Death threat denial from Lambeth Palace: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 29, 2010 p 6. October 31, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England Newspaper, Zimbabwe.comments closed
Dr. Nolbert Kunonga
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Reports in the African press that the Archbishop of Canterbury has warned the Bishops of Harare and Manicaland that they were “targets for assassination” are unfounded, a spokesman for Lambeth Palace tells The Church of England Newspaper.
On Oct 24, Zimonline, an émigré news service serving the Zimbabwean diaspora, reported that the “office of the Archbishop of Canterbury” had warned that Bishop Chad Gandiya and Bishop Julius “could be assassinated.”
Bishop Gandiya has been locked in a long-running dispute with the former Bishop of Harare, Dr Nolbert Kunonga, over the ownership of the diocese’s properties. While the courts have ordered the parties to share church premises pending a final adjudication of the dispute, the security services have thrown their support behind Dr. Kunonga and evicted Anglicans loyal to Bishop Gandiya from church properties.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has strongly denounced the state’s support for the renegade bishop and the disregard for the rule of law in Zimbabwe, and has backed Dr. Gandiya, and his counterpart in Manicaland, Bishop Makoni, as have the primates of the Anglican Communion and the Anglican bishops of Africa.
However, last week’s report from Zimonline, which was subsequently reprinted in other African newspapers, said Dr. Williams’ office stated that elements within the security forces saw the two bishops as being political threats to the regime of Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe, and “so Kunonga has been given support to eliminate them.”
The African press quoted a spokesman for Dr. Williams as having warned that “in the first week of October Bishop Julius and Bishop Chad were informed that orders had been given to assassinate them both.”
While not discounting the parlous situation facing the Anglican bishops of Harare and Manicaland, a spokesman for Dr. Williams told CEN, no such warning had been given by their office.
“The quotes” offered by Zimonline “must have come from another source, as the Archbishop has not spoken on such specific matters recently,” Lambeth Palace press officer David Brownlie-Marshall said on Oct 22.
Church panel accuses bishop of fraud: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 29, 2010 p 6. October 30, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of South India, Corruption.comments closed
Dr Williams being handed a petition by anti-corruption activists in Madras
A Church of South India (CSI) panel has concluded that a prima facie case for fraud can be laid against the Bishop in Coimbatore.
In interim report prepared by an investigatory panel given to the CSI executive committee last month concluded Bishop Manickam Dorai was likely to have committed fraud and theft of church funds. A final report will be presented to the executive committee in December, but the interim findings determined there was probable cause to dismiss Bishop Dorai, the panel concluded.
On July 2, the executive committee of the CSI’s General Synod placed Bishop Dorai on an indefinite leave of absence and dissolved the diocese’s executive council. The bishop and his cronies are accused of embezzling diocesan funds and taking kickbacks on construction projects amounting to over £500,000.
On May 8, a warrant was also issued for the bishop’s arrest after he failed to appear before a magistrate to answer charges he threatened bodily harm to one of the priests in his diocese. Bishop Dorai was granted bail on the menacing charge.
The four man fact finding team, composed of retired Justice Michael Saldanha of the Karnataka High Court, the Moderator of the CSI Bishop S. Vasanthakumar, former Karnataka Director General of Police A J Anandan and bank auditor C E Sarasam were hampered in their investigation as the diocese’s financial records were in the hands of the police, and they were unable to interrogate the bishop’s alleged conspirators: his wife and two brothers.
However, their inquiries at church-run schools and colleges found ample evidence of fraud. Evidence was unearthed that the bishop had sold admissions places to students at the church’s Ketti Engineering College, that the bishop had sold diocesan assets at 20 per cent of their market value to confederates, and had diverted church funds into his private accounts.
Quoting the report, the Express newspaper stated Judge Saldanha believed the evidence was so conclusive as to guilt that it would “sustain a straight conviction in a criminal court.”
On Oct 17, the Archbishop of Canterbury told members of the Indian press in Madras the CSI was seeking to reform its canons to tackle cases of corruption in high places. “We know there are some reported cases of corruption, which are pending in the court, and the Moderators of the churches are working to constitute a self-regulatory mechanism to look into the issue,” Dr. Williams said to the press after a ceremony celebrating the 175th anniversary of the Diocese of Madras at St. George’s Cathedral.
Dr. Williams also met with lay activists from groups seeking to root out corruption in the church. In an hour long meeting, representatives from the Prophetic Forum, the CSITA Beneficiaries Association, the Laity Association of the Diocese of Madras, and the CHRIST Centered Campaign urged Dr. Williams to use his influence to reform the scandal plagued church.
A 12-point plan was given to Dr. Williams by the anti-corruption activists, who shared with him examples of illegal sales of church land, selling admissions to church-run schools, taking kickbacks on construction projects, leasing out church properties at below market rents in exchange for bribes, and simony among the clergy.
In a statement released after their meeting, the lay activists said Dr. Williams was sympathetic to their concerns and “touched on topics like the nature of the office of the bishop, his concerns over the present electoral system, and the need for dialogue.”
“Suffice to say the Archbishop came across as someone who is genuinely working to get a dialogue going within the CSI on the much needed process of reform. In this effort he will doubtless appreciate the prayers and good wishes of all 4.5 million CSI members,” the anti-corruption activists said.
Bishop of Birmingham seated in Lords: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 29, 2010 p 6. October 29, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, House of Lords.comments closed
Bishop Urquhart taking the oath of allegiance in the House of Lords
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Bishop of Birmingham was seated as the newest Lord Spiritual in Parliament this week. On Oct 26, Bishop David Urquhart was presented to the House of Lords by the Bishops of London and Wakefield in succession to the Bishop of Bradford, the Rt. Rev. David James, who retired in July.
Bishop Urquhart will be added to the roster of “duty bishops,” leading prayers in the Lords and participating in debates. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the Bishops of London, Durham and Winchester are seated by right of office in the House of Lords, the remaining Lords Spiritual are composed of the 21 other senior diocesan bishops
After taking his seat, the House of Lords discussed the former government’s plans to reform the House of Lords, replacing it with a directly elected second chamber.
Labour peer Lord Grocott urged the government to carry through with plans to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600, and reduce the membership of the House of Lords to 300, arguing that such a reduction would see cost savings of £60 million a year.
“At a time when the government is looking for any possible cuts in public expenditure that they can find, and given that none of these reforms have any support among anyone out in the real world, why does the minister not do the common-sense thing, save the money and scrap the lot?” he said.
The Minister of State for Justice, Lord McNally, said the estimates offered by Lord Grocott were “idle speculation,” and suggested they wait for the government’s white paper on reform before arguing over costs.
“The noble Lord is giving numbers for a reformed House of Lords and calculating on his own bases. We will have to wait for the bill,” Lord McNally said, adding that “he and I will then make calculations and be able to assess the cost.”
US church legal costs declining, presiding bishop claims: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 29, 2010 p 7. October 28, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Executive Council, Property Litigation.comments closed
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has dismissed claims the legal campaign waged against traditionalists has been suicidal for the Episcopal Church, stating the funds expended on litigation have actually declined in recent years.
In her opening address to members of the Episcopal Church’s Executive Council, meeting Oct 23-25 in Salt Lake City, Bishop Jefferts Schori castigated the church’s governing board for “committing suicide by governance.”
Tensions between the board and staff at the national church headquarters had led to a “sometimes rather adversarial attitude” arising from “confusion about roles,” the presiding bishop said, according to an account printed by the Episcopal News Service.
“Sometimes committees try to do the work of staff,” she said, as the members of the executive council “sometimes forgets that its job is about policy-making and accountability.”
Asked at a post-meeting press conference whether the church’s suicide was by litigation, which had drained the church’s coffers, the presiding bishop responded this was not so. “Our legal costs have gone down in the past couple of years,” she said.
However, according to an analysis performed by canon lawyer Allan Haley, the national church and its dioceses have dedicated over $21,650,000 to lawsuits and disciplinary actions against the clergy.
The “amounts spent or budgeted for litigation with other Christians [from] 2001-2012 [was] $12,739,584,” Mr. Haley estimated. Approximately $6 million has been spent by the dioceses of Virginia, San Diego and Los Angeles, while a further $2,133,000 has been expended in legal proceedings against dissident clergy since 2006, and $1 million has been budgeted for the next three for these purposes, he said
The national church has declined to respond to questions on litigation expenses, while a resolution presented to the church’s 2009 General Convention asking for a detailed accounting was rejected.
Mr. Haley told the Church of England Newspaper that there were “lots of ways to compare numbers.” The presiding bishop’s claim could be defended, he suggested, by saying the value of legal services “donated back” to the church by its lawyers had declined from $1.136 million in 2007 to $932,000 in 2009, or by a decline in the nine year average of expenditures, compared to the amount budgeted in the coming three years.
However, most likely the presiding bishop “could be expressing her confidence that the $3 million budgeted for 2010-2012 will hold, and the result will be less spending than in the last triennium: $5,309,584” plus the $3 million in donated services.
Mr. Haley was not optimistic the church’s legal costs would be declining in the short run, however. “Look for Virginia spending to mount way up again soon, and Fort Worth, Pittsburgh and San Joaquin will each be claiming their toll again in a few more months, as well.
Montreal proposes ‘shared episcopal ministry’ plan for traditionalists: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 22, 2010, p 6. October 28, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Canada, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
Bishop Barry Clarke of Montreal
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Montreal will launch its own ‘flying bishop’ in 2011 to serve traditionalists opposed to the diocese’s introduction of same-sex unions.
Speaking to the Oct 15 session of the diocesan synod, Bishop Barry Clarke said he will present to the January meeting of the diocesan council a plan for “shared episcopal ministry.”
“This does not mean that I am abdicating my responsibility as the diocesan bishop to those clergy and parishes,” the bishop said in his presidential address to the synod.
This will be a “shared ministry with a fellow bishop. This is a pastoral response to a particular need at this time in our church. The clergy and parishes that may be involved in this shared episcopal ministry will still have to meet their full responsibility to live within the canons and the constitution of our diocese and of our church.”
The concept of “shared episcopal ministry” was recommended by the 2004 Windsor Report as a way to provide pastoral oversight for traditionalists at odds with the innovations of doctrine and discipline made by some American and Canadian dioceses. “I have met in prayer and in consultation with those members of the diocesan family who have made this request of me. It is my intent to move forward and honour their request,” Bishop Clarke said according to a report by the Montreal Anglican.
Details on the plan, including the name of the alternate bishops, will be made public after the January council meeting.
The decision to give traditionalists alternative episcopal oversight comes as the diocese moves forward with rites for the blessings of gay civil marriages. At the 2008 meeting of synod, Bishop Clarke said Montreal had been “called by God to speak with a prophetic voice,” on gay blessings.
“It is our voice that is called to affirm that all people are loved, valued and precious before God and the Church. It is our voice that is called to affirm that all unions of faithful love and life-long commitment are worthy of God’s blessing and a means of God’s grace. In time our voice will either be affirmed by the body, or stand corrected,” the bishop said.
At their 2008 meeting the Canadian House of Bishops released a statement affirming their “shared episcopal ministry” scheme that would allow alternative pastoral oversight for traditionalists at odds with liberal bishops. Montreal will be the first to act upon the proposal.
Past programmes for alternative episcopal oversight in Canada have foundered, however, with liberal bishops and their traditionalist congregations unable to agree on the bishops providing the oversight and their powers.
Igloo Cathedral fundraising campaign half way home: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 22, 2010 p 7. October 27, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Canada, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
Construction is underway at the Cathedral of the Arctic, St Jude's on Baffin Island, Canada
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Diocese of the Arctic has received an anonymous C$500,000 (£310,000) contribution towards rebuilding Canada’s “igloo cathedral”.
On Nov 5, 2005, St. Jude’s Cathedral in Iqualuit, formerly known as Frobisher Bay, on Baffin Island was destroyed by arson. Consecrated in 1972, the cathedral was built in the shape of an Eskimo snow-hut, or igloo and the interior was decorated with a walrus tusk crucifix, an altar cross made of narwhale horns and tapestries depicting Eskimo life.
The pulpit was shaped like an upturned dogsled, while the baptismal font was carved from soapstone in the shape of an Inuit oil lamp and set with a silver bowel presented by Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh during their 1972 visit to Frobisher Bay to preside over the ground breaking.
The fire destroyed the interior of the cathedral, and the structure was declared unsafe and pulled down. Fund raising for the £3 million building campaign began soon after and in 2007 the Bishop of the Arctic, the Rt. Rev. Andrew Atagotaaluk broke ground on a new “igloo cathedral”.
The interim dean of St Jude’s, the Rev. Brian Burrows, told the CBC the gift would be used to complete the steel skeleton of the building. The dean said he was confident the remaining £310,000 could be found to complete the exterior.
“People said, ‘You’d never do it’,” Dean Burrows said. “Well, here’s a sign that perhaps the faith is justified.”
“Before then, we were told, ‘Yes, it’s going well, but you need another $1 million.’ Then all of a sudden, you open an email, and there’s half of it already,” he said.
Not guilty verdict in Malawi murder trial: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 21, 2010. October 26, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of Central Africa, Crime.comments closed
Canon Rodney Hunter
A man accused of poisoning an English missionary in Malawi has been found not guilty of murder. On Oct 13 Leonard Mondoma was acquitted of the murder of the Rev. Canon Rodney Hunter by a court in Nkhotakota.
Justice Robert Chinangwa held that the evidence linking Mr. Mondomo to the murder was circumstantial and that the medical evidence did not conclusively show that the cause of death was by poison.
Canon Hunter’s nephew, Mark Hunter, told The Church of England Newspaper the judge’s decision was “most surprising,” but would reserve comment until he had an opportunity to study the verdict.
