We are voting currently on resolution R-10. So far, all the resolutions have passed (with canonical changes on a vote by orders)–KSH.

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United States-led forces are permitting the movement of senior Taliban leaders to attend initial peace talks in Kabul, the clearest indication of American support for high-level discussions aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan, senior NATO and Obama administration officials said.

While the talks involve senior members of the Taliban, officials emphasized that they were preliminary, and that they could not tell how serious the insurgents ”” or the weak government of President Hamid Karzai ”” were about reaching an accord.

But comments by administration officials in Washington and a senior NATO official in Brussels on Wednesday indicated that the United States was doing more to encourage a peaceful settlement in Afghanistan than officials had previously disclosed, and might reflect growing pessimism that the buildup of American forces there will produce decisive gains against the Taliban insurgency.

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He will serve as Visiting Bishop for Global Anglican Relations.

As its convention opens today, the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is calm, planning for growth and launching the search for a permanent bishop.

“One of the things we are happy about is that it’s just a normal convention,” said Provisional Bishop Kenneth Price, who has been helping the diocese heal from a 2008 split in which the previous bishop and majority of parishes broke from the Episcopal Church over theological issues.

“I’ve been impressed with the way the people of the diocese have come together. The congregations at this point are intent on building up their churches, not on fighting,” he said.

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We just finished the eucharist which included a marvelous sermon by Bishop FitzSimons Allison on the gospel and encouragement.

The conventional wisdom has it that the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission ”” the bipartisan group of wise men and women charged with uncovering what caused our recent economic meltdown and telling us what should be done to prevent a recurrence ”” is woefully out-of-touch and out-of-date. A Times article last month suggested that “an exodus of senior employees” from the commission and “internal disagreements” among those remaining could hamper efforts to produce a meaningful and useful report, which is due to be published in December.

But the conventional wisdom is often wrong, and this time will be no exception. I predict that not only will the commission’s report ”” and accompanying documents ”” reveal numerous causes of the crisis that others have overlooked, but also that it will have a significant impact on the regulations that still must be written by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Treasury as part of the implementation on the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. In fact, the inquiry commission may have already played an essential role in beginning to bring fraudsters to justice.

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Absent fathers and the breakdown of the family are the greatest threats to society in the West Indies and the root causes of crime, the leaders of the government of St. Kitts and Nevis were told at an Independence Day ceremony last week.

In an ecumenical ceremony marking the 27th anniversary of independence of the West Indian nation held at the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Basseterre, the Rev. Christopher Archibald from the Anglican Church of St Kitts told the Governor General, the Prime Minister and cabinet, members of the opposition, judiciary and chiefs of the police and army, that the government’s legislative agenda for the coming session of parliament, “Strengthening families for positive nation building” was a worthy goal.

The family was under attack in St Kitts and Nevis, and across the Caribbean, Fr. Archibald told the assembled worthies on Sept 30. “We are experiencing serious threats to our family and family life and unity by both internal and external forces.”

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the 14 Cathedral Group univer­sities and university colleges in England were this week estimating their future prospects in the changed higher-education (HE) landscape emerging from the recommendations of the long-awaited review of higher education by Lord Browne of Madingley, the former chief executive of BP.

The principal proposal from his panel would mean the removal of the cap on tuition fees, which would at least double. The most prestigious institutions would charge £10,000 or more annually.

The fees would be paid upfront by the Government and repaid by the students after graduation, at levels determined by the size of their salary. The Browne panel proposes special arrangements, including an access fund, to help the poorest, but most students would graduate with estimated debts of at least £30,000. Loans would be extended to part-time students.

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Homeowners like Nicole West now threaten to slow that system, Florida’s so-called rocket docket, to a crawl. West, who has been fighting to save her Jensen Beach house from foreclosure, has leveled a new allegation in her three-year battle: the entire process is based on fraud.

West said her case is rife with the kind of flawed mortgage documents that have caused lenders including Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to stop the process of foreclosures and evictions across the country. The banks said they are investigating homeowner charges like West’s that signatures were forged and documents were backdated.

“It’s not right,” said West, 40, who lives about an hour’s drive north of West Palm Beach. “It’s like lying to the judge. It’s like lying about what’s really going on.”

