Wee Frees are singing: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 26, 2010 p 6. November 30, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Hymnody/Liturgy, Presbyterian/Church of Scotland.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The sound you may hear from a Wee Free chapel might just be singing. After 147 years, the Free Church of Scotland, the “Wee Frees” have relaxed their ban on musical instruments and hymn singing.
On Nov 19 following two days of what was described by the church as “harmonious” debate, a special synod of the Free Church of Scotland voted 98-84 to allow individual congregations to decide whether to permit the liberty of using music in worship services.
Formed in 1847 following the secession of evangelicals from the Church of Scotland over what they saw as the state’s encroachment on their spiritual independence, the majority of the Free Church returned to the Church of Scotland in the last century. However, a dissenting group based in the Highlands and the Western Isles remained outside and continues the name and polity of the Free Church.
The church’s canons had called for the “avoidance of uninspired materials of praise and musical instruments” in worship, leading the Wee Frees to focus their musical efforts on Psalm singing, as the Psalms, being part of the Scriptures, were inspired, while modern hymns were not.
In 2005 the moderator of the Free Church, the Rev. Donald Smith, opened debate over relaxing the ban, and a motion was brought to the 2010 synod by the church’s Board of Trustees to confirm its ban on music. However, the motion was opposed by moderates within the church led by the Rev. Alex Macdonald who urged adoption of a “local option” on hymn singing.
The General Assembly resolved that “purity of worship requires that every aspect of worship services, including sung praise, be consistent with the Word of God and with the whole doctrine of the Confession of Faith approved by previous Assemblies of this Church.”
Each Kirk Session was given the “freedom, either to restrict the sung praise to the Psalms, or to include paraphrases of Scripture, and hymns and spiritual songs consistent with the doctrine of the Confession of Faith; that each Kirk Session shall have freedom whether to permit musical accompaniment to the sung praise in worship, or not.”
However, hymn singing could not be imposed upon a congregation without the approval of its minister. While the majority concluded that music could be used in worship to glorify God, the General Assembly recognized the “divisive nature of the issue” and affirmed its “commitment to unity and urge[d] officebearers and members to find ways of continuing in unity after the Assembly.”
The debate over hymnody in the Free Church of Scotland has followed the same path as the Nineteenth century debate over music at worship in the Church of England. Modern hymnody was introduced by Evangelicals by the close of the Eighteenth century, who cited its utility. High churchmen opposed the innovation, saying a warrant for hymn singing could not be found in the Book of Common Prayer or Scripture.
In 1819 the rector of St. Paul’s Church in Sheffield, the Rev. Richard Cotterill, published “A Selection of Psalms and Hymns” adapted for use in the Church of England. The evangelical Mr. Cotterill was brought before the Archbishop of York’s Consistory Court upon charges of violating the rubrics of the Prayer Book for using hymns in worship. The chancellor found Mr. Cotterill guilty, ruling that hymn singing was irregular. However the court declined to impose costs and suspended the imposition of a sentence, citing the benefits of hymn singing.
The issue was resolved by Mr. Cotterill withdrawing his hymnal, and publishing a new less Evangelical edition that contained the imprimatur of the Archbishop of York. The court’s decision gave tacit permission for hymn singing, which was not formally approved for use in worship until 1872.
First African bishop of Northern Malawi consecrated: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 26, 2010 p 6. November 29, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of Central Africa.comments closed
Members of a youth choir serenading the new Bishop of Northern Malawi
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Diocese of Northern Malawi has consecrated its first African bishop to succeed the Rt. Rev. Christopher Boyle, the last British bishop in Central Africa.
On Nov 7, the Rev. Canon Fanuel Emmanuel Chioko Magangani was consecrated by ten bishops of the Church of the Province of Central Africa at a 5 and a half hour service at a football stadium in Mzuzu. His consecration fills the last vacancy in the House of Bishops of the Church of the Province of Central Africa, which will now permit the province to elect a new primate to replace Archbishop Bernard Malango, who retired in 2007.
On Aug 1, 2009, the diocese elected the Rev. Leslie Mtekateka as its first African bishop. However, a petition charging the bishop-elect with moral turpitude was lodged and following an investigation the election of Fr. Mtekateka—the son of the first African bishop of Malawi—was voided.
On June 26, 2010 Canon Magangani was elected bishop, but the confirmation of his election was delayed after a former employee charged the 38-year old bishop elect with rape. An investigation by the church, however, found the charges unfounded and cleared the bishop-elect of misconduct.
Canon Magangani will now be the first African to serve as Bishop of Northern Malawi. His predecessors were British, Bishop Boyle, and American, the Rt. Rev. Jackson Biggers. In June 2009, the Rev. J. Scott Wilson SSC of the Diocese of Fort Worth withdrew as sole candidate in Northern Malawi election, prompting the diocese to conduct an abbreviated internal search that produced Fr. Mtekateka.
Bishop Mangani served as dean of St Peter’s Cathedral on Likoma Island for five years and was educated at Zomba Theological College and Mzuzu University. His election canceled plans for a two-year leave of absence from the diocese to begin advanced studies at Nashotah House, an American theological college.
Writing to supporters after the service, the bishop said “after everything is said and done we still remain firm in the Lord and it is my prayer that the peace emanated on the consecration day will continue throughout the Diocese in the days to come.”
“I want to thank God who has helped me to forget the pain I have endured in the process,” Bishop Mangani said. But “in this I have seen that we serve a miracle working God. I have seen his hand leading me through. Thank you so much for the prayers.”
First Anglican ordination for Thailand: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 26, 2010 p 6. November 28, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of South East Asia.comments closed
Archbishop John Chew and the first Thai Anglican priest, the Rev. Pairoj Phiammattawat at Christ Church, Bangkok. Diocese of Singapore photo
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Anglican Church of Thailand as ordained its first priest.
On Oct 31, Archbishop John Chew of Singapore ordained the Rev. Pairoj Phiammattawat to the priesthood at Christ Church, Bangkok, making him the first native priest in the 105-year history of the church’s work in Thailand.
In 1904 King Chulalongkorn donated the land to construct a Protestant church for Western expatriates in the Southeast Asian nation. Constructed in 1905, Christ Church has conducted services in English since its foundation. But in the 1980’s a Thai language ministry was introduced, and work in the Thai deanery of the Diocese of Singapore has expanded to six congregations, three schools, a social services agency, and a university chaplaincy programme.
In an interview published in the Singapore Diocesan Digest, Mr. Phiammattawat stated that though he had been educated in a Catholic mission school as a boy, it was not until he was a teenager that he came to faith in Christ through the intercession of his friends. A social worker by training, Mr. Phiammattawat began his ordination training at the age of 45, studying at the Bangkok Institute of Theology.
“In Thailand, there are many churches,” he noted. “Some operate independently of others and do not see themselves as part of the universal church nor accountable to others. I began to appreciate the sense of family amongst Anglican ministers, our mutual accountability and submission as well as life-long commitment to each other,” he said.
“It is not about me as a pastor with my own supporters or congregation. I serve under a bishop whom I am in submission to and both my congregation and I are part of a larger family,” of Anglicans and Christians across the world he said.
“This is a new journey,” Mr. Phiammattawat said. “I covet your prayers for me and my family, that we will remain faithful to the Lord, the ministry and His church.”
Episcopal Church takes a legal hit in California: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 26, 2010 p 7. November 26, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Property Litigation, San Joaquin.comments closed
Presiiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and Bishop Jerry Lamb
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Civil courts may not adjudicate ecclesiastical disputes, the California Court of Appeals has ruled. On Nov 18 the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Fresno overturned a lower court order that had given trusteeship of the property of the Diocese of San Joaquin to a faction loyal to the national Episcopal Church.
In its 11 page decision the Fifth Court of Appeal held that while civil courts would accept the determination of the Episcopal Church as to whom it recognized as one of its bishops or dioceses, the court would not extend that power to the disposition of property. Church property disputes in California would be governed by “neutral principals of law” where the court would look to title deeds and trusts, and not to canon law or church polity, in determining ownership.
The “First Amendment rights of individuals and corporations” along with “general California statutory and common law principles governing transfer of title by the legal title holder, the law of trusts, … and general principles of corporate governance” control the disposition of church property in California.
The court held the dispute “whether Schofield or Lamb is the incumbent Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of San Joaquin, is quintessentially ecclesiastical. Accordingly, the trial court erred in adjudicating that cause of action and, upon proper motion, must dismiss that cause of action.”
Both sides in the San Joaquin case have hailed the court’s decision as a victory. However, the ruling is likely to undercut the church’s national legal campaign. Its “strategy of claiming the property of a departing diocese because it is somehow ‘hierarchical’ today went down to defeat in Fresno,” canon lawyer Allan Haley said.
Beginning in 2004, the Diocese of San Joaquin has taken steps to distance itself from the national Episcopal Church. One of three dioceses that do not ordain women priests, San Joaquin had also objected to the innovations of doctrine and discipline surrounding the Gene Robinson affair, and in 2007 its synod voted to leave the Episcopal Church and seek the oversight of the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori responded by deposing Bishop Schofield and calling a special meeting of synod, which elected the retired Bishop of Northern California as the diocese’s acting bishop. Bishop Lamb and the minority faction then deposed the clergy who supported the secession, and initiated a lawsuit seeking control over the diocese’s property.
On July 21, 2009 the trial court granted a motion in summary judgment on the first count of the complaint brought by Bishop Lamb, which asked for a “judicial declaration that the amendments finally adopted by the Diocese in December 2007 were illegal and void under the Constitution and Canons of ECUSA, and that as a consequence Bishop Lamb had succeeded to the position as bishop of the Diocese, incumbent of its corporation sole, and president/trustee of its associated property-holding entities.”
Bishop Schofield and the now Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin appealed the motion, which effectively gave the minority faction absolute control of the property. However, in its ruling the Court of Appeals held the trial court erred in determining who the proper bishop of San Joaquin was.