Supporters of Mr. Mondoma, including the website Anglican-Information.com, applauded the verdict, denouncing the prosecution of Canon Hunter’s former cook as a “disgraceful saga”, but noted that “justice has prevailed.”
On Nov 10, 2006, Canon Hunter was found dead in his home in Nkhotakota. The Malawian press reported that a black substance had been found on the lips of the 72 year old assistant priest of All Saints Cathedral in Lake Malawi, suggesting he had been poisoned.
Prosecution witness the Rev. Denis Kayamba had accused Mr. Mondoma of poisoning Canon Hunter, claiming the motive for the murder arose from the disputes over the election of a bishop for the diocese. Mr. Mondoma’s attorneys had denied the charges, arguing Canon Hunter died from natural causes.
Vatican synod on the Middle East opens: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 22, 2010 p 8. October 25, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & the Middle East, Roman Catholic Church.comments closed
Bishop Michael Langrish of Exeter
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Vatican has convened a synod of bishops to address the flight of Christians from the Middle East and meet the challenge of militant Islam.
Meeting from Oct 10 to 24, 172 bishops, 14 Curia officials, 14 non-Catholic Christians including the Bishop of Exeter, the Rt. Rev. Michael Langrish and 30 academics have gathered to discuss the future of Christianity in the region.
While the Christian population of Israel and Jordan has remained steady over the past few years, Christians have been leaving the Middle East in large numbers for the Americas, Australia and Europe. In the wake of the two Gulf Wars, the Iraqi Christian population has declined from 1.4 million in 1987 to less than 400,000 today.
Unlike past church gatherings which placed the blame on the declining Christian communities on the tensions surrounding the Israel-Palestine conflict, the Vatican’s Special Middle East Assembly will address the problem militant Islam poses for Middle Eastern Christians. Prepared in response to questions submitted to the Latin and Eastern rite bishops, religious orders and dicasteries across the Middle East, the synod’s working document, The Catholic Church in the Middle East: Communion and Witness, notes the rise of “political Islam” has posed a “threat to all, Christians, Jews and Muslims.”
These political uncertainties had led to a “ghetto mentality” for Middle Eastern Christians who now “isolate themselves out of fear of others,” the working document said.
The preparatory papers for the synod states that it hopes its work will strengthen Christian identity and promote dialogue with other faiths in Muslim-majority countries. However it acknowledges the social and cultural hurdles hindering interfaith dialogue. One difficulty arises from Muslims who make “no distinction between religion and politics, thereby relegating Christians to precarious positions of being considered non-citizens despite the fact that they were citizens of these countries long before the rise of Islam,” the paper said.
In an Oct 15 interview with Vatican Radio, the Bishop of Exeter, who was attending the synod as the representative of the Anglican Communion, stated the Church of England was committed to the government’s facing up to the consequences of Britain’s historic actions in the region. “I have absolutely no doubt at all that Western interventions by church and state over the last 100 years have shaped” the modern Middle East, Bishop Langrish said.
However political programmes and Western calls for peace “can only go so far,” he noted. In the small discussion groups Bishop Langrish said conversation focused on “the conditions that make for what we called the ‘psychology of peace’,” noting that “unless you’re working with the socio-cultural heritage that forms the psychology of individuals and communities and begin to address the deep fears, as well as the aspirations that shape that psychology, you won’t get that far.”
Bishop Langrish stated a further decline in the numbers of Christians “would be disastrous for the world Church, losing touch with that very essence of Incarnation which is at the heart of our faith and the centuries old engagement with Islam, which we in the West are only finding our way towards.”
Christians in the Middle East must also put aside their sectarian divisions, he said, and work towards the common good of the faith. The strife among Christians, especially in Jerusalem, was a scandal for the faith he said.
Middle Eastern Christians also needed a “deep reengagement with Scripture as the word of God,” Bishop Langrish said.
In his travels across the region, the bishop said he could “detect a deep disengagement” with the Bible, especially with the Old Testament, whose “narrative was used to justify an oppressive ideology” some believed. However, Middle Eastern Christians needed to return to the Bible and “engage with the whole of Scripture as the living word of God” to find strength and guidance for the journey that awaits them.
Fourth time a charm, Episcopal Church hopes with latest Fort Worth lawsuit: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 22, 2010 p 6. October 24, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Fort Worth, Property Litigation.comments closed
The Rt. Rev. Jack Iker of Fort Worth
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
A fourth lawsuit has been laid at the doorstep of Fort Worth Bishop Jack Iker by the loyalist faction in the diocese, claiming he has violated the trademark of a Fort Worth congregation for his personal enrichment and to deceive the local citizenry.
On Oct 18, the diocese reported that All Saints Episcopal Church, a congregation that had affiliated with the loyalist faction, had filed a lawsuit against Bishop Iker in the US Federal Court for the Northern District of Texas alleging the misappropriation of the parish’s name and reputation for his own personal ends.
Speaking to the Forward in Faith National Assembly on Oct 16, before he had learned of this latest suit, Bishop Iker told the delegates “I stand before you as the most sued Anglican Bishop in all of North America.”
The national Episcopal Church and its surrogates in Fort Worth, as of Oct 16, had launched “three different suits, in three different courts, in two counties” in Texas, “all for the same offence: for standing firm for the historic faith and doctrine of the undivided church and not allowing the Diocese of Fort Worth to compromise itself” by conforming to the “General Convention religion of the Episcopal Church.”
In its pleading, All Saints Church alleges Bishop Iker had engaged in “unfair competition” and “public confusion and harm” through giving his support to a faction of All Saints parish that had withdrawn from the congregation. All Saints has asked the court to grant an injunction forbidding Bishop Iker from allowing those parishioners from All Saints who remained loyal to the diocese from using the name “All Saints” and has demanded he disgorge himself of any profits he may have received, along with payment of damages.
In a statement released on Oct18, the diocese said the new suit was “frivolous” and “laughable.”
“It is time for this wasteful mockery of Christian doctrine and of the civil court system to stop.
However, if the minority continues to bring trumped-up charges, we will continue to defend ourselves,” the diocese said.
In his remarks to the UK Forward in Faith gathering, Bishop Iker said his diocese had spent over $1 million in attorney’s fees “on the first go round,” and expected to spend a further $3.5 million “before it is over.”
In the other cases underway, the parties are awaiting a hearing date to be set in the Texas 141st District Court to hear the Oct 8 motion by the Diocese of Fort Worth to strike the loyalist group’s amended pleadings and enforce the appellate court’s ruling in its favor.
In the federal court case brought against Bishop Iker on Sept 21, the diocese has filed its answer denying the allegations, and offered a complaint in intervention to dismiss the suit.
Sydney synod backs lay presidency of the Eucharist: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 22, 2010 p 8. October 23, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Australia, Church of England Newspaper, Ecclesiology.comments closed
Archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Sydney’s diocesan synod has reaffirmed its support for diaconal administration of Holy Communion, or the Lord’s Supper, for the fourth time.
By a strong voice vote, the synod adopted on Oct 15 a resolution proposed by Bishop Glenn Davies of North Sydney that said while it noted the “advisory opinion of the Appellate Tribunal” synod reaffirmed its 2008 declaration that “lay and diaconal administration of the Lord’s Supper is consistent with the teaching of Scripture,” and that “affirms that the Lord’s Supper in this diocese may be administered by persons other than presbyters.”
The vote follows in the wake of an August 10, 2010 opinion that ruled the 1985 Ordination for Deacons Canon did not permit diaconal administration of the Eucharist. Unlike the Church of England, the Episcopal Church and other churches that have reintroduced the permanent diaconate, in Sydney deacons and priests obtain the same level of theological qualification. As of the start of synod, 36 per cent of the clergy in Sydney, 215, were deacons.
In an account of the debate printed by Anglican Media Sydney, Dr. Davies opened the debate by stating that it was permissible for synod and the Appellate Tribunal to hold contrary opinions on this issue, adding the language of the resolution was permissive, not mandatory. “There is a lot of power in the word ‘may’,” administer the sacrament, he said.
Archdeacon Narelle Jarrett stated there was no Scriptural warrant for the argument that only priests may administer Holy Communion, adding that it was “pastorally appropriate that deacons who are chaplains in schools, prisons and hospitals be allowed to administer the Lord’s Supper.”
Three amendments that sought to soften the resolution were defeated, as was a motion to defer discussion, and the resolution was carried.
The August tribunal ruling came under criticism during the debate, with speakers deriding the theological rationale used by a majority of the court to reach its decision. The tribunal also up-ended the legal principle that it had used to permit women bishops in 2007, prompting concerns its deliberations were tainted by political considerations.
In ruling against diaconal presidency, the tribunal in 2010 held that it is not the language of a canon, but the legislative intent in its creation that provides its meaning.
In its 2007 ruling the court came to an opposite conclusion, finding that while women bishops were not contemplated in the drafting of the canons governing the episcopate, its language could be construed to allow the innovation.
The Sydney synod vote is the latest step in a 30 year push for lay and diaconal presidency with the first committee chartered to examine the issue in 1983. In 2008 the synod adopted by an overwhelming majority, Resolution 7.2 which contained the same language on lay and diaconal presidency as found in the 2010 resolution.
A report prepared by a committee led by Bishop Paul Barnett in 1993 concluded there “are no sound doctrinal objections to, and there are significant doctrinal reasons for, lay presidency at the Lord’s Supper. There are also sound reasons based on our received Anglican order for allowing lay presidency.”
The Barnett committee concluded that “prohibition of lay presidency at the Lord’s Supper does not seem justifiable theologically.”
On Oct 19, 1999 Sydney adopted an Ordinance permitting diaconal and lay presidency at the Eucharist, by a vote of 122 to 66 amongst the clergy, and 224 to 128 amongst the laity.
However, the following day the Primate, Archbishop Keith Rayner, urged Sydney Archbishop Harry Goodhew to withhold his assent writing the vote represented a “fundamental break with catholic order” which would place the diocese at odds with the “constitution and canons of our church.”
On Nov 10, 1999 Archbishop Goodhew declined to give his assent as approving lay presidency would have ramifications for Sydney and the wider Anglican Communion. Following his election as Archbishop in 2001, Dr. Peter Jensen said, “Lay administration, should it be legal, would be a contribution to the common task of bringing the gospel to Australia,” adding that “it is strange not to allow for this ministry in an ordered way.”
In 2003 the Sydney Synod began the legal steps to clear the path for diaconal administration, rescinding Section 10 of the 1662 Act of Uniformity, which stated that “only episcopally ordained priests may consecrate the Holy Communion.”
However, Dr. Jensen has never authorized lay administration, and last week’s vote does not compel him to do so.
New Chinese Bible released: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 22, 2010 p 8. October 23, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Biblical Interpretation, Church of England Newspaper, Evangelism, Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui.comments closed
Archbishop Kwong dedicating the RCUV Bible at St John's Cathedral in Hong Kong
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The first new translation of the Bible in Chinese since 1919 was launched last month at a ceremony at St. John’s Cathedral in Hong Kong. On Sept 27 Archbishop Paul Kwong of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (HKSK) dedicated the Revised Chinese Union Version (RCUV) of the Old and New Testaments.
Produced in collaboration by the United Bible Society and the Hong Kong Bible Society, the RCUV was twenty-seven years in the making and replaces the Chinese Union Version (CUV) prepared by British and American missionaries in the early years of the Twentieth Century. Scholars from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and the United States sought to overcome the tremendous changes in the Chinese language seen in the past century.
The Hong Kong Bible Society stated that “conscious of the extreme importance of such a daunting task, the scholars involved in the project have been working diligently and prayerfully, imploring the Holy Spirit for guidance. They have been weighing carefully every word and every expression, including the punctuation, confronting constantly with the original text, and consulting other versions, all for the purpose of producing a revision that conveys more accurately the message of the Bible.”
The revision of the New Testament is based on the Greek New Testament 4th Revised Edition published by the United Bible Societies in 1993. The revision of the Old Testament is based on the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia published in 1984, the Hong Kong Bible Society said.
Beside the issue of faithfulness and accuracy, there was also a concern about naturalness and fluency. Changes are being introduced wherever the old text presents problems such as archaisms, ambiguities, or structures not conforming to current usage.
Certain words and expressions that formerly sounded smooth and natural have since become unnatural and unintelligible. Chris Chow, marketing manager of the Hong Kong Bible Society, told the UCA New, as the translation produced 91 years ago had lost some of its meaning for modern Chinese speakers.
Mr. Chow cited the CUV’s use of the verb “rallying” in Galilee in John 7:1. “This is now revised as Jesus ‘visits’ Galilee, since the word ‘rally’ nowadays carries the meaning of protest and confrontation,” he said.
“We hope this new translation will allow the nation of China and Chinese readers throughout the world to read, with familiarity and ease, the Bible’s life-changing message, ” said Marco Herrera, director of international ministries of American Bible Society.
South Carolina the latest target in the gunsights of the national Episcopal Church: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 22, 2010 p 7. October 22, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, South Carolina.comments closed
Bishop Mark Lawrence of South Carolina
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Diocese of South Carolina synod has revised its bylaws in a bid to protect itself from legal predations from the national Episcopal Church. Meeting on Oct 15, at St Paul’s Church in Summerville, South Carolina adopted six resolutions that ended the diocese’s automatic accession to the national church’s canons.
At the close of its March meeting, Bishop Mark Lawrence prorogued the 219th annual meeting of the diocesan convention, after US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori engaged an attorney to represent the Episcopal Church in South Carolina. The diocese requested an explanation for what it saw as an unlawful usurpation of authority by the presiding bishop, and postponed the adjournment of its synod pending a response.
