Conger

The Anglican Church of Canada’s united front against the breakaway congregations and clergy of the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) received a major blow last week after a diocesan synod voted to recognize the secessions.

“All of these churches have by their decisions stayed within the Anglican Communion,” the synod of the Diocese of Athabasca said on April 26, disputing assertions made by Bishop Michael Ingham of New Westminster and other Canadian bishops that by quitting the Canadian Church the secessionists were no longer Anglicans.

The Northern Alberta-based diocese adopted a series of resolutions affirming that it was in “full communion” with ANiC and its sponsor, the Province of the Southern Cone.

The diocese also expressed “its dismay” at the attempts by several bishops to respond to the secessions by turning to the civil courts. “By resorting to the civil courts so readily, the bishops of those dioceses where there are dissident parishes and clergy have displayed so visibly that, to them, the issue is power, not the will of God,” synod said, according to a statement posted on the diocesan website.

Archbishop John Clarke, metropolitan archbishop of Rupert’s Land, and Bishop of Athabasca stated the diocese’s intent was to remain “in communion with as wide a range of our brothers and sisters in Christ as is possible.”

The vote was not a step towards quitting the Canadian Church, he noted, writing “be assured that the Diocese of Athabasca is as deeply committed as ever to the Anglican Church of Canada and to the Anglican Communion.”

However, Archbishop Clarke criticized the push towards permitting same-sex blessings in the Canadian Church, expressing his disappointment with dioceses who abused the language of the church’s canons and prayer book to achieve their political ends.

“We believe that we are bound to adhere to the decisions of General Synod, not only in the letter but also in the spirit,” he said. “We understand the decision of General Synod 2007 not to endorse the right of dioceses to bless same-gender unions as meaning that it was the mind of General Synod that we should not proceed at this time.”

Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper.

The Church of the Province of West Africa has denounced American and Canadian moves to affirm same-sex blessings, but will not withdraw from the Anglican Communion over the dispute.

In a statement released on April 11 following a meeting of the bishops and standing committee of the province held in Doula—see city of the missionary diocese of Cameroon, West Africa resolved to “continue to be in communion with the See of Canterbury as we unequivocally and unambiguously remain in the Anglican Communion.”

However, the dioceses in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Gambia, Guinea and Cameroon said they “out rightly condemn and reject the unacceptable action” of some Western churches in blessing same-sex unions and ordaining and licensing non-celibate homosexual clergy.

While affirming the on-going need that homosexuals should be “treated pastorally,” the province said moves to give gay blessings and clergy “official recognition and acceptance by the Church of God as a standard form of life is quite another stand which we cannot and dare not accept.”
The provincial pre-Lambeth statement distinguishes West Africa from Nigeria. While sharing Nigeria’s distaste for the innovations of doctrine and discipline proposed by the North American churches, it differs in the proper response to the crisis.

“We further urge all members of the Communion to tread very cautiously in these trying and challenging moments” the province said, urging a halt to “name-calling.” “Reducing the conversation to Liberals versus Conservatives is not helpful; it only adds fuel to an already inflamed situation,” they said.

The Episcopal Church’s legal battles entered a new phase last week, as lawyers for the national church filed suit in California against the Bishop and Diocese of San Joaquin in a bid to take control of its assets, while the Methodist Church sought to enter the fray in Virginia on behalf of the diocese.

Lawyers for the national church filed suit in a Fresno County Superior Court on April 24, seeking to transfer the assets of the diocese under the control of Bishop John-David Schofield based in Fresno to the new diocese based in Stockton created by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori under former Northern California Bishop Jerry Lamb.

“While it is regrettable that legal action is necessary, the diocese and The Episcopal Church have no other viable option but to seek the intervention of the court to recover the property and assets of the diocese,” said Bishop Lamb, the provisional Bishop of San Joaquin–Stockton

Last December, a supermajority of clergy and lay delegates at the San Joaquin-Fresno synod voted to quit the Episcopal Church and join the Province of the Southern Cone. Dioceses may not succeed from the Episcopal Church as “such actions are contrary to the Canons and Constitution of The Episcopal Church and the diocese,” the media Stockton diocese said.

Writing to the Fresno diocese, Bishop Schofield said, “please be assured that we have been expecting this litigation, and the contents contain no surprises,” adding that “in spite of the claims by The Episcopal Church, nothing in their current constitution and canons prohibits a diocese from leaving one province and moving to another.”

Bishop Schori’s handling of the San Joaquin affair has raised concerns. One group of bishops and church leaders commissioned a legal opinion on the validity of her actions from an international lawyer, who concluded she had committed 11 violations of canon law and should be brought to trial for abuse of office.

The Presiding Bishop issued a counter statement the same day, saying that her advisors had concluded that she had properly interpreted church canons. The Episcopal Church has no independent judiciary and has no way of reconciling opposing views save through political confrontations.

In Virginia the United Methodist Church on April 24 filed a brief in support of the national church and Diocese of Virginia against the breakaway congregations now grouped under the banner of CANA.

The Methodist Church argued that Virginia’s law granting congregations to withdraw from their parent churches in the case of schisms raised questions of the “appropriateness of the government’s intrusion into the freedom of any church body to organize and govern itself according to its own faith and doctrine.”

Virginia’s Attorney-General Robert McDowell in January filed a brief opposing the national Episcopal Church’s. A spokesman for the breakaway congregations, Jim Oakes, said the law, enacted in the wake of denominational splits following the American Civil War, was a tested and “reasonably neutral way for the state to adjudicate” the dispute.

The Bishop of New Hampshire has not been banned in Britain, a spokesman for the Archbishop of Canterbury tells The Church of England Newspaper, denying press speculation Bishop Gene Robinson had been muzzled by Dr. Rowan Williams from preaching in England.

On May 2, Lambeth Palace confirmed Bishop Robinson was not granted a license to officiate—to celebrate the Eucharist and other sacramental acts. However it was an exaggeration to say he had been banned from preaching as canon law does not permit the archbishop to ban preachers, his spokesman said.

On April 29 Bishop Robinson told the congregation at St Mary’s Putney that he had received an email from Dr. Williams that morning refusing his request to officiate and preach in the Province of Canterbury. The following day, the Episcopal News Service reported that Archbishop Williams would not permit Bishop Robinson “to preach or preside at a Eucharist while he is in England, according to reports.”

In Britain to promote his new book, “In the eye of the storm: Swept to the center by God,” Bishop Robinson told the BBC’s Hardtalk programme “in the past “[Dr. Williams] has … declined to give me permission to preach and to celebrate the Holy Communion and I would never do so without his permission.”

