You can find all the latest official news from the Diocese of South Carolina here and all T19 posts about the conflict in South Carolina using this link TEC Conflicts: South Carolina category

Videos for Mere Anglicanism 2013 are here

LATEST:
The Latest Edition of the Diocese of South Carolina Newspaper is now available, April 20, 2013
A.S. Haley—An Overview of the Complex Situation between TEC and the Dioc. of S.C. in South Carolina, April 18, 2013
George Conger Unpacks the South Car. Legal Fracas and the recent WSJ article’s poor Coverage Thereof, April 17, 2013
A copy of the Letter the New TEC Bishop in South Carolina sent to Diocese of S.C. clergy, April 16, 2013
(WSJ) South Carolina Episcopal Church Fight Heads to Court, April 15, 2013
(Christian Post) Bishop of new TEC in S.C. Diocese Sends Letters to Various Ordained Ministers, April 14, 2013
A Video of the Four Anglican Bishops visiting Charleston, S.C., this past week, April 13, 2012
Anglican Bishops Express Strong Support for Bishop Lawrence and the Diocese of South Carolina, April 12, 2013
(The State) South Carolina Episcopal dispute may play out in two courts, April 10, 2013
Big Night for the Diocese of S. Carolina—An Evening with Bishops from East Africa, April 9, 2013
An ENS Article on the Ongoing Legal toing and Froing in South Carolina, April 5, 2013
Local paper—New TEC Diocese in South Carolina asks for federal jurisdiction, April 5, 2013

Full chronological entry listings are continued here and Click below to see an index of Key Entries and all the recent stories and documents.

[Note: due to capacity limits on this entry, the chronological list of past entries has been moved to a dedicated separate post here - most recent entries are still available below]

Local Paper Article—Countersuit filed in [South Carolina] Episcopal dispute, April 1, 2013
TEC counterclaim filed on Maundy Thursday in South Carolina case, April 1, 2013

Clergy of the Diocese of South Carolina Renew their Vows, March 20, 2012
TEC Lawsuit Asks Federal Judge to Overturn State Court Order and Strip Diocese of SC of its Identity, March 16, 2013
Diocese of SC Convention—Remain Steadfast in Faith, Firm in Conviction, Resolute in Will, March 13, 2012
Bishop Keith Ackerman’s Sermon at the 222nd Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina, March 12, 2012
Bishop Mark Lawrence’s Address to the 222nd Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina, March 11, 2013
[SC Now] The Diocese of South Carolina Holy Eucharist for the 222nd meeting of the convention, March 11, 2013
(SCnow) Diocese of South Carolina—Without TEC, but not without hope, March 10, 2013
A Prayer for South Carolina’s Convention Today, March 9, 2013
[SC Now Morning News] Episcopal diocese kicks off convention with flair despite national divides, March 8, 2013
Please Pray for the Diocese of South Carolina 222nd Annual Convention today, March 8, 2013
Allan Haley: ECUSA’s Desperation in South Carolina Knows No Bounds, March 8, 2013
222nd Annual South Carolina Diocesan Convention to be Held in Florence, March 8-9 later this week, March 5, 2013
Three More Diocese of S.C. Parishes Join in Suit to Prevent TEC from Seizing Property, March 2, 2013
The Latest Edition of the Diocese of South Carolina Enewsletter, February 28, 2013
Old Saint Andrew’s Parish in Charleston, S.C., Votes to Align with Bishop Lawrence and the Diocese, February 24, 2013
“In, But Not of, the World” How Far Would You Go to Preserve the Faith You Love so Much?, February 16, 2013

KEY ENTRIES (including those that were formerly "sticky" at the top of the blog)
A Video of the Four Anglican Bishops visiting Charleston, S.C., this past week, April 13, 2012
Anglican Bishops Express Strong Support for Bishop Lawrence and the Diocese of South Carolina, April 12, 2013
TEC Lawsuit Asks Federal Judge to Overturn State Court Order and Strip Diocese of SC of its Identity, March 16, 2013
Diocese of SC Convention—Remain Steadfast in Faith, Firm in Conviction, Resolute in Will, March 13, 2012
Bishop Mark Lawrence’s Address to the 222nd Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina, March 11, 2013
Three More Diocese of S.C. Parishes Join in Suit to Prevent TEC from Seizing Property, March 2, 2013
TEC Agrees to Injunction that Prohibits Them From Using Diocese of SC Identity, January 31, 2013
Unaffiliated TEC Group in South Carolina Still not Complying with Court Order, January 25, 2013
Circuit Court Blocks the Use of Diocese of South Carolina Identity By Anyone Outside of the Diocese, January 23, 2013
Another 15 South Carol. Parishes Join the Diocese Suit to Block TEC from Seizing Local Property
Diocese of South Carolina—Diocesan Identity/Legal Response Requested to unauthorized email, January 9, 2013
A.S. Haley—DioSC in Preemptive Strike against ECUSA’s Attempted Identity Theft, January 5, 2013
A Message to Clergy in the Diocese of South Carolina Regarding the Declaratory Judgment, January 4, 2013
Bishop Mark Lawrence Writes Regarding the Declaratory Judgment, January 4, 2013
S.C. Diocese Seeks Declaratory Judgement to Prevent Episcopal Church from Seizing Local Parishes, January 4, 2013
The Diocese of South Carolina is the Only Authority to Convene a Convention in the Diocese, December 22, 2012
Global South Primates Steering Comm. Recognizes Mark Lawrence’s Oversight in S.C.and the Communion, December 16, 2012
The Diocese of South Carolina Responds to the Announcement of a January TEC Meeting, December 10, 2012
Presiding Bishop of Episcopal Church coming to SC in Jan. 2013 for “Special Convention”, December 8, 2012
AnglicanTV Interviews South Carolina Bishop Mark Lawrence about Recent Developments, December 6, 2012
South Carolina Bishop Mark Lawrence Writes Regarding his Alleged “Renunciation”, December 6, 2012
A.S. Haley—The Presiding Bishop Flouts the Canons Again, December 5, 2012
Presiding Bishop Says Mark Lawrence Says what he did not Say, right out of George Orwell, December 5, 2012
The Bishop of Upper South Carolina’s Pastoral Letter for Advent 2012, November 4, 2012
Anglican Communion Institute—An Open Letter to the Bishops of The Episcopal Church, November 28, 2012
Diocese of South Carolina Announcement in Today’s State Newspaper (Columbia, South Carolina), November 25, 2012
(Anglican Ink) Church of Eng. will not make any “premature” statement or judgment re:South Carolina November 20th, 2012
Diocese of South Carolina Turns the Page; Looks Forward, November 17, 2012
Bishop Lawrence’s Address to the Special Convention, November 17, 2012
Kendall Harmon—Attempted Liveblog of Bishop Lawrence’s Diocesan Convention Address, November 17, 2012
Please Pray for the Diocese of South Carolina Special Convention to be Held Tomorrow, November 16, 2012
A Message from Bishop Mark Lawrence to the Diocese of South Carolina, November 15, 2012
(Anglican Communion Institute) Consumed By Litigation: TEC In South Carolina (Part Two), November 14, 2012
11 New Posts About Developments in the Diocese of South Carolina, November 13, 2012
Anglican Communion Institute—Consumed By Litigation: TEC In South Carolina, November 12, 2012
Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA) Primates Council Writes in Support of Bishop Lawrence, October 31, 2012
Letter of Support from Global South Primates Steering Committee to Bishop Mark Lawrence October 25, 2012
Frequently Asked Questions About the Assault on the Diocese of South Carolina October 24, 2012
South Carolina Diocese Releases Statement Regarding Disassociation from the Episcopal Church October 20, 2012
Local Paper page 3—The Episcopal Church Abandons South Carolina Bishop and Diocese October 19, 2012
Episcopal Church Takes Action Against the Bishop and Diocese of South Carolina October 17, 2012