The presiding bishop declined to respond, but as it waited the diocesan leadership began a review of the national church canons enacted at the 2009 General Convention covering clergy discipline.
“What we found was shocking,” Canon Kendall Harmon told Anglican TV, as it “violates due process” and natural justice.
A paper prepared by South Carolina attorney Alan Runyan and canon lawyer Mark McCall of the Anglican Communion Institute on the implications of the new canons, also found they were in direct conflict with the national church’s constitution, and gathered into the presiding bishop’s hands powers never held by that office.
To protect itself, the diocesan leadership offered six resolutions to the convention that changed its bylaws, Canon Harmon explained, which were adopted with sizeable majorities by the synod.
In his convention address, Bishop Mark Lawrence said the resolutions were not “intended to remove this diocese from the Episcopal Church,” but were proposed for the purpose of “enabling” the diocese “to continue to rightly engage to conform to the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Episcopal Church (rightly understood) and the doctrine, discipline and worship of Christ as this Church has received them and to be able to stand as a serious minority voice in this Church.”
He added that his prayer for the diocese was that we “will continue to recognize that we are in a season not unlike the days of Nehemiah: when men and women were called to have a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other—or to put it in New Testament terms, to guard the faith and to proclaim the Gospel.”
The threats to its independence were real, he added, stating that he had received a telephone call earlier in the week from a “fellow bishop” who said he and five others had been asked by the presiding bishop to let him know the “apparent focus of this diocesan gathering does not bode well for [Mark’s] status as a bishop who has sworn to uphold the doctrine, discipline, and worship of this Church.”
Bishop Lawrence stated he wrote to the Presiding Bishop asking her for an explanation of this threat. She responded that she feared for the “havoc that she believes is likely to ensue if I keep on my present course.”
“What she fails to address or I suppose to understand is the havoc that is likely to ensue if we depart from our present course,” Bishop Lawrence said, noting that “there is no risk free way forward for us.”
Questions over ACC letter on the Southern Cone raised: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 22, 2010 October 21, 2010
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Bishop Gregory Venables of Argentina
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council has withdrawn the Bishop of Chile’s invitation to serve on the Inter Anglican Standing Commission on Unity Faith and Order (UFO), citing the province’s violation of the moratorium on crossing provincial boundaries.
However, the Oct 14 press release issued by Canon Kenneth Kearon has left Bishop Gregory Venables of Argentina “flummoxed.”
In an interview taped on Oct 18 with Anglican TV, the primate of the Southern Cone said he was nonplussed by the assertions made in the secretary general’s press release, as it was “untrue” and “unjust” to say he had not responded to the ACC.
In his press release, Canon Kearon cited Archbishop Rowan Williams’ Pentecost letter to the Anglican Communion. The May 28 letter stated that the members of those provinces that have “formally, through their Synod or House of Bishops, adopted policies that breach any of the moratoria requested by the Instruments of Communion” on gay bishops, blessings and the violation of provincial boundaries “should not be participants in the ecumenical dialogues in which the Communion is formally engaged.”
Members of the UFO committee from these provinces, Dr. Williams said, “should for the time being have the status only of consultants rather than full members.”
On June 7, Canon Kearon announced that five American participants on the Ecumenical dialogue commissions had been informed that “their membership of these dialogues has been discontinued,” while the sole American member of the UFO committee was downgraded to consultant status.
The ACC Secretary General also stated he had written to Archbishop Fred Hiltz asking whether Canada has “formally adopted policies that breach the second moratorium in the Windsor Report, authorising public rites of same-sex blessing,” and to Bishop Venables “asking him for clarification as to the current state of his interventions into other provinces.”
In his Oct 14 press release, Canon Kearon said “I have not received a response” to this request for “clarification” from the Southern Cone.
Canon Kearon’s claim, however, is at odds with Bishop Venables’ memory, as he reports having had two telephone conversations with Canon Kearon and one with Dr. Williams about this issue.
Bishop Venables further stated that he told Dr. Williams and Canon Kearon in the three conversations that he could not give a definitive answer to Canon Kearon’s letter until after the meeting of the Southern Cone standing committee.
A spokesman for the ACC confirmed that Canon Kearon had indeed “followed up with two phone calls” his June letter to Bishop Venables. However, the secretary general had “received no clarification as to the current state of his interventions by mid July as requested,” ACC spokesman Jan Butter said.
He added that Canon Kearon was “not made aware of the bishop’s intention to bring the issue before his House of Bishops or Provincial Synod,” but was now “delighted” to learn “that he will be doing so.”
Asked if Dr. Williams had spoken to Bishop Venables about these issues, a spokesman for Dr. Williams told CEN on Oct 18 the Argentine bishop “has not, as requested, confirmed his province’s position in respect of interventions. Confirmation is still awaited.”
The fracas over Canon Kearon’s June letter is not the first breakdown in communications between the ACC and the Southern Cone, as Bishop Venables told Anglican.TV he never received a copy of the revised Anglican Consultative Council constitution that was to have been distributed to the provinces before it was adopted this summer.
One senior Global South leader told CEN he was troubled by the implication that Canon Kearon could make demands upon the primates and the provinces. The ACC secretary general has “no authority” to dictate to the communion, he observed.
Bishop appointed for Argyll and The Isles: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 15, 2010 p 7. October 21, 2010
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The Bishop of Argyll and The Isles, the Rt. Rev. Kevin Pearson
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Dean of Edinburgh has been appointed Bishop of Argyll and The Isles.
On Oct 6 the Scottish Episcopal Church’s College of Bishops elected the Very Rev. Kevin Pearson to succeed the Rt. Rev. Martin Shaw, who retired as bishop of the western rural diocese in September after serving five years in office.
Dean Pearson serves as rector of St. Michael and All Saints Church in Edinburgh, and also is a canon of St Mary’s Cathedral and Dean of the Diocese of Edinburgh and is the Director of Ordinands for the Scottish Episcopal Church.
The Primus of the SEC, Bishop David Chillingworth stated he “warmly” welcomed the “unanimous election” of Dean Pearson, writing the new bishop was a “greatly loved” parish rector and as “Provincial Director of Ordinands he has been a major influence on the shape of the ministry of our whole church.”
“The College of Bishops views this appointment as one which is of great significance for the Scottish Episcopal Church,” the Primus said, noting the “Rural Commission which reported to this year’s General Synod reminded us that the population of rural Scotland is increasing. The Diocese of Argyll and The Isles is therefore a place of mission opportunity. It deserves leadership of the highest quality.”
The appointment of a new bishop for Argyll fell to the College of Bishops after two failed attempts by the diocese to elect a bishop. After Bishop Shaw retired, a preparatory committee consisting of representatives of the diocesan synod, a legal advisor and the Primus drew up a short list of three candidates. However, two of the candidates subsequently withdrew from consideration.
In February 2010 the post was re-advertised but the preparatory committee was unable to agree on three candidates and the right of election passed to the College of Bishops.
Geographically the largest diocese in the Scottish Episcopal Church, it also has the smallest with 1300 members spread across west Scotland and the Western Isles from Arran to the Outer Hebrides.
In a statement released after his appointment, Bishop-elect Pearson said he was “delighted, excited and humbled to be elected the new Bishop of Argyll and The Isles. I am looking forward enormously to working in this beautiful and exciting Diocese. My wife Elspeth and I are also looking forward to living there and to getting to know the people and the area better.”
The new bishop will be consecrated at the Cathedral of St John the Divine in Oban later this year.
Blair and Hitchens to debate the merits of religion: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 15, 2010 p 7 October 21, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Popular Culture.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens will face off in Toronto next month in a debate on the question whether “religion is a force for good in the world.”
The former prime minister and the political columnist will meet on Nov 26 at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall as part of the 6th semi-annual Munk Debate. The two hour debate will address the question of whether “in a world of globalization and rapid social change does religion provide the common values and ethical foundations that diverse societies need to thrive in the 21st century? Or, do deeply held religious beliefs promote intolerance, exacerbate ethnic divisions, and impede social progress in developing and developed nations alike?”
“This debate is not about the existence of God,” Rudyard Griffiths, co-director and moderator of the Munk Debates, told the Toronto Globe & Mail.
“We have asked Mr. Blair and Mr. Hitchens to wrestle with the more immediate question facing developed and developing nations: Is religion a force for peace or conflict in the modern world?” he said.
Among Mr. Blair’s ventures since leaving public office is the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, an NGO that seeks to “promote respect and understanding between the major religions.” The former pm will argue that an understanding of faith is necessary in a world of globalization and rapid social change.
“Religious faith has a major part to play in shaping the values which guide the modern world, and can and should be a force for progress,” Mr. Blair will argue, according to a statement released on the Munk Debate website.
Christopher Hitchens, the author of God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, will argue that “if religious instruction were not allowed until the child had attained the age of reason, we would be living in a quite different world.”
The prolific author and political gadfly was diagnosed with esophageal cancer earlier this year, and has re-affirmed his atheistic views in light of his possibly fatal illness. Counted among the bread of new atheists along with Richard Dawkins, in his latest book Mr. Hitchens argues that organized religion is “violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism, tribalism, and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children.”
US Episcopal parish may be the first to go over to Rome under the ordinariate: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 15, 2010 p 6. October 21, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Roman Catholic Church, The Episcopal Church.comments closed
Fr Catania giving Cardinal William Keeler a tour of Mount Calvary
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
An Episcopal parish in Maryland may become the first congregation to accept the Vatican’s invitation to join the Roman Catholic Church under the terms of Anglicanorum coetibus.
On Oct 24 the congregation of Mount Calvary Church in Baltimore will hold a parish meeting to ratify the unanimous vote of its vestry and its rector, the Rev. Jason Catania SSC, to join the Roman Catholic Church as a parish.
In a letter dated Sept 21, Fr. Catania wrote to the congregation stating the vestry had adopted two resolutions. As the Episcopal Church had “clearly, substantially, and fundamentally changed its doctrine, discipline and worship” the vestry of Mount Calvary recommended the parish “become separate from and independent of The Episcopal Church.”
The vestry further recommended that “upon separation from The Episcopal Church” the parish “seek to become an Anglican Use parish of the Roman Catholic Church.”
Fr. Catania, who has served as rector of the historic inner city parish since 2006, told the congregation the vestry had begun exploring the Roman option since October 2007. The decision of the All Saints Sisters of the Poor, an Anglican order affiliated with the congregation, to join the Catholic Church in Sept 2009 and the Vatican’s offer of ‘personal ordinariates’ that would allow groups of Anglicans to enter the Roman Catholic Church led the vestry to vote in favor of union with Rome.
The rector further noted that the Roman Catholic “Archdiocese of Baltimore now stands ready to welcome Mount Calvary as a body into full communion with the successor of St. Peter, and the process of establishing ordinariates in various countries, including the United States, has begun.”
Since 2007 the congregation has witnessed a decline in giving and in attendance, with pledge income falling almost in half, and the average Sunday attendance dropping from approximately 65 to 40 people.
On Oct 10, the Rev. Rev. Eugene Sutton, Bishop of Maryland, met with the congregation to discuss the vestry vote. Fr. Catania said he hoped the congregation could purchase the property; however a diocesan spokesman said discussions over the disposition of the property were on-going.
Terrorist fears fail to stop Uganda church rally: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 15, 2010 p 8. October 20, 2010
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Evangelist Andrew Palau addressing the Love Kampala Festival on Sept 26
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Concerns over a possible Somali Islamist terrorist attack failed to deter over 82,000 Ugandans from attending the two-day Love Kampala Festival led by American evangelist Andrew Palau.
“God loves Uganda and He loves you,” the 44-year-old son of evangelist Luis Palau told the congregation gathered at the Kololo Airstrip outside the city on Sept 25-26.
“God wants you to know that you can experience true freedom through His son Jesus Christ,” Mr. Palau told the 55,000 Ugandans who attended the closing Sunday evening service amidst tight security.
The Primate of the Church of the Province of Uganda, Archbishop Henry Orombi praised the gathering, saying it was a “foretaste of heaven” as it united more than 1,000 churches across denominational lines behind the common goal of glorifying the name of Jesus.
On the evening of July 11, terrorists detonated bombs at restaurant and a rugby club, killing 76 people watching the World Cup Final on television. The Somali Islamist group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the attack, which analysts believe was launched in retaliation for Uganda’s support of the interim government in Mogadishu. Somali Islamists are believed to have targeted soccer fans for assault, as they have denounced the sport as un-Islamic and forbidden by the Koran.
The week before the Palau service, Dutch police boarded a KLM flight bound for Entebbe and arrested a Somali national on suspicion of terrorism. Seven members of the Palau team were on board the flight from Amsterdam.
Following the arrest the Ugandan police issued new security regulations governing all public gatherings in Kampala. Those attending the Palau festival were required to pass through security checks and metal detectors before entering the airfield where the service was to be held. The government also requested Mr. Palau end the service by sundown, even though most festivals run into the small hours of the morning, and soldiers patrolled the perimeter of the festival throughout the service.
Former Army Chief of Staff and Defence Minister, Maj. General Elly Tumwine praised the festival. “Wherever there is light, darkness runs away. Wherever there is love, fear goes away. Wherever there is hope, hopelessness goes away,” he told the crowd.
Gen. Tumwine hailed the Love Kamapala Festival as a milestone for Uganda, as the emphasis on the love of Jesus Christ showed that Ugandans were excited about the future and would not allow fear to win, the Luis Palau Association reported.
Real IRA car bombings pointless, bishop charges: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 15, 2010 p 6. October 20, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of Ireland, Terrorism.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Bishop of Derry and Raphoe has denounced last week’s car bombing in Londonderry, saying the attack by the Real IRA “offers nothing hopeful or constructive to the citizens of our community.”
