A South West Bishop has met the Pope at a synod in Rome.
The Rt Revd Tim Thornton, the Bishop of Truro, represented the Anglican Church at the Roman Catholic Synod on the Family at the Vatican.
While in the Italian capital, Bishop Tim has been joining in debates around divorce and homosexuality and has even managed to squeeze in a couple of minutes with Pope Francis.
He said there had been “major differences in the room”.
An interesting list–check it out.
During orientation at Harvard Divinity School here in 2013, Angie Thurston wandered amid the tables set up by the various campus ministries. Catholic, Methodist, Muslim ”” they mostly served to reinforce the sense that Ms. Thurston did not fit into an organized religion.
Here she was, starting her graduate studies in religion when she did not know the definition of liturgy, had never read the Bible and could not have identified a major theologian like Karl Barth, even if it would have won her a fortune on “Jeopardy!” Yet something in organized religion hinted at an answer to the atomized, unmoored life she led.
“I didn’t feel unwelcome, but I did feel like it was a call to creativity,” Ms. Thurston, 30, recalled of her initiation. “I wanted to respond to what I saw as a crisis of isolation among young people.”
“It started so normal, the day that is,” Mintz said on his Facebook post.
Mintz was in his writing class, chuckling with the teacher and other students, when commotion broke out in another room.
“My teacher walked up to the door that connected our classroom and asked if everyone was OK,” he said. “No one could tell what the yelling was.”
When the teacher knocked, gunshots erupted, like firecrackers. His classmates took off running.
From the Diocese:
Keep our clergy in prayer as they gather for their annual clergy conference at St. Christopher Camp and Conference Center. The Most Rev. Dr. Foley Beach, Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church in North America and Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the South will be the keynote speaker. One session in the conference is titled, “Conversations on Provincial Affiliation.” Pray for discernment, wisdom, humility and open, frank communication as we seek God’s direction for the future of our Diocese.
Ignatius offers a fascinating insight into the heart of a true man of God given over to His will. It is tempting to want to leap from his example and vision of episcopacy to its practice within our own Church at this time, but such a leap needs great care. A bishop in the first decade of the second century cannot fairly be compared even to one of 250 years later let alone in the Church of today. The three-fold ministry was still in an early stage of its development. Even though Lightfoot has cogently argued that a case can be made for regarding episcopacy as being of Apostolic direction, and therefore possessing Divine sanction, long years of evolution and growth lay before it. At this stage too the Church across the Roman Empire faced the daily possibility of considerable persecution and martyrdom. That demanded a particular kind of shepherding and witness.
On the other hand a bishop at the beginning of the third millennium might profitably and properly ask (or be asked) whether endless committees and synods are really the way in which their lives are to be laid down for their flock? An institution requires administration, but in the New Testament list of charisms, administrators are quite low in the order of priorities, and of its pastors at this time the Church has other, more pressing, needs. Rather than imposing upon an already disheartened clergy systems of appraisal (mostly copied from secular models of management) it would be good for parish priests to experience bishops as those who were around so much that they could afford regularly to ”˜drop in’ and just be with them. It is hard to expect the parish clergy to make visiting a priority if their fathers in God do not set an example.
In some dioceses the more obviously pastoral role has sometimes been exercised by a suffragan but as more and more diocesan bishops, at least within the Church of England, are being selected from the ranks of the suffragans the temptation is for those who are ambitious to prove their worth more as potential managers than those given to the ”˜Word of God and prayer’ (Acts 6.2). If the communities within which the bishops are to exercise their ministry of unity and care are too large for them to do their work has not the time come to press for smaller dioceses and for bishops to strip themselves of the remnants of the grandeur their office once held and be found, above all, with their clergy and amongst the people, drawing them together into the unity for which Christ gave himself?
Almighty God, we praise thy name for thy bishop and martyr Ignatius of Antioch, who offered himself as grain to be ground by the teeth of wild beasts that he might present unto thee the pure bread of sacrifice. Accept, we pray thee, the willing tribute of our lives, and give us a share in the pure and spotless offering of thy Son Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
May the strength of God pilot us.
May the power of God preserve us.
May the wisdom of God instruct us.
May the hand of God protect us.
May the way of God direct us.
May the shield of God defend us.
May the host of God guard us against the snares of evil and the temptations of the world.
May Christ be with us, Christ before us, Christ in us, Christ over us.
May thy salvation, O Lord, be always ours this day and for evermore.
Now I know that the LORD will help his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with mighty victories by his right hand. Some boast of chariots, and some of horses; but we boast of the name of the LORD our God. They will collapse and fall; but we shall rise and stand upright. Give victory to the king, O LORD; answer us when we call.
–Psalm 20:6-9
In the United States today, thousands of children under 18 have recently taken marital vows ”” mostly girls married to adult men, often with approval from local judges. In at least one case, a 10-year-old boy was legally married.
How is this possible? The minimum marriage age in most states is 18, but every state allows exceptions under which children under age 18 can wed.
The first common exception is for children marrying with “parental consent.” Most states allow children age 16 or 17 to marry if their parents sign the marriage license application.
Of course, one person’s “parental consent” can be another’s “parental coercion,” but state laws typically do not call for anyone to investigate whether a child is marrying willingly. Even in the case of a girl’s sobbing openly while her parents sign the application and force her into marriage, the clerk usually has no authority to intervene. In fact, in most states there are no laws that specifically forbid forced marriage.
During the meeting, the Anglican Church in North America was declared to be an official partner province of the Global South. In addition, Archbishop Foley Beach, who earlier in the week had preached at All Saints Anglican Cathedral in Cairo, was seated as a member of the Global South Primates Council with both voice and vote; participating fully in the meeting.
It is imperative that we find ways to reach out in mission and in faith to those who have not heard the Good News. It is not enough to tell ourselves how friendly our churches are while the attendance stays stable ”“ or worse. We need to be praying for opportunities to invite people into a relationship with Christ and then be on the lookout for the person God sends. When new people come to our churches, we need to offer the kind of hospitality that Christ has offered us. This is more than handing them a bulletin and ignoring them. Who is that PERSON that Christ has sent to you today? How can your parish serve them? If your parish can’t do it, help them find a church that is willing to do so! Making disciples, growing disciples, and equipping lay people for ministry will make it possible for the other marks of mission to flow. As people animated by the Holy Spirit, we can count on God wanting to work through us. If we teach others how to live with Christ, more can happen.
I am aware that some congregations are very tired and that there are limited resources. The model that we have been using is not working for everyone. That is why I suggest that the leadership of each congregation prayerfully consider taking on one new thing and letting go of one thing. What if we were to spend the next year keeping track of our opportunities to teach, baptize and nurture new believers? What if we were to reach out to the people around our churches and invite them to Messy Church or an Alpha Course? What if you were to set yourselves an audacious goal centered around the first two Marks of Mission? I hope to hear from you and to be able to share stories about the ”˜One Thing’ you took up and the ”˜One Thing’ you let go of. Both are really critical!