***
COMPLETE INDEX:

Obviously the latest events are part of a long running series of attacks by the national office upon the dioceses and the constitution of The Episcopal Church and the index posts relating to
1. the earlier attacks on South Carolina may be found here, and
2. the attacks on the Communion Partner Bishops and dioceses and Dr Philip Turner [still unresolved officially] here, and
3. General Convention 2012 resolutions and events here

You can find all the latest news from the Diocese of South Carolina here

Key Documents from the Diocese of South Carolina
The Latest Edition of the Diocese of South Carolina Newspaper is now available, April 20, 2013
A Video of the Four Anglican Bishops visiting Charleston, S.C., this past week, April 13, 2012
Anglican Bishops Express Strong Support for Bishop Lawrence and the Diocese of South Carolina, April 12, 2013
Clergy of the Diocese of South Carolina Renew their Vows, March 20, 2012
TEC Lawsuit Asks Federal Judge to Overturn State Court Order and Strip Diocese of SC of its Identity, March 16, 2013
Diocese of SC Convention—Remain Steadfast in Faith, Firm in Conviction, Resolute in Will, March 13, 2012
Bishop Keith Ackerman’s Sermon at the 222nd Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina, March 12, 2012
Bishop Mark Lawrence’s Address to the 222nd Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina, March 11, 2013
Three More Diocese of S.C. Parishes Join in Suit to Prevent TEC from Seizing Property, March 2, 2013
The Latest Edition of the Diocese of South Carolina Enewsletter, February 28, 2013
South Carolina Rectors Speak Out Against TEC’s Attempt to Seize Local Property; “Hijack” Identity, February 4, 2013
TEC Agrees to Injunction that Prohibits Them From Using Diocese of SC Identity, January 31, 2013
Circuit Court Blocks the Use of Diocese of South Carolina Identity By Anyone Outside of the Diocese, January 23, 2013
Another 15 South Carol. Parishes Join the Diocese Suit to Block TEC from Seizing Local Property
The Latest Edition of the Diocese of South Carolina Enewsletter, January 11, 2013
The Latest Edition of the Diocese of South Carolina Newspaper is now available, January 11, 2013
Diocese of South Carolina—Diocesan Identity/Legal Response Requested to unauthorized email, January 9, 2013
A Message to Clergy in the Diocese of South Carolina Regarding the Declaratory Judgment, January 4, 2013
Bishop Mark Lawrence Writes Regarding the Declaratory Judgment, January 4, 2013
S.C. Diocese Seeks Declaratory Judgement to Prevent Episcopal Church from Seizing Local Parishes, January 4, 2013
The Diocese of South Carolina is the Only Authority to Convene a Convention in the Diocese, December 22, 2012
The Diocese of South Carolina Responds to the Announcement of a January TEC Meeting, December 10, 2012
Reminder in the Midst of the TEC Disinformation Campaign—Can a Diocese Legally Withdraw from TEC?, December 9, 2012
Spokesman for Withdrawn S.C. Episcopal Diocese Disputes Renunciation Order, December 8, 2012
AnglicanTV Interviews South Carolina Bishop Mark Lawrence about Recent Developments, December 6, 2012
South Carolina Bishop Mark Lawrence Writes Regarding his Alleged “Renunciation”, December 6, 2012
Diocese of South Carolina Announcement in Today’s State Newspaper (Columbia, South Carolina), November 25, 2012
Diocese of South Carolina Turns the Page; Looks Forward, November 17, 2012
Bishop Lawrence’s Address to the Special Convention, November 17, 2012
Kendall Harmon—Attempted Liveblog of Bishop Lawrence’s Diocesan Convention Address, November 17, 2012
A Message from Bishop Mark Lawrence to the Diocese of South Carolina, November 15
The Latest Edition of the Diocese of South Carolina Enewsletter, November 11
(Diocese of SC) Group Attempts to Mislead Clergy; Unauthorized Use of Diocesan Seal and Name, November 8, 2012
+ Frequently Asked Questions About the Assault on the Diocese of South Carolina October 24, 2012
+ South Carolina Diocese Releases Statement Regarding Disassociation from the Episcopal Church October 20, 2012
+ Episcopal Church Takes Action Against the Bishop and Diocese of South Carolina October 17, 2012
+ Episcopal Forum Members Initiate Attack on South Carolina Bishop October 20, 2012
+ Local Paper page 3—The Episcopal Church Abandons South Carolina Bishop and Diocese October 19, 2012
+ A.S. Haley Analyzes the Changes Signaled by the Latest Charges against Bishop Mark Lawrence October 19, 2012
+ The 14 names of those who Brought Charges Against Bishop Mark Lawrence October 19, 2012
+ One South Carolina Parish Rector writes his Parish about recent developments October 19, 2012
+ Please Pray for the Diocese of South Carolina Clergy Day to be Held Tomorrow October 18, 2012


Other Key Documents
A copy of the Letter the New TEC Bishop in South Carolina sent to Diocese of S.C. clergy, April 16, 2013
Old Saint Andrew’s Parish in Charleston, S.C., Votes to Align with Bishop Lawrence and the Diocese, February 24, 2013
Unaffiliated TEC Group in South Carolina Still not Complying with Court Order, January 25, 2013
Global South Primates Steering Comm. Recognizes Mark Lawrence’s Oversight in S.C.and the Communion, December 16, 2012
Presiding Bishop of Episcopal Church coming to SC in Jan. 2013 for “Special Convention”, December 8, 2012
Spokesman for Withdrawn S.C. Episcopal Diocese Disputes Renunciation Order, December 8, 2012
More from A.S. Haley on South Carolina—But sue, TEC certainly will, December 7, 2012
(Anglican Ink) South Carolina’s sorrow and pity for Katharine Jefferts Schori, December 7, 2012

A.S. Haley—The Presiding Bishop Flouts the Canons Again, December 5, 2012
Presiding Bishop Says Mark Lawrence Says what he did not Say, right out of George Orwell, December 5, 2012
Anglican Communion Institute—An Open Letter to the Bishops of The Episcopal Church, November 28, 2012
(Anglican Ink) Church of Eng. will not make any “premature” statement or judgment re:South Carolina November 20th, 2012
A.S. Haley on the Meeting in South Carolina and Two Bishops Letters recently Released, November 16, 2012
(Anglican Communion Institute) Consumed By Litigation: TEC In South Carolina (Part Two), November 14, 2012
Anglican Communion Institute—Consumed By Litigation: TEC In South Carolina, November 12, 2012
Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA) Primates Write in Support of Bishop Lawrence, October 31, 2012
Letter of Support from Global South Primates Steering Committee to Bishop Mark Lawrence October 25, 2012


Letters from Bishops and Clergy
Peter Mitchell Chimes in on the Presiding Bishop’s recent South Carolina Sermon, February 1, 2013
One S.C. Parish Rector Writes about recent Developments, January 23, 2013
Saint Andrews, Mount Pleasant, S.C., Writes about the recent Lawsuit by S.C. Against TEC, January 23, 2013
One South Carolina Parish Rector writes his Parish about the new Protection Initiative taken Friday, January 5, 2013
One South Carolina Rector writes his Parish about Recent Events and Questions about them, December 19, 2012
Global South Primates Steering Comm. Recognizes Mark Lawrence’s Oversight in S.C.and the Communion, December 16, 2012
Mike Clarkson, the Rector of our Saviour, John’s Island, S.C.—Where I Stand on the Diocese of S.C., December 9, 2012
Anglican Communion Institute—An Open Letter to the Bishops of The Episcopal Church, November 28, 2012
Shay Gaillard on the Diocese of South Carolina Misreporting—Who Is Welcome in the church?, November 27, 2012
A Message from Bishop Mark Lawrence to the Diocese of South Carolina, November 15, 2012
Statement from the Communion Partner Bishops on the South Carolina Situation, November 15, 2012
Presiding Bishop issues Pastoral Letter to the Diocese of South Carolina, November 15, 2012
One South Carolina Parish Rector writes his Parish today about recent developments, November 15, 2012
The Bishop of Springfield on the Diocese of South Carolina/Mark Lawrence Developments, October 29, 2012
The Bishop of Georgia on the Diocese of South Carolina/Mark Lawrence Developments October 29, 2012
Bishop William Love of Albany—Response to the Inhibition of Bishop Mark Lawrence of South Carolina October 29, 2012
Another South Carolina Rector Writes his Parish About recent Developments (2) October 26, 2012
Another South Carolina Rector Writes his Parish About recent Developments October 26, 2012
The Rector of Saint Michael’s Charleston, S.C., writes his Parish About recent Developments October 23, 2012


