Following the sentencing to death of a pregnant Sudanese woman for refusing to abandon her Christian faith, the Anglican Archbishops of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia are calling on all people of good-will to raise their voices in protest.

Archbishops Brown Turei, Philip Richardson, and Winston Halapua, say it is hard to find words to describe the plight of the woman. The Archbishops believe people across all faiths, who seek charity, love, and justice, will find the court’s decision hateful and heartless

Meriam Ibrahim and her Christian husband were married in 2011. They have an 18-month-old son. A court, in the Sudan capital of Khartoum, has sentenced Meriam to flogging for marrying a non-Muslim and to death for abandoning the Muslim faith for Christianity.

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What does “recognise” mean?

Listen to it all (about 4 1/2 minutes). You may read more Philip Richardson there.

The Anglican Church has agreed to look at ways same-sex relationships can be part of church life, but will not marry gay couples.

The church’s General Synod, held at Waitangi this week, has decided to uphold the “traditional doctrine of marriage” but work towards ways to recognise committed same sex relationships.

In a statement, the church said the Synod recognised the pain to the LGTB community, and apologised unreservedly for the times the church had contributed to that pain.

A working party will now be appointed to look at options for same gender blessings, while mindful gay marriage is still unlawful in some Pacific countries.

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1. This General Synod/Te Hīnota Whānui resolves to appoint a working group to bring and recommend to the 62nd General Synod/Te Hīnota Whānui:

(a) A process and structure by which those who believe the blessing of same-gender relationships is contrary to scripture, doctrine, tikanga or civil law, will not be required to perform any liturgy for the blessing of same-gender relationships, will continue to have integrity within the Church, and will remain compliant with the parliamentary legislation within any relevant jurisdiction;

(b) A process and structure by which those who believe the blessing of same-gender relationships is consonant with scripture, doctrine, tikanga and civil law may perform a yet to be developed liturgy for blessing same-gender relationships in a manner which maintains their integrity within the Church, is compliant with the parliamentary legislation within any relevant jurisdiction, and can remain in communion under scripture, doctrine and law; including

(i) A proposal for a new liturgy to bless right ordered same-gender relationships;

(ii) A process and legislation (whether church or parliamentary) by which a new liturgy to bless right ordered same-gender relationships may be adopted…

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General Synod today passed a resolution that will create a pathway towards the blessing of same-gender relationships ”“ while upholding the traditional doctrine of marriage.

It will appoint a working group to report to the 2016 General Synod on “a process and structure” that would allow those clergy who wish to bless same-gender relationships ”“ using a yet-to-be developed liturgy ”“ to do so.

The working group will also be charged to develop “a process and structure” to ensure that clergy who believe that same sex blessings are contrary to “scripture, doctrine, tikanga or civil law” to remain fully free to dissent.

The “process and structure” in their case would mean these clergy would not only be exempt from performing these same-sex blessings ”“ but that their “integrity within the church” would be assured, and they would have full protection for their dissent in any relevant human rights legislation.

Synod has therefore upheld the traditional doctrine of marriage ”“ but also moved to find ways to respond to committed relationships between two people, regardless of gender.

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The plan, going into this General Synod, was that half of Monday would be devoted to consideration of the Ma Whea? report ”“ and that by afternoon tea time, a course of action would have emerged.

Instead, synod wrestled until its dinner break with the questions of same-sex blessing and ordination ”“ and then asked its order paper committee to find a slot in today’s schedule to resume the debate.

Until that process has concluded, there’s not a lot more that can be said. Because after yesterday’s first session, in which the Ma Whea? Commission itself described its work ”“ all subsequent sessions have been in committee.

They’ve deliberated by diocese and hui amorangi, then by house ”“ and after afternoon tea, by synod as a whole. Each session in committee, with no observers present.

This much is evident, though: the synod is being urged not to ”˜kick the can further down the road’.

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Selwyn’s prodigious energy and all-round accomplishments impressed both Maori (whose language he had begun to learn on the passage out) and settler. His first visitation tour began only 10 days after his arrival at the Bay of Islands. It took six months, covering about 2,300 miles, one third of which he walked, travelling the balance by ship, horseback, boat and canoe. He became a competent mariner, mastered the art of navigation, and in his small schooner, the Undine, undertook coastal passages in ill-charted waters, as well as ocean voyages to Melanesia. One sailor commented that ‘to see the Bishop handle a boat was almost enough to make a man a Christian’. However, he was much more than the legendary muscular Christian. He was a high-principled idealist as well as a far-sighted man of action, a combination which was experienced by some as inflexibility rather than resolution.

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Almighty and everlasting God, we thank thee for thy servant George Augustus Selwyn, whom thou didst call to preach the Gospel to the peoples of New Zealand and Melanesia, and to lay a firm foundation for the growth of thy Church in many nations. Raise up, we beseech thee, in this and every land evangelists and heralds of thy kingdom, that thy Church may proclaim the unsearchable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

The Anglican Church in New Zealand could be split up over a debate on whether to bless same sex relationships and allow the ordination of gay priests at its General Synod next month.

