At Friday’s convention, officials passed five resolutions quickly and overwhelmingly. Four pertained directly or indirectly to the current crisis.

Barbara Mann, president of the Episcopal Forum of South Carolina, a group of about 500 who advocate loyalty to the Episcopal Church, said she was saddened by the antagonistic tone of the convention.

“I think what disturbed me most was the battle language,” she said. “They have separated themselves even more from the Episcopal Church.”

Mostly, the resolutions were restatements of existing positions or angry expressions of concern, Mann said. But she interpreted the call for “a generous pastoral response to parishes in conflict” with the church to signify a willingness on the part of the bishop to permit dissenting parishes to leave the church.

Jim Lewis, the diocese’s canon to the ordinary, said the language simply means that the bishop has discretion to exercise his authority over these parishes as he sees fit.

Read it all.

And the converse of this observation will be a strengthening of the hand of Bishop Lawrence. For now we see, by the settlement as communicated, the wisdom of his announced policy of not trying to alienate any further the parishes which had already become alienated from ECUSA. I predict that the settlement in Waccamaw Neck, when its details become public, will bear out fully the wisdom of Bishop Lawrence’s announced intention to lower the heat against realigning parishes, and those thinking about realignment — and to deal with the problem as Christians, guided by the words of St. Paul. This development will, in its turn, further undercut 815’s disastrous litigation strategy, and light the way to further and future settlements along the same lines, as I suggested some time ago might be possible in this post.

As an attorney, I am always happy when clients and their opponents agree to bury the hatchet. But as the Chancellor for an Episcopal Church, I am doubly happy when my fellow Christians see the wisdom in the words of St. Paul. And I am triply happy for all the good parishioners of the Diocese of South Carolina, who are most fortunate to have a godly bishop who is blazing the way for all other Episcopalians to follow — and who (not deliberately, of course, but simply out of his sheer willingness to follow in the footsteps of St. Paul) is pointing up the un-Christianlike and scripturally invalid policies being followed by the Presiding Bishop.

Godspeed, Bishop Lawrence! Godspeed, the Diocese of South Carolina, and both of the parishes of All Saints Waccamaw! Blessings be upon you, now and unto all future generations, and may your light so shine before other Episcopalians that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father, which is in Heaven.

Read it all.

Some very encouraging news indeed– Read it all.

St. Paul’s Church of Visalia has chosen to fight attempts by the Episcopal Church to seize its property including the stately 60-year-old brick church complex at Hall and Main Streets.

The Rev. Richard James, pastor of St. Paul’s Anglican Church, said the Fresno law firm of Penner, Bradley and Simonian has been hired to represent the St. Paul’s congregation in court.

“This move was necessitated by legal action taken against St. Paul’s by the Episcopal Church and the Rev. Jerry Lamb Bishop of the newly formed Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin. .Lamb is seeking claim to St. Paul’s property for a small group which broke away from the congregation after it voted by a large majority to remain a part of the original Diocese of the San Joaquin, said James.

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Read it all.

Members and clergy of various local Episcopal and Anglican congregations say they are doing just fine, some of them boasting church growth in numbers of congregants, quality of fellowship and worship, or both, despite ongoing litigation over church property to which both the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin lay claim.

The rector of All Saints Anglican Church, the Rev. John Riebe, said pending litigation does not worry him or his flock of 140 who attend two Sunday services. “The church is the people. It’s not the building,” he said. “We honestly believe that this is the Lord’s property and we are stewards of the Lord’s property. If we’re asked to give it up to find other property to work with, then that’s what we’ll do.”

He said only about five people left All Saints when “the separation” took place in December of 2008. “We have continued to see slow but steady growth. We have not had any decline as a result” of the split, he said.

“It’s a very thriving, energetic, Episcopal parish,” Grace Congregation member Mary Webb said about her church during the social hour following a recent Lenten service attended by about 65 worshippers. “We are very much alive and well. There are legal battles over property, but we move on.”

Read it all.

Rather wonderfully the Catholic church came to the rescue offering the abandoned congregation a place in which to worship. That congregation has since doubled, a clear sign of God’s blessing, wheras the church that remained has dwindled and died. Now for the really revealing part of this very shoddy episode”¦.