News and Analysis
A.S. Haley—An Overview of the Complex Situation between TEC and the Dioc. of S.C. in South Carolina, April 18, 2013
George Conger Unpacks the South Car. Legal Fracas and the recent WSJ article’s poor Coverage Thereof, April 17, 2013
A copy of the Letter the New TEC Bishop in South Carolina sent to Diocese of S.C. clergy, April 16, 2013
(WSJ) South Carolina Episcopal Church Fight Heads to Court, April 15, 2013
(Christian Post) Bishop of new TEC in S.C. Diocese Sends Letters to Various Ordained Ministers, April 14, 2013
A Video of the Four Anglican Bishops visiting Charleston, S.C., this past week, April 13, 2012
Anglican Bishops Express Strong Support for Bishop Lawrence and the Diocese of South Carolina, April 12, 2013
(The State) South Carolina Episcopal dispute may play out in two courts, April 10, 2013
Big Night for the Diocese of S. Carolina—An Evening with Bishops from East Africa, April 9, 2013
An ENS Article on the Ongoing Legal toing and Froing in South Carolina, April 5, 2013
Local paper—New TEC Diocese in South Carolina asks for federal jurisdiction, April 5, 2013
Local Paper Article—Countersuit filed in [South Carolina] Episcopal dispute, April 1, 2013
TEC counterclaim filed on Maundy Thursday in South Carolina case, April 1, 2013
[SC Now] The Diocese of South Carolina Holy Eucharist for the 222nd meeting of the convention, March 11, 2013
(SCnow) Diocese of South Carolina—Without TEC, but not without hope, March 10, 2013
[SC Now Morning News] Episcopal diocese kicks off convention with flair despite national divides, March 8, 2013
Allan Haley: ECUSA’s Desperation in South Carolina Knows No Bounds, March 8, 2013
“In, But Not of, the World” How Far Would You Go to Preserve the Faith You Love so Much?, February 16, 2013
The Latest Edition of the Diocese of South Carolina Enewsletter, February 12, 2013
South Carolina Episcopal diocese headed to Florence for its Convention, February 11, 2013
(Living Church) Eric Turner—Speaking of Reconciliation, February 8, 2013
Jack Cranwell offers Thoughts on the South Carolina Episcopal Church Conflict, February 7, 2013
James Ueberroth Chimes in on the Presiding Bishop and her recent South Carolina sermon, February 6, 2013
Anglican Unscripted Episode 64, February 4, 2013
(Hilton Island Packet) St. Mark’s Chapel visited by new Episcopal bishop of new S.C. TEC Diocese, February 4, 2013
Lowcountry bishop wins skirmish over Episcopal diocese name, January 2, 2013
(AP) Judge makes order permanent in SC Episcopal schism, January 1, 2013
Peter Mitchell Chimes in on the Presiding Bishop’s recent South Carolina Sermon, February 1, 2013
A.S. Haley on the Latest in the Ongoing South Carolina Episcopal legal Battle, February 1, 2013
Bart Gingerich—Two Very Different Episcopalianisms Meet in Charleston, January 31, 2013
An Anglican Ink Article on the Presiding Bishop’s recent sermon in South Carolina, January 29, 2013
(Christian Post) ‘Continuing Episcopalians’ in Breakaway Diocese Elect Temporary Leader, January 29, 2013
A.S. Haley on the Latest in the Ongoing South Carolina Episcopal Church Mess, January 29, 2013
The AAC’s Phil Ashey Comments on the Presiding Bishop’s recent sermon in South Carolina, January 29, 2013
An ENS Article on the new TEC Diocese and its First Bishop, January 27, 2013
TEC Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori’s Sermon from Yesterday, January 27, 2013
Article from The State Newspaper on the New TEC Diocese in South Carolina and its First Bishop, January 27, 2013
Local Paper Article on the new TEC affiliated South Carolina Diocese and its first Bishop, January 27, 2013
A.S. Haley: An Open Letter to my Fellow Episcopalians in South Carolina, January 26, 2013
Bagpiper outside St. Philip’s Charleston SC, January 26, 2013
Frank Larisey—The Episcopal Church conflict in South Carolina is not (primarily) about sex, January 26, 2013
An ENS Article on the South Carolina Order to Refrain from Assuming the Diocese’s Identity, January 26, 2013
Malicious prosecution warnings for Episcopal clergy from a prominent Lawyer and Lay Leader, January 26, 2013
(Ang. Ink) South Carolina TEC loyalists defy ban on using diocesan name and shield, January 26, 2013
(Christian Post) Episcopal Leader to Visit ‘Continuing Episcopalians’ in SC Diocese, January 25, 2013
(AP) Presiding Episcopal Bishop coming to SC, January 25, 2013
Local paper—Judge issues restraining order against Episcopal Church, January 25, 2013
(RNS) S.C. Episcopal diocese claims a victory in theology and polity struggle, January 25, 2013
A.S. Haley—SC Circuit Court Issues Temporary Restraining Order to Protect Diocese’s Identity, January 25, 2013
(Living Church) Deference vs. Neutral Principles, January 24, 2013
(Anglican Ink) 15 more parishes join South Carolina lawsuit against the Episcopal Church, January 23, 2013
Saint Paul’s, Summerville, S.C., joins suit against Episcopal Church, January 18, 2013
St. Matthias joins South Carolina lawsuit against The Episcopal Church, January 16, 2013
Anglican Unscripted Episode 63, January 14, 2013
(AP) Bishop of SC diocese that disaffiliated from TEC says split brings clarity for followers, January 12, 2012
In Total Contrast to TEC, a Presbyterian Story of a genuinely gracious Parting, January 1, 2012
An Article from the Local Paper about the proposed new Leader for the yet to be formed TEC diocese, January 11, 2012
(AP) Bishop nominated for parishes seeking affiliation with TEC in the yet to be established Diocese, January 10, 2013
(ENS) Charles vonRosenberg nominated to be Bishop for a Diocese that Does Not Exist Yet, January 10, 2013
(Onenews Now) Diocese of South Carolina Seeks to Preserve its Freedom, Faith and History, January 10, 2013
An ENS Story on the Lawsuit Between the Diocese of South Carolina and TEC, Jnauary 8, 2013
Dean of Charleston, South Carolina’s, Cathedral discusses lawsuit against Episcopal Church, January 8, 2013
Myrtle Beach, Conway parishes join lawsuit against The Episcopal Church, January 6, 2013
(Anglican Ink) South Carolina fires first salvo in legal battle with TEC, January 5, 2013
A.S. Haley—DioSC in Preemptive Strike against ECUSA’s Attempted Identity Theft, January 5, 2013
(Orangeburg, S.C. Times and Democrat) South Carolina Episcopal diocese files lawsuit over property, January 5, 2013
Local South Carolina Story on the Diocesan Action Yesterday to prevent a Hostile Takeover, January 5, 2013
(AP) SC Episcopal diocese files lawsuit to protect beliefs, people and heritage, January 4, 2013
RNS Quote of the Day: Episcopal Bishop Mark Lawrence of South Carolina, January 4, 2013
(Ang. Ink) Global South Coalition states Jefferts Schori’s actions toward S.C. of no legal account, December 21, 2012
(CEN) South Carolina schism descending into farce, December 14, 2012
Peter Carrell [NZ]: Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction, December 11, 2012
Anglican Unscripted Episode 59, December 11, 2012
(The State) Lowcountry S.C.congregations wrestle with whether to stay or go, December 11, 2012
(ENS) Presiding bishop to visit South Carolina diocese, December 11, 2012
Phil Ashey—Canons are Made to be Broken: Anglican Perspective, December 10, 2012
(Anglican Ink) A Note of clarification from the Bishop of Upper South Carolina, December 9, 2012
Presiding Bishop of Episcopal Church coming to SC in Jan. 2013 for “Special Convention”, December 8, 2012
Spokesman for Withdrawn S.C. Episcopal Diocese Disputes Renunciation Order, December 8, 2012
More from A.S. Haley on South Carolina—But sue, TEC certainly will, December 7, 2012
(Anglican Ink) South Carolina’s sorrow and pity for Katharine Jefferts Schori, December 7, 2012
A.S. Haley—The Presiding Bishop Flouts the Canons Again, December 5, 2012
Presiding Bishop Says Mark Lawrence Says what he did not Say, right out of George Orwell, December 5, 2012
The Bishop of Upper South Carolina’s Pastoral Letter for Advent 2012, November 4, 2012
Anglican Unscripted Episode 58, December 2, 2012
Anglican Ink: Loyalist meeting learns Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori is behind them, November 29, 2012
A.S. Haley on The Episcopal Church—Dysfunction Everywhere, November 29, 2012
Anglican Communion Institute—An Open Letter to the Bishops of The Episcopal Church, November 28, 2012
Another Christian Post Article on the diocese of South Carolina—but please note my correction, November 26, 2012
Robert Barnett isn’t pleased with Bishop Mark Lawrence, November 26, 2012
(The State) As South Car. Episcopalians move toward split, questions and painful decisions remain, November 23, 2012
An ENS story on those in the Diocese of S. Car. opposed to Bishop Lawrence and the recent decisions, November 21st, 2012
(The State) As South Car. Episcopalians move toward split, questions and painful decisions remain, November 22, 2012
Anglican Communion Institute: South Carolina: A Communion Response, November 21st, 2012
(Local Paper) Roy Hills on the Dio. of South C.—Diocese has long history of moving away from church, November 18, 2012
(Local Paper) Peter Mitchell on the Dio. of South C.—‘diverse like me’ mind-set is killing TEC, November 18, 2012
Local Newspaper Article on the Diocese of South Carolina Convention, November 18, 2012
(ENS) South Carolina convention affirms decision to leave Episcopal Church, November 17, 2012
A Christian Post Story on South Carolina’s Special Convention today, November 17, 2012
A Sumter, South Carolina, Item Story on today’s Special Convention, November 17, 2012
(AP) South Carolina diocese meets after break with national church, November 17, 2012
A.S. Haley on the Meeting in South Carolina and Two Bishops Letters recently Released, November 16, 2012
An RNS Article on the Diocese of South Carolina Situation Heading into Special Convention Tomorrow, November 16, 2012
AP Article—Clergy and parishes meet; national bishop writes South Carolina Diocese, November 16, 2012
Anglican Communion Institute—Consumed By Litigation: TEC In South Carolina, November 12, 2012
Charleston (South Carolina) Mercury—Taking the pulse of a diocese in conflict, November 16, 2012
(Anglican Communion Institute) Consumed By Litigation: TEC In South Carolina (Part Two), November 14, 2012
Anglican Communion Institute—Consumed By Litigation: TEC In South Carolina, November 12, 2012
The Latest Edition of the Diocese of South Carolina Enewsletter, November 11, 2012
(CEN) Global South backing for the Diocese of South Carolina, November 11, 2012
A Beaufort Gazette Ad from those who Oppose Bishop Lawrence and the Diocese of S.C., November 3, 2012
(RNS) S.C. Episcopalians say split goes beyond Debate on Same Sex Unions, November 3, 2012
Edward Gilbreth—South Carolina Episcopal schism: Predictable, Understandable, November 3, 2012
(Living Church) Mark McCall on South Carolina—Dumbing Abandonment Down, October 31, 2012
(CEN) South Carolina expelled from the Episcopal Church October 26, 2012
Two Letters to the Editor of the Local Paper on the Diocese of South Carolina Situation, October 24, 2012 at 6:15 am
+ Bishop Mark Lawrence’s April Address given in England - Transcript October 22, 2012 at 12:54 pm
+ Local Paper front Page—Episcopalians on both sides of the schism feeling the pain October 22, 2012 at 7:29 am
+ John Stott on how opposition to Christian truth unfolds October 22, 2012 at 7:00 am
+ Episcopal Church Hits Bottom, Keeps Digging—Robert Munday on South Carolina Developments October 22, 2012
+ (One News Now) Bible-believing South Carolina Episcopal Bishop Penalized October 22, 2012 at 5:30 am
+ A.S. Haley—Once Again, Conflicts Galore on the Disciplinary Board for Bishops October 20, 2012 at 1:02 pm
+ (Island Packet) “Local Episcopal churches bracing for possible switch to Anglican banner” October 20, 2012 at 8:00 am
+ Church Times article on the Action Taken Against S.C. Bishop Lawrence and its Results October 20, 2012 at 7:45 am
+ A Christian Post Story on the Diocese of South Carolina Developments October 20, 2012 at 7:30 am
+ Local Paper Front Page—Episcopalians react to ongoing church conflict October 19, 2012 at 7:30 am
+ A Longer AP Story on the Action Taken Against the Bishop and Diocese of S.C. and its Results