The trial court was instructed to determine who the lawful owner of the property was by way of a review of the property transfers made by Bishop Schofield and to determine if these transfers were valid under civil law.
In a statement released after the verdict, attorneys for Bishop Lamb accounted the decision as a victor. San Joaquin Chancellor Michael Glass claimed the decision means “the defendants can no longer assert in court that a Diocese has the right to unilaterally secede from The Episcopal Church, or that Bishop Lamb is somehow not the Bishop of the Diocese.”
Mr. Glass used a baseball analogy to describe the decision. “Think sacrifice fly-ball. Sure, we might have taken an out, but we just put the rest of the case in scoring position,” as the issues had been “narrowed” in favor of the loyalist faction.
Mr. Haley, a member of the majority faction’s legal team, disputed Mr. Glass’s characterization, as the “decision reversed and vacated a ruling by the trial court stating exactly [Mr. Glass’s claim].”
“If we take the present opinion as our guide,” Mr. Haley said, the court held the Episcopal Church “may call any group of its followers it wants a ‘diocese’ in its Church, even a tiny minority who remains behind after the great majority leaves. But whether the majority or the minority succeeds to legal title to the property is a matter of civil, not ecclesiastical, law — including First Amendment rights of freedom of association, trust law, and the law of corporations and corporate governance. Resolution of those issues on neutral principles will decide the ultimate ownership of the disputed property, and not resolution of who is the bishop, which is an ecclesiastical question.”
Canterbury rejects African call to postpone Dublin primates meeting: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 26, 2010, p 7. November 25, 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 rejected Africa’s call to suspend the Dublin primates meeting, a spokesman for Dr. Rowan Williams’ tells The Church of England Newspaper, and the meeting will go on as scheduled.
On Nov 17 Lambeth Palace confirmed that Dr. Williams had received a letter from CAPA chairman Archbishop Ian Earnest. This letter raised a “concern about the planning process for the Primates’ Meeting and request[ed] that it be postponed.”
“However, given the closeness of the time, and the fact that the majority of Primates have already indicated that they will attend, the Archbishop of Canterbury is not minded to postpone the meeting whose date was set two years ago,” the Lambeth Palace statement said.
Dr. Williams’ decision not to postpone the Dublin meeting, will likely cause a quarter to a third of the primates to stay away, replicating the divisions surrounding the 2008 Lambeth Conference where a majority of African bishops boycotted the meeting.
CEN reported in its Nov 12 issue that Dr. Williams had written to the primates on Oct 7, asking for comments on plans to hold multiple small group gatherings of like minded archbishops, suspending the current format of a single plenary session.
In a letter to the CEN published last week, Canon Kenneth Kearon, writing as the “Secretary General of the Anglican Communion”, denied the report, stating there were no plans to cancel or suspend the meeting.
However, at the close of a two day meeting in Nairobi of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA) primates on Nov 9, Archbishop Earnest wrote to Lambeth on behalf of the African church asking the Dublin primates meeting be postponed so as to avoid the scandal of a boycott, and “save face” for Dr. Williams.
Lambeth Palace told CEN the “archbishop’s intention is for [the Dublin meeting] to be a very different style of meeting driven by the need for discernment and dialogue around those issues that affect the life of the Communion.”
The spokesman added that Dr. Williams was “pleased to note that Archbishop Earnest expresses on behalf of the CAPA Primates that there is no desire to exclude anyone from the meeting and the Archbishop of Canterbury is anxious that all Communion Primates and Moderators recognise the importance of this event.”
A disconnect between Dr. Williams and the CAPA primates may be present, however, as the CAPA primates told Dr. Williams on Aug 24 during the All African Bishops Conference in Entebbe that if US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and Archbishop Fred Hiltz were there, they would not come. This view was reiterated in the Nov 9 letter, sources note.
The agenda for the Jan 25-31 meeting at the Emmaus Conference Centre north of Dublin has not been published, apart from the plans to break the meeting up into small group discussion sessions. Nor have any public events been planned for the meeting, a spokesman for the Church of Ireland reported. Unlike past primates meeting which included public worship at local Anglican churches and cathedrals, the Church of Ireland told CEN that no requests had been for Christ Church or St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin to host the primates.
Govt questioned on diversion of aid funds: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 19, 2010 p 6. November 23, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Corruption, House of Lords.comments closed
Lord Harries
The former Bishop of Oxford has called upon the government to explain the misappropriation of £94 million pounds of British development funds by Indian government officials.
On Nov 9, Lord Harries asked the government’s “assessment of the assurance given by the Government of India that special funds for the support of Dalits and other scheduled castes were not used to finance the Commonwealth Games?”
Lord Howell, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, told the House of Lords the government had been “monitoring this situation carefully.”
He noted that “following earlier reassurances from Delhi that the Commonwealth Games were self-funding, the Indian Home Minister has subsequently acknowledged that some moneys earmarked for Dalits and scheduled castes were in fact used to contribute to Commonwealth Games infrastructure projects and that, in his view, this was both wrong and inconsistent with Indian Planning Commission guidelines.”
The minister said he understood the Indian government was seeking to rectify the situation and were “seeking to find ways of returning the sums involved.”
Lord Harries thanked the minister for his reply, for having informed the House of the diversion of funds and that the “assurance previously given by the Indian government was in fact unfounded.”
The bishop pressed the government to state what mechanisms it would employ to prevent further abuses, and would it investigate cases of a “similar diversion of funds [that] has taken place in a range of states?”
The minister said he had no knowledge of any other cases of fraud, but would “look into them.”
However the minister added that in India the “sum diverted was £94 million. We are monitoring the situation very closely, and the British high commissioner is in discussion with the Indian National Commission for Minorities about these and other issues,” Lord Howell said.
Norwich – Swedish link signed: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 19, 2010 p 8. November 23, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Church of Sweden.comments closed
Bishop Hans Stiglund of Luleå, Sweden
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Diocese of Norwich and the Church of Sweden’s Diocese of Luleå have signed a “covenant of commitment” at a formal ceremony at Norwich Cathedral. On Nov 16, Bishop Hans Stiglund of Luleå and Bishop Graham James formalized the two diocese’s long-standing relationship at a ceremony which also saw the Swedish bishop installed as an ecumenical canon at the cathedral.
Bishop Stiglund and 13 senior Swedish clergy from the diocese were in Norwich from Nov 13-17, “learning more about the ways in which we are organised, financed and resourced,” Bishop James said.
The Swedish visitors visited “some of the projects in Norwich where the Church is pioneering work with those who are disadvantaged, and our guests will stay with clergy across the Diocese, sharing in the life of their parishes and learning about each other’s lives and ministries,” Bishop James noted, adding the endorsement of the diocesan covenant “will be an important sign of our commitment to nurturing an enduring and fruitful friendship.”
Under the 1992 Porvoo agreement, the Lutheran Churches of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden are in eucharistic fellowship with the Church of England, Church of Ireland, Church in Wales and the Scottish Episcopal Church. The Porvoo Communion is a communion of churches that have signed an agreement to “share a common life in mission and service.” While agreeing on certain fundamental issues, the Porvoo churches are not a new confession, but maintain their respective identities.
Uruguay votes to quit Southern Cone: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 19, 2010 p 8. November 22, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, La Iglesia Anglicana del Cono Sur de America.comments closed
Bishop Miguel Tamayo of Uruguay
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Diocese of Uruguay has voted to secede from the Province of the Southern Cone.
On Nov 12 an extraordinary session of the diocesan synod meeting in Montevideo endorsed a resolution proposed by the diocesan council to quit the province and seek alternative metropolitan oversight. The vote was taken in response to last month’s vote by the provincial synod rejecting the ordination of women priests.
Uruguay had proposed the women priest resolution, which was passed by the lay and episcopal orders, but defeated in the clergy order at the provincial synod in Buenos Aires. Uruguay had “sought to allow a diocesan option in the matter, rather than Provincial wide adoption, so that the diocese could proceed to minister within a very difficult agnostic milieu. Uruguay felt that after a nine year hiatus since the last vote for approval, a patient wait would be rewarded. That was not the result and so the Uruguayan Synod took this measure to move away from the Province,” provincial spokesman Bishop Frank Lyons of Bolivia said in a statement given to the press.
The diocese requested permission for transfer out of the province within the year. If permission to quit the Southern Cone was not granted, Uruguay would appeal the matter to the Anglican Consultative Council, Bishop Lyons said.
The Bishop of Uruguay, the Rt. Rev. Miguel Tamayo, who also serves as interim Bishop of Cuba which has women priests and has had two women bishops told CEN the decision to quit the province was not his along. “The way I lead the diocese, is not for me alone to respond” he said, noting it was “a matter for the whole diocese, through its synod.”
The diocese will now wait upon the province for its response, Bishop Tamayo said. “According to the provincial canons the only thing we can do is to transmit [our request], first [to] the province, and later, if it does not work, direct with the ACC, to be under another metropolitan authority. We are hopeful that our Anglican structures will work,” he said.
Uruguay has often been the “odd man out” within the province of the Southern Cone, and has kept its links to the US and Canadian churches after the rest of the province broke relations following the Gene Robinson affair.
Uruguay will be the second South American diocese to attempt to secede from its province. Disputes over doctrine and discipline led the conservative Diocese of Recife to secede from the liberal Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil [IEAB] and seek the metropolitan oversight of the Southern Cone in 2007 after its bishop and the majority of its clergy were deposed for contumacy. The IEAB responded to the defection by recognizing the ten percent of the diocese that remained loyal to the province as the true Diocese of Recife. With a liberal diocese now seeking to withdraw from a conservative province, the scene is now set for a repeat of the Recife crisis, unless an amicable resolution can be reached.
Further declines in 2009 for the Episcopal Church: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 19, 2010 p 6. November 22, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, The Episcopal Church.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Episcopal Church continues in its course of a steep decline in the wake of its divisions over doctrine and discipline, with the national office reporting that in 2009 average Sunday attendance (ASA) fell by 3 per cent to 682,963. As of the end of 2009, the Episcopal Church reported having 2,006,343 active members—at its peak in the 1960’s the church counted over 3.5 million members.
