Defections to Rome hit Fort Worth: The Church of England Newspaper, April 1, 2011 p 9. March 31, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Ordinariate, Church of England Newspaper, Fort Worth.comments closed
The Fort Worth 4 with Bishop Vann in 2008
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Two senior priests of the Diocese of Fort Worth have left the breakaway Anglo-Catholic diocese for the Anglican Ordinariate.
On March 8, Bishop Jack Iker announced that his number two man, Canon Charles Hough, and Fr. Louis Tobola had resigned their posts effective March 31.
The bishop noted Canon Hough had served as Canon to the Ordinary for the past 17 years, and he and Fr. Tobola had each served for over 30 years in the diocese. “Though they have not yet resigned from the ordained ministry, they are expected to do so at the time the Ordinariate is established for former Anglicans who wish to come into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church,” Bishop Iker said.
“Though we regret their departures, we wish both of them nothing but the best in this new chapter of their lives. They will be deeply missed,” Bishop Iker reported.
While the secession of the two Fort Worth priests will hurt the morale of the diocese, it was not unexpected. In 2008 Canon Hough and Fr. Tobola and two other priests, all members of the Society of the Holy Cross, met with the Roman Catholic Bishop of Fort Worth to discuss uniting the Episcopal diocese with the Roman Catholic church.
In a paper summarizing their talks, the four Fort Worth clergy, concluded the “See of Peter” was “essential not optional” for the true church; a “magisterium” was needed; the “Catholic Faith is true”; the ecclesiology of the Anglican Communion was flawed as was that of the Episcopal Church; an overwhelming majority of Fort Worth’s clergy favored corporate reunion with Rome; Pope Benedict XVI “understands our plight”; and that there was a “charism which the Anglican ethos has to offer to the Universal Church.”
As Anglicans “we realize that Henry VIII, the monarch who wrote ‘Defense of Seven Sacraments’ and who was granted the title ‘Defender of the Faith’, never intended to make any substantive or permanent changes in the Catholic faith. Indeed, the Reformation itself was intended to be for a limited time only,” the four clergy said.
“We believe that it is now time for a new Season. It is perhaps, time for a church of Reformation to die and a new unification among Christ’s people be born: Unification possible only under the Holy Father,” they argued, asking the “Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth provide the guidance necessary so that we might ‘make a proposal’ that would lead our Diocese into full communion with the See of Peter.”
Following the release of the 2008 report, Bishop Iker said he was “aware of a meeting” between his four priests and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Fort Worth and they had his “trust and pastoral support. However, in their written and verbal reports, they have spoken only on their own behalf and out of their own concerns and perspective.”
“They have not claimed to act or speak, nor have they been authorized to do so, either on behalf of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth or on my own behalf,” Bishop Iker said.
Archbishop calls for supression of sex slave trade: The Church of England Newspaper, March 25, 2011 p 7. March 30, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Archbishop of York, Church of England Newspaper, Crime.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Archbishop of York has applauded the government’s decision to rethink its policies on combating human trafficking and join forces with the EU in combating sex slavery.
On March 22 Immigration Minister Damian Green announced the government will apply to opt in to a Europe-wide effort to help tackle human trafficking. “Opting in” to the EU Directive on Human Trafficking sends “a powerful message to traffickers that Britain is not a soft touch and that we remain world leaders in fighting this terrible crime,” the minister said.
Last year Dr. John Sentamu expressed dismay at the government’s decision to ‘opt out’ of the EU Directive. Writing in the Yorkshire Post on Sept 3 the archbishop said that “sex trafficking is nothing more than modern day slavery. This is women being exploited, degraded and subjected to horrific risks solely for the gratification and economic greed of others.”
He said he was “stunned to learn” of the coalition government’s decision. “Generally, I am no great supporter of European directives, because of the supremacy of our Parliament, but this seems to be a common-sense directive designed to co-ordinate European efforts to combat the trade in sex slaves,” the archbishop said.
However the news this week of the government’s change of heart “delighted” Dr. Sentamu. “I am pleased the Government now acknowledges that ‘opting in would send a powerful message to traffickers that Britain is not a soft touch’. Our Government should be ensuring Britain leads the way on tackling slavery, just like it did in the days of William Wilberforce,” he said.
“We need a united front against the traffickers, pimps and gangsters – and we must speak out for those that don’t have a voice. There should be no loopholes for those abusing and terrorizing the vulnerable,” the archbishop said, adding that he was pleased Britain “will now be joining with our European brothers and sisters and put an end to this evil trade.”
“At a time when fewer traffickers are being jailed than at any other time in the last 5 years, we need ambitious and binding legislation to make anti-trafficking policy more effective,” Dr. Sentamu said.
Mr. Green said Britain already carried out most of the EU measures to combat trafficking. The government’s decision not to opt in last year, he explained, was due to the need to review the final text to “ensure that it would benefit the UK. This has now taken place,” said a statement released by the Home Office.
“Tackling human trafficking is a priority for the Government. The UK has an excellent record on fighting human trafficking and the organised criminals who profit from misery,” the immigration minister said.
Archbishop’s letter from Japan: The Church of England Newspaper, March 25, 2011 p 8. March 30, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Disaster Relief, Nippon Sei Ko Kai.comments closed
The Most Rev. Nathaniel Uematsu, Primate of Japan and Bishop of Hokkaido
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Primate of the Nippon Sei Ko Kai (NSKK)—the Anglican Church in Japan—has released an update on the situation in Northeastern Japan, ten days after an earthquake and tsunami devastated the region.
“We Japanese are accustomed to earthquakes and tsunamis,” Archbishop Nathaniel Uematsu wrote, “however no one could have imagined that such a major earthquake or tsunami could have happened. As of [March 22], more than 8,400 people are confirmed dead and still 12,000 people are missing. There are more than 300,000 people who are enduring hardship at various evacuation centres.”
The safety of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex reactor remains in doubt, and has led the government to evacuate all those living within 30 kilometres of the reactor site, he said. While Tokyo Electric has been “working tirelessly” to prevent a nuclear accident, “people are already discovering levels of radiation in the milk and vegetables” from local farms, the archbishop reported.
The archbishop thanked Anglicans around the world for their encouragement and support since the earthquake, and welcomed the offers of assistance the church had received, but asked for patience from those who wished to volunteer their services.
“Because there is no structure or system to receive these people in the devastated areas at the moment, only the official public servants such as doctors, nurses, Japan’s Defence Regiment personel and fire fighters, police, medical centre staff and local council staff members are allowed to provide care to those affected,” by the disaster.
However, once the extent of the damage is known to the churches and homes of the people of the Tohoku and Kita Kanto dioceses, there will be a need for volunteers to help rebuild.
However, the NSKK “consider the people affected by the disaster to be the church’s priority. In most of the areas affected by the disaster there are no Anglican churches, however it is the NSKK’s desire to stand with all people there and to do whatever we can to support them.”
The first rescue and relief phase will soon come to an end, the archbishop said, but the “restoration phase will go on for a long time. As the NSKK, particularly as Tohoku Diocese, we believe that it is during this second phase when God will most use us to do his work.”
“I would like to express my utmost gratitude for the prayers and warm words which were sent to me from everybody. I would like you to continue to pray for the ongoing relief and restoration work,” Archbishop Uematsu said.
Mothers’ Union presents petition to 10 Downing Street: The Church of England Newspaper, March 25, 2011. March 30, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Mission Societies/Religious Orders, Popular Culture, Youth/Children.comments closed
MU Worldwide President Rosemary Kempsell presenting a petition to the Prime Minister
The Mothers’ Union (MU) has delivered a petition to 10 Downing Street calling upon the government of Prime Minister David Cameron to ban sexually explicit advertising directed towards children.
On March 14, a delegation led by MU President Rosemary Kempsell, supporters, and a cross party group of MPs: Helen Goodman (Bishop Auckland, Lab), David Morris (Morecambe and Lunesdale, Cons.), Fiona Bruce (Congleton, Cons.) and Jim Dobbin (Heywood and Middleton, Lab.), presented the petition of 18,500 names.
Mrs. Kempsell said she was “delighted” the government was taking “action to tackle the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood through the Bailey Review. We would like to see this Review make strong recommendations to Government to ensure childhood can remain a precious time free from commercialisation.”
In February, the government asked Reg Bailey, MU Chief Executive, to undertake a review that looked at the pressures on children to grow up too quickly.
The Department for Education asked Mr. Bailey to submit his findings to the government in May, and focus on four issues.
“Whether and to what extent sexualised imagery now forms a universal background or ‘wallpaper’ to children’s lives; whether some products are inappropriate for children, and others in dubious taste: parents are anxious about what is appropriate; whether businesses sometimes treat children too much as consumers and forget that they are children too, with particular concerns about the kinds of marketing techniques associated with digital media; how parents can tell advertisers, broadcasters and retailers about the things they are unhappy about and how they can make an effective complaint.”
The Bailey Review will also incorporate research conducted by Prof. David Buckingham on the impact of the commercial world on children’s wellbeing, by Dr Linda Papadopoulos on the sexualisation of young people, and by Professor Tanya Byron on child safety in a digital world.
The March 14 petition is part of the MU’s Bye Bye Childhood campaign to “hold the UK government accountable” to its pledge to fight the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood.
Speaking after the event Helen Goodman MP said “Once again Mothers Union is at the forefront of a really important campaign to support families. I’m giving the Bye Buy Childhood campaign my total support.”
Archbishop calls for prayer in response to jihadist attacks in Nigeria: The Church of England Newspaper, March 25, 2011 p 7. March 29, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of Nigeria, Persecution.comments closed
Archbishop Ben Kwashi of Jos
Tragedy was narrowly averted this week in the city of Jos in Nigeria’s Plateau State, after bomb bombs destined for two packed churches exploded prematurely, killing the would-be assassins.
On March 20 two men riding a motorcycle approached the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) in Jos. A large crowd was gathered outside the church as the morning English language service was ending and worshippers were waiting to enter the building for a Hausa service. A bomb carried by the motorcyclists detonated prematurely, killing the two men. A third motorcyclist was killed by a mob after the explosion, accused of being a scout for the two dead killers.
A second bomb attack at the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church in Jos on Sunday was foiled after a bomb planted by two men riding a motorcyclist failed to explode. The two would-be bombers escaped and are at large.
“We’re deeply concerned about these latest attacks,’ Release International CEO Andy Dipper said.
“The continuing targeting of Christians appears to be a deliberate move to provoke a backlash and sectarian violence – an attempt to destabilise the community ahead of the elections. Release urges Nigeria’s Christians to stay vigilant, but to refuse to be drawn into a spiral of violence,” he said.
CSW Advocacy Director Andrew Johnston celebrated “the fact that many lives were spared by the failure of these bombs to detonate as intended,” however it is “deeply regrettable that these men were prepared to carry out carnage against their fellow citizens purely on account of their religion.”
The Archbishop of Jos, Dr Benjamin Kwashi told Release the failed bombings were part of a larger campaign to terrorize Christians and destabilize the community.
“No one is willing to accept that the Christian church is under attack. It is difficult for people to understand that Jos could be overrun. The government has been negligent, and the world will not help,” the archbishop said.
“Even the Muslims are not safe,” from the predations of the terrorists, he added.
However, Dr. Kwashi urged forbearance. “Revenge I will never support. But those who wish to defend themselves, I cannot stop. People have had enough of this. It’s been going on for 30 years. The government must do more to provide security for everybody.”
“But you know, the only real answer is prayer,” he said.
“I trust God to defend us. I have been threatened with death personally three times. In all three times, the Lord has rescued me,” Dr. Kwashi said.
Politics behind murders of Turkish Christians, prosecutors claim: The Church of England Newspaper, March 25, 2011 p 8. March 29, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Persecution, Turkey.comments closed
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
A Turkish court this week ordered the arrest of five army officers and two civilians for their alleged part in the 2007 murder of three Christians in the Turkish city of Malatya.
Prosecutors have alleged the murders of Turkish Christians Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel and German missionary Tilmann Geske were part of a plot by the ultra-nationalist Ergenekon movement to destabilize the government and pave the way for a military coup.
However, the Islamist government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has used the spectre of a military coup to intimidate its political opponents. On July 14, 2008 police arrested 86 army officers, businessmen, journalists, lawyers and politicians and charged them with being part of an Ergenekon conspiracy to topple the government. Since coming to power in 2002, the Erdogan government has arrested hundreds of political opponents on treason and criminal charges.
On April 18, 2007 the three Christians were attacked in the offices of a Christian publishing company in Malatya. They were bound, gagged and their throats cut. Five men were subsequently arrested for the killings.