A commission, chaired by former Governor General Sir Anand Satyanand, has come up with ten possible options, including a total ban, universal acceptance, or even splitting the church.

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The long-awaited report of the Ma Whea? Commission into the question of same-gender blessings and ordinations has been released.

The report, which is the fruit of 15 months’ work by five eminent New Zealand citizens, lists 10 options to inform the General Synod debate at Waitangi next month.

The options range from a more conservative statement about who can be blessed and ordained (ie a firmer statement than the canons now prescribe) through various degrees of change and liberalisation.

The options are:

Option A: Affirming Traditional Understanding

Option B: Preserving Present Circumstances

Option C: Bishops to Determine What Equals Right Relationships

Option D: Delegate to Diocesan Synods/Te Runanganui Power to Determine Right Relationships

Option E: Adopt a New Understanding

Option F: The Anglican Church Having Two Views

Option G: Dual Episcopacy

Option H: Planned Dismembering

Option I: Anglican Church to Add a New Rite of Blessing by Priests of Those in a Same Sex Relationship.

Option J: Adopt a Two Year Period of Focussed Discussion within Church Communities with a View to Making a Decision in (say) 2016

Read it all and follow the links to the whole report.

From Gene Robinson:

This column will also go far beyond Christianity. God is infinite, and it comes as no surprise to me that there have developed, over time, many credible and faithful approaches to understanding God. In the end, no religion holds a lock on the reality of God. Each religion grasps only a part of the infinite God and offers insight into God’s reality, and we would do well to exercise a good measure of humility in claiming we know God’s will. Better to begin each pronouncement we make about God with “In my experience”¦” or “From my perspective”¦” or simply “For me”¦.” At the end of the day, no matter how much we believe we know God’s will, we must acknowledge that each of us is only doing the best she/he can.”

Peter Carrell then responds:

Sounds like Spong. But it is not. More like ‘channelling Spong.’ The author is a bishop of an Anglican church. To that Anglican church the Diocese of South Carolina once belonged. Here is a useful illustration of why that Diocese has said Enough is enough. A bishop, intended within Anglican polity to be a teacher of the faith, belittles his own religion and its claim to have received the fullness of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ by declaring ‘Each religion grasps only a part of the infinite God.’ Further, as a bishop authorised by the church to proclaim the Word of God, the best he can do is boil down all proclamation of God’s truth to ‘In my experience.’

This is not Christianity. Nor is it Anglicanism as a manner of being Christian which is both catholic and reformed.

Read it all inclusive of the link and comments.

New Zealand Anglicanism shifted from a firmly-held “marriage cannot be dissolved” to “a couple when getting married should intend to stay together”. ALL references to Marriage-is-like-Christ-and-His-church imagery were completely removed from the three different rites available for getting married in the 1989 New Zealand Prayer Book. Even the Church of England’s own Common Worship rite has removed all but the tiniest single vestigial allusion (quoted above) to what was clearly once a dominant biblical paradigm for marriage.

What once again is clear when those who say the debates are not sourced in prejudice about homosexuality, but are about integrity to scripture and tradition, is that whilst a sea change has occurred in the understanding of marriage, they have only begun to register an issue when the direction heads towards committed same-sex couples.

In the discussion about whether gender difference is essential to marriage it is clear where the inner logic of the trajectory of Christian marriage changes leads, and that the Church of England bishops’ statement is on the wrong side of that trajectory.

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Hamish Ogston pledged the money to the Anglican Church shortly after the February 2011 quake and, after seeing nothing had been done with the building, has reiterated his offer.

Mr Ogston says there is only a $15 million shortfall after his pledge, other offers and insurance money.

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The next Bishop of Waikato will travel the varied landscape of Waikato and Taranaki as part of a five-day pilgrimage beginning on Monday, February 10.

The Rev Dr Helen-Ann Hartley is making the pilgrimage to be alongside people in their places before her consecration and installation as the 7th Bishop of Waikato on February 22.

Her journey will begin and end with prayer at St Peter’s Cathedral in Hamilton. There are stops each day that will include St Mary’s Cathedral in New Plymouth, Katikati, Taumarunui, Okato, and Raglan Beach.

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It is with a great sense of sadness that the Anglican Archbishops of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia ask for prayer after the death of a Fijian teenager on holiday in New Zealand.

Deepika Kumar had been in Wellington since December and she was due to return to Fiji this week. The 18 year old was attending the Parachute Festival. She was in a critical condition in Waikato Hospital after being found in the pool of a motel in Hamilton on Saturday.

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I’ve had cause to reflect since that anything in life that has true beauty, and all in life that has true meaning, is vulnerable.
Vulnerable to rejection, abuse and distortion. Or disaster. Because risk, fragility and vulnerability are, it seems, in the very nature of life.
And yet the paradox is that vulnerable, fragile love can be awesomely powerful and transformative.
The only power on earth that can transform an enemy into friend, said Martin Luther King, is love.
Nelson Mandela understood that truth too ”“ and by that truth he transformed South Africa.
The Christmas story, of course, tells us the extraordinary truth about the redemptive power of fragile love.
The shepherds and the three wise men are told that Immanuel ”“ God with us ”“ is to be found among the squalor and smell of a stable, in an inconsequential country on the troublesome edge of a vast empire.