The church shed 22,294 members in 2009, following a loss of 22,565 in 2008. Income from parochial giving also declined by 2.8 per cent last year, falling to £1.33 billion. However the church’s balance sheets remained strong with the value of the total investments of congregations growing by £172 million to £2.24 billion.
Haiti remains the largest diocese in the church with 83,698 members, followed in size by Texas, Virginia and Massachusetts. The smallest diocese remains Venezuela with 792 members. The church’s largest parish remains St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston with 8,311 members, while 126 congregations have less than ten active members. The median average Sunday worship attendance for the Episcopal Church’s 6,895 churches fell to 66.
The numbers show a cumulative loss of over 19.3 per cent in ASA from 2002-2009, Canon Kendall Harmon of the Diocese of South Carolina noted.
“This is a cataclysmic decline that suggests the immediate need for an all hands on deck leadership summit focusing entirely on the issue of evangelism and parish health. Not only is the TEC leadership not doing this, the fact that they are not doing it is not even bothering them–a truly tragic situation,” Canon Harmon noted.
After holding steady for a number of years, the church began its sharp decline in the wake of the divisions surrounding the consecration of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003, as four dioceses, dozens of congregations and tens of thousands of Episcopalians withdrew from the church.
West Indian bishops to take up the Covenant this week: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 19, 2010 p 8 November 21, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Covenant, Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of the West Indies.comments closed
Archbishop John Holder of Barbados during the 2008 Lambeth Conference
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The House of Bishops and Standing Committee of the Church of the Province of the West Indies are set to meet this week in Trinidad. The provincial leaders are scheduled to confirm the election of Canon Claude Berkley as Bishop-Coadjutor of Trinidad, and are expected to discuss local and pan-Anglican questions, including the Anglican Covenant.
The Nov 16 to 20 meeting at St Agnes’ Church in St James, Trinidad, will be the first joint meeting joint meeting of the standing committee and house of bishops for the new West Indian primate, Archbishop John Holder of Barbados. Seventeen of the provinces 24 active and retired bishops are expected to attend the meeting.
Dr. Holder has pushed for a conciliatory tone in the province’s relations with the Episcopal Church and Anglican Church of Canada, and has taken a softer line with the North American churches than his predecessor, Archbishop Drexel Gomez of Nassau and the Bahamas.
Under Archbishop Gomez’ leadership, the province declared a state of impaired fellowship with the Episcopal Church, forbad American bishops from participating in consecrations in the province, and required missionaries to endorse a theological code that foreswore the innovations of doctrine and discipline practiced by the US and Canadian churches.
Speaking in New York in May, Dr. Holder said “one of the valuable contributions we can make in the Caribbean, in our Province is to be bridge-builder.”
The West Indies did not agree with the Episcopal Church’s support of gay bishops and blessings, and Dr. Holder said he was not “at the stage where I can say that I support that (gay) lifestyle to the extent that I will bless or encourage or whatever persons involved in that as prominent leaders” of the church.
However, he parted company with the leaders of the Anglican Churches of Africa in believing that the two sides should continue talking. “I think part of the problem in this world and the church especially, is that we are running out of time to do certain things,” he told members of St Mark’s Episcopal Church in Brooklyn.
“We all want things to be done within our lifetime or within our time of being in charge. I don’t think that way. I think if there is a problem, if there is a challenge we have to work on it. And it will take longer than my lifetime,” Dr. Holder said.
The West Indian bishops are expected to endorse the Anglican Covenant at their Trinidad meeting. In his May presentation, Dr. Holder said he supported the covenant “100 per cent because I think it is the type of bridge we need to hold the factions together that they can begin to speak to each other in a creative and positive way.”
Scottish church in aid plea: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 19, 2010 p 8. November 21, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Politics, Scottish Episcopal Church.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Church leaders have called upon the Scottish government not to cut is support for overseas aid projects.
In a letter released on Nov 12, Cardinal Keith O’Brien; the Rt Rev John Christie, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; and the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Most Rev David Chillingworth told First Minister Alex Salmond that it would be “tragedy” if Scotland turned its back on the world’s poor.
It was wrong to “balance the books in our nation by withdrawing support from those most in need,” as Scotland had a “moral responsibility” towards the poor outside of Scotland.
In 2005, the Scottish government created an international development fund that has been used in recent years to support overseas aid agencies in the wake of the Haitian earthquake and the Pakistani floods. However, the government’s budget crisis has sparked concerns from the churches and aid agencies that cuts will be made in overseas grants, as it seeks to find £1.2 billion in budget cuts.
Remember animals who served also, bishop urges: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 19, 2010 p 6. November 20, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Bishop of Monmouth has urged Britain to remember the animal as well as the human casualties of war at Remembrance services.
Bishop Dominic Walker of Monmouth, who also serves as vice-president of the RSPCA, noted that “animals have been used to carry troops and equipment, to pull gun carriages and supplies, and, along with the men they have served, millions have died of wounds, starvation, thirst, exhaustion, disease, and exposure.”
The bishop urged Christians to “remember the millions of animals that suffered and died in military action or as a result of warfare, and to pray for the animals that are still suffering today.”
Over eight million horses died in World War I, while dolphins are in service today in the Persian Gulf in detecting mines, the bishop noted. An estimated 16 million animals served during the First World War by 1916, with the Axis and Allied powers raising 103 cavalry divisions that used over a million horses, while mules, elephants, camels, oxen, dogs, pigeons and other animals have been used as beast of burden or to transport messages.
“It is a sad fact of animal welfare that whenever human beings and animals come into contact, so often it is to the detriment of the animals, and yet there is a common bond between humans and animals,” the bishop said.
“Nevertheless, animals rarely get a mention in prayers in our churches, even on Harvest Festival, let along Remembrance Sunday.
“Animal welfare should be on the Church’s agenda, not least because of its global impact, but also because animals matter to God,” Bishop Walker said.
Dr. Williams to meet with Benedict on Nov 18 in Rome: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 19, 2010 p 7. November 20, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England Newspaper, Roman Catholic Church.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams will travel to Rome this week to deliver a lecture at a conference commemorating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
On Nov 17, Dr. Williams will join the former president of the council, Cardinal Walter Kasper and Metropolitan John Zizioulas of Pergamon at an evening service at the Sala San Pio V in Rome. The lectures are part of the council’s Nov 15-19 plenary session focusing on the theme: “Towards a new stage of ecumenical dialogue.”
In its Nov 9 announcement of the lecture, the council stated: “This review of the past, focusing on the moment of foundation and on the road travelled thus far, will provide an occasion to give thanks to God for those people who have helped to advance the cause of ecumenism, and for the abundant fruits that have been produced. It will likewise help to arouse renewed interest in the cause of unity and underline the firm resolve to continue the journey towards the full communion of all Christians, confidently facing the new challenges that arise.’’
Dr. Williams will meet with Pope Benedict XVI on the following morning before returning to London that evening, a spokesman for the archbishop told CEN.
His meeting will take place the day before a pre-consistory retreat of the College of Cardinals, which will hear a presentation on the Anglican Ordinariate. The meeting with the Pope follows the announcement that five Church of England bishops will join the ordinariate along with approximately four dozen clergy.
No plans to cancel Dublin Primates’ Meeting, ACC says: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 19, 2010 p 7. November 19, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Primates Meeting 2011.comments closed
ACC Secretary General the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon
First published in the Church of England Newspaper.
There are no plans to cancel the Dublin primates meeting, ACC secretary general Canon Kenneth Kearon has declared
In a statement released via Twitter on Nov 11 in response to a story last week in the Church of England Newspaper about the Jan 25-31 meeting, ACC spokesman Jan Butter wrote: “Am afraid this story is not accurate. Communion Sec. Gen. Canon Kearon adamant: never any plans to cancel Primates’ Mtg.”
In its Nov 12 issue, the CEN reported Dr. Rowan Williams had proposed suspending the Primates Meeting—a gathering of the communion’s 38 primates—in favour of holding multiple small group gatherings of like minded archbishops.
Dr. Williams suggested that given the “number of difficult conversations” and the threat of a boycott of its meetings by some of its members, a regime of separate but equal facilitated small group sessions might better serve the primates’ “diverse” perspectives.
The report in the CEN, however, did not claim the archbishop’s Oct 7 letter called for the cancellation of the primates meeting.
In response to a request for clarification, the spokesman for the ACC stated there had been a “slip of the pen”’ in the Twitter message in saying there were never any plans to “cancel” the meeting. “The point I was trying to get across was that there have never been any plans to suspend the upcoming Primates’ Meeting in Dublin next January,” Mr. Butter wrote.
However, behind the scenes conversations between Dr. Williams and the primates remain on-going, CEN has been told. While reservations and supplies have been laid on by the ACC staff for the 38 primates and the Archbishop of York to meet at the Emmaus Conference Centre outside of Dublin, it is not clear how many primates will attend the gathering.
In 2008 Dr. Williams called the bluff of the Global South bishops and declined to honour their request to postpone the Lambeth Conference, due to their objections to the presence of the US and Canadian bishops. As a result a majority of African bishops sat out the every ten year meeting of the communion’s bishops.
In his Oct 7 letter, Dr. Williams warned the primates of the substantial “damage” to the communion a boycott of the meeting would entail. Whether he can find a synthesis between the opposing camps within the communion, offering suggestions as to ways the primates could meet together without actually having to meet together, remains unclear.
CAPA primates respond to Canterbury’s call: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 19, 2010 p 7. November 18, 2010
Posted by geoconger in CAPA, Church of England Newspaper, Primates Meeting 2011.comments closed
President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya with the CAPA primates on Nov 9 in Nairobi
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The African primates of the Anglican Communion have written to the Archbishop of Canterbury, offering their counsel on the format and agenda of the forthcoming primates meeting in Dublin.
