Writing to supporters around the Anglican Communion, Bp Chad Gandiya said that, despite a Supreme Court order recognising the cathedral as belonging to CPCA’s Diocese of Harare, excommunicated bishop, Nolbert Kunonga “did not leave willingly.”
“Yesterday Kunonga was evicted from the Diocesan Offices and Cathedral yesterday,” he wrote. “He refused to handover three diocesan cars in his possession. He came back later with thugs with chains who started chasing people beating some (some of the guards we had hired were beaten).
“When our people reported it to the police they were shunted from one office to the other because the police said, “they were too junior to deal with the Anglican matter”. Eventually they were served and riot police were sent who arrested some of the thugs and we are grateful for that.

Read it all.

I listened to NPR yesterday for over an hour back and forth from a doctors appointment.

The entire time they talked about President Obama’s proposal to implement the middle class tax cut now.
Everywhere I turn its middle class tax cut, middle class tax cut…

Except it isn’t but no one thinks about these things.

What is being proposed is not letting the current tax code STAY THE SAME.
So 98% of Americans WON”T HAVE A TAX INCREASE.

Since when is not having an increase a cut?

Anyone you know say I am getting the same number of days vacation this year as last year I am angry I get a benefits cut!

We, Presidents of the Bishops’ Conferences of Africa and Bishop Presidents of National Caritas in Africa, coming from thirty four countries of the continent, gathered in a Conference on the identity and mission of Caritas in Kinshasa from November 20th to 22nd, 2012, express deep concern and solidarity with the Congolese people. We are outraged and shocked by the escalating armed violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo which is causing again a major human tragedy.

Thousands of men, women and children, the victims of this war which is imposed on them, are displaced and abandoned in destitution in Goma and its surroundings. They are exposed to the bad weather, hunger, rape and all kinds of abuses, including recruiting of children into the army. This constitutes an offence to their dignity as human beings and children of God.

We are convinced that the time is no longer for war or conquest, but rather to promote cooperation between peoples and that the territorial integrity of the Democratic Republic of Congo must be protected and respected by all.

Read it all

So ECUSA, through its hopelessly conflicted Disciplinary Board for Bishops, blames the Bishop for the actions of the Diocese — even though he had no vote on them to begin with, and no Constitutional power to set aside the acts of the diocesan convention.

And then the Presiding Bishop, while trying with one hand to lure Bishop Lawrence into further mediation talks, uses her other hand to sign a certificate restricting his ministry — and then still wants to continue talks as scheduled while keeping his restriction “confidential.” (Oh, yes, that would certainly work.)

To top it off, she then claims that “her hands were tied,” and that once she received the certification that he personally had “abandoned” ECUSA by the actions the diocesan convention took, she had “no choice” but to restrict him.

Read it all

There are more Muslims from America than any other country on this year’s “The Muslim 500: The World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims,” compiled by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre, a respected think tank in Jordan, including two in the top 50.

Sheikh Hamza Yusuf Hanson, a California-born convert who founded Zaytuna College, an Islamic college in Berkeley, Calif., and is a leading Islamic authority in America, ranked No. 42, two places ahead of Seyyed Hossein Nasr, an Islamic studies professor at George Washington University known for his work in Islamic philosophy.

America’s roughly 2.6 million Muslims are a tiny fraction of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims, but they took 41 spots on the 500 list….

Read it all

CEB: What do you consider to be your spiritual gifts?
JWF: Preaching, encouraging and mentoring, energy and enthusiasm, creativity in imagining new ways in the faith.

CEB: How are these particularly matched with your new position and its demands?
JWF: The mix of my spiritual gifts can be useful for my new position. A bishop, however, is not just a bundle of gifts and skills. A bishop is a person who is filled with the Holy Spirit, empowered to be an agent of love and forgiveness. Bishop Doyle spoke most effectively about this in his sermon at my consecration. I believe that God called me to be a bishop””filled with the Holy Spirit, warts and all””and the person that I am today will not be the same as the bishop I will be tomorrow. God has always given me the gifts to do the ministry I am called to do. I am trusting that the same will continue to be true.