Under Canon C17.6 “by statute law it belongs to the archbishop to give permission to officiate within his province to any minister who has been ordained” by an “overseas” province. However, Canon B18.2 gives the authority of determining who may preach to the parish incumbent—with the permission of the diocesan bishop.

Bishop Robinson had sought permission to officiate in the past and Dr. Williams had declined to accede to that request, the spokesman said. Bishop Robinson had again broached the topic, seeking permission to officiate this summer and had also sought Dr. Williams’ endorsement to preach.

Dr. Williams again declined to license him, and had given “no endorsement for any of the invitations [Bishop Robinson] has received” to preach, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Press Secretary the Rev. Jonathan Jennings said.

Lambeth Palace press officer Marie Papworth told CEN copies of the correspondence would not be made public as it was the Archbishop’s policy not to disclose the contents of private communications.

The Archbishop of York’s press secretary, the Rev. Canon Arun Arora, stated he was unaware of any request from Bishop Robinson to officiate in the Province of York. Bishop Robinson did not respond to our request for clarification.

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have added their voices to the chorus denouncing Zimbabwe’s decent into anarchy as Robert Mugabe seeks to maintain his hold on power.

On April 24, Dr. Rowan Williams and Dr. John Sentamu released a joint statement warning that unless the international community takes action, the “continuing political violence and drift could unleash spiraling communal violence.”

Nobel laureate and former Archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu warned “Zimbabwe is staring into the abyss. Violence is growing and the people are suffering greatly as a result. It is now vital that we all do what we can to calm the situation.”

He backed the call of the present Archbishop of Cape Town Thabo Makgoba for an arms embargo on Zimbabwe. “It is obvious that supplying large quantities of arms at this stage would risk escalating the violence, perhaps resulting in the large-scale loss of life,” he said on April 24.

The Primate of Australia, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall of Brisbane joined his Roman Catholic counterpart Archbishop Philip Wilson and other church leaders in releasing a statement of “deep concern over the deteriorating political, security, economic and human rights situation in Zimbabwe.” If “nothing is done to help the people of Zimbabwe from their predicament, we shall soon be witnessing atrocities similar to that experienced in Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi,” they warned.

Drs Williams and Sentamu also voiced concern over the state sanctioned violence unleashed against the people of Zimbabwe. “Faithful men, women and young people who seek better governance in either political or church affairs continue to be beaten, intimidated or oppressed,” they said.

“Churches across England have been praying for Zimbabwe before, during and after the polls,” the English archbishops said. They urged all Christians to pray for the peace of Zimbabwe, adding “we must work to build a civil society movement that both creates political will and gives voice to those who demand an end to the mayhem that grows out of injustice, poverty, exclusion and violence.”

Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper.

Controversy marred the final days of the Archbishop of Armagh’s pilgrimage to Israel, following a blow up with Jewish settlers who took umbrage with the public display of crucifixes at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.

On May 1, Dr. Alan Harper, Cardinal Sean Brady and the moderators of the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches of Ireland along with the Lutheran bishop in Jerusalem, Munib Younan, paid an unscheduled visit to the Wall following a visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

After passing through a security check point to reach the wall, a Jewish settler took exception to the cleric’s crosses, and blocked their way. An argument ensued in Hebrew between the settler and Bishop Younan that attracted police attention.

In an interview with Irish broadcaster RTE, Cardinal Brady said, “we encountered some difficulty in gaining access. There was a difficulty about us wearing our crosses,” he said. “We were under constraints of time … and we decided to move on.”

The rabbi of the Wall, Shmuel Rabinowitz told the Associated Press that while members of all faiths are welcome to visit the Wall, they must not offend Jewish sensitivities. “They should have covered up the crosses to respect the place, just like Jews wouldn’t wear their ritual prayer shawls when entering a Christian holy place,” he said.

Following the incident, Israel’s Minister for Social Affairs Isaac Hertzog apologized to the four churchmen for the incident. The April 29-May 2 visit was an “opportunity to show the solidarity of churches in Ireland with people living in the Holy Land and especially the Christian community,” Dr. Harper said before his departure.

“By sharing our experiences of living through troubled times and listening and observing we hope to share an authentic message of peace and reconciliation which will offer hope in this awful situation,” he said.

There is nothing new under the sun. The dispute in San Joaquin has its precursor in the Colenso affair in South Africa in the 1860’s.

The caption reads:

The Zulu Bride

Bishop Tait: “Stay! — I protest!–”

Bishop Gray: “Upon what grounds, my Lord?”

Bishop Tait: “Bigamy! she’s married already.”

Dr. Gray, Bishop of Cape Town, was proceeding to consecrate the Rev. Mr. Macrorie as Bishop of Natal, with the avowed purposed of expelling Dr. Colenso the existing Bishop of that see, from the ministration of his holy office, when the Bishop of London, (Dr. Tait) published a strong letter, interposing, and the scheme was frustrated.–February 1868 (Punch)

Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper

Religion must play its part in combating climate change, EU political leaders told a gathering of European religious leaders on May 5. However, Russian delegates used the one-day conference in Brussels to urge the EU to direct its political energies towards supporting oppressed Christians around the world.

Twenty Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders—including the Bishop of Hulme, the Rt. Rev. Steven Lowe met with the Presidents of the European Council, European Commission and European Parliament in the fourth annual meeting of EU officials and religions leaders.

European Council President Janez Janša, the Prime Minister of Slovenia, told the delegates the environment was “not only natural but also a sacred place.”

“Community and loyalty between man, nature and the Creator is a basic principle of Judaism, Christianity and Islam alike,” he said. “Climate change requires us to rethink how we channel imagination, ingenuity and entrepreneurship into creating a world, free of dependence on fossil fuels, and yet prosperous and connected as never before.”

EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso added that climate change “obliges all of us to take urgent action,” and that “thanks to their outreach and role in our societies, religions and communities of belief are well placed to make a valuable contribution in mobilizing” against climate change.

Noting that 2008 was the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering asked faith leaders to take the lead in “building bridges between people and to safeguarding peace based on mutual respect.”

“Intercultural dialogue” he argued, was an “important contribution” to a common EU foreign policy “in particular in the Mediterranean region”.

However the Russian Orthodox delegate, Bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria said the EU’s notions of intercultural dialogue placed Christians at a disadvantage.

“Tolerance should not cause detriment to Christians, who still make up the majority of the European population. Phobia and discrimination of Christians should be condemned officially,” he said.

Bishop Hilarion called upon the EU to protect Europe’s Christian heritage, citing Muslim predations against Orthodox Christians in Kosovo and Cyprus. Turkey should not become part of Europe, he argued while it continues to “disregard the needs of its Christian population.”

The Russian Orthodox Church called upon the EU to “do more for the protection of Christians outside Europe, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and many other Islamic countries,” Bishop Hilarion said, according to a statement released through the Interfax news agency.