Meeting at the ACK guest house in Nairobi from Nov 8-9, the primates or representatives from 12 African provinces along with the Primate of Southeast Asia, Archbishop John Chew of Singapore, met in private session to discuss issues of African and international concern.
At the close of the meeting, a letter to Dr. Williams was prepared, responding to his Oct 7 letter suggesting that a regime of facilitated small group meetings be instituted in place of the traditional format of the primates meeting, in light of the threatened boycott of the gathering.
The contents of the African letter have not yet been disclosed, sources tell CEN, as the primates do not want to force Dr. Williams’ hand by way of a leak to the press.
However, in his opening remarks to the meeting, the chairman of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA), Archbishop Ian Earnest of the Indian Ocean stated the question of a boycott of the Dublin meeting had to be taken by each archbishop.
CAPA would make its views known to Dr. Williams, he said, “but the decision to attend rests solely on the individual Archbishop.”
Archbishop Earnest added that Dr. Williams had invited him in his “capacity of CAPA Chairman to be part of a preparatory committee. He is also anxious that a small group of primates meet with him.”
He added, “I would like to have your opinion and thoughts about it.” Last month Archbishop Earnest announced he would boycott the meeting due to the presence of the US and Canadian primates.
On Nov 9, the primates met with the President Mwai Kibaki at Harambee House. According to a statement released by the president’s press office, the primates “commended President Kibaki and the coalition government for the strides made in the reform agenda in the country.”
Archbishop Earnest told the president that CAPA was “fully committed” in supporting government efforts “in sustaining peace and stability” across the continent, the statement said.
“CAPA leadership has played a key role in contributing towards peace and stability in their respective countries. For example in the Sudan, Burundi, DRC and Kenya, the Anglican church has contributed to peace,” Archbishop Ernest said.
President Kibaki urged the church to use its influence in “seeking peaceful and amicable solutions to conflicts in Sudan, the horn of Africa and other countries experiencing insecurity in the continent.”
Bishop Robinson to retire: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 12, 2010 p 8. November 18, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, New Hampshire.comments closed
The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Bishop of New Hampshire has announced his intention to retire, saying the emotional and physical stresses of his episcopate will compel him step down from office on Jan 5, 2013.
In a Nov 6 address to his diocesan synod, Bishop V. Gene Robinson stated the “last seven years have taken their toll on me, my family” and the diocese.
“Death threats, and the now-worldwide controversy surrounding your election of me as bishop, have been a constant strain, not just on me, but on my beloved husband, Mark,” Bishop Robinson told the synod.
Elected by his diocese in 2003, the Episcopal Church’s endorsement of a partnered gay clergyman as Bishop of New Hampshire led to schism within the Communion, the formation of a rival Anglican body in the United States, broken ecumenical relations and the waning of the “bounds of affection” among Anglicans.
A popular figure within the US House of Bishops as well as a high profile media personality, Bishop Robinson stated at the start of his episcopate that his desire was to be a “simple country bishop.” However, his wish was not granted as his persona as “the gay bishop” overtook his ecclesial duties as the bishop of a small aging New England diocese.
The bishop said he remained “in good health” and added “I continue in my fifth year of sobriety, which has been a total blessing to me. I continue to treasure my work and ministry with you, and it is a total joy and privilege to serve you and to serve God in this holy collaboration with you.”
Bishop Robinson told the synod that he did not “intend to be a ‘lame duck’,” for the next two years, but hoped to “continue to be fully engaged as your bishop in the remaining time we lead the diocese together.”
The controversial bishop will have served 39 years in the ordained ministry, and will retire three months short of his 66 birthday. Mandatory retirement in the Episcopal Church is at age 72.
Bishop of Chile tapped to lead Southern Cone: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 12, 2010 p 7. November 18, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, La Iglesia Anglicana del Cono Sur de America, Women Priests.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Bishop of Chile has been elected Presiding Bishop of la Iglesia Anglicana del Cono Sur (the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone). Bishop Hector “Tito” Zavala of Chile will succeed Bishop Gregory Venables of Argentina as primate of the Anglican Church in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.
Bishop Venables, who remains in office as Bishop of Argentina and acting Bishop of Northern Argentina, told The Church of England Newspaper the province’s Oct 29-Nov 1 House of Bishops meeting and its Nov 2-5 10th provincial meeting of synod held in Buenos Aires was “extremely satisfying” and was marked by a “real commitment to unity and mission.”
Bishop Zavala was unanimously chosen to serve a three year, renewable term as primate and will be the church’s first leader of South American descent. The synod also extended Bishop Venables a formal note of thanks for his nine years of service as primate and endorsed his work on the international Anglican stage.
The new primate is expected to continue the work of his predecessor on the pan-Anglican scene. The Diocese of Chile has a companion relationship with the Diocese of Pittsburgh and has given its full support to Archbishop Robert Duncan and the Anglican Church in North America.
In other business, the synod rejected a proposed revision to the provincial canons that would have permitted the ordination of women to the priesthood. The proposed amendment would have give dioceses a “local option” for women priests. While the proposal was adopted in the episcopal and lay order, it failed in the clerical order and was defeated.
Of the 38 Provinces of the Anglican Communion, 8 do not ordain women: Central Africa, Jerusalem and the Middle East, Melanesia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, South East Asia, and Tanzania.
Two provinces ordain women to the diaconate only, Congo and the Southern Cone while 25 provinces and the extra-provincial Church of Ceylon ordain women to the priesthood: Bangladesh, Brazil, Burundi, Central America, England, Hong Kong, North India, South India, Indian Ocean, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Rwanda, Scotland, Southern Africa, the Sudan, Uganda, Wales, West Africa, and the West Indies. Four provinces have consecrated women bishops: the Episcopal Church, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, as has the extra-provincial diocese of Cuba.
Annual Service of Remembrance at The Cenotaph: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 16, 2010 November 17, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
Dr Rowan Williams greeting Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry VC (left) and Lance Corporal Matthew Croucher GC (right) at The Cenotaph on Nov 11.
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Archbishop of Canterbury attended the Annual Service of Remembrance held at The Cenotaph in Whitehall last week. On Nov 11, Dr. Williams joined the Secretary of State for Defence, Dr. Liam Fox, the First Sea Lord, Chief of the Air Staff, the Chief of the General Staff, veterans groups, members of the Victoria and George Cross Association along with the Guard of Honour 7 Company, The Coldstream Guards in honouring the courage and sacrifices of those who served during the Great War of 1914-1918.
Staffordshire vicar convicted of child porn possession: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 12, 2010 p 6. November 17, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Abuse, Church of England, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
A Staffordshire vicar has been found guilty of possessing child pornography.
On Nov 3 a Stafford Crown Court jury convicted the Rev. Dominic Stone, the team vicar of Marchington, Marchington Woodlands, Kingstone and Leigh of possessing approximately 600 indecent images of children downloaded from the internet.
Mr. Stone denied downloading the images, telling the court that someone else must have had access to his computer. However, the jury was not convinced and returned a guilty verdict on 16 counts following three and a half hours of deliberations.
Following his indictment in January, Mr. Stone was suspended from office and after the verdict was announced, resigned his post.
Following the verdict, Lichfield diocesan spokesman Gavin Drave said further ecclesial action against Mr. Stone would take place following sentencing.
“The downloading and viewing of indecent images of children is a very serious offence which not only depicts, but also feeds, the actual physical abuse of innocent children,” Mr. Drake said.
“The protection of children is a top priority for the Lichfield Diocese and the Church of England as a whole; and after being informed of the police investigation in January 2009 Dominic Stone was removed from duties and then suspended in accordance with the Clergy Discipline Measure and Rules.”
“Following today’s conviction the Bishop of Lichfield will follow the procedures laid down in law and await the sentence before considering the removal of Dominic Stone from his current position and prohibition of serving as a priest. Dominic Stone’s suspension continues until the conclusion of this process,” Mr. Drake said.
Truro priest acquitted of child abuse charges: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 12, 2010 p 6. November 17, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Abuse, Church of England, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
A Plymouth court has acquitted the Rural Dean of East Wivelshire of charges of child abuse.
On Sept 24 a jury sitting at the Plymouth Crown Court found Canon Andrew Wilson, the rector of St Andrew’s Church in Calstock, innocent of charges that he sexually assaulted 11 children while service as a teacher at the Pennycross Primary School in Plymouth between 1974 and 1980.
On Aug 26, 2009, Canon Wilson was indicted on 16 counts of abuse, for allegedly fondling four boys and seven girls, aged six to nine, when he served as a school teacher. Prosecutor Andrew Oldland told the court a woman lodged charges of abuse against the vicar after she watched a television programme on repressed memories of child abuse, which she claimed brought back to her memories of her own abuse at the hands of the defendant.
After filing her complaint with the police, the complainant contacted other former classmates via Facebook. The first victim did not share details of her abuse, Mr. Oldland told the court, but other victims came forward with similar claims, prompting police action.
However, the jury took only seven hours to reject the accusations of abuse and find the defendant not guilty on all counts. A character witness for Canon Wilson, former Chief Superintendent Nicholas Crowhurst of the Devon and Cornwall Police told the court the defendant’s reputation in Calstock during the 17 years he knew him was that of a compassionate and caring priest with no hint of scandal or impropriety.
“I respect him as a human being, I respect what he does. This matter has come as a complete surprise, not only to me but to the complete village,” Mr. Crowhurst said.
Toronto gay blessing guidelines released: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 12, 2010 p 8. November 16, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Canada, Church of England Newspaper, Human Sexuality --- The gay issue.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Diocese of Toronto’s same-sex blessings guidelines published last week will not violate the Anglican Communion’s moratorium on same-sex blessings, a letter from the diocese’s five bishops to their clergy claims. While the ceremony will acknowledge God’s blessings upon the couple, the Toronto rite will impart no legal or ecclesial recognition of the same-sex couple’s relationship.
The four page document, dated Oct 28 and mailed to the diocesan clergy last week, states that Toronto Archbishop Colin Johnson will licence a small number of parishes to perform the “Blessing of Same Gender Commitments” rite.
