Two US dioceses back Anglican Covenant: CEN 10.30.09 October 30, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Covenant, Church of England Newspaper, South Carolina, Western Louisiana.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Dioceses of Western Louisiana and South Carolina have endorsed the Ridley-Cambridge draft of the Anglican Covenant, joining Central Florida as the third American diocese to formally back the Archbishop of Canterbury’s plan for creating a structure to manage the divisions over doctrine and discipline dividing the Anglican Communion. On Oct 24, a special convention of the Diocese of South Carolina approved a resolution by a margin of 88 to 12 per cent that “endorses” the Anglican Covenant “as it presently stands, in all four sections, as an expression of our full commitment to mutual submission and accountability in communion, grounded in a common faith.” |
 |
Delegates to the Oct 9-10 annual convention of the Diocese of Western Louisiana also affirmed their support for the Covenant and backed Bishop Bruce MacPherson’s endorsement of the Anaheim Statement, which reaffirmed his commitment to remain part of the Anglican Communion and the Anglican Covenant process.
By a show of hands the convention adopted a resolution which “fully affirms” Western Louisiana’s “commitment to the Windsor principles, including the formation of, and future adoption of an Anglican Covenant as a means of supporting the ongoing work of our bishop and the efforts of the broader Communion to preserve our unity.”
The convention further stated that it “supports the ongoing work on the Ridley Cambridge draft including section 4.”
The South Carolina convention restated its evangelical credentials, declaring it believed the “doctrine, discipline and worship” of the Episcopal Church was found in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, “the Creeds, the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral and the theology of the historic prayer books.”
It also adopted a resolution authorizing the withdrawal “from all bodies of the Episcopal Church that have assented to actions contrary to Holy Scripture” and the “doctrine, discipline and worship of Christ” as held historically by the church and Anglican Communion “until such bodies show a willingness to repent of such actions.”
The resolution does not pull South Carolina out of the Episcopal Church, Bishop Mark Lawrence said, but states its rejection of the recent actions taken by the General Convention. South Carolina also declared the July 2009 General Convention resolutions authorizing gay clergy and creation of gay liturgies to be “null and void” in the diocese.
In his convention address Bishop Mark said the General Convention was “not the answer to the problems of the Episcopal Church,” but had “become the problem. It has replaced a balanced piety in this Church with the politics of one-dimensional activism. Every three years when the Episcopal Church train pulls into the station of General Convention more traditional, catholic and evangelical Episcopalians get off the train and do not return.”
Sudan civil-war could re-ignite, warn church leaders: CEN 10.23.09 p 8. October 30, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Episcopal Church of the Sudan.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Church leaders in the Sudan have issued a statement warning that the failure of the governments in Khartoum and Juba to implement the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) could reignite the 22-year-old civil war. If the CPA “had been fully and honestly implemented from the outset, a peaceful, attractive unity would have had chance in Sudan,” said the group on Oct 12 that includes Anglican Archbishop Daniel Deng of Juba, Roman Catholic Archbishop Paulino Lukudu Loro, and the leaders of the Presbyterian, Pentecostal, and reformed churches of the country. |
 |
“However, since the signing of the CPA, every protocol has either not been fully implemented or is under discussion for less-than-full implementation, and therefore unity is no longer attractive, especially to Sudanese Christians and those in the marginalised areas.”
Contrary to the provisions of the peace treaty, Sharia law was still being enforced by the Khartoum government, national elections have been postponed, as has a promised referendum on independence for Southern Sudan. The government in Khartoum had also failed to disclose the revenues received from oil drilling in several disputed areas, the church leaders said.
“Consequently there is a widespread lack of confidence by Southerners and other marginalised people in the fairness or true democracy of the upcoming elections and referendum because of a general lack of trustworthiness and transparency from the Northern government,” they said.
Violence was also tearing apart South Sudan with guns flowing into the region to arm rival tribes and factions of the SPLA. “In all these incidents of violence it has been the case that Southern Sudanese have for various reasons fought Southern Sudanese, a fact that leads the churches to urge our people to unite in this crucial time and not to jeopardise the CPA through infighting.” Archbishop Deng and the other church leaders called upon the international community to intervene and enforce the terms of the peace treaty. “If the CPA is made to work, it must be fully implemented by both signatories and must be fully supported by those guarantor governments who promised to do so in 2005.”
“If the CPA is renegotiated or is allowed to fall apart, war or oppressive unity will be the outcome, with serious effects for the whole region,” they warned.
Membership drops in the Episcopal Church: CEN 10.23.09 p 7. October 29, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, The Episcopal Church.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Membership and average Sunday attendance in the Episcopal Church have continued their downward spiral, statistics released by the church last week report. Average Sunday attendance for the Episcopal Church’s domestic dioceses declined by three per cent from 2007 to 2008; with an additional 22,565 people missing from the pews last year. Average Sunday attendance for 2008 was 705,257. |
 |
The church’s membership, counted as active baptized members, also declined by three per cent, falling by 59,457 to 2,057,292. The rate of decline in attendance and membership also rose last year, with the 10-year rate of decline in attendance rising from 13 to 16 per cent, and the 10-year rate of decline in active membership rising from 10 to 11 per cent.
Fifty per cent of US Episcopal churches saw a decline in attendance last year, while only 35 per cent registered growth. The median average Sunday worship attendance in 2008 was 69.
For the first time the church’s income fell, with recorded “pledge and plate” income falling by 0.2 per cent.
Critics assert the numbers may be overstated as some dioceses have not recorded the secession of breakaway congregations. While the Diocese of San Joaquin recorded a membership drop of almost 8,000, or 77 per cent — reflecting the secession of a majority of its congregations, the Diocese of Los Angeles continues to carry St James Newport Beach’s 1,500 members on its books — even though the congregation’s fight to quit has already taken the fight to the US Supreme Court.
At the autumn meeting of the Executive Council meeting, the Church’s two presiding officers declined to answer questions on membership.
The President of the House of Deputies, Mrs Bonnie Anderson told reporters that the statistics had been “circulated to the Executive Council.” However, “we’re not going to be talking about those per se. Our agenda’s pretty full and we’ll probably be taking those up in the future at our next meeting,” she explained. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori stated she was “not able to comment” on what the numbers were, as “I don’t have it in my head.”
However, some liberal leaders had claimed the decline had been stemmed. Speaking to the New York Times at the July 2009 General Convention, Bishop Robinson said his diocese was bucking national trends and had grown, and numbered “15,000 people.”
“We have received so many Roman Catholics and young families,” he said, “particularly families who are saying, ‘We don’t want to raise our daughters in a church that doesn’t value young people’,” such that the diocese “grew by three per cent last year.”
The report issued this week showed that New Hampshire did buck the national trend, with its membership rising from 14,160 to 14,501, but this did not translate into more people in the pews, as attendance continued to decline, falling a further 1.1 per cent from 4,281 to 4,234.
Bats pose pricey problem for Church of England: CEN 10.30.09 p 4. October 28, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Bats in British belfries has become an expensive problem for the Church of England, the Second Church Estates Commissioner told Parliament last week, in response to a query from the member for North-West Norfolk about the church’s work with Natural England on protecting rare bats found in church roofs. Speaking for the Church of England, Sir Stuart Bell told Mr Henry Bellingham (Con) the Archbishops’ Council was working with Natural England as well as English Heritage, the Bat Conservation Trust and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to “strike a sensible balance between the protection of church buildings and their contents, and the protection of bats.” |
 |
Mr Bellingham asked Sir Stuart whether he was aware that a number of churches in his constituency have had much-needed restoration work delayed by Natural England, which had required “lengthy and costly bat surveys.”
While it was important to preserve Britain’s bats, it was “more important to make an absolute priority of conserving our great heritage,” he said, prompting the member for Salisbury, Mr Robert Key (Con.) to rise and interject that the affair struck him as being “batty.”
Sir Stuart thanked the member for Salisbury for his wit, and turning to Mr Bellingham, said that several hundred parish churches had the expense of bat surveys. A “handful” of churches had “serious problems” with bats in roofs and belfries where they had caused “significant damage and great inconvenience.” Sir Stuart did not provide an estimate of bat costs, but added that he would “be happy to take up with Natural England” the concerns Mr Bellingham had raised of giving priority to bats over churches.
Redundant churches earn Church £4m: CEN 10.23.09 p 4. October 28, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
ales of redundant church buildings netted the Church of England almost £4 million in 2008, the highest total in 10 years, the Second Church Estates Commissioner told Parliament on Oct 15. In response to questions from John Robertson MP (Glasgow, North-West) (Lab) about the net proceeds and conditions of sale placed upon the disposal of closed church buildings, Sir Stuart Bell said the Church of England last year realized “just under £4 million.” |
 |
“We take great care when we sell a redundant church,” Sir Stuart said, and “have very strict criteria on redundant churches and what uses they can be put to after sale.”
The “proceeds from the sale of closed churches are used to support dioceses in the work of the living Church,” he said, adding that since the Pastoral Measure came into effect, “we have distributed £32 million in such support, also supporting the preservation efforts of the Churches Conservation Trust which is co-funded by the Government.”
Sir Nicholas Winterton, the member for Macclesfield (Con) rose to ask “what consideration does the hon. Gentleman give to the work of the Churches Conservation Trust?”
Sir Stuart responded the sales proceeds are used “in some measure” to support the preservation efforts of the Churches Conservation Trust. While 2008 sales “were the highest for over a decade” the current market is “less encouraging, however, given the economic climate.”
In response to a question from Mr Peter Bone, the member for Wellingborough (Con) about whether this money is “reinvested” in new church buildings, Sir Stuart said “the purpose of the sales proceeds is essentially to support the dioceses in their work, which might, of course, include building a new church.” “If we are closing down churches, it would be nice sometimes to open others,” he said.
New archbishop for Toronto: CEN 10.23.09 p 6. October 28, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Canada, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Anglican Bishop of Toronto has been elected metropolitan archbishop of the ecclesiastical province of Ontario. Bishop Colin Johnson was elected on the second ballot at the Oct 15 provincial synod held in Cochrane, Ontario. He is the fourth metropolitan archbishop elected in the Anglican Church of Canada this year. On Sept 25 the ecclesiastical province of British Columbia and Yukon elected the Bishop of Kootenay, the Rt Rev John Privett as archbishop of the western Canadian province. This follows upon the Sept 11 election of the Bishop of Fredericton, the Rt Rev Claude Miller as Archbishop of the ecclesiastical province of Canada, and the June 11 election of the Bishop of Keewatin, the Rt Rev David Ashdown as Archbishop of the Province of Rupert’s Land. |
 |
Archbishop Johnson succeeds Archbishop Caleb Lawrence, the Bishop of Moonsonee whose term as metropolitan of the province which included the dioceses of Moosonee, Algoma, Ontario, Ottawa, Toronto, Niagara and Huron, ends in October.
Archbishop Johnson was educated at the University of Western Ontario and received his ministerial training at Trinity College, Toronto. Ordained deacon in 1977 and priest in 1978 by the Bishop of Toronto, Archbishop Johnson served in parish ministry from 1977 to 1992 when joined the staff of the Bishop of Toronto as his Executive Assistant. In 1994 he was appointed Archdeacon of York, and elected area-bishop of Trent-Durham in the diocese in 2003. In 2003 he was elected diocesan bishop.
“I feel very honoured and apprehensive in some ways about the workload, but challenged by the position and looking forward to serving,” Archbishop Johnson told the Anglican Journal, adding that he hoped as archbishop he would be a provincial voice calling for the government to combat poverty and social inequality.
Rebuff for Vatican offer to Anglicans: CEN 10.30.09 p 3. October 28, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Communion, Church of England Newspaper, Roman Catholic Church, Traditional Anglican Communion.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper
A mass exodus of overseas Anglo-Catholics in response to last week’s announcement of a proposed Anglican enclave within the Roman Catholic Church is unlikely, a review of the Communion by The Church of England Newspaper finds.
