Category : CoE Bishops

Statement from the Church of England's College of Bishops on Climate Change

As Christians we are called to love God, follow the path of Christ and love our neighbour as ourselves. From these aspects of Christian vocation and witness we derive an ethic and practice of care for God’s creation and action for justice and peace in safeguarding the environment on which all depend, which belongs to God, and which is in our care as faithful stewards and servants of God.

As a Church we recognise the gravity of the ecological problems facing our world and the need to deal with them in ways that offer justice, hope and sustainable livelihood to the poor of the earth. We are committed in the spirit of the Christian faith to work with others, especially those of other faiths, for sustainable development ”“ development that brings justice and decent living standards to the poor and marginalised, that uses wisely the resources of the earth, that safeguards the richness of God’s good Earth for future generations.

With less than four months to go before the UN Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, in December 2009, this year’s Time for Creation provides an obvious occasion for the Church to join with others across Europe in prayerful reflection on those political decisions that need to be taken by governments to safeguard the integrity of God’s creation.

Read the whole release.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Economics, Politics, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops, Energy, Natural Resources, Ethics / Moral Theology, Theology

Living Church: Trio of Bishops Seek to Strengthen Communion Ties

The initial meeting between Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves of the Diocese of El Camino Real and Bishop Michael Perham of Gloucester, England, at the 2008 Lambeth Conference was an auspicious one. When a protester jumped up and called Bishop Gray-Reeves “a whore of the church,” Bishop Perham stepped in to help his new American acquaintance around the protesters and on to safety.

This frightening encounter brought together two parts of what has become a trio of bishops ”” the third is Bishop Gerard Mpango of the Western Tanganyika Diocese in Tanzania ”” who have linked up as companion dioceses. The combination of American, British and African dioceses is intentional. The three locations encompass three regions of discontent in the Anglican Communion. By meeting, talking and working together, the three bishops hope to show that people of different cultures, and these three cultures in particular, can maintain civil relations and look for answers to divisive issues.

“We want to hold together when the Communion is threatened,” Bishop Perham said.

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Church of Tanzania, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops, Episcopal Church (TEC), Lambeth 2008, TEC Bishops

Bishop Kenneth Stevenson: Rootless, isolated, and churched out

Yes, bishops have to learn to watch what they say (although preferably not all the time), and not shoot their mouths off publicly at every oppor­tunity. But there is a difference between being carefully prepared and believing that everything you say is going to be of earth-shattering importance.

“Bishop-itis” can get out of hand, and resemble what Clement Attlee once condemned in leaders as “the continual beating of the breast and airing of agonies in public”. This is what a fellow-bishop once described to me as “the high apophatic angst”, a dynamic that can ensure that discussions go round in circles, just in case a decision might be reached.

Bishops perhaps need to take themselves ”” and the Church ”” less seriously than they often do, because, in the end, it is God’s Church, not ours, and he is the one continually re-shaping it. Perhaps that is why bishoping is such a huge privilege, especially when assisted by good colleagues, as I have been.

For all the tight corners I have known in 14 years in post, I can still leave it profoundly thankful.

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Christian Life / Church Life, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops, Parish Ministry

Bishop attacks ”˜little England’ mentality

The Anglican Bishop of Stafford has taken a bold swipe at ”˜little-England’ mentality and the far-right British National Party. In parish magazines, published across the diocese of Lichfield, the Rt Rev Gordon Mursell asked ”˜what does it mean to be British?’ He wrote: “Britain will never be great again if all we have to offer is xenophobia and dreams of a lost empire.”

He went on to say: “But it can indeed be great again if it signs up to the values of Jesus’ kingdom – a place where people are judged by where they’re going, not where they come from; a place where what matters is not borders but compassion and courage and commitment and dedication.”

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops

Bishop of Portsmouth says farewell to congregation

‘That’s it folks ”“ until the next Bishop.’

Those were the parting words from the retiring Bishop of Portsmouth as he said goodbye to a 300-strong congregation of worshippers.

The Rt Rev Dr Kenneth Stevenson’s final service at Portsmouth Anglican Cathedral was tinged with sadness, yet full of jubilant song and celebration.

The 59-year-old has called time after 14 years in the job following a four-year battle with leukaemia, which has seen him undergo two bone marrow transplants.