An estimated 200 pound explosive device placed in a parked car was detonated on Oct 5, the 42nd anniversary of the civil rights march in Londonderry that marked the start of the “Troubles.”
Two police officers were injured in the blast, which blew out the windows of an Ulster Bank branch and damaged nearby buildings. Approximately 200 guests of a hotel close to the blast were evacuated. The Police Service of Northern Ireland confirmed that three warnings were given in advance of the explosion. The Real IRA contacted a newspaper on Oct 6, claiming responsibility for the blast.
On Oct 6 Bishop Ken Good condemned the republican bombing. “Ordinary people are left to deal with the consequences of an act by those who represent no-one and who offer no hope to themselves or their fellow citizens,” he said, adding: “We stand all the more united in our commitment that peace rather than violence shall determine our future.”
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Owen Paterson said the government would “not allow these people to achieve their aim”.
He said the authorities would tackle those responsible and would “smoke them out” and “bear down on them.”
Dr. Williams begins a tour of India: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 15, 2010 p 7. October 18, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England Newspaper, Church of North India, Church of South India.comments closed
Dr. Williams visiting a school operated by the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has begun a 16 day tour of India, arriving in Calcutta on Oct 9. Over the next two weeks Dr Rowan Williams will tour the subcontinent, visiting Ranchi, Nagpur, New Delhi, Madras, Vellore, Bangalore and Thiruvananthapurum.
“I look forward greatly to being back in India once more. Family connections, many friendships and the memory of two inspiring earlier visits mean that India is a special place for me, and I am deeply grateful for the invitation to visit again,” Dr. Williams said upon his departure.
Dr. Williams’ hosts on his Indian adventure, the Church of North India, the Church of South India and the Mar Thoma Church have planned a grueling itinerary for the archbishop.
The first three days of his visit were spent in Calcutta, visiting church-affiliated schools and institutions. Dr. Williams visited the tomb of Mother Teresa at the mother house of the Missionaries of Charities then toured a museum dedicated to her memory before visiting a school operated by the order.
“The joy that was evident there, I believe, is a response to something very deep in the whole life of this city, not only today but through the ages,” he told reporters. “Calcutta is known as the City of Joy so it’s very moving to see that joy and love at work.”
Speaking at a dinner organized by the Diocese of Calcutta for local dignitaries, Dr. Williams said he had long “wished to visit Calcutta after having known of its history. As a student I remember being inspired by the work for the poor here.”
Reporters also questioned Dr. Williams during the stops on throughout his tour. In response to a question about religious violence, he stated, he was “concerned about the attacks on Christians as I would have been about attacks on people of other communities.”
Commenting on the recent court ruling on the ownership of disputed land in Ayodhya claimed by Hindus and Muslims, Dr. Williams said he had followed the debates over the verdict “closely.” He noted that in 1992 over 2000 people were killed in sectarian rioting over the disputed temple. “I’m glad to see that the way it was received was very peaceful,” he remarked.
On the first Sunday of his trip, Dr. Williams preached at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Calcutta, marking the Global Day of Prayer for the Millennium Development Goals.
In his sermon the archbishop spoke about the need to conquer the self by “denying the pleasures of thinking of yourself as an isolated being with no real relations with those around; denying yourself the fantasy that you can organise the world to suit yourself; denying yourself the luxury of not noticing the suffering of your neighbour.”
“This is fasting that reconnects you with reality. And in the context of the gospel, this is the fasting that the Holy Spirit makes possible for us, breaking through our self-satisfaction,” he explained.
On Oct 12, Dr Williams visited the Diocese of Chotanagpur in Ranchi, and was briefed on the work of Christian education in the diocese. Christian schools in the diocese had grown rapidly over the past century and a half, educating 217 students in 1869 as compared to 40,000 today, the Dr. Williams’ host, Bishop BB Baske reported. Oct 13 found Dr. Williams leading worship at St Paul’s Cathedral in the Bahubazar district of the city.
The pace of the archbishop’s tour is not scheduled to slacken. In Nagpur he will join celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the Church of North India and in Thiruvananthapuram the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Diocese of South Kerala, Church of South India. In Thiruvananthapuram the Archbishop will also meet Metropolitan Joseph and other members of the Mar Thoma Church.
In New Delhi, Dr Williams will deliver the Chevening Lecture at the British Council entitled “Pluralism and the Dialogue of Religions” and on Oct 15 will lead a service commemorating the 300th anniversary of the Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (ISPCK).
Headmaster arrested for caning student: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 15, 2010 p 7. October 18, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of North India, Education.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The headmaster of an Anglican school in Calcutta has been arrested for assault in the wake of the suicide of a 13-year old student under his charge, whom he had caned for flouting school rules.
On Oct 3, the headmaster of La Martiniere School for Boys, Mr. Sunirmal Chakrabarthy, was arrested and charged with assault for using corporal punishment on a student. The La Martiniere case has attracted widespread media attention in India, highlighting a national debate over corporal punishment, and was topic of interest in the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Calcutta press conference during his tour of India this week.
Rouvanjit Rawla took his own life on Feb 12, 2010, four days after he was beaten by the school’s headmaster. Rawla’s father filed a civil lawsuit against the school and lodged a complaint with the Calcutta police, alleging assault.
On June 11 the school released a press statement saying “As a School, we deeply regret the loss of a young life. Attempts being made to hold the school entirely responsible are certainly misplaced.”
However, it defended caning recalcitrant students. “There are times, when children need to be corrected and helped. The idea has always been to inculcate a sense of values amongst them. It is also important for the School to ensure that there is an environment conducive to learning and often corrective measures have to be taken to ensure this environment is not vitiated in the interest of the larger student community of the School,” the school said.
An inquiry by the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights—a quasi-governmental body—on June 9 found the headmaster and school guilty of misconduct and recommended their suspension.
Mr. Chakrabarthy stated that he had “apologised to the school board and for this I am ready to face the consequences.”
India’s private Anglican and Roman Catholic schools have reared the country’s elite for over a century, and the 175-year old La Martiniere School and its sister academy for girls have educated many of Calcutta’s and India’s government, business, military and social elite.
In 2007 the Church of North India banned its schools from using corporal punishment and announced that teachers who caned students would be dismissed.
“Incidents of a student being subjected to corporal punishment are rare in our schools,” Bishop PSP Raju of Calcutta told The Statesman in 2007. “The recent decision was undertaken by the board of governors of the schools to handle the issue more strictly” and give firm guidance to teachers, he said.
However, the ban on corporal punishment was not instituted at La Martineire, and in May a diocesan spokesman told the Press Trust of India the death was an “eye opener for us.”
“Caning has been a traditional practice in this country, but things have changed with time. Now, we have to orient our teachers to win the confidence and respect of the children. In future, we can assure that there will be no such incident,” the Rev. Sukhen Biswas, a member of the diocesan executive council, said.
Asked his view of the La Martineire case, the Archbishop of Canterbury told reporters in Calcutta: “I would not like to say much about this particular case as it is sub judice. But like in India, corporal punishment is punishable by law in England.”
Australian tribunal finds Bishop of The Murray guilty of misconduct: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 15, 2010 p 8. October 16, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Australia, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
Bishop Ross Davies
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Special Tribunal of the Anglican Church of Australia has found the former Bishop of The Murray guilty of eight of the nine charges of misconduct brought against him by the bishops of the province of South Australia.
In an Oct 5 letter to the Australian bishops, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall reported the Tribunal recommended Bishop Ross Davies be removed from office, prohibited from functioning as a bishop, and be rebuked. Dr. Aspinall added that though some newspapers reported that Bishop Davies had been received into the Roman Catholic Church on Sept 28, “I have received no confirmation of this.”
On Sept 24, Bishop Davies, resigned as Bishop of the Murray on the eve of his trial. Dr. Aspinall stated that “on the same date, Bishop Davies also signed a deed of relinquishment of his orders.”
However the “deed” was not accepted by the Metropolitan of South Australia, Archbishop Jeffrey Driver, and the Special Tribunal “determined that it had jurisdiction to hear charges brought against Bishop Davies.”
In February 2010, the Episcopal Standards Commission lodged a formal complaint of misconduct with the church’s Special Tribunal accusing Bishop Davies with conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy and abuse of office.
The seventeen page complaint listed nine causes of action and offered 108 examples of misconduct, including seeking a £600,000 payout from the diocese in exchange for his early retirement. Bishop Davies denied the accusations, and a three-man Tribunal led by the Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr. Philip Freier, was charged with adjudicating the complaint..
It was alleged that Bishop Davies lived outside the diocese and worshiped at a Roman Catholic parish in Adelaide, engaged in abusive and bullying behavior, sought to extract a financial settlement from the diocese in exchange for his retirement, and failed to discipline an archdeacon accused of sexual misconduct.
In its Sept 28 decision, the Special Tribunal noted that Bishop Davies’ claim that illness prevented him from attending the trial or offering a defence, was not substantiated by a physician. The tribunal examined the evidence presented in the case and found that “the charge of Disgraceful Conduct” was “made out by the evidence relating to eight counts” while the ninth count of misconduct was “not proven.”
“The difficulties in the Diocese of The Murray have been significant and protracted,” Dr. Aspinall said, and the “situation has involved considerable pain for the diocese as a whole.”
He asked the bishops to “keep the diocese, Ross and Christine Davies, and all involved in your prayers as the work of restoration and healing now unfolds.”
Mixed report on growth and income given to Sydney synod: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 15, 2010 p 8. October 16, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Australia, Church of England Newspaper, Evangelism.comments closed
Dr. Peter Jensen, the Archbishop of Sydney
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
There were more people in the pews in 2009, but there will be less cash to support ministry in 2010, delegates to the Diocese of Sydney’s 48th synod learned this week.
In his presidential address to the Oct 11 session of synod, Archbishop Peter Jensen reported the Connect 09 evangelism programme led to a five per cent increase in church attendance last year. However, the archbishop also reported the diocese was still feeling the aftershocks of the global financial crisis, and that declining rates of return on investments would mean a drop in income.
Dr. Jensen stated that “through Connect 09 the Lord has blessed our renewed commitment to the community, as a way of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with all.”
Based upon “the figures we have, and using considerable caution, we grew numerically in 2009. Perhaps by even as much as five per cent” or 3000 people.
“To grow at all is significant; to grow by anything like that percentage is sensational,” Dr. Jensen said.
The Rev. Andrew Nixon, executive director of Connect09, told Synod the programme was “God’s campaign, in God’s time, with God’s people sharing God’s grace”.
A survey of parish evangelism and outreach found that 97 per cent of Anglican churches in the diocese had distributed Christian literature during the campaign, and “during 2009 between 40 and 50 percent of households in the Sydney diocese were contacted by their local church. That means that 1.75 million people were contacted and know that we want to connect with them,” he said. “That’s not just a good start, it’s a million good starts.”
Dr. Jensen said the Connect 09 “figures may be approximate. But grow we did in the very year when we all together prayed, shared the word of God and went out into the community. We give God our praise. Let us take fresh heart, and keep sharing the word of God.”
Dr. Jensen also used his presidential address to address the question of “what it is to be human in glittering Sydney,” singling out the issues of penal reform and euthanasia for special attention.
New South Wales’ prisons were overcrowded and understaffed, he said. “We have too many gaols, we have far too many people in gaols, we keep them there too long, we have people on lengthy remand who are then proved innocent, we have a high percentage of prisoners with psychiatric illnesses, there is a disproportionate number of indigenous people in goal,” he said.
Dr. Jensen also criticized moves to legalize euthanasia, saying “my fundamental problem with it is that we are sinners and we do not have the moral capacity to administer it.”
The archbishop told the Synod the diocese was still reeling from the effects of the global financial crisis and the “financial issues are grave.”
“In round terms, it seems possible that the amount of money available” he said “to support diocesan works in the next few years is going to be reduced from the $7.5 million of 2010 to something like $4 million.”
The cutbacks in diocesan spending in 2008 were “only the beginning,” he said and warned that parishes might be asked to pick up a larger share of the diocese’s expenses in the years to come.
“We are,” Dr. Jensen said, “asset-rich but cash-poor.”
God will protect Nigeria, archbishop says: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 15, 2010 p 8. October 15, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of Nigeria, Terrorism.comments closed
Archbishop Nicholas Okoh of Nigeria
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Church leaders in Nigeria have denounced the Independence Day bombings in Abuja, saying the Oct 1 attack by secessionists from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) was evil and served only to destabilize the country. However, Archbishop Nicholas Okoh has reassured Anglicans political violence would not break the country apart, as God was protecting Nigeria.
Two car bombs and a smaller explosive device were detonated during the 50th anniversary celebration of Nigeria’s independence in the capital of Abuja, killing 12 people. MEND claimed responsibilities in an email sent to the press warning an attack was imminent, saying there was nothing to celebrate since independence from Britain.
However, claims MEND was behind the attack have been disputed by some of its leaders, and downplayed by President Goodluck Jonathan, who said the attack was the work of a splinter group based outside Nigeria. “Let me also use this opportunity to reassure Nigerians that what happened yesterday had nothing, and I have to repeat, had nothing to do with the Niger Delta,” President Jonathan said on Oct 2.
“People just use the name of MEND to camouflage criminality and terrorism,” the president told reporters during a visit with victims of the blast at Abuja’s main hospital.
The investigation into the attacks is on-going. The Nigerian police have arrested nine MEND militants, while the South African police have detained Henry Okah, a former MEND leader who was freed during an amnesty least year.
Police have also questioned the director of former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida’s presidential campaign in connection with the attacks, saying text messages to Raymond Dokpesi, the director of the Babangida campaign, were found in the mobile phone of one of the suspects in detention.