In 2008 the leader of the alleged Malatya murder gang, Emre Gunaydin, was linked by prosecutors with two of those arrested in the Ergenekon plot and with a journalist arrested on weapons charges who is alleged to be part of the network.
According to the Turkish press, files seized by police during the 2008 arrests indicated Ergenekon tracked the activities of Christian converts in Turkey, believing them to be enemies of the state
One document dated Jan 7, 2005 concerning Christians in Izmir, Mersin, and Trabzon, stated “Those who have recently accepted Christianity show increasing devotion to their own rules,” according to an Aug 14, 2008 report in Radikal.
In 2005 Roman Catholic priest Fr. Andrea Santoro was shot and killed in Santa Maria Church in Trabzon, and later that year a second priest, Fr. Adriano Franchini was stabbed in Izmir. One of those murdered in Malatya came from Izmir.
The charges laid against the five arrested army officers have not been made public by prosecutors, and it is not clear if they will be tried with the five men under indictment for the 2007 murders.
School crucifix ban overturned by Human Rights Court: The Church of England Newspaper, March 25, 2011 p 7 March 29, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, EU, Popular Culture.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The European Court of Human Rights has held that the display of crucifixes in Italian state schools is permitted under the European Convention on Human Rights.
In a decision published on March 18 by the court’s Grand Chamber, the seventeen judges voted 15-2 that there had been “no violation of Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 (right to education) to the European Convention on Human Rights” by displaying crucifixes in state schools.
The protocol requires state schools to “respect the right of parents to ensure” that the “education and teaching” of their children is “in conformity with their own religions and philosophical convictions.
The ruling overturns a November 2009 decision of a seven judge panel of the same court, which said the presence of a crucifix in the classroom violated a non-Catholic’s right to a secular education. The 2009 decision held that crucifixes violated the right to education protocol and violated the Lautsi childrens’ “freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.”
Court Registrar Erik Fribergh stated the court found “nothing to suggest that the authorities were intolerant of pupils who believed in other religions, were non-believers or who held non-religious philosophical convictions.”
Nor was any actual harm shown to have occurred, the registrar noted: “The applicants had not asserted that the presence of the crucifix in classrooms had encouraged the development of teaching practices with a proselytising tendency.”
“While the crucifix was above all a religious symbol,” wrote the registrar, “there was no evidence before the Court that the display of such a symbol on classroom walls might have an influence on pupils.”
In a March 19 statement released by the Vatican Information Service, Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi SJ said the court’s decision was “received with satisfaction by the Holy See.”
“It is, in fact, a significant and historic sentence,” he said, noting the ruling held “the culture and rights of man should not be placed in contradiction with the religious foundations of European civilisation, to which Christianity has made an essential contribution.”
“It is furthermore recognised that, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, each country should be guaranteed a margin of appreciation with regard to the value of religious symbols within its cultural history and national identity, and in terms of the places in which they are displayed,” Fr. Lombardi said.
The March 18 decision held the “display of the crucifix is not a form of indoctrination, but rather an expression of the cultural and religious identity of countries with a Christian tradition,” the Vatican spokesman said, adding the European Court of Human Rights had regained the “trust” of a “large number of Europeans, convinced of the vital role played by Christian values in their history, and in the construction of European unity and its culture of rights and freedom”.
Warning: Reading this Book can seriously damage your health: The Church of England Newspaper, March 25, 2011 p 8. March 28, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of South East Asia, Persecution.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Malaysian government has announced that it will stamp a government warning on the cover of Malay-language editions of the Bible, as a condition of their being allowed to enter the South East Asian nation.
The cover of the al-Kitab, the Malay-language version of the Bible must say: “Reminder: This ‘al-Kitab Berita Baik’ is for the use of Christians only. By order of the Home Minister.”
In 2009 the Home Ministry confiscated two shipments of the al-Kitab, the Malay-language translation of the Old and New Testaments, bound for Christians in Borneo. In 1986 the government banned Christians from using the word “Allah” in their literature, saying it would confuse Muslims and could lead to their converting to Christianity.
Last year the country’s High Court overturned the ban, but the Home Ministry has so far refused to allow Malay Bibles to enter the country—Chinese and English language Bibles have not been affected by the ban.
Church leaders launched an unprecedented public campaign to shame the government this month, and in response to their demands, the Home Ministry on March 15 told the Bible Society of Malaysia that it could collect its shipment of 5100 Bibles if each were stamped with the seal of the Home Ministry and individually numbered, with the numbers recorded and registered with the government. The cover of each Bible was also required to carry the government warning.
This demand was “ridiculous because it is illegal constitutionally” the Bishop of Kuching, the Rt. Rev. Bolly Lapok said, and violated the “human rights” of Borneo’s Christians. The General Secretary of the Council of Churches of Malaysia, the Rev Hermen Shastri, told the Press Trust of India the Home Ministry’s actions were unprecedented as “none of the Bibles was ever defaced in such a manner.”
The chairman of the Christian Federation of Malaysia, Anglican Bishop Ng Moon Hing denounced the government’s decision as well. “We wholly reject the government’s contention that the Bible in Bahasa Malaysia is prejudicial to the national interest and security of Malaysia.”
The Malaysian Insider reported the second shipment of 30,000 Malay bibles imported by the Sarawak chapter of The Gideons remains in a customs warehouse in Kuching.
Speaking to reporters last week, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said his department’s decision to stamp the Bibles with a warning conformed to past government practice. He said the al-Kitab uproar was a manufactured crisis, spurned by the Malaysia Bible Society’s demand that the Bibles be released immediately.
The Bible Society wanted their shipment to be released “quickly” the minister said. “If they want to find fault they can find fault,” he noted, adding that one could say “the Bibles are smelly after being kept for so long, if you want to find fault.”
However, Bishop Lapok warned that Christians would not stand for the status quo of unequal civil rights and religious freedoms. Speaking to a meeting of the Association of Churches in Sarawak (ACS), Bishop Lapok said the country’s multi-ethnic multi-religious foundations were being stressed by the demands of militant Islam.
“It is indeed ironic that what is so beautiful about our culture has become a source of our undoing as it has exposed some of our communities to be taken advantaged of and become easy prey for exploitation,” he said, according to an account published in the Borneo Post.
Churches must not stand back from confronting injustice in society with the plea that its voice should remain outside of politics, the bishop said.
“If indeed our preaching has been out of touch with the harsh realities that our people are grappling with each day, on this crossroad point, our various congregations are looking up to us for light and guidance for their journey,” said Bishop Lapok.
Metal thefts force change in insurance cover from EIG: The Church of England Newspaper, March 25, 2011 p 6. March 28, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Crime.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Ecclesiastical Insurance Group (EIG) has announced that it will withdraw insurance cover for metal thefts effective July 1, for churches that do not use the SmartWater system to mark their metal roofing.
In a statement released last week, EIG reported that over the past four years it had paid out over £21 million to cover over 7,000 metal theft claims. The church insurer expected the “epidemic” of metal thefts to continue due to high scrap prices for copper and lead. Claims submitted for the year to date are already at a “level higher than expected for this time of year.”
Using the SmartWater system was a current condition of insurance cover, EIG noted, but many churches had not used the SmartWater kit sent to them in 2007, or if they had, they had not registered the product, which allows police to identify stolen metal. As a result EIG was withdrawing metal theft coverage from churches that did not apply SmartWater, display SmartWater warning signs, or register their kits with the company, as of July 1.
SmartWater is a solution of a vinyl acetate polymer in isopropyl alcohol which contains millions of minute particles. The particles are etched with a unique serial number which can be registered with police to show the owner’s details. The particles can be read under ultra-violet light and are resistant to the effects of weather and corrosion.
A study published in 2008 of interviews with criminals found that 74 per cent would be put off from stealing metals marked with SmartWater if they knew the substance was present. Sales literature distributed by the company claims that over 600 convictions have been possible due to the evidence provided by SmartWater marking.
EIG said parishes that have complied with the SmartWater policy conditions in their insurance policies will not be affected by the change, and will be covered to their policy limits.
Archbishop’s head examined: The Church of England Newspaper, March 25, 2011 p 6. March 26, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
The head of Archbishop Simon of Sudbury, from the collection of the Sudbury Historical Society
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The head of the Archbishop of Canterbury was subjected to CT scan last week at West Suffolk Hospital
On March 16, forensic scientists led by Professor Caroline Wilkinson from the University of Dundee scanned the mummified head of Simon of Sudbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury killed during the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381.
The CT scan will allow a forensic sculptor to reconstruct the face of the archbishop in clay. The finished model will be unveiled later this year.
Born in Sudbury, Suffolk, Simon was named Bishop of London in 1362 and was translated to Canterbury in 1375. In 1380 he was also named Lord Chancellor by King Richard II.
In 1381, the 14-year old king levied a poll tax to finance military campaigns overseas. Attempts to collect the tax prompted uprisings in Essex and Kent, and a march on London. Archbishop Sudbury and Sir Robert Hales the Lord Treasurer took refuge in the Tower of London, but were seized and taken to Tower Hill where he and Hales were beheaded on June 14, 1381.
The archbishop’s body was buried in Canterbury Cathedral, but his head, which had been placed on a spike on Tower Bridge, was brought back to Suffolk in a barrel of brine, and buried at St Gregory’s Church in Sudbury.
The Rev Jenny Seggar, assistant curate at St Gregory’s Church, said: “Simon is thought to be one of the best preserved mummified heads in the country, so his skull is a quite important historical artifact.”
“We are really quite excited about the project, which is a fantastic opportunity to find out what he looked like. Although it is difficult to tell from a skull, we have all stared into his face so often that I think we have a reasonably good idea of what to expect,” she said.
Nigel Beeton, imaging services manager at the hospital, said his staff at the West Suffolk Hospital were “enthusiastic about working with such an unusual and interesting artifact and are looking forward to seeing the final results once the reconstruction work has been completed.”
Tax investigation launched into Indian church finances: The Church of England Newspaper, March 25, 2011 p 8. March 25, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of South India.comments closed
Former CSI General Secretary Pauline Sathiamurthy: Photo from the World Council of Churches website
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
An investigation into the misappropriation of Tsunami relief funds by the Church of South India (CSI) has been launched by India’s income tax authority.
On Dec 16, 2010, the Deputy Director of the Income Tax Department in Madras sent a formal notice to Bennett Abraham, the treasurer of the Church of South India Trust Association (CSITA), asking for an accounting of foreign donations, including cash collected for the “Tsunami Relief Fund” managed by the church.
The CSI was also asked to account for the proceeds from the sale of church properties including the American College in Kodaidanal, provide a listing of bank accounts maintained by the synod and dioceses, account for funds donated to the “Gujarat Earthquake Relief Fund”, and account for the proceeds of commercial property rents collected by the Karnataka North Diocese, the Deccan Chronicle reported.
The CSI treasurer’s office was asked to furnish the information within five days. However, two extensions of time have been granted to the church to gather the requested information.
Corruption has become a major issue within the life of the CSI as fraud and misconduct charges have been leveled against several bishops over the past year, with one bishop, Manickam Doria, under criminal investigation for fraud. In October 2009, a warrant was issued for the arrest of the former General Secretary of the CSI, Dr. Pauline Sathiamurthy, accusing her of stealing almost £1 million of the tsunami relief funds donated to the CSI by the Episcopal Church.
Southern African bishops chided for their indecision on gay blessings: The Church of England Newspaper, March 25, 2011 p 8. March 25, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Church of England Newspaper, Human Sexuality --- The gay issue.comments closed
Southern Africa House of Bishops
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Evangelical leaders in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa have called upon the church’s Synod of Bishops to clarify their ambiguous statements on human sexuality.
On March 17, the Fellowship of Confession Anglicans (FCA) in South Africa published an open letter on the internet, making a “plea for clarity on the position and teaching of our faith” in light of bishops’ February pastoral letter.
At the close of their Feb 7-12 meeting in Natal, the Southern African bishops deferred taking action on adopting guidelines for the blessing of same-sex unions, citing legal difficulties and theological divisions within their ranks.
A draft document entitled “Pastoral Guidelines in Response to Civil Unions” was reviewed by the bishops at their Sept 2010 meeting and distributed to the dioceses. The February 2011 meeting, however, stated the bishops were not able to approve the document. “It is difficult to give blanket guidelines [on same-sex blessings] because the position is starkly at variance in the legal systems of the seven countries where we work.”
“We continue to work on creating guidelines in several areas of difficulty raised by the issue of civil unions,” the bishops said—which are legal in South Africa, but illegal in the six other nations in the province.
The FCA called upon the bishops to be faithful to their mission to “guard the faith.”
By failing to make a clear statement, the Anglican Church of Southern Africa appeared to have aligned itself “with the dying (revisionist and liberal) minority” within the Anglican Communion and failed to heed “seriously the concerns of the orthodox majority.”