”¦having claimed that those leaving were not able to uphold the desires of the church founders the Diocese of New York has spitefully sold the building, at a third of the cost the congregation were offering, to the Muslims! How truly shameful that the Episcopal authorities were so full of hatred and malice that they could stoop to such depths.

Read it all.

One running theme in recent comments here, but also for a long time now on many blogs, is the plea to see some real discipline of TEC. Something which did not occur with any substance after 2003 (the closest was the suspension of TEC for one ACC meeting at which its suspended members were observers), and something which should now happen with the Glasspool confirmation. So the argument goes, and it is an argument with merit because the Glasspool confirmation has a deeper significance than being the confirmation of a partnered lesbian person to be a bishop. That deeper significance is this: following Gene Robinson’s consecration a series of restrained decisions on the part of TEC’s GC meant that there was plausible argument in response to calls to discipline TEC that TEC might not actually be walking apart from the Communion, the Robinson consecration being a temporary diversion from the one path of Anglican polity; now however TEC has effectively announced that no temporary diversion has taken place, it is walking apart from the Communion.

Actually I want to suggest it is walking apart from the Communion in two ways. The first is walking apart from the common direction in the Communion, that Anglican bishops who are neither single nor married are living contradictory to Scripture and tradition. The second is walking apart from an emerging direction that the Anglican Communion cannot remain as it is, essentially a meeting point of Anglicans, but must move forward to becoming a worldwide church. To me it is inescapable that a consequence of the Glasspool confirmation is confirmation that TEC under no circumstances will be beholden to any authority larger than itself and thus is deeply opposed to any movement of the Communion towards becoming a worldwide church.

Read it all.

Read it all.

Church of the Good Shepherd in Binghamton New York. (Been there many times. About one hour south of Ithaca and Cornell University.) One of the few growing and thriving Episcopal parishes in the diocese heck in the state. They left the Diocese of Central New York. They tried to keep their property. They were sued. They lost.

The family was abruptly evicted from the parsonage. The church building was closed. (People who came looking for the soup kitchen hoping for something to eat had to look elsewhere. That is an important point. I will come back to this.)

The Episcopal Church sold the building to Muslims.

Who paid one third what the Church of the Good Shepherd was offering. (There is some question about whether they had the funds to make that offer but that is not the most important issue here.)

To Muslims.

See those nasty traditional Anglicans do not believe in same-sex relations. They do not believe in women in ministry. Oh wait they do because the rector’s wife was associate pastor so I guess they do believe in women priests….

Read it all.

Take the time to read it all as well as looking at the pictures and there is a lot more there.

This was an accident waiting to happen. In a way it is almost surprising that it took seven years from the ordination of Gene Robinson, a partnered gay man, as bishop of New Hampshire, for a second such incident to occur. That event has been seen as tearing the fabric of the Anglican Communion, which has been held together in little more than name ever since. Is this the final nail in the coffin? Will the Anglican Communion be torn apart by intractable divisions?

The fourth Anglican Global South to South Encounter is set to take place in Singapore, April 19-23. The current situation in the Episcopal Church is not their principal focus. Yet they represent the large and growing majority of Anglicans in the world, and the primates (archbishops) and others who will be present are unequivocally committed to Resolution 1.10 of the 1998 Lambeth conference of bishops, which remains the official position of the Anglican Communion….

Many of the provinces (national church bodies) represented at this Global South encounter are already out of communion with the Episcopal Church or in “impaired communion”. Please pray for these godly brothers and sisters as they prepare for this important gathering.

Pray also for the Archbishop of Canterbury, and also for the godly bishops who still remain in the Episcopal Church, such as our own Visitor Bishop, Russell Jacobus of the Diocese of Fond du Lac. And let us believe that the God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead is more than able to bring light into this dark turn of events, to bring good out of evil, and breathe life into a culture of death.

Read it all.

From here:

This is a clear rejection of the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the Primates’ Meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council.

We believe that it is vitally important for the Primates’ Meeting planned for January 2011 to go ahead, and that for this to happen the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church should not be invited to attend. Actions have consequences.