While overseas leaders acknowledge that individual Anglicans may take advantage of the provisions of the proposed Apostolic Constitution for the creation of “Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans entering the Catholic Church,” no diocese or province is set to quit the Anglican Communion for Rome. |
 |
In jurisdictions where traditional Anglo-Catholics predominate: the Provinces of Central Africa, Tanzania, West Africa, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the West Indies; the Australian dioceses of The Murray and Ballarat and the US dioceses of Fort Worth, Quincy and San Joaquin—individuals may take up the Vatican’s offer, but no institution is likely to follow. Nor is the offer likely to divide North American conservatives into rival Anglo-Catholic and Evangelical camps, its leaders tell CEN.
For the liberal and evangelical wings of the Communion, the statement is an encouraging sign of ecumenical progress and recognition by the Vatican of the Anglican ethos, but not a “live issue.”
“It’s not too much of an issue in New Zealand,” Archbishop David Moxon said, adding that he was unaware of anyone considering the offer. But “the fact that the Pope can receive a small group of traditionalist Anglicans into the Roman Catholic Church without too much complication means that quite a lot of common ground exists” between the churches, he said.
Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria and the leaders of the Global South primates group also welcomed the Pope’s “stance on the common biblical teaching on human sexuality, and the commitment to continuing ecumenical dialogue,” but said adoption of an Anglican Covenant was a better way to fulfill “God’s divine purposes” for “one, holy, catholic and apostolic church of Jesus Christ.”
Archbishop Robert Duncan of the ACNA welcomed the statement, describing it as “recognition of the integrity of the Anglican tradition within the broader Christian church.”
“While we believe that this provision will not be utilized by the great majority of the Anglican Church in North America’s bishops, priests, dioceses and congregations, we will surely bless those who are drawn to participate in this momentous offer,” he said on Oct 20.
US Anglo-Catholic leader Bishop Jack Iker of Fort Worth said the proposal was a “very generous and welcoming offer” for those seeking to maintain “certain aspects of the Anglican way of worship, spirituality, and ethos while entering into full communion with the Pope.”
However, “not all Anglo-Catholics can accept certain teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, nor do they believe that they must first convert to Rome in order to be truly catholic Christians,” Bishop Iker said on Oct 20 noting that “other Anglicans who desire full communion with the See of Peter would prefer some sort of recognition of the validity of Anglican orders and the provision for inter-communion between Roman Catholics and Anglicans.”
Bishop Ross Davies of The Murray told The Age he was “shocked and pleased” by the announcement as it provided a “way to leave with dignity.” But he did not expect a “great stampede” of Australian Anglo-Catholics to Rome as a result.
For evangelical Anglicans, submission to Rome was a non-starter. Archbishop Eliud Wabukala of Kenya told the BBC’s Network Africa programme there was “no possibility” of his submitting to Rome. “The Protestant family understands faith in different ways, for example, the idea of the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper, the interpretation of ministry,” he said.
Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda said the Vatican’s offer was directed towards traditionalists in England and the white commonwealth countries. “The Archbishop of Canterbury sent us letters welcoming the offer, but it is essentially to deal with the local England context and does not apply to other provinces,” he said.
The Anglican Churches of Africa do not need the Vatican’s helping hand to combat liberalism because “it is strong on biblical theology,” Archbishop Orombi told a Kampala newspaper.
The Episcopal Church’s ecumenical officer Bishop Christopher Epting observed the “announcement reflects what the Roman Catholic Church, through its acceptance of Anglican rite parishes, has been doing for some years more informally” and would not harm ecumenical relations.
Canadian Archbishop Fred Hiltz concurred, writing on Oct 22 that “among the vast majority of Anglicans and Roman Catholics in Canada and in the world there is a genuine commitment to build on 40 years of formal dialogue between our Communions.”
“While this announcement from the Vatican creates some shock waves, I do not believe them to be seismic,” he said. “I believe the greater will of the whole church while acknowledging our ‘real but imperfect communion’ is to continue steadfast in dialogue,” Archbishop Hiltz said.
Bishop urges calm after Government is suspended: CEN 10.23.09 p 6 October 27, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of the West Indies, Politics.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Bishop of the Bahamas has urged residents of the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) to “respect and support” the colonial governor following the decision by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to suspend local government in the British Overseas Territory. Speaking to the press during his pastoral visitation to Providenciales, the Rt Rev Laish Boyd, Bishop of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, said he understood the allegations of corruption that led Britain to suspend the government of Chief Minister Michael Misick had led to feelings of “fear, anger, frustration and embarrassment” among islanders. |
 |
However, he urged islanders to “not lose hope” and “respect and encourage the new remedial and analytical processes that have been set in motion” to rebuild the country.
In an Oct 12 statement to Parliament, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the Rt Hon Chris Bryant, reported the government on Aug 14 had instructed Governor Gordon Wetherell to issue an Order in Council “suspending ministerial Government and the House of Assembly for a period of up to two years. The Order also suspended the constitutional right to trial by jury in TCI.”
A government commission found there was “information in abundance pointing to a high probability of systemic corruption and/or serious dishonesty in TCI,” Mr Bryant said, adding that “this, together with clear signs of political amorality and immaturity and of general administrative incompetence, demonstrated a need for urgent suspension in whole or in part of the constitution and for other legislative and administrative reforms.”
The commission further recommended the “institution of criminal investigations in relation to [Chief Minister] Michael Misick, and four of his former Cabinet ministers,” he said.
A special prosecutor has been appointed along with an Advisory Panel chaired by the Governor, the minister said, while advisors have been dispatched to reform the government and implement measures to “limit public expenditure, increase revenue and bring the islands’ debt under control.”
Bishop Boyd urged residents of the TCI to “respect and support” Governor Wetherell and help bring good government to the West Indian territory.
No compensation for bells, church is told by Minister: CEN 10.23.09 p 4. October 27, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The government has no plans to compensate the Church of England for its contribution of church bells to the war effort. In a written question to the government, the Rt Hon Graham Brady, Conservative MP for Altrincham and Sale West, asked if the Minister for Culture, Media and Sport “will bring forward proposals to ensure that grant-making bodies for which his Department has responsibility give preference to those places of worship which donated their bells as a contribution to munitions in the Second World War in awarding grants for the replacement of church bells.” |
 |
In response, the member for Barking and Minister for Culture and Tourism, Lady Hodge said there were “no plans to influence grant-giving polity” in this way.
However, she noted churches did benefit from other government grants. The “Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme makes grants equivalent to the VAT incurred in making repairs to places of worship that are listed buildings. Eligible works include repairs to bells, their ringing mechanisms and bell frames.”
Grants for the replacement of church bells “would only be considered under the scheme where they are damaged beyond economic repair,” Lady Hodge said, noting that “another source of funding” for churches was the Heritage Lottery Fund which had awarded “£12,148,814 to 237 projects that have involved the repair, conservation and restoration of church bells and bell-frames throughout the UK.”
Women clergy now make up 15 per cent of Anglican clerics: CEN 10.27.09 October 27, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Women Priests.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Women vicars comprised 15 per cent of the parochial-incumbent status clergy of the Church of England at the close of 2007, the Second Church Estates Commissioner told Parliament last week. At the end of 1997, six per cent of parochial-incumbent status clergy — or 426 overall — were women, whereas in 2007, 15 per cent, or 974, were women,” Sir Stuart Bell said on Oct 15. However, the number of full-time parochial clergy had also fallen over the past 10 years, from 7,471 at the end of 1997 to 6,450 on Dec 31, 2007. |
 |
The member for the Vale of York, Miss Anne McIntosh (Con) asked Sir Stuart what the Church of England would do to arrest this decline and “increase the number of parish priests, particularly in rural areas.”
“Because the number of priests has fallen, the size and number of parishes that they are being asked to look after has risen. That is putting huge pressure on them, and is obviously quite stressful,” Miss McIntosh said.
Sir Stuart responded that the Church of England was “keen for stipends to be flexible enough to allow it to put clergy where they can best be deployed, consistent with preventing their mobility from being impeded.” He added that the number of ordinands had also risen to 552 in 2007, “the highest number since 2000.”
The Church of England welcomed the “upward trend” but “owing to deaths and retirements the number of stipendiary clergy is falling overall,” he said. The Church recognised that the amalgamation of parishes, particularly in rural areas had increased the “work load of priests,” Sir Stuart said, “but how we deal with it shall have to be discussed with the Archbishops’ Council.”
Indian Church chief arrested in fraud investigation: CEN 10.23.09 p 8. October 27, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of South India, Corruption.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Detectives from the Central Crime Branch of the Madras police have arrested the former General Secretary of the Church of South India (CSI) and three members of her family. Dr Pauline Sathiamurthy is accused of stealing almost £1 million of the £2.2 million sent by Episcopal Relief & Development (ERD) to the CSI to help in relief efforts following the 2004 tsunami. Dr Sathiamurthy, her husband, daughter and nephew were arrested on Oct 13 following a 10-month investigation by police. The alleged thefts came to light in 2007 when the Rev Moses Jayakumar was appointed General Secretary of the CSI in succession to Dr Sathiamurthy. |
 |
Upon assuming office Fr Jayakumar found that a request for an accounting for the funds from ERD had been ignored by Dr Sathiamurthy, and the NGO had cut off funding to the CSI pending an audit.
The CSI asked retired Madras High Court Judge J Kanagaraj to investigate.Dr Sathiamurthy declined to cooperate with the investigation, but Judge Kanagaraj found that she had appointed her husband to oversee the construction of houses built for survivors of the tsunami, her daughter to head up medical relief efforts, and her nephew to serve as a liaison officer for tsunami rehabilitation work — all at inflated salaries.
In December 2008 Fr Jayakumar turned the Judge Kanagaraj’s report over to the police, who began a criminal investigation, leading to the handing down of arrest warrants last week. The daughter of the former moderator of the CSI and Bishop of Tiruchi-Thanjavur, Dr Solomon Doraisawmy, Dr Sathiamurthy and her co-defendants are currently lodged in Puzhal prison in Madras.
In a statement released last week, ERD said it hoped the “Indian authorities will work quickly to resolve this matter. [ERD’s] sole desire is that this money be used to benefit the people who were impacted by the tsunami, as originally intended. As this is a judicial and legal matter in India, we cannot comment further about the current situation.”
New survey to explore rural ministry needs: CEN 10.23.09 p 4. October 26, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Farming.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Arthur Rank Centre has initiated a survey of the Church of England’s 19,000 rural churches to find out what is working in rural ministry, and where the church is falling short in serving the countryside. The survey is the first stage of a £180,000, 3-year training project to strengthen churches in the countryside, which was commissioned in response to urgent calls from church leaders earlier this year. Organisers expect it to reveal “significant shortcomings” in training resources for lay people which they believe could well “hamper the life and work of the rural church.” |
 |
“We are interested in real life people in the pews and real leaders: what training and resources they are using and how useful and relevant it is to their mission and ministry. The questionnaires will allow us to build a detailed picture of resources and learning across all denominations in England, and find out where the gaps are,” Simon Martin, the programme’s project officer said.
“There is some excellent, creative work going on out there and now we have the funding to find out what people at grassroots level find useful and relevant; and to work together with the churches to build a comprehensive programme of training and resources for everyone,” he said.
Preliminary results from the survey will be ready in spring 2010, and will be published as a database of results and a report with detailed analysis of the findings. The next stage of the Rural Life and Faith project will be to work with those who have become involved through the mapping exercise to design, test and promote resources appropriate for the needs revealed by the survey, a spokesman for the Rank Centre said.