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops

Sunday Telegraph: Britain in moral crisis, warns Bishop of Rochester

The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali said that the rejection of Christian values is having a damaging effect on the country.

Speaking at his farewell service, he expressed particular concern at the breakdown of the family and at growing calls for the legalisation of assisted suicide.

Although he is stepping down as bishop, he vowed to continue to speak out on important issues and to fight for a return to Christian principles.

“I believe that the Christian faith is necessary for the life of our country,” he said.

“We need to get away from the constant making of moral decisions by opinion poll.

“We are facing a crisis about affirming the dignity of human purpose.

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops

Lord Carey’s tribute to Bishop Michael Nazir Ali

Lord Carey paid this tribute during the service ( not verbatim):

“I want to express my thanks to Bishop Michael for his magnificent ministry as a Diocesan Bishop. But I want to focus on his national and international roles. Ask the average informed person in England which bishops they can name, and they will probably name two who come from outside these islands ”“ Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Rochester.

They have both touched a nerve with the British public. They ask questions from a much more critical perspective ”“ they are outspoken, brave and controversial. Michael speaks out of conviction and is not afraid to speak his mind. This has led him to receive his share of opprobrium and even death threats. He has also been outspoken in the House of Bishops. His clear mind undergirded by scholarship has also been a great resource to the General Synod. In the debates on Liturgy I asked Michael to guide us through the complex theological issues. Who can forget the magisterial debate he had with Professor Anthony Thiselton on the translation of the preposition ”˜ek. He was the first to identify problems and with him there was no pulling of punches.

His views on the damage done by The Episcopal Church in consecrating Gene Robinson as a bishop were applauded by many, including me. Though ignored by urban elites, he earned the right to be a critical friend of Islam. His contribution after 9/11 was invaluable when he put forward a number of ideas to open up dialogue with Muslim scholars. In 1988 ( for which Michael was study secretary) the Anglican Communion began to take dialogue with Islam seriously ”“ and in his new post following Lambeth as General Secretary of Church Mission Society he was best placed to do that. In his new post he reminded us that dialogue was not an end in itself ”“ and called for reciprocity and the freedom to change beliefs that are denied to so many Christians.

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops

Graham Kings: There are many ways of being Conservative; some more enlightened than others

“By plotting a graph of the expansion of the monasteries throughout the Middle Ages we might easily have concluded that nine-tenths of the British people were celibates today.” John V Taylor’s wisdom, in his prophetic, ecological gem Enough is Enough, is worth remembering concerning any future predictions, not least the growth of Islam in the west. None of us knows what is round the corner.

Another shrewd attitude towards the past and the future is that taken by Zhou Enlai, the Chinese prime minister who died in 1975. When asked how he assessed the French Revolution, replied, “It’s a little too early to judge.”

Are Anglican conservatives in the Anglican communion turning their attention away from issues of sexuality to the threat of Islam? From reading articles and comments and taking part in various private discussions, this seems to me too simplistic an analysis. Perceptions on both these subjects may interweave and are likely to feature in future comment and campaign.

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops

Notable and Quotable

I believe firmly that the future health of any diocese lies in the vitality and imagination of the local parish or arena of ministry. Top-down strategies are sometimes helpful (Developing Servant Leadership, Academies) but are often self-defeating because energy resides at local level, and there is plenty of evidence in our diocese of prayerful planning of local mission. What senior leadership can offer, however, is a dynamic framework, not to control but to guide, release and encourage. Bishops can offer direction and undergirding values, and they can try to align resources to those strategic directions.

The Rt Revd John Pritchard, Bishop of Oxford

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Christian Life / Church Life, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops, Parish Ministry

Geoffrey Rowell: The Crucifixion and atrocities of the killing fields

Only a Christ of the killing fields where the love of God was engraved in a like suffering can both judge and transform these appalling realities.

The Gospel accounts of the terrible torture of the Crucifixion of Jesus have at their heart, words spoken from the heart of that agony, a prayer for forgiveness for those who nailed Him to the rough wood; a longing thirst, both physical and spiritual; a commendation of His mother to his beloved Disciple; a promise of paradise to the penitent thief; a cry of dereliction ”” “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” and a commending of His spirit to His Father. “Therefore he who shows us God, helpless hangs upon the tree, and the very nails and spear, tell of what God’s love must be.”