“Sexuality is the touchstone in this Anglican fragmentation,” the FCA said.
However, the issue is not “sexuality per se” but a “rebellion against our creator and his ways which he gives to us” as found in Scripture. Sexuality was not a dividing issue in itself, “but a leadership in the church which chooses to ‘play at being god’ is a much more serious issue,” they said.
Offering encouragement to people to engage in behavior “which is unacceptable to God (which the Bible describes as sin) is not a pastoral role that God can endorse,” the FCA said, adding that they were concerned the Southern African bishops “find it hard to call sin, sin. We are answerable to God not to a human-centred ideology.”
The February bishops’ statement displayed a failure of “godly pastoral leadership,” the FCA said.
“It matters not what the legal position may be in the seven states in which our Province is represented. God’s standards call all laws into question” that do not conform to his word, the FCA said, urging their bishops to take their place with the majority of the Anglican Communion against unbelief and error.
Bishop’s call to give up foie gras this Lent: The Church of England Newspaper, March 25, 2011 p 6. March 24, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church in Wales, Church of England Newspaper, Farming.comments closed
Bishop Dominic Walker
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Bishop of Monmouth has urged Welsh gastronomes to give up foie gras this Lent.
In a letter to the Western Mail published on March 19, Bishop Dominic Walker OGS claimed eating the duck’s liver pâté supported animal cruelty and urged Welsh gourmands to follow the moral example of the Prince of Wales and down their forks in solidarity with animal rights.
Bishop Walker asked readers of the Western Mail during the Lenten season to think about “foie gras production, which involves force-feeding ducks and geese until their livers become diseased and painfully enlarged to up to ten times their normal size – it is a practice so cruel that it is prohibited in the UK and many other countries, although foie gras is still imported and sold in some stores, and served in many restaurants.”
“The Prince of Wales refuses to allow foie gras on menus at his royal residences, and stores like Selfridges, House of Fraser and Harvey Nicholls refuse to sell it,” the bishop said.
“Unfortunately, other stores and restaurants continue to sell and serve foie gras in spite of the terrible animal cruelty that is involved in its production.”
“I would urge Christians to refuse to eat foie gras and to write to those stores that stock it and to those restaurants that serve it and to help end this cruel trade,” Bishop Walker said.
The animal husbandry technique of gavage—fattening birds through force feeding—is an ancient farming practice and is illustrated on wall paintings dating from 2500 BC in Egypt. However, in recent years animal rights activists have denounced the practice and a number of European countries including the UK have outlawed the gavage method of force feeding.
The Council of Europe’s European Convention for the Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes signed by 35 countries prohibits gavage. However, those countries “where it is current practice” are permitted to continue using the technique. Five European countries produce foie gras and in France the delicacy has been given protected status. French Rural Code L654-27-1 states, “Foie gras belongs to the protected cultural and gastronomical heritage of France.”
The culinary world is divided over the use of foie gras, with some restaurants having removed the delicacy from its menu. However, the acerbic food writer and chef Anthony Bourdain has taken to task foie gras critics, saying their criticisms are without scientific merit.
However, Bourdain’s ire is reserved for those who see foie gras as a moral issue. Speaking to Salon magazine in 2007 Bourdain said “telling people what they should and shouldn’t eat is cultural imperialism — and deeply disturbing.”
Saying that “how you eat” and “what you’ve been eating for hundreds, if not thousands, of years” is “wrong and should not be allowed,” Bourdain finds “offensive.”
Such attitudes are “ethnically insensitive, jingoistic, xenophobic, anti-human and disrespectful of the diversity of cultures on this planet, and for human history,” he said, adding that laws banning foie gras are a “win for the forces of darkness, willful ignorance and intolerance.”
Leesfield vicar convicted of theft: The Church of England Newspaper, March 25, 2011 p 6. March 24, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Crime.comments closed
Manchester Bishop Nigel McCulloch and the Rev. Vaughan Leonard
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Oldham magistrates’ court has convicted a Manchester vicar on two counts of theft.
On March 16, the Rev. Vaughan Leonard plead guilty to diverting to his own pockets over £14,000 in fees paid to conduct weddings and funerals.
The court heard that Mr. Leonard’s peculations began a week after took office at St Thomas Church in Leesfield in June 2006. Evidence was presented that from 2006 to his departure in 2009 the vicar pocketed £7,484 in funeral fees as well as £6,859 paid to him for reading marriage banns.
The thefts were discovered upon his departure as incumbent of St Thomas Leesfield, to become Priest in Charge of All Saints, Rhodes. The parish council asked for an accounting of fees paid to Mr. Leonard during his tenure that should have been turned over to the parish. After the funds were found to be missing and Mr. Leonard was unable to make good the loss, the police were notified of the theft.
A spokesman for the Diocese of Manchester said: “We expect our clergy to be honest in their dealings with money and it is highly unusual for this trust to be broken. Mr. Leonard is now prohibited from exercising any duties as a vicar.”
Mr. Leonard will come before Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court for sentencing on April 5.
Church Army Evangelist jailed in Winchester: The Church of England Newspaper, March 18, 2011 p 8. March 23, 2011
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Jade Watson
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
A cashiered Church Army Evangelist has been jailed by the Winchester Crown Court for smuggling contraband into HMP Winchester.
Judge Keith Cutler, Recorder of Winchester, sentenced Jade Watson (44)—the former chaplain at HMP Winchester—to eight months imprisonment on March 11. The married mother of two had entered a guilty plea before the Basingstoke Magistrates of smuggling alcohol and other contraband into the prison for a convict with whom she was having an affair.
Mrs. Watson met the prisoner, Daniel Thornton, while he was incarcerated, and commenced a sexual relationship once he was released from jail. When he was jailed again between May and December 2010 at HMP Winchester, she brought vodka, a mobile phone and protein bars into prison for Thornton.
Mrs. Watsons confessed to problems with alcohol and told the court she had been blackmailed by the prisoner, who threatened to share explicit photographs of her.
As he pronounced sentence, Judge Cutler told Mrs. Watson, “You knew as a chaplain you were there not only to befriend and guide and assist but also you had the training and you knew the boundaries.
“You shouldn’t be [in court]. You should be out doing the work you have been called to do,” he said, adding that he hoped her actions would not bring the profession into disrepute. “Chaplaincies in prison are certainly a very special calling,” he said.
Mrs. Watson was commissioned by the Church Army in the summer of 2007 to work with the community and prison in Winchester. Before she entered the Church Army, Mrs. Watson served as a full time youth worker for five churches in Kent, and ministered to young offenders in prison in Dover, where she was active in the Alpha for Prisons programme.
In a statement released following sentencing, the Church Army said it “takes this matter extremely seriously, and as well as withdrawing her commission as a Church Army Officer she has been dismissed from Church Army’s employment for gross misconduct. The Bishop of Winchester has also withdrawn her licence to operate as an Evangelist in the prison as it was limited to her employment with the Church Army. Church Army has co-operated fully with the prison authorities, the police and the Diocese of Winchester throughout this case.”
“I am really saddened that Jade’s ministry should come to an end in these circumstances,” said Church Army Chief Executive Mark Russell.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected. As Jade Watson is no longer a Church Army Evangelist or employee and is now serving a custodial sentence it would not be appropriate to make any further statement,” added Mr. Russell.
Brazil to have a Protestant majority in 10 years time, report claims: The Church of England Newspaper, March 18, 2011 p 8. March 23, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil, Church of England Newspaper, La Iglesia Anglicana del Cono Sur de America.comments closed
Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti of Recife
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The world’s most populous Roman Catholic country, Brazil, will have a Protestant majority within 10 years, the International Mission Agency serving Pastors and Leaders (SEPAL) reports.
In a study released last month, SEPAL researcher Luis André Bruneto stated that by 2020 the number of Brazilian Protestants would total 109.3 million out of a projected population of 209.3 million, or 52.2 per cent. Statistics released by the Brazilian government census bureau and the Datafolha Institute show that as of 2010 the Protestant population stood at 57.4 million out of a population of 190 million, or 30 per cent.
Mr Bruneto told the Christian Post his estimates were based on the current annual growth rate of evangelical and Pentecostal churches of 7.42 per cent holding steady. The growth of Protestant churches will not come through mass conversion, he said, but by a “profound transformation in a society’s way of thinking, orientated by the influence of redeemed Christians.”
Brazil’s growing middle-classes were the most fertile ground for Protestantism, he noted. Protestants were “militant in evangelistic outreach, and are adopting rules that are less strict. Christian life is getting greater visibility in society where there is a greater flexibility of customs.”
Not all Protestant groups are witnessing growth, however. The Lutheran Church, brought to Brazil by German immigrants, has lost members to more conservative evangelical churches, while the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil’s membership has been stagnant for some time.
However, the breakaway Diocese of Recife reports strong growth in line with that witnessed by other conservative Protestant denominations. In January Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti of Recife reported his Diocese had more than doubled in size since it withdrew from the IEAB.
Bishop Cavalcanti stated that as of year’s end, the “Diocese has a membership of 5,102 in 47 congregations – Parishes, Mission Plants and Points – and has a presence in nine Brazilian states, with 61 clergy and an ample network of social outreach ministries.”
He noted that “since its expulsion” from the IEAB five years ago, the “Diocese of Recife has more than doubled its number of congregations, clergy and members.”
On March 15, Bishop Cavalcanti reported his Diocese had been welcomed as a member of Brazil’s Aliança Evangélica, and that he had been elected a member of its Council of Reference.
The Diocese of Recife, “of an evangelical and charismatic ethos,” would not rejoin the IEAB, the Bishop said, claiming that it “refuses to repent of its doctrinal and moral heterodoxy” and did not “maintain the Apostolic Faith and the Resolutions of the Lambeth Conference.”
Recife would, however, “within the current realignment process” of the Anglican Communion, seek to maintain “links” with the Church’s “orthodox sectors.”
Oldest Anglican priest to retire: The Church of England Newspaper, March 18, 2011 p 8. March 22, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of the West Indies.comments closed
The Rev. Edward Gatherer
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The oldest stipendiary priest in the Anglican Communion, the Rev. Edward Gatherer (89), will retire on March 27 after serving 55 years as the incumbent of St Andrew’s Parish Church in Barbados.
While the Church of the Province of the West Indies, like all other Anglican provinces, has a mandatory retirement age, Fr. Gatherer took the Diocese of Barbados to court when its bishop, Drexel Gomez—later to become Archbishop of the West Indies—attempted to force him to retire when he turned 65.
The case of Gomez v Gatherer eventually came before the Privy Council in London which in 1992 held the failure of a Church to follow its rules of procedure served as a bar to enforcement of acts not properly enacted.
The Gomez case centered round the issue of whether a church was required to conform to civil legal practices in issues not touching upon doctrine. In 1969 the Church of England in Barbados was disestablished and the 1947 Anglican Church Act governing the clergy and church was rescinded. New regulations were made by the church, in its new capacity as a non-established religious body that provided for retirement of clergy upon reaching 65 years of age.
However, the church failed to publish the new regulations in the Official Gazette as was required by law. The Privy Council held the Diocese of Barbados was not free to act outside the boundaries of civil law.
After a two year suspension, Fr. Gatherer was returned to St Andrew’s by the court and awarded $200,000 in damages. He vowed to remain at St. Andrew’s until he had to be carried out dead.
Archbishop John Holder of Barbados announced last week that he had named Fr. Gatherer an honorary canon of St Michael’s Cathedral in Bridgetown “in appreciation of his 60 years of ministry in the diocese.”
“I think that he has made a contribution to the diocese and he takes his ministry and his priesthood very seriously,” the archbishop said.
While there are older priests at work in the Anglican Communion, the introduction of mandatory retirement rules has seen older active clergy take up honorary or non-stipendiary work.
A spokesman for the Church of England told The Church of England Newspaper that there were “about a dozen Church of England incumbents still in stipendiary ministry because they are not caught by the mandatory retirement legislation” and are still working past the age of 70.
“However, we can’t find anyone still in post older than Mr. Gatherer in Barbados,” the church spokesman noted.
Soho vicar appeals to Court of Arches: The Church of England Newspaper, March 18, 2011 p 6. March 22, 2011
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The Rev. David Gilmore
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The London priest suspended from office for two years after having been found guilty of conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy has filed an appeal to the Court of Arches asking that his conviction be quashed.
The Diocese of London confirmed that the Rev. David Gilmore had appealed the Jan 10 finding by the provincial tribunal, and that the appeal would be heard in April.
Fr. Gilmore was found to have made sexual advances towards two men, who were guests at his rectory in December 2009 and were in London to attend a meeting of gay and lesbian members of the military.