Air Vice Marshall the Ven. Ray Pentland QHC: CEN 10.16.09 p 7. October 24, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
The chaplain in chief of the RAF, Air Vice Marshall Ray Pentland at St Clement Danes in London---the RAF Church---following his appointment on Oct 1, 2009.
New chaplain in chief for Royal Air Force: CEN 10.16.09 p 7. October 24, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
The Royal Air Force has appointed a new Chaplain-in-Chief. Archdeacon Ray Pentland QHC took up the top post at the RAF on Oct 1 and will be the service’s 21st chaplain to hold the job, holding the rank of Air Vice-Marshall.
“Chaplaincy serves the RAF through prayer, presence and proclamation,” Padre Pentland said. “We minister to people of faith and people who have no faith. If you are living amongst people whose lives may be on the line, who are a long way from home, you are in the midst of that, facing the same issues as they are – that gives you the right to be their chaplain”.
Ordained in 1988, in Southwell Minster, Archdeacon Pentland served his curacy at St Jude’s Mapperley Park, Nottingham, before joining the RAF in 1990, and served in the first Gulf War, and in units based in Canada, Norway, Cyprus, The Falklands, Bosnia and Croatia.
“During the Gulf War, I gave out ice pops in the desert – following on from a tradition that dates back to the First World War, and one of my personal heroes, Army Padre Geoffrey Studdert-Kennedy,” Padre Pentland said.
“Nicknamed ‘Woodbine Willie’, his mantra was ‘you go out with a smile on your face and a pack of cigarettes in your kit bag. You hand them out. Sometimes you pray with the boys, but you always pray for them’. I think that sums it up very well,” he observed.
Canadian ad campaign highlights the needs of the poor: CEN 10.16.09 p 6. October 24, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Canada, Church of England Newspaper, Social Inequality.comments closed
The Bishop of Toronto has launched an ad campaign to shame the Ontario government into increasing public benefits for the poor.
“As we come together to celebrate this Thanksgiving,” Bishop Colin Johnson wrote in an open letter published as a full page ad in the Toronto Star, “I ask you to pause and imagine looking down at a half-empty plate of plain food, a meal that will leave you hungry at the end. That’s the reality for 300,000 Ontarians who rely on food banks to ward off hunger each month.”
Bishop Johnson called for a “a stronger response from Government.” He applauded the work begun, but “there is still much more that must be done for the hungry and poor in our midst.”
As a first step, we recommend a $100 Healthy Food Supplement be added to the monthly incomes of people living on social assistance,” he wrote on Oct 8.
He also urged Anglicans to “continue to give more generously and do more for those who are poor in our communities.”
In an interview with the Anglican Journal, Bishop Johonson said the ad was designed to demonstrate the “church is active and involved in social issues and that it has a legitimate place in discussions.”
The first anti-poverty ad appeared last November, at the height of the global financial crisis. A third ad is planned for the Christmas season. The £20,000 cost was covered by private donations, the diocese reported.
Bishop Johnson told the Journal that Canada’s war on want had been “incremental, and we want to make sure that it doesn’t slide back.”
The church was “one of the major providers of support for people who are deeply marginalized – the poor, the lonely,” the bishop said, and was a “natural component of our faith.”
“But I think the proclamation has to be made public,” Bishop Johnson said. “We need to say that not only is the church engaged in frontline work, it also advocates for changing the policies and systems that lead to poverty.”
Diocese partners with bank to distribute mosquito nets: CEN 10.23.09 p 8. October 24, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of West Africa, Health/HIV-AIDS, NGOs.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Diocese of Bo has partnered with the Standard Chartered Bank to distribute 16,000 mosquito nets in the Bo and Pujehon districts of Sierra Leone as part of the “Nets for Life” programme. An initiative of Episcopal Relief & Development, Nets for Life works with local partners in Africa to distribute long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs) to stop the spread of malaria. The World Health Organization estimates there are approximately 250 million cases of malaria each year, the majority occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. Nearly one million people die from the mosquito-born disease each year, mostly children younger than five years old. |
 |
Ninety per cent of all malaria deaths occur in Africa, and the disease also retards economic growth, costing an estimated $12 billion in lost productivity in Africa each year, ERD reports.
The Nets for Life programme is active in 17 African countries and has benefited more than 11 million people, ERD stated. Partners in the distribution programme include ExxonMobil, Standard Chartered Bank, the Coca-Cola Africa Foundation, Starr International Foundation and the White Flowers Foundation.
The CEO of Standard Chartered Bank in Sierra Leone, Albert Saltson, said that in addition to the nets, the programme will provide training in the prevention of the disease. “Standard Chartered Bank is committed to fighting malaria in Africa because its effects kills and also slows the very economies in Africa that we are helping to develop,” he told the local media.
The Rt Rev Emmanuel JS Tucker, Bishop of Bo said the diocese would ensure an equitable distribution of the nets, and would coordinate the anti-malaria education campaign in the largely rural Southern Province of Sierra Leone.
Swedish church allows gay weddings: CEN 10.22.09 October 23, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of Sweden, Human Sexuality --- The gay issue.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper
The general synod of the Church of Sweden has authorized same-sex weddings. On Oct 22 the Kyrkomötet, the Church’s governing assembly, voted 176 to 73 to endorse the recommendation of its Central Board to solemnize gay marriages after Swedish civil law on May 1 granted same-sex couples the right to marry. Marriage “is a social institution regulated by public authorities. From a perspective of theology of creation, the marriage has the purpose to support the internal relation between spouses and give a safe setting for the children growing up,” the Central Board said in its recommendation to adopt gay marriage rites. |
 |
The Kyrkomötet vote “takes a stance in favour of an inclusive view of people. Regardless of whether one is religious or not, this affects the entire social climate and the view of people’s equal value,” said the head of the country’s largest gay rights group, Åsa Regnér of the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU).
In the run up to the vote, conservative members of the Church of Sweden had urged the Kyrkomötet not to “cuff off the church from its roots. The Church of Sweden will now be transformed into a congregational denomination, whose teaching is formulated by simple majority decisions, and where the Bible is being used arbitrarily or even entirely removed in order to legitimize the decisions taken,” said Pastor Yngve Kalin of the Church Coalition for Bible and Confession.
Traditionalist members of the Kyrkomötet had argued that same-sex marriage violated Scripture and the Church’s traditional teachings on marriage and also imperiled ecumenical relations. The Church of England is in communion with the Church of Sweden through the 1992 Porvoo Common Statement.
Writing to the Archbishop of Uppsala on behalf of the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England, the Rt. Rev. Christopher Hill on behalf of the Council for Christian Unity and the Rt. Rev. John Hind on behalf of the Faith and Order Advisory Group said the adoption of gay marriage by the Swedish church would be “problematic.”
The “teaching and discipline” of the Anglican Communion was that “it is not right either to bless same-sex sexual relationships or to ordain those who are involved in them,” the Archbishops’ Council said on June 26, 2009.
Gay marriage was a “fundamental re-definition of marriage and of basic Christian anthropology.” Making marriage gender neutral was “at odds with the Biblical teaching about the significance of God’s creation of human beings as male and female as this has been received by the Church of England and by the Catholic tradition in general,” the bishops said.
The adoption of gay marriage by the Swedes would also have “immediate and negative ecumenical consequences” and would “lead to the impairment of the relationships” with “particular limitations of the inter-changeability of ordained ministry.”
However, traditionalists in the Kyrkomötet siad the outcome of the gay marriage vote was all but certain due to the politicized nature of its general synod.
“The Church of Sweden is permeated by the same political parties that constitute the parliament. The majority of the members of the Church of Sweden Governing Body have party labels, as have those who are members of the Church of Sweden General Synod, and they usually follow their party lines on decisive issues,” Pastor Kalin said.
In the Church of Sweden, “theology has been transformed into an ideology and the church’s own institutions happily provide theological post-constructions to the latest opinions and whims of the world,” he said.
Pastor Kalin said that “for the church, this is devastating” as the “faith, confession and teaching of the Church of Sweden” rested “on political majorities or on the currently fancy views of the world.”
The proposed changes will likely take the form of the modification of the marriage liturgy, replacing “man and wife” with “lawfully wedded spouses” for same-sex couples and follows upon the 2005 vote to amend the title of Chapter 23 of its prayer book, from “Marriage” to “Marriage and Blessings” to permit blessing of same-sex civil unions. Pastors will be permitted the option of refusing to perform same-sex marriages; however, traditionalists worry that this conscious clause will be abrogated in future sessions of the synod as past guarantees respecting the conscious of those opposed to women clergy were rescinded.
Dioceses can adopt the Covenant: CEN 10.09.09 p 5. October 23, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Covenant, Archbishop of Canterbury, Central Florida, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
Dioceses and other ecclesial bodies may endorse the Anglican Covenant, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams said this week, but noted the current process is geared toward adoption of an inter-Anglican agreement by the provinces of the Anglican Communion.
In a Sept 28 letter to the Bishop of Central Florida, the Rt. Rev. John W. Howe, Dr. Williams welcomed Central Florida’s endorsement of the first three sections of the Anglican Covenant.
On Sept 17 the Diocesan Board and Standing Committee affirmed the first three sections of the Ridley Cambridge Draft of the Covenant and asked Dr. Williams to “outline and implement a process by which individual Dioceses, and even parishes, could become members of the Anglican Covenant, even in cases where their Provincial or Diocesan authorities decline to do so.”
Dr. Williams responded that “as a matter of constitutional fact, the ACC can only offer the Covenant for ‘adoption’ to its own constituent bodies, (the provinces).”
“But I see no objection to a diocese resolving less formally on an ‘endorsement’ of the Covenant,” he said. Such an action would not have an “institutional effect” but “would be a clear declaration of intent to live within the agreed terms of the Communion’s life and so would undoubtedly positively affect a diocese’s pastoral and sacramental relations” with the wider communion, he wrote.
A spokesman for the Archbishop of Canterbury declined to comment, saying it was their policy not to discuss private correspondence. However, the Anglican Communion Institute—whose members include Bishop Howe and Dr. Ephraim Radner—a member of the Covenant Design Grooup—noted that Dr. Williams was not articulating any new policies in the letter.
The ACI stated it was “in complete agreement with the Archbishop of Canterbury that endorsement of the Covenant by dioceses is a way to begin to preserve and restore “pastoral and sacramental relations with the rest of the Communion.”
They noted formal endorsement and adoption of the Covenant was a matter “committed to the ‘constitutional procedures’ of the member churches” of the Anglican Communion. Given the Episcopal Church’s “unique polity, those procedures will inevitably require consideration and agreement or rejection by [its] dioceses.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury was aware that the “adoption of the Covenant works best at the provincial level,” the ACI said. However, Dr. Williams “does not prejudge whether dioceses can adopt if a province does not because that would be to prejudge the decision of provinces to commit to the accountability demanded by the Covenant as well as the character of the Covenant in its completed form,” they said.
Samoa devastated by earthquate, tsunami: CEN 10.09.09 p 5. October 23, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand & Polynesia, Church of England Newspaper, Disaster Relief.comments closed
An earthquake and tsunami in the Central Pacific has devastated the southern coast of Samoa. On Sept 30 at 1748 GMT the 8.3-magnitude earthquake located 120 miles south of the Samoan capital of Apia spawned a 15 feet high tidal wave that inundated the coast. The earthquake and resulting tsunami left 135 dead and eight missing in Samoa, 32 dead in American Samoa and nine dead in Tonga.
About 20 villages on Samoa’s southern coast of the main island of Upolu are thought to have been leveled, while popular beachside resorts have been wiped out. Roads, power lines and telecommunications have been badly damaged.
Archdeacon Taimalelagi Fagamalama Tuatagaloa-Leota, a Samoan national living in New Zealand reported that one of her sons was in a van that was swept out to sea by the tsunami and was critically injured and is in an Apia hospital, while one of the archdeacon’s daughters-in-law lost at least 10 members of her family.