The bishops said they sought to find a way to honour the communion’s ban on public rites for same-sex blessings as well as the Canadian Church’s desire to extend pastoral generosity to same-sex couples. The new rites seek to accommodate those in “stable committed same gender relationships” seeking the church’s support for their relationship and those in the diocese who view such a relationship as sinful.
“The diversity of our diocesan community demonstrates that we are called to witness to the faith in a variety of ways, and though such witness is rooted in differing interpretations and understanding of holy scripture and the tradition, they are recognizably Anglican,” the guidelines state.
However, the rites may not include an “exchange of consents” and a “declaration of union.” A civil same-sex marriage may not be conducted within the context of the service also. The rite will not be recorded as in the parish marriage register and no “nuptial blessing” may be offered to the couple.
The bishops have permitted a “statement of covenant or commitment” in the ceremony, a blessing of the “persons in their commitment” and a “symbolic expression” of the commitment—however, symbols such as wedding rings or anything that could be “understood as symbolising marriage” are forbidden.
Clergy cannot be compelled to perform the ceremony, but are asked to refer inquirers to their bishop if parishioners wish such a blessing which the clergy cannot provide.
The Anglican Church of Canada’s General Synod in 2004 voted to defer a decision of same-sex blessings until 2007, but affirmed the “integrity and sanctity of committed adult same-sex relationships”. The 2007 General Synod rejected a resolution permitting bishops to authorise rites for the blessing of same-sex unions and in 2010 it deferred action once more in favor of continued “conversation.”
The 2010 General Synod did “acknowledge diverse pastoral practices as dioceses respond to their own missional contexts.”
Following the synod Archbishop Fred Hiltz informed the Anglican Consultative Council the Canadian church was in compliance with the moratorium as the national church had not adopted gay blessings, even though New Westminster began offering the blessings in 2002, and the dioceses of Huron, Ottawa, Montreal, and Niagara have moved forward with the innovation. On Nov 6, 2010 the Synod of the Diocese of Saskatoon passed by a margin of two votes a resolution calling upon its bishop to authorise same-sex blessings.
In 2009 Toronto announced its plans for gay blessings, but said it would approve pastoral but not sacramental rites for blessings.
In an open letter to the Toronto bishops, the Dean of Wycliffe College in Toronto, the Rev. Ephraim Radner said the distinction drawn was too fine. “It is hard to escape the fact that the process you have now set in motion-one that involves public proposals, discussions, synodical actions, and all dealing with a way of ordering a particular ‘pastoral response’ that involves episcopal oversight and particular permissions, following directives that involve the nature of prayers – cannot avoid being seen as one of ecclesial ‘authorization’ of liturgical matters surrounding same-sex unions,” he said.
While the bishops may have believed they were only giving a structure to a an arrangement for “private prayers”, the “very process you are following” calls for “formal, episcopal, diocesan, public, liturgical prayers of blessing,” Dr. Radner said.
It would be “very difficult indeed to make the case and persuade others” that what Toronto had now done violated the Lambeth Conference moratorium and had in opposition to the “concerns of many Anglicans around the world,” he concluded.
Anglican Ordinariate to be reviewed by College of Cardinals: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 12, 2010 p 8. November 16, 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.
The place of Anglicans within the Roman Catholic Church will be among the topics of conversation at a meeting of the College of Cardinals held on the eve of the consistory that will create 24 new cardinals, the Vatican has announced.
On Nov 8, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, wrote to the 179 cardinals and 24 cardinals-elect, inviting them to a day of “reflection and prayer” at the Vatican’s New Synod Hall on Nov 19.
The college will hear five presentations: “the situation of religious freedom in the world and new challenges” led by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone; “liturgy in the life of the Church today” led by Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera; “ten years on from Dominus Iesus” led by Archbishop Angelo Amato,” and two presentations by the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal William Levada on “the Church’s response to cases of sexual abuse” and “the Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus.”
The College of Cardinals functions as a council of advice when summoned by the Pope to a consistory, or formal meeting, but has no ruling powers over the Catholic Church save for limited functions outlined by the Apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis and the Fundamental Law of Vatican City State during a vacancy in the papal office. The college also convenes upon the death or abdication of a pope to elect a successor. However, only cardinals under the age of 80 are permitted a vote in papal elections. Of the college’s current 179 members, 102 are under 80, while 20 of the 24 new cardinals are under 80.
Iker responds to latest lawsuit, charging TEC with ‘malicious prosecution’: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 12, 2010 p 8. November 16, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Fort Worth, Property Litigation.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Bishop of Fort Worth has asked a Texas court to impose sanctions on attorneys for the Episcopal Church, arguing that a lawsuit brought on behalf of a loyalist parish against him was “malicious prosecution” and an “abuse of process.”
On Oct 29 attorneys for Bishop Jack Iker filed a response to a complaint brought by All Saints Episcopal Church that had accused the bishop of violating the congregation’s trademark. The parish further alleged the bishop, in his personal capacity, was engaged in a disinformation campaign designed to lure Christians into churches affiliated with his diocese by fostering the false notion these churches were Episcopal Churches.
In its pleading to the Federal District Court, All Saints alleged Bishop Iker had engaged in “unfair competition” and engendered “public confusion and harm” by backing a faction in the congregation loyal to his breakaway diocese. All Saints asked the court to grant an injunction forbidding the use the name “All Saints” by Iker loyalists, and demanded the bishop disgorge himself of any profits he may have received from the breakaway faction, along with payment of damages.
In his response, Bishop Iker rejected the accusations as baseless and having “no factual or legal foundation.” He further asked the court to impose sanctions on the attorneys for the parish, noting this fourth lawsuit had been brought by the Episcopal Church’s attorneys to “unreasonably and vexatiously multiply the proceedings in a case.”
On Nov 1, the diocese stated the fourth lawsuit was “intended to harass the Bishop and multiply the cost of litigation,” whose costs are expected to top £3 million.
“In addition, the federal suit multiplies the proceedings on an issue already under consideration in a Texas state court. The plaintiff and counsel are well aware of that suit, which covers the question of who owns certain church properties, including intellectual assets such as trademarks,” the diocese noted.
Bishop Bennison must go, Pennsylvania says: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 12, 2010 p 8. November 15, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Abuse, Church of England Newspaper, Pennsylvania.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The synod of the Diocese of Pennsylvania has called upon its bishop to “resign immediately.”
On Nov 6, delegates to the 227th annual meeting of the diocesan convention voted 341 to 134 in support of a resolution that said the Rt. Rev. Charles Bennison, Jr., did “not have the trust of the people and clergy of the Diocese of Pennsylvania to continue to serve as their bishop.”
On Aug 5, Bishop Bennison was restored to office following a three year suspension after the Episcopal Church’s appellate Court of Review for the Trial of a Bishop threw out a lower court decision that found him guilty of conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy, and ordered he be defrocked.
The appeals court found that while it considered Bishop Bennison’s actions 35 years ago to have been improper, it ruled that he could not be deposed from office due to the church’s statute of limitations which required the prosecution to have been brought decades ago.
After the vote was announced, Bishop Bennison offered no comment and returned to his chair as the presiding officer of the meeting in Philadelphia.
The vote followed publication of an open letter written by the Bishop of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the Rt. Rev. Paul Marshall, to Bishop Bennison calling upon him to step aside. “There simply comes a time to call it quits, and I hope that for the sake of our common mission, this will happen in the Diocese of Pennsylvania,” he said.
At the conclusion of its Sept. 16-21 meeting in Phoenix, the US House of Bishops issued a non-binding statement calling upon Bishop Bennison to resign. The bishops were “profoundly troubled by the outcome of the disciplinary action” and believed his “capacity to exercise the ministry of pastoral oversight is irretrievably damaged.”
Bishop Bennison declined to act upon the synod’s suggestion that he go, and he cannot be compelled to step down from office until he reaches the age of 72 in six year’s time.
Gay bishops unlikely in the C of E, Church Commissioners tell Parliament: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 12, 2010 November 14, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Human Sexuality --- The gay issue.comments closed
First printed in The Church of England Newspaper.
A celibate priest in a gay civil partnership is unlikely to be appointed a bishop of the Church of England, the Second Church Estates Commissioner told Parliament last month, even though there is no explicit prohibition on such an appointment.
On Oct 26 the member for North East Derbyshire, Ms. Natascha Engel (Lab.) asked the Second Church Estates Commissioner Mr. Tony Baldry what “representations” the Church Commissioners had received on the “criteria for the appointment of bishops in the Church of England.”
Mr. Baldry responded that the canons require that “anyone to be considered and consecrated” be “male and over 30.”
Ms. Engel noted that the Archbishop of Canterbury had “recently written a newspaper article saying that it is okay to be a gay bishop as long as one is celibate.” What then was the Church of England’s stance on clergy in civil partnerships? “If they are celibate, are they okay to be bishops too?”
The Second Church Estates Commissioner responded that there was no “rule” which forbad “a celibate person in a civil partnership from being considered for appointment as a bishop,” but the appointment was improbable.
“The issue is whether someone in that position could act as a focus for unity in a diocese. That would have to be considered by those responsible for making any episcopal appointment,” Mr. Baldry said.
Steer clear of politics, Zambian government warns church: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 12, 2010 November 14, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of Central Africa, Politics.comments closed
Zambian information minister Lt Gen Ronnie Shikapwasha
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The government of President Rubiah Banda has denounced the call for clean government made by Bishop William Mchombo in a sermon commemorating the centenary of the Anglican Church in Zambia.
In an interview published on Nov 2 in the Times of Zambia, government spokesman Lt. Gen. Ronnie Shikapwasha said the government was willing to listen to the church’s concerns, but rejected its interference in political affairs.
On Oct 31 the bishops of Eastern and Northern Zambia urged President Rupiah to veto the Anti-Corruption Act awaiting his signature, telling the president as he sat in the congregation of Holy Cross Cathedral in Lusaka, the new law would weaken the prosecution of corrupt government officials.