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Anglican affiliation has declined 17 percent ”“ from 554,925 to 459,771 ”“ over the past seven years, according the latest census.
Partly this is because the average age of Anglicans is very high.
Last census there were 41,000 Anglicans over the age of 80, only slightly less than those under 10. But this still means that many Anglicans in 2006 have changed their affiliation since then ”“ probably to “none”.

Read it all and there is much more there on New Zealand as a whole.

The Supreme Court has rejected a final bid to preserve the quake-damaged ChristChurch Cathedral.
This means the Diocese of Christchurch is free to demolish the Cathedral and to move ahead with plans for a replacement.
The Great Christchurch Buildings Trust (GCBT) earlier contested a Court of Appeal decision that demolition of the landmark could go ahead.
The Court of Appeal had upheld a High Court decision clearing the way for demolition to continue after the lawfulness of a decision to bring it down to a safe level was challenged by the GCBT.

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The Anglican Church in New Zealand says its decision on whether to bless same-sex marriages is unlikely to be affected by a Church of England report.

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he 2013 Runanganui of Te Pihopatanga o Aotearoa began in Gisborne last evening ”“ with questions being raised about the fundamental structure of the body which is the Maori Anglican Church.

In his kauwhau, or charge to the runanganui, Archbishop Brown Turei, Te Pihopa o Aotearoa, made it clear that the stakes were high.

Much of the next three days, he said, will be devoted to discussing “future visions of our Amorangi and for Te Pihopatanga o Aotearoa as a whole.”

“It is only natural,” he said, “that in this discussion there will be differing hopes, dreams and aspirations….”

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Leaders from two of New Zealand’s largest churches showed their solidarity for Wellington Bishop Justin Duckworth and his vigil for penal reform today.

Archbishop John Dew, the head of the Roman Catholic community, and Archbishop Philip Richardson, who shares leadership of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, talked with Bishop Justin after he’d celebrated midday Eucharist.

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THE Anglican Bishop of Wellington is to live a week in a small cabin-like “cell”, praying for New Zealand’s 8000-plus prisoners and their victims.

Bishop Justin Duckworth’s prayer vigil in the cell on the front steps of Wellington Cathedral of St Paul is part of Wellington diocese’s week-long focus on penal reform.

He will go into the cell after preaching at this Sunday’s 10am service in the cathedral and won’t leave it until next Sunday’s service.

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Archbishop Philip Richardson, who is the senior bishop of the seven New Zealand dioceses, says the three Primates here have accepted Bishop David’s resignation with regret.

“For the last five and half years, Bishop David has thrown himself, body and soul, into serving the Diocese of Waiapu.

“His people here will miss him. Equally, they will understand, as we do, the responsibilities we all have to care for our extended whanau. He and Tracy will return to the US with our blessing and prayers.”

Bishop David is to become the Provisional Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, in eastern California, and will take up that role in February next year.

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The Anglican Diocese of Wellington has voted to remove all of its investments in companies which extract or produce fossil fuels.

The decision came at a meeting of delegates in Palmerston North this weekend and follows a similar decision by the Anglican synod in Auckland.

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Auckland Anglicans have said no to gay marriage – despite church heads being in favour of it.

A motion to press the issue has failed at this weekend’s conference, despite both Auckland bishops and a majority of clergy being in favour.

72 members of the synod voted to push for gay marriage, 65 were against and eight abstained.

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An English priest, the Revd Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, has been elected as the new Bishop of Waikato Diocese in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand & Polynesia.

Dr Hartley, 40, has been living and working in the country since 2011 as the Dean of Tikanga Pakeha students at St John’s College in Auckland. She will be the 7th Bishop of Waikato and the first woman to hold the office.

In a statement released today Bishop-elect Hartley said she was looking forward to travelling around the diocese and learning more about its people and places.

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SM Urban Vision has been a powerful community of faith and social action in Wellington. What do you think lies at the heart of its success?

JD Clumsy faithfulness. Living community in a world crying out for belonging. Finding God’s spirit actively at work on the margins of our society and dwelling with God there.

SM You’ve moving from being someone passionately on the margins of the Anglican Church to being the central figurehead and leader of the church. How do you make sense of that transition?

JD It’s always about faithfulness, responding obediently to what we believe God asks of us for each season of our lives.

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You may find preliminary documents there.

Representatives from throughout the Anglican Diocese of Waikato and Taranaki will meet from tomorrow, Friday August 16th to elect the 7th Bishop of Waikato.

Ten names have been proposed to the Electoral College, five men and five women. The majority of the candidates are from within the Diocese. The gathering is a significant step in the life of the church as it is 20 years since the last Bishop of Waikato was appointed.

Known as an Electoral College, the gathering of approximately 200 laity and clergy meets until a decision is made. The successful nominee must achieve a majority of the votes of both laity and clergy. The gathering at Southwell School is only the first part of a three stage process, during which time the name of the nominee remains confidential.

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After countless earthquakes and a two year rebuild, a new symbol of Canterbury has finally opened this evening.

It is the only cathedral in the world made substantially of cardboard.

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