Her home village, Poutasi, on the southern coast of Upolu, “looks like it’s been bombed,” she told Anglican Taonga.
Mixed results in latest US Court proceedings: CEN 10.09.09 p 7. October 23, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Fort Worth, Property Litigation, San Joaquin.comments closed
State courts in Texas and California have handed down interim rulings in the Dioceses of Fort Worth and San Joaquin cases. While partisans for both sides can claim a win from the mixed bag of rulings in the dispute over whether dioceses may secede from the Episcopal Church, the courts appear to be pulling back from accepting at face value the arguments of the national church that canon law alone should govern church property disputes.
On Oct 2, Texas 141st District Court Judge John Chupp rejected a motion from Bishop Jack Iker and the Diocese of Fort Worth asking that he reconsider last month’s ruling in the bitterly contested battle over the name, corporate seal and assets of the Diocese of Fort Worth. On Sept 16 the judge told the court he saw no reason why a diocese could not withdraw from the Episcopal Church.
Bishop Chupp however, ruled that Bishop Gulick’s attorneys could not represent Bishop Iker’s Diocese or its Corporation, a Texas not for profit association founded in 1983 when the diocese was formed. But he refused to strike the loyalists’ pleadings even though their attorneys stated they were acting on behalf of the 1983 association.
A motion continuing the proceedings until January was approved. In a statement posted on its website the loyalist faction stated they did not oppose the motion for the continuance, but said that none of their attorneys “has ever claimed” that they represented Bishop Iker.
However, at last week’s hearing the judge granted a third motion filed by Bishop Iker that joined Bishop Gulick and the chancellor and officers of the loyalist faction as defendants in the proceedings. The effect of this motion will be that Bishop Gulick and the loyalist group will have to prove they were lawfully elected to the positions they claim to hold in the Diocese of Fort Worth and have the legal right to hold themselves out as the Bishop and officers of the Texas not for profit association named “the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth.”
In California, on Sept 22 the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Word accepted the petition for review filed by Bishop John-David Schofield and the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin of July 21 Fresno Superior Court ruling granting summary judgment in favor of Bishop Jerry Lamb and the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin.
Fresno Judge Adolfo Corona argued dioceses could not leave the Episcopal Church, as it was a “hierarchical church” where parishes are subunits of dioceses and dioceses are subunits of the national church. “In a hierarchical church, an individual local congregation that affiliates with the national church body becomes a member of a much larger and more important religious organization, under its government and control, and bound by its orders and judgments,” he said.
Although other issues remained outstanding and were set down for trial in 2010, the Appellate Court took the unusual step of agreeing to intervene in the case before the trial court had concluded its deliberations.
After Bishop Schofield filed his petition, the Appeals court asked Bishop Lamb to file an informal response. Bishop Schofield was then asked to file a reply by Oct 5. However, after reading Bishop Lamb’s brief, the Fifth District Court of Appeals declined to wait for Bishop Schofield to file his response and ordered Bishop Lamb to submit a formal response to the petition.
The effect of the ruling is to suspend the trial court’s judgment pending a full hearing before the Court of Appeals, which may reject or affirm all or part of the trial court’s decision, or set it down for further deliberations.
Bishop caught in prostitution sting in USA: CEN 10.09.09 p 8. October 23, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of Nigeria, Crime, Southern Ohio.comments closed
A former Nigerian bishop serving in the Episcopal Church has been arrested for soliciting the services of a prostitute.
On Oct 1 the Rt. Rev. Benjamin Omosebi was arrested by police in Ohio for offering $15 to have sexual relations with a prostitute. He was released from jail shortly after posting bond and will appear before a magistrate on the misdemeanor charge on Oct 16.
A spokesman for the Diocese of Southern Ohio, Richelle Thompson, told The Church of England Newspaper that Bishop Omosebi held a license to officiate as a supply priest in the diocese. The license had been suspended pending the judicial proceedings, Ms. Thompson said. However, for several years Bishop Omosebi had conducted Episcopal visitations on behalf of the Bishop of Southern Ohio across the diocese.
A spokesman for Convocation of Anglican Churches in North America (CANA) told CEN Bishop Omosebi left the Church of Nigeria in 1998 when he immigrated to the United States and was not currently affiliated with CANA or the Church of Nigeria. From 1990 to 1998 Bishop Omosebi served as Bishop of Kano in Nigeria’s Plateau State.
Spokesmen for the Church of Nigeria in Abuja declined to comment on the allegations.
The ‘knicker vicar’ vows to carry on: CEN 10.09.09 p 8. October 23, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand & Polynesia, Church of England Newspaper, Farming.comments closed
New Zealand’s ‘knicker vicar’ has made his last panty run.
The Rev. Gary Husband, vicar of St Andrew’s Church in Inglewood in the Diocese of Waikato gained world attention in 2006 after a crisis in women’s underpants was exposed in his rural North Island parish.
After the village’s only clothing store closed, “someone came up with the point that it was a bit difficult that ladies essentials were not able to be bought in Inglewood,” Mr. Husband told TV New Zealand.
He organized a “knickers run” where church volunteers would drive the elderly and those without transport to the nearby city of New Plymouth to shop.
Dubbed the “knicker-vicar” by New Zealand’s press, Mr. Husband last week took up the post of minister of Piopio, telling the New Zealand Herald “I haven’t thought much about it but there is no lingerie store, I know that” in his new parish.
“I’m sure God will give me plenty of ideas for Piopio very soon,” Mr. Husband said.
However, the issue was “about rural communities not being able to get their essentials in the community,” Mr. Husband said in 2006. Like portions of the UK, the changing face of the countryside in New Zealand, which has seen banks, shops, post offices and churches close in many small communities, coupled with governmental indifference, has stressed community life.
Mr. Husband said he enjoyed the notoriety of being the knicker vicar as it gave him an opportunity to talk about Jesus with people. “But I’m proudest that God asked me to be here and that I was able to give a bit of myself to the church and the people,” he said of his work in Inglewood.
Archbishop of Canterbury accused of ‘green hypocrisy’: CEN 10.23.09 p 5. October 22, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Environment.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Archbishop of Canterbury was accused in Parliament last week of hypocrisy, for promoting agricultural self-sufficiency while at the same time overseeing the sale of church farm land for suburban development. During the House of Commons question time on Oct 15, the member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, Mr Nick Gibb (Con) asked Second Church Estates Commissioner Sir Stuart Bell the size of the church’s agricultural holdings. Sir Stuart responded the Church Commissioners hold over “109,000 acres of English farmland, spread across 44 estates and over 300 farms.” |
|
Mr Gibb stated in response that Dr Williams “wants more food to be grown locally and has attacked organisations driven solely by the desire to make money. Is it not therefore paradoxical that the Church Commissioners, which he chairs, wants to concrete over 3,000 acres of prime agricultural land to the west of Chalcraft lane in my constituency?
“When challenged, the Commissioners say they want to build on that land because they are obliged to maximise the amount of money they make. If the Archbishop of Canterbury were a politician, would it not be fair to say that he says one thing but does another?” Mr Gibbs said.
The Church Commissioners have submitted plans for the development of up to 2,000 homes on 370 acres of farmland near Bognor Regis in order to “meet local housing needs.”
On Oct 14 Dr Williams delivered a lecture at Southwark Cathedral calling for people to rediscover their responsibility for the environment and that engaging in “apparently small-scale action” in “personal habits and local possibilities” was vital to the nation’s health. “When we believe in transformation at the local and personal level, we are laying the surest foundations for change at the national and international level,” Dr Williams said.
Mr Gibbs said this inconsistency of Dr Williams was worrying, and asked Sir Stuart, “if the Archbishop of Canterbury were a politician, would it not be fair to say that he says one thing but does another?”
The Second Church Estates Commissioner responded that it was “always pleasant when the Archbishop of Canterbury is cited in the House of Commons. I am sure that he does not wish to be a politician and I would urge him not to be one.” This brought some members to their feet with shouts that “he is a Member” and “shame.”
Sir Stuart responded “the archbishop is a Member of the House of Commons now, is he?,” which prompted shouts “he is in the Lords.”
Sir Stuart conceded “he is a Member in Parliament,” but noted he was “being diverted” from the matter at hand, and said “we have a legal duty to our beneficiaries. On this occasion, we accept that we have met some controversy in his constituency, but we have not to be distracted from our fiduciary duty.”
Sir Stuart turned to the House and said as the members were “in an enlightened mood, may I cite the scriptures? In Ezekiel, it states: ‘In controversy they shall stand in judgment…and they shall keep my laws and statutes’.”
“We propose to keep the laws and statutes of Parliament that have been conferred upon the Church Commissioners,” he said.
Anger over former president’s acquital: CEN 10.16.09 p 8. October 22, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of Central Africa, Corruption.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Church leaders in Zambia have denounced their government’s decision not to pursue an appeal against the acquittal of former President Frederick Chiluba on charges of public corruption. The Bishop of Central Zambia, the Rt Rev Derek Kamukwamba, has urged Zambians to lend their voices to a national protest campaign mounted by civil and religious groups that calls on the government of President Rupert Banda to appeal the verdict. For democracy and the rule of law to be preserved it was necessary the appeals process “be exhausted and there should be no shortcuts,” Bishop Kamukwamba told the Zambia Post on Oct 2. “We need to move forward until we reach the last stage to the highest court.” |
 |
On Aug 17 a criminal court acquitted Mr Chiluba of corruption charges, finding that the government had not proven its case that the money that financed the diminutive president’s lavish lifestyle was stolen from state coffers.
The ruling came in sharp contrast to the verdict of a 2007 civil trial in London, where a court ordered the five-foot-tall president to repay £23 million to the Zambian government. Evidence presented in the London trial included testimony the former president spent more than £300,000 at one tailor, paying his bills with suitcases filled with cash.
In his summing up in 2007, Mr Justice Peter Smith said Mr Chiluba should be “ashamed” for having abused his office. However, the Zambian court held that Mr Chiluba’s London bank account held millions of pounds in gifts for the former president, and that there was no convincing evidence the money had been diverted from the state treasury.
A former bus conductor, Mr Chiluba was elected president in 1991, defeating Kenneth Kaunda the country’s independence leader, in one of Africa’s first multi-party elections. After leaving office in 2001, his handpicked successor, Levy Mwanawasa, with British backing began an anti-corruption drive that eventually led to the stripping of Mr Chiluba’s presidential immunity from prosecution.
On Aug 27, 2009 the director of the country’s anti-corruption task force Maxwell Nkole was sacked after he urged the government of President Banda not to interfere in with prosecutor’s plans to launch an appeal. Although Mr Chiluba was acquitted, his co-defendants were found guilty of corruption. The following day the government blocked prosecutors from pursuing an appeal.
The decision not to pursue Mr. Chiluba prompted harsh comments from the head of Britain’s Department for International Development (DfID)’s Zambia office, Mike Hammond. He told government leaders they should “to continue to be clear that you are ready to confront corruption no matter who is involved and that the policy of zero tolerance means just that.”
The general secretary of the Council of Churches of Zambia Susan Matale, said: “We’re totally confused and taken aback about the withdrawal of the appeal… the state should let the due process of the law go all the way to its logical conclusion.”
Last week Bishop Kamukwamba said that blocking the appeal raised questions about the government’s motives. “The desire is that the only institution that can clear the air should be allowed to do so,” he said.
The DFID has given more than £1 million to fund Zambia’s Task Force on Corruption, whose mandate was to investigate public corruption in the Chiluba administration.