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The dollar tumbled against most major currencies on Thursday, prompting warnings that the weakness of the world’s reserve currency could destabilise the global economy and push other countries into retaliatory devaluations to underwrite their exports.

Increasing expectations the Federal Reserve will pump more money into the US economy next month under a policy known as quantitative easing sent the dollar to new lows against the Chinese renminbi, Swiss franc and Australian dollar. It dropped to a 15-year low against the yen and an eight-month low against the euro.

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Our role in Iraq has also been to help win the hearts and minds of Iraqis through humanitarian missions and establishing local relationships with religious leaders. One such local leader is the Rev. Canon Andrew White.

Canon White is the rector (pastor) of St. George’s Church of Baghdad, the only Anglican Church in the country, established during the time when Iraq was a British territory. Canon White, also titled the vicar of Baghdad by the Church of England, plays an important role as a peace ambassador in the Middle East. He has been kidnapped. He has been beaten. He has lain on a floor with body parts scattered around him. Yet, he faithfully continues to preach and works for peace in one of the most dangerous places in the world today. He faces such persecution because he is one of the few vocal Christians in the city working for the good of Iraq.

Given Canon White’s persecution in Baghdad, I have reflected on what the situation would be like if it were reversed. What would the situation be like for those who are not the religious majority of a country?

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O God, who by thy Holy Spirit didst move Teresa of Avila to manifest to thy Church the way of perfection: Grant us, we beseech thee, to be nourished by her excellent teaching, and enkindle within us a lively and unquenchable longing for true holiness; through Jesus Christ, the joy of loving hearts, who with thee and the same Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever.

Look upon our lives, O Lord our God, and make them thine in the power of thy Holy Spirit; that we may walk in thy way, faithfully believing thy Word, and faithfully doing thy commandments; faithfully serving thee, and faithfully serving our neighbour; to the furtherance of thy glorious kingdom, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

–The Diocese of York

Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days. And from there we made a circuit and arrived at Rhe’gium; and after one day a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Pute’oli. There we found brethren, and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome. And the brethren there, when they heard of us, came as far as the Forum of Ap’pius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them Paul thanked God and took courage.

–Acts 28: 12-15

Violence against Christians has helped Churches understand the need of unity, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, told a meeting today.

“Sustained violence against Christians in India has helped different denominations to bridge differences and heed the Good Shepherd’s voice,” the head of the world-wide Anglican communion said during the conclusion of the 40th anniversary celebration of the Church of North India (CNI) on Oct. 14.

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From here:

The Secretary General writes: ‘Many of you will have read the Archbishop of Canterbury’s letter to the Anglican Communion issued at Pentecost last (28 May 2010). Part of that letter addresses the current and ongoing tensions in the Anglican Communion – these tensions cluster around the three moratoria referred to in the Windsor Report.
‘In that letter the Archbishop made the following proposals:

“I am therefore proposing that, while these tensions remain unresolved, members of such provinces ”“ provinces that have formally, through their Synod or House of Bishops, adopted policies that breach any of the moratoria requested by the Instruments of Communion and recently reaffirmed by the Standing Committee and the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO) ”“ should not be participants in the ecumenical dialogues in which the Communion is formally engaged. I am further proposing that members of such provinces serving on IASCUFO should for the time being have the status only of consultants rather than full members”.
‘At that time I wrote to the Primate of the Southern Cone, whose interventions in other provinces are referred to in the Windsor Continuation Group Report asking him for clarification as to the current state of his interventions into other provinces. I have not received a response.

‘Consequently, I have written to the person from the Province of the Southern Cone who is a member of the Inter Anglican Standing Commission on Unity Faith and Order (IASCUFO), Bishop Tito Zavala, withdrawing his membership and inviting him to serve as a Consultant to that body.

‘These decisions are not taken easily or lightly, but relate to the gracious restraint requested by successive meetings of the Instruments of Communion and the implications for Communion bodies when these requests are not honoured.’

The Revd Canon Dr. Kenneth Kearon.

And even when banks did begin hiring to deal with the avalanche of defaults, they often turned to workers with minimal qualifications or work experience, employees a former JPMorgan executive characterized as the “Burger King kids.” In many cases, the banks outsourced their foreclosure operations to law firms like that of David J. Stern, of Florida, which served clients like Citigroup, GMAC and others. Mr. Stern hired outsourcing firms in Guam and the Philippines to help.

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