At present the archbishop’s strongest challengers are liberals outraged by his compromises on women bishops and by his opposition to the government’s plans to allow gay marriage. (It is now certain there will be women bishops; the question is how generously to accommodate clergy or parishes who will not submit to their authority.) But when the current generation of ordinands hit their stride, the balance may swing in a conservative direction. They are likely to give their bishops a hard time. Many of the rising generation of keen young clerics already make it clear they wish to work in large evangelical churches, ripe for American-style mission, rather than in slums or charming villages where social views are relaxed and doctrinal purity is not prized.

Still, as Simon Barrow, of the liberal religious think-tank Ekklesia, points out, the Anglican evangelical movement is a mixed bag. It ranges from the Alpha-course founders who are happy to deal with Catholics, Orthodox Christians and other denominations, to more sectarian types who are keener on erecting high doctrinal fences. Evangelicalism, like Anglicanism as a whole, is a fairly broad church. So powerful is the nation’s resistance to “narrowness” that even religious fervour rests on compromises.

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Archbishop Nichols said: “In the last three years I have grown to appreciate more and more the fine qualities of Archbishop Rowan: his kindness, his sharp intellect, his dedication to striving for harmony between peoples, especially within the Christian family, his courage and his friendship. These will be much missed when he steps down from his demanding office in December. I will miss him.

“I thank him for all the service he has given, recalling particularly his warm welcome to Pope Benedict at Lambeth Palace, a visit reciprocated with similar joy just last week.

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Together with all Egyptians, the Episcopal / Anglican Church of Egypt mourns the loss of Pope Shenouda III, the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Pope Shenouda passed away yesterday (Saturday 17 March) at the age of 89 and 41 years after his enthronement as the 117th Patriarch of Alexandria. Pope Shenouda was a great example of a Bishop who is committed to teaching his people regularly. Every Wednesday for the last 41 years, he met with his people (between 5000 and 6000 each week) to answer their questions and teach from the Bible. He wrote many books, which were translated into several languages.
Pope Shenouda had a great missionary vision. He consecrated two missionary bishops in Africa, and he planted churches and monasteries in all of the continents of the world. He gave special care to all of the Copts in the diaspora. Pope Shenouda had a warm heart for ministry to the poor. He had a special meeting with them every Thursday, where he supported them through funds, counselling and prayer.
During the time of Pope Shenouda, the Coptic Orthodox church has grown tremendously. He gave special attention to theological education, opening several new seminaries. He also cared for the youth of his church and consecrated two bishops mainly for ministry to youth.

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So when people talk about Britain losing touch with its Christian roots, which Christianity do they mean? The answer lies in the Thirty-Nine Articles, written in 1563, and the basis of the trinity of Church, Crown and state. Scotland, Wales and Ireland contribute to the soul of Britain but the special status given to the Church of England put the Articles at the core of the Christianity that has shaped us. That core remained intact at an institutional level until recently.

Now the ties that bind Church and state are snapping. The population has changed. The claims of Catholicism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and other faiths must be recognised, as must atheism. Because the Government wants our votes, it often takes the lead on social change. The Church sees itself as standing up for enduring truths.

The brilliant, dedicated people working in the parishes ”“ as in other faith groups ”“ were doing the Big Society long before David Cameron named it. But as an institution, the Church of England is failing.

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While I anticipated that marriage would change my circumstances, I did not anticipate how much it would change me.

Yes, my relationship is full of plenty of romance and laughter and companionship, but it’s also full of difficult conversations, compromise, and sacrifice. In my pre-engagement idealistic daydreams of marriage, my fiancé was simply “husband,” a generic abstract entity that made no demands on me, who simply provided for me and met my needs. Surely I knew””somewhere and vaguely””that marriage would call on me to make sacrifices, but making sacrifices in the abstract? Piece of cake. Making actual, concrete sacrifices? Anything but. My fiancé’s very presence in my life challenges me to expand my perspective, to direct my attention outward, and to seek the good of someone else. Instead of rescuing me from my burdens, my fiancé actually rescues me from my self-centeredness.