Read it all

In a previous…[written piece] I sketched the ancient Catholic roots of Anglicanism, and its 16th and 17th century development under the influence of the Reformation, such that the 17th century opposition of Presbyterian and Episcopalian reflected differences not so much about Faith as Polity (form of church government), Order, and Liturgy. The 17th century division points in two ways. On the one hand, Anglicans may and do hold reformed or evangelical convictions substantially the same as those found in Protestant churches. On the other, Anglicans of all stripes accept as parameters certain distinctives of Liturgy and Order – including ordination of presbyters (priests) by a bishop in historic succession. Thus alongside (and sometimes, as in the case of John Wesley, mingled with) the reformed or evangelical legacy Anglicanism is shaped by “high” churchmanship as well ”“ “high” in its regard for the church, its
worship, and ministry.

There were impeccable precedents among the 16th century reformers for the high churchmanship of the 17thcentury. Cranmer’s reformed theological views were grounded in a extensive and careful study of the ancient Catholic Fathers; Calvin’s influential teaching promoted a high view of the Sacraments and the Church (on which he took the same view as the St. Cyprian, extra ecclesiam nulla salus, “outside the church is no salvation”); Archbishops of “Calvinist” views like John Whitgift (d. 1604) vigorously defended episcopacy against presbyterian criticisms; and the Prayer Book and the Cathedrals maintained the Catholic liturgical tradition in its essentials. To these the high churchmen of the 17th
century added a concern for the outward beauty of the liturgy, as well as reverence for catholic antiquity.
In the 19thcentury Anglo-Catholic revival, such “high church” views were sharpened further. Against secularizing, utilitarian views, it affirmed the divine institution of the Church, its ministry and sacraments. Its faith, worship, and ministry are not something to be reinvented according to human agendas or utility. There followed a revival of medieval ceremonial (to a greater or lesser extent) as a means to express the sacred nature of the priesthood and sacraments, and also a sympathetic engagement with medieval doctrine and devotion.

These were developments of permanent value to Anglicanism. Unfortunately Anglo-Catholics became embroiled in a narrow and often unhistorical and untheological polemic against the Reformation, with the result that Evangelicals (and indeed High Churchmen of the old school) came to regard it as a betrayal to popery. The hostility and suspicion that warfare engendered has lived on long since.

My own theological mentors were Anglo-Catholics and Anglican Evangelicals who had not abandoned their core convictions, but were determined to look beyond party warfare, and discerned a shared heritage of ancient catholic faith,
as articulated in the western church chiefly by Saint Augustine, but enriched by countless others, including the great theological tradition of the Eastern church. Within that common heritage, western Catholics and Evangelicals have
much to share and to learn from one another.

Outside Anglicanism, the same acknowledgement of common ground in doctrine and mission has animated the religious conservatives in the “Evangelicals and Catholics Together” movement. The Roman church, long a bastion of embattled polemic against other churches, has engaged sympathyetically with Christians outside its jurisdiction, including (explicitly) the churches that emerged from the Reformation, in which it acknowledges the presence of “elements of sanctification and truth”. In documents like the Papal Encyclical of John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint, the Roman Church, without giving up its historic claims, has committed itself to work for ecumenical reconciliation both theologically and
practically.

I do not take the Roman view of these matters as definitive: but they are suggestive. If we are secure in our identity as Anglicans, including our commitment to the legacy of Catholic Faith and Order as set forth in the 16th century Prayer Book and Articles of Religion, we can afford a generosity of spirit that looks beyond denominational or party lines.

I think this generosity of spirit is necessary to Christians both catholic and reformed. We do not commend one side by the disparagement of the other. Nor can we speak as if there are first- and second-class Christians. God bestows
the gifts of his grace in ways that confound our the boundaries of denomination, taste, and custom: it is surely a hint that we are meant to seek a deeper unity in the truth, both theologically and practically. God must give that unity, in and when he wills: it is not something we can fabricate or negotiate, nor do we have the right to surrender the distinctive of our patrimony – but it does mean that we are to acknowledge the unity that already exists, by learning from and
working with Christians who stand within the common inheritance we have received from our fathers in the faith.

—The Rev. Gavin Dunbar is rector of Saint John’s, Savannah, Georgia

“Will you come with me to the mountains? It will hurt at first, until your feet are hardened. Reality is harsh to the feet of shadows. But will you come?”[says the spirit character in the sceme]

“Well, that is a plan. I am perfectly ready to consider it. Of course I should require some assurances … I should want a guarantee that you are taking me to a place where I shall find a wider sphere of usefulness-and scope for the talents that God has given me-and an atmosphere of free inquiry-in short, all that one means by civilization and-er-the spiritual life.”[responds the ghost character in the scene]

“No,” said the other. “I can promise you none of these things. No sphere of usefulness: you are not needed there at all. No scope for your talents: only forgiveness for having perverted them. No atmosphere of inquiry, for I will bring you to the land not of questions but of answers, and you shall see the face of God.”