[Earlier entries are being reconstructed]

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts: South Carolina • TEC Polity & Canons • * South Carolina • * Theology

The sign outside St. Francis Anglican Church reads “think FORGIVE act.” Action and forgiveness were the themes of the day, as the parishioners gathered Sunday for one last time at their church on Main Street before walking several blocks away to begin a new church in rented facilities.

The congregation opened its closing service with "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee," which includes the words, "Thou art giving and forgiving ... teach us how to love each other."

It was especially poignant because the St. Francis facility has been in a tug-of-war since 2007, when 40 of the 47 parishes in the San Joaquin Diocese voted to leave the national Episcopal church over theological differences. The departing parishes, including St. Francis, and the diocese were sued by the Episcopal church in 2008 and 2009 in a bid to regain those properties.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts: San Joaquin • TEC Departing Parishes • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues

The Rev. Whayne Hougland, Jr., was elected at a special electing convention May 18 to be the ninth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan.

Hougland, currently rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Salisbury, N.C., was elected on the eighth ballot out of a field of four candidates. To be elected, a candidate must have received a majority of the votes in both the lay order and the clergy order. He received 87 of 139 votes cast in the lay order and 34 of 65 votes cast in the clergy order.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • TEC Diocesan Conventions/Diocesan Councils

"We have common historical and theological roots, since the founder of the Methodist movement, John Wesley, was a life-long Anglican priest," [Methodist minister the Rev. Joseph F.] DiPaolo said. "We have also done a few cooperative services together, on Ash Wednesday and Holy Thursday, and may collaborate on some other things in the future as well."

"They are a fine group of folks who are committed to serving our area from a classic Anglican liturgical and theological standpoint, and we are delighted to offer them space and a home here in Wayne, as they seek to establish their congregation," DiPaolo continued. "We are also honored to host their bishop and their inaugural synod."

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • CANA

Church of England leaders have accepted the need to be “hospitable” to other faiths within any future service at Westminster Abbey, in order to reflect the spiritual diversity of modern Britain.

The Church has resisted calls for a multi-faith service in recent years, preferring to stress that the Christian nature of the coronation is preserved by law.

Senior church figures told this newspaper that it was now accepted that other faiths should be recognised within the coronation service for the first time.

It will not, however, be a “multi-faith” service in the sense of a ceremony that treats all faiths as equal.

Read it all and there is more there.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Culture-Watch • History • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths

One of the Ten Commandments is "thou shall not steal," but an Episcopal priest has been suspended for allegedly lifting more than a dozen Sunday sermons verbatim from a book.

