The next meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC-17) could take place in Hong Kong following a decision to move it from Sao Paulo in Brazil.

The Brazilian city was unveiled as the host of the 2019 conference at last year’s ACC conference in Lusaka. But the ACC Standing Committee, meeting in London, heard that the event was scheduled to go ahead at what would be a challenging time for the country and for the Anglican Church there. In particular, concerns were raised about the political and economic instability and also the Church’s discussions on human sexuality and marriage which will take place at the provincial synod next year. Whatever the outcome of those discussions, it was felt this would have an impact on the Anglican Church in Brazil and hamper its ability to stage ACC-17. Specifically, it was thought that the leadership of the Church would need time to deal with pastoral issues arising from the discussions.

Hong Kong emerged as a possible replacement during committee discussions. It was felt the territory had the resources to step in and also the experience, having hosted ACC-12 in 2002.

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It is with a heavy heart that today I must announce my resignation as the Bishop for the Horn of Africa within the Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa. This decision has not been taken lightly but after consultation with Bishop Mouneer, with spiritual counsellors, and with our medical doctors. Wendy and I will leave Ethiopia at the end of October this year, although our work for the diocese will continue for a time.

The reason for our needing to leave is that Wendy’s health has made it impossible for her to continue to live in Africa. As many of you know, a few months ago Wendy experienced terrible pain in her back leading her to seek medical testing and advice. The tests revealed five broken vertebrae and a broken rib. The fragility of the bones have been attributed to osteoporosis and the fractures were due to coughing. Originally we believed that the coughing was due simply to asthma, but after further testing it now seems that Wendy has also had lung infections, perhaps several. Wendy’s doctors have been clear that returning to live in Africa would put Wendy’s lungs (and ultimately her heart) at grave risk. She will stay in Pittsburgh for the next two months while I continue to work in Ethiopia. She will come to say farewell during the month of October.

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In a divided decision, the trial court’s order is reversed as to twenty-nine parishes and affirmed as to the remaining parishes. The trial court’s intellectual property ruling is affirmed by a vote of 2-2, with one justice declining to reach the issue.

Here are the seven parishes (and one land trust) which, by a 3-2 vote, were not subject to the Dennis Canon: Christ the King, Waccamaw; St. Matthews Church, Darlington; St. Andrews Church-Mt. Pleasant Land Trust; St. Paul’s Episcopal Church of Conway; The Episcopal Church of the Parish of Prince George Winyah, Georgetown; the Parish of St. Andrew, Mt. Pleasant; St. John’s Episcopal Church of Florence; and St. Matthias Episcopal Church, Summerton.

Note that the opinions are confusing as to how many “congregations” — seven or eight — managed to escape the Dennis Canon, by never acceding in their articles or bylaws to the Constitution and Canons of ECUSA. The reason is that one of the eight is not a congregation, but apparently a trust that holds title to church property.

The opinions show a bitterly divided Court that could not agree even upon the basic framework by which to decide the case (what the Court calls “the standard of review”). I put a lot of the blame for this divisiveness upon Justice Hearn, about whose blatant bias I wrote at the time of the oral argument. Her opinion concurring with Justice Pleicones might as well have been written by David Booth Beers….

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The Anglican church in South Sudan has enthroned its first Archbishop for one of its eight internal provinces created in Nov 2013, in a service which was attended by the Vice President of the republic of South Sudan, Dr James Wani Igga.

The enthroned Archbishop of the central equatorial internal province, the Most Revd Paul Pitya Benjamin Yougusuk, is the son of the late second Archbishop of Sudan, Benjamin Wani Yugusuk.

The Vice President paid tribute to Archbishop Paul for his peacemaking efforts – pointing out that he has always worked for peace just like his father. In an African idiom he referred to the Yugusuk family as “a lion that gives birth to a lion” meaning that a thief is likely to give birth to a thief and so an archbishop produces an archbishop.