A Sudanese court has returned an office and guest house in Khartoum to the Episcopal Church of the Sudan four years after armed police seized the property.

On April 20, the Sudanese provincial secretary the Rev. Enock Tombe reported a successful outcome to court proceedings that arose after armed police seized the church’s Khartoum office. On May 20, 2004 police evicted the church from the buildings at the behest of the Sudanese Arab United Al Azra Company, which claimed it had purchased the building in good faith from the former Bishop of Rumbek, Gabriel Roric Jur.

In 2003, Archbishop Joseph Marona deposed Bishop Roric Jur when he refused to return to his see after a ten year absence. Considered a turncoat by his colleagues, Bishop Roric Jur joined the National Islamic Front government in Khartoum, serving as its deputy foreign minister.

He refused to accept the sentence and responded by creating a rival church with the backing of the Khartoum government. Sudanese law requires Christian churches to hold property in the name of a trustee rather than in the name of the institution. Bishop Roric Jur originally acted as trustee on behalf of the ECS when the property was purchased—and once he was defrocked sold the building and kept the proceeds for his new Reformed Episcopal Church of the Sudan.

Organizers of Gafcon report that as of April 25, 267 bishops have registered for the June meeting in Jerusalem.

Denounced as a rival gathering to the July Lambeth conference, a detailed agenda has yet to be released. Like Lambeth much of the conference will be devoted to worship and spiritual reflection. However, Gafcon will play host to bishops, clergy and lay leaders, and will also seek to formulate a common approach to the divisions of doctrine and discipline within the Anglican Communion.

Approximately 150 bishops and conferees from Muslim majority countries unable to travel freely to Israel along with the Gafcon leadership team will meet at a resort on the Dead Sea in Jordan from June 18-22, while a further 600 are expected to join the self-styled “pilgrimage” in Jerusalem from June 22-29.

Organizers note that many of the bishops attending Gafcon will also be among the 625 bishops attending the Lambeth Conference. While the Archbishops of Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda and their bishops have said that as it is currently organized, they will not attend Lambeth, the Presiding Bishop of the Southern Cone Gregory Venables announced last week that he will go to Lambeth.

Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh announced on May 6 that he would attend Lambeth and Gafcon, joining Fort Worth Bishop Jack Iker and the other conservative American bishops in attending both meetings.

“After consulting with the people of Pittsburgh and our friends around the globe, we have come to the conclusion that it is necessary for us to be present at both gatherings,” said Bishop Robert Duncan. The American conservative leader said that he would attend the first half of Lambeth, from July 16-25, and that his suffragan, Bishop Henry Scriven will attend from July 26-Aug 3.

At Gafcon, “we will be among friends, focused squarely on the Gospel, and dealing openly with how we build the missionary relationships, covenantal boundaries and responsible structures for the future of Anglicanism,” he said.

At Lambeth, “those who accuse us of abandoning the Anglican Communion will certainly be present and vocal,” he noted. “It is important for us to be able to respond directly to their claims about the situation in the Episcopal Church and our place in the Communion,” he said.

In his final address before retirement to the House of Bishops and Standing Committee of the Church of the Province of the West Indies, Archbishop Drexel Gomez urged the Church to reawaken to the power of God’s love.

The dry and distant Anglicanism of many parts of the West Indies, must make way for a “more caring and compassionate” church, he told the West Indian bishops and the congregation of St. Mary’s Anglican Church in Bridgetown, Barbados on April 17.

“We must face up to the challenge to see where we stand in love,” Archbishop Gomez said, and “must devise more strategies to assist members in their engagement with God and to foster a deeper commitment” that would transform the believer and society.

The rampant individualism and selfishness of Western culture was the greatest single threat to the faith. Believers must surrender their lives to God and be faithful to his will for their lives, rather than pursue their own moral, political or social agendas.

The Church faces “the challenge of discernment and commitment” as it entered the Twenty-first century, he said, urging the bishops to hold fast to the faith once delivered, and not succumb to the siren song of culture.

The senior serving Primate of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop Gomez was elected Bishop of Barbados in 1972 and was translated to the Diocese of Nassau and the Bahamas in 1995, and elected Archbishop and Primate of the West Indies in 1999. He will retire at the end of this year.

The Bishop of Barbados, the Rt. Rev. John Holder praised Archbishop Gomez for his constancy and faithfulness. He had been at the “heart of the fight” in the Anglican Communion’s battles over doctrine and discipline and had offered “outstanding leadership as the church wrestled and searched for a way forward.”

Archbishop Gomez’s labours amidst a “difficult, contentious and painful” fight to hold the church together had ensured that future generations “could call themselves Anglicans.”

Nobel laureate and former leader of the Church in South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tut, has been tapped by the Marylebone Cricket Club to give this year’s “Spirit of Cricket” Cowdrey Lecture at Lord’s on June 10.

Archbishop Tutu will be the first non-player speaker in the lecture series, which was inaugurated in 2001 in memory of Lord Cowdrey of Tonbridge.

Lord Cowdrey and Ted Dexter, two former MCC presidents and ex-England captains, were instrumental in having the “Spirit of Cricket” included as the Preamble to the 2000 Code of the Laws of Cricket.

“Cricket is a game that owes much of its unique appeal to the fact that it should be played not only within its Laws but also within the Spirit of the Game. Any action which is seen to abuse this Spirit causes injury to the game itself,” the Preamble states. It also delineates the roles and responsibilities of captains, players and umpires in respecting and upholding the Spirit of Cricket.

An avid cricketing enthusiast, Archbishop Tutu was chosen by the MCC to speak on sportsmanship and fair play.

Archbishop Tutu “is revered around the world as a moral voice and someone who speaks with gravitas on a range of issues,” Keith Bradshaw, the MCC’s secretary, said. “He’s an inspirational man who has spent a lifetime speaking out for truth and justice and I am sure that his views on the game - and the Spirit of Cricket in particular - will be hugely interesting to cricket followers around the world.”

Approximately 500 guests, members of the MCC and noted figures from the cricket world, will gather in the Nursery Pavilion at Lord’s to hear the lecture.

The Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney has backed the government’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, saying hybrid-embryo research was a medical last hope for those suffering from a number of “wickedly crippling diseases.”

Writing in The Scotsman, Bishop Robert Gillies argued that as “much as I may not like the thought of hybrid embryo research, God has enabled us to have so much insight into the workings of His creation then perhaps that is the way we must go to help those most in need of a Christian loving response.”

“It seems that if health and wellbeing is to come to sufferers, then the best option for them will come through stem-cell, including hybrid-embryo, research, given the current absence of any alternative,” the Scottish Episcopal bishop argued.