Gen. Shikapwasha said the church should study the law before it speaks and “dialogue with the Government. They should not be used to promote political agenda and allow themselves to be used but let them come and talk to us.”
The church’s role was to “promote unity in the country,” Gen Shikapwasha said, and not allow itself to be drawn into partisan political squabbles.
However, the Zambian Anglican Council (ZAC) has drawn a distinction between advocating for political causes that promote the common good, and supporting political parties. In his sermon last week, Bishop Mchombo stated the fight against corruption was an all-party concern that if left unchecked, would retard the country’s social, economic and political growth.
Priests, who lent their support to political parties or causes, do so without the church’s backing, church leaders tell The Church of England Newspaper. On Oct 31 the ZAC distanced itself from the ‘red-card campaign’ and the Rev. Richard Luonde, the rector of St Barnabas Anglican Church in Chingolo.
In March, Fr. Luonde initiated a campaign to shame President Banda the ruling MMD party for its failed policies and reputation for graft. Supporters of the campaign were urged to flash a ‘red-card’ during MMD rallies and at public appearances by the president to express their outrage.
The government owned Zambia Daily Mail last week reported the ZAC had “disowned” Fr. Lounde. While endorsing clean government, the Anglican Church said Fr. Lounde’s role in the ‘red-card campaign’ should not be construed as having the backing of the church.
Double murder shocks West Indian Anglicans: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 5, 2010 p 7. November 13, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of the West Indies, Crime.comments closed
Richard and Maria Stuart
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Crime and the moral decay of society in the Caribbean were among the topics of discussion last week at meetings of the diocesan synods of the Bahamas and Belize.
On Oct 14, a member of the Church of the Province of the West Indies Standing Committee and Registrar of the Diocese of Belize, Mr. Richard Stuart and his wife, Maria, were murdered. The two had returned to their home in Belize City following a dinner of the Bar Association and were surprised by two intruders who were waiting for the couple on the first floor of their home.
Neighbors heard screams from the walled villa and alerted the police, who arrived shortly before midnight to find the couple dead, each with over 25 stab wounds. Searching through the house, the police found a babysitter hiding in a closet with the couples’ 8-year old son on the second floor. Their three other children, aged six months to six years, slept through the attack.
A Guatemalan man, who had once worked for Mr. Stuart as a servant, was stopped by police while driving the dead man’s car, late that night. The servant had been dismissed by Mr. Stuart last month for stealing. Police are seeking a second killer, who remains at large.
Bishop Phillip Wright of Belize told Channel 5 News that after he learned of the murder he immediately went to the house to offer his support. The Stuart’s murder has “impacted us tremendously,” he said, and the deceased was a “friend” whom “I had grown to respect.
Mr. Stuart’s murder was all the more immediate, as it was his duty to sit next to Bishop Wright as registrar of the diocese during their annual synod meeting, which was scheduled to start on Oct 16.
Bishop Howard Gregory of Montego Bay, Jamaica stated he learned of the Stuart’s death when he arrived in Belize to attend the synod, and had been scheduled to stay at their home. “This bright and promising young attorney who was involved in church, national life and politics, along with his wife, an accomplished forensic auditor, and who were in their early forties were brutally murdered in their home late at night as they arrived home from a function,” he said.
While Belize and the wider West Indian Anglican family were shocked by this murder, and were demanding that justice be done, hanging the killers was not the answer, the bishop said, in an editorial published in the Jamaica Observer.
“As tragic as this situation is, I still believe that all crimes are to be punished, but that capital punishment is not the answer. And in some ways, while satisfying the desire for revenge in many, will never constitute justice for others,” he said.
Bishop Gregory also noted there was also a growing culture of entitlement coupled with a moral decay that led to crimes like the Stuart murders. “It is becoming clear that many of the crimes, apart from those that are obviously connected with the drug trade, are being carried out by persons who have access to people’s households and their employer’s sphere of work and living. They are persons who have enjoyed a certain level of trust, access and privileges which go with the same. There is clearly a breakdown of social relationships and values taking place in our society when the first thing that enters the minds of some employees is to find ways to steal from the till or remove property.”
He argued that such things “spring from materialism, which is overtaking our people and some of whom are now prepared to secure such benefits by any means available. It is also possible to argue that there is a serious deficit in the level of preparation of our young people for the world of work. In this regard, we may be focusing on the skills necessary for entry into the workplace but not the values and attitudes which should attend the same,” Bishop Gregory said.
Whatever the cause, the Stuart murders were “not a Belizean problem but a Caribbean one” the bishop said, and if “we do not move beyond debate, this social monster is only going to get worse.”
In his Oct 20 address to the 110th session of the Bahamian Synod, Bishop Laish Boyd told his diocese that recapturing a responsible work ethic and thrift were imperatives for the Caribbean.
“There are many good workers in The Bahamas and The Turks and Caicos Islands, but there are too many slackers, who act as if they are doing their employer and their job a favor by turning up. There are too many workers who want something for nothing. There are too many workers who start off with a negative attitude towards their employer and their job, forgetting that it is a privilege to have a job even if it may not be paying what you want it to,” the bishop said.
Bishop Boyd also urged Anglicans to cut back on spending and save for the future. While the world economy was now in recession, “a rainier day than this one just might be coming,” he said.
Dublin primates meeting in doubt: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 12, 2010 p 6. November 11, 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 proposed suspending the Primates Meeting—the fourth ‘instrument of unity’ in the Anglican Communion—in favour of holding multiple small group gatherings of like minded archbishops.
In a letter to the primates dated Oct 7, Dr. Rowan Williams suggested that given the “number of difficult conversations” and the threat of a boycott of its meetings, a regime of separate but equal facilitated small groups sessions might better serve the primates’ “diverse” perspectives and forestall the substantial “damage” to the communion a full-fledged boycott would entail.
Dr. Williams also called for a reform of the structure of the meetings, suggesting that an elected standing committee be created and the powers and responsibility of the meeting of the communion’s 38 archbishops, presiding bishops and moderators be delineated.
Lambeth Palace did not respond to a request for clarification about the Oct 7 letter, while a spokesman for the Anglican Consultative Council said it could not address the question of a potential boycott as “the content of correspondence between the Primates and the Archbishop of Canterbury is private.”
On Oct 24 Canadian Archbishop Fred Hiltz warned a joint meeting of the Canadian Anglican and Lutheran House of Bishops of the boycott threat. “There is a lot of tension within the group,” he said, as some primates were “unwilling to come to the table with everyone present.”
The Anglican Journal reported that Archbishop Hiltz believed Dr. Williams “might try to deal with this problem by arranging prior meetings of smaller groups of like-minded primates.”
The African primates attending the All African Bishops meeting in Entebbe on Aug 24 told Dr. Williams they would not attend future primates meeting if US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and Archbishop Hiltz were there. The African primates voiced their concern over unilateral actions taken by the North American churches and also upbraided Dr. Williams for what they saw as his pusillanimity in responding to the ensuing crisis of doctrine and discipline.
The Archbishop of Canterbury answered his critics in Entebbe by stating he did not have the authority to withhold invitations, CEN was told by those present at the meeting. However, a formal boycott of the meeting has not been announced by the African primates, as further consultations with the Gafcon coalition and other like minded primates are scheduled.
The following month, Dr. Williams published notice that the next primates meeting would take place from Jan 25 to 31, 2011 at the Emmaus Retreat & Conference Centre in Dublin. On Sept 21 Bishop Jefferts Schori stated she had received notice of the meeting, and was planning on attending.
Subsequent meetings of the GAFCON primates in Oxford in October and a second meeting of the CAPA primates on Nov 8-9 in Nairobi have yielded a common resolve to oppose the North American block, but a common tactical response to the threat has yet to be decided, sources tell CEN. Suggestions under consideration range from a boycott of the Dublin meeting, the convening of a rival primates meeting, the withdrawal of the Global South from all pan-Anglican gatherings for a season, or accommodating Dr. Williams and his pleas for restraint one more time.
What was certain, one primate told CEN, was the resolve of the Global South/Gafcon/CAPA coalition not to walk away from the Communion, but seek its reform and renewal.
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 haphazardly in recent years. The heads of the communion’s 38 provinces are currently invited to participate in the gathering, while Dr. Williams has added the Archbishop of York to the meeting’s current roster. The two-diocese Church of Bangladesh’s senior bishop attends the gathering, but not the senior bishop of the two-diocese Church of Ceylon.
The meeting has traditionally elected a standing committee from regional blocks: the Americas, Europe, Africa, South Asia, and East Asia, with the Archbishop of Canterbury as its chairman. The five regional members also serve on the newly formed standing committee with members from the Anglican Consultative Council. The primate from the European block drawn from the Church in Wales, the Church of Ireland or the Scottish Episcopal Church has the same standing as the member for Africa, even though the African churches is over 50 times larger.
The appointment of the Archbishop of York to the meeting’s membership and the structural inequality of the regional blocks have prompted criticism from within the meeting, while its attempts at exercising authority over the wider communion have been attacked from without.
Brazilian bishop elected vice-moderator of ACT Alliance: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 5, 2010 p 6 November 11, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil, Church of England Newspaper, NGOs.comments closed
A file photo of Bishop-elect da Silva (left) celebrating the Eucharist with the primate of the IEAB, Archbishop Orlando Santos de Oliveira in 2006
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Provincial Secretary of the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil (IEAB) Canon Francisco de Assis da Silva, has been elected vice-moderator of the ecumenical relief agency ACT Alliance at the organization’s annual meeting held on Oct 26 in Arusha, Tanzania.
The previous day, the Diocese of Southwestern Brazil elected Canon da Silva bishop-coadjutor at a special meeting of the diocesan synod held in Santa Maria, in the Rio Grande do Sul state in southern Brazil. Canon da Silva was elected bishop-coadjutor after the first round of voting, and will succeed the Rt. Rev. Jubal Neves as bishop upon the latter’s retirement.