“Ah, but we must all interpret those beautiful words in our own way! For me there is no such thing as a final answer. The free wind of inquiry must always continue to blow through the mind, must it not? Trove all things’ . . . to travel hopefully is better than to arrive.”
“If that were true, and known to be true, how could anyone travel hopefully? There would be nothing to hope for.”

“But you must feel yourself that there is something stifling about the idea of finality? Stagnation, my dear boy, what is more soul-destroying than stagnation?”

“You think that, because hitherto you have experienced truth only with the abstract intellect. I will bring you where you can taste it like honey and be embraced by it as by a bridegroom. Your thirst shall be quenched.”

“Well, really, you know, I am not aware of a thirst for some ready-made truth which puts an end to intellectual activity in the way you seem to be describing. Will it leave me the free play of Mind, Dick? I must insist on that, you know.”

“Free, as a man is free to drink while he is drinking. He is not free still to be dry.” The Ghost seemed to think for a moment. “I can make nothing of that idea,” it said.

“Listen!” said the White Spirit. “Once you were a child. Once you knew what inquiry was for. There was a time when you asked questions because you wanted answers, and were glad when you had found them. Become that child again: even now.”

“Ah, but when I became a man I put away childish things.”

“You have gone far wrong. Thirst was made for water; inquiry for truth. What you now call the free play of inquiry has neither more nor less to do with the ends for which intelligence was given you than masturbation has to do with marriage.”

“If we cannot be reverent, there is at least no need to be obscene. The suggestion that I should return at my age to the mere factual inquisitiveness of boyhood strikes me as preposterous. In any case, that question-and-answer conception of thought only applies to matters of fact. Religious and speculative questions are surely on a different level.”

“We know nothing of religion here: we think only of Christ. We know nothing of speculation. Come and see. I will bring you to Eternal Fact, the Father of all other facthood.”

–C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, Chapter Five (my emphasis)

One occasionally receives emails promoting various books. Here is one from the inbox last night that caught my eye:

Is it possible to find values in all religions and in all people? 1 in 5 Americans – about 46 million people – are among the growing ranks of those who don’t identify with any religion. From the pulpit to the many corners of the world, Richard Leonard shares his liberal approach to religion and to life in his new book Ports of Call.
“This world is a vaster place than any of us can imagine, with tremendous variations of culture and human experience,” says Leonard. “Yet the human community is essentially one, physically, and tied into the interdependent but fragile web that sustains all life.”
Leonard has spent sixty years of ministry and is a minister of the All Souls Church of New York. In Ports of Call, Leonard shares with his audience stories, sermons and events from various experiences in his life. His ministry has included development of schools and camps, civil rights as well as music.
“My liberal approach to religion and to life, seeing values in all religions and in all people, will raise the hackles of those who believe there can only be one way of looking at things,” says Leonard.
This is an exquisite collection of sermons and other writings that not only instills wisdom into it’s readers, but also delivers an inside look to the life of a clergyman and how it is not much different than everyone else’s. Leonard hopes that his writings will convey knowledge, compassion and good humor to those that read this book.

Perhaps you wondered as I did about the parish in which the author seerved–check their website here and do not miss their self description–KSH.

The Church of England is to rush through legislation to consecrate women bishops after the defeat last week at the General Synod in London.
The Archbishops’ Council, the executive of the established Church, met behind closed doors this week to discuss the crisis. In a statement at the end of the two-day meeting, it said: “Many council members commented on the deep degree of sadness and shock that they had felt as a result of the vote and also of the need to affirm all women serving the Church ”” both lay and ordained ”” in their ministries.
“The council decided that a process to admit women to the episcopate needed to be restarted at the next meeting of the General Synod in July 2013 … The council therefore recommended that the House of Bishops, during its meeting in a fortnight’s time, put in place a clear process for discussions in the new year with a view to bringing legislative proposals before the synod in July.”

Read it all (requires subscription).

Mormonism is a new religion, less than 200 years old, which means many of its claims can be easily confirmed or denied by modern science. For example, even most Mormon scholars agree there’s no archaeological evidence that Jews came to America in 600 B.C., as Joseph Smith claimed, or that the Garden of Eden was in Jackson County, Mo.

Faced with those evidentiary challenges, some Mormons have felt betrayed and left the faith. Many others, like Joanna Brooks, are trying to reconcile their religion with the science. Brooks, who’s a professor at San Diego State University and author of The Book of Mormon Girl, says she focuses on the fundamentals, such as a belief in God, and in Jesus’ role as savior.