Episcopal Church reluctant to release Sunday attendance figures: CEN 10.16.09 p 6. October 20, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, The Episcopal Church.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Episcopal Church’s membership and Sunday attendance statistics for 2008 have been distributed to members of its national Executive Council, but the church has declined to release the numbers to the public. Average Sunday attendance grew slowly from 1997 to 2002 in the American Episcopal Church, rising from 841,445 to 846,640. However in the five years following the consecration of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire and an intensification of the church’s internal divisions, attendance has declined by 14 per cent to 727,822. |
 |
However, some liberal leaders have claimed the decline has been stemmed. Speaking to the New York Times at the July 2009 General Convention, Bishop Robinson said his diocese was bucking national trends and had grown, and numbered “15,000 people.”
“We have received so many Roman Catholics and young families,” he said, “particularly families who are saying, ‘We don’t want to raise our daughters in a church that doesn’t value young people’,” such that the diocese “grew by three per cent last year.”
Questioned at a press conference at the close of the autumn Executive Council meeting, the church’s two presiding officers declined to speak to the issue. The President of the House of Deputies, Mrs Bonnie Anderson told reporters that the statistics had been “circulated to the Executive Council.” However, “we’re not going to be talking about those per se. Our agenda’s pretty full and we’ll probably be taking those up in the future at our next meeting,” she explained. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori stated she was “not able to comment” on what the numbers were, as “I don’t have it in my head.”
Mrs Anderson said the church would be posting the information once it had been “approved.” Charts showing attendance and membership trends for dioceses and parishes were released by the church the following day, but statistical reports have yet to be made public.
Concern over Irish Church School Funding: CEN 10.09.09 p 6. October 17, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of Ireland, Education.comments closed
| First printed in The Church of England Newspaper.
Anglican leaders in the Republic of Ireland have accused the government of discrimination, amidst fears that a cut in state funding for Protestant schools will force students out of the voluntary sector. In a statement printed in the Irish Times on Oct 5, the former Archdeacon of Dublin, the Ven Gordon Linney charged the government’s 2009 budget “singled out the Protestant secondary school sector for damaging treatment by removing the majority of our schools from the free education scheme. Funding and benefits were withdrawn without notice on top of other cuts imposed across the education sector.” |
 |
The government’s treatment of Catholic and Protestant schools was unequal, Archdeacon Linney said, and “our schools were hit harder than any others.” While the state supports Catholic and Protestant pupils on an equal per capita basis, “what is unfair and discriminatory is the fact that Catholic children have additional supports in their schools through various grants and a much better teacher-pupil ratio,” he said.
In 1969 the Irish government agreed to support voluntary Protestant schools, providing grants and teacher salaries at the same rate as for Catholic schools. The government’s education budget, Anglican leaders have warned, will upset this balance.
In his address to the Clogher Synod on Sept 27 Bishop Michael Jackson said the budget cuts “hit very hard at an agreement which had, since the foundation of the State, enabled Protestant people in the Republic of Ireland to provide and to experience education in accordance with the Protestant ethos.”
“One fell administrative swoop has cut at the root of this and the devastation of its impact raises serious and ongoing questions about respect for Protestant identity as an interwoven component in national identity,” he said.
In a Sept 29 statement, the House of Bishops of the Church of Ireland voiced its concern over the “failure of government to perceive the distinctive needs of the Protestant minority, not least in the provision of education for a dispersed community which is certainly not characterised by its desire for any kind of educational elitism.”
Church of Ireland schools served Protestants, Catholics as well as those from other faiths or of no faith, they said. However, a “faith-based education often leads to a fruitful outcome in terms of the holistic needs of the child. In a rushed and distracted world, space needs to be made for responding to the presence and the mystery of God,” they said.
“We wish to affirm the importance of equality of opportunity and provision within education,” the bishops said, but also wanted to “express particular concern about those forms of selective intake which may produce academic excellence for some, but which in the long term may foment in others a sense of failure and injustice” arising from the government’s education budget.
Bishop Jackson told the Clogher synod it was “not our wish either to prop up the past or to live in the past” by supporting church schools. “It is our concern, in fulfilling educational aspirations for the children and young people in our care, to make through them an open-ended contribution to public life and active citizenship. Our capacity to do so has been seriously endangered and needs to be safeguarded,” he said.
Clergy allowed to leave Pittsburgh: CEN 10.09.09 p 7. October 17, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Pittsburgh.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Pittsburgh clergy who wish to transfer from the Episcopal Church to the Anglican Church in North America will be permitted to leave the diocese without being deposed, the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Church affiliated Diocese of Pittsburgh have declared. The Oct 5 decision by the “Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church” to allow clergy of the “Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh (Anglican Communion)” the opportunity to withdraw from the church without legal sanction stands in contrast to the recent actions in the Dioceses of San Joaquin and Quincy, where clergy who seceded with the dioceses from the Episcopal Church have been defrocked. |
 |
In a letter from the loyalist Standing Committee clergy are asked to state whether they wish to remain active in the Episcopal Church or be released. “We’re doing this for pastoral reasons,” Standing Committee president, the Rev James Simons, said. “We do not want to see our priestly brothers and sisters deposed.”
In a statement released on the loyalist diocese’s website, the Standing Committee said it had “initiated the release on its own,” but consulted with Bishop Kenneth Price, who has been nominated to become the diocese’s provisional bishop.
Bishop Price stated: “As the Standing Committee worked through this necessary action, I was painfully aware that they were not just talking about a list of clergy, but friends of long standing. For this reason I am grateful the canons provide this ‘softer’ method of allowing those who wish to depart from the Episcopal Church to do so legally without us making a judgment on their ordination.”
“This does not affect your ordination, which you may register with whatever entity you choose,” the Standing Committee said.
In the Episcopal Church a deposition removes a priest or deacon from Holy Orders, while a release ends a clergyman’s licence to officiate in the Episcopal Church.
On Sept 22 the secessionist Diocese of Quincy denounced the decision by the loyalist faction of the central Illinois diocese under provisional Bishop John Buchanan to depose seven priests, and inhibit 34 others — who will soon be deposed unless they recant their secession.
The president of the standing committee, Fr John Spencer said: “The supposed inhibitions and depositions of our clergy have no bearing on those clergy, or on their ministries, since our diocese is no longer under the authority of the Episcopal Church.”
In late August, Bishop Buchanan wrote to seven priests, including Fr Spencer, accepting their “renunciation of the ordained ministry” and declared they were deprived of all the authority conveyed in ordination. “We did leave the Episcopal Church,” Fr Spencer said, “but we didn’t renounce our ordination vows, or abandon our ministries.”
Bishop faces clergy protests in South Africa: CEN 10.09.09 p 7. October 17, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Protesters disrupted the synod meeting of the Diocese of Mthatha in South Africa last week, shouting down the bishop as he gave his charge to the diocese. Formerly known as the Diocese of St John’s, Kaffraria, in 2006 the diocese in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province was renamed after its see city, Umtata or Mthatha. Meeting at the Church of St John the Evangelist on Sept 15 in Umtata for the 49th session of synod, members of a group identified by the local press as the “Concerned Anglicans Forum” called for the bishop to resign. |
 |
As Bishop Sitembele Mzamane rose to give his charge, the Rev Jongikhaya Sikhuni stood and attempted to hand the bishop a petition alleging malfeasance and misconduct in his administration of diocesan finances as outlined in a report circulated to the synod.
The bishop asked Fr Sikhuni to return to his seat, prompting the priest’s supporters to rise and enter the aisles of the church to dance and ululate. The bishop returned to his speech and attempted to talk over the singing. Police were summoned and order restored.
After the service Bishop Mzamane told reporters the charges of misconduct levelled by the disgruntled clergy were untrue. The Concerned Anglicans Forum is understood to have forwarded their complaints to the metropolitan archbishop Thabo Makgoba for review.
Church of England facing $70 million loss: CEN 10.23.09 p 5. October 15, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Church of England appears set to take a $70 million loss in the US real estate market, losing its entire investment in New York City’s Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village apartment complex. On Oct 14 the Wall Street Journal reported the partnership venture led by Tishman Speyer Properties that purchased the 56-building, 11,000-unit residential complex in lower Manhattan was in danger of default. As of the end of September, the Journal reported, the partnership had $33.7 million left of $400 million in interest reserves to service its debt. With a ‘burn rate’ of $16 million per month, real estate analysts predict the project will be in default by year’s end. |
 |
At the height of the Manhattan property market, the Church Commissioners of the Church of England invested $70 million as equity partners in the project, alongside the California Public Employees Retirement System which invested $500 million, and the Florida State Board of Administration which committed $250 million to the deal.
Tishman Speyer Properties purchased the complex for $5.4 billion in 2006. The property is now thought to be worth $2.1 billion. Income from the property was projected to reach $336 million per year by 2011, but is currently bringing in only $139 million.
Tishman Speyer Properties did not respond to Religious Intelligence’s requests for comments, however a spokesman for the Church Commissioners said: “I can confirm that we are invested in this fund as part of a well diversified domestic and global indirect property portfolio. The Commissioners manage a long-term fund, so we will continue to work with our portfolio managers.”
Florida’s pension fund currently values its $250 million investment in the project at zero, however, the spokesman for the Church Commissioners told Religious Intelligence that for reasons of commercial confidentiality, it could not give a current valuation of its investment.
The sprawling collection of red brick apartment buildings, built immediately after the Second World War covers 80 acres of land on the East Side of Lower Manhattan, stretching from First Avenue to Avenue C, between14th and 23rd Streets. Current rents for the property range from $2850 for a one bedroom apartment to $7000 for a five bedroom apartment.
For 2008, the Church Commissioners reported a 22 per cent or £1.2 billion loss in asset value, due to the global financial collapse. In his Sept 16, 2009 report on the first two quarters of 2009, First Church Estates Commissioner Andreas Whittam Smith reported that equities rallied in the first two months of the second quarter as investors grew more confident, bringing major stock markets back to levels similar to those at the end of 2008.
The Commissioners’ UK equities “returned 12.2 per cent in the second quarter, ahead of the 10.9 per cent benchmark,” while the “picture with real estate was mixed.”
The UK commercial property markets “are arguably bottoming out following capital value falls of 44 per cent since the July 2007 peak,” Mr. Whittam Smith said. In the late 1980s and early 1990s speculation in London properties led to an £800m loss for the Church Commissioners.
Australian priest guilty of sexual abuse: CEN 10.09.09 p 7. October 13, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Abuse, Anglican Church of Australia, Church of England Newspaper, Traditional Anglican Communion.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
A former priest of the Diocese of Adelaide has been found guilty of carnal knowledge with an altar boy. Wilfred Edwin Dennis was found guilty on Oct 1 of sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy between October 1975 and January 1977. He was acquitted, however, on three counts of indecent assault and one count of gross indecency for allegedly having molested a second 10-year-old altar boy between 1972 and 1974. |
 |
The crimes came to light in 2002 when one of the victims contacted Dennis demanding compensation. Dennis, who had by that time quit the Anglican Church of Australia over the issue of women priests to join the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), informed his superior, Archbishop John Hepworth, of the threatening letter.
Asked if the allegations were true, Dennis admitted they were, and added that he had molested 41 other boys. Archbishop Hepworth contacted the police to report the crimes and also helped Dennis engage a lawyer.
In his summing up, Judge Sydney Tilmouth said Dennis’ testimony had been “bizarre” and “unconvincing.” Sentencing will take place in November.
On Oct 24, 2008, 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 then-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.
Monsoon devastates South India: CEN 10.09.09 p 7. October 13, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of South India, Disaster Relief.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Monsoon rains have led to widespread flooding in southern India, with at least 125 people reported drowned following four days of torrential rain. The Church of South India’s Bishop in Nandyal reports the Thungabadra and Krishna rivers have breached their banks in the south central city of Kurnool with floodwaters 10 feet high. “Our clergy and the congregation members living in the surrounding area of the [central] church are taking shelter in the balcony of the church. And the news is that the situation may worsen further,” the bishop in a letter released on Oct 2 by Anglican Mainstream. |
 |
“People are running to higher grounds and are crying for help,” the bishop said, noting “there is a sense of helplessness and uncertainty.” Wire service reports state 25,000 people have been trapped by the rising floodwaters in Kurnool alone.