In the Christ of that killing field we find a love reaching out to us that will never let us down and will never let us go.

Read the whole thing.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Christian Life / Church Life, Anglican Provinces, Christology, Church of England (CoE), Church Year / Liturgical Seasons, CoE Bishops, Holy Week, Theology

Telegraph: The Bishop of Rochester farewell interview

:: On upheaval in the Church

The Anglican Communion has grown a great deal in many parts of the world, such as Nigeria, Uganda, Singapore but obviously we’ve had negative developments.

I’ve always been a believer in principled comprehensiveness. The Anglican Communion and the Church of England are comprehensive ”“ they embrace people of different ideas like evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics and the principled bit is important.

There was a basic belief in doctrine and worship but the difficulty has been that that consensus has been overturned.

We now have people in the US for example, but not only there, who believe things about God, about salvation, about marriage and about human sexuality that seem to be another religion.

In a way it would be better to recognise it as something quite different because then we could relate to it in a more positive and constructive way.

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops

Michael Nazir-Ali:Church of England must do more to counter twin threats of secularism and Islam

But …[Bishop Nazir-Ali] also said that the Church of England, which is used to working with society, should speak up more often to defend the country’s customs and institutions, most of which are based on Christian teaching.

“I think it will need to be more visible and take more of a stand on moral and spiritual issues,” the bishop said.

“What’s our basis for thinking that people are equal? It’s the Judeo-Christian tradition that has provided us with these resources and we will continue to need it.”

He said that the Church should defend the traditional two-parent family and Christian festivals, which are opposed not by followers of other faiths but by atheists who want to remove religion from the public square.

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Culture-Watch, * International News & Commentary, * Religion News & Commentary, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops, England / UK, Islam, Other Faiths, Religion & Culture, Secularism

The Modern Churchpeople's Union reply to Drs Williams' and Wright's response to TEC's Actions

Williams and Wright both acknowledge that progress is not being made in the controversy over homosexuality, but blame TEC for this failure. Williams writes: ‘a realistic assessment of what Convention has resolved does not suggest that it will repair the broken bridges into the life of other Anglican provinces… The repeated request for moratoria on the election of partnered gay clergy as bishops and on liturgical recognition of same-sex partnerships has clearly not found universal favour.’

Wright puts his case more bluntly and reveals his impatience: ‘the Communion is indeed already broken… the breach has already occurred. We are not, then, looking now at TEC choosing for the first time to “walk apart”, but at the recognition that they did so some time ago and have done nothing to indicate a willingness to rejoin the larger Communion’ (3).

Thus Wright declares with characteristic bluntness that authoritarianism which Williams shares but prefers not to advertise. Both insist there is an Anglican consensus that homosexuality is immoral, and on that basis blame the Americans for acting contrary to it. Outside the higher echelons of church bureaucracies this seems a bizarre claim: in normal English usage ‘consensus’ means ‘general agreement (of opinion, testimony, etc.)’ (Concise Oxford Dictionary) or ‘general or widespread agreement among all the members of a group’ (Encarta Dictionary). The current controversy is precisely about whether homosexuality is indeed immoral, and as long as debate continues nothing could be clearer than the fact that there is no consensus.

What Williams and Wright mean by ‘consensus’ is not in fact consensus at all; they make no attempt to appeal to a general agreement. They appeal instead to a few central authorities, chiefly Lambeth 1998, primates’ meetings and the Windsor Report, plus what they claim the church has always taught. Far from being consensus this is better described as ‘a principle, tenet or system’, or perhaps ‘a belief or set of beliefs that a religion holds to be true’. The word being defined here (Concise Oxford Dictionary and Encarta respectively) is ‘dogma’.

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Covenant, Anglican Provinces, Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops, Episcopal Church (TEC), Same-sex blessings, Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion), TEC Conflicts

Bishop Tom Wright on the Scotland prisoner Release Decision

Let me first say that one of my closest friends lost two of his closest friends in the Pan Am jet and I remember vividly the anguished phone calls as he dashed up to Lockerbie to help identify bodies and property. I am not about to minimize the horror and appalling criminality of the bombing.