The Rev. John E. McGinn, 65, who has led the 300-plus families at St. John's Episcopal Church since 1993, was placed on administrative leave amid allegations that he plagiarized sermons dating back to 2006, said the Rev. Mally Lloyd, canon to the ordinary for the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, a position equivalent to the bishop's chief of staff.

As many as 15 sermons have been identified as direct copies, Lloyd said.

They were allegedly taken from a book called "Dynamic Preaching," which can be accessed only with an online subscription.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • Preaching / Homiletics • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology

The organ at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Sandusky is the voice of the church, according to Nicholas Schmelter.

“My experience playing on the instrument … the instrument has a very sweet, unforced, mellow sound that is almost ... unheard of these days,” he said.

Schmelter is the dean of the Saginaw Valley Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and director of music ministries at First Congregational Church in Saginaw. He will be playing St. John’s 1898 Moller tracker organ during a special Evensong service at 3 p.m today....

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Parishes • * Christian Life / Church Life • Liturgy, Music, Worship

St Mellitus College, founded in 2007, offers on-the-job experience as well as theology.

The numbers attending church on Sundays may be falling, but an innovative new college to train Anglican clergy has already attracted 500 students, making it the newest and one of the largest in the country.St Mellitus College, which started in 2007, opened the doors of a new building in November. It is the first training college for clergy to focus especially on leadership, and to combine theology with on-the-job experience in churches, youth centres, homeless shelters and Christian work in the inner cities.

“It’s the same pattern as business schools or the way doctors are trained now,” says Graham Tomlin, the college dean. “Previously those training for the ministry went to a full-time residential college. Now they can spend time in parishes as lay workers while coming here part of the week and on several residential periods a year. Or they continue in their jobs as doctors or bus drivers while training part-time for the ministry.”

As a result, St Mellitus, a joint project by the dioceses of London and Chelmsford, has seen a surge of applications from the start, with 110 full-time ordinands and around 400 lay students. A survey showed that three quarters of the ordinands would not have considered going into the church, or would have done so much later, had this work/study pattern not been available.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Education • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Theology • Seminary / Theological Education

...there is no reason to presume that South Carolina’s declaration of itself as an extra-provincial diocese is more than an ad hoc solution to an immediate crisis. To speculate about the permanence of this situation or about which Anglican entity South Carolina might align itself with is equally a case of playing “Cheat the Prophet.”

The issue that is little addressed in such discussions is the theological nature of episcopacy. What does it mean to be a bishop? Standard Church histories make clear that the office of bishop is about continuity, specifically continuity between the apostolic Church and the catholic Church of the second century. To be a bishop is to recognize and submit oneself to the canonical authority of the Old and New Testaments as the faithful witness of prophets and apostles to the triune God revealed in the history of Israel, the saving work of Jesus Christ, and the Church as summarized in the Rule of Faith.

Whether bishops of the Episcopal Church have acted in continuity with this apostolic Church in proceeding to approve of same-sex unions is precisely the issue that is splitting the Anglican Communion. There are, of course, issues of universality involved as well. A bishop is a bishop not just for a local diocese but for the whole Church. In the long run, an extra-provincial diocese accountable only to itself is problematic. But then again, a national church that refuses to be accountable to an international communion has brought the Anglican Communion to its current crisis, even as a bishop who does not understand his chief role to keep intact the apostolic witness has rather missed the point of being a bishop.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Analysis • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts: South Carolina • * South Carolina • * Theology • Ecclesiology

As in Scripture, so also in ecclesiology: the pernicious hermeneutic of self-justification remains a constant temptation. This is regrettable. Ecclesiology is not a minor administrative matter that can be casually tossed aside. It is part of the core good news Christians have to proclaim. In a globalizing world that is dominated by discord and fracture, the Church makes the counter-cultural claim that in baptism we come to belong to the body of Christ. No other entity is shaped by a common willingness to die daily with Christ and be raised with him who is the author of true and abundant life. We believe we belong, and that this is good news. Anglicans work out the implications of this radical claim in the constellation of parishes, dioceses, provinces, networks, and institutions that comprise our global Communion.

The dispute in South Carolina could provide an opportunity — yet unrealized — to think seriously about the ecclesiological and theological convictions underlying Anglican churches. On that note, we might welcome the recent call in these pages for a retreat on the topic, organized by seminary deans. Prayerfully and reverently, one hopes, Anglicans may yet learn together to honor our theological convictions in our ecclesiological structures.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Analysis • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts: South Carolina • * South Carolina • * Theology • Ecclesiology

Barclays has "repeatedly let down society" and needs to clean up its culture in the wake of the £290m fine for rigging Libor, the Church of England said on Wednesday

The annual investment report by the Church Commissioners shows that the discussions with Barclays will be reviewed in July, a year on from the interest rate scandal that led to the departure of the chairman Marcus Agius, the chief executive Bob Diamond and chief operating officer Jerry del Missier.

In the report the commissioners, working with the Ethical Investment Advisory Group (EIAG), said they had "commenced an intensive engagement with Barclays seeking robust assurance that, having repeatedly let down society with its conduct, Barclays is making a determined and successful effort to effect a fundamental turnaround in culture".

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • The Banking System/Sector • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007-- • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

The first female Dean of Llandaff has resigned two months after being installed, which the Archbishop of Wales Dr Barry Morgan accepted with ‘enormous sadness’.
The Very Rev Janet Henderson, 55, became the second female to assume such a role in Wales when she became dean in March, but has now stood down.
No official explanations have been cited for the resignation, but it was initially thought an argument over the choir’s performance on Songs of Praise was to blame.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of Wales • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • --Wales

The Bishop and clergy of Rupert’s Land have completed preparation of a protocol for the pastoral practice of blessing same-sex unions. T h e p ro t o c o l s ay s why same-sex unions may be blessed in Rupert’s Land parishes and how this should be done. It acknowledges the differences of view among faithful Anglicans about blessing of same-sex unions. It directs each parish that wishes to explore this practice to follow a careful process of prayer, study and consultation before deciding to bless same-sex unions.

The protocol arises out of a vote at the 2012 Rupert’s Land diocesan synod.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Canada • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • * Christian Life / Church Life • Liturgy, Music, Worship • Parish Ministry • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Theology: Scripture

The laughter and standing ovation that the Archbishop of Cantebrury received in the Royal Albert Hall on Monday suggested that, despite his saying that the "deepest wounds" he had suffered had been at the hands of his fellow Christians, he does not lack support.

The Archbishop was the first speaker at the leadership conference organised by Holy Trinity, Brompton (HTB), the Evangelical church in London. The event drew 5500 people from 86 different countries, all "united around Jesus", the Vicar of Holy Trinity, the Revd Nicky Gumbel, declared.

Archbishop Welby's appearance took the form of an interview, conducted by Mr Gumbel, which perhaps vindicated the headline in The Daily Telegraph that greeted his appointment ( "HTB lands its first Archbishop").

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Justin Welby

Victoria’s Christ Church Cathedral may soon step up its security system after the May 11 theft of at least $10,000 worth of historical artifacts, some dating back to the 17th century.

Officials think a thief or thieves likely hid themselves in the cathedral before its customary closing at 5:30 p.m.

The missing items include antique coins, gold and silver chalices, a communion plate and a long-handled mote spoon with a sieved bowl, used before the era of teabags to strain loose leaves from freshly brewed tea.

“It’s hard to say what the items are worth exactly, but the historical value for us and the faith dimension are far more than we can put a price on,” says the Very Rev. Dr. Logan McMenamie, rector of the cathedral and dean of Columbia.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Canada • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Science & Technology

As the Prime Minister knows, I am very suspicious that behind the plans to change the nature of marriage, which will be debated in the House of Lords within the next two months there lurks an aggressive secularist and relativist approach towards an institution that has glued society together for time immemorial. By dividing marriage into religious and civil the government threatens the church and state link which they purport to support. But they also threaten to empty marriage of its fundamental religious and civil meaning as an institution orientated towards the upbringing of children.