He took exception to the comments made by Cardinal Keith O’Brien last month that the creation of animal-human embryos was “monstrous” and of “Frankenstein proportion.” While acknowledging the Cardinal’s belief that such research was immoral, “his view is not the only view that can be legitimately given from within a Christian perspective,” Bishop Gillies said.

“If health and well-being is to come” to those suffering from debilitating diseases such as Huntington’s Chorea or Muscular Dystrophy “then the best option for them will come through stem cell, including hybrid embryo, research given the current absence of any alternative,” the bishop wrote on April 9.

However, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Paisley, Msg. Philip Tartaglia disputed Bishop Gillies argument of medical necessity, writing to Members of Parliament on April 10 that “the scientific community already knows that, contrary to what the Prime Minister has asserted, research on human embryos is not required to have access to human stem cells as the basis of therapy for serious medical conditions.”

We “do not need this embryo-destructive research either from an ethical or a scientific-medical point of view,” the Catholic prelate said.

First published in The Living Church.

Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire has not been banned from pulpits in the Church of England according to a spokesman for the Archbishop of Canterbury, who denied press speculation that the Archbishop Rowan Williams was attempting to silence Bishop Robinson.

A press officer confirmed on May 2 that Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams had not issued Bishop Robinson a license to officiate in the Province of Canterbury. However, Church of England canon law does not grant the archbishop the authority to ban preachers, the spokesman noted.

While traveling in Britain to promote his book, Bishop Robinson told the BBC “in the past [Archbishop Williams] has… declined to give me permission to preach and to celebrate the Holy Communion and I would never do so without his permission.” Episcopal News Service reported April 30 that Archbishop Williams would not permit Bishop Robinson “to preach or preside at a Eucharist while he is in England, according to reports.”

Under the Church of England’s Canon C17.6 “by statute law it belongs to the archbishop to give permission to officiate within his province to any minister who has been ordained” by an “overseas” province of the Anglican Communion. All visiting clergy who seek to perform the sacraments within the Province of Canterbury must secure the permission of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The same rules apply for the Province of York in the northern part of England. But another canon gives the authority to preach to a parish incumbent, with the permission of the diocesan bishop.

Bishop Robinson has sought permission to officiate in the past and Archbishop Williams has declined to accede to the request, the spokesman said. Bishop Robinson broached the topic again in a letter to Archbishop Williams, seeking permission to officiate in the province this summer and seeking his endorsement to preach. Archbishop Williams again declined to license Bishop Robinson to officiate, and had given “no endorsement for any of the invitations [Bishop Robinson] has received” to preach, said the Rev. Jonathan Jennings, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s press secretary.

The Rev. Arun Arora, director of communications for the Archbishop of York, said he was unaware of any request from Bishop Robinson to officiate in the Province of York.

In a pointed critique of the Episcopal Church, Pope Benedict XVI told participants at an ecumenical prayer service in New York that the decision of some ecclesial communities to place their perceived prophetic witness above all else, weakened the body of Christ.

Speaking at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Manhattan on April 18 during his five day tour of the US, Benedict did not single out the Episcopal Church by name, but in circumspect terms criticized its innovations of doctrine and discipline. Traditional church protocol was also upended as the Episcopal Church’s representative to the gathering, New York Bishop Mark Sisk, was presented last to the pope from the group of over a dozen Orthodox and Protestant leaders.

The papal snub of the Episcopal Church’s national leadership began at a White House reception hosted by President George W. Bush. The Bishop of Dallas, the Rt. Rev. James Stanton—a leader of the conservative wing of the Episcopal Church—was invited to the reception. However, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori was not.

Bishop Schori, who was visiting Palm Beach and Miami during the Washington phase of the tour, declined to attend the April 18 ecumenical gathering in New York, citing a prior commitment to dedicate a diocesan building in Utah. In her stead, the Bishop of New York and her deputy for ecumenical relations, the Rt. Rev. C. Christopher Epting, attended the New York event.

Following the consecration of Gene Robinson, the “gay” bishop of New Hampshire, the future pope startled the Anglican world by making a public intervention in the American church’s battle over homosexuality. The then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger sent a letter of greeting to conservative Anglicans gathered in Dallas to protest the Robinson consecration, writing to assure them of his “heartfelt prayers.”

“The lives of these saints show us how in the Church of Christ there is a unity in truth and a communion of grace which transcend the borders of any nation. With this in mind, I pray in particular that God’s will may be done by all those who seek that unity in the truth, the gift of Christ himself,” he told the predominantly evangelical gathering.

In his New York speech last week, Benedict lamented the decision of some Christian communities to depart from traditional teaching “at the time when the world is losing its bearings and needs a persuasive common witness to the saving power of the Gospel.”

“Fundamental Christian beliefs and practices are sometimes changed within communities by so-called ‘prophetic actions’ that are based” on beliefs “not always consonant” with Scripture or Tradition.

Some had abandoned “the attempt to act as a unified body, choosing instead to function according to the idea of ‘local options’,” he said noting that the “relativistic approach” to faith was leading to the fragmentation of the church and a diminution of its witness to the world.

“A clear, convincing testimony to the salvation wrought for us in Christ Jesus has to be based upon the notion of normative apostolic teaching,” the Pope said, and not upon the fashions and fads of the moment.

The European Parliament has denounced Burma’s May 10 constitutional referendum as a farce designed to cement the military junta’s hold on the country.

On April 24 MEPs adopted the non-binding resolution calling for increased sanctions against the country’s military junta. The resolution will be forwarded to the April 28-29 meeting of EU Foreign Ministers in Luxembourg for action. Burma’s “constitutional referendum process is devoid of any democratic legitimacy, as Burmese citizens lack all basic democratic rights that would allow them to hold an open debate on the constitutional text, amend it and subsequently freely express themselves through a referendum,” the MEPs said.

Speaking to the Southern Daily Echo upon his return from Burma following the February installation of the new Anglican Archbishop of Rangoon, the Bishop of Winchester the Rt. Rev Michael Scott-Joynt said the “situation is just as we have read it to be in our newspapers. Burma is a place where the regime is very much in control.”

“There are a lot of people who are very poor and for whom it is a real struggle to get the necessities of life. It is really not a place where any opposition to the regime can flourish,” he observed.

“I have talked to some clergy and it is a very demanding place for everybody and quite a frightening place,” Bishop Scott-Joynt said.

Copies of the 194-page draft constitution were also released for the first time on April 24. Under its proposed terms, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the formal name of the military junta led by General Than Shwe, will retain power through the set aside for the army of 25 percent of the seats in both houses of Parliament and in state assemblies. Any change to the constitution will requires a greater than 75 percent supermajority-giving the army veto power over the any changes.