“Other sort of fine points of doctrine, I deal with privately,” says Brooks. “And that’s not uncommon in Mormonism.”

Read or listen to it all.

O God, so rule and govern our hearts and minds by thy Holy Spirit, that being ever mindful of the end of all things, and the day of thy just judgment, we may be stirred up to holiness of living here, and dwell with thee forever hereafter; through Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord.

–(The) Lutheran Church

WOMEN BISHOPS MEASURE FAILS IN THE HOUSE OF LAITY – THEREFORE FAILS OVERALL

This post will be updated regularly – Last updated November 28th at 4:00 PM GMT, 11:00 AM Eastern. Links to all T19 posts to do with this topic are here

UPDATE Wednesday 28th
Joint Press Statement From The Chairmen Of The Catholic Group And Reform
CofE: Statement on the Conclusion of the Meeting of the Archbishops’ Council November 2012
Dr Robert Morris: Women as bishops: should Parliament intervene? – legal analysis of relationship of church and state
Peter Ould: The Dys-Established Church
[There is a great deal of heat being generated at the moment in the aftermath of Synod, but not much light, so updates here will be selective]
Result of Women Bishops Vote was:

Bishops: For 44; Against 3; Abstained 2 – Passed in this house
Clergy: For 148; Against 45; Abstained 0 – Passed in this house
Laity: For 132; Against 74; Abstained 0 – Failed in this house

The Measure not having been approved by a 2/3 majority in each of the three houses, failed. Listen to Audio Part 1 and Part 2 and Vote

[See below for full details of Synod debates, reaction and Audio links where the debates can be listened to again]

————————————————-

[Update Friday 23rd – Veteran ex-Minister, Member of Parliament and Synod Frank Field says his advice to Reformers to take account of and deal with needs of objectors was ignored and led to failure of Women Bishops measure, and Bishop Tom Wright criticises ‘get with the program’ as a basis for church decision-making.

[Update Thursday 22nd – new items today include: press and other coverage from the last day of Synod yesterday; a Summary report from the Church Media Department; and see also the report from the Second Church Estates Commissioner to Parliament today and the ensuing debate]

UPDATE WITH PRESS AND OTHER REACTIONS ON FRIDAY NOVEMBER 23rd
Frank Field MP says Failure down to Reformers not meeting objections, against his advice – for UK readers only, the Newsnight interview with Frank Field can be watched here from 27 until 35 minutes in
Bishop Tom Wright: It’s About the Bible, Not Fake Ideas of Progress
The Atlantic: The Church of England Still Won’t Allow Female Bishops: Good for Them

For more UK Press coverage see Church of England Briefing, Anglican Mainstream and Thinking Anglicans

UPDATE WITH PRESS AND OTHER REACTIONS ON THURSDAY NOVEMBER 22nd
There is a pretty wide coverage of UK press articles from the Church of England here
Also press and other reaction is available on Anglican Mainstream and Thinking Anglicans

Telegraph: Editorial: Leave the Church Be and David Cameron is bullying the Church over women bishops, just as he will do over gay marriage; also Cranmer Mr Speaker ‘guides’ Labour MPs on Church of England equality

Sir Tony Baldry, Second Church Estates Commissioner in Parliament, answered a Parliamentary Question today and there was an ensuing debate in the House of Commons which can be watched here and the Hansard transcript is here and see also this BBC Report [h/t Thinking Anglicans]

STATEMENTS AND RESPONSES TO VOTE
Archbishop of York
Archbishop Wabukala of Kenya and Chairman of GAFCON
Church of England Evangelical Council
Church Society Together 4Ward campaign
Evangelical Alliance
Forward in Faith
Reform
The Catholic Group in Synod
Society of St Wilfred and St Hilda bishops

Affirming Catholicism
Fulcrum
WATCH

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The Church of England General Synod took place between Monday November 19th and Wednesday November 21st 2012. Tuesday 20th was set aside for The Women Bishops debate. Synod agreed to meet next in 2013 on 5-9 July and 18-20 November.