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Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby on Sunday declared Sudan the 39th province of the worldwide Anglican Communion, six years after the predominantly Christian south gained independence from the north.

The Anglican church in Sudan, a majority Muslim country, has been administered from South Sudan since the 2011 split which followed a civil war that left more than two million people dead.

Sunday’s ceremony in Khartoum added Sudan to the 85 million-strong worldwide Anglican communion’s 38 member churches — known as provinces — and six other branches known as extra provincials.

Read it all and there is also more there.

Gregory said Christians should be cautioned against believing in the view that they must be the gatekeepers of the law against buggery in order to prevent the legalisation of same-sex marriage.

“This submission does not accept the cause and effect relationship which is being introduced into this matter, neither is it advocating homosexual marriages,” he said….

Section 61 of the Offences against the Person Act of 1864 criminalises the ‘abominable’ anal sex – consensual or otherwise. The maximum punishment is 10 years’ imprisonment.

But Gregory argued: “Sexual activity engaged in public spaces is illegal and should continue to be so, whether of an heterosexual or homosexual nature.”

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I will take comments on this submitted by email only to KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com.

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The Latest Edition of the Diocese of #SouthCarolina Enewsletter https://t.co/7I9IvouKGo #anglican #news #parishministry #growth #evangelism pic.twitter.com/T4zEl5OlYw

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) July 11, 2017

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The Archbishop of the Internal Province of Sudan and Bishop of Khartoum, the Most Revd Ezekiel Kumir Kondo, has been appointed as the Primate of the newly created separate Province of Sudan. The Anglican Communion announced the creation of the new Province earlier this year and the Archbishop of Canterbury it to travel to the region for the inauguration at the end of July.

Speaking when the new Province was confirmed, Archbishop Kondo expressed joy at the news: “I would like to say that the Christians and the entire people of Sudan are very much looking forward to welcoming the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby and Mrs Welby to inaugurate the New Province of Sudan, number 39, which represents 39 Articles of faith of the Anglican Church and the 39 books of the OT! It is my prayer and hope that the occasion will strengthen the church in Sudan for God’s glory and extension of His Kingdom.”

Read it all (another from the long line of should have already been posted material).

Archbishop Ezekiel Kumir Kondo appointed as primate of #Sudan, the #AnglicanCommunion's newest province. https://t.co/v916IhvUBl pic.twitter.com/lVPbwZBaBl

— anglicanjournal (@anglicanjournal) May 10, 2017

The Anglican Communion has announced that Sudan will, in a few months from now, become a separate Province is its own right. Currently, Sudan is an internal province within the Anglican Church of South Sudan and Sudan.

The Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon, described it as a “welcome development” that will help connect Christians there with Anglicans in the worldwide Communion. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will travel to Sudan for the inauguration of the new Province on July 30th.

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It is with reluctance that the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East (FRRME) has accepted the resignation of president and trustee, the Reverend Canon Andrew White.

Canon White tendered his resignation due to his state of health and inability to continue his duties.

Both FRRME and the American Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East (FRRME America) are committed to carrying out the humanitarian assistance and reconciliation efforts underway in the region. Together, FRRME and FRRME America fund and oversee a free medical and dental clinic in Baghdad, relief efforts in Iraqi Kurdistan providing food, shelter, healthcare and education to thousands of displaced persons, and relief efforts in Jordan and elsewhere in the Middle East, providing food and clothing vouchers, rent assistance, healthcare and education. FRRME and FRRME America fund a school for Iraqi refugees in Jordan and a Kindergarten in Kurdistan. FRRME America has partnered with Catholic University Erbil to provide university education to displaced persons.

FRRME Chairman David Harland said, “Canon Andrew White has been a towering figure in the Middle East for nearly 20 years, and we are indebted to his extraordinary vision, courage and hard work on behalf of the persecuted and downtrodden. We wish him the very best.”…

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From October 21, 2016

One week ago (on September 5) the second session of the month-long Anglican Leadership Institute began. This session’s participants are pictured above with the Very Rev. Dr. Peter Moore, Director of the Anglican Leadership Institute (top right).