The proposed constitution will also ban Nobel laureate and democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi from holding political office as “a person who is entitled to the rights and privileges of a foreign government, or a citizen of a foreign country” may not serve in the government. Suu Kyi’s late husband, Michael Aris, was British.

The leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Suu Kyi has been repeatedly place under house arrest since she won the 1990 general elections. The NLD has called for a “no” vote on May 10, but foreign monitors and correspondents have been banned from observing the election, and wide spread fraud is expected.

On March 19, the All Burma Monks Alliance—organizers of last year’s pro-democracy protests in Rangoon—called for a boycott of the referendum, saying religion could not prosper under a military regime that “kills and arrests monks and desecrates religious buildings.”

The military junta “continues to subject the people of Burma to appalling human rights abuses, such as forced labour, persecution of dissidents, conscription of child soldiers and forced relocation,” the European Parliament said last week. It urged the EU foreign ministers to “renew its targeted sanctions, and to broaden them, focusing on restrictions on access to international banking services” and to “campaign actively for a worldwide embargo on arms exports to Burma.”

Sufficient legal grounds exist for presenting Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori for ecclesiastical trial on 11 counts of violating the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church, according to a legal memorandum that has begun circulating among members of the House of Bishops.

A copy of the April 21 document seen by a reporter representing The Living Church states Bishop Jefferts Schori demonstrated a “willful violation of the canons, an intention to repeat the violations, and a pattern of concealment and lack of candor” in her handling of the cases of bishops Robert W. Duncan, John-David Schofield and William Cox, and that she “subverted” the “fundamental polity” of The Episcopal Church in the matter of the Diocese of San Joaquin.

Prepared by an attorney on behalf of a consortium of bishops and church leaders seeking legal counsel over the canonical implications of the Presiding Bishop’s recent actions, it is unclear whether a critical mass of support will form behind the report’s recommendations for any action to be taken, persumably as a violation of the Presiding Bishop’s ordination vows. Title IV, Canon 3, Section 23a requires the consent of three bishops, or 10 or more priests, deacons and communicants “of whom at least two shall be priests. One priest and not less than six lay persons shall be of the diocese of which the respondent is canonically resident.” Victims of sexual misconduct and the Presiding Bishop also may bring charges before the Title IV [disciplinary] Review Committee. Title IV, Canon 3, Section 27 specifies that the Presiding Bishop appoints the five bishops to the Review Committee and the president of the House of Deputies appoints the two members of the clergy and two lay members. A spokeswoman said the Presiding Bishop was unable to respond to the charges as she had not yet seen the memorandum.

The Rev. Ephraim Radner, a member of the Anglican Covenant Design Group, said he found the matters addressed by the brief troubling. The lack of a common understanding of the church’s constitution and canons was “tearing apart our very episcopate and the credibility of our church’s ability to make formal decisions,” he said

The 7,000-word memorandum states it does not address issues of doctrine under Title 4, Canon 1, Section 1c, but limits its review to the “recent actions she has taken against bishops Cox, Schofield and Duncan and the Diocese of San Joaquin.”

The paper argues the Presiding Bishop “failed to seek the inhibition of Bishop Cox as required by [Title IV, Canon 9].” This failure was not a “technical issue that could be waived,” but was an “important procedural protection that is integral” to the use of the canon. Nor did she comply with the requirement that the bishop be given timely notice of the legal proceedings, as the Presiding Bishop withheld notice for seven months.

By not inhibiting Bishop Cox during the two-month period she gave him for denying the charges, the Presiding Bishop was also creating “new procedures” for deposing bishops. The 60-day notice to deny the charges applies only to an “inhibited bishop,” according to the memorandum. Bishop Jefferts Schori had made the same error in her treatment of Bishop Duncan, the document noted.

Bringing Bishop Cox before the House of Bishops without securing his inhibition first also violated Title IV, Canon 9, Section 2, the memorandum said, as “a bishop who has not been inhibited is not ‘liable to deposition’ under this canon.”

To suggest that the provision of Section 2 of the Canon: “Otherwise, it shall be the duty of the Presiding Bishop to present the matter to the House of Bishops at the next regular, or special meeting of the House,” was “nonsensical,” the paper argued for “if the ‘Otherwise’ sentence deals with uninhibited bishops such as Bishop Cox (and Duncan), there is no provision under which the Presiding Bishop is authorized to depose an inhibited bishop such as Bishop Schofield. No rule of legal interpretation permits such a nonsensical result.”

The Presiding Bishop’s deposition of Bishops Cox and Schofield was done without the “necessary consent” of the House of Bishops. “The conclusion that the requisite consent was not given is irrefutable” as the “plain meaning” of the words of the canon, as well as voting procedures detailed in other parts of the Constitution and Canons do not permit the interpretation interposed by the Presiding Bishop’s chancellor, the paper said

Concerning the Diocese of San Joaquin, the Presiding Bishop’s announcement that she did not recognize the “duly elected” diocesan standing committee violated Articles IV and II.3 of the church’s constitution and repudiated her duties under [Title I, Canon 2, Section 4(a)(3)] which permits her only to “consult” with the diocesan ecclesiastical authority in the event of an episcopal vacancy.

The appointment of “representatives and vicars” to act in San Joaquin violated Article II.3 of the church’s constitution, the document stated, while the convening of a special convention in San Joaquin and installation of Bishop Jerry Lamb as the provisional bishop violated Article II.3 and Title III, Canon 13.

“The violations with respect to Bishops Cox and Duncan, although willful and repeated, pertained primarily to individual bishops. The violations with respect to [San Joaquin] however, subvert the governance of an entire diocese and go to the heart of TEC’s polity as a ‘fellowship of duly constituted dioceses’ governed under Article II.3 by bishops who are not under a metropolitan or archbishop,” the legal memorandum concluded.

The procedural difficulties in bringing this matter to adjudication were formidable, the paper argued, as the “ability of the complainants to hold accountable the Presiding Bishop or another bishop thus ends at the [Title IV] Review Committee.”

The authors of the legal memorandum were not optimistic the current legal and political environment within the church would be conducive for a conviction. The Title IV committee could issue a presentment, it could decline to issue a presentment and “produce a rationale that is persuasive to most objective observers,” or it could “decline to issue a presentment on grounds that are not persuasive and serve only to discredit the Review Committee and the process as well as the respondent,” it said.

This third outcome is “highly likely,” the paper concluded, but it noted the effort should nonetheless be made to hold the institution “accountable.”

The Anglican Church in Zimbabwe has called upon the Anglican Communion to mark this Sunday, April 27, as a day of prayer for the strife-torn Central African nation.

Meanwhile, The Archbishop of Cape Town has called upon the United Nations Security Council to impose an arms embargo upon Zimbabwe.