The Church of Nigeria denounced the attack as “cruel, ungodly and an unqualified evil” that could not be “justified on any grounds.”
“This type of approach on issues of the Niger Delta is counter-productive, as it will destroy the abundant goodwill and deep sympathy of most Nigerians for their cause,” the Oct 3 statement said.
The Church of Nigeria invited “all those behind the ugly incident to repent and embrace the government’s constructive approach to issues of the Niger Delta development,” and also urged President Jonathan not to be distracted by the attack but to “remain focused in the work of governance.”
Fears of political instability have roiled Africa’s most populous nation, and writing in Foreign Affair, former US Ambassador to Nigeria John Campbell said the Jan 22 presidential election could lead to “postelection sectarian violence, paralysis of the executive branch, and even a coup.”
The current round of instability in Nigeria began in Nov 2008, when President Umaru Yar’Adua entered a Saudi Arabian hospital for treatment of renal failure. However, he declined to follow the Nigerian constitution and hand over power to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan during his absence from the country.
A power vacuum was created, that was only resolved win the National Assembly in Feb 2010 declared Jonathan ‘acting president’ even though the action was not authorized by the Nigerian constitution. In May 2010, Jonathan assumed the presidency upon the death of Yar’Adua.
Since the end of military rule in 1998, an unwritten power sharing agreement has been in place among Nigeria’s political elites that rotates the presidency between a Christian southerner and a Muslim northerner. President Jonathan’s decision to stand for election as president in his own right has ended this accord.
Muslims have not consolidated behind a single candidate however, as Gen. Babangida and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, both former military dictators are running for the presidency, setting the stage for political clash between the Christian South and Muslim North.
“Nigerians have long danced on the edge of the cliff without falling off,” Ambassador Campbell said. “Yet at this juncture, the odds are not good for a positive outcome, and it is difficult to see how Nigeria can move back from the brink.”
However, Archbishop Nicholas Okoh has assured Nigerians that God will see the country through the elections. “Nothing will happen to us. We will be alright. God will use the Church to save Nigeria from any trouble that may come from the election,” he told a national meeting of the Mothers’ Union last month.
US bishops call for open borders: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 15, 2010 p 6. October 15, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, House of Bishops, Immigration.comments closed
The Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops has called for a halt to the enforcement of US immigration laws, calling upon Episcopalians to join with other members of the religious left in “actively protesting” racial stereotyping and demand a halt to “practices that treat undocumented workers as criminals.”
In a pastoral letter and discussion paper released at the close of their Sept 16-21 meeting in Phoenix, the bishops said the starting point for a debate on illegal immigration begins with “an obligation to advocate for every undocumented worker as already being a citizen of God’s reign on earth and one for whom Christ died.”
Episcopalians should offer “material and spiritual support to undocumented workers and their families, wherever possible, and should expect that they will continue to receive medical attention and police protection as needed,” the bishops said.
“This is simply a matter of respecting basic human dignity, and we have every moral warrant for calling the nation to account, whether we appeal simply to human rights, divine law, natural law, the law of nations, our national covenant, or to the Bible that grounds them all.”
The 17-page pastoral letter entitled “The Nation and the Common Good: Reflections on Immigration Reform” conceded that nation states had the right to secure their borders, and acknowledged there were some who were concerned about “the danger uncontrolled immigration poses to our safety and economic well-being.”
However, these concerns should “be approached within the broader context of a national commitment and covenant to inclusion and fellowship across all lines for the sake of the common good.”
The bishops stated the enforcement of “inhumane policies directed against undocumented persons (raids, separation of families, denial of health services)” was “intolerable,” and also offered an apology for having been “complicit” in “sinfulness as people who benefit from the labor of undocumented workers without recognizing our responsibility to them.”
They promised henceforth to “take seriously our commitment to and responsibility for our fellow citizens, as we strive to face the spiritual, moral and economic challenges of life.”
Before the start of the bishops’ Fall meeting, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori took a group of 30 bishops and their spouses to the Arizona-Mexico border, and staged a march to protest the deaths of illegal aliens who had died in the desert while attempting to cross into the United States. The desert sojourn helped the bishops “to reduce both our own caricatures and prejudices” about illegal immigration “and maybe do the same for others,” Bishop Jefferts Schori said.
The bishops’ letter is likely to carry little weight among US political circles, as a majority of voters oppose the relaxation of immigration laws. Mark Tooley of the Institute on Religion and Democracy offered a harsh critique of the bishops’ pastoral, writing in the American Spectator “like most on the Religious Left, the Episcopal Bishops seem uncomfortable with national sovereignty in the political sphere, just as the Religious Left is often theologically uncomfortable with Christianity’s exclusivist truth claims, or the expectation of monogamy in traditional marriage, and the loyalties inherent to traditional families.”
The US bishops had confused trendy politics with Christian virtues, Mr. Tooley argued, noting “these Episcopal bishops, busy with desert photo ops and polemical news releases, are anxious to make sweeping utopian claims, without a clear constituency or audience.”
Bishop calls down the wrath of God upon kidnappers in Nigeria: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 8, 2010 p 8. October 14, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of Nigeria, Crime.comments closed
Bishop Emmanuel Chukwuma of Enugu
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Nigerian security forces have freed 15 schoolchildren abducted for ransom by gunmen in the southern Abia State in the Niger Delta. The kidnapping prompted outrage including a march by 100 priests of the diocese of Enugu on Sept 29 to protest the collapse of law and order in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
On Sept 27 a bus carrying 15 students from the Abayi International School in Aba, Abia State was stormed by gunmen as it was on its way to school.
Kidnapping for ransom has reached epidemic proportions in southern Nigeria in recent years. Over 300 foreigners have been held for ransom since 2006, and almost all have been released unharmed after the payment of ransom. The seizure of wealthy businessmen, politicians and civic leaders has become an almost daily occurrence, with the Anglican bishops of Ngbo and Benin held for ransom this year.
On Oct 1, police rescued the children unharmed. The circumstances surrounding the children’s release remain unclear.
On Sept 29, the Rt. Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma, Bishop of Enugu, led a march of his diocesan clergy to the headquarters of the Nigerian Union of Journalists Press Centre in Enugu to register their anger at the kidnapping.
Bishop Chukwuma offered messages to the kidnappers, the government and to the family of the children. He said he would give the kidnappers three days to release the children. If they did not, the diocese would begin a three day period of fasting and prayer and call down the wrath of God upon the kidnappers.
To the government, the bishop demanded that the Inspector General of Police Hafiz Ringmin move his headquarters to Abia State and stamp out the crime wave that had paralyzed the Delta. Given the current lawlessness, it would be all but impossible to conduct the 2011 general elections in the Niger Delta, the bishop said.
The bishop urged the families of the kidnapped children, as well as all Nigerians to pray for the children, saying that only prayer, policing and a refusal to pay ransom would end the crime wave.
Bishop Chukwuma also pronounced an amnesty on the kidnappers, saying if that if they repented of their crimes and returned the children, their sins would be forgiven. If not, they must know their sins would find them out, the bishop said.
Family breakdown is the root cause of violent crime, West Indian churchmen tell govt: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 8, 2010 p 7. October 13, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of the West Indies, Crime, Youth/Children.comments closed
2010 Independence Day ceremony in St Kitts Cathedral
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Absent fathers and the breakdown of the family are the greatest threats to society in the West Indies and the root causes of crime, the leaders of the government of St. Kitts and Nevis were told at an Independence Day ceremony last week.
In an ecumenical ceremony marking the 27th anniversary of independence of the West Indian nation held at the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Basseterre, the Rev. Christopher Archibald from the Anglican Church of St Kitts told the Governor General, the Prime Minister and cabinet, members of the opposition, judiciary and chiefs of the police and army, that the government’s legislative agenda for the coming session of parliament, “Strengthening families for positive nation building” was a worthy goal.
The family was under attack in St Kitts and Nevis, and across the Caribbean, Fr. Archibald told the assembled worthies on Sept 30. “We are experiencing serious threats to our family and family life and unity by both internal and external forces.”
He singled out North American culture with its emphasis on individualism and materialism, which had led to an increase in gang related activities, sexual promiscuity, drug abuse, crime, violence, truancy, delinquency and indiscipline.
Crime has been the principal political issue across the Caribbean in recent years, with nations from Trinidad to the Bahamas experiencing a sharp rise in gang and drug related criminal activity. Speaking to the 25th annual Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police conference in May, Jamaica’s Deputy Police Commissioner Jevene Benet stated that “a climate of disorder is like a fertile ground” for violent crimes.
Commissioner Benet stated that while Jamaica witnessed 1,680 homicides in 2009, the country’s annual murder rate did not break 100 until the early 1970s. “The argument is that such a rise in the number of homicides was aided and abetted by a rise in the climate of disorder, a climate in which little misdemeanors, small infractions that went unchecked, permitted bigger infractions,” she said.
In 2008 St Kitts, with a population of 46,000 saw 23 homicides and its first hanging in ten years. On Dec 9, 2008 Charles Elroy Laplace was hanged for murdering his wife.
Over the last decade, Jamaica consistently has had one of the highest homicide rates in the Caribbean, but this year, the Virgin Islands’ killings per capita are on-track to outpace Jamaica’s homicide rate.
Dr. Olaf Hendricks, a psychiatrist who works with violent criminals in the Virgin Islands—which has a homicide rate of 84 per 100,000 compared to Jamaica’s 60 per 100,000, warned the Caribbean police conference that dysfunctional households were “hatcheries of murderers and rapists.”
Dr. Hendricks said that low intelligence, mental instability and substance abuse were common among violent criminals. “Once a child is born with something like fetal alcohol syndrome, you’ve got a lifelong struggle on your hands,” he said. “Once a child comes out of a mother’s body and hears bad words and starts recoiling and gets a bad touch, we’re too late.”
In his Independence Day sermon, Fr. Archibald said the “breakdown in family values” led to a “a moral decline in society and a less peaceful country.”
“Realise that once the family has been eroded, then everything else that is good in our society is likely to decline as well,” he said.
Bishop of Leicester urges boycott of EDL rally: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 8, 2010 p 5. October 13, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Immigration.comments closed
Bishop Tim Stevens
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Bishop of Leicester has urged members of the Church of England to boycott an Oct 9 rally by the English Defence League (EDL), saying the gathering will inflame interfaith relations.
The EDL will gather this Saturday in Leicester to protest growing Islamist extremism in England and what it sees as the government’s subservience to a foreign ideology. However, on Sept 28, Bishop Tim Stevens and the Leicester Faith Leaders Forum condemned in “the strongest terms” the planned rally.
“Over the years, the faith groups have said an attack on one is to be regarded an attack on us all. The EDL’s tactic is to single out the Muslim community and we are clear that will not be allowed to happen in Leicester because we are all standing together in solidarity,” Bishop Stevens said.
Last month the Leicester City Council asked the Home Office to ban the rally, which is expected to draw 5000 supporters. The Leicestershire Police have argued the rally will post a “major threat” to public order, with clashes expected between supporters of the EDL and left wing groups. The Home Office has so far declined to ban the gathering.
“The English Defence League has a right to express its views, no matter how distasteful they are,” Bishop Stevens said.
“However, we hope they are rejected by the vast majority of people, people who live side by side and at peace with their neighbours.”
“We shall all be saying to our congregations ‘don’t be drawn into this, let the EDL say what they have to say and we can then move on’,” the interfaith statement signed by the bishop said.
On its website, EDL said it had “organised a series of peaceful protests across the country. Unfortunately, some of these have been disrupted,” adding that “we wish to avoid clashes and putting officers, our members and the public at risk.”
Third lawsuit now filed over Fort Worth secession: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 8, 2010 p 7. October 12, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Fort Worth, Property Litigation.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The loyalist faction of the Diocese of Fort Worth has filed a third lawsuit against Bishop Iker in the US Federal Court in Fort Worth, accusing him of trademark infringement for using the name and seal of “Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth.”
The latest round of litigation has prompted outrage from Bishop Iker, who denounced the pleadings as “preposterous and vindictive,” while American canon law commentators have questioned the wisdom of the national church’s legal strategy.
On Sept 21, lawyers for Bishop C. Wallis Ohl, Jr. and the loyalist faction in Fort Worth filed a complaint against Bishop Iker, saying his “unauthorized use of the Service Marks in his provision, advertising, and marketing of religious service and works is likely to cause confusion among the public seeking to participate in, benefit from, or support [the Diocese’s] religious services and works.”
In its press release, the loyalist faction stated unsuspecting members of the public might be duped into attending worship services conducted by clergy from the majority faction under the “mistaken belief” the services they were attending were “provided by, sponsored by, or affiliated” with the minority faction loyal to the Episcopal Church.
The loyalist faction said it hoped to “recover damages and to enjoin Iker from ‘using the Service Marks in connection with the performance, advertising, or marketing of any religious services or works’.”
Bishop Iker responded the lawsuit was “preposterous” because the minority faction was “trying to get a different result in federal court from the state court ruling” in favor of the majority faction.
The lawsuit was “vindictive because it is aimed personally at me, as an individual,” Bishop Iker said.
“I do not use the trademarks personally,” he said. “The diocese uses them,” observed Bishop Iker, adding that the lawsuit was “only one more indication of how angry the minority faction is.”
In the opinion of canon law commentator Allan Haley, the new law suit was “simply crazy.”
“The minority faction of the diocese is suing the majority (via their bishop) for using its signs and trademarks — which the majority by definition should be able to do, since it is the majority,” Mr. Haley said.
But to “avoid this rather obvious conclusion” the minority faction “has to pretend that it is the whole diocesan entity, and so it has to ignore the real diocese in its pleading” and bring the lawsuit against Bishop Iker in his personal capacity.