Suspended Episcopal Bishop Charles E. Bennison Jr. will get his last chance to make a case for reinstatement as head of the Diocese of Pennsylvania when he goes before a church appeals court in May.

In September 2008, a lower church court found Bennison guilty on two counts of failing to respond adequately when, as a new rector decades ago, he learned that his younger brother was having sexual relations with a minor.

John Bennison had been youth minister at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Upland, Calif. The abuse began when the girl, a member of the parish, was 14.

Read it all.

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s office yesterday described the election of an openly lesbian bishop in the United States as “regrettable” and warned that it could further threaten the unity of the Anglican Communion.

The London office of Dr Rowan Williams responded to the election of Canon Mary Glasspool to a suffragan see in Los Angeles by warning of “important implications”. The statement from Lambeth Palace said that further consultations would now take place and regretted that calls for restraint had not been heeded.

The Episcopal News Service reported that Canon Glasspool, who held from the start that her sexuality was not an issue, had received the necessary consents from bishops and standing committees in the US for her consecration by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori to go ahead in May.

Read it all.

Last night it was confirmed that the Rev Mary Glasspool, who has been with her partner, Becki Sander, for 22 years, had received the required number of votes from bishops and standing committees. Her consecration will take place on 15 Mayin Los Angeles.

Glasspool, from Baltimore, welcomed the news but admitted that not everybody would share in her happiness.

“Not everyone rejoices in this election and consent, and [I] will work, pray, and continue to extend my own hands and heart to bridge those gaps, and strengthen the bonds of affection among all people.”

The archbishop of Sydney said the US church had “committed itself to a life contrary to scripture” and that the communion had reached “another decisive moment”.

Read it all.

The Episcopal Church of the USA, the most liberal province within the Anglican Communion, had been under pressure not to allow the Rev Mary Glasspool to become Assistant Bishop of Los Angeles.

Its leaders had been warned personally by Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, not to take any decisions that would deepen the crisis over sexuality within the worldwide church.

But bishops and dioceses across the national church have now approved the consecration of Miss Glasspool, after she was elected last year, and a ceremony has been scheduled for May 15th. She and the Rev Diane Bruce will become the first women bishops in Los Angeles.

Read it all.

Read it all.

It is regrettable that the appeals from Anglican Communion bodies for continuing gracious restraint have not been heeded. Following the Los Angeles election in December the Archbishop made clear that the outcome of the consent process would have important implications for the Communion. The Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion reiterated these concerns in its December resolution which called for the existing moratoria to be upheld. Further consultation will now take place about the implications and consequences of this decision.

[At the present time]… the communion’s 38 national provinces are also debating a “covenant” aimed at settling disputes between liberals and conservatives. But Williams is seen as “increasingly irrelevant” for the future of the Episcopal Church, said the Rev. Jo Bailey Wells, who directs the Anglican/Episcopal House of Studies at Duke Divinity School.

“The Episcopal Church, by its actions, is demonstrating that it no longer values its place under the historic headship of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and therefore the Anglican Communion,” Wells said.

The confirmation of a second openly gay bishop is even more significant than the first, Wells said, since the consequences””widespread dissent in the communion and persecution of Anglicans in countries where homosexuality is reviled””are clear.

But gay and lesbian Episcopalians celebrated on Wednesday, and hinted that more traditional barriers may soon fall, as gay rectors, bishops and weddings become more common.

“We are past the turning point and the forecast for full inclusion in the Episcopal Church is brighter than ever before,” said the Rev. David Norgard, president of the pro-gay group Integrity.

Read it all.

The Episcopal Church has confirmed the election of an Annapolis priest as the first openly lesbian bishop in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The Rev. Mary Douglas Glasspool, who has served in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland since 1992, said Wednesday that she was “overjoyed and overwhelmed” by news that a majority of bishops and diocesan committees had approved her election as assistant bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles.

“And grateful,” she added. “I’m grateful to so many people, and to God.”

When she is consecrated in May, Glasspool will become the first openly gay bishop in the 77 million-member Anglican Communion since the 2003 election of V. Gene Robinson in New Hampshire brought a decades-long divide over homosexuality within the church out into the open.