In a statement released on April 22, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba also criticized the foreign policy strategy of President Thabo Mkeki, saying the South African leader’s efforts were failing the people of Zimbabwe.

The Chancellor of the Diocese of Harare, and Vice-Chancellor of the Province of Central Africa, Robert Stumbles, said a “desperate cry from the hearts of Zimbabwe screams across the world.”

The Church called upon all Christians to pray and reflect “on the critical situation in Zimbabwe, a nation in dire distress and teetering on the brink of human disaster.”

“Let the cry for help touch your heart and mind,” the statement said, urging “everyone anxious to rescue Zimbabwe from violence, the concealing and juggling of election results, deceit, oppression and corruption” to pray for “righteousness, joy, peace, compassion, honesty, justice, democracy and freedom from fear and want.”

On April 22 the leaders of all of Zimbabwe’s main Christian churches released a statement condemning the growing anarchy and violence within the country in the wake of the March 29 General Elections.

“We warn the world that if nothing is done to help the people of Zimbabwe from their predicament, we shall soon be witnessing genocide similar to that experienced in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and other hot spots in Africa and elsewhere,” the leaders of the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Zimbabwe Council of Churches said.

“We appeal to the Southern African Development Community, the African Union and the UN to work towards arresting the deteriorating political and security situation in Zimbabwe,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, a South African court has granted the Bishop of Natal and a church group an emergency order banning the transshipment of Chinese weapons from the port of Durban to Zimbabwe.

On April 18 lawyers for Bishop Rubin Phillip and Patrick Kearney, executive director of the Diakonia Council of Churches, presented a petition to Durban High Court Judge Kate Pillay asking her to bar the shipment of Chinese weapons destined for the Zimbabwe security forces.

According to the bill of lading for the Chinese flagged freighter An Yue Jiang,the cargo destined for Zimbabwe’s security forces included three million rounds of 7.62mm bullets - the calibre used in AK47 assault rifles and 69 rocket-propelled grenade launchers with munitions.

The new archbishop’s statements on Zimbabwe mark a new era in church-state relations in South Africa, with a new generation coming to fore with less ties to the African National Congress (ANC). While former Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane would challenge the ANC government’s health and development polices, critics charged he backed the government’s hands off policies toward the Mugabe regime.

“The plight of the people of Zimbabwe is heart-breaking,” Archbishop Makgoba said. “Already bruised, broken and crushed by oppression and economic hardship before the elections, they are now even more divided, despondent and, in many cases, hopeless than they were before.”

The Canadian House of Bishops has rebuffed a request from the breakaway Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) to negotiate a settlement of property disputes, saying the national church has no power to act.

Property issues “are always resolved within dioceses” Archbishop Fred Hiltz said following the April 15-18 meeting in Niagara Falls, Ontario. “I don’t hold any title to property. General Synod doesn’t hold any title to property,” explained the Canadian church leader.

Bishop Don Harvey of ANiC said he was disappointed the bishops would chose litigation over dialogue, but was not surprised. “I had hoped the Primate would have attempted to facilitate negotiations between the dioceses and the Anglican Network parishes.” Four parishes in British Columbia and Ontario are currently in court with their dioceses, and more lawsuits are expected from dioceses seeking to regain control of breakaway congregations.

On April 11, Bishop Harvey wrote Archbishop Hiltz seeking a meeting with national church leaders and bishops “to discuss the possibility of pursuing alternate dispute resolution mechanisms (i.e. negotiation, mediation or arbitration) to address the outstanding issues”

“It would be much better for everyone concerned if we could work out some interim arrangements between ourselves without the necessity of resorting to the civil courts,” he said.

However, Archbishop Hiltz said it was too late. “Our hope has been that we would be able to resolve our differences outside of court,” Archbishop Hiltz told the Anglican Journal, however once dioceses began suing clergy and congregations, it altered the equation. “We can’t be weighing in once the processes are started,” he said.

In other business, the House of Bishops meeting held closed door discussions on the church’s divisions over homosexuality. At the end of their meeting, the bishops released a statement affirming their “shared episcopal ministry” scheme that would allow alternative pastoral oversight for traditionalists at odds with liberal bishops.

Conservative Canadian bishops told the Anglican Journal they would “continue to try to take a stand. What people mean is they want to know orthodox bishops will faithfully represent orthodox positions on the faith both in what we say in this house and how we vote and also when we are back home in our own dioceses.”

Suffragan Bishop Larry Robertson of the Arctic explained that conservative bishops would continue to witness to the faith within the structures of the Anglican Church of Canada. ” If I believe homosexual behaviour is wrong and that any form of sin leads us away from God, then the loving, caring pastoral way is to say ‘You have to change your ways.’ The pastoral way is to make a person whole.”

The President of Southern Sudan has challenged the new Primate of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul of Juba, to help his government unify the country in the wake of the decades old civil war with the Islamist government in Khartoum.

In a speech delivered at the enthronement ceremony held April 20 at All Saints Cathedral in Juba, President Salva Kiir Mayardit called upon the church to embark on a campaign of school and hospital building, and to help the government establish social services for the war torn country.

The former leader of the military wing of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), who also serves as Vice-President of the Sudan, President Kiir also urged the church to back plans for the first comprehensive census of the Sudan since Anglo-Egyptian colonial rule.

A component of the 2005 peace treaty that ended hostilities between the Arab-Muslim North and Christian/Animist African South, the census will help allocate seats in the national legislature and revenue from Sudan’s oilfields.

Scheduled to begin on April 22, the census has been delayed three times. Khartoum has balked at including questions on ethnicity and religion in the census. Last week South Sudan Information Minister Gabriel Changson Chang said that without information on race and religion the results “should not be used to determine the borders, the [2009 independence] referendum or to determine the wealth or power sharing, or to determine the cultural identity of the country.”

However President Kiir told the cathedral congregation that the Khartoum government had agreed to address issues of ethnicity and race separately soon after the census was concluded on May 6.

In his address, Archbishop Deng asked the South Sudanese president to use his efforts to resolve the Abyei border dispute, which left the provinces of Abyei, the Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains under the administration of North Sudan, while being ethnically and religiously part of South Sudan.

He also pressed President Kiir to help halt the expropriation of church property by the Khartoum government. In recent months it had expropriated Roman Catholic properties in Khartoum, a church in El Obeid and had tried to seize the diocesan offices in Omdurman.

“The government of national unity has also ventured to confiscate the Christians cemetery [in Khartoum] and distribute it for commercial purpose. What kind of human being could do such a thing?”, he said according to an account printed in the Sudan Tribune.

Joined by 22 diocesan and 3 suffragan bishops, the Primate of Rwanda, Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini led the service for Archbishop Deng, telling the congregation that God had raised up a leader to guide the Church in a new era of independence and prosperity.