“To take the complaint at its word, Bishop Jack L. Iker is the sole source of all religious services and works being performed in the name of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth” by the breakaway majority faction. “And therein lies the plaintiff’s dilemma,” Mr. Haley concluded.
Episcopal property cases carry on in Georgia and Virginia: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 8, 2010 p 8. October 12, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Property Litigation.comments closed
Christ Church, Savannah
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Episcopal Church’s property cases continue to move through the US courts, with two cases appearing before the state supreme courts of Georgia and Virginia.
The Virginia Supreme Court has rejected a petition for a rehearing of the Episcopal Church’s Virginia property cases. On Sept 24, the court denied without comment the motion by the breakaway parishes affiliated with the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) to overturn its decision in favor of the Diocese of Virginia.
Virginia diocesan secretary Mr. Henry Burt said the diocese was “gratified by the Supreme Court’s decision.”
“This is another positive step on the path toward preserving Episcopal property for future generations. We are ready to return to the Circuit Court and hope that today’s announcement brings us one step closer to concluding this litigation and bringing our faithful Episcopalians back to their church homes,” he said.
“While we are disappointed by today’s decision, we are certainly not discouraged,” parish spokesman Jim Oakes said, adding that “we knew going in that motions for rehearing are only granted in a low percentage of cases.”
However, Mr. Oakes said the breakaway parishes, collectively known as the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV) were confident they would prevail. “Today’s decision is not the final one in this case. The Virginia Supreme Court had already decided to send the lawsuit back to the Fairfax County Circuit Court for further proceedings. We remain extremely confident in our legal footing,” he said.
The issue before the Virginia Supreme Court involved only the parishes’ legal argument that a civil war era law known as the Division Statute governed the dispute. The lower court had held the Division Statute applied to the proceedings and rendered moot all of the legal claims of the diocese and national church against the nine breakaway congregations.
The Supreme Court ruled the lower court erred in this legal determination, and has sent the case back to Fairfax County Judge Randy Bellows to “resolve this dispute under principles of real property and contract law,” its order stated.
The ruling returns the parties to their relative positions as of 2007, when the lawsuit was first filed.
Canon law commentator Allan Haley noted the case would likely take a further three to four years before a final decision is reached.
In Georgia, two Amicus Curiae briefs, or friend of the court briefs, were filed in support of the appeal of Christ Church, Savannah against the lower court decision in favor of the Diocese of Georgia over the control of the property of John Wesley and George Whitefield’s American parish.
On Sept 17 the Presbyterian Lay Committee, a conservative lobbying group in the Presbyterian Church of the USA filed a brief stating the Christ Church case “is of great concern, gravity and importance to the people of Georgia….since it affects not only the litigants in this action, but also the thousands of churches in Georgia that are members of scores of denominations, each with its own unique polity, practices, traditions, and concepts of connectionalism.”
The Presbyterian brief argued there were “inconsistent and illogical interpretations of statutory and case law” in the court’s ruling which elevated “a non-owner’s claim to a trust interest above that of the titled owner’s legal interests”.
The American Anglican Council filed a second brief in support of the parish on Sept 23, arguing the lower court decision “threatens to upset Georgia church property law, and to create an untenable situation in which internal church rules are a one-way ratchet, giving denominations unchecked power over property titled in member congregation’s names.”
Following the lower court decision in July Bishop Scott Benhase of Georgia said he was “grateful” for the “sound judgment and wisdom of the court. The historic mission of the Episcopal Church in Savannah and in Georgia flows through Christ Church. Episcopalians throughout the centuries have given sacrificially and worked faithfully to support the mission of Jesus Christ through His Body at Christ Church. The court’s ruling reaffirms that this mission, guided by the Holy Spirit, will continue in its historic church home.”
The Georgia Supreme Court is not obligated to hear the appeal, and will decide whether it will take the case on appeal in the near future.
PNCC elects new prime bishop: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 8, 2010 p 6. October 10, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Polish National Catholic Church.comments closed
PNCC Prime Bishop Anthony Mikovsky
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC) has elected a new prime bishop at its 23rd General Synod in Niagara Falls, Canada this week.
On Oct 5, the Rt. Rev. Anthony Mikovsky received a two thirds vote from the clergy and lay delegates attending the church’s synod to become the breakaway Catholic Church’s seventh leader.
The PNCC had at one time enjoyed close ties to American Anglo-Catholics and in 1946 entered into full communion with the Episcopal Church. In 1978 the PNCC ended its inter-communion relationship with the Episcopal Church following the latter’s decision to ordain women priests. The PNCC does not ordain women but permits its clergy and bishops to marry.
Established in the United States, the PNCC was formed by Polish immigrants who chafed under the American Roman Catholic Church’s German and Irish hierarchy, which was slow to ordain Polish-American priests or permit the Polish language to be taught in parochial schools.
Tensions reached a fever pitch by 1897 when the pastor of St. Stanislaus Cathedral in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Fr. Francizek Hodur, called upon the American hierarchy to give congregations the authority to own their own properties, to allow congregations to be self-governing in secular matters, to allow congregations to call their own priests, and to appoint Polish bishops to serve in the United States.
The Vatican excommunicated Fr. Hodur in 1898 and 20,000 Polish-Americans followed him out of the Roman Catholic Church to form the PNCC.
In 1907, Fr. Hodur received episcopal consecration in Utrecht at the hands of three Old Catholic bishops, and became its first bishop. The Roman Catholic Church consecrated its first Polish-American bishop in 1908. Under Pope John Paul II the breach with the Vatican was partially healed, and the orders of PNCC priests and of sacraments performed by the PNCC are recognized as valid but illicit by Rome.
From 1907–2003 the PNCC was a member of the Old Catholic Union of Utrecht. It withdrew in protest, however from the Old Catholic Union following the introduction of women clergy, but adheres to the Old Catholic stance on papal infallibility. The PNCC currently maintains congregations in the United States, Canada and Poland, and is exploring opening parishes in the UK to serve Polish immigrants.
Denmark signs Porvoo Agreement: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 8, 2010 p 5. October 10, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of Denmark, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
Bishop Karsten Nissen of Viborg endorsing the Porvoo Agreement on behalf of the Bishops of the Church of Denmark
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Church of Denmark (Den Danske Folkekirke) signed the Porvoo Agreement this week, and has entered into Eucharistic fellowship with the Church of England, the Church of Ireland, the Church in Wales, the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Lutheran Churches of the Nordic and Baltic states.
On Oct 3 representatives of the Church of Denmark formally endorsed the agreement after a service at Vor Frue Cathedral in Copenhagen.
The Suffragan Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe, the Rt. Rev. David Hamid, reported the celebrations began with an evensong service at St Alban’s Anglican Church on Oct 2. The Rt. Rev. Martin Wharton, Bishop of Newcastle and the Anglican Co-Chairman of the Porvoo Contact Group, read a sermon prepared by the former Bishop of Portsmouth, the Rt. Rev. Kenneth Stevenson, who was unable to attend due to illness.
The Anglican Churches were represented at the cathedral service by Bishop Hamid, Bishop Wharton, Bishop Michael Jackson of Clogher of the Church of Ireland, the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church Bishop David Chillingworth, Bishop Christopher Hill of Guildford, Canon Ulla Monberg of the Diocese in Europe, and the rector of St Albans Archdeacon Jonathan Lloyd.
In Dec 2009 the Church of Denmark’s governing ecclesiastical council, with the approval of its 12 bishops, announced that it had endorsed the 1996 agreement that provides for inter-communion between the Anglican and Nordic Lutheran Churches. Denmark participated in the talks that led up to the signing of the accord, but declined to endorse it in 1996.
The state Church of Denmark, the Danish National or People’s Church is a Lutheran church whose head is Queen Margrethe II. Administrative authority rests with the government through its Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs, while the Danish parliament, the Folketinget is the church’s highest legislative authority. The Church has no metropolitan archbishop, and the bishop of each of the church’s 12 dioceses exercises spiritual authority over his charges.
As of January 2008, 82.1 per cent of Danes are members of the Church of Denmark, official statistics report, though less than 5 per cent are regular churchgoers.
No resolution of same-sex blessings debate from SA House of Bishops meeting: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 8, 2010 p 8. October 9, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Church of England Newspaper, Human Sexuality --- The gay issue.comments closed
The Southern African House of Bishops, September 2010
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Southern African House of Bishops has released draft guidelines on same-sex unions, asking the church’s 25 dioceses to discuss the proposals and report back to the bishops’ spring meeting.
Meeting from Sept 27 – 29 at the Kopanong Conference Centre in Benoni in the Gauteng East Rand province, the bishops returned to the question of same-sex blessings for the third time in six years. Details of the proposals have not yet been made public, but are understood to try to accommodate the church’s traditional stance on marriage with the pastoral needs of church members in civil same-sex unions.
The Southern African church is the most theologically diverse of all the African provinces of the Anglican Communion, and its bishops are not of one mind on the issues of human sexuality. Within its leadership can be found supporters of the Gafcon movement such as Bishop Bethlehem Nopece of Port Elizabeth, and ACC Standing Committee member the Rev. Canon Janet Trisk, a supporter of the ‘Sea of Faith’ movement—a school of thought that draws upon the work of Don Cupitt and whose aim is to “explore and promote religious faith as a human creation.”
In a statement released after their meeting last week the bishops said a draft document “entitled ‘Pastoral Guidelines in Response to Civil Unions’ was given careful consideration. It has been drafted in response to pastoral situations that are arising within parishes as a consequence of South Africa’s Civil Union legislation.”
An amended draft has now “been referred back to the Diocese for comment and will be discussed by us again at the February Synod of Bishops. As Bishops all are acutely aware of the need to act pastorally and prudently on this sensitive matter, while at the same time committed to remaining within the accepted teachings of our Church on marriage and the ongoing dialogue within the Anglican Communion.”
Last week’s pastoral letter builds upon letters released at the close of the 2004 and 2007 meetings. Following the April 2004 session, the bishops stated the Southern African Church was “committed” to Resolution 1.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference and to the Primates’ call “not to solemnise same-sex marriages but to continue in dialogue on this and related issues.”
The bishops said that as a matter of doctrine, they were uncertain as to how such a rite would work. “The blessing of a union or partnership is regarded as the equivalent as solemnising a marriage.”
A blessing serves to “underline the fact that that which has already been done by God is good. When we bless, we therefore acknowledge through an act of thanksgiving what already exists in God. In this regard we are as yet uncertain as to the application of this understanding to same-sex partnerships,” the 2004 statement said.
In a statement released at the close of their Sept 2007 meeting, the bishops again reaffirmed Lambeth 1998 Resolution 1.10, but expanded the boundaries of their thinking; writing that they did not “believe sexual orientation” was a “barrier to leadership within the church. However, maintaining as we do, that Christian marriage is a lifelong union between one man and one woman, we hold that clergy unable to commit to another in a Christian marriage partnership are called to a life of celibacy.”
The 2007 statement followed a request to the bishops by the Cape Town synod for “pastoral guidelines for ministering to those who are in committed same-sex relationships.”
The year before the South African Parliament voted to allow same-sex couples to “solemnize and register a voluntary union by way of either a marriage or a civil partnership,” after the South Africa’s Constitutional Court Appeal held the common-law definition of marriage should be changed from a “union between a man and a woman” to a “union between two persons.”
In other business, the bishops at the 2010 meeting noted the creation of the new Diocese of Mbhashe, and heard a report on the “growing human rights abuses” in Swaziland. They reported that those bishops who attended the All African Bishops meeting in Entebbe, “gave mainly positive reports. However, while not able to endorse all that was said and done at that meeting, we state our full commitment to the Anglican Church in Africa, of which we are a part.”
As in 2007, the bishops reaffirmed their support for the Anglican Covenant, which they saw as a “tool for healing and for helping the Communion move forward” in its divisions over doctrine and discipline.
Aldershot’s ‘Big Tent Event’ a success for Army chaplains: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 8, 2010 p 5. October 9, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
Soldiers from the Aldershot Garrison along with civilians from the local community during a Sept 10 Q&A session at the "Big Tent Event"
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Aldershot played host last month to a 5-day conference focusing on the spiritual care and support of soldiers and their families in time of war.
The Big Tent Event in Aldershot, a joint project of the Garrison chaplaincy and the churches of Aldershot and Farnborough, saw soldiers and marines give testimonials to the role faith played in their lives, as well as speeches and Q&A sessions with the Secretary of State for Education, the Rt. Hon. Michael Gove MP, the commandant of the Royal Military Academy, Maj. Gen. Patrick Marriott, the chief of NATO’s headquarters force, Lt. Gen. Sir Richard Shirreff, and the Army’s Chaplain General who participated in a talk on the “Spiritual Dimension of Soldering and Society.”
The Rev Ian Colson, an Army chaplain based at Aldershot Garrison told The Church of England Newspaper the Sept 9-12 event drew over 3000 people from the Garrison and local community and was a “great success.”
A spokesman for the Army’s 4th division based at Aldershot said the idea behind the Big Tent Event was to “encourage discussion about how beliefs and faith underpin what makes people and communities what they are.”
“The Army has ‘Values and Standards’ including courage, discipline, loyalty, integrity, selfless commitment, and respect for other. The question is where we find the moral compass that points us to those values and standards,” he said.
Anglican Covenant and the Jerusalem Declaration offered for study to the Anglican Church of Australia: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 8, 2010 p 6. October 8, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican Covenant, Church of England Newspaper, GAFCON.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Anglicans have been asked to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the Anglican Covenant and the Jerusalem Declaration by the 15th General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia.
The votes by General Synod meeting from Sept 18-23 at Melbourne Grammar School came as a surprise to observers as the degree of support for the Covenant was weaker than expected, while support for the Jerusalem Declaration produced by the 2008 Gafcon conference was stronger than anticipated The Church of England Newspaper has learned.