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Almighty God, who has taught us in thy holy Word that the law was given by Moses, but that grace and truth came by Jesus Christ: Grant that we, being not under the law but under grace, may live as children of that Jerusalem which is above, and rejoice in the freedom of our heavenly citizenship; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard, who has kept us among the living, and has not let our feet slip.

–Psalm 66: 8-9

[As] theologian Tom Beaudoin, who teaches at the Jesuit-run Fordham University in New York City, [writes]:

Whatever one thinks of this ad, it seems to mark a particular moment in the unfolding history of the Catholic Church in the United States. That a full-page ad in one of the most influential newspapers in the country would ask members of a major religious group to walk away from that group is an extraordinary occurrence.

I hope that before people take sides pro or con on the ad, before the tendency to separate into “evil vs. good” or “good vs. evil” here, we might be able to take this opportunity for some serious thinking, and ask: What is happening with religion in general and Catholicism in particular today that would make such a moment possible?…

Are you thinking “what ad”? Well, you better read it all.

Egypt’s Coptic Christian Pope Shenouda III has died at the age of 88, state television has announced.

The leader of the Middle East’s largest Christian minority was reported to suffer from cancer that had spread to several organs.

Coptic Christians make up 10% of Egypt’s population of 80 million.

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For Gene Edward Veith Jr., provost and professor of literature at Patrick Henry College, Martin Luther’s doctrine of vocation undergirds a truly Christian theology of the family. Vocation, as he describes it, is “the way God works through human beings.” In his latest book, Family Vocation: God’s Calling in Marriage, Parenting, and Childhood (Crossway), Veith looks to Luther’s ideals of loving and serving our neighbor, and to his view of the family as a “holy order” unto itself. Coauthored with daughter Mary J. Moerbe, a deaconess in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the book applies Luther’s understanding to the various family vocations (marriage, parenthood, and childhood) and the “offices” within those vocations (husband, wife, father, mother, and child). Author and Her.meneutics blog contributor Caryn Rivadeneira spoke with father and daughter about Luther’s vision of family life….

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“What concerns us is the message that it sends,” said Atheist of Florida member Rob Curry. “A very chilling message that, if you’re not a Christian, if you don’t believe as we do, then you’re not welcome.”

Curry’s referring to a road-anointing performed on CR 98 last year as part of the “Polk Under Prayer” campaign, where Christians poured olive oil on the asphalt and prayed over it, calling for a revival in the area.

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Yesterday Bishop James said: “The Archbishop of Canterbury has served the Church of England, the nation and the Anglican Communion tirelessly, courageously and beyond the call of duty.

“His visits to the diocese of Liverpool showed his pastoral sensitivity and his exceptional ability to engage a wide range of people in the debate about the Christian faith.

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…the Church of England ”“ and the Anglican Communion ”“ needs someone with a pastoral touch. It needs a man ”“ and it will be a man, because the Church of England is years away from appointing a female bishop let alone a lady archbishop ”“ who can be fair to all points of view rather than imposing absolutes on difficult issues, and someone who can put their personal beliefs aside for the greater good.

Sentamu has come out fighting on the issue of gay marriage and has become the darling of conservatives inside and outside the Church of England. But his views alienate and polarise: there are clergy and parishioners who would love to see same-sex relationships registered in places of worship. An archbishop is not a spokesman or a pundit to be wheeled out to comment on the hot topics of the day. His job, in fact, is an impossible one: to accept that some Anglicans will never agree on the issues of gender or homosexuality while at the same time holding everyone together on common issues such as the Millennium Development Goals and the persecution of minority Christian communities around the world.

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Rowan Williams has been, in my view, an outstanding Archbishop of Canterbury, patiently holding together the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion with courage and wisdom.

At a time of speedy cultural change in church and society that has been a complex and thankless task.

I don’t know of anybody who could have done it better.

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Welcoming different viewpoints and beliefs is said to be one of the crowning glories of the modern university. Unless of course, your viewpoints and beliefs happen to be Christian.