I haven’t fully made up my mind about the release of the man convicted but I sense that the reaction in America may not fully understand how many people here see things.

What people in America may not realize is this.

1. There is a widespread opinion in the UK that the man in question was put up as a fall guy for various reasons and actually had nothing to do with the Pan Am flight. This opinion is not based on hearsay or guesswork but on the continued strong representations which have been made from various quarters about evidence that wasn’t presented, and about various factors which led up to the finger being pointed at Libya rather than, say, Syria or other sources of terrorism. I know the decision to send the man home wasn’t based on a retrial or the consideration of such evidence, but we have had that put forward by serious reporters over quite a long time, creating a climate in which many, perhaps the majority in the UK, really do believe that the conviction was, at best, not proven. There was quite a shrewd article in our of our papers today saying that the real shame about his sending back is that there should have been a retrial with the new evidence and he might have been cleared.

2. Many people in the UK see the reaction in the U.S. as being typical U.S. anti-Arab and particularly anti-Libya reaction. Because we are conditioned to be a bit worried about U.S. knee-jerk pro-Israel attitudes we tend to distance ourselves from that kind of position….

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Economics, Politics, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops, Defense, National Security, Military, Foreign Relations, Terrorism

Time: Could the Pope Aid an Anglican Split?

Terry Mattingly, for years an acute observer of the Anglican scene as founder of the popular religion blog Getreligion.org, and a religion columnist for Scripps Howard says, “I expect some of the old-school Anglo-Catholics to pack up and go to Rome, period.” But if Benedict were to sweeten the pot by allowing an Anglican Rite Church in England, “that’s gotta be huge.” And when Mattingly says “huge,” he doesn’t just mean for the Anglo-Catholics. Rather, he believes that an exodus of that size could affect the worldwide Communion after all, by giving other dissidents, with entirely different grievances, a model with which to unravel the fabric of Anglicanism.

Mattingly points out that more so than in other religious groupings, one of the things that holds the Anglican Communion together is the simple belief that the Anglican Communion must hold together. The case can be made that a dutiful sense of global unity, represented by four “instruments” ”” including the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams ”” is stronger than any Anglican doctrinal agreement. Mattingly suggests that the departure of 1,300 priests and bishops from the English mother church could act as a kind of spell-breaking moment, the first time during the Communion’s current round of troubles when a significant number of Anglicans “are saying, ‘I’m no longer in communion with Canterbury.'”

Such a defection, as it played out in terms of theology, finances and British law, would be a kind of seminar for all possible schismatics on how to break with the Communion, without the world ending. Other dissidents might then feel freer to go their own way.

And it could happen a good deal sooner than almost any other version of schism, primarily because it would take the key decision out of the hands of the Anglicans, who, as Mattingly puts it, “have a special knack for not making decisions.” Rome, he notes, “doesn’t usually act fast, either. But Rome ”” and especially, it seems to me, Benedict ”” has a knack for acting with clarity more than Anglicanism.”

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Religion News & Commentary, Anglican Provinces, Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops, Ecumenical Relations, Other Churches, Pope Benedict XVI, Roman Catholic

Bishop Paul Richardson: China’s place in the new world order

One interpretation of the global economic crisis is that it marks an important moment in the shift of power from the US to China. In his new book When China Rules the World (Penguin, £30.00) Martin Jacques argues that the fact that China is such a huge creditor and the US such a colossal debtor ”˜reflects a deep shift in the economic balance of power between the two countries’. He sees China seeking to establish a new international reserve currency to replace the dollar and pushing to create an alternative to the IMF, a body in which China participates but which it has criticised in the past.

Jacques makes a case for seeing the rise of China as making a major break in world history. China, he claims, is not so much a nation as a civilisation. We must stop fooling ourselves that as China grows in wealth and military strength it will become more like us. Instead it will offer the world an alternative to the hitherto dominant Western culture. Confucian values and a Chinese model of capitalism will become increasingly important as countries in Asia and Africa turn their backs on the US and Europe. Jacques is not alone in predicting China’s rise in economic and military might. Goldman Sachs has suggested China is set to equal the US economy by 2027. But Jacques goes beyond many other commentators in stressing that China will be different. It will not join the existing club and play by the rules: it will insist that some of the rules be changed.