Published in The Church of England Newspaper

The Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem and the Church of Scotland have executed an ecumenical partnership agreement to foster Christian minister in Israel and Palestine. Representatives of the Church of Scotland’s World Mission Council led by the Rev. Colin Renwick met with the Rt. Rev. Suhaeil Dawani from April 4-6 at St. George’s Cathedral in East Jerusalem and St. Andrew’s Scots Memorial Church in West Jerusalem to resurrect the partnership which in recent years had been left fallow.

The agreement committed the Anglican and Presbyterian churches in the Holy Land to “revive and reactivate our partnership in the faith, witness and service of our churches and institutions in the region” and to develop joint congregations in Jaffa and Tiberias as well as promoting the twining of Scottish and Palestinian congregations and pulpit exchanges.

The two churches will also create a “joint institution in Tiberias for interfaith dialogue, peace and reconciliation,” as well as merge the operations of their “pilgrimage tours”.

Bishop Suheil challenged the Presbyterian Church to focus its work in the region on “peace, justice, healing and reconciliation” and called it “to teach and educate all people to accept each other, urging the practice of interfaith fellowship and dialogue.”

“We have created a small joint working group to take our partnership plans forward,” the communiqué said, and are “greatly encouraged by our fellowship together, and delighted to pursue together our shared faith and partnership in Christ’s work and the building up of his Church.”

St. George’s Memorial Church in Baghdad came under rocket fire on Thursday evening, the vicar of Baghdad Canon Andrew White reports.

All of the church’s windows were blown out by the blast and the church, built in the 1930’s to commemorate British war dead in the Mesopotamian Campaign of the First World War, sustained some structural damage in the April 17 attack.

However, Canon White reports there were no injuries from the attack.

“This in itself is a miracle- the church was full at the time, with people attending our Thursday prayer meeting. It is indeed a miracle. It will cost us to get the damage repaired, but we are so grateful that nobody was injured, or worse,” he said in an email from Iraq.

Canadian theologian James I Packer and eight other evangelical clergymen have issued a statement affirming they have not abandoned the Anglican Communion by seceding from the Diocese of New Westminster and the oversight of Bishop Michael Ingham.

Writing in response to Bishop Ingham’s “Notice of Presumption of Abandonment of the Exercise of the Ministry” the nine priests and deacons on April 21 said they it was their “intention to remain members of the Anglican Church,” but under the jurisdiction of a different Province of the Communion.

In February Bishop Ingham served notice on the six clergy after their congregations voted to quit the Anglican Church of Canada and affiliate with the Anglican Network in Canada under the jurisdiction of Presiding Bishop Gregory Venables of the Southern Cone.

The six wrote that Bishop Ingham’s Notice had failed to affect their status on moral, canonical and legal grounds. The Notice was insufficient under Canadian canon law, they explained as it did not enumerate the grounds for their alleged abandonment. However, they acknowledged that they had quit the Anglican Church of Canada as it, and Bishop Ingham had “departed from historic orthodox Anglican teaching and practice in defiance of the Lambeth Conference, the Windsor Report and the Primates of the global Anglican Communion.”

In order to be faithful to their “ordination vows, we must leave your jurisdiction, and by this letter, we hereby relinquish the licences we hold from the Bishop of New Westminster. Each of us will receive a licence to continue our present parish ministries from Bishop Donald Harvey, who, as you know, is under the jurisdiction of the Primate of the Southern Cone. In this way, we will be able to continue our Anglican ministry within the Anglican Church, under the jurisdiction of and in communion with those who remain faithful to historic, orthodox Anglicanism and as part of the Anglican Communion worldwide,” they said.

The conservative clergymen’s response to Bishop Ingham, came the same day as a protest from Bishop Ingham and Canadian Archbishop Fred Hiltz over a scheduled visit by Bishop Venables to the breakaway congregations on April 25-26.

“Your visit to Canada is without any reference to or consent from my office or that of the bishop of the diocese of New Westminster. This represents a breach in what is considered normative in protocol among primates and bishops throughout the Communion,” Archbishop Hiltz wrote.

Bishop Venables noted Archbishop Hiltz’s request to “stop interfering in the life of this province” was not germane as the congregations were not members of the Anglican Church of Canada.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams has welcomed the Good Childhood Inquiry panel to Lambeth Palace, participating in its investigation of good childhood practices for Britain.

The work of the panel, set up by the Children’s Society, comes amidst concerns over a growing breakdown in family life. On April 14, a cross party parliamentary inquiry led by former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith reported that the breakdown of family life was creating a permanent “under class” in Britain.

In some areas of Britain, sixty percent of families were without fathers. The lack of social and parental interaction was leading to a generation of children doomed to dysfunction, Mr. Duncan Smith said.

“The evidence shows if a child is born into a home where they are nurtured, where conversation takes place, where they are read to, even at an age where they can’t understand, what happens is that the child’s brain develops.”

“If they don’t have any of that, if they are not challenged, if they’re sat in front of a TV for hours and hours on end, if there’s anger and shouting, if they witness their mother being abused or some boyfriend takes a dislike to them, then studies show that child will arrive at nursery school often not able to speak properly,” Mr. Duncan Smith said.

These neglected children fall behind their peers, and are “likely to end up involved in crime or drugs,” he said.

To stem the societal dysfunction identified by Mr. Duncan Smith’s inquiry the Children’s Society’s Good Childhood Inquiry seeks to initiate a debate on what makes for a good childhood and to shape future government policy. Dr. Williams said he was “grateful” for the opportunity of hearing “how their work has been progressing” and looked forward to the publication of their report on April 24. “This is a timely and significant Inquiry, which will be of great value and resource to those looking to shape future policy for children and young people,” he said.

The chief executive of the Children’s Society, Bob Reitemeier, reported the Inquiry had heard from 15,000 people, including 10,000 children. “Rethinking childhood is one of the most important issues facing the UK. We’re extremely grateful for the Archbishop’s insights on childhood and his participation in the Inquiry which has helped us shape the debate around childhood,” he said on April 7.

The Australian House of Bishops has agreed to an informal “flying bishops” protocol, granting traditionalists opposed to the ministrations of women bishops alternative episcopal oversight.

Circulated amongst the bishops before the meeting by the Archbishop of Adelaide, adoption of the protocol was a prerequisite for the appointment of Australia’s first woman bishop. On April 11, the day after the protocol was announced, Perth Archbishop Roger Herft appointed Archdeacon Kay Goldsworthy as his suffragan.

The new bishop will be consecrated on May 22 and will attend July’s Lambeth Conference. She will join women bishops from New Zealand, Canada, the United States and Cuba in the gathering of the Communion’s 900 bishops. While the Australian Church’s appellate tribunal last year held there was no legal disqualification of women bishops, the bishops had agreed not to move forward until they had discussed the ramifications of the issue.