The Soho vicar was found to have entered the bedroom of one of his guests, absent his clothing, and having made an indecent proposal to his visitors. The two men declined his advances and left the following morning.
Such conduct was “inappropriate” and “unbecoming” of a clerk in holy orders, the tribunal held in its judgment.
After a short absence from the parish, Fr. Gilmore returned to the rectory and lodged his appeal with the Court of Arches. The churchwardens and a majority of the parish church council have endorsed the priest’s appeal.
On Jan 22, the Bishop of London, the Rt. Rev. Richard Chartres, led services at St. Anne’s and confirmed Fr Gilmore had lodged an appeal. He declined to comment on the case, however, as it was awaiting adjudication by the appeals court.
“The Rev Lindsay Meader, the Associate Priest at St James’s Piccadilly has been appointed Acting Priest-in-Charge, until the outcome of the appeal is known, and has been taking services and overseeing pastoral care in the parish,” a diocesan spokesman told The Church of England Newspaper.
Archbishop of York leads service of thanksgiving for saved steel mill: The Church of England Newspaper, March 18, 2011 p 5. March 21, 2011
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The Archbishop of York leading a service of Thanksgiving for the Steel Industry at Christ Church, Redcar on March 13.
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Archbishop of York led a service of thanksgiving for the steel industry at Christ Church in Redcar this week.
Joined by Bishop Terry Drainey of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough, Dr. John Sentamu and 200 worshippers offered thanks that a Thai steel firm had purchased the Teesside Cast Products (TCP) plant in Redcar, saving over 700 local jobs.
The Teesside has been hard hit by plant closings in recent years, with the Corus steelworks closing its Redcar plant in 2009, and laying off 1700 workers. TCP’s owner’s, Tata Steel UK, had begun mothballing the plant after a consortium of four international steel buyers reneged on a deal to buy steel slab from the plant.
However on Feb 24, Tata Steel announced a deal to sell TCP to Sahaviriya Steel Industries UK Ltd (SSI), a subsidiary of Thailand’s largest steel producer, in a deal valued at £289 million.
After the deal was announced, Tata Steel CEO Karl-Ulrich Köhler said he was “very encouraged that after all our efforts we have been able to reach this agreement, which is good news for the highly skilled and dedicated Teesside workforce.”
The Secretary of State for Business, Vince Cable MP told reporters “this deal is very good news for workers at the Teesside plant and the region” and was a “significant inward investment by SSI which will help to sustain the 700 jobs at the plant and create new ones at the site and the wider local economy.”
Speaking ahead of the thanksgiving service, Dr Sentamu noted the “steel industry lies at the heart of the community on Teesside and this event provides the opportunity to celebrate the industry’s future as well as the past.
“The news that the steel plant at Redcar will reopen soon is good news as it will bring hundreds of much needed jobs to the area.”
The vicar of Christ Church, the Rev Alison Phillipson welcomed the news but added “we still have a long way to go in securing decent jobs for Redcar and Teesside.”
Diocesan finance officer imprisoned: The Church of England Newspaper, March 18, 2011 p 8. March 21, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Crime.comments closed
Mark Pilkington
First published in The Church of England Newspaper
A former member of the Diocese of Sodor & Man’s finance board has been sentenced to 20-months imprisonment for theft.
Last week the Court of General Gaol in Douglas on the Isle of Man imposed sentence on Mark Pilkington (39) following his conviction on seven counts of deception and six of false accounting.
A compliance officer at Royal Skandia, and a former staffer of the island’s pension authority, Pilkington admitted stealing £21,000 from the diocese while on its financial board, and £23,000 from the Manx Festival Chorus while treasurer to the choir.
Mr. Pilkington admitted writing cheques to himself from the choir’s bank account, submitting false end-of-year reports and transferring diocese funds to his own accounts.
Diocesan spokesman the Rev. John Coldwell said after the sentence was handed down “the very sad thing is the breach of trust that comes about for all involved. Where people have had a relationship with people, and trusted them implicitly. From the church’s point of view it is a very difficult, very sad situation that we find has occurred here.”
He told Manx Radio the “judiciary system has taken its path” and it was now for the diocese to “support Mark, his family and friends” through these difficult times.
Sex emails leads to sacking of Armagh vicar: The Church of England Newspaper, March 18, 2011 p 6. March 21, 2011
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Ballgawley parish church
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Church of Ireland has defrocked an Ulster priest for engaging in an “inappropriate” relationship with a teenager.
On March 13 the Archbishop of Armagh, Dr. Alan Harper, stated the parishioners of the Errigle Keerogue, Ballygawley and Killeshill union of parishes in Co Tyrone were informed their vicar, the Rev. Ivan Alister Williamson had been “deposed from holy orders.”
In a statement released to the press, Dr. Harper said the disciplinary tribunal of the Church of Ireland had found Mr. Williamson “guilty of conduct unbecoming” a clergyman. Mr. Williamson had engaged in “electronic communications of a sexual nature” with a young person over the age of 16, and with other persons “which the tribunal determined were inappropriate.”
This exchange of sexually explicit emails and by “allowing an inappropriate personal relationship to develop with a young person Mr Williamson acted in breach of the current Church of Ireland child protection policy” the archbishop said.
The tribunal ordered Mr. Williamson, who had been suspended from office on June 26, 2009 while the investigation was underway, to be “permanently deprived of his office” and “deposed from holy orders.”
However, the archbishop noted the “order deposing him from holy orders is subject to a stay for a period of one year and shall not be implemented if satisfactory medical reports are received.”
Church protest over Malaysia Bible ban: The Church of England Newspaper, March 18, 2011 p 7. March 20, 2011
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Bishop Bolly Lapok of Kuching
First printed in The Church of England Newspaper.
Church leaders are “fed up” with the Malaysian government’s discrimination against Christians and have condemned the seizure of 35,000 Bibles imported from Indonesia for Malay-speaking natives of Borneo.
In a statement released on March 10, the Anglican Bishop of West Malaysia, the Rt. Rev. Ng Moon Hing, speaking as president of the Christian Federation of Malaysia, said the government’s refusal to release the Bibles, seized in 2009, threatened religious liberties.
Malay-speaking Christians were “greatly disillusioned, fed up and angered by the repeated detention of Bibles,” the bishop said.
“It would appear as if the authorities are waging a continuous, surreptitious and systematic program against Christians in Malaysia to deny them access to the Bible;” known in Malay as the al-Kitab. Imports of English and Chinese language Bibles, however, are not banned.
The Bible ban centers round the use of the word “Allah” in the Malay Bible to refer to God. In 1986 the Malaysian government introduced legislation forbidding the use of “Allah” in non-Muslim texts. Christians in Borneo and other Malay speakers, however, have used “Allah” to refer to God since British missionaries brought the Christian faith to the island in the Nineteenth century.
In 2009 a Roman Catholic newspaper, The Herald, successfully challenged the ban, and the country’s High Court struck down the Allah law. The Home Ministry appealed the ruling, but no re-hearing has yet been scheduled.
The chairman of the Associated Churches of Sarawak (ACS), Bishop Bolly Lapok of Kuching last week said using the word “Allah” was “fundamental to our faith.”
The word has been used “for centuries and is already in the DNA of our vernacular” he told an ACS meeting on March 14 and was “banned for the exclusive possession of a certain race.”
The government’s ban served only to foster tension and mistrust, he said and would fuel sectarian tensions. “It is restrictions such as these that provide a perfect recipe for murdering the spirit of goodwill and peace among neighbours,” the Anglican bishop said.
The Allah fight was a defining moment for Malaysian Christians, he said. “I call it a crossroad because never before have the churches ever encountered, [been] rattled and stunned by the events that occurred during our tenure of office,” he said
Bishop Lapok’s views found support in a separate statement issued by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Malacca and Johore, Paul Tan. The church would not back down from their 1989 declaration “not to relinquish its right to use the word ‘Allah’ in its rituals of prayer and worship, and the dissemination of its teachings to the faithful,” Bishop Tan said on March 14.
“This right is grounded on history, etymology and now by secular jurisprudence,” he said, asking the government to honor its commitment to religious freedom, and “match deed to word as otherwise sloganeering becomes mere posturing, and words become platitudes.”
Episcopal priest banned from practicing Islam: The Church of England Newspaper, March 18, 2011 p 7. March 20, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Missouri, Multiculturalism.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
An Episcopal priest’s decision to give up Christianity for Lent has not been well received by his bishop.
On March 10, the Rev Steve Lawler, an assistant at St Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Ferguson, Missouri, distributed a press release announcing that he would be practicing the rituals of Islam for the 40 days of Lent. However, Bishop George Wayne Smith of Missouri informed Mr Lawler that if persisted in this Lenten devotion he would be defrocked.
Speaking to a reporter for the St Louis Post-Dispatch about his spiritual exercises, Mr Lawler said that on Ash Wednesday he began the five-times-a-day Salah, the formal prayers to Allah required of all Muslims. He also began a study of the Qur’an and followed Muslim dietary laws. Holy week, Mr Lawler told the reporter, would see him fast from dusk to dawn in imitation of Muslim customs during Ramadan.
Mr Lawler obliged the photographer accompanying the reporter by performing the Salah, and faced east towards Mecca for the camera and prayed on his knees on a tasteful prayer rug. However, the priest stopped short of reciting the Shahadah, the Muslim declaration of belief in the oneness of God and acceptance of Mohammad as his prophet.
Bishop Smith was not amused, stating Mr Lawler “can’t be both a Christian and a Muslim.”
“If he chooses to practise as Muslim, then he would, by default, give up his Christian identity and priesthood in the church,” he told the Post-Dispatch.
“Playing” at Islamic practices was disrespectful, the Bishop said, telling the Post-Dispatch that as a priest Mr Lawler “remains responsible as a Christian leader is to exercise Christianity and to do it with clarity and not with ways that are confusing.”
While he could commend the priest’s desire to learn more about Islam, the way he went about it was wrong, the Bishop said. “You dishonour another faith by pretending to take it on. You build bridges by building relationships with neighbours who are Muslim.”
Informed of his Bishop’s views, Mr Lawler ended his Islamic flirtations.
A diocesan spokesman told The Church of England Newspaper that Bishop Smith “did not issue a pastoral directive having received Steve Lawler’s assurance that he will desist from the practices of Islam.”
However, the Bishop told Mr Smith, “I stand ready to issue a pastoral directive, if that proves necessary.” In the Episcopal Church a pastoral directive is a formal notice by a bishop to a cleric. Violating a pastoral directive can lead to being deposed from the ministry.
The Diocese noted that Mr Lawler “sent a letter of apology to his congregation but was unable to deliver it to them in person this past Sunday,” as he had left for Europe on vacation the day before.
Crisis deepens in Libya and Egypt: The Church of England Newspaper, March 18, 2011 p 7. March 19, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Arms Control/Defense/Peace Issues, Church of England Newspaper, Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & the Middle East.comments closed
Christ the King, Tripoli
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Anglican flag remains flying in Tripoli, the Bishop of Egypt reports, in the midst of the revolution to oust Col. Muammar Gaddafi.
On March 13, Bishop Mouneer Anis of Egypt reported that the Rev. Hamdy Doud, the assistant rector of Christ the King Church remained in Tripoli, caring for the church.
Two of the three clergy have been evacuated from Libya as have the Western expatriate members of the congregation, Bishop Anis reported. However, a number of Anglican Africans remained in the city, unable to flee.
“It is my responsibility to keep the Christian presence here,” Fr. Hamdy told Bishop Anis, adding that he and the city’s “Roman Catholic priests are having a good time of fellowship in spite of the crisis in Libya.”
The Assistant Bishop for North Africa, the Rt. Rev. Bill Musk reported on March 2 “a desperate situation is forming and getting worse by the day on the Tunisia/Libya border.”
“An overwhelming number of people (at the moment mostly Tunisian and poor Egyptians) are fleeing Libya and turning up hungry and cold and traumatised on the border with Tunisia.
“The Tunisian army is there, the Red Crescent is there, and ACT [Association for Cooperation in Tunisia – a small Christian charity] is there. More international aid bodies are getting mobilised, but – even when they get functioning – they need local people on the spot to deliver the aid they are providing.”
St George’s Anglican Church in Tunis had sent a team to assist ACT in providing aid for refugees, the bishop said and were “cooking for up to 10,000 people at the border, which includes brothers from our Arabic-speaking congregation. Please pray for them.”
Dating from the Fifteenth century, the former Roman Catholic Church of St. Mary was given to the Anglican Diocese of Egypt by Col. Gaddafi in 2008. Following the Sept. 1, 1969 revolution that brought the then 27-year-old Col. Gaddafi to power, the Christian churches of Libya, including the Anglican Church in Tripoli were confiscated.