Read it all.

“Glasspool’s election is unfortunate because she has unapologetically taken sexual expression outside of the God-ordained boundary of Holy Matrimony. In the view of the wider Anglican Communion, this practice makes her unqualified to serve in the role of a bishop.

“Glasspool’s election is the next step in the Episcopal Church’s liberalizing trajectory. After revoking a moratorium on the consecration of non-celibate homosexual bishops during its July General Convention, the denomination made clear that it was going to proceed on this route, despite protests from other Anglicans.

“Consent to Glasspool’s election by the Episcopal Church shows how little the U.S.-based denomination cares about what other parts of the global Anglican Communion believe.

Read it all.

From here:

Today is a great day for the cause of justice and the ministry of reconciliation in The Episcopal Church. We have received word from the Presiding Bishop’s Office that the consent process has been completed for the election of the Rev. Canon Mary Douglas Glasspool as Bishop Suffragan in the Diocese of Los Angeles.

I rejoice that a majority of Bishops and Standing Committees have seen in Canon Glasspool what we have experienced in the Diocese of Maryland: that she is an exceptionally gifted pastor, administrator and spiritually-centered leader who will prove to be an outstanding member of the House of Bishops. While I know that many of our brothers and sisters cannot rejoice at the news of her election as a matter of conscience ”“ seeing it as a moral issue and not a ”˜rights’ issue ”“ I do pray that the whole Church will be open to the Spirit’s guidance as we all move forward together in light of this historic event. I believe that the time is now for us to remove old barriers and recommit ourselves to welcoming all of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Faithfully yours,
The Rt. Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton
Bishop of Maryland

Los Angeles Bishop J. Jon Bruno said he, too, was overjoyed, and called the election of the two women “historic.” He said the consenting votes by U.S. bishops and diocesan standing committees demonstrated “that the Episcopal Church, by canon, creates no barrier for ministry on the basis of gender and sexual orientation, among other factors.”

That decision by the church has led dozens of congregations to split off, some affiliating with more conservative Anglican churches overseas. The Episcopal Church remains part of the worldwide Communion but that body’s spiritual leader, Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, issued a warning to the U.S. church in December, saying that Glasspool’s election “raised very serious questions not just for the Episcopal Church and its place in the Anglican Communion, but for the Communion as a whole.”

David C. Anderson, president of the breakaway American Anglican Council, said the bishop’s election was a sign that the Episcopal Church “will not abide by traditional Christian and Anglican Communion teaching on marriage and sexuality.”

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With the election of the Reverend Mary Glasspool, a partnered lesbian,as a Bishop in Los Angeles in The Episcopal Church, the Anglican Communion reaches another decisive moment. It is now absolutely clear to all that the national Church itself has formally committed itself to a pattern of life which is contrary to Scripture. The election of Bishop Robinson in 2003 was not an aberration to be corrected in due course. It was a true indication of the heart of the Church and the direction of its affairs.

There have been various responses to the actions of TEC over the years. Some have been dramatic and decisive, such as the creation of the Anglican Church of North America, an ecclesiastical body recognized by the GAFCON Primates as genuinely Anglican. For others, however, the counsels of patience have prevailed and they have sought a change of heart and waited patiently for it to occur. Those who have sought a middle course may be found both inside and outside the American Church.

This is a decisive moment for this ”˜middle’ group. Their patience has been gentle and praiseworthy. But to wait longer would not be patience ”“ it would be obstinacy or even an unworthy anxiety. Two things need to be made clear. First, that they are unambiguously opposed to a development which sanctifies sin and which is an abrogation of the word of the living God. Second, that they will take sufficient action to distance themselves from those who have chosen to walk in the path of disobedience.

–(The Right Rev.) Peter F. Jensen is Archbishop of Sydney

A majority of bishops and dioceses of the Episcopal Church have approved the election of the church’s second openly gay bishop, the Rev. Mary D. Glasspool, a decision likely to increase the tension with fellow Anglican churches around the world that do not approve of homosexuality.

The worldwide Anglican Communion, the network of churches connected to the Church of England, has been in turmoil since the Americans elected their first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson, in New Hampshire in 2003. Theological conservatives in the Communion say that the Bible condemns homosexuality, while liberals say the Scripture is open to interpretation.

