now serves as the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel’s regional desk officer for Africa.
* Maj. General Tim Cross, former chief logistics officer in the British Army. Gen. Cross was deputy head of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance in Iraq. He is also a visiting professor at Nottingham and Cranfield universities.
Recife denies Archbishop’s claim: CEN 2.27.09 p 8. March 1, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil, Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti. Photo taken at the 2005 Hope and a Future Conference in Pittsburgh
Church leaders in Brazil have questioned the Archbishop of Canterbury’s assertion that an informal mediation process is underway between the Provinces of the Southern Cone and Brazil over the Diocese of Recife.
In his Feb 5 press conference held at the close of the Primates Meeting in Alexandria, Dr. Williams gave an overview of the recommendations made by the Windsor Continuation Group to the primates for responding to the divisions within the communion.
A “pastoral forum” to hear disputes and “pastoral visitors” who “can act as consultants in situations of stress and conflict” were proposed, Dr. Williams said, adding that “in case that sounds too abstract, I might mention that we have tried this out informally as between the province of Brazil and the Southern Cone over the question of Recife.”
“Two pastoral visitors were appointed to go and investigate the situation in the Province, discuss with various people and propose some ways forward,” Dr. Williams said.
“And although its taken a couple of years to move things on, some of those recommendations are bearing fruit,” the archbishop said, adding that it “in some cases” a pastoral visitor scheme “could be helpful.”
In a statement posted on his diocesan website on Feb 9, Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti of Recife said Dr. Williams appeared to have been misinformed about the situation in Recife.
The mediation process described by Dr. Williams had “never begun. Dr Williams is not being well informed by his staff or is receiving inaccurate information from the revisionist leadership of the Province of Brazil,” the diocese said.
In 2005 Bishop Cavalcanti was deposed for incivility by his fellow bishops following several years of doctrinal disputes between the Evangelical bishop and the liberal majority in the Province. After he was removed from office, the province then defrocked 32 Recife clergy without trial for backing their bishop.
Approximately 90 percent of the lay members of the diocese followed Bishop Cavalcanti and are presently under the metropolitan oversight of Presiding Bishop Gregory Venables of Argentina.
Dr. Williams appointed the former Bishop of Southwell, the Rt. Rev. Patrick Harris and the Bishop of Peru, the Rt. Rev. William Godfrey as pastoral visitors to Recife in 2006. The two met with the leadership of the diocese and the national church and prepared a private report for Dr. Williams.
The diocese also filed an appeal with the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Panel of Reference, but no action was taken by Lambeth Palace and the appeal was never forwarded to the panel for adjudication.
Conversations about Recife were held at the 2007 Primates Meeting in Dar es Salaam and at the 2008 Lambeth Conference between Bishop Venables and Brazilian Archbishop Mauricio de Andrade, but these were only brief exchanges with no substantive discussions or action taken, Bishop Venables said.
Bishop Cavalvanti stated that to his knowledge, there were no talks underway and that nothing had transpired since the pastoral visitors filed their, still secret, report with Dr. Williams in 2006.
Mediation was not likely to be successful in Recife, Bishop Cavalcanti said as the differences were “deep and irreconcilable.”
Bishop–Global warming is a theological challenge: CEN 2.27.09 p 4. March 1, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Environment.comments closed
The Bishop of London, Richard Chartres. Photo CCEE-CEC / Ag. Siciliani
Global Warming presents a theological as well as environmental challenge for European, the Bishop of London has claimed.
Speaking on Feb 21 to Vatican Radio at the close of a meeting of the Joint Committee of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and the Roman Catholic Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE), the Church of England’s representative to the meeting, Bishop Richard Chartres said church leaders were agreed that “climate change reveals a spiritual problem.”
Participants shared a “common perception” on the environment, Bishop Chartres said, that was summarized in Pope Benedict XVI’s dictum that the external deserts in the world are growing because the internal deserts have become so vast.
The question was “what are we to do about it,” Bishop Chartres said.
Climate change was “certainly a challenge which reinvigorates Christian ascetic teaching as well as Christian Eucharistic teaching,” but there would be no kneejerk response from the church.
“We are not in an apocalyptic frame of mind,” he explained. “We want to put human flourishing and the common good right at the center of our concern. And we see in the Christian teaching both ascetic and Eucharistic a response to the present challenge which does just that, which puts human flourishing at the center of the picture.”
The Joint Committee of the CEC, the leadership council of the communion of 125 Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican and Old Catholic European Churches and the CCEE, the assembly of the presidents of the 33 European Roman Catholic Bishops’ Conferences meet from Feb 19-22 in Hungary as the guest of CCEE president, Cardinal Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Primate of Hungary to discuss ways European churches were taking initiatives to give due prominence in their own witness to the issue of creation, working in parallel with scientists and other people of goodwill.”
Participants at the meeting affirmed that “as human beings we need to see ourselves as stewards of creation and not as its exploiters” and that the “concern for effective stewardship of creation” was tied to “a concern for justice in our world.”
The church leaders also stated that as “Europeans we need to share a sense of solidarity with the poorest in the world, who are the primary victims of our lack of responsibility towards creation” and that churches should set an example of being “good stewards of creation” and take “steps to reduce our own carbon footprint.”
Episcopal Church summit discusses mission: CEN 3.01.09 March 1, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Canada, Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil, Church of England Newspaper, La Iglesia Anglicana de la Region Central de America, La Iglesia Anglicana de Mexico, The Episcopal Church.comments closed
| Delegates from the Anglican Churches of North and South America are meeting in San Jose, Costa Rica, this week for a five-day conference on Mutual Responsibility and Mission. An initiative of The Episcopal Church, the conference seeks to build closer links for mission between the eight provinces in the Americas.
Conference keynote speaker, the Rev John Kafwanka, a staffer on the Mission and Evangelism desk of the Anglican Consultative Council, told the Episcopal News Service “this week we have come to discuss and we have come to consider something that is really not new and yet sounds new at the same time” — the interdependence of the Communion across the world. Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
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