The institute is a leadership training initiative that brings future leaders in the Anglican Communion to South Carolina for periods of study, teaching, reflection and nurture.

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In an email sent by staffers at the Anglican Consultative Council to the primates and moderators of the church on 27 July 2016, the ACC stated that date had “been selected as the date for the next Primates’ Meeting. The meeting will take place in Canterbury. We will write with a formal letter of invitation in due course but I would be most grateful if you would now confirm this date in your diary.”

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The Rev. Canon Andrew White has been suspended with pay by the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East pending the findings of a Charity Commission Statutory Enquiry. The Foundation is cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities. It would be inappropriate to comment further on an active investigation other than to say that the Foundation believe at this stage that the alleged incident stemmed from a genuine desire by Canon White to help others.

Read it all and there is a statement from the Charity Commission here

The former ‘Vicar of Baghdad’ Canon Andrew White has been suspended as the president of the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East (FRRME).

In a statement on his Facebook page Canon White said it was because of “some inaccurate statements I made”.

The charity, that he founded, said he was suspended with pay after the Charity Commission launched an inquiry.

“The Foundation is cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities,” FRRME said in a statement.

It added: “It would be inappropriate to comment further on an active investigation other than to say that the Foundation believe at this stage that the alleged incident stemmed from a genuine desire by Canon White to help others.”

Canon White said his comments referred to the charity’s work with girls taken by Islamic State to work as slaves.

“What is clear is that at no time did we pay money to any terrorists,” the clergyman stressed.

He added: “Whilst I cannot work on behalf of the FRRME I continue to lead worship and support individuals that we are helping. Please pray for us at this very difficult time.”

The Charity Commission confirmed it had launched an inquiry but told Premier it cannot comment further because the investigation is live.

FRRME’s accounts for 2014 show it made £3,032,097 and spent £1,879,670. It has seven members of staff.

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The Board of Trustees of Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto, is pleased to announce the appointment of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Stephen Andrews as the 10th Principal of Wycliffe College.
———————————————————————————–
The Rt. Rev. Dr Stephen Andrews has been the Bishop of the Diocese of Algoma since 2009. He studied Classics at the University of Colorado and theology at Regent College and Wycliffe College, where he received his M.Div. degree in 1984.

After two years in London as Study Assistant to The Rev. Dr John Stott, he was ordained in the Diocese of Nova Scotia in 1986 and served as the Assistant Curate at historic St Paul’s, Halifax, until 1990. He completed a Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge University in 1995…

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Canon Saul will direct the AAC’s Church Revitalization and Lay Leadership Institute as well as coordinate clergy coaching. He attended the AAC’s inaugural Clergy Leadership Training Institute (CLTI) and was a leader in the AAC’s church revitalization program from 2011-2013. “During the last four years,” says Canon Saul, “I’ve seen the importance of equipping the clergy, lay leadership and the local church for the call we have to ”˜live out’ the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20). I’m looking forward to personally working with Anglicans as we do that together.”

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Within the 1608 church where Pocahontas and John Rolfe married, the skeletal remains of four early settlers were uncovered during a 2013 archaeological dig at Virginia’s historic Jamestown colony. Now, those bones have been identified as some of the leaders of that first successful British attempt to forge a new life in the new world across the Atlantic.

Forensic anthropologist Douglas Owsley, the division head of physical anthropology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, and his team worked with archaeologists from the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation at Historic Jamestowne to piece together just who the four men were.

Built first of mud and wood, the original church structure had long since vanished. Archaeologists rediscovered the church’s original footprint five years ago.

Only about 30 percent of each skeleton was recovered, and the bones were poorly preserved, so finding out who the men were presented a challenge that required multiple paths of investigation.