You can listen to the live Audio stream here, and here are links to the Timetable, Agenda, and Papers. Summary Reports of each day’s business are available here and audio podcasts of the debates and votes here

Other Reports: Evangelicals Now – [Church Society], Thinking Anglicans, Anglican Mainstream, Church Times

Tweets: Main link for Synod is #Synod. Other tweets worth following may include:Church of England, Church Times, +Pete Broadbent and Ruth Gledhill [Times]

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 21st
Wednesday Outline Agenda:
8:30 AM [London, 3:30 AM Eastern – not broadcast] Emergency House of Bishops Meeting
9.30 AM [London, 4:30 AM Eastern] Worship
Archbishop of Canterbury’s Presidential Statement on Yesterday’s Women in the Episcopate Vote and Audio
Diocesan Synod Motion: Southwell and Nottingham: Amendment to Canon B 12 and Regulations [GS1881A and GS1881B Distribution of Holy Communion] Audio of Debate
Private Member’s Motion: John Freeman: Living Wage [GS1882A and GS1882B Payment of by church bodies] Audio of Debate
Dates of groups of sessions in 2013

2.30 PM [London, 9:30 AM Eastern] Farewells
Youth unemployment [GS1883 and I am one in a million leaflet] Audio to this point
Farewell to the Archbishop of Canterbury Audio for the rest of the afternon session
Contingency business: Report of the Standing Orders Committee [GS 1884]

Wednesday Session Report – Audio for the debates can be listened to on the links above.

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 20th – WOMEN BISHOPS DEBATE

Vote Result on Motion 501 to approve Women Bishops in the Church of England under the current proposed provision:

The Measure not having been approved by a 2/3 majority in each of the three houses, fails. The consequential following motions 502 and 503 were not debated.

The Archbishop of York informed Synod that the issue may not be considered again in the duration of the life of this Synod until 2015; unless named officials of Synod decide otherwise

Afternoon Session Vote Report from the Church of England Media Center here and Audio of the Afternoon debate and vote may be listened to again here

Morning Session Report and Morning Session Audio

Tuesday Press Coverage
The Church of England has a useful roundup of today’s UK press coverage here

Tuesday Agenda
Holy Communion [Sermon by the Archbishop of Canterbury Audio]
Draft Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure and Draft Amending Canon No.30
501 Draft Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure (GS 1708D) ”“ Draft Measure for Final Approval (resumed debate)
502 Draft Amending Canon No. 30 (GS 1709C) ”“ Draft Amending Canon for Final Approval
503 Draft Petition for Her Majesty”Ÿs Royal Assent and Licence (GS 1709E) ”“ for Adoption
[See also Reconsideration of Clause 5(1)(c) by the House of Bishops (GS1708-09ZZZ)]

MONDAY NOVEMBER 19th:
Summary Report and all Audio files
Worship and formal business [Greeting by the Archbishop of Canterbury] Report by the Business Committee Audio
Anglican Consultative Council meeting: presentation and questions Audio
Anglican Communion Covenant: Report on the Reference to Dioceses Audio
Questions Audio

The links and reports from the last Synod in February are here

A Song of Ascents. Of David. O LORD, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a child quieted at its mother’s breast; like a child that is quieted is my soul. O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.

–Psalm 131

The strong support President Barack Obama received from Hispanic voters contributed mightily to his reelection. Samuel Rodriguez, 43, is president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and, according to The Wall Street Journal, one of America’s seven most influential Hispanic leaders. He is also an ordained Assemblies of God pastor at New Season Christian Worship Center in Sacramento.

When you were growing up, how did your parents””both immigrants from Puerto Rico””teach you about U.S. history and values? My dad, a hard-working Mack truck worker, instilled in me a Calvinistic work ethic. He looked at me and said, “Any dream that you can have in this nation can come to pass if you have faith in Christ and if you have the spirit of entrepreneurship.” We as Americans are Plymouth Rock and Jamestown. That’s our DNA.

Read it all.

Amid what is being termed as “genocide” of Christians by Boko Haram suicide bombers in Nigeria, Christians from this West African nation living in the U.S. have intensified their calls for the designation of the Islamist group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the State Department.

Read it all.

Bishop Cragg was laid to rest in the Oxfordshire churchyard of Holy Trinity, Ascott-under-Wychwood, where he and his wife had lived in their retirement. In the church, a tapestry hangs inside the west wall. We were told this had been a gift from Bishop Cragg because he did not like preaching to a blank wooden wall.

He himself had woven a number of the panels while waiting at stations and airports during his long missionary career. Prayers were led by Canon Christopher Lamb, himself a missionary in Pakistan, and specialist on inter-faith relations, whose doctoral studies were on Bishop Cragg’s theology. The Bible reading was chosen by Bishop Cragg himself ”“ 1 Peter chapter 4: “He who has suffered in the body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.”

Read it all.