Reactions to Archdeacon Goldsworthy’s appointment were mixed. The Bishop of Northwest Australia announced that he would not permit the new bishop to officiate in his diocese, while the president of the Sydney-based Anglican Church League, Dr Mark Thomson said the Perth decision added a new level of difficulty to the relationship between the various dioceses in the Australia and raised questions of doctrine and discipline for those committed to “living out” the teaching of Scripture.

Bishop-elect Goldsworthy said she did not believe the move would split the church in Australia. “Women were first made bishops over 20 years ago in the Anglican Communion and the communion has continued to work,” she noted.

The bishops’ Women in the Episcopate protocol stated that they “recognised the good faith of those in the church who support the new development of women bishops and of those who find that they cannot do so.”

“They resolved to nurture the highest possible level of collegiality as bishops in the future,” the statement said, and they “agreed to make special provision in situations where the ministry of a woman bishop would not be welcome.”

The Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen said he was “pleased that there has been considerable goodwill during the formation of these protocols.”

An opponent of women bishops, Dr. Jensen said “action was needed to protect the consciences of those who believe, as we do, that the consecration of women bishops is against biblical teaching. There are strongly-held convictions which separate us but we have endeavoured to find a way forward with courtesy and respect.”

India’s Supreme Court has overturned a state court ruling banning Christian aid agencies from assisting victims of the Christmas pogrom in Orissa.

“This is a big victory for the churches,” the Church of North India’s Bishop Samson Das of Cuttack said. “The people have suffered like anything during last few months.”

“We are happy that at last our right to help suffering people has been upheld,” said the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bhubaneswar, Msg. Raphael Cheenath, who observed the proceedings in the New Delhi courtroom.

A week of anti-Christian violence by Hindu militants left over 100 churches destroyed, hundreds of homes burned, and forced several thousand Christians into refugee camps and into the jungle for safety.

On Jan 11, the District Collector of Kandhamal, the administrative magistrate for the area torn by violence, issued an order banning Christian aid groups and NGOs from undertaking relief work, arguing this would further inflame sectarian tensions. The state supreme court upheld his order on Jan 28 following an appeal by the Human Rights Law Network and the Catholic Church.

On April 9 the Indian Supreme Court stayed the District Collector’s order, effectively opening the region to relief efforts.

Dr. John Dayal, the president of the All India Catholic Union charged the state government had been “strangely silent and utterly inactive on this issue. No rehabilitation or relief policy has been announced” and the government’s relief effort “appears to be at a standstill.”

He charged the District Collector and the Orissa state government with siding with the Hindu militants, whom he said were “roaming free” and continuing to terrorize Christian villagers.

“To say that some persons would be upset because victims of a communal riot were getting relief is quite irrational to say the least,” he charged. And if Hindu militants were “upset because relief is being provided to the victims it is the duty of the state government to keep such communal elements under control rather than use them to prevent relief reaching the victim community,” Dr. Dayal said.

The Bishop of Colombo has called upon all “right minded people” to condemn the murder of a government minister and over a dozen athletes in Sri Lanka’s latest sectarian terror attack.

On April 6 the minister for roads Jeyaraj Fernandopulle was killed in a bomb blast that also took the lives of a number of athletes, coaches and policemen. “A sporting event planned to build community ended with an abrupt and violent shattering of community,” Bishop Duleep de Chickera said.

Fernandopulle (pictured) and 13 others were killed by a bomb that exploded at the start of a marathon outside Colombo. “This is most likely the work of the LTTE [Tamil Tigers],” Bishop de Chickera said, as it “follows closely on the Fort Railway Station Bombing” in which “several young schoolboy sportsmen from D S Senanayake College were killed.”

“The massacre of the innocents anywhere, benefits no just cause and has no place whatsoever in any agenda for dignity and peace for Sri Lankans,” the bishop said, as “such provocative acts of violence spread fear, suspicion and anger. They further widen the gap between our communities and further reduce whatever chances may have existed for peace conversations.”

In January the ceasefire with the rebels collapsed, and fighting between the majority Sinhalese government and Tamil rebels returned. Since 2005 over 8,000 people have died in the fighting and an estimated one million have been displaced.

Bishop de Chickera called upon the government and the rebels to return to the bargaining table and find a negotiated settlement. “No substantial democratic political agenda for peace and development will ever be achieved until this is done,” he said.

Indian president Pratibha Patil

The Church of North India has welcomed assurances from the governor of Rajasthan that he would block an anti-conversion bill passed by the state legislature.

Speaking at All Saints Cathedral in Ajmer, Gov. Shailendra Kumar Singh said India’s secular government respected “all religions equally.” Last month the Hindu nationalist BJP party, which controls the Rajasthan state assembly, passed a bill over the protests of the opposition Congress Party prohibiting conversions to Christianity by “use of force, allurement or fraudulent means.”

Those found guilty of procuring “fraudulent” conversions would be jailed for up to five years and face a fine of £600.

“Some religious and other institutions, bodies and individuals are found to the involved in unlawful conversion from one religion to another by allurement or by fraudulent means or forcibly which at times has caused annoyance in the community belonging to the other religion,” stated the bill. “In order to curb such illegal activities and to maintain harmony amongst persons of various religions, it has been considered expedient to enact a special law for the purpose.”

However social harmony between faiths “could be brought only through our good behavior and not by bills and legislation,” Gov. Singh told the Easter congregation.

Drawing from the Bhagavad Gita, Gov. Singh noted that the Hindu god Krishna had told Prince Arjuna that all are equal in society, and that one’s true “dharma,” or right way of living, is to fulfill one’s responsibilities.

The free practice of one’s faith “brings mutual confidence,” he noted, and would “create an atmosphere of love and brotherhood.”

The Bishop in Rajasthan, the Rt. Rev. Collin Theodore said the Governor’s words “came as a reassurance” as Christian leaders in the northwestern Indian state fear the new law would be used to persecute missionaries.

“We hope the governor means what he said. We have high hopes on him,” Bishop Theodore stated, according to Indian press accounts.

In 2006 the BJP controlled assembly passed an anti-conversion bill which was rejected by the then-Governor Pratibha Patil (pictured), who was elected President of India in 2007. Five Indian states: Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat, Arunachal Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh have adopted anti-conversion bills at the behest of Hindu nationalist parties, who fear that a rising tide of Christian conversions could render Hinduism a minority religion in India.

“Problems of fanaticism, terrorism and secessionism have always arisen in the areas where Hindus were reduced to minority by large-scale conversions,” BJP legislator Nand Kishore Garg said in support of the Rajasthan bill.