If this is not enough, the legislation fails to provide any protection for religious believers in employment who cannot subscribe in conscience to the new meaning of marriage. There will be no exemptions for believers who are registrars who can expect to be sacked if theycannot, in all conscience, support same-sex marriage. Strong legal opinion also suggests that Christian teachers, who are required to teach about marriage, may face disciplinary action if they cannot express agreement with the new politically-correct orthodoxy.

The danger I believe that the government is courting with its approach both to marriage and religious freedom, is the alienation of a large minority of people who only a few years ago would have been considered pillars of the community.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • * Culture-Watch • History • Law & Legal Issues • Marriage & Family • Multiculturalism, pluralism • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Secularism

Judge then, young Gentlemen, into what depths of degradation the race of young ministers to which you are to belong must sink, if you not only remain deaf to the voice of conscience, to the admonitions of history, and to the strivings of GOD'S Spirit, but also to the voice of your age and of your country, which is calling you to high and noble things in your ministry. To go forth from this most highly-honored seat of sacred learning in our Church, with low attainment and without studious habits—to enter upon your ministry in this energetic and driving age, without zeal and perseverance—and to place yourselves upon the great missionary field which our Church presents from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, without being animated by the missionary spirit—how certain the fall, how deep the dishonor, how terrible the curse, to which you must inevitably be reduced!

The fathers, the clergy, the friends of the Church, look with increased anxiety and greater hope to each successive class graduating from our theological seminaries. They have a right to expect better scholarship, as the ability of teachers, the number of books, and the aids to study are daily increasing. And surely, as the wants of the Church are better known, and the extent of the missionary field, both at home and abroad, is better understood, they have a right to anticipate a great increase of missionary zeal. A young clergyman, some twenty years ago, might have made many a reasonable excuse for his lack of that holy, self-sacrificing zeal, a want of which would now be utterly inexcusable. What! shall young men just commissioned to the holy office, be deaf to the calls of their country, of the Church, and of her Divine Head, to make full proof of their ministry, and sink down into criminal listlessness, or addict themselves to unworthy worldly pursuits? What! when the cry of souls ready to perish is borne on every wind, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, shall they take counsel of their love of ease, their taste for human literature, or of their worldly-minded friends, and refuse to go to any part of the missionary field to which GOD shall call them?

Remember, young Gentlemen, that the great Head of the Church has placed you under influences more favorable for the formation of a high ministerial character, than with others has been the case perhaps for ages. You may, if you will, unite in yourselves more learning, more pious active zeal, more of a spirit of humility and prayer, than any of your predecessors, it may be, since the Apostles' own times. What you may become, the Church, the world, the Saviour of man-kind, [14/15] all expect that you will become. And yet this kind goeth not forth but by prayer and fasting. You cannot even succeed well in your studies without prayer. Much less can you grow in humility, and in a spirit of benevolence and self-sacrifice without much and fervent prayer.

Read it all from the Bishop of Kentucky, Benjamin Bosworth Smith.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Parish Ministry • Preaching / Homiletics • * Theology • Seminary / Theological Education

Imagine your company has more than 16,000 buildings in the UK alone, many built years before energy efficiency became a hot topic for corporates, and some that predate the industrial age altogether.

How would you even begin to start lowering their energy consumption given that each and every one of those buildings is an independent entity in control of its own operation and finances?

This is the precise challenge facing David Shreeve, environmental adviser to the Church of England, who has to steer the Church towards meeting its self-imposed goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 42 per cent by 2020, before then delivering an 80 per cent reduction by the middle of the century.

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The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has added its voice to the call for peace in Korea. In a message read to the Second Worldwide Anglican Peace Conference held in Okinawa from 16 – 22 April 2013 Archbishop Welby lauded the work of the Korean and Japanese churches to foster peace in Northeast Asia.

“Your gathering has come at the most needful time,” Archbishop Welby wrote, in a statement read by his representative to the conference Bishop John Holbrook of Brixworth in the diocese of Peterborough.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Justin Welby • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • * International News & Commentary • Asia • Korea • North Korea

Key figures within North-East Church of England schools have welcomed a report which places their work at the heart of education.

Senior Anglican figures make the comments in a YouTube video based on a conference staged by the Durham and Newcastle Diocesan Education Boards.

The event, attended by everyone from headteachers to governors, was in response to publication of the Church of England's Chadwick Report, entitled The Church School of the Future, which said they are at the heart of the nation and should robustly assert their Christian ethos.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Culture-Watch • Education • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

As we prepare for the first Joint Assembly of the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, we know that there are some who, like our ancestors in the faith, may be just a little dispirited as we face the challenges of our times. But just as surely as God's Spirit inspired the fi rst generation of believers, that same Spirit is working in us to give us the words to speak to one another and to those who are seeking something-dare we say, "Someone"-to believe in.

Our coming "Together for the Love of the World" will be a visible sign of the Spirit working in and among us. It will be time to take counsel together for the common good of both our churches and for the common good of our world. It will be a time to set our fears aside and arise with "bold new decisions."

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Canada • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Pentecost • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Canada • * Religion News & Commentary • Ecumenical Relations • Other Churches • Lutheran

I stand before you not in any way a self-made man. I have been a product of a lot of people who have loved me and poured into me in a way that is transformed my life, not only as a small child, but as I’ve grown as an adult, and I would be remiss if I didn’t share . . . with you about that, in the hopes of leaving you with what I feel could be something that you could take and remember in an effort to make a difference in the lives of other people, which you inevitably will be called to do in some capacity.

So to that end, I got to a place where I was in my life about six years ago where I was at the end of myself. I have spent some time — I became a Christian when I was 13, but I didn’t have the follow-through that I needed — but nonetheless I found myself in the fall of 2006 at the steering wheel of a car with all the windows rolled up and a garden hose attached from the muffler to the passenger-side window in the hopes of ending it all. Why? Because I had done some things in my life and come to a place in my life where I had realized that I had made a lot of mistakes, and not only had I made a lot of mistakes, but I had been the victim of some things that are tough to wrap your arms around, a Christian or not. So I was in that place and I was about to turn the key and I really felt the Holy Spirit saying, “R.A., I’m not done with you yet. Don’t do that.” Like literally those words: “Do not do that.” And so as lonely as I felt in that moment at the steering wheel of a Chevrolet Cavalier, I never felt truly alone. I think there’s something to be said in that.

I share that with you and I’m vulnerable with you in this moment because I really believe that God has called me to be here for a reason. I do believe in divine appointments, I believe this is one of them.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Canada • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Sports • * International News & Commentary • Canada • * Theology • Seminary / Theological Education

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops

The future home of six Ribble Valley Anglican parishes is hanging in the balance due to a row over Church of England reorganisation in Yorkshire.

Blackburn Diocese unanimously voted ‘yes’ at the April synod meeting to accept the parishes of Hurst Green; Mitton; Waddington; Grindleton; Bolton by Bowland, and Gisburn within its boundaries.

It is otherwise unaffected by the plans to reorganise the church structure in Yorkshire.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Rural/Town Life

The Primate of All Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Nicholas Okoh, on Monday opposed the call for emergency rule in parts of the country affected by armed conflict.

Mr. Okoh said this in Abuja at a press conference on the forthcoming 2013 Synod session of the Abuja Diocese of the Anglican Communion.

He said that government should rather support a national dialogue by various interest groups to address the myriad of problems militating against the country's quest for socio-economic development.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of Nigeria • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Police/Fire • Religion & Culture • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

BRISBANE's Anglican Archbishop Dr Phillip Aspinall has been accused of bullying in a discrimination complaint brought by a former church director, a tribunal has heard.