Much of Southern India’s road and rail network has been shut down and in Maharashtra, the national highway between Bombay and Goa was closed by the flooding.
Bishop Lawrence stated “we have just concluded the meeting of all the leaders of the diocese to prepare for relief work with supply of food, water and shelter in our schools hostels and church buildings.
“We also are conducting prayers of intercession and help for the greatest disaster. The situation is grave with raising level of water of rivers canals and tanks. This is the first of its kind we are appealing for your prayers,” he stated.
Further rains are expected in the coming days, hampering rescue efforts mounted by the Indian military.
Pittsburgh’s ACNA clergy will not be defrocked: CEN 10.09.09 p 8. October 13, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Pittsburgh, Quincy.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Pittsburgh clergy who wish to transfer from the Episcopal Church to the Anglican Church in North America will be permitted to leave the diocese without being deposed, the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Church affiliated Diocese of Pittsburgh have declared. The Oct 5 decision by the “Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church” to allow clergy of the “Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh (Anglican Communion)” the opportunity to withdraw from the church without legal sanction stands in contrast to the recent actions in the Dioceses of San Joaquin and Quincy, where clergy who seceded with the dioceses from the Episcopal Church have been defrocked. |
|
In a letter from the loyalist Standing Committee clergy are asked to state whether they wish to remain active in the Episcopal Church or be released. “We’re doing this for pastoral reasons,” Standing Committee president, the Rev James Simons, said. “We do not want to see our priestly brothers and sisters deposed.”
In a statement released on the loyalist diocese’s website, the Standing Committee said it had “initiated the release on its own,” but consulted with Bishop Kenneth Price, who has been nominated to become the diocese’s provisional bishop.
Bishop Price stated: “As the Standing Committee worked through this necessary action, I was painfully aware that they were not just talking about a list of clergy, but friends of long standing. For this reason I am grateful the canons provide this ‘softer’ method of allowing those who wish to depart from the Episcopal Church to do so legally without us making a judgment on their ordination.”
“This does not affect your ordination, which you may register with whatever entity you choose,” the Standing Committee said.
In the Episcopal Church a deposition removes a priest or deacon from Holy Orders, while a release ends a clergyman’s licence to officiate in the Episcopal Church.
On Sept 22 the secessionist Diocese of Quincy denounced the decision by the loyalist faction of the central Illinois diocese under provisional Bishop John Buchanan to depose seven priests, and inhibit 34 others — who will soon be deposed unless they recant their secession.
The president of the standing committee, Fr John Spencer said: “The supposed inhibitions and depositions of our clergy have no bearing on those clergy, or on their ministries, since our diocese is no longer under the authority of the Episcopal Church.”
In late August, Bishop Buchanan wrote to seven priests, including Fr Spencer, accepting their “renunciation of the ordained ministry” and declared they were deprived of all the authority conveyed in ordination.
“We did leave the Episcopal Church,” Fr Spencer said, “but we didn’t renounce our ordination vows, or abandon our ministries.”
Archbishop urges peace in Bermuda: CEN 10.09.09 p 6. October 11, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Archbishop of York, Bermuda, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
The Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu has called upon the people of Bermuda to embrace a culture of forgiveness in world awash in violence.
Preaching at Holy Trinity Cathedral and to an open air congregation at the island’s Arboretum in Devonshire parish, Dr. Sentamu was the principal speaker for a series of celebrations marking the 400th anniversary of the church in Bermuda, entitled Faith Venture 2009. (On July 25, 1609 the Sea Venture, an English merchant ship sailing for Jamestown was wrecked on Bermuda, marking the first landing on the island.)
In his evening sermon, Dr. Sentamu spoke of the war and violence dividing mankind. “You know friends, child soldiers carry and use AK45′s, you know arms manufacturers make millions out of this misery and computer games teach children hideous violence on screen, giving young people the thrill of violence supposedly without its spills,” he said.
“If only, Jesus cried over Jerusalem, these people knew the way to real peace. Friends I have an amazing message, the message of forgiveness; the message of reconciliation is not an easy one, as they can tell us in South Africa, or Congo, or Northern Ireland, but friends it works.”
“Forgiveness of sins is at the heart of the gospel and for God’s greatest gift within each one of us is forgiveness for past sins, new life in the present and then hope for the future.”
“Here in Bermuda as in all parts of the world should we not be praying for a fresh wave of reconciliation,” Dr. Sentamu asked.
Bermuda welcomes Dr. Sentamu: CEN 10.02.09 p 8. October 11, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Archbishop of York, Bermuda, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
The Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu will travel to Bermuda this week to lead festivities celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Anglican Church on the Atlantic island.
The Bishop of Bermuda, the Rt. Rev. Patrick White said “we are elated at the Archbishop’s impending visit. He is known for his energy and willingness to be on the front line in the fight for justice.”
Dr. Sentamu will deliver two public lectures during his tour of Bermuda, and is expeted to speak on the issues of racial reconciliation and unity. On Oct 4, he will preach at Holy Trinity Cathedral at the anniversary celebration service and later that day at the island’s Arboretum in an open air service.
Celebrations as new diocese formed in South Africa: CEN 10.09.09 p 8. October 10, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The 27st diocese of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa was inaugurated last week at a ceremony in Queenstown in the Eastern Cape Province. Cape Town Archbishop Thabo Makgoba inaugurated the Diocese of Ukhahlamba on Oct 3 at a ceremony at Queen’s College in Queenstown. The new diocese was formed from the northern half of the Diocese of Grahamstown and encompasses a largely rural area around the Drakensburg mountain range. In March 2007 the Grahamstown synod approved the division of the diocese and on Jan 1, 2009 a vicar general, the Rev. Lawrence Ndzwana, was appointed by Grahamstown Bishop Ebenezer Ntlali to oversee the region. |
|
Supreme Court declines California case: CEN 10.09.09 p 7. October 10, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Los Angeles, Property Litigation.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The US Supreme Court has denied the petition of St James Church, Newport Beach, California to hear its appeal of a California Supreme Court ruling on its property suit with the Diocese of Los Angeles. On Oct 5 the Supreme Court announced it would not hear the St James case along with 8,000 other cases seeking review. Historically the Washington-based US Supreme Court will hear only one percent of the cases submitted to it for review. |
 |
Monday’s decision comes as a blow for the parish and other breakaway congregations, which had hoped the US Supreme Court would settle contradictory state court rulings on the validity of the Episcopal Church’s Dennis Canon — the 1979 property rule that states parish property is held in trust for the diocese and national church.
The effect of the denial of the writ of certiorari will be to send the case back to the Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, California for litigation.
In a statement released by the parish, the rector of St James, the Rev Richard Crocker stated that while he was disappointed with the court’s decision, “our battle is far from over.”
Parish attorney John Eastman stated the Supreme Court “normally considers only cases that are final, so it is not surprising that the Court decided to wait until further developments in this case are completed.”
He added that the “decision today does not foreclose review down the road once a full trial of the matter and subsequent appeals in the California Courts have run their course.”
The Bishop of Los Angeles said the diocese “greatly appreciates the action and insight of the US Supreme Court in declining to hear the case.” Bishop J Jon Bruno stated the US Supreme Court action “follows the strong and comprehensive opinions issued by the California Court of Appeal and affirmed by the state Supreme Court.
“The Episcopal Church continues to live out its traditional mission of welcoming people who hold a diversity of opinion while remaining united in common prayer,” he added.
In its petition for review, the parish asked the US Supreme Court to adjudicate whether the California Supreme Court violated the US Constitution’s Establishment and Free Exercise clauses. They argued that by giving the Episcopal Church preferential treatment in property disputes by permitting it to impose trusts on parish property in which it had no ownership interest by virtue of its status as a “hierarchical” church, California was favoring the Episcopal Church above other churches.
In its brief the Diocese of Los Angeles argued the court should reject the petition “because trial court proceedings remain ongoing and no final judgment will be entered until those proceedings have run their course.” The US Supreme Court offered no reason for denying the appeal.
ANC blamed for involvement in shanty town attack: CEN 10.02.09 p 7. October 8, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Anglican Bishop of Natal has charged the African National Congress (ANC) of complicity on the attack on a Durban shantytown by a local militia, accusing the ANC of using the same tactics to stifle dissent as the former apartheid regime. Two people were killed and a dozen injured on Sept 26 when 40 men, armed with guns, assegais and knobkerries, attacked the shantytown along Kennedy Road as a youth camp sponsored by Abahlali base Mjondolo movement, a shack-dwellers’ organization, was underway. |
 |
Community and church leaders have denounced the violence, and have blamed property developers linked with the African National Congress (ANC) in part for the violence. KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman Willies Mchunu said those responsible would be tracked down and arrested and the area would be placed under a police watch.
“We condemn the killing of our people. It is absurd for anyone to impose an illegal curfew on residents,” Mchunu told the SAPA news agency.
Bishop Ruben Phillip said the charges of ANC complicity with the violence that had driven the Abahlali base Mjondolo leaders and “hundreds of families out of the settlement” was a “profound disgrace to our democracy.”
“The fact that the police have systematically failed to act against this militia while instead arresting the victims of their violence and destruction is cause for the gravest concern,” he said, adding there were “credible claims that this militia has acted with the support of the local ANC structures. This, also, is cause for the most profound concern.”
He likened the attacks on the shantytowns to the government-sponsored violence of the apartheid era.
“Once again people have been beaten, had their homes destroyed, been driven from their community and killed for their political views and practices. Once again an armed minority have used violence to implement a ban on a democratic organisation favoured by a majority. Once again there is just cause for deep concern about the role of the police.
“Once again we in the churches are looking for safe houses for activists, accommodation for political refugees who have fled with nothing more than the clothes on their backs, doctors for the injured and lawyers for the jailed. Horrors that we all believed to have been buried in our past now stalk the present,” the bishop charged.
The government’s conduct was “unacceptable,” he said, and called for political leaders to “distance themselves” from the actions of the militia” and “call party members who have been complicit with this militia to account.”
All of the residents of the Kennedy Road settlement had the “same right to democratic practices as everywhere else and everyone else in South Africa. This includes the right to dissent,” Bishop Phillip said.
Uganda’s future depends on addressing unrest, says Archbishop: CEN 10.09.09 p 6. October 8, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of Uganda, Politics.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Unless Uganda begins to address the poverty, ethnic divisions and social unrest in its midst, the country’s future will be blighted, Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda has warned. Police report that 24 people died in two days of rioting in and around Kampala that began on Sept 10 after the government forbade King Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II, the leader of Uganda’s largest ethnic group, the Baganda, from touring the Kayunga region near Kampala. |
 |
Kayunga is a part of the Baganda kingdom, however, only a minority of its residents are Baganda. The government forbade the king from visiting the region after it said he declined to meet with separatist groups.
The government ban angered militant Baganda leaders who launched two days of rioting directed against the government.
In a statement released last week by Archbishop Orombi, who was outside of the capital and unable to return while the violence raged, the Ugandan church leader said: “The events of last week when riots broke out in different parts of the central region, when lives were lost, property destroyed and civic life paralysed all call on us to reflect deeply on how we as a nation came to this point and how we shall move forward.
“As a people, we are not united. We are divided along the lines of tribal, regional, district, political ideology and social status,” he said, and “these divisions are culminating into visible and audible hatred.”
Poverty and unemployment lay behind the violence as well. “We have made strides in economic development, but how widespread is this prosperity?”, he asked. “The gap between the poor and rich seems to be growing by the day. This gap cannot be ignored because sooner or later, it could become fertile ground for instability,” Archbishop Orombi said.