Sadly, back in 2010, the Supreme Court laid the groundwork for a disturbing trend that is spreading to campuses nationwide. In the case Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, little noted at the time, the high court ruled that a public college may refuse to recognize a student organization if it restricts membership or leadership to students who share the group’s core beliefs.

In other words, campus student organizations like InterVarsity or Campus Crusade now run the risk of being kicked off campus if they say that only Christian students may hold leadership positions. The Court ruling says, in effect, that Christian groups must allow people who hold non-Christian beliefs into leadership ranks.

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President Obama’s 2013 budget would add $3.5 trillion to annual deficits through 2022, according to a new estimate from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

It also would raise the deficit next year by $365 billion, according to the nonpartisan office.

The CBO estimate is in sharp contrast to White House claims last month that the Obama budget would reduce deficits by $3.2 trillion over the next decade.Ӭ

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Sunrise seen from inside Old St Paul’s must have been astonishing. Before Wren rebuilt it, the cathedral had been amplified at the East end by the so-called New Work, begun in the 1250s. The whole of the eastern wall, 93ft high, was glass: a rose window above, with seven lancet windows filling the wall beneath it.

That was the Lady chapel, and beneath it was St Faith’s chapel, in the crypt, used as a parish church for local people. Booksellers stowed their goods there, confident of its blocked windows, as the Fire of London took hold in 1666, till the lead ran molten from above, and broken timbers smashed through the crypt vaulting, sending charred pages into the air, to be carried, so the schoolboy William Taswell reported, as far as Eton.

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[Cardinal Timothy Dolan]…was asked to contrast the restoration of the great cathedral in mid-Manhattan with the archdiocesan policy of closing neighborhood churches ”” no matter how beloved or beautiful ”” whose membership has fallen significantly. These have included St. Thomas the Apostle in West Harlem, Our Lady Queen of Angels in East Harlem, and Our Lady of Vilnius in Lower Manhattan.

If we have a church that demographically is now ”” the people are gone ”” we have to make a decision. Are we going to utilize our money serving souls and serving people, and expanding the church in areas where the growth is? Or are we going to maintain buildings for ”” however laudably it might be ”” artistic and cultural and historic purposes? Sometimes we do. But most of the times we say: ”˜Sorry, we’re not in the business of solely museums. We’re a living, dynamic, growing, expanding church and we have to keep up with it.’ So the case can be made that St. Patrick’s is, indeed, living, dynamic and growing. It’s jammed. Every day it’s jammed.

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‘That was the most bitter and painful experience of my life,” observes Tom McMillen. “What happened in Munich was the most controversial and tragic sports competition in modern times.”

Mr. McMillen is a former college and NBA basketball star, Rhodes scholar, three-term Democratic member of Congress, and now successful businessman. We’re in his Northern Virginia office reminiscing about the continuing impact of the 1972 Olympic Games, held 40 years ago this summer. Overshadowing it all is the tragedy of what TV announcer Jim McKay called “the worst day in the history of sports.”

That was the hostage crisis in the Olympic Village, which culminated in the murder of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches by Palestinian terrorists (linked to the Fatah group that we now know enjoyed Soviet funding and training for many years). Four days later was the disputed basketball game between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, in which Mr. McMillen played a pivotal role.

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Almighty God, who in thy providence didst choose thy servant Patrick to be the apostle of the Irish people, to bring those who were wandering in darkness and error to the true light and knowledge of thee: Grant us so to walk in that light, that we may come at last to the light of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever.

Almighty God, whose we are and whom we serve: Keep us ever in thy faith and fear, and in obedience to thy commandments; confident that, being thine, none can pluck us out of thine hand; and, fearing thee, none can make us afraid; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

On the holy mount stands the city he founded; the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God.

–Psalm 87:1-3

Congratulations to Lehigh

Wowooww.