There are grounds for caution. Even China’s high rate of savings and American indebtedness are not as straightforward as they seen. People in China save because they cannot depend upon social security to care for them in sickness or old age. Because they save such a large proportion of their incomes, domestic consumption cannot support Chinese industries which depend on international markets in the US and elsewhere to sell their products. China is worried about the size of its dollar holding but it will not be easy to reduce this without triggering a fall in the dollar’s value. One thing can be said for certain. The transfer of funds from China overseas helped to precipitate a disastrous expansion of credit in the US and Europe that triggered the economic crisis. In that sense, we are all paying the price of China’s rise.

Long-term a number of factors could slow China’s economic growth. Its population is set to increase only slightly over the next 20 years and then start to decline because of the one-child policy. At the same time America’s population will grow because of its birth rate and immigration. One Harvard economist has predicted that by 2030 America’s share of the world economy will have declined only slightly from 28 per cent to 26 per cent while China’s share will have risen from 5 per cent to 14 per cent. As long as China continues to impose censorship and restrict internet use, it is hard to see genuine creativity of the kind that stimulates economic advance flourishing. China’s universities are expanding but they are less impressive than they seem. Large numbers of engineers graduate every year but a McKinsey survey of resource managers in international companies found that only 10 per cent of Chinese engineering graduates were considered employable.

The absence of democratic controls and a free press makes it harder for China to combat corruption. It also means that people are forced to protest to make their voices heard. Low-level protests are taking place all the time across China and any one could easily escalate into a mass movement that would destabilise the regime. The Han Chinese may consider themselves heir to a great civilisation but this pride is not shared by China’s large population of ethnic minorities, most of whom would like to see genuine autonomy for their regions rather than the sham offered at present. It is not only Tibet that is seething with discontent. Xinjiang comprises about 20 per cent of China’s land mass. It was only incorporated into the country in the 18th century and the Muslim Uighurs make up 45 per cent of the population. Long-term discontent flared up in riots in July in which nearly 200 people died.

The breakdown of stability in China would be harmful to all of us. The best hope for China is that is continues to build on its past traditions by introducing democratic reforms and by offering a greater degree of autonomy to disaffected minority groups. One of the most alarming aspects of the Chinese as described by Martin Jacques and other observers is their sense of superiority to everyone else, an attitude with a strong racist component. It will not help in their relations with Africa and the rest of the world.

The same attitude was present in the old European colonial powers but it was tempered by Christian teaching. Christianity is spreading rapidly in China. It remains to be seen how much influence this is going to have on the course of development. It is one of a number of factors that render China’s future unclear.

–(The Rt. Rev.) Paul Richardson is the assistant Bishop of Newcastle. This article appears in the Church of England Newspaper, August 21, 2009 edition, on page 16

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Culture-Watch, * Economics, Politics, * International News & Commentary, America/U.S.A., Anglican Provinces, Asia, China, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops, Economy, Globalization

Bishop Nazir-ALI pleads for captive female converts in Iran

Earlier this week, Iran released French student Clotilde Reiss, who has been accused of spying, but she has to remain in the French embassy in Tehran awaiting the verdict on her trial. Six months ago, Esha Momeni, an American student visiting Iran, was arrested and placed in solitary confinement in the notorious section 209 of Tehran’s Evin prison for daring to campaign for women’s rights. She is now back in the US. But there are other, equally horrific stories of human rights abuses against women in Iran which have received less international publicity. The case of two of them, Maryam Rustampoor, 27, and Marzieh Amirizadeh, 30, also suffering in Evin prison, has been taken up by the Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, who steps down soon as a diocesan to concentrate on helping persecuted Christians around the world.

Read it all and watch the video too.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * International News & Commentary, * Religion News & Commentary, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops, Iran, Middle East, Other Churches

Graham Kings: Federation isn't enough

In response to the decisions taken at general convention, The Archbishop of Canterbury, has outlined a “two track” future for provinces in the Anglican communion, with a choice of covenantal or associate status. One track is for those who are willing to intensify their relationships of interdependence in the communion, through signing the proposed Anglican covenant, and the other is for those who prefer federal automony, not signing the covenant.