Overtime the mercurial Libyan strongman would return properties to the Roman Catholic Church and in 2008 refurbished St Mary’s in the old city or medina of Tripoli and gave it to the diocese.
Meanwhile, the situation in Egypt was equally grim, Bishop Mouneer reported, with anti-Christian riots breaking out for the first time in a generation.
Writing from Cairo, the bishop reported there had been an attack on a Coptic Church south of Cairo and clashes between Copts and Muslims in Mokattam. Christians were fleeing for fear of their lives, he said.
“The whole crisis started because of a Christian man was dating a Muslim woman for some time and when this became known, the Christian community asked this man to leave the village. A fight within the family of the Muslim woman resulted in the death of two members of her family. This stirred the anger of many Muslims to go to the church and demolish it. This also initiated the clashes in Mokattam where 8 people died: 1 Muslim and 7 Christians.”
The bishop said that after the attack “many Christians demonstrated in front of the television building near Tahrir Square requesting the rebuilding of the church and guarantees for human rights for Christians. The Egyptian Army decided to rebuild the church in the same site, in spite of resistance from some Muslims in the village,” while the new government released priest from prison who had been jailed for converting a Muslim to Christianity.
“Egypt has never seen such severe violence between Christians and Muslims in many years,” Bishop Mouneer said. Yet not all support the Islamist fringe groups as “many Muslims have demonstrated side-by-side Christians in support of their rights.”
Bishop Mouneer expressed concern, however, over the “growth of Muslim groups who are now planning to form political parties in order to participate in the Parliamentary Elections. Many moderate Muslims and Christians call for a time to allow moderate parties to establish themselves before having such elections. If elections are done in haste, the Parliament will be overwhelmed by Islamic parties.”
The financial situation was also dire, he said. The economy was “going down-hill because of the many demonstrations and the cessation of work in many factories and companies. The stock market is still closed. This has resulted in severe unemployment and subsequent poverty. Last week, the Diocese helped 870 poor families with food packages,” the bishop said.
Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director of Barnabas Aid, commented that Egypt’s Christians were “reeling from this barrage of assaults that are coming from all angles. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the Egyptian revolution has made the country’s Christians even more vulnerable to attack,” he said.
Rochdale vicar arrested on immigration fraud charges: The Church of England Newspaper, March 18, 2011 p 6. March 19, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Crime, Immigration.comments closed
Canon Patrick Magumba
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
A Manchester vicar has been arrested for allegedly conducting hundreds of sham marriages to help immigrants fraudulently obtain visas.
On March 13, the Archdeacon of Rochdale told the congregation of St. Peter’s Church in Newbold, Rochdale, that their Team Vicar, Canon Patrick Magumba, had been arrested and the rectory and church searched by officers of the UK Border Agency in connection with an investigation of sham marriages in the North West.
Canon Magumba, a Ugandan immigrant and Team Vicar for the South Rochdale Team Ministry of St Peter’s, Newbold, St Luke’s Deeplish, and St Mary’s, Balderstone has since been released on bail.
A spokesman for the diocese confirmed Canon Magumba had been “questioned by the immigration crime team over irregularities in relation to weddings.
“He will continue to help the authorities with their enquiries over the coming weeks.”
“Following proper procedures,” Manchester Bishop Nigel McCulloch suspended Canon Magumba’s “licence to operate as a minister of religion while the investigations continue,” a church spokesman told the Manchester Evening News.
Last year the Rev. Alex Brown was convicted of having conducted almost 200 sham marriages at his East Sussex church, while two East London clergymen, the Rev. Brian Shipsides and the Rev. Elwon John were arrested for allegedly conducting sham marriages.
On March 13, 2010 the Crown Prosecution Service presented formal charges against the two Diocese of Chelmsford clergymen of conspiring to facilitate entry and to obtain indefinite leave to remain in the UK in breach of immigration law by allegedly conducting approximately 200 sham marriages at All Saints Church, Forest Gate, between December 2007 and July 2010.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the alleged fake unions were between EU and non-EU residents.
The pair will appear at Stratford Magistrates’ Court on March 18.
By marrying a EU national, an immigrant is entitled to apply for permission to stay in Britain as a ‘spouse’, with access to free healthcare, education and benefits.
Welsh church abuse review released: The Church of England Newspaper, March 18, 2011 p 6.` March 18, 2011
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Dr. Barry Morgan, the Archbishop of Wales
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
A review commissioned by the Church in Wales of the personnel files of its active and retired clergy has resulted in five police referrals for investigation of child abuse.
On March 9, the church released the findings of an 18-month investigation conducted on its behalf by social worker Elaine Cloke of the Children’s Commissioner for Wales office. It called for stricter sanctions for clergy engaged in physical, emotional and spiritual abuse, including homophobic attitudes.
The investigation reviewed 1381 clergy files. Of these 219 were referred for further action.
However, the “majority of these referrals related to incomplete service records and other complaints in relation to clergy conduct and personnel issues. Of these cases only five files were identified as containing information relating to child protection and safeguarding which required further action. These were referred on to the appropriate agencies following discussions with the relevant Bishop,” the report said.
The police declined to take any action against the five clergymen.
The report offered 36 recommendations for strengthening the church’s child protection policies, including compulsory child abuse prevention training, increasing awareness of domestic violence, and providing guidance to clergy “on the dangers of emotional abuse arising out of the inappropriate use of pastoral supervision or theological teaching.”
The report also recommended that “inappropriate and unacceptable conduct such as discriminatory behaviour involving aggression, bullying or attitudes such as homophobia should not be tolerated and can in some instances be emotionally abusive. This should be a professional development issue and where necessary, subject to disciplinary procedures.”
It also recommended that clergy not be permitted to resign in lieu of facing a hearing over their conduct.
The Archbishop of Wales Dr Barry Morgan said the church “commissioned this comprehensive review because we want to leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the Church in Wales is a safe place for children. We are delighted with the findings as they give us the confidence to say that the Church has not brushed allegations of abuse under the carpet or turned a blind eye to them.”
“However, we must remain vigilant, taking on the recommendations in the review and ensuring they help us develop all our procedures for safeguarding children and vulnerable people,” he said.
St Patrick’s Day celebrated in Helmand: The Church of England Newspaper, March 18, 2011 March 18, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Afghanistan, Church of England Newspaper, Church of Ireland.comments closed
Lord Eames celebrating St Patrick's Day with soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment in Afghanistan
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The former Archbishop of Armagh, Lord Eames, celebrated St Patrick’s Day last week with soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment at memorial services at Forward Operating Base Shawquat in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province.
Lord Eames’ March 17 visit took place during the inspection by MPs and Peers of the 16 Air Assault Brigade’s work at Camp Bastion.
“It is an immense privilege to visit the Royal Irish Regiment and to see the wonderful progress they have enabled the local community in Helmand to make towards stability and confidence,” said Lord Eames, the Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All-Ireland from 1986 to 2006.
The visit opened with Lord Eames joining the officers and men of the regiment at a memorial service for Lance Corporal Stephen McKee, who was killed in action by an improvised explosive device on March 9.
The death of Lance Corporal McKee “has cast a shadow over our celebrations of St Patrick’s Day but Northern Ireland should be very proud of what he and all his colleagues have achieved here,” Lord Eames said.
Lt. Col. Colin Weir, the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment thanked the archbishop for his “warm and inspirational words during the vigil for the repatriation” of Lance Corporal McKee, “sent home by his comrades on St Patrick’s Day.”
The regiment held its St Patrick’s Day parade later that day, with piper, bugler and shamrocks brought from Ulster for the occasion. Lord Eames presented a shamrock to those present, and rededicated the memorial to the 40 British soldiers killed in action in Helmand.
“Many soldiers from the island of Ireland are serving across Task Force Helmand on this St Patrick’s Day,” said Chaplain Andrew Totten of the 16 Air Assault Brigade.
Lord Eames “formerly Archbishop of Armagh and successor to St Patrick, inspired the Royal Irish with his presence and message, sharing St Patrick’s ancient vision of Peace and Hope,” the chaplain said.
Paul Avis to kick off JCMS anniversary celebration in Kingston: The Church of England Newspaper, March 18, 2011 March 18, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of the Province of the West Indies, Mission Societies/Religious Orders.comments closed
Dr. Paul Avis
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
A service marking the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Jamaica Church Missionary Society (JCMS) will be marked this week by a memorial service at Spanish Town Cathedral in Kingston. The March 20 service will kick off a year-long series of programmes focusing on mission and ministry for the Church in the West Indies.
Canon Paul Avis, the general secretary of the Church of England’s Council for Christian Unity, and Archbishop Drexel Gomez, the former Archbishop of the West Indies will open the series, joining Jamaican church leaders next week in a symposium on mission in the Caribbean amidst a changing social order.
The chairman of the JCMS, Bishop Harold Daniel of Mandeville explained the meeting will look at new ways of being and doing church. “You are not Church just by keeping church.”
The symposium, he said, was designed to change the mindset of the whole Church and re-awaken commitment to Christian service. Archbishop Gomez will give the keynote address and will engage in a dialogue on what works in mission with four Jamaican church leaders: Roman Catholic Archbishop Donald Reece of Kingston, Dr. Marjorie Lewis, President of the United Theological College of the West Indies, Dr Garnett Roper, President of the Jamaica Theological Seminary, and the Rev. Kenute Francis of St John’s Church, Ocho Rios.
Canon Avis will offer his insights on mission and ecumenism, drawing upon his 2005 publication entitled, A Ministry Shaped by Mission, and his most recent book, Reshaping Ecumenical Theology.
Cape Town Archbishop calls for action on Gaddafi: The Church of England Newspaper, March 11, 2011 p 8. March 15, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Church of England Newspaper, Politics.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Archbishop of Cape Town has denounced his government’s inaction over the “humanitarian and political crisis” in Libya, and has called for the African National Congress (ANC) government “for the sake of humanity” to speak out against Col. Muamar Gaddafi’s “violations of international humanitarian law.”
“We as South Africans cannot be silent in the face of these atrocities,” Archbishop Thabo Makgoba said.
During the apartheid era, the ANC had close relations with the Gaddafi regime, which provided weapons for its armed wing, the Umkhonto we Sizwe, or Spear of the Nation. Nelson Mandela twice travelled to Libya to thank Col. Gaddafi for his support.
On Oct 23, 1997 President Mandela travelled to Libya over the objections of the Clinton administration. “Those who say I should not be here are without morals,” Pres. Mandela said upon his arrival in Libya. “I am not going to join them in their lack of morality.”
He noted Col. Gaddafi “helped us at a time when we were all alone, when those who say we should not come here were helping the [apartheid regime].”
During a visit to South Africa in 1999 by Col. Gaddafi, Pres. Mandela stated South Africa “would never turn its back” on the Libyan strongman, and according to a report in the Sunday Times, donated several million pounds to the ANC’s political coffers.
However, in a statement released on Feb 24, Archbishop Makgoba urged the South African government to reconsider its support for the dictator.
“Seen from Bethlehem, where I am participating in a conference with our Palestinian Christian brothers and sisters, it looks as if Colonel Gaddafi is intent on murdering his own people in a bid to outstay his welcome as their leader. Moreover, many Libyans report that he is using mercenaries from other parts of Africa to gun down civilians indiscriminately in the streets,” the archbishop said.
“People of faith who uphold the belief that humanity reflects the spark of the divine, cannot watch helplessly as Libyans are killed like flies by those who are supposed to be looking after them.”
“The South African government looks as if it is paralyzed, numb with fear of offending the ‘Brother Leader’,” he said, urging “for the sake of humanity” the government to “speak out more strongly against his violations of international humanitarian law. Even the African Union has condemned Libya for using ‘indiscriminate and excessive use of force and lethal weapons against peaceful protesters’.”
“Will the South African government not at least follow suit?”, the archbishop asked.
Church to train poll watchers for African election: The Church of England Newspaper, March 11, 2011 p 8. March 15, 2011
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President Rupiah Banda of Zambia
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Anglican Church in Zambia has launched a programme to train election monitors in the run up to this year’s general elections to forestall political violence and potential polling fraud.
It was better to “get involved and be prepared” in the political system “rather than crying foul after the election results have been announced,” Lusaka diocesan secretary the Rev. Jackson Katete told the Zambia Post on March 7.
Zambia’s constitution requires President Rupiah Banda to call a general election this year for representatives to the National Assembly and for the presidency. On Aug 19, 2008 President Levy Mwanawasa died in office, and an election was held on Oct 30 to fill the remainder of his five year term.