Church of England backs hedge fund managers: CEN 10.07.09 October 7, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Archbishop of York, Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Development/Economics/Govt Finances.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper
The Church Commissioners have come to the aid of hedge fund managers, telling a parliamentary commission that “onerous” regulations proposed by the European Union to govern the financial services industry would harm British charities. In a submission to the House of Lord’s EU Economic and Financial Affairs and International Trade Committee, the Church Commissioners along with five other charities argued that the proposed directive regulating hedge funds would “significantly restrict our ability to generate funds to pursue our charitable missions and thus reduce our impact for public good.” |
 |
The statement follows last September’s charge by the Archbishop of York that hedge funds that bet on the decline of mortgage lender HBOS Plc were “bank robbers” and “asset strippers.”
The September submission by the Church Commissioners supports greater transparency and accountability for the financial services industry, but the proposed EU regulations would “limit the scope and potential return of our investment portfolio and hence reduce our charitable spend.”
To maximize its financial returns, “we must have freedom to select the best investment managers and funds,” they said.
The proposed EU rules would bar non-EU firms from marketing investment services to EU area investors. EU-based fund managers would also be barred from marketing their services in the EU until they complied with proposed rules that would require providing data to EU regulators, maintaining government selected leverage caps, and using EU approved banks as their depository institutions. The Church Commissioners’ statement said that 95 per cent of hedge funds are domiciled outside the EU or have non-EU managers. “We believe there is a significant risk that many of the best will stop raising capital in Europe rather than attempting to comply with onerous EU regulations.”
The six trusts have £19.5 billion in assets and spend £900 million each year. “To a bystander like me, those who made £190 million deliberately underselling the shares of HBOS, in spite of its very strong capital base, and drove it into the bosom of Lloyds TSB Bank , are clearly bank robbers and asset strippers,” Sentamu told an audience of bankers at Drapers’ Hall in the City of London on Sept 24, 2008.
Dr Sentamu’s followed a call by the Archbishop of Canterbury for the government to adopt stringent regulations on the financial services industry and to ban short selling.
“The question is not how to choose between total control and total deregulation, but how to identify the points and practices where social risk becomes unacceptably high,” Dr Williams wrote in the Spectator on Sept 27, 2008.
“The banning of short-selling is an example of just such a judgment. Governments should not lose their nerve as they look to identify a few more targets.”
Marx was right, Dr Williams observed. “Marx long ago observed the way in which unbridled capitalism became a kind of mythology, ascribing reality, power and agency to things that had no life in themselves,” the archbishop wrote. “He was right about that, if about little else.”
Malawi elections delayed again over court appeal: CEN 10.02.09 p 6. October 7, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of Central Africa.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Court of Confirmation of the Church of the Province of Central Africa has delayed approving the election of the bishops of Lake Malawi and Northern Malawi after a high court injunction halted the proceedings. A lay coalition in Lake Malawi has accused its new bishop of moral turpitude and has asked the court to block his election, while charges of canonical irregularities have been laid at the door of the election of the Bishop of Northern Malawi. |
 |
On Sept 22 the court met in Lilongwe, Malawi to confirm the Aug 1 elections of the Rev Leslie Mtekateka as Bishop of Northern Malawi, and the Ven Francis Kaulanda, Bishop of Lake Malawi.
Rector of St Timothy’s, Chitipa, Fr Mtekateka was the sole candidate on the ballot in Northern Malawi to succeed the Rt Rev Christopher Boyle, who has returned to England to serve as Assistant Bishop of Leicester. Fr Metekateka is the son of the Rt Rev Josiah Mtekateka, the first African bishop of Malawi, consecrated in 1965 as Suffragan Bishop of Nyasaland, and in 1971 as the first Bishop of Lake Malawi.
Four years after its last bishop died, the Diocese of Lake Malawi elected the Archdeacon of Lilongwe, the Ven Francis Kaulanda as its bishop. In 2007 the election of London vicar the Rev Nicholas Henderson as bishop of the diocese was rejected by the provincial court, which alleged Fr Henderson held unsound theological views.
In August, a petition bearing the names of 150 members drawn from 19 of the 33 parishes of the Diocese of Lake Malawi was published on the Internet by a UK-based church group, Anglican-Information. The Aug 17 petition accused Archdeacon Kaulanda incompetence and immorality, alleging the archdeacon had misappropriated funds for as USPG project while he was Archdeacon of Nkhota-kota. A copy of the petition was lodged with the registrar of the Province Anglican-Information reported.
At the Court of Confirmation, one of the leaders of the petition drive, Charles Wemba of Lingadzi parish, served the court with an injunction dated Sept 22 issued by the High Court in Lilongwe, barring the CPCA from proceeding with the confirmation of bishop-elect Kaulanda. On Sept 24 the Dean of the CPCA Bishop Albert Chama of Northern Zambia released a statement summarizing the proceedings, noting the judge’s order barred the CPCA from confirming the election of Bishop-elect Kaulanda “until the objections raised by the plaintiffs are sufficiently disposed of in Open Court.”
Bishop Chama wrote that the court offered Mr Wemba the opportunity to speak to his objections to the election of Bishop-elect Kaulanda, but after conferring with legal counsel, Mr Wemba declined to speak arguing that “to ignore the injunction was contempt of court.”
After deliberation, the court dismissed the written objections and held that if Mr Wemba had “failed to take the opportunity to give evidence in an Open Court and that nevertheless the written objections were placed before the Court of Confirmation and sufficiently disposed of, then this Court confirms the election of Francis Kaulanda as the duly elected Bishop of Lake Malawi.” However, it noted that if the “High Court of Malawi disagrees” with this decision, the “Court of Confirmation hereby postpones the matter indefinitely while reserving its rights in every respect relating to this matter.”
The confirmation of the election of the Bishop of Northern Malawi was also postponed as those lodging their objections “were unable to appear before the Court.”
The Court of Confirmation for Northern Malawi has been rescheduled for Nov 14 at St Mark’s Church in Mzuzu.
Protesters call for bishop to resign: CEN 10.07.09 October 7, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Protesters disrupted the synod meeting of the Diocese of Mthatha in South Africa last week, shouting down the bishop as he gave his charge to the diocese. Formerly known as the Diocese of St John’s, Kaffraria, in 2006 the diocese in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province was renamed after its see city, Umtata or Mthatha. Meeting at the Church of St John the Evangelist on Sept 15 in Umtata for the 49th session of synod, members of a group indentified by the local press as the “Concerned Anglicans Forum” called for the bishop to resign. |
 |
As Bishop Sitembele Mzamane rose to give his charge, the Rev Jongikhaya Sikhuni stood and attempted to hand the bishop a petition alleging malfeasance and misconduct in the bishop’s administration of diocesan finances as outlined in a report prepared by a second priest of the diocese and circulated to the synod.
The bishop asked Fr Sikhuni to return to his seat, prompting the priest’s supporters to rise and enter the aisles of the church to dance and ululate. The bishop returned to his speech and attempted to talk over the singing. Police were summoned and order restored.
After the service Bishop Mzamane told reporters the charges of misconduct leveled by the disgruntled clergy were untrue. The Concerned Anglicans Forum is understood to have forwarded their complaints to the metropolitan archbishop Thabo Makgoba for review.
Welcome for Sri Lanka plan: CEN 10.02.09 p 7. October 6, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of Ceylon, Church of England Newspaper, Politics.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Anglican Bishop of Colombo has welcomed the Sri Lankan government’s pledge to resettle by January 31 the majority of the 300,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) driven from their homes in the final months of the 26-year civil war between the government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). However, Bishop Duleep de Chickera on Sept 24 called for the government to open the “areas being de-mined and reconstructed” to the press and to give regular updates on the reconstruction of northern Sri Lanka. |
 |
“This will in turn provide information to all Sri Lankans, whether displaced or not, on the progress being made in this regard,” he said, and in doing so, “the government will demonstrate transparency in its management of the crisis and State Ministries and Officials will quite rightly be held accountable by the people.”
On Sept 9 the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced the government would release IDPs from government camps to live with relatives, subject to police checks. The Sri Lankan government has said it hopes to resettle up to 80 per cent of the IDPs by year’s end, with most people in new homes by Jan 31.
Aid workers have been critical of the poor conditions in the camps, raising fears the coming monsoon season will lead to outbreaks of disease. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that one camp, Menik Farm, was built to house 28,896 IDPs, but is housing 54,621 refugees. Reports the release programme had been delayed prompted protests from Bishop de Chickera. “If the decision has been put on hold it must be reactivated,” he said. “If the response of relatives has been slow, more time and wider publicity should be given.
“If persons said to be released are in fact being transferred to camps in different Regions, this is misleading and must stop. Reports of the lack of co-ordination amongst State Authorities are disappointing, and all those responsible for implementing this decision should be required to ensure co-ordination, compassion and speed,” the bishop said.
The decision to release, should be seen as an “interim measure,” Bishop de Chickera said. “The much more urgent task is to expedite the process of resettlement. Once the ‘home areas’ of the Displaced are cleared of mines and the required infrastructure built, persons displaced, whether in the camps or with relatives, should be resettled in their original homes,” he said.
Three new Metropolitan Archbishops elected in Canada: CEN 10.02.09 p 8. October 6, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Canada, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Three metropolitan archbishops have been elected to serve the Anglican Church of Canada. On Sept 25 the ecclesiastical province of British Columbia and Yukon elected the Bishop of Kootenay, the Rt Rev John Privett as archbishop of the western Canadian province. This follows upon the Sept 11 election of the Bishop of Fredericton, the Rt Rev Claude Miller as Archbishop of the ecclesiastical province of Canada, and the June 11 election of the Bishop of Keewatin, the Rt Rev David Ashdown as Archbishop of the Province of Rupert’s Land. |
 |
This follows upon the Sept 11 election of the Bishop of Fredericton, the Rt Rev Claude Miller as Archbishop of the ecclesiastical province of Canada, and the June 11 election of the Bishop of Keewatin, the Rt Rev David Ashdown as Archbishop of the Province of Rupert’s Land.
At 53, Archbishop Privett becomes the youngest of Canada’s four metropolitan archbishops: the Anglican Church of Canada is divided into four ecclesiastical provinces: Canada, Ontario, Rupert’s Land, British Columbia and the Yukon, and is overseen by the Primate, Archbishop Fred Hiltz.
Archbishop Privett becomes the 11th metropolitan of British Columbia and Yukon, which is comprised of the dioceses of British Columbia, Caledonia, New Westminster, Yukon, Kootenay and the Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior. Educated at the University of Saskatchewan, Archbishop Privett trained for the ministry at the College of Emmanuel and St Chad, Saskatoon, and earned graduate degrees from the University of Alberta and Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in the United States. He was ordained to the diaconate in 1981 and the priesthood in 1982 in the Diocese of Edmonton and elected Bishop of Kootenay in 2005.
Archbishop Miller was elected the 22nd Metropolitan of the province of Canada at the provincial synod held Sept 10 to 13 in Gander, Newfoundland. The province along Canada’s Atlantic coast includes the dioceses of Montreal, Quebec, Fredericton, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Western Newfoundland, Central Newfoundland and Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador. A second career priest, Archbishop Miller was a civil engineer for 25 years, before he was ordained in 1989 in Fredericton, and was elected was bishop of the diocese in 2003, and was elected archbishop on the first ballot.
On June 11 the Province of Rupert’s Land, which stretches across the Canadian prairie and north to the Arctic elected Bishop David Ashdown of Keewatin at the provincial synod meeting at Holy Cross Church in Calgary.
Archbishop Ashdown was elected on the third ballot, and will be metropolitan archbishop for the dioceses of Keewatin, Rupert’s Land, Brandon, the Arctic, Qu’appelle, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Athabasca, Edmonton and Calgary.