A lawyer by training, Bishop-elect da Silva was educated at the Northern Brazil Baptist Seminary and was ordained to the diaconate and priesthood in Recife in 1991. The new bishop served as rector of St Mary’s Church in Belém do Pará and at All Saints’ Church in Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul and from 2003 to 2006 was president of the IEAB Synod’s House of Clergy and Laity.
The Geneva based ACT Alliance has over 100 member churches and NGOs and is at work in 130 countries providing long-term development and humanitarian assistance. According to its website, the agency last year dispersed $1.5 billion in aid through its members in a quest to “work together for positive and sustainable change in the lives of people affected by poverty and injustice through coordinated and effective humanitarian, development and advocacy work.”
Tanzania goes to the polls: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 5, 2010 p 6. November 10, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Tanzania, Church of England Newspaper, Politics.comments closed
Archbishop Valentino Mokiwa of Tanzania
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Primate of the Anglican Church of Tanzania has urged voters to respect the results of the Oct 31 General Election, and put the nation’s needs ahead of sectarian and tribal interests.
In a statement released last Friday before voters went to the polls, Archbishop Valentino Mokiwa of Dar es Salaam said the results of the Sunday election would be the “peoples’ verdict” on the candidates and should be “respected.”
Mr. Jakaya Kikwete is seeking a second five-year term as president of Tanzania, and an increased majority for his ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party in the 239-seat parliament. In the 2005 election President Kikwete won 80 per cent of the vote and his tenure has witnessed steady economic growth for the East African nation.
However, financial scandals have plagued his government with two former ministers facing corruption charges. The main opposition candidate, Dr. Willibrod Slaa, a former Roman Catholic priest and leader of the Chadema party in parliament, has campaigned on an anti-corruption platform
Tanzania has avoided the internal political strife that has plagued its neighbors in East Africa, and Archbishop Mokiwo has urged political leaders and their supporters to honour the results. “It is important that the parties’ supporters get prepared for any kind of results, victory or defeat of the candidates they supported,” he said.
The archbishop reiterated his church’s non-partisan stance in the election contest. The Anglican Church of Tanzania, as a member of the Christian Council of Tanzania, joined the Roman Catholic Tanzania Episcopal Conference and the Pentecostal Church of Tanzania in endorsing a statement that said the country’s churches would not back any candidate or party. The Churches further stated that Christians had the right and duty to vote for leaders of their choice irrespective of religious belief.
“Peace, unity, stability and mutual understanding among the people are the priceless assets that we cannot afford to lose,” Archbishop Mokiwa said.
President Kikwete and Dr. Slaa have both predicted that they will win the election, but have promised to honour the poll results. “If all procedures were followed and the election was free and fair, we will accept the results,” Dr Slaa told reporters.
Allegations of clergy paedophile ring under investigation: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 5, 2010 p 6. November 10, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Abuse, Anglican Church of Australia, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
Bishop Brian Farren of Newcastle, Australia
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Abuse victims have charged the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle, Australia with ignoring warnings that a paedophile ring was at work within the church.
The accusations reported by the Newcastle Herald follow the arraignment last week of a former youth worker on 103 counts of child sexual abuse, and the release of a diocesan statement confirming the Rev. Peter Rushton’s “involvement in the sexual abuse of minors.”
A parish priest in the diocese from 1963 until his death in 2007, Fr. Rushton was alleged to have abused altar servers, or ‘‘arranged for it to happen,” Newcastle Bishop Brian Farran said on Oct 19.
He added that the diocese was assisting the police with allegations that Fr. Rushton did not act alone, but was part of a clergy paedophile ring. The bishop said the diocese started working with police after ‘‘significant allegations and information of concern’’ after the priest’s death in 2007.
However, an abuse survivor has claimed that in 1984 he had warned the diocese that a paedophile ring was at work.
“I first told [a retired priest] in 1984 that ‘You’ve got a network of these bastards preying on altar boys’, and I named names,” the one-time church employee told the Herald.
“We all knew it. I gave him at least five names but nothing happened,” said the victim, who later received a settlement payment from the diocese in compensation for his sexual abuse at the hands of a priest.
On Oct 20 a former youth worker appeared before a Newcastle magistrate charged with 103 counts of child abuse, including procuring a boy for deviant sexual acts.
James Michael Brown, 60, a former board member of St Alban’s Boys’ Home in Aberdare, is alleged to have molested 13 boys aged 11 to 17 from 1974 to 1996. The indictment includes 38 charges of sodomy and 60 indecent assault charges. Mr. Brown did not enter a plea and has been bound over to answer the charges on Dec 22.
In a statement released after Mr. Brown’s arrest this summer, Bishop Farran confirmed that the accused had worked for the diocese in the 1970s and early 1980s in a variety of duties, including youth work and as a carer at the St Alban’s Home.
The diocese was assisting the police and was ‘‘strongly committed to addressing the issue of current and historical child sexual abuse in the church,” the bishop said.
Church attacks government’s soft stance on corruption: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 5, 2010 p 6. November 8, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of Central Africa, Corruption.comments closed
Bishop William Mchombo of Eastern Zambia
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The centenary anniversary celebrations of the Anglican Church in Zambia turned into an attack upon the government last week, with the Bishops of Eastern and Northern Zambia denouncing from the pulpit the culture of corruption plaguing the country.
Government leaders including President Rupiah Banda, the vice-president, senior government ministers, the head of the opposition, former presidents Kenneth Kaunda and Frederick Chiluba and other civic and church leaders gathered at Lusaka’s Holy Cross Cathedral on Oct 31 for the 100th anniversary of the church’s founding in the Central African nation.
In his sermon, Bishop William Mchombo of Eastern Zambia urged the president to reject an anti-corruption bill prepared by parliament that would remove “abuse of office” from the list of offences punishable by the Anti Corruption Commission Act.
“The fight against corruption should not be compromised and neither should we relent,” the bishop said.
“It is in this light that we are concerned with the removal of the abuse of office clause from the ACC Act. We do not in any way imply that public officers cannot engage in income generating activities to supplement on their salaries; far from it,” the bishop said.
“Certainly there are guidelines that allow for such to happen as long as one does not have illicit access to public resources or pecuniary advantage on account of his or her public office. These excesses are well documented year in and year out in the Auditor General’s reports,” Bishop Mchombo said, urging the president “not to consent to the removal of the abuse of office clause” from the anti-corruption act.
The Zambia Post reported the congregation broke into cheers following Bishop Mchombo’s speech, but stated government leaders were nonplussed by his words, which were not part of the bishop’s prepared remarks distributed beforehand.
The Post reported former President Chiluba “made gestures of disapproval” and “constantly looked up and sideways while twisting his mouth” during the sermon, while other officials were seen murmuring and expressing their displeasure.
On Aug 17, 2009 a criminal court acquitted Mr. Chiluba of corruption charges, finding that the government had not proven its case that the money that financed the diminutive president’s lavish lifestyle was stolen from state coffers. The ruling followed a verdict in a 2007 civil trial in London, where a court ordered the five foot tall president to repay £23 million stolen from the Zambian government.
The Dean of the Church of the Province of Central Africa, Bishop Albert Chama of Northern Zambia, also urged the president to take act. “Your Excellency, we appeal to your conscience to re-look at the Anti Corruption bill and review it,” the bishop said.
“We pray that according to your powers vested in the law you uphold zero tolerance to corruption by restoring the abuse of office clause. Your Excellency, when we speak as a church we are not being against government. We speak for the people just as God commanded us,” Bishop Chama said.
In his remarks to the congregation, President Banda departed from his prepared statement. He stated the Anglican Church had served the country well, noting that in 1991 it had mediated the dispute between Dr. Kaunda and Mr. Chiluba in the country’s first democratic transfer of power since independence.
He urged the church to continue this work, saying it “has a very important role to play in the development of the country and reconciling our people, It’s us the politicians who are spoilers, we cause these problems and the Church always helps us to resolve them, so I urge the Church to continue helping resolve these conflicts between us,” the president said.
The president added that politicians were “not holy. We make a lot of mistakes because we are human.”
“We will always have challenges; there is no human society without challenges,” President Banda said. However, “we the politicians are there to ensure that we read the mood of the people; and you have told us to ensure that peace prevails.”
No action on South Carolina for now, says US church: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 5, 2011 p 7 November 8, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, South Carolina.comments closed
The Rt. Rev. Mark Lawrence of South Carolina
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Episcopal Church is barred by canon law from taking action against the Diocese of South Carolina for nullifying national church canons.
In an Oct 25 letter to the Episcopal Forum of South Carolina, a group of national church loyalists resident in the Diocese of South Carolina, the national church’s Executive Council stated it did not have the power to intervene in the diocese at this time.
The admission that there were canonical limits to the authority of the national church and presiding bishop came in response to a letter sent by the loyalist group on Sept 23, complaining Bishop Mark Lawrence had “taken no disciplinary measures” against the clergy of a congregations that had voted to withdraw from the Episcopal Church and had not taken steps to prevent other parishes from seceding.
It also objected to assertions made by the bishop that the “Diocese of South Carolina is a ‘Sovereign Diocese’ and that the Presiding Bishop has wrongfully intruded into this ‘sovereignty’.”
Bishop Lawrence defended his actions in a letter to the diocese on Sept 24 and on Oct 15 recalled the diocesan synod to debate six resolutions that would revise South Carolina’s to protect itself from what it saw as an unlawful usurpation of authority by the national church.
Supporters of the resolutions noted that the revisions to the national church’s disciplinary canons eliminated the right of due process and gathered into the presiding bishop’s hands metropolitan powers never held by her office. A paper prepared by South Carolina attorney Alan Runyan and canon lawyer Mark McCall of the Anglican Communion Institute also found the new canons were in conflict with the national church’s constitution.