Lawyers for the Archbishop and the synod of Brisbane diocese have failed to get key elements of the sexual harassment and discrimination case thrown out of Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Peta Smith, former executive director of the Anglican Schools Commission, lodged Anti-Discrimination Commission complaints in 2009, shortly before her five-year contract expired.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

Washington National Cathedral and George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate each won $100,000 grants Monday, among 24 sites around the nation’s capital competing for historic preservation funds.

The earthquake-damaged National Cathedral won the most votes from the public over the past three weeks, earning nearly 1.4 million points in the Partners in Preservation program. The National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express announced the winners, awarding $1 million in preservation funds to sites in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Stewardship • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture

Anthony J. Burton, Rector of The Church of the Incarnation, said in a statement that despite the encouraging numbers his congregation's focus "is not about growth, but changed lives."

"Size does not make a church better, but if its clergy and parishioners are sensitive to the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives, God can cause their work in His name to grow a parish that is a resource of great blessing to its community and denomination," said Burton.

Based in the Uptown neighborhood of Dallas, The Incarnation is looking to add three new buildings: another worship facility, a welcome center, and an educational facility.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Parishes • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Evangelism and Church Growth

...[the Government's] difficulty, however, is that if you are trying to make a really radical change in human society, you must understand what you are doing and argue your case with conviction in public. With gay marriage, the Coalition proposes to alter fundamentally the most important social structure ever known to mankind. If it hopes to slip this quietly past the country over the summer, without any serious consequences, it is being not only dishonest, but stupid....

[Nowhere is this clearer than on the question of]...the nature of marriage itself. Most advocates of gay marriage have not previously given much thought to this. Nor, over the years, have many of them done anything to advance its cause – although, to be fair, Mr Cameron himself has always been a strong advocate of wedlock. Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats, for instance, are passionately opposed to helping marriage through the tax system. Obloquy has been poured on the heads of those who argue that marriage is a better way of bringing up children than cohabitation or single parenthood.

When such people start calling for gay marriage, then, it is reasonable to conclude that it is not marriage itself that they are interested in, but Equality for homosexuals. The Government has listened too much to pressure groups and far too little to people who know about marriage....

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Marriage & Family • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

It is a matter of deep regret that some of those with knowledge of the fact of and the substance of the complaints against me have repeatedly chosen to leak information, much of it partial and inaccurate, during the formal legal process.

Apart from an admission by Lambeth Palace in November 2011 of a leak to a journalist by a member of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s staff, the source of the leaks has not been identified amongst the small group privy to the relevant information. After November 2011, the leaks did not stop. This has led to repeatedly unfair media reporting, in circumstances where, on advice, I have been unable publicly to defend myself.

The media coverage during the process did not escape the attention of Lord Justice Mummery. With the process complete, I can now quote from Lord Justice Mummery’s decision letter dated 29 January 2013 addressed to Mr Akerman and Mr Perkins by which he refused to allow the bulk of their complaints to proceed. He said this, under the heading “Coverage in the media”:

“I should add that this letter is sent only to the persons directly concerned with its contents. It is an impartial judgment on disciplinary matters. It is made by an independent judge. The decision is based on a full and careful consideration of the relevant evidence submitted and the legal arguments advanced.

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Set in a garden-like enclosure in a rough section of Tunis sits a really beautiful Anglican Church – St. George’s. Some of the people buried in its cemetery died more than 250 years ago, and its congregation today numbers around 300.

But don’t think this is some colonial outpost where English-speaking ex-pats sip tea or sherry after Matins. This is a vibrant congregation of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ, many of whom are Arab-speaking or come from Sub-Sahara Africa. The Arab-speakers are converts – mainly young. The Africans are bank workers from nations far to the South. Services are in both English and Arabic.

On a recent visit to Charleston Archbishop Mouneer Anis waxed eloquent about his vision, and that of the people of this lonely outpost in the middle of Muslim North Africa. They are dreaming of a vibrant center of theology, community outreach and hospitality rising in the very land that produced St. Augustine in the 4th and 5th Century.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • * International News & Commentary • Africa • * Theology

Don't be afraid to talk about death and funerals, advises the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Revd James Langstaff, writing in support of Dying Matters Awareness Week (13-19 May 2013), at http://www.churchofengland.org/our-views/medical-ethics-health-social-care-policy/dying-matters-end-of-life-care.aspx.

Bishop James, the Chair of the Churches Funeral Group, said: "…This week encourages us all to think about how we approach the prospect of our own death and that of those closest to us; it is good and healthy to talk about these things together…"

Dying Matters, a broad-based and inclusive national coalition of 28,000 members, including the Church of England, aims to change public knowledge, attitudes and behaviours towards dying, death and bereavement.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Death / Burial / Funerals • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Theology • Anthropology • Eschatology • Pastoral Theology

Archbishop of York John Sentamu is setting up an independent inquiry into allegations of sexual abuse made against a Church of England cleric.

A former Archbishop of York has denied being negligent by failing to notify police when made aware of the claims.

Dr Sentamu's office said the probe would look "specifically into the issues surrounding the reports" and the findings would be made public.

It said child abuse allegations were treated "with the utmost seriousness".

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Children • Law & Legal Issues • Sexuality • Violence • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

St. Paul's Anglican Parish in Bakersfield is looking for a new home following a courtroom decision that hands control of its church property back to the Episcopal Church.

The Anglicans are on the move following a little-noticed ruling in February that parishioners in two of several breakaway Kern churches lacked the authority to disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church.

Even though Anglicans at St. Paul's and St. Michael's Anglican Church in Ridgecrest both held their own titles to church property, Kern County Superior Court Judge Sidney P. Chapin ruled that they had to vacate.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts: San Joaquin • TEC Departing Parishes • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • * Theology

I have always believed in a threefold way of looking at the journey of life. I need to acknowledge the past, live in the present and anticipate the future.

In relation to the cathedral building I acknowledge the forebears. I go further and honour them, because for many years I have been a beneficiary of their efforts.

When it comes to living in the present, my life, like so many others, has been drastically changed by the seismic activity. Life cannot return to what it was. I live in a house which is to be demolished and hopefully rebuilt. This is just one of the constant reminders of the change that has and is occurring for so many.

The present situation, dominated as it is by change, is forcing me to think more and more about the future and try to anticipate what that might look like.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Liturgy, Music, Worship • Parish Ministry • Stewardship • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * General Interest • Natural Disasters: Earthquakes, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, etc. • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

Goddard had fewer than four months to research and write the book and acknowledges that his conclusions and judgments are “initial [and] tentative” (p. 8). Each chapter provides a summary of Williams’s speeches, interviews, and sermons relevant to the topic at hand, along with commentary from Goddard and a handful of other individuals whom he interviewed. At times, the chapters feel like little more than lengthy quotations from Williams’s own writing. This is no bad thing, however. To read Williams’s original words in the context in which they were first delivered is refreshing. In any event, their complexity and depth defy easy summation. (At least two other books on Williams, Rupert Shortt’s Rowan’s Rule and Mike Higton’s Difficult Gospel, similarly rely on lengthy quotations.)

Goddard’s tight writing schedule presents other problems, as it causes him occasionally to pass over significant moments too briefly. For instance, he mentions Williams’s “historic meeting with [Zimbabwean President Robert] Mugabe” (p. 144) but provides no additional information on what made it historic or why it was significant to Williams’s ministry. These are judgments that a tight publishing deadline likely cannot accommodate.

A larger disappointment is that the people Goddard interviewed to inform his judgments seem a limited lot. They are overwhelmingly male and from the Euro-Atlantic world.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Commentary • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Rowan Williams • * Culture-Watch • Books

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Church in North America (ACNA)

One problem...[Justin Welby] faces is that God isn’t really very popular. According to one recent survey, God is less trusted than Google.

“I saw that. I was very grumpy about it. Google always gives me the wrong answer. They’re actually out to make money out of us. I’m not.”

Welby is trying to build trust in a way that has fallen out of fashion in the Church of England: through his own belief in God. When I ask point blank if he really and truly thinks that Mary was a virgin and that Christ actually rose from the dead, he puts down his fork and replies simply: “Yes.”