The first clue to their identities came from the burial location in the chancel, a space at the front of the church around the altar reserved for the clergy. Only leading members of the community would have been buried there, so it was clear the men had a place of prominence among the colonists.
…….
Eventually, the team identified the men as:

â– Rev. Robert Hunt, the chaplain at Jamestown and the colony’s Anglican minister, who died at age 39 in 1608
â– Capt. Gabriel Archer, who died at age 34 in 1609 or 1610 during the “starving time”
â– Sir Ferdinando Wainman, who came to Jamestown with his first cousin, the governor of Virginia, and died at about age 34 in 1610
â– Capt. William West, who died in 1610 during a skirmish with the Powhatan at age 24

Read it all

Updated 2 March 2015

Here are links to entries that were recently featured (stickied at the top of the blog) regarding the Diocese of South Carolina Legal Ruling.

Last two weeks:
South Carolina Dorchester County Judge Diane Goodstein Reaffirms Ruling Against TEC (Feb 23)
A S Haley on TEC reconsideration motion””Judge Goodstein: “We, not You, Get to Say What Is Ours” (Feb 14)

Slightly older entries::
Circuit Court Judge Diane Goodstein rules in favor of Dio. of South Carolina in case vs TEC/TECSC (Feb 3)
South Carolina Circuit Court Rules Diocese Keeps Historic Property (Feb 3)
A S Haley’s Analysis of the recent South Carolina Legal Ruling””“A Full Vindication”¦” (Feb 5)
Grateful: Bishop Lawrence Writes the Diocese Following Ruling (Feb 6)

Other related entries:

(CP) SC Judge Rejects Episcopal Church’s Attempt to Take Over one of its Founding Dioceses (Feb 27)

A.S Haley””South Carolina Court Makes Short Shrift of ECUSA’s Motion (Feb 24)

(Local paper) Judge denies motion to reconsider ruling against Episcopal Church (Feb 24)

(Local Paper) Local families worshiped at parishes for centuries, long before Episcopal split (Feb 15)

Jim Lewis””What it Means: Understanding Judge Goodstein’s Ruling in South Carolina (Feb 14)

(Not another Episcopal Blog) On the strange Radio Silence in Upper SC abt the Dio. of SC (Feb 14)

The New Episcopal Church Diocese in S Carolina files a motion for Reconsideration in recent ruling (Feb 14)

Robert Munday, former Dean of Nashotah House-will The Episcopal Church “come to grips with reality”? (Feb 10)

New Episcopal Church Diocese, Original SC Diocese steer ahead into complex legal waters (Feb 8)

A Charleston, S.C. Regional Business Journal Article on this week’s Court Decision (Feb 6)

(Charisma News) Episcopal Church Loses Big in Landmark South Carolina Court Decision (Feb 6)

Rift among S.C. Lowcountry Episcopalians widens as fight continues over properties, name (Feb 6)

New Episcopal Church Diocese in SC’s Decides to Appeal this week’s Court decision against them (Feb 6)

A Pastoral letter from the Bp of the New Episcopal Church Diocese in South Carolina (Feb 5)

Reminder””Timeline of Events in the Diocese of South Carolina leading up to latest legal ruling (Feb 4)

The Local Paper Article on the Ruling in favor of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina (Feb 4)

(AP) South Carolina court rules Episcopal diocese, churches can keep property (Feb 4)

You can find all stories related to the TEC legal conflict in SC here.

Shortly after the TEC House of Bishops met in Taiwan, a group went to West Malaysia. They announced that they had heard the consecration of a new assistant bishop was about to take place and they were there to participate. Leaders in the Anglican Church in Malaysia said, “You are welcome””to our country. You cannot participate in the service however, because of the actions you have taken to tear the fabric of the communion and you remain unrepentant. We are not in Communion with you, so you cannot participate in the service.”