Acting-President Banda of the ruling Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) stood for election against Michael Sata of the Patriotic Front (PF) party and a number of regional candidates in a hotly contested, and sometimes violent, race.
Early election results showed Banda winning 40 per cent of the vote to Sata’s 38.5 per cent. Sata supporters challenged the results, alleging fraud, and riots erupted in PF strongholds in Lusaka and Kitwe. The country’s electoral commission certified the results on Nov 2, and Banda was sworn into office that day.
On Nov 3, the PF called for a recount and refused to accept the results. In an interview with South African radio broadcast the next day, Sata claimed victory. “Rupiah Banda has no vision, Rupiah Banda has no platform. The only platform Rupiah Banda is on is cheating,” Mr. Sata charged. However, the Electoral Commission conducted a “verification” of the results and affirmed Banda’s victory.
In preparations for this year’s race, which will see a rematch between Mr. Sata and President Banda, the Anglican Church in Zambia would train election monitors to oversee key polling places across the country, Fr. Katete said, noting “this is the first time in the history of the church that we are getting involved in election monitoring.”
The Anglican Church in Zambia has been a strong critic of government corruption and inefficiency, but has avoided direct involvement in partisan politics. Priests who have become involved in party politics have been disciplined by the church. In December the Bishop of Lusaka, the Rt. Rev. David Njobvu called upon a priest from the Diocese of Northern Zambia to leave the church after he lent his support to critics of President Banda.
The Rev. Richard Luonde of Kitwe claimed Zambia had drifted back to the 18th Century under President Rupiah Banda because he had managed to kill all 21st Century laws that enhance good governance. The priest had also lent his support to the “red card” campaign to defeat President Banda.
Bishop Njobvu denounced the priest’s involvement in party politics and urged him to chose between the church and politics. However, Fr. Lounde told the Post he would not be silent.
“We are not enslaved to look sideways when things are wrong; that’s why we are priests,” he said.
Scouting a cure for the Caribbean’s social ills: The Church of England Newspaper, March 11, 2011 p 8. March 14, 2011
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Bishop Alfred Reid of Jamaica
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Scouting can turn around the moral and social decline of the West Indies, the Bishop of Jamaica said last week at a service marking the centenary of the Scout Association of Jamaica.
Jamaica and the West Indies had seen a sharp increase in gang and drugs related crime over the past twenty years and many young men had grown up without strong male role models or moral formation, the bishop said, adding that “young females, at this time, would appear to have more personal ambition than the boys.
Scouting had been proven to build character among boys and strengthened their families and the community and was “needed today more than (it was) 100 years ago,” the bishop said on Feb 27 at the Kingston Parish Church.
He called upon the scouts to take the lead in combating the allure of gangs among the island’s young men and commended the next hundred years of scouting saying, “I hope this centenary will signal the revival of a new and effective rescue mission for the young men of our nation.”
Founded in 1907 by Robert Baden Powell, the scout movement was introduced to Jamaica in 1910 by the Rev. Joseph Graham, and has long been associated with the Anglican Church in the Caribbean.
Church call for caution over Malawi sodomy laws: The Church of England Newspaper, March 11, 2011 p 8. March 14, 2011
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Bishop Brighton Malasa of Upper Shire, Malawi
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Church leaders in Malawi are divided over a new law criminalizing same-sex relations between women.
The Malawi Council of Churches (MCC) has endorsed the bill introduced by President Bingu wa Mutharika and adopted by parliament last month which adds same-sex relations to women to the list of acts forbidden by the country’s sodomy laws. However Anglican leaders have warned the law will impact the country’s war on HIV/AIDS, and that criminalizing and stigmatizing homosexual acts is not the ‘Christian’ way to deal with the issue.
Lutheran Bishop Joseph Bvumbe, chairman of the MCC, told reporters homosexual practices “threaten the family unit” and contradicted “Malawi’s rich traditions, culture and its spirituality as a God fearing nation.”
“We uphold the current Penal Code provisions that criminalise homosexual acts and or practices, even though they aim to bring about reform, the Church should treat practicing and self-affirming homosexuals as sinners just as any other persons engaged in the persistent, unrepentant acts of sin,” the MCC said.
Homosexuals should be “loved and ministered to. The church therefore must accompany the homosexuals in their struggle to transform their lives,” the MCC statement noted.
However, the Anglican Bishop of Upper Shire, the Rt. Rev. Brighton Malasa urged a more “generous pastoral response” towards homosexuals. “Let us invite gays and lesbians, because they are sinners, unto Christ; let us not chase them away to perish” he told a Malawi newspaper.
In a speech to religious leaders ministering to groups at risk for HIV/AIDS, Bishop Malaso said the church should not support “finger-pointing, condemnation and discrimination.”
The bishop told The Church of England Newspaper the church’s mission was “to embrace sinners, assist them to reform and move forward. The church should be seen providing counselling and total pastoral care to all, more especially in this time, when HIV and AIDS is so high and if we are to curb the challenges of the same, we need to fight HIV holistically, without leaving out anyone.”
Bishop Malasa also upheld the Anglican Communion’s formal stance on homosexuality as encapsulated at the 1998 Lambeth Conference in Resolution 1.10, which assured “homosexual persons” that they “are loved by God and that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ,” but reaffirmed “homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture.”
“I 100 per cent support the stand taken by the Anglican Bishops at the Lambeth Conference 1998 and believe the church should accompany all to salvation,” Bishop Malasa told CEN.
Irish diocese saved from amalgamation: The Church of England Newspaper, March 11, 2011 p 7. March 13, 2011
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Cathedral Church of St Mary, Tuam
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
A special meeting of the General Synod in Dublin has rejected a bill put forward by the Church of Ireland’s bishops to postpone appointing a new bishop for the United Diocese of Tuam, Killala and Achonry.
On March 5, delegates meeting at Christ Church Cathedral rejected the bill, which opponents saw as the first step towards amalgamating the Church of Ireland’s smallest diocese.
With some 2000 active members in County Mayo and portions of Counties Sligo and Galway in the far west of Ireland, the diocese is comprised of nine parishes, or unions of congregations, and was overseen from 1998 to January of this year by Bishop Richard Henderson—who last month took up the post of honorary assistant bishop of Carlisle and team vicar in the Heart of Eden team ministry.
Following the translation of Bishop John Neill to the Diocese of Cashel and Ossory in 1997, a proposal to prorogue the election was put to General Synod, which rejected the bill, calling for an “immediate” election.
The Church of Ireland reported the motion to postpone the Tuam election was roundly defeated with 12 clergy and 14 lay delegates in favour, while 88 clergy and 142 lay delegates were opposed.
Following the vote, the Archbishop of Armagh, Dr. Alan Harper, thanked synod for its thoughtful consideration of the issues, which had “brought a good deal of credit on the Church of Ireland,” and announced that he would “call an electoral college” for the diocese “if possible before the end of this month.”
The Anglican Church in the West of Ireland has been undergoing consolidation since the early Nineteenth Century. In 1834 parliament amalgamated the diocese of Killala and Achonry with the Archdiocese of Tuam. Following the death of Archbishop Power Trench in 1839 the province of Tuam was united to the Province of Armagh and its episcopal officeholder changed from an archbishop to bishop.
Fine and probation for rector in Colorado church fight: The Church of England Newspaper, March 11, 2011 p 6. March 12, 2011
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The Rev. Don Armstrong
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The legal fight surrounding the secession of the Diocese of Colorado’s largest congregation came to a close last week after a court fined the Rev. Donald Armstrong £60,000 and ordered him to perform 400 hours of community service.
Fourth Judicial District Judge Gregory R. Werner on Feb 25 ordered Mr. Armstrong to pay restitution to the parish for using church funds set aside for the education of seminarians but had been used to pay for the university education of his children.
The sentence and fine ends the five year ecclesial and personal war between Mr. Armstrong and Bishop O’Neill of Colorado that bitterly divided Anglicans in Colorado Springs and consumed £2 million—over half—of the diocese’s endowment, and cost the parish almost £700,000.
Colorado Bishop Robert O’Neill stated: “The Church’s goal all along has been to bring healing to all those who have been harmed by these actions. The court’s proceedings regarding the criminal charges against Armstrong and today’s sentence finally bring closure to a sad chapter in the life of this diocese.”
“The Episcopal Church in Colorado has already moved ahead with energy and commitment to do the work that we are called to do by God. I continue to pray for the healing of Don Armstrong and his family,” Bishop O’Neill told The Church of England Newspaper.
Mr. Armstrong told CEN he was pleased the fight was over. “I am very happy with the outcome, to have been cleared of all these criminal charges that were nothing more than a ruse by the Episcopal Church to silence” traditionalists, he said.
Prosecutors had asked that Mr. Armstrong be ordered to repay a further £115,000 spent by the parish to educate his children, and that he be directed to write a letter of apology, but the judge declined the request.
On Sept 17, 2010 the Pueblo County District Attorney agreed to settle a 20 count criminal indictment accusing the former rector of Grace and St Stephen’s Episcopal Church of stealing over £250,000 from his former Episcopal Church congregation, in return for his accepting a guilty verdict on one felony and one misdemeanor count of theft.
In return for pleading “no contest” to the felony, Mr. Armstrong was sentenced to four years probation, and the other 19 charges were dropped. He also entered an ‘Alford Plea’ to the misdemeanor charge. Under American law an Alford Plea is when a defendant asserts his innocence but admits that sufficient evidence exists to convict him of the offense.
Mr. Armstrong pled guilty to the misdemeanor charge, but did not specifically admit to the guilt itself. If he complies with the terms of his sentencing and completes four years probation, the felony conviction will be expunged from his record.
“God uses these things for the increase of our faith, and what was proven is that God really does all things for his purposes. In all this, I was never anxious for the future, only encouraged and excited about how God would use me in my circumstances for his purposes…there is incredible peace and continuous hope when the Spirit so shapes your heart,” Mr. Armstrong explained.
Mr. Armstrong told CEN “we did learn a lesson about trusts, that using them closely or in the spirit of the fund’s intentions is simply not good enough. Trust funds must be used exactly in line with the direction of the controlling documents. This should be a warning to all rectors that this is the rector’s responsibility, and having to replace the funds was the result of failure to assure right distribution of funds,” he said.
The Rev. Canon Felix Orji, Bishop-elect of CANA March 11, 2011
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The Rev. Canon Felix Orji. On March 5 the Church of Nigeria announced the election of Dr. Orji as a suffragan bishop of the Convocation of Anglicans in North Americ (CANA).
The Ven. Julian Dobbs, Bishop-elect of CANA March 11, 2011
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The Ven. Julian Dobbs. On March 5 the Church of Nigeria announced Archdeacon Dobbs had been elected a suffragan bishop of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA)
The Rt. Rev. Derek Jones of the ACNA March 11, 2011
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The Rt. Rev. Derek Jones, Bishop for Chaplaincies for the ACNA. Photo provided by CANA, credit Stephen Carter
No break with CANA, Church of Nigeria says: The Church of England Newspaper, March 11, 2011 p 6. March 11, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of North America, CANA, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The House of Bishops of the Church of Nigeria elected two suffragan bishops for the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) last week at the March 1-5 meeting of the church’s Synod in Owerri.
The Ven. Julian Dobbs and Canon Felix Orji were appointed suffragan bishops for the Nigerian sponsored jurisdiction, ACNA Archbishop Robert Duncan reported.
The meeting also received the Rt. Rev. Derek Jones from the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches into the Church of Nigeria’s House of Bishops. Bishop Jones, who last year was received by the ACNA, serves as the North American jurisdiction’s bishop for military, health care and prison chaplains.
Bishop-elect Dobbs was ordained in 1991 in the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, and moved to the US in 2006 to serve as executive director of the Barnabas Fund. He currently serves as an archdeacon and missioner in CANA. Canon Orji, a native of Nigeria, was ordained in the Anglican Church of Canada in 1996 and moved to the US in 2004. He currently serves as rector of St. Francis on the Hill in El Paso, Texas.
A retired American Air Force pilot, Bishop Jones was ordained in 2001 and consecrated a bishop in 2007 by the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches. In 2010 Bishop Jones was received into the ACNA’s House of Bishops. The reception of Bishop Jones by the Church of Nigeria “regularizes his already well-established ministry” the ACNA reported.
The new bishops will hold “dual citizenship” with the ACNA and the Church of Nigeria.
Last month a report in the Vanguard newspaper of Lagos reported that CANA had been released from the Church of Nigeria.
Nigerian Archbishop Nicholas Okoh stated “we are not interested in territorial ambition; our main reason for going to America was to provide for those who were no longer finding it possible to worship in the Episcopal church,” according to the newspaper report.
“A new structure has been put up in the U.S. which is ACNA.”