On Sept 20, the General Synod adopted a resolution asking Australia’s 23 dioceses to offer its views on whether the church should adopt the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Anglican Covenant. Synod asked the dioceses to give their decisions to the church’s Standing Committee by December 2012, for debate at the next meeting of General Synod in 2013.
The proposer of the covenant resolution, Archbishop Jeffrey Driver of Adelaide, told Synod this vote was not about accepting or rejecting the covenant, but initiating a three year listening process.
Bishop Andrew Curnow of Bendigo explained the Covenant was not “envisaged as an instrument of control” over the member churches of the Anglican Communion, but as a “tool for mission” and a mechanism for resolving the disputes of doctrine and discipline that had weakened the church.
However, Bishop Garry Weatherill of Willochra stated he believed the covenant was not up to the job of dealing with the communion’s divisions, while Bishop Brian Farran of Newcastle stated he was concerned that disciplinary provisions of section 4 of the document were “particularly dangerous” to the good order of the communion.
After an amendment was adopted that said General Synod “receives” instead of “welcomes” the covenant, the resolution was adopted.
The following day a motion proposed by the Rev. Mark Thompson of Moore College, Sydney on the Jerusalem Declaration was placed before Synod. Dr. Thompson outlined the background of the orthodox nature of it’s the declaration’s 14 points and spoke to its genesis within the Global South coalition within the Anglican Communion.
Liberal critics objected to the declaration’s claim to represent ‘orthodoxy’, and argued the genius of Anglicanism in the modern era was that it did not stand for any particular truth or require adherence to religious tests such as the Articles of Religion. Others argued the declaration was “radical” and not “worthy of being called Anglican.”
However, Archbishop Roger Herft of Perth, who had moved an amendment at the start of the debate, rose at the end of debate and told Synod that while he did not agree with all that the declaration said, the document was worthy of study as it represented the considered views of a large portion of Anglican thought in the developing world.
The motion as amended was carried, and stated: “That General Synod notes the publication of the Jerusalem Declaration and acknowledges the particular context in which it has arisen. The General Synod encourages its study by dioceses and parishes in this Church to assist our understanding of some of the current issues facing the Anglican Communion.”
The Archbishop of Sydney Dr. Peter Jensen stated he was pleased with the vote, stating the Jerusalem Declaration was “one of the most important church statements to come out in the last ten years.”
It was “not a question of do you agree with it,” Dr. Jensen said, but a request for “studying it.”
The Jerusalem Declaration “expresses the heart and mind for millions of Anglicans” across the globe, he said. “It is important that we study it and come to our own mind about it,” the archbishop observed.
Rwandan revamp of Anglican ecclesiology: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 8, 2010 p 8. October 8, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Rwanda, Anglican Covenant, Church of England Newspaper, Global South.comments closed
The Rev. Dr. Kevin Donlon of the Global South Anglican Theological Formation and Education Task Force at the 2008 Gafcon conference in Jerusalem
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The new Archbishop of Rwanda, the Most Rev. Onesphore Rwaje, has vowed to carry on the policies of his predecessor, Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini, and push for the reform of the Anglican Communion.
In an interview with the New Times of Kigali published last week, the new archbishop, who will take office in January said he would hold fast to the church’s traditional teachings on human sexuality.
“Anything that is contrary to God’s family set-up is not acceptable; there is nowhere in the Bible where same-sex marriage is encouraged. God created a man and woman to be the basis of a family,” the archbishop said.
The Anglican Church of Rwanda has also been at the forefront of the reform movement within the Anglican Communion. While it supports in principle the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Anglican Covenant process, it has been less than enthusiastic about how such a structure might work, given the anarchy now prevalent across the Communion.
At the All African Bishops Meeting in Entebbe in August, discussion of the Anglican Covenant among the gathered bishops took a decided second place to the conciliar programme for a renewed Anglican ecclesiology propounded by Rwanda and the Global South group of churches.
An August 2008 paper prepared by Dr. Kevin Donlon, an American priest of the AMiA, and a member of the Global South Anglican Theological Formation and Education Task Force, argued the Covenant was yesterday’s solution to today’s problems.
The paper, entitled The Challenges of Covenant and Canons for the Future of a Ius Commune Anglicanae, concluded: “The Covenant as an instrument by itself fails to address the fullness of the conciliar tradition that needs to be regained by Anglicans. A church rooted in the catholic heritage is called to be church rooted in the claims a deposit of faith that includes a canonical and conciliar tradition that is one of the marks of the church since the Apostolic Period.”
“Anglicanism abandoned a conciliar and canonical understanding of the church when Henry Tudor ascribed all legislative responsibility to the Parliament at the Reformation. A draft of a Covenant without a canonical and conciliar structure illustrates once again that Anglican leaders seem unable to grasp the conciliar nature of the Church.”
Frustration with the present model of “instruments of Communion” and objections to an international church that centered round the authority of an English bishop not accountable to the wider church, has fueled discussion within the Global South about new ways of ordering the church.
“A new model for a new day is required where conversations about Canons and Covenants are not simply the speculation of non-binding conferences that insure autonomy over and above authority. The blending of covenant and canon is a way to embrace the conciliar model where matters of faith and practice at all levels of the Church come into an expression of praxis that is framed in a theology of the church that is biblical, Christological, salvific historical and ecclesiological in character consistent for the ages,” Dr. Donlon concluded.
Correction: The CEN’s Sept 24 report of Archbishop Rwaje’s election as the new primate of Rwanda stated that at the time of the 1994 Genocide, Bishop Rwaje was spirited across the border by a Hutu officer. This report was inaccurate, as it was a different bishop who was thus rescued. Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini also writes that tribal identification is frowned upon within the Anglican Church of Rwanda.
Christianity will keep the spirit of Europe alive, Pope says: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 1, 2010 p 4. October 7, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Roman Catholic Church.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Religion is not the problem, but a solution to Europe’s woes, the Pope told guests at a general audience at the Vatican following his return from his state visit to Britain last week.
On Sept 22, Pope Benedict XVI stated “this apostolic trip confirmed my profound conviction that the old nations of Europe possess a Christian soul which merges with the ‘genius’ and history of their respective peoples, and the Church never ceases to work to keep this spiritual and cultural tradition alive.”
The Sept 16-19 visit to Scotland and England was a “historic event marking a new important phase in the long and complex history of relations between that people and the Holy See,” the pope said.
He stated that his “fraternal visit” with the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace had also been “an opportunity to underline the shared commitment to bear witness to the Christian message which unites Catholics and Anglicans.”
Benedict added that this was “followed by one of the most significant moments of my apostolic trip: the meeting in the Great Hall of the British parliament” where, he explained, “I underlined the fact that religion, for lawmakers, must nor represent a problem to be resolved, but a factor that makes a vital contribution to the nation’s historical progress and public debate, especially by recalling the essential importance of ensuring an ethical foundation for choices made in the various areas of social life”.
The ecumenical Vespers service at Westminster Abbey also “marked an important moment in relations between the Catholic community and the Anglican Communion,” as did his meeting with the Queen in Edinburgh.
The pope’s royal reception was a “a highly cordial meeting, characterised by a deep and mutual concern for the wellbeing of the peoples of the world and for the role of Christian values in society,” Benedict said.
The pope recounted the papal mass in Glasgow, and London meeting with Catholic educators, as well as with the victims of clergy abuse.
“I met with some victims of abuses committed by members of the clergy and religious. It was a moment of intense emotion and prayer”, Benedict said.
“The culmination of my visit to the United Kingdom was the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, illustrious son of that land,” the pope said.
“To the multitude of faithful, especially young people, I presented the shining example of Cardinal Newman, intellectual and believer, whose spiritual message can be summed up in his the witness that the way of knowledge does not mean closing in on oneself; rather it means openness, conversion and obedience to He Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life,” Benedict said.
Australian bishop resigns on the eve of misconduct trial: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 1, 2010 p 6. October 6, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Australia, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
The Rt. Rev. Ross Davies
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
An Australian bishop has resigned one day before the opening meeting of a tribunal charged with investigating accusations of his misconduct.
On Sept 26, members of the Diocese of Murray in South Australia were told their bishop, the Rt. Rev. Ross Davies, had resigned.
The metropolitan archbishop South Australia, Dr. Jeffrey Driver of Adelaide said Bishop Davies had resigned after a “long period of illness,” adding that he wished the bishop and his wife well “they move into a new phase of life together.”
In February 2010, the Episcopal Standards Commission of the Anglican Church of Australia lodged a formal complaint of misconduct with the church’s Special Tribunal accusing Bishop Davies with conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy and abuse of office.
The seventeen page complaint listed nine causes of action and offered 108 examples of misconduct, including seeking a £600,000 payout from the diocese in exchange for his early retirement. Bishop Davies denied the accusations, and a three-man Tribunal led by the Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr. Philip Freier, was charged with adjudicating the complaint.
Consecrated bishop of the 26-parish Anglo-Catholic diocese in 2002, Bishop Davies has had a rocky tenure. In 2004 he told his diocesan synod that he would re-ordain any priest who had been ordained by a woman bishop before that priest would be permitted to serve in the diocese encompassing Adelaide’s eastern suburbs and the southeastern portion of the State of South Australia.
In 2005 an internal church report found that the sexual misconduct allegations leveled against his archdeacon, the Ven. Peter Coote were “credible,” however Bishop Davies took no action other than refer him to a therapist.
Complaints of bullying and neglect of his duties followed, and he took a year’s sick leave from 2007-2008. Upon returning to the diocese, the Adelaide Sunday Mail reported that he asked for £500,000 from the diocese in return for his early retirement.
In its complaint, brought on behalf of the two other bishops of the Province of South Australia, Archbishop Driver and Bishop Garry Weatherill of Willochra, the Episcopal Standards Commission charged the bishop with seeking an unjust payout in return for vacating his office.
It was also alleged that Bishop Davies lived outside the diocese and worshiped at a Roman Catholic parish in Adelaide, engaged in abusive and bullying behavior, took part in the unlawful consecration of a bishop of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), and licensed two TAC bishops to assist in his diocese.
After the charges were brought, Bishop Davies told the press “I don’t think I’ve done anything that deserves me to be ejected from office,” and in July told The Murray Synod that he would contest the charges.
A statement given to the press by diocesan administrator Richard Seabrook said “the clergy and people of the Diocese of the Murray wish Bishop Ross well for the future, particularly regarding his health and we pray for his health to be restored.”
The diocese has agreed to reimburse their former bishop £90,000 for “expenses”. Bishop Davies did not respond to requests for comments.
Scottish Episcopal Church urges ‘no’ vote on Holyrood Euthanasia Bill: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 1, 2010 p 4. October 5, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Abortion/Euthanasia/Biotechnology, Church of England Newspaper, Scottish Episcopal Church.comments closed
Bishop David Chillingworth
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The College of Bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC) has urged the Scottish Parliament to reject a bill permitting assisted suicide and euthanasia.
In a Sept 27 statement, the Primus of the SEC, Bishop David Chillingworth of St Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane stated the “view of the Bishops is that they would be reluctant to see moves to enshrine the right to die through assisted suicide formally enshrined in legislation.”
Last week religious leaders presented testimony before a committee hearing the End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill proposed by Independent MSP Margo MacDonald. In a joint submission, the Church of Scotland, the Salvation Army and the Methodist Church said they “fundamentally disagree” with any move which would end “the societal prohibition in the taking of human life
The Free Church of Scotland called the bill “seriously defective” and said it would turn a doctor from being a healer to a “destroyer of life,” while the Muslim Council of Scotland said the proposed law was “an act of ingratitude against the creator” that would devalue the lives of the elderly and infirm.
The Scottish Council of Jewish Communities stated they were “concerned” the law would be used as a “cover for murder. The death of a burdensome relative may be welcome to some people,” they said.
The Bill states its purpose is “to permit assistance to be given to persons who wish their lives to be ended,” and defines “end of life assistance” as “assistance, including the provision or administration of appropriate means, to enable a person to die with dignity and a minimum of distress.”
Individuals 16 years of age or older may seek voluntary euthanasia or physician assisted suicide if they have been diagnosed as terminally ill and find life intolerable, or are permanently physically incapacitated to such an extent as not to be able to live independently and find life intolerable.
Two requests separated by a “cooling off” period would have to be approved by a doctor and psychiatrist before a fatal overdose was given. To prevent “death tourism,” only those registered with a Scottish GP for 18 months could apply for physician assisted suicide.
The BMA Scotland has opposed any change in the current law, while the General Medical Council and Nursing and Medical Council have taken a neutral stance. The Humanist Society of Scotland has endorsed the proposed legislation.
The SEC’s Sept 27 statement said their College of Bishops submitted written evidence to the committee drafting the legislation. “The submission recognises the differing views which are held among members of our Church. It draws on resolutions of the Lambeth Conference 1998 and contributions on this subject from the Archbishop of Canterbury.”
The bishops said they would not welcome legalizing assisted suicide. “The Church is committed to supporting the hospice movement and to compassionate care of those who face debilitating illnesses which erode human dignity and well-being,” the College of Bishops said.
Ugandan bishops on peace mission to Washington: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 1, 2010 p 8. October 4, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of Uganda, Terrorism.comments closed
Archbishop Odama and Bishop Ochola speaking to the press in Washington
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Church leaders from Northern Uganda have urged the US government to back a non-military solution to the war with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
Last week the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Gula John Odama and the retired Anglican Bishop of Kitgum Macleord Ochola met with US State Department officials to discuss ways in ending the insurgency. The two leaders of the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative met with government officials to discuss ways of implementing the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009 signed into law by President Barack Obama on May 24.