The Anglican communion is involved in “intensifying” its current relationships and those who do not wish to continue on that “intensifying” trajectory may remain where they are, which will become track two, while the centre of the Communion moves on with glacial gravity into track one. Not exclusion, but intensification: not force, but choice.

Who cares? God does: for communion mirrors the love of the trinity better than a loose federation ”“ the federation of the holy trinity? Hardly. Who cares? Those in the precarious positions of Tutu and Gitari, in Pakistan and Sudan today, and all those who support them in solidarity, such as the 36-year interweavings of the Episcopal church of Sudan with the diocese of Salisbury, in which I now serve.

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Covenant, Anglican Identity, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops, Ecclesiology, Theology

Michael Nazir-Ali: The Episcopal Church's moves to bless noncelibate same sex unions risk schism

The Episcopal Church in the United States has done it again. Having marched out of step with the majority of the worldwide Anglican Communion, American Episcopalians have declared their intention to walk even further apart.

The world knows about the ordination of a bishop in a same-sex relationship and the ways in which that has torn the fabric of the communion, as the primates have said, at its deepest level. (This, by the way, is also a classic description of schism.) It also is widely known that people have their same-sex unions “blessed” in many parts of the Episcopal Church and such people also can be candidates for ordination.

All this continues despite the clear teaching of the 1998 Lambeth Conference that it should not.

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops, Episcopal Church (TEC), General Convention, Same-sex blessings, Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion)

Living Church: C of E Bishops Eye Cost of Swedes' Same-Sex Blessings

The Church of England has condemned the Church of Sweden’s authorization of rites for the blessing of same-sex unions, saying the decision will impair relations between the two churches and threatens the “fragile unity” of the Anglican Communion.

Copies of the June 26 letter, written by the Church of England’s Archbishops’ Council to the Archbishop of Uppsala, began circulating among members of the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops on July 12, and may factor into the bishops’ debate on same-sex blessings at General Convention.

Adopting same-sex blessings, one bishop told The Living Church, would put the Episcopal Church in the same place as the Church of Sweden and could lead to a breach with the Church of England and wider Anglican Communion.

Written by the Rt. Rev. Christopher Hill on behalf of the Council for Christian Unity and the Rt. Rev. John Hind on behalf of the Faith and Order Advisory Group, the letter said the adoption of same-sex blessings by the Church of Sweden was “problematic.”

“Although there is continuing debate among Anglican about human sexuality, the teaching and discipline of the Church of England, like that of the Anglican Communion as a whole as expressed in the Lambeth Conference of 1998, is that it is not right either to bless same-sex sexual relationships or to ordain those who are involved in them.”

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Religion News & Commentary, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops, Episcopal Church (TEC), General Convention, Other Churches, TEC Bishops

Church of England faces calls for cuts in the number of bishops

The Church of England is considering cuts in the number of bishops and dioceses amid growing complaints that its structure is top-heavy and out of step with falling congregations.

At least one diocese, possibly Bradford, is likely to disappear as the Archbishops of Canterbury and York examine ways of reorganising the 44 dioceses and their diocesan bishops to help the Church of England to weather difficult times.

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops

BBC: Church group 'not planning split'

A traditionalist Anglican group has insisted at its launch conference that it is not poised to break away from the Church of England.

The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans of UK and Ireland will campaign against active homosexuality in the Church.

Its leaders told the conference in London that liberal moves had brought “heartache” and “real problems”.

Bishop of Lewes the Rt Rev Wallace Benn said he wanted “to pull people back” rather than breaking away.

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops, Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA)

Bishop of Lewes: Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans formed to counter 'heartache'

Speaking at the group’s launch event in London, attended by an estimated 1,600 people from 300 parishes across the UK and Ireland, Bishop Benn said: “Parts of the Church of England don’t believe it, they are moving away from the historic Biblical Christianity.

“It’s very important to understand that when novelty is introduced into the church, as the New Testament says, there are divisions.

“We’re trying to move back to the core of our Christian faith. Sadly some in the British isles are moving away and where bishops do that, there is particular unhappiness in some dioceses and it causes real problems and real heartaches for people and for churches.