“CANA now belongs to ACNA even though they still relate to us; but essentially it now belongs to Anglican province of North America,” the archbishop said.
However, Archdeacon Dobbs told The Church of England Newspaper that “nothing has changed, the relationship is exactly as it was” between CANA and the Church of Nigeria. “The article is erroneous.”
On Feb 24, Archdeacon Dobbs wrote to the CANA clergy stating the Registrar of the Church of Nigeria and Archbishop Okoh were “surprised” by the report.
Archdeacon Dobbs reported the Church of Nigeria had confirmed there has been “no change in the status that exists between CANA and the Church of Nigeria, that Bishop Minns and CANA’s suffragan bishops continue to serve as members of the House of Bishops in the Church of Nigeria, and that the Church of Nigeria at the same time continues to promote the full recognition of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) as a province in the Anglican Communion.”
Diocese chided for its silence over 1994 abuse arrest: The Church of England Newspaper, March 11, 2011. March 10, 2011
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The Rev. Franklin Huntress, Jr.
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Diocese of Lincoln failed to inform the Diocese of Massachusetts that one of its priests had been arrested for child abuse while serving as a vicar in Skegness.
The Rev. Franklin E. Huntress, Jr., relinquished his priestly orders rather than face a church trial last month after the Diocese of Massachusetts began an investigation into charges the 77 year old retired priest had molested a child in 1974.
During the course of its investigation, the diocese learned Mr. Huntress had been arrested by police for abusing a child in 1994 while service as vicar of St. Matthew’s Church in Skegness, Lincs. No charges were filed against the American vicar as the family did not want the child to testify in court. However, church investigators concluded the allegations were true after reading the police report and speaking to the officers involved, said Canon Mally Lloyd, the Bishop of Massachusetts’s assistant.
Confronted with the charges, Mr. Huntress resigned his orders, and was formally removed from the priesthood on Feb 11 by Bishop Thomas Shaw SSJE of Massachusetts.
However, the Director of Communications for the Diocese of Massachusetts told The Church of England Newspaper “there is nothing in the records here indicating that the Diocese of Massachusetts was contacted by either civil or church authorities in England regarding the 1994 charges there.”
Ordained in 1962, Mr. Huntress served parishes in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and in the UK. From 1965 to 1967 he served at St. Mary’s, Chester, from 1967-1971 at Waltham Abbey in Essex, from 1975 to 1979 at St. Gabriel’s Abbey in Leicester, and from 1991 to 1994 at St Matthew’s in Skegness.
Following his return to the US, he served in a part-time capacity at churches in the greater Boston-area. The Diocese of Massachusetts turned over the records of its investigation of the 1974 incident to prosecutors in the US, but no action was taken by police as the statute of limitations had been tolled.
A spokesman for the Diocese of Lincoln confirmed that Mr. Huntress “had been arrested and charged in 1994 on accusations of abusing a minor when he was serving in England. However it appeared that these charges were dropped and the detail and the circumstances were unclear.”
Diocesan spokesman Will Harrison stated that “when the request for further information from the Diocese of Massachusetts was received the former Diocese of Lincoln file had been destroyed as part of a previous archive policy. The Diocese of Lincoln then liaised with the statutory authorities to find a way forward.”
He stated that Mr. Huntress asked the Lincolnshire Police to release their file on his arrest to the Diocese of Massachusetts. “The Diocese of Lincoln was then informed that he was removed from the priesthood in the USA and the Diocese therefore notified the national church authorities in case he moved back to the UK.”
Mr. Harrison added the “Diocese of Lincoln takes all allegations of abuse seriously and works with the statutory authorities to establish the facts. Our thoughts and prayers are, as ever, with the victims.”
Christians march for justice in India: The Church of England Newspaper, March 11, 2011 March 10, 2011
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Christians from 45 denominations rallied in Mangalore against persecution on Feb 27
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox leaders joined an estimated 100,000 Christians for a silent march through the Indian city of Mangalore last week, demanding government action in the face of attacks on churches by extremist Hindu groups in Karnataka.
Waving black flags, protesters dressed in black or wore black clothes around their necks in protest to a Jan 28 report by the state’s interior ministry that found no evidence of an organized campaign by Hindu radicals against Christians in the Southern Indian state.
Roman Catholic Bishop Aloysius D’Souza of Mangalore told the rally “we have assembled in thousands in this ground in the centre of this city asking for justice. We have gathered here to protest against injustice done to us and to demand justice.”
The bishop, joined by the moderator of the Church of South India and other CSI bishops, said India’s Christians would not be cowed. “If anyone thinks that minorities can be subdued by attacks or be taken for a ride by giving false reports, we would like to tell such people that they are mistaken. The culprits might have attacked the churches, broken the crucifix and desecrated the Holy Communion but they cannot destroy our faith in Jesus. We are pained by the attacks but not threatened.”
The rally called upon the Indian Federal government’s Central Bureau of Investigation to take over the investigation of the persecution of Christians in Karnataka.
The state investigation reported there were 57 attacks on Christians in 2008 in Karnataka, but Bishop D’Souza said over 100 had been reported to the police in that period. Christians had no confidence in the report, the bishop said
The Somashekara Commission “was constituted to investigate these events and to tell us as to who carried out all these attacks,” he said, noting it failed “to identify the people and the organizations responsible for these attacks. Hence we reject this report.”
Church protests over proposed Ulster gambling laws: The Church of England Newspaper, March 4, 2011 p 6. March 9, 2011
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Ulster Social Development Minister Alex Attwood
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Church of Ireland has urged the government of Northern Ireland to reject plans to allow high street bookie offices to open on Sundays.
Last week the Social Development Minister for Northern Ireland Alex Attwood announced plans to liberalise the province’s gambling laws. In 2003 gambling at Sunday race meetings and internet gambling was permitted. The minister stated he wanted the new law to reflect people’s leisure habits and bring the province’s laws into conformity with gambling regulations in Britain and the Republic of Ireland.
“My priority will be the public interest; striking a balance between developing gambling as a leisure pursuit and minimising its harmful effects. These have been the standards I have adopted and am adopting in regulating other industries including the drinks industry and the shops trade,” Mr. Attwood said”
Paddy Power, which offers betting shops in and around Belfast, told the Irish Times it would be “a great supporter” of these changes.
However, the Church of Ireland’s Social Responsibility Board on March 1 stated it was “dismayed” by the proposals.
Treating “Sundays, Christmas day and Easter day like any other day of the week” would be a moral “affront” to Ulster, and would further fuel Northern Ireland’s addiction to gambling.
Suggestions that Sunday gambling would boost the economy were unproven, the Board said.
However, there was “evidence from his own department” that showed the rate of problem gambling in Northern Ireland was four times that of Britain, and that the number of those afflicted by problem gambling had risen 25 per cent since the laws were liberalized in 2003.
“If this increase was to be repeated in Northern Ireland it could see the number of problem gamblers rise by around 10,000 in 3 years,” the Church of Ireland said, noting that it was “difficult to understand the Minister’s statement that his priority is the public interest and minimising the harmful effects of gambling when the evidence from his own department suggests this proposal will be doing the opposite.”
Porvoo consultation on conflict: The Church of England Newspaper, March 4, 2011 p 8. March 9, 2011
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St Mary's Cathedral, Tallinn, Estonia
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Representatives of the Porvoo group of Anglican and Nordic Lutheran churches met last week in Estonia to lay the groundwork for a common church understanding and response to ‘conflict.’
Under the co-chairmanship of the Bishop of Newcastle, the Rt. Rev. Martin Wharton and Bishop Karl Sigurbjörnsson of Iceland the 30 delegates attending the “Responding to Conflict” consultation at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Tallinn, examined the theological and sociological roots of conflict focusing on five areas of discourse: interpersonal conflict, conflict within churches, sectarian and ethnic conflict, church/state conflict, and conflict between man and nature.
Bishop Trevor Williams of Limerick and the Archbishop-elect of Dublin, Dr. Michael Jackson spoke on political and religious conflict in Ireland while workshops on the psychological perspectives of conflict, congregational conflict and authority, conflict and leadership were offered.
The former Bishop of Colombo, the Rt. Rev Duleep de Chickera led the daily Bible studies and drew upon his experiences in the Sri Lankan civil war. The papers and summary of discussions will be presented to the October meeting of the Porvoo Contact Group in Cardiff, for further action.
Central African archbishop elected: The Church of England Newspaper, March 4, 2011 p 7. March 8, 2011
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Archbishop Albert Chama of Central Africa
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Bishop of Northern Zambia, the Rt. Rev. Albert Chama, has been elected primate of the Church of the Province of Central Africa.
The report of the election was made last week by Bishop William Muchombo, the acting provincial secretary, who stated the election took place at a meeting of the church’s House of Bishops held on Feb 17 in Harare. Bishop Chama was chosen from among four candidates standing for election to succeed Archbishop Bernard Malango.
The province has been without a primate since the retirement of Archbishop Malango in 2007. The Central African canons stipulate that a primate may not be elected if there are any vacancies in the province’s episcopal sees. Disputes over the elections of bishops in Lake Malawi and Northern Malawi have delayed the election of a successor.
The new archbishop, who attended the 2009 and 2011 primates meeting will be seated as primate and archbishop in the coming months at a service at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Lusaka. High on the agenda for Archbishop-elect Chama will be the on-going dispute in the Diocese of Harare and the persecution of the church in Zimbabwe, the church’s role in politics, and pressures for the division of the province with Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe forming their own Anglican provinces—a move that has been on hold since the collapse of Zimbabwe.
NB: On March 7, the province announced the installation of Archbishop Chama will take place on Sunday March 20 in Lusaka.
Ecumenical canon for Winchester: The Church of England Newspaper, March 4, 2011 p 6. March 8, 2011
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Winchester Cathedral
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Winchester Cathedral will install its first Ecumenical Canon this week, seating the Abbot of Fleury, Fr. Ricaud Etienne, at a special ceremony on March 5.
The Very Rev. James Atwell, Dean of Winchester noted the service will be a “moment of history. It is very exciting for us that the Abbot of Fleury will be our first Ecumenical Canon. Following on from the Pope’s visit nationally, it is evidence of the respect with which we hold one another and the acknowledgement of our shared journey of faith.”
The present link between Winchester Cathedral and the Abbey of Fleury in St-Benôit-sur-Loire, France dates from the 1978, when the Dean of Winchester, Michael Stancliffe, and the Abbot of Fleury agreed to remember each other in their daily prayers, and to develop fraternal links between the two communities.
Located on the banks of the Loire, the Abbey of Fleury in the tenth century was the centre of the reform movement within the Benedictine order. In 973 monks from Fluery were brought to Winchester to help compose the rules of life governing the Benedictine order in England. The present cathedral is the direct descendent of St. Swithun’s Abbey—the Benedictine foundation suppressed by Henry VIII.
The Abbot will also dedicate the first permanent newly-built addition in five hundred years to the cathedral. The Fleury building will provide storage space, freeing the North Transept of the cathedral and will house a new boiler, heating system and toilets for the cathedral.
22 feared dead in earthquake cathedral collapse: The Church of England Newspaper, March 4, 2011 p 9. March 8, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand & Polynesia, Church of England Newspaper, Disaster Relief.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Over 240 people are feared dead, and over 100 people are missing in the aftermath of the Feb 21 earthquake that struck Christchurch, New Zealand.
Twenty two people are believed to have died in the city’s Anglican cathedral when its spire collapsed, and over 50 bodies have been recovered from the ruins of the six-story Canterbury Television building, which housed an English language school for foreign students.
A majority of the buildings in the city’s central commercial district have been damaged and over 2,500 people have been reported injured in the quake, and more than 160 of them in serious condition.
Damage to the churches of the Diocese of Christchurch has been severe, with 26 parishes reported as being in “a bad way.” The rubble at the base of the cathedral’s spire was over 30 meters deep, rescue workers report, and progress in removing bodies from the “broken heart” of Christchurch has been slowed by aftershocks.
Dean Peter Beck told Radio New Zealand the rescue teams were working to ensure the “graceful removal” of the dead.
“They are working in the broken heart of Christchurch. That’s why we are concerned that such great care is taken with this bodies being recovered.”
Most of the dead in the cathedral were tourists, the dean said. “The whole enormity of it all still hasn’t hit me but I think I am due for a bloody good cry.”
On Feb 27 Bishop Victoria Matthews of Christchurch and New Zealand Archbishop David Moxon released a statement noting that while the damage was severe, “the Church of God is strong in faith and service in the Diocese of Christchurch.”
“The people of God are responding with courage and resolve to the present state of emergency caused by the recent earthquake and aftershocks. Although debris and wreckage are in evidence on every street and both the army and emergency services are a constant presence, courtesy and consideration prevail,” the bishops said.