The LRA act passed by Congress states that it will be US policy to “protect civilians from the Lord’s Resistance Army, to apprehend or remove Joseph Kony and his top commanders from the battlefield in the continued absence of a negotiated solution, and to disarm and demobilize the remaining LRA fighters.”
The law also requires President Obama to develop a comprehensive, multilateral strategy to protect civilians in central Africa from LRA attacks and take steps to permanently stop the rebel group’s violence and to increase humanitarian assistance to countries currently affected by LRA violence.
In a statement released after the law was enacted, President Obama said the LRA “preys on civilians – killing, raping, and mutilating the people of central Africa; stealing and brutalizing their children; and displacing hundreds of thousands of people. Its leadership, indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, has no agenda and no purpose other than its own survival. It fills its ranks of fighters with the young boys and girls it abducts. By any measure, its actions are an affront to human dignity.”
The US State Department has been directed to provide policy recommendations to Congress and the White House by November to implement the LRA Act.
The Ugandan church leaders told the US government that a military solution alone would not end the 24 year old war. In 2008 units of the Ugandan, Congolese and South Sudan armies fell upon the strongholds of the LRA in the Congo’s Garamba forest destroying 70 percent of the rebel group’s supplies. However, the strike served to atomize the LRA, dispersing its forces.
“The issue is no longer the LRA and Uganda,” said Archbishop Odama told the Catholic News Service. “The issue now is regional.”
LRA leader Joseph Kony’s forces now operate across South Sudan, the Central African Republic, the Congo and Northern Uganda the bishops said, and had the potential to destabilize the entire region. Bishop Ochola noted that church brokered negotiations between the Ugandan government and the LRA collapsed after the 2008 military offensive. It was now time for all parties to return to the negotiating table, to bring a lasting peace to Northern Uganda, Bishop Ochola said.
Malawi ‘no’ to circumcision as tool to stop HIV/AIDs: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 1, 2010 p 8. October 3, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of Central Africa, Health/HIV-AIDS.comments closed
Archbishop Bernard Malango of Central Africa
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The government of Malawi has rejected calls to promote circumcision as a prophylactic against HIV/AIDs.
In a Sept 7 address to Malawi’s 2010 HIV & AIDS Research and Best Practices Conference, the chairman of the country’s National Aids Commission, Archbishop Bernard Malango said that a comparison of the rates of infection in Muslim districts, where most men are circumcised, to that of Christian areas of Malawi, where circumcision is not practiced, showed no difference in the rate of infections.
“We have no scientific evidence that circumcision is a sure way of slowing down the spread of AIDS,” Dr. Mary Shaba, the government’s chief HIV/AIDS officer added.
The UNAIDS agency estimates that approximately 930,000 people, or 12 per cent of Malawi’s population, are living with HIV of whom 840,000 are adults aged 15 and above.
However, the archbishop said the 12 per cent prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS does not accurately reflect the incidences of the disease in the country,
Archbishop Malango said that most overseas NGOs look at the overall rate of infection, or the prevalence of the disease, within the population when devising prevention and treatment strategies. However in Malawi, the rate of new infections has been decreasing, while people with HIV/AIDS were living longer, thus keeping the prevalence rate at 12 per cent.
“With the continued scale up of the treatment programme, we will have more and more people alive and therefore considerably contributing to the high prevalence of HIV,” Archbishop Malango said.
“The number of those who were already infected is being maintained and by 2015, we should minimize the new infections by educating people,” the archbishop said.
Dr. Shaba told the conference the number of new cases was estimated to be 90,000 per year. “The difference between incidence and prevalence is that incidence is number of infections that are taking place now while prevalence is the number of people who are considered positive at that time.”
“The prevalence has been 12 per cent for a long time but we need to look at how many infections are taking place. If we are going to move from prevalence from 12 per cent to almost zero, it means the incidences are the ones which have to be zero,” she said.
Archbishop warns of civil war in the Sudan: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 1, 2010 p 7. October 3, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Episcopal Church of the Sudan.comments closed
Archbishop Daniel Deng of the Sudan
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The specter of civil war is looming over the Sudan, the Archbishop of Juba has warned. On Sept 28 Archbishop Daniel Deng told AFP that if the Jan 9, 2011 independence referendum is not free and fair the country may collapse.
“We are deeply concerned because the risks of war are serious,” Archbishop Deng said, adding that church leaders were “calling for support because we must not be allowed to go back to conflict.”
Archbishop Deng will lead a delegation of church leaders to meet with British and US officials, as well as UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon this week. “We want to give this message as a church to the United Nations, and to the US and the British governments as guarantors of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, that they should not wait until they see that we are back to war,” the archbishop said.
He also denounced statements made by Sudanese Information Minister Kamal Obeid, who last week said that 1.5 million southerners living in the north would no longer be citizens if South Sudan chose independence.
“We are all Sudanese and even if we divide ourselves into two, still we can live together,” the archbishop told AFP as “we have a culture and history that are linked together, and separation of the south should not be a threat to our life as people of the Sudan.”
On Sept 28 the US House of Representatives adopted a bipartisan resolution on the Sudan, which called for the State Department to help ensure that the referendum is held on schedule, “in a free, fair, peaceful, and credible manner” and that the resolution of the North-South border, oil revenue sharing and citizenship are equitably addressed.
The clock is ticking,” said Leonard Leo, the chairman of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. “The United States needs to act clearly and decisively to work with the international community to ensure the successful implementation of the [Comprehensive Peace Agreement]. At the same time, the United States needs to work to enhance civilian protection, promote peace in Darfur, increase human rights protections, and build a strong Southern Sudan,” he said.
Bennison says he won’t go: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 1, 2010 p 7. October 2, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Pennsylvania.comments closed
The Rt. Rev. Charles E. Bennison, Jr.
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Bishop of Pennsylvania has rebuffed a call for his ouster made by the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops stating he will not resign.
“I am, and have always been, innocent of the charges against me,” the Rt. Rev. Charles E. Bennsion, Jr., said last week, in response to the Sept 21 resolution from the House of Bishops meeting in Phoenix that called for him to step down for the “sake of the wholeness and unity” of the church.
The final action of the House of Bishops’ meeting, the resolution calling for Bishop Bennison to resign has no legal force, and has been criticized for undermining the church’s disciplinary process, which last month acquitted the Bishop of Pennsylvania of misconduct. “This latest action is as pathetic as it is risible,” canon lawyer Allan S. Haley said.
It was “pathetic” because it “confesses their lack of will to address” the problem of clergy sexual abuse. “Instead of addressing the problem, they mouth pious platitudes which are completely belied by their confessions of inability to act.
Their failure to act is risible in light of the manner in which” the House of Bishops “found it ‘necessary’ to vote to depose the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan at their September meeting in 2008,” Mr. Haley said.
The Sept 21 Bennison resolution stated the bishops were “profoundly troubled” by the bishops acquittal. While they respected the “decision of the Court of Review,” the “ultimate resolution of this matter [was] unsatisfactory and morally repugnant.”
“As the House of Bishops, we have come to the conclusion that Bishop Bennison’s capacity to exercise the ministry of pastoral oversight is irretrievably damaged,” the resolution stated, and called upon him “to tender his immediate and unconditional resignation as the Bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania.”
On Sept 23 SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, an advocacy group representing those abused by clergy denounced Bishop Bennison, saying he “insists on rubbing even more salt into the already deep and still fresh wounds of clergy sex abuse victims by minimizing their suffering and selfishly clinging to his personal power and prestige.”
SNAP stated the bishop could help the young woman in question by stepping down as “clergy sex abuse victims find it healing and comforting when those who ignore or conceal child sex crimes are held responsible, ousted or step aside.”
In his Sept 22 response, Bishop Bennison said that the “Court of Review clearly determined from its review of the facts,” that he was unaware of his “younger brother’s inappropriate relationship with a minor” until late 1977, “after the relationship was over, and the young woman was legally an adult.”
The basis of the misconduct charge was that Bishop Bennison had failed to respond appropriately to his brother’s actions when his brother served as the bishop’s youth minister in a California parish 35 years ago, and that Bishop Bennison had conspired to cover up the scandal.
Bishop Bennison noted the Court of Review “determined that I did not conceal anything about this matter” and did not “deem” his conduct to “be unbecoming a member of the clergy.”
He added that he had also kept quiet when he learned of the abuse at the request of the parents of the young woman. “If I could have prevented that abuse, I would certainly have done so.”
However, “resigning my position” as bishop “will not ease her pain or remove the sting of the abusive relationship,” Bishop Bennison said, adding that the suffering he had endured “during the past three years has strengthened me and will enable me to work for reconciliation within the Diocese.”
Israel is an apartheid state, archbishop declares: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 1, 2010 p 6. October 2, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church in Wales, Church of England Newspaper, Israel.comments closed
Archbishop Barry Morgan of Wales
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Criticism of Israel is not anti-Semitism, Archbishop Barry Morgan told the Governing Body of the Church in Wales last week, in a speech where he compared the relationship between Gaza and Israel to the former apartheid system in South Africa.
While the Church in Wales can do little to change the situation in Israel and Gaza, “we ought to acquaint ourselves with what is going on, and fight against injustice, and demand that the rule of law be upheld wherever it is being flouted for whatever reason,” Dr. Morgan said on Sept 22.
“We have a duty to speak out. What happens to one person or nation affects us all,” he declared at the start of the Governing Body’s two-day meeting at the University of Wales Trinity St David, in Lampeter.
In his speech to the Governing Body of the Church in Wales, Dr Barry Morgan outlined what he believed was the situation on the ground. “The situation in Israel/Palestine is appalling and the UK bears a historical responsibility for that particular region,” he said.
While, “no-one denies that Israel has the right to exist and defend itself, and it is indeed surrounded by states that want its destruction, and one cannot condone the firing of rockets into Israel by Hamas. But the longer things continue as they are then moderate, ordinary Palestinians become more resentful and are in danger of being radicalized,” Dr. Morgan said.
“The situation resembles the apartheid system in South Africa because Gaza is next to one of the most sophisticated and modern countries in the world – Israel. Whereas Israel has excellent technology and infrastructure, in Gaza people carry goods by horse and cart. Whereas Israel has an educational system second to none, next to it children live who are denied even a basic education because their schools have been bombed,” Dr. Morgan said.
A spokesman for the Israeli Embassy called the archbishop’s remarks “troubling.”
“The incitement of terrorist violence against Jews and similar radicalisation, characterised the region long before the establishment of the modern state of Israel,” the spokesman said, adding “we must not forget that the same organisation who continue this trend today, by bombarding Israelis with the deadly rockets that the Archbishop kindly ‘cannot condone’, are condoned, and were indeed, elected by the Palestinians.”
“The subsequent investment of foreign aid in warfare and ammunition rather than welfare and education by this Hamas government, is responsible for the economic disparity highlighted,” the embassy spokesman said.
Dr. Morgan told the Governing Body that he expected his remarks would cause a stir. “Whenever I say anything about this matter, I will be accused of being anti-Semitic, but our own Prime Minister has described Gaza as a prison camp,” he said.
The analogy of Israel’s relations with the Palestinians to the South African Apartheid regimes relations with black Africans is not new, and has been a stock critique of Israel by the left. In 2004 South African law professor John Dugard, the special rapporteur for the United Nations on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, told the UN General Assembly that “there is ‘an apartheid regime’ in the territories ‘worse than the one that existed in South Africa.”
The response to the Israel-Apartheid analogy has been equally strong. “Labeling Israel as an ‘apartheid state’ is the embodiment of the new anti-Semitism that seeks to deny the Jewish people the right of equality and self-determination among the nations,” Prof. Gerald Steinberg of Bar-Ilan University wrote in the Jerusalem Post following publication of Prof. Dugard’s claims.
2011 primates meeting set for Dublin: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 1, 2010 p 7. October 1, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Primates Meeting 2011.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has published notice that the next meeting of Primates will take place from Jan 25 to 31, 2011 at the Emmaus Retreat & Conference Centre in Dublin.
Established in 1978 by Archbishop Donald Coggan as an opportunity for selected primates to meet for “leisurely thought, prayer and deep consultation,” the primates meeting has grown in recent years to include the archbishops, presiding bishops and moderators of the Communion’s 38 provinces, and the Archbishop of York.
US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori stated on Sept 21 that she had received notice of the meeting, and was planning on attending. The primates of the Global South coalition will meet next month and are expected to take up the issue of whether they will attend the gathering.
During Dr. Williams’ tenure as Archbishop of Canterbury the primates have met at Lambeth Palace in 2003, in Dromantine, Northern Ireland in 2005, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in 2007, and in Alexandria, Egypt in 2009.
The choice of Dublin as the site of Dr. Williams’ fifth primates meeting came as a surprise to some primates, who had been led to believe after the Alexandria meeting they would next gather in Central America.
Dr. Williams has traditionally not disclosed a detailed agenda before the start of the meeting. In December 2008 a number of Global South primates met with Dr. Williams in Canterbury to discuss the Alexandria meeting and offered suggestions as to topics of discussion. The Global South archbishops stated after the meeting they were nonplussed that their suggestions did not influence the agenda.
Dr. Coggan’s vision of a meeting devoted to prayer and reflection for the primates has given way to mixed business meeting – academic seminar format. In 2003 the Archbishop of Nigeria first objected to participating in a Eucharistic service with US Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold. Dr. Williams prevailed on Archbishop Akinola to relent, but successive meetings saw shrinkage in the time spent in worship as more primates absented themselves from corporate Eucharist as they could not worship with those with whom there were not in fellowship. By the 2009 meeting in Alexandria, no attempt was made to hold a corporate Eucharist for all the primates and no group photo was taken.