The new canons give a bishop the authority to initiate disciplinary proceedings against members of the clergy, and the authority to sit as a judge of the accused. Clergy are denied the right to silence and must “testify and cooperate” and must “self-report” any alleged offence. The Presiding Bishop is now granted the same authority over bishops, as bishops have over clergy—even though the constitution of the church does not give her metropolitan authority.
Under the new Title IV disciplinary canons, the presiding bishop oversees disciplinary proceedings against a bishop, and may “at any time” and “without prior notice” suspend a bishop pending trial.
“What we found was shocking,” Canon Kendall Harmon of South Carolina told Anglican TV, as the new rules violated natural justice and due process.
The Episcopal Forum of South Carolina, however, saw the vote as a step in preparation for the diocese’s secession from the national church. However, in his synod address Bishop Lawrence said the resolutions nullifying the new canons in South Carolina 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).”
In its letter to the Episcopal Forum, the Executive Council said the presiding bishop was “invested in responding in all the ways that are canonically and pastorally possible” to their concerns.
However, the “realities of our church polity mean that there are canonical limits to how her office and the Executive Council can intervene.”
The council encouraged the Episcopal Forum to take advantage of the “formal and informal ways in which the diocese is connected to the wider church” and to hold fast.
While the Executive Council is not likely to take action against South Carolina in the near term in the wake of the Oct 25 letter conceding it does not currently have the power to act, the presiding bishop can initiate proceedings against Bishop Lawrence. One senior Episcopal bishop told CEN he expects Bishop Lawrence will be deposed by Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori as a consequence of the Oct 15 synod vote.
Episcopal Church in cash crunch: The Church of England Newspaper, Nov 5, 2010. November 6, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Executive Council.comments closed
Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Episcopal Church’s Executive Council has authorized its finance office to seek a $60 million line of credit to support the church’s operations. The loan will be secured by a mortgage on the church’s headquarters at 815 Second Avenue in New York, and by offering as collateral its unrestricted endowment funds.
The Oct 23-25 meeting in Salt Lake City of the church’s governing council between meetings of its General Convention also voted to cut its budget by 5 per cent next year in response to a $2.1 million shortfall in income.
A memorandum from the church’s Finance Office to the 38 council members stated that diocesan contributions to the national church were expected to be $700,000 below budget, while cuts in spending at the national church offices were expected to depress income also.
To balance its budget, the church will close its retail bookstore located at the Church Center in New York, and cease publication of the Episcopal News Monthly and Quarterly publications, while a further $790,000 would be cut from 2011 Mission Program operations.
In her opening remarks to the council, Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori said the “old ways” must change and that “we need some structural change across the Episcopal Church.” It faced a “life-or-death decision,” she said, according to a report from the Episcopal News Service (ENS).
The presiding bishop defined ‘life” as a “renewed and continually renewing focus on mission” and ‘death’ for the church as “an appeal to old ways and to internal focus.”
“I think we’re in some danger of committing suicide by governance by focusing internally rather than externally,” she said, noting that “dying organisms pay most attention to survival.”
Tensions between the presiding bishop’s staff and the members of council over the church’s financial problems were aired publicly at the meeting. The $60 million loan is needed to repay a $46.1 million note payable by year’s end, which was used to fund a $10 million purchase of land in Texas for the site of the church’s archives, and $37 million in renovations to the Church Center building in New York.
According to an account given by ENS, the council’s Finances for Ministry committee chairman, Mr. Del Glover, said that only about $500,000 of the $46 million loan’s principal had been paid. “To the extent that we are not paying debt, we are borrowing money to do the ministry of the church,” he said.
During the Oct 23 business session, Church Treasurer Kurt Barnes objected to Dr. Glover’s creation of a committee to look into the refinancing of the note. Mr. Barnes said he had been told the committee was to have been merely a council of advice. But it “never invited my opinion, so I don’t feel it’s a council of advice.”
He charged the committee “acts as if we’ve been asleep.” The way “it was approached, my staff and I absolutely felt that our intelligence or ability was always being challenged,” Mr. Barnes said. “We give 10 hours a day to this church and then we have other people who say, ‘but you don’t know what you’re doing.’ That’s our problem and if we have misread it, then I am sorry.”
Dr. Glover said Mr. Barnes had misconstrued the council’s actions. The committee had been appointed in response to council’s concerns over the church’s growing debt, he explained. However, the presiding bishop told the finance committee not to interfere in the church’s finances.
“The job of Executive Council is to set policy, not to implement it and that’s where the rub has come,” she said, according to ENS. The committee was guilty of overreaching, she said, adding “I think people have gotten past the anger and the insult … but let’s not have it happen again.”
Australian church ‘no’ to euthanasia: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 29, 2010 p 7. November 3, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Abortion/Euthanasia/Biotechnology, Anglican Church of Australia, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
Archbishop Jeffrey Driver of Adelaide
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Archbishop of Adelaide has called for the government to put the question of de-criminalizing euthanasia to a national vote.
“If politicians believe voluntary euthanasia is a public policy priority of first importance, then let them seek an electoral mandate upon it,” Archbishop Jeffrey Driver told his diocesan synod last week.
“It is too significant an issue to be introduced any other way,” he said on Oct 21.
Dr. Driver’s comments follow upon church-wide denunciations of euthanasia in the wake of the new Labor government’s decision to debate the issue. State legislatures in Australia have also taken up the issue, with the upper house of the South Australia parliament scheduled to vote on Nov 24 on a bill sponsored by the Green Party to legalise voluntary euthanasia. A similar bill was defeated by a single vote last year.
On Sept 24, the Bishop of the North West Region of the Melbourne Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Philip Huggins told his diocesan newspaper that he was disappointed euthanasia was not part of the pre-General Election political debate.
“The question is: would people have voted the same way if they had thought a Labor Government, with the Greens, would as a first action promote a conscience vote on euthanasia in the Federal Parliament?” asked Bishop Huggins.
“There would be more integrity in taking such a proposal to the next Federal Election, allowing the community to weight this matter against other issues which might then shape their vote,” he said.
At last month’s General Synod, delegates unanimously passed a motion proposed by Bishop Huggins affirming the “sanctity of life; that life is God’s gift and that our task is to protect, nurture and sustain life to the best of our ability.”
“This motion conveys to the Prime Minister and Federal Parliament that we will not be silent on this issue, now or in the future,” he said.
At the Sydney synod, Archbishop Peter Jensen on Oct 11 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.”
Dr. Driver told the Adelaide synod that he too was “concerned about the recent renewed push for the legalisation of voluntary euthanasia around Australia.”
While some were frightened by the potential loss of “personal autonomy and the endurance of severe pain and suffering that terminal illness can bring,” the “legalisation of voluntary euthanasia” was not the “most helpful response to these concerns.”
“The prohibition against deliberate taking of innocent human life is what impels us to research and practise good palliative care,” Dr. Driver said, and also “frees the individual from constantly having to interrogate the hidden motives of others, and allows the sick and dying to accept their care without shame.”
Bishop Huggins told Anglican Media Melbourne that while “many people have hard and difficult deaths,” there was a “threshold we cross when our efforts are not focussed on protecting life, providing comfort and pain relief until life ends and the departed is entrusted to God’s eternal life.”
Devolution will benefit Church in Wales, archbishop claims: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 29, 2010 p 7. November 3, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church in Wales, Church of England Newspaper, Politics.comments closed
Archbishop Barry Morgan of Wales
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Devolution will do for Wales what disestablishment did for the Church in Wales, Archbishop Barry Morgan told a meeting of the Cross Party Group on Faith at the National Assembly for Wales this month.
Dr. Morgan urged the Assembly to press on with devolution of political power from the national to the regional government, arguing the current power sharing arrangement between Parliament and the Assembly was flawed. “If we had proper law-making powers, we could have simpler, more effective and efficient Government, able to act swiftly in the interests of Wales and avoiding unnecessary conflict with Westminster,” Dr. Morgan said.”
Transferring political powers from national to local government was not “about wanting independence for Wales,” Dr. Morgan said, but allowing government to function more effectively and equitably.
“What devolution has meant in Wales is less remote Government, easy access, a Government that deals specifically with Welsh matters and Welsh issues,” Dr. Morgan said on Oct 6.
“Faith communities are much more involved than they were before, not because they want to have privileges as faith communities but because of their involvement in issues which affect and concern our communities and our nation. The Welsh Assembly Government realises that faith communities have a presence in every community in Wales,” he said.
The Welsh archbishop likened devolution to the disestablishment of the Welsh dioceses of the Church of England 90 years ago.
“The fact that our appointments are now made by the Church in Wales and that we have our own liturgy and that we are a bilingual church means that we have in fact developed a Welsh identity and a closer relationship with the nation,” Dr. Morgan said.
Disestablishment had “parallels for devolved government,” he noted, adding that “this model of devolution enhances a sense of place, purpose and belonging. It gives a sense of identity to the nation and the agenda is clear – it is for the betterment of Wales.”
Wales has been “enriched by” devolution, Dr. Morgan said, and has “become more self confident, more mature and there has been the development of a distinct Welsh identity and access to Government has been easier.”
Seminary chapel destroyed by fire: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 29, 2010 p 6. November 1, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Virginia.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Chapel of the Virginia Theological Seminary was destroyed by fire last week. On Oct 22 at approximately 3:55 pm, a blaze was discovered in the 129 year old Immanuel Chapel of the Episcopal Church’s largest clergy training college.
The fire service responded quickly to the blaze, but not before the roof and most of the windows were destroyed and the church heavily damaged.
“At this stage, the cause of the fire is unclear. The VTS Community is saddened and devastated by this catastrophe,” said Dean Ian Markham.
“The buildings nearby are intact and safe. The ministry and mission of VTS continue, even as the community grieves,” he said.
Dean Markham said the seminary will rebuild the chapel, “but we cannot think about that at this moment,” as there are business, insurance and there are “countless other concerns, some immediate and others long term” to be taken into account.
An investigation by the US government’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) is under way, the dean said, noting that nothing should be read into the federal government’s taking over the investigation of the fire as an “ATF investigation is standard for all church fires in the United States.”
