Nine years after electing the first openly gay bishop in the history of their church, causing a rift in the worldwide Anglican Communion that remains unrepaired, New Hampshire Episcopalians may choose a second [non-celibate] gay man as their leader….
…some US church leaders remain optimistic about the future of the Anglican Communion. Bishop M. Thomas Shaw of the Diocese of Massachusetts said he believes it will survive – not because conservative and liberal dioceses will reach agreement on hot-button issues like sexuality, but because he believes they will be willing to grant one another greater autonomy.
“I think there is definitely a change, a movement in much of the African church not to recognize the blessing of same-sex unions, or to encourage gay partnerships, but a real acknowledgment that our cultures and pastoral situations are different,’’ he said.
[blockquote]…some US church leaders remain optimistic about the future of the Anglican Communion. Bishop M. Thomas Shaw of the Diocese of Massachusetts said he believes it will survive – not because conservative and liberal dioceses will reach agreement on hot-button issues like sexuality, but because he believes they will be willing to grant one another greater autonomy.[/blockquote]
In other words, we’ve hit the point where no one cares.
RE: “they will be willing to grant one another greater autonomy. . . . ”
Right — that’s what happens when a Communion ends in everything but name only. We’re happy for other people to exercise their autonomy — way over there across the Grand Canyon chasm.
[blockquote]Even with that, membership in the mainline New Hampshire Episcopal Church has increased slightly in recent years, Porter said.[/blockquote]
http://pr.dfms.org/study/exports/3772-4127_20120430_09464130.pdf
Increase? You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Just to be clear. It’s the red lines that matter, not the blue ones.
Their high point in ASA looks to have been around 5500 in 2001. From that point they’ve declined to around 4000 ASA in 2010. Looks like there was a teensy teensy increase between 09 and 10 — like maybe 25 or so?
Just goes to show that the revisionists would *like* to increase — which gives the lie to the whole “cost of discipleship” meme that some of the wackies have been trying out lately. ; > )
1. Oh, yeah, it’ll survive, alright…….but for how much longer in its present form?
Only 4000 ASA? I wonder how they fund the diocesan office. Endowed, perhaps?
Of the 3 candidates, one is an openly practicing male homosexual who seems to think he’s married to another man (despite written TEC doctrine that marriage is between man and woman), and who apparently views his past antinomianism and a church trial as worthy to put on his resume. Looks like another has been married; not sure about her present marital status. Also it looks like the third has been married (collapse of an early marriage), and is on his second wife; he initiated a “wedding fast” in his parish to protest the fact that homosexuals cannot marry.
The url for the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire has mysteriously changed since yesterday. The statistics can now be found here:
http://pr.dfms.org/study/exports/3772-4127_20120501_07421476.pdf
In case it disappears again, go here and select New Hampshire:
http://episcopalchurch.org/page/studying-your-congregation-and-community
William Witt,
Yes, the URL’s at dfms.org are only good for a little while. When a diocese or parish is selected from the main page, a new pdf is generated right then and there. That pdf is then deleted after some period of time.
I don’t know why they are not all pre-generated and with fixed URL’s, but they aren’t.
Slow learners? Or they like busting up the former Anglican Communion to salve their egos for being “progressive”? A tough call, I admit, I judge the latter based on history. Browning, Grizwold, New Hampshire… the name of the bishop is irrelevant.