They offered their condolences to those affected by the quake, offering “prayer in the power of the Holy Spirit, knowing that suffering has always been part of Christian experience. We also ask prayer for all those involved in the cleanup, the search and rescue operations and pastoral care at this difficult time. While we have been reminded in no uncertain terms that we are not in control, we hold fast to our faith in the Sovereign God and pray for the strength and grace to minister Christ’s presence,” the bishops said.
Concordat on baptism signed in Spain: The Church of England Newspaper, March 4, 2011 p 7. March 7, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Hymnody/Liturgy, Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church.comments closed
Bishop Carlos López Lozano
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Roman Catholic and Anglican churches in Spain have signed a concordat recognizing the validity of baptisms performed in both churches. However, the two churches have agreed to disagree over what happens at baptism and what it means.
On Feb 23 the president of Spanish Roman Catholic Episcopal Conference’s ecumenical relations department, Bishop Adolfo González Montes of Almeria, and Bishop Carlos López Lozano of the Reformed Episcopal Church of Spain signed the agreement—a product of over 30 years of ecumenical dialogue—at a ceremony in Madrid.
The recognition by the Roman Catholic Church of baptisms performed in the Episcopal Church marks no new theological ground and is akin to agreements reached in other countries, but is a milestone for Protestant-Catholic relations in Spain.
Protestantism was effectively outlawed in Spain until the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1868, which granted religious toleration to non-Catholics. Under the Franco regime, religious liberties for Spaniards were restricted—though churches for expatriates were not as closely supervised. In 1968 Spain adopted its Law of Religious Freedom and following the death of Franco the Constitution of 1978 provided full religious liberty to non-Catholics.
However, the Spanish government has continued to favor the Catholic Church over other denominations and recent sects, and the Catholic Church has vigorously defended its historic privileges.
The Spanish declaration recognizes “with gratitude our common faith in God our Father, in our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit, and our common baptism in the one Church of God.”
However, the agreement does not end disagreements over the nature and efficacy of baptism. Differences remain over the “recognition of the sacramentalism of baptism and its valid administration,” the document said.
The Anglo-Catholic movement is dead, Catholic bishop claims: The Church of England Newspaper, Mar 4, 2011 p 6 March 7, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Ordinariate, Church of England Newspaper, Roman Catholic Church, Secession.comments closed
Anglo-Catholic bishops in happier days. The Archbishop of Canterbury with episcopal members of the SSC in 2005.
First printed in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Anglo-Catholic movement within the Anglican Communion is dead, the Roman Catholic bishop overseeing the Australian Ordinariate has claimed.
In an interview published on February 26 in The Record, the newspaper of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Perth, Bishop Peter Elliott of Melbourne cautioned those “who still claim to be Anglo-Catholics and yet are holding back.”
“When are you going to face realities? … there’s no place for a classical Anglo-Catholic in the Anglican Communion anymore,” Bishop Elliott said.
The Bishop chided Anglo-Catholics where were “tempted to make a desperate last stand by just staying where they are,” Bishop Elliott told a meeting of prospective converts in Perth last week.
“Permit me to suggest that it is a waste of time and spiritual energy to cling to such a dangerous illusion,” said the Bishop, a former Anglican.
“Let me quietly invite you to lay down weapons of controversies that are now pointless, to set aside endless intrigues which lead nowhere, to walk away from futile conflicts which cannot build up the body of Christ in charity. Accept the invitation of the vicar of Christ on earth.”
Pope Benedict XVI was a “gentle man” who had offered the Ordinariate with “no ulterior motives.”
“His apostolic offer is clear. There is no deception here. He calls you to peace.”
Created in November 2009 in response to pleas from the leaders of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), the Ordinariate is a structure within the Roman Catholic Church for former Anglicans who wish to enter into full communion with Rome whilst preserving liturgical and other elements of their Anglican heritage.
However, the former Bishop of Quincy, the Rt Rev Keith Ackerman, in an interview published last month, noted that defining an Anglo-Catholic was not an entirely straightforward procedure. Broadly speaking, the principal Anglo-Catholic groups could be broken down into five parties: Anglo-Papalists who looked to Rome; the Anglo-Orthodox who looked to the Ecumenical patriarch and the churches of the East; the traditional High Church party; those in the Catholic breakaway groups generally called the Continuum; and the Affirming Catholic group whose members include Archbishop Rowan Williams and former US Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold.
Bishop Ackerman, who was deposed by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori for allegedly abandoning the communion of the Episcopal Church, currently serves the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).
“The point is,” Bishop Ackerman told Virtueonline, “it is rather difficult to characterise an Anglo-Catholic. The vast majority may well agree that an Anglo-Catholic is one who believes in the reality of the continuation of a pre-1540s Church in England and as with a number of the principles of the Oxford Movement.”
However, among American Anglo-Catholics, the “vast majority” have “have always believed and taught that they are Catholics but not Roman Catholics.”
Independence will not divide the Sudanese church, bishops say: The Church of England Newspaper, March 4, 2011 p 7. March 5, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Episcopal Church of the Sudan.comments closed
Archbishop Deng greeting former US President Jimmy Carter at a polling station in Juba on Jan 9.
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
A divided nation will not lead to a divided church, the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan said last month in a statement released at the close of their Feb 11-12 meeting in Juba.
Official results of Southern Sudan’s January independence referendum showed that 98.83 per cent of the South voted for secession from the Khartoum government. The vote means that Africa’s newest nation will receive its formal independence on July 9, 2011. However, key issues remain unresolved, and must be negotiated between the north’s National Congress Party (NCP) and the south’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).
In their first meeting since the independence vote, the Sudanese Bishops outlined the challenges facing the two nations and their church. South Sudan risked becoming a “failed state,” the bishops said, unless reforms promoting free markets and open government were implemented, and the border disputes with the north were settled.
They also assured Sudanese Anglicans they would “remain as one united church.”
“The church is one body; God has no borders. We will not abandon each other regardless of the political geographical boundaries,” the bishops said.
The bishops urged a speedy resolution to the disputes over the contested border region of Abyei, which was to have participated in the January referendum. However, voting was suspended after negotiations broke down over who would be entitled to vote. The northern-backed Misseriya community, pastoralists who travel through the region annually to graze their cattle, had demanded the right to vote in Abyei. However, the local Dinka Ngok people—supporters of southern independence—rejected the demand, saying only permanent residents should be allowed to vote.
Two key battleground states in the civil war, Southern Kordofan and the Blue Nile, were not included in the referendum, and incorporated into the north, despite strong local support for the south’s ruling SPLM. The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) promised “local consultations” over the future of the region, but like Abyei, negotiations have become bogged down.
The bishops called upon the NCP and SPLM to “expeditiously work” on resolving the border disputes and bring the “popular consultations” to their “logical conclusions,” as well as finding an equitable solution to questions of “citizenship, Sudan’s foreign debt, and oil.”
The allocation of revenues from Sudan’s oil fields has yet to be negotiated. Over 98 per cent of the south’s government budget is funded by oil revenue and the reserves lie mainly in the south and in the disputed border regions. However, all of the Sudan’s oil pipelines run north, giving the Khartoum government the power to turn off the south’s income spigot at will.
Sudan’s $38 billion foreign debt, amassed by Khartoum to fund the 1983-2005 civil war, divides north and south. The north is seeking forgiveness of its debt from international lenders, but no accord has been reached, while southern leaders object to having to pay for the costs of the war waged against them.
The citizenship rights of Sudanese living in the border areas, as well as southerners and northerners living on the wrong side of the demarcation line have yet to be resolved. Hundreds of thousands of southerners remain in Khartoum, but the north has balked at granting them dual citizenship. The uncertainty has led to over 180,000 refugees leaving the north in the past three months, the United Nations reports.
They called on “the Sudanese people to reject tribalism, nepotism and corruption,” and urged the appointment of government ministers based on “merit and work ethic” rather than tribe or clan affiliation.
“We pray that Almighty God will help us foster unity, peace and democracy as exhibited by all Sudanese and witnessed by the whole world during this referendum process,” the bishops said.
“We must all embrace the spirit of self-sacrifice, hard work, respect for one another, tolerance, and honesty as we endeavour to build the two new nations,” they said.
Bishop banned from entering Israel: The Church of England Newspaper, March 4, 2011 p 8. March 4, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & the Middle East.comments closed
Bishop Suheil Dawani
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Bishop in Jerusalem has filed suit in an Israeli court, seeking to overturn a ban on his entering Israel.
On Feb 23, attorneys for Bishop Suheil Dawani asked the Jerusalem District Court to overturn the Aug 2010 decision by the Ministry of the Interior not to renew his visa which allows him to enter East Jerusalem. Banning Bishop Dawani was a “grave” action, the petition said, and caused grievous harm to his ability to minister to the diocese’s congregations in Jerusalem.
In an August letter to the bishop, the Interior Ministry said it would not renew the visa as the bishop had perpetuated a land fraud. Acting in conjunction with the Palestinian Authority, the Ministry said, the bishop was guilty of “fraudulently selling land owned by Jews to Palestinians − thus being complicit in falsely registering Jewish-owned land as land belong to the church.”
The bishop has denied any wrong doing, and through his attorneys stated he had not been involved in any land deals since assuming office in 2007. Attorney Rhanan Har-Zahav told the Haaretz newspaper the bishop’s innocence could be proven easily, but the government has so far refused to give him an opportunity to repudiate the charges at a hearing.
The lawsuit noted the banned bishop saga harmed the church and Israel, “harming” the “image of the state of Israel and its foreign relations.”
The Bishop of Washington, the Rt. Rev. John Chane, has taken up the bishop’s cause, meeting with the Israeli Ambassador to the US to plead his case, while on Jan 30 the archbishops attending the Dublin Primates meeting agreed to send a private letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pleading the bishop’s case.
However, a letter from Dr. Rowan Williams and the primates of the liberal wing of the Anglican Communion is not likely to persuade the Israeli government to act, sources tell The Church of England Newspaper.
“Words have consequences,” notes a source familiar with the case. The calls made for divestment from Israel made by the Western Anglican churches, the harsh anti-Israel rhetoric produced by the ACC’s Anglican Peace and Justice Network, coupled with the pro-Palestinian resolutions adopted at recent ACC meetings, may provide little incentive for the Israeli government to accommodate the church.
Evangelism appointment not an endorsement of the ACNA: The Church of England Newspaper, March 4, 2011 p 7. March 4, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of North America, Anglican Consultative Council, Church of England Newspaper.comments closed
Dr Julian Linnell
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The presence of a member of the Anglican Church of North American (ACNA) on the Anglican Consultative Council’s Evangelism and Church Growth Initiative (ECGI) is not a stalking horse for the ‘back door’ recognition of the breakaway group, a spokesman for the Anglican Consultative Council tells The Church of England Newspaper.
From Feb 14-17 members of the ECGI met in Kuala Lumpur to share “stories of evangelism and church growth from around the Communion” a statement from the Anglican Communion News Service said.
The meeting was chaired by Bishop Patrick Yu from Toronto and hosted by Bishop Moon Hing Ng of West Malaysia. “It included members from Melanesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, South Africa, Kenya, England and the USA, with staff from the Anglican Communion Office,” ACNS reported.
However, the American member of the meeting, Dr. Julian Linnell, comes not from the Episcopal Church, but from the ACNA.
In 2007 Dr. Linnell was appointed executive director of Anglican Frontier Ministries, a mission organization based in the United States committed to “planting churches among the 25 largest and least evangelized peoples of the world.”
English by birth, Dr. Linnell became a Christian during his undergraduate years at Cambridge University. From 1985-1987 he taught in China, moving to the United States to study at the University of Pennsylvania where he earned a doctorate in applied linguistics. From 1997 to 2000 he taught at the University of Tunghai, Taiwan, and then entered the Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry and was ordained by Bishop Robert Duncan in the Diocese of Pittsburgh in 2003. He left the Episcopal Church upon the formation of the ACNA in 2009.
Following the publication of the ACNS story, liberal commentators in the United States expressed anger over Dr. Linnell’s appointment to the ECGI. However, a spokesman for the ACNA told CEN that Dr. Linnell was a “consultant on mission” and was “not representing any ecclesial body.”
A spokesman for the ACC told CEN the charges that the ACNA was somehow being given formal status through Dr. Linnell’s appointment were unfounded.
While membership on Communion initiatives like the ECGI comes through proposals made by provinces, Dr. Linnell was “one of four people who were co-opted to the ECGI group for their expertise in a particular area. In his case it is his role as leader of the Anglican Frontier Mission and his significant experience of evangelism to unreached peoples,” said ACC spokesman Jan Butter.