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops, Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA)

The Bishop of Rochester attacks ”˜lurid’ headlines

However, today the Bishop said: “The Be Faithful Press Release says that I would be calling on churches and Christians to repent of capitulating to cultures around them and to refocus on the faith of the Church from down the ages and an authentic mission to the nations. This is what I said to the reporter from the Telegraph. I said that we all needed to repent for straying from God’s purpose for us.

“On being pressed as to whether this included homosexuals, I said something to the effect that yes, we all need to repent when we fall short of God’s will and be transformed. I went on to say a little about how Christians should understand marriage and family and the proper expression of our sexual nature.

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops, Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA)

Damian Thompson: 'Repent!' Rochester Cries as Synod starts

No: Bishop Michael has his eyes on the General Synod, which is meeting in York next weekend. And, with fiendish cunning (his enemies would say) he has pulled the ultimate weapon out of his arsenal: the clear verdict of the Bible that homosexual acts are wrong, presented in the context of 2,000 unbroken years of Christian teaching.

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Provinces, Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops, Episcopal Church (TEC), Same-sex blessings, Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion)

Michael Nazir-Ali: Only God Can Save Us from Ourselves

By any standard of measurement, the past year has been momentous. The financial crisis had us reeling as the value of our savings and our homes plummeted. As people felt less secure about their jobs, they spent less and gave less. Not only did High Street businesses suffer but charities were also affected. It is true, of course, that the financial crisis was brought about by a failure of regulation, especially in taking account of the growing complexity of global market transactions. But it was also brought about by moral failure. Even if we grant that market processes are “amoral” in themselves, we cannot deny that we are moral agents as we act within those processes and are thus responsible for our actions. In the past, the best of British financial and commercial life was characterised by the values of responsibility, honesty, trust and hard work. Such values arose from a specifically Christian view of accountability before God, the sacredness of even the most humble task (as George Herbert said, “Who sweeps a room, as for thy laws, makes that and the action fine”) and the recognition of mutual obligation by people of all classes and callings, one towards another. This rich tradition was set aside in favour of an entrepreneurial free for all and winner takes all ethos. We are now seeing the results. Far from engendering the wealth which would have benefited society as a whole, it has actually left not only this generation but future ones as well in such significant debt that it will affect the lives of us all for the foreseeable future.

Just as we were staggering back to our feet, we have been hit this time by the political fireball. Once again, it is important to see this as a moral, and even a spiritual, crisis. This is so in two ways: first, the weakening of a moral and spiritual framework for society has left people without an anchor for the mooring of their moral lives and without guidance by which to steer through the Scylla and Charybdis of contemporary dilemmas. Second, the lack of a framework has meant that there is no touchstone by which to judge a person’s actions as right or wrong.

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Culture-Watch, * International News & Commentary, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops, England / UK, Ethics / Moral Theology, Religion & Culture, Theology

Telegraph: Bishops 'could be banished from the House of Lords'

The Prime Minister is looking at blueprints for a new and radically reformed upper chamber of parliament as part of his programme of constitutional reform.

Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, will publish a paper on plans for Lords reform before the Commons rises for its summer break next month.

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops

CEEC Chairman and President send greetings to Anglican Church in North America

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, ACNA Inaugural Assembly June 2009, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops

New Bishop of Horsham announced

An opera-loving Yorkshireman with significant experience in the field of vocations and ministry has been named as the next Bishop of Horsham.

The appointment of the Revd Mark Sowerby, currently Team Rector at St Wilfrid’s, Harrogate, was announced by Downing Street at 11am this morning (Friday, June 19th).

Fr Mark read theology at King’s College, London before training at The College of the Resurrection, Mirfield. He was ordained deacon in 1987 and then priest in 1988 in Ripon Cathedral where he had also been baptised.

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops

The Bishop of Manchester calls for better children’s programming

Bishop [Nigel] McCulloch said in a House of Lords debate on public service broadcasting: “The BBC insists that its plans for moving departments are on course, and that includes children’s programmes, but what children’s programmes?

“Many of us are dismayed about the diminution of quantity and quality in children’s television provision.”

He pointed to the quality in previous times of Blue Peter, Crackerjack and The Railway Children.

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Culture-Watch, * International News & Commentary, Anglican Provinces, Children, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops, England / UK, Movies & Television