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Archbishop Rowan Williams is held in high affection across the Anglican Communion and, on behalf of the Church of Ireland, I offer him prayerful good wishes as he decides to step down from the hugely demanding role as Archbishop of Canterbury to take up his new responsibilities ”“ and enter a new phase of his life ”“ as Master of Magdelene College, Cambridge at the end of this year. While the Churches of the Anglican Communion will feel a considerable sense of loss when he departs, as an intellectual, a Christian thinker and a poet, he will bring a rich offering of gifts to this academic position. Happily, in returning to the academic sphere, Archbishop Rowan will continue to be able to contribute extensively to the intellectual life of the Communion for years to come.

The Anglican Communion has faced many deep and complex challenges over the past number of years and Rowan has sought to hold people together in unity consistently, doubtless at some real personal cost. He has brought depth of thinking, humility and sincerity to his leadership which we have valued immensely.

PA How would you look back over your 10 years as Archbishop of Canterbury?

RW It’s impossible to register whether it’s been ”˜a success’ or not. I look back on it chiefly as a time of enormous pressure, yes, and plenty of invitations to all sorts of things, to engage in all sorts of contexts ”“ many many opportunities and lots of demands.

I think the two things I look back on with greatest satisfaction are that we’ve managed in the Church of England to launch this very new mission outreach programme Fresh Expressions, and get the Church of England to recognise the possibility of new styles of congregational life and new styles of training for ministers to go with it. I think that’s really begun to build itself in to the life of the Church.
And in the last couple of years we’ve also managed to launch the new Anglican Alliance for Relief and Development worldwide, so that we’ve put together a co-ordinating and umbrella body that helps the various relief agencies that are involved in the life of the Anglican Communion worldwide to work better together. And that so far has been very well received.
So those are, in my mind, some of the big positives of the last 10 years. I look back on those with a lot of gratitude.
And then, simply the opportunity of travelling in the Anglican Communion. I suppose, most poignantly, last year in Zimbabwe. But also visits to Congo and Sudan; visits to Pakistan at a time of some stress and tension there; and, of course, repeated visits to the Middle East over the last 10 years. It’s enormously stretching and inspiring, because you see people really work in the middle of appalling circumstances ”“ heartbreaking in some ways but a great enrichment.

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From here:

“I am grateful for Rowan Williams’ service as Archbishop of Canterbury during an exceedingly challenging season. We can all give thanks for his erudition and persistence in seeking reconciliation across a rapidly changing Anglican Communion. His leadership of that reconciling work through Indaba and Ubuntu is bearing remarkable fruit, and I believe this will be his most important legacy. I give thanks that his spiritual and intellectual gifts will continue to bless the larger world, albeit from a different vantage point. May the coming months bring well-deserved peace to him and his family, and may we join in blessing his ministry. ”˜Well done, good and faithful servant!’”

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church

From a purely legal point of view, thus, the process is clear: it is up to the two chambers of parliament to jointly decide on the composition of the Constituent Assembly. Politically, however, there is strong resistance by secular parties to allow the parliament to exercise the power given to it by the constitutional declaration. Secular parties and independents did poorly in the elections, collectively receiving less than 25 percent of the seats. Thus they are demanding that the Constituent Assembly be composed primarily of representatives of organizations outside the parliament””such as religious institutions, universities, and professional syndicates””which in their view represent the Egyptian people better than the elected parliament. Allowing the parliament to elect the Constituent Assembly as it sees fit, many argue, would allow Islamists to dominate the writing of the constitution.

The debate is remarkable for two reasons. First, it shows that Egypt has made no progress on the issue of how and by whom the constitution will be written. The current debates are a reiteration of earlier discussions that place, without coming to a conclusion, since the overthrow of Mubarak. Such debates hampered agreement on a clear transition process early on.

Second, the debates do not touch on the content of the constitution even at this late date….

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As members of the Schuller family head in new directions — Coleman and brother-in law Jim Penner plan to start a new church this Sunday — the famous glass-walled church offers a cautionary tale of the potential pitfalls facing family-run ministries.

“If you have a family ministry, the health of the relationships within the family is key to whether the governance of the ministry is going to work well or not,” said the Rev. Wes Granberg-Michaelson, a former board member and former general secretary of the Reformed Church in America, the denomination of the Crystal Cathedral.

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