Ms. Glasspool is to be consecrated as one of two new assistant bishops, known as suffragan bishops, in Los Angeles on May 15. Both of those elected suffragan bishops are women ”” the first ever to serve in the Los Angeles diocese.

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The Episcopal Church has approved the election of a lesbian assistant bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles, making her the second openly gay bishop in the Anglican global fellowship, diocese officials said Wednesday.

Episcopal conservatives were quick to criticize the approval of the Rev. Mary Glasspool of Baltimore, who was elected last December, and said the move was “grieving the heart of God.”

Still, Glasspool’s victory underscored a continued Episcopal commitment to accepting same-sex relationships despite enormous pressure from other Anglicans to change their stand.

“I am … aware that not everyone rejoices in this election and consent, and will work, pray and continue to extend my own hands and heart to bridge those gaps, and strengthen the bonds of affection among all people, in the name of Jesus Christ,” Glasspool said in a printed statement.

Read it all.

The Chicago Consultation rejoices with friends across the Anglican Communion in the news that a majority of Standing Committees within the Episcopal Church has consented to the election of the Rev. Canon Mary D. Glasspool as suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles.

Canon Glasspool will become the first partnered lesbian bishop in the Church if she receives the consent of a majority of the diocesan bishops in the Church before the May 5 deadline.

“This is a happy day, and one that lay people, clergy and bishops across the Church have worked and prayed for,” said the Very Rev. Dr. Brian Baker, Dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Sacramento, a co-convener of the Chicago Consultation. “For too long, religion has been used to justify cultural prejudices against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christians. Slowly, but I hope surely, the Church is stepping out of that shadow and into God’s light. We urge bishops with jurisdiction to follow the lead of the church’s standing committees and consent to Canon Glasspool’s election without delay.”

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Integrity joins with the Diocese of Los Angeles in celebrating today’s announcement that sufficient consents have been received from both Standing Committees and bishops with jurisdiction to the election of the Reverend Canon Mary Glasspool as a bishop suffragan. We look forward to the May 15th ordination service where Canons Bruce and Glasspool will become the 16th and 17th women bishops in the history of the Episcopal Church and to the work and witness they will offer on behalf of the gospel, not only for the Diocese of Los Angeles but for the whole church.

“Integrity continues in its commitment to turn the resolutions of General Convention into realities on the ground for Episcopalians in every diocese,” said the Reverend David Norgard, Integrity President. “Today’s affirmation of the election of a superbly qualified candidate as a bishop in the Episcopal Church is good news not just for those who work for the fuller inclusion of the LGBT baptized, but for the whole church.”
“Today the Episcopal Church said ‘Amen’ to what the Holy Spirit did in Los Angeles in December when we elected Mary Glasspool,” said the Reverend Susan Russell, chair of the Diocesan Program Group on LGBT Ministry and Integrity’s immediate past president.. “I’ve never been prouder to be an Episcopalian or a daughter of the Diocese of Los Angeles–where we are ready to turn this election into an opportunity for evangelism.”

“Integrity is part of a nationwide campaign called ‘Believe Out Loud’–resourcing congregations to explicitly welcome LGBT people into their work and witness” said Louise Brooks, Integrity’s Communication Director and a resident of the Diocese of Los Angeles. “We are proud to be partners with those across this church and across the country committed to working on both national and local levels for full inclusion. And we believe the election of Mary Glasspool will be an inspiration, not just to those working in our churches, but to those standing outside of them wondering if they are truly welcome. The answer is, “Yes–come and see!”

“As openly gay and lesbian people become a common and unremarkable aspect of the cultural landscape,” said Norgard, “more and more bishops will ordain LGBT persons, more vestries will elect them to serve as rectors, more congregations will elect them to vestries, and most importantly, altar guilds will be setting up weddings for two grooms or two brides. We are past the turning point and the forecast for full inclusion in the Episcopal Church is brighter than ever before.”

The ordination service for the new bishops suffragan will be held on Saturday, May 15, 2010 beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the Long Beach Arena in Long Beach CA.