The visit was part of TEC’s initiative to demonstrate that they are fully part of the Communion and are in relationships with other Anglican Provinces. The tactic has been used in a number of places in Africa where they visit, are received with hospitality (because that is the culture of those people), and then take pictures to demonstrate that there are no significant issues even though there may be disagreement over things like sexuality.

In this case, the TEC plan did not work in Malaysia. The leaders in the Diocese of West Malaysia are very well informed and steadfastly faithful. Not only did they turn TEC away, they knew I was traveling in South East Asia so they sent me a message. “Can you change your travel plans to be at the consecration we are having in Kuala Lumpur? We want to demonstrate that we are not in Communion with TEC, but we are in Communion with the ACNA. If you can get here, we’d like to make your visit highly visible.”

I was able to change my itinerary and arrived in time to participate in the Consecration including the laying on of hands for Charles Samuel, consecrated as Assistant Bishop for the Panang district of the Diocese of West Malaysia.

Read it all.

The 2018 Lambeth Conference has been cancelled. The precarious state of the Anglican Communion has led the Archbishop of Canterbury to postpone indefinitely the every ten year meeting of the bishops of the Anglican Communion.

A spokesman for Archbishop Justin Welby told Anglican Ink that as the archbishop had not yet met with each of the primates of the communion, he would not be commenting on the news. Since his installation last year, the Archbishop of Canterbury has travelled extensively and plans on visiting the 37 other provinces of the Anglican Communion within the first 18 months of his term of office.

News of the cancellation was made public by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori on 23 Sept 2014. In response to a question from the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt. Rev. Prince Singh, who asked if money was being set aside to fund the Episcopal Church’s participation in the 2018 meeting, the Presiding Bishop told the Fall Meeting of the House of Bishops gathered in Taipei, Taiwan, that she had been told by Archbishop Welby the meeting had been cancelled.

Read it all.

19:46h After a debate of nine hours and 43 minutes of debate the bill was granted its second reading and now goes forward to a committee of the whole House for scrutiny. Lord Falconer described it as a “historic day”.

Read it all and it may be possible [depending on locality] to watch the debate here

Update: Frank Cranmer has a summary of key speeches here and the full transcript of the debate is available from Hansard online here or in pdf form here or indexed by speaker here

There won’t be any white smoke coming out of the chimney, but they’re calling it a conclave, similar to a papal election.

Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America – a breakaway denomination formed by conservatives dismayed by liberal trends in the Episcopal Church and its Canadian counterpart – will gather at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe beginning Thursday to elect a successor to Archbishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, whose five-year tenure as its founding archbishop is concluding.

That vote is to be followed next week by policy deliberations and a wider denominational assembly with worship, speaking and other events. The organization will mark some strides from its ad hoc origins in the heat of conflict toward greater stability – the publications of a new catechism and prayer liturgies and the launching of several new congregations.

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The topics include:

00:00 Blame the Africans
11:07 Anglicans not swimming Tiber’s
16:42 The IRS and you
26:06 Radical Islam want’s you dead.

Watch it all.

Watch it all.

Among the topics covered are the Noodle Wars and Bishops of the Jersey Shore. Watch it all.

January 27: A Statement from the C of E College of Bishops on the Pilling Report

December 21: Archbishop Stanley Ntagali comments on the Crisis in the Church of England

December 18: [Anglican Ink] Lament from London: a dying church in England [Pilling]

December 12: Global South Statement In Response To The Pilling Report

December 7: Archbishop Wabukala: GAFCON Chairman’s Advent Letter

November 28: CofE: Pilling Report Recommends Breach of Lambeth Resolution 1:10

Anglican Unscripted is the only video newscast in the Anglican Church. Every Week Kevin, George, Allan and Peter bring you news and prospective from around the globe.

Show Index:

00:00 Anglicans have lost the Mother Church
14:38 Piling onto Pilling Report with Peter Ould
33:14 IRS and Clergy Housing Allowances with AS Haley
41:51 The National Museum in Washington DC
48:37 Closing and Bloopers

Watch it all.