Educated at the University of Saskatchewan, Archbishop Ashdown trained for the ministry at the College of Emmanuel and St Chad and was ordained priest in 1978. He served in the Diocese of Qu’Appelle until 1992, and as Archdeacon of Athabasca until 1999, and then as Archdeacon of Keewatin from 1999 to 2001, when he was elected bishop.
Jamaica church leaders angry over gambling changes: CEN 10.02.09 p 8. October 5, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of the West Indies, Gambling.comments closed
| Church leaders in Jamaica have denounced government plans to approve horse racing on Sundays, saying gambling will harm the poor and debase society’s morals.
The president of the Jamaica Association of Evangelicals called the decision to allow Sunday racing at Caymanas Park in November “appalling.” “It is a shame we are heading in this direction,” Peter Garth said at Sept 18 press conference. “Gambling is an anti-social and non-productive activity, no matter on which day it occurs,” that Anglican Bishop of Jamaica Alfred Reid charged in an article published in the Gleaner on Sept 28. |
 |
“The problem with Sunday racing” was that it “adds to an already existing situation. It extends something that should rather be curtailed,” he argued, as the “gambling industry is one of the most effective means of transferring money from the poor to the rich.
“It is a cynical manipulation of the desperation of the poor who are conned into risking the little that they have in the hope of winning big,” he said. In a bid to boost the flagging tourism industry, the Jamaican government has discussed allowing casinos to open in the resort areas of Montego Bay and Trelawny to win over gamblers from the Bahamas and other Caribbean tourist spots. Last week the Finance Ministry announced that Sunday racing would begin on Nov 29. Currently racing takes place on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Bishop Reid said the Church had not been able to “stop the lottery, the casino, the proliferation of so-called gambling parlours.”
He added that “not even the Government” could have stopped it, as “we know who really wields power in Jamaica. Not the elected government, but the people who control money and who, in pursuit of material wealth, will crush anyone who dares to resist.”
The bishop responded to charges of “hypocrisy” launched against the church by gambling supporters, saying they “may be true, since we aspire to a humanly unattainable ideal. However, in this case, the real hypocrisy is the pretence to have an open and democratic society in which all views contend while, at the same time, seeking to silence the Church and any other person with a contrary view.”
Critics had charged the church had “overstepped its bounds by objecting to the extension of gambling in this way,” Bishop Reid said. However the “clear implication” of this sort of attack was that the powerful have the “authority to decide the scope and boundaries of the Church’s sphere of activity.”
The pro-gambling campaign was a “non-too-subtle anti-church and anti-Christian campaign,” Bishop Reid charged, urging the government to turn back from its shortsighted alliance with the gambling industry.
Bennison loses American court appeal to have charges dismissed: CEN 10.02.09 p 6. October 5, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Abuse, Church of England Newspaper, Pennsylvania.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Episcopal Church’s Court for the Trial of a Bishop has denied a motion by Pennsylvania Bishop Charles E Bennison, Jr, to dismiss charges of conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy, or in the alternative, grant him a new trial. On Sept 24 the Trial Court held that “newly discovered evidence” provided by Bishop Bennison was “not material to the evidence” that led the court to rule he had “failed to respond appropriately” to a case of sexual abuse. |
 |
In 2008 Bishop Bennison was convicted of charges of conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy for covering up the sexual abuse 35 years ago of a 14-year-old girl by his then 24-year-old brother who was engaged as his youth minister at St Mark’s Church in Upland, California.
In February 2009 the Trial Court ordered the bishop be deposed from the ordained ministry, but in April attorneys for the bishop filed a motion to dismiss the charges saying newly uncovered evidence — letters between the ‘victim’ and Bishop Bennison’s brother — showed the affair was consensual and that Bishop Bennison had been deceived by the pair.
The 256 letters written between 1974 and 1994 impeached the testimony of the victim that she had been abused, the bishop’s attorneys argued. However, the court held the letters proved the bishop’s brother had engaged in “criminal and abusive” behaviour with a minor. It also held the evidence showed the bishop was aware of the relationship as early as 1975, and could not now plead ignorance.
“Whether or not the minor thought at the time that she wanted the relationship to continue is irrelevant to the existence of [the bishop’s] duty to protect the minor and his failure to fulfill that duty,” the court held. The court also rejected a motion from the Episcopal Church to seal the records of the case, including the letters, noting the information was already outside of the control of the court. However the court asked all those with copies of the documents to honour the privacy of the victim.
Bishop Bennison’s case now proceeds to the Court of Review of the Trial of a Bishop to hear his appeal of the 2008 conviction.
Property case costs millions: CEN 10.02.09 p 6. October 5, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Colorado, Property Litigation.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The financial costs of the Episcopal Church’s property wars was disclosed last week after the Diocese of Colorado’s reported that its lawsuit against its breakaway congregation and a downturn in the stock market had consumed almost 85 per cent of its endowment. The value of diocese’s portfolio shrank from $4.9 million in 2006 to $750,000 in Aug 2009, with over $2.9 million consumed by the costs of litigation with Grace & St Stephen’s Church in Colorado Springs, diocesan treasurer Robert Poley reported in a covering letter accompanying the diocese’s proposed 2010 budget. |
 |
However, the diocese remained optimistic about its financial future, estimating a rise in pledge income from its 101 congregations, with the proposed 2010 budget increased from $1.84 million in 2009 to $2.27 next year.
St George’s Anglican Church, the breakaway congregation which earlier this year lost its legal fight to keep the $17 million Grace & St Stephen’s property has also begun a campaign to eliminate its $750,000 debt of legal fees and court expenses.
The Rev Don Armstrong, rector of the CANA-affiliated congregation, has asked its 500 families to each contribute $1,500 as a one-off gift to retire the debt. Fr Armstrong told the Colorado Springs Gazette he expected the debts to be settled by the end of November.
Troubles remain, however, for Fr Armstrong, who has been charged with misappropriating parish funds. He was arraigned before a Colorado Springs court last week on 20 counts of theft. He has denied the charges and has stated he is confident of being cleared of misconduct.
Archbishop Says Central Florida Act a Positive Step: TLC 10.01.09 October 2, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Covenant, Archbishop of Canterbury, Central Florida, Living Church.comments closed
First published in the Living Church.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has welcomed an endorsement of the first three sections of the Anglican Covenant by the Diocese of Central Florida’s board and standing committee.
On Sept. 17, the diocesan board and standing committee adopted a resolution stating that they “affirm sections one, two and three of the Ridley Cambridge Draft of the Anglican Covenant, as we await the final draft of section four.”
Central Florida also asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to “outline and implement a process by which individual dioceses, and even parishes, could become members of the Anglican Covenant, even in cases where their provincial or diocesan authorities decline to do so.”
In a Sept. 28 letter to the Rt. Rev. John W. Howe, Bishop of Central Florida, Archbishop Williams called endorsement from the diocesan bodies a step in the right direction. “As a matter of constitutional fact, the [Anglican Consultative Council] can only offer the covenant for ‘adoption’ to its own constituent bodies (the provinces),” the archbishop noted. But “I see no objection to a diocese resolving less formally on an ‘endorsement’ of the covenant.” Such an action may not have an immediate “institutional effect” but “would be a clear declaration of intent to live within the agreed terms of the Communion’s life and so would undoubtedly positively affect a diocese’s pastoral and sacramental relations” with the wider Communion, he said.
The resolution was offered to the board by the dean of Southeast Central Florida, the Very Rev. Eric Turner, rector of St. John’s Church, Melbourne, Fla.
Originally titled a “Resolution in Response to General Convention,” the first two clauses backed Bishop Howe’s endorsement of the Anaheim Statement issued at the close of General Convention, and reaffirmed the “teaching of the Anglican Communion” on “matters of human sexuality” [TLC, Aug. 9].
The second half of the resolution drew upon the Sept. 7 call by the bishops of Albany, Dallas, North Dakota, Northern Indiana, South Carolina, West Texas and Western Louisiana for “dioceses, congregations and individuals” to “pray and work for the adoption” of the covenant, and asked that they “endorse [its] first three sections” [TLC, Sept. 27].
Bishop Howe stated that he was aware that some believed that “only the General Convention can decide whether or not to ‘opt into’ the Covenant, but there is nothing in the Covenant itself, and nothing in our Constitution or Canons, that stipulate this. If a given person, parish or diocese agrees with the Covenant, what is there to prevent saying so?”
Bishop Howe added that “should it be that the General Convention were to ‘opt out’ of the Covenant while some of the dioceses of the Episcopal Church have endorsed or adopted it we will have a number of interesting questions to address.”
Dioceses ‘can adopt Covenant,’ says Archbishop of Canterbury: CEN 10.01.09 October 1, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Covenant, Archbishop of Canterbury, Central Florida, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Dioceses and other ecclesial bodies may endorse the Anglican Covenant, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams said this week, but noted the current process is geared toward adoption of an inter-Anglican agreement by the provinces of the Anglican Communion. In a Sept 28 letter to the Bishop of Central Florida, the Rt Rev John W Howe, Dr Williams welcomed Central Florida’s endorsement of the first three sections of the Anglican Covenant. |
|
| On Sept 17 the Diocesan Board and Standing Committee adopted a resolution stating, “We affirm Sections One, Two and Three of the Ridley Cambridge Draft of the Anglican Covenant, as we await the final draft of Section Four.”
The diocese also asked Dr Williams to “outline and implement a process by which individual Dioceses, and even parishes, could become members of the Anglican Covenant, even in cases where their Provincial or Diocesan authorities decline to do so.” Dr Williams responded that “as a matter of constitutional fact, the ACC can only offer the Covenant for ‘adoption’ to its own constituent bodies, (the provinces).” “But I see no objection to a diocese resolving less formally on an ‘endorsement’ of the Covenant,” he said. Such an action would not have an “institutional effect” but “would be a clear declaration of intent to live within the agreed terms of the Communion’s life and so would undoubtedly positively affect a diocese’s pastoral and sacramental relations” with the wider communion, he wrote. The resolution was offered to the diocesan board by the Dean of Southeast Central Florida, the Rev. Eric Turner, rector of St John’s Episcopal Church in Melbourne, FL. Originally entitled a ‘Resolution in Response to General Convention’, the first two clauses backed Bishop Howe’s endorsement of the Anaheim Statement issued at the close of General Convention, and reaffirmed the “teaching of the Anglican Communion” on “matters of human sexuality.” Dean Turner’s resolution was divided into two motions, and the second half drew upon the Sept 7 call by the Bishops of Albany, Dallas, North Dakota, Northern Indiana, South Carolina, West Texas and Western Louisiana for “dioceses, congregations and individuals” to “pray and work for the adoption” of the covenant, and asked they “endorse [its] first three sections.” Objections to adopting the second resolution came over the question whether it was wise to endorse the Covenant absent completion of its final section. However, when put to a vote, there were only two objections among the diocesan board, while it was passed unanimously by the Standing Committee. Bishop Howe told The Church of England Newspaper that as “Chair of the meeting I did not vote, but I fully support those who did.” He stated that he was aware that some believed that “only the General Convention can decide whether or not to ‘opt into’ the Covenant, but there is nothing in the Covenant itself, and nothing in our Constitution or Canons that stipulate this. If a given person, parish or diocese agrees with the Covenant, what is there to prevent saying so?” Bishop Howe added that “should it be that the General Convention were to ‘opt out’ of the Covenant while some of the dioceses of The Episcopal Church have endorsed or adopted it we will have a number of interesting questions to address.” “Will it be possible for individual dioceses and perhaps even parishes, to remain full ‘constituent” members of the Communion, in communion with the See of Canterbury, while other dioceses move into some kind of ‘associate’ membership, no longer in full communion with Canterbury? The Archbishop’s comments have seemed to suggest this,” he said. The Central Florida committee resolutions will now go to its January convention for further action. |