I must be looking doubtful as he goes on: “Is that clear? I can say the Creed without crossing my fingers.”

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Justin Welby

Former Archbishop of York David Hope has "strenuously denied" he "acted negligently" in not referring sexual abuse complaints against a Church of England cleric to police.

The Times said he was told of claims against ex-Dean of Manchester, Robert Waddington, in 1999 and again in 2003.

They involved an Australian schoolboy and a Manchester Cathedral choirboy.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • Violence • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ • England / UK

According to The Times newspaper Lord Hope of Thornes was made aware of accusations against the former Dean of Manchester, Robert Waddington, in 1999 and again in 2003.

Waddington was stripped of his right to conduct church services but Lord Hope did not report concerns to police or child protection agencies.

The allegations relating to an Australian school pupil were reportedly put to Lord Hope in 1999 and a subsequent allegation relating to a Manchester Cathedral choirboy was made in 2003. Mr Waddington, who died in 2007, denied the allegations.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • Violence • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ • England / UK

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE)

It is about time the Church became serious about politics. The debacle over its opposition to the Government's welfare reform programme offers the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, a God-given opportunity to totally reshape the role of bishops in the House of Lords.

A week before the House of Lords voted on key aspects of the Government's welfare cuts [in March], 43 bishops issued a statement to the effect that this was the most vicious attack on children since Herod slaughtered the innocent. The welfare cuts are serious in the impact they will have on the living standards of some families, but let's leave aside the judgment as to whether the cuts were almost of a criminal nature. What did the bishops do?

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Justin Welby • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

The annual Mass and meeting of the Society of Mary/American Region welcomed Bishop Lindsay Urwin as guest speaker and marked a transition in the society’s leadership. The society met May 3 and 4 at St. Stephen’s Church in Providence, Rhode Island, attracting visitors from across the East Coast and as far away as Wisconsin.

The Rt. Rev. Lindsay Urwin, OGS, administrator of the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in England, spoke on “One Faith, Two Shrines: The Challenges and Joy of Life in Walsingham.” Bishop Urwin described the existence of two separate shrines at Walsingham — one for Anglicans and one for Roman Catholics — as a sign of the scandal of divisions within Christianity.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • * Religion News & Commentary • Ecumenical Relations • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • * Theology • Anthropology • Theology: Scripture

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has announced that the Dioceses Commission Draft Reorganisation Scheme for the Dioceses of Bradford, Ripon and Leeds, and Wakefield will be put to General Synod.

Following in depth consultation with Dioceses affected by the proposals, the matter will now be voted on by General Synod.

Each Diocese affected has voted individually on whether they support the scheme being implemented. Bradford, Ripon and Leeds, Sheffield and Blackburn Dioceses all voted in favour of the draft scheme progressing – Wakefield Diocese voted against.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • Archbishop of York John Sentamu • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

The Archbishop of Canterbury will address thousands of international Christian leaders in London on Monday next week.

Archbishop Justin will speak on the opening morning of the annual HTB leadership conference, which returns to the Royal Albert Hall for the second year running.

The two-day event, which will be live streamed, will bring together 5,500 Christian leaders from 89 countries.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Justin Welby • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Evangelicals

The former Archbishop of York stood accused last night of covering up allegations that a senior Church of England clergyman had abused choirboys and school pupils.

Lord Hope of Thornes was made aware of the accusations against the Very Rev Robert Waddington, a former Dean of Manchester Cathedral and once the cleric in overall charge of Church schools, in 1999 and again in 2003. Waddington was stripped of his right to conduct church services but the archbishop did not report concerns about alleged past abuse or a potential continuing threat to children to police or child protection agencies.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Psychology • Religion & Culture • Violence • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology

The prominent gay cleric Dr Jeffrey John has been long-listed as a candidate to succeed Archbishop Justin Welby as Bishop of Durham.

If appointed Dr John, the Dean of St Albans, who is in a civil partnership with his partner the Rev Grant Holmes, would become the first openly gay bishop in the Church of England.

He has been long-listed before and blocked for dioceses such as Southwark, but this is the first time his name has been put forward since the Church dropped its ban on clergy in civil partnerships becoming bishops.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Theology: Scripture

The number of people attending Sunday services at Britain’s Anglican churches is continuing to drop, but church officials say there are signs that the decline is starting to stabilize.

A spokesperson for the Church of England said Tuesday (May 7) that average weekly attendance at the nation’s 16,247 Anglican parishes was 1.1 million in 2011, representing a drop of just 0.3 percent from the previous year’s figures.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

the secret, says Jeffrey Makinson, sub-organist of Manchester Cathedral, is to clothe the theme in a different harmony, tempo, or rhythmic metre. Even then, there is a risk that your mischief will make at least a few ears prick up.

Half of churchgoers have heard of an organist slipping unexpected tunes into a service, suggests a new survey from Christian Research, which has been published to coincide with the Christian Resources Exhibition International next week.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Liturgy, Music, Worship • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

The former Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, will present a bill to the House of Lords next week which would introduce a system similar to that in place in the US state of Oregon.

It would allow doctors to provide a fatal dose of drugs to patients judged to have less than six months to live....The bill, which will be tabled on May 15, is based on the conclusions of Lord Falconer’s Commission on Assisted Dying, a group of peers and academics which held hearings in the style of a royal commission.

The Commission was dismissed by critics, including the Church of England, as a “self appointed” group of euthanasia supporters.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Death / Burial / Funerals • * Culture-Watch • Aging / the Elderly • Health & Medicine • Law & Legal Issues • Life Ethics • Psychology • Suicide • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

A former top level church boss has appeared in court charged with lying about his degree to win his £45,000 a year job.

Maximilian Manin, 54, was the most senior official in the Lincoln Diocese, which is responsible for all Church of England parishes in the county.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Culture-Watch • Education • Law & Legal Issues • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

A wide range of papers was prepared for the meeting and discussed, taking the Commission further towards its goal of producing an agreed statement. The mandate for this third phase of ARCIC is to explore: the Church as Communion, local and universal, and how in communion the local and universal Church come to discern right ethical teaching. In exploring this mandate, the members of the Commission engaged in theological analysis and shared reflection on the nature of the Church and those structures which contribute to discernment and decision-making. Time was spent considering some case studies of ethical issues which members had prepared, and analysing the ways in which the two Communions have come to their present teaching on these matters.

Over the forty years of its work, ARCIC has produced a number of Agreed Statements. The work of ARCIC I received official responses from the two Communions. The Commission continued its task of preparing the documents of ARCIC II for presentation to the respective Communions to assist with their reception. Members reviewed responses already given to each of the five Agreed Statements and will prepare introductions for them that place each of these documents within the current ecumenical situation.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Primary Source • -- Reports & Communiques • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Religion News & Commentary • Ecumenical Relations • Other Churches • Roman Catholic

So, Christmas Christians are on the up.

And the number of christenings increased by 4.3%, which was accompanied by a rise of just over 5% in adult baptisms with a combined total of 139,751 baptisms – meaning that the Church of England conducted an average of over 2,600 baptisms each week during 2011. Thanksgivings for the birth of a child also rose - an 11.9% increase, taking numbers to 6,582....

The bad news?

Sunday attendance has declined over the decade, and this is particularly noticeable with child attendance:

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Commentary • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Liturgy, Music, Worship • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

The Church of England today released its annual statistics for 2011 revealing a strong growing trend for Christmas attendance, an increase in child and adult baptisms and a growing stability in weekly service attendance.

Christmas 2011 drew 14.5% more worshippers to Church of England services than attended in 2010, reaching a total of 2,618,030. Whilst one of the factors for such a high annual increase include the poor weather on Christmas Day in the previous year 2010, initial returns from 2012 suggest a further increase in Christmas attendance on these high 2011 figures revealing a growing trend for church going at Christmas.

The number of christenings increased by 4.3% and was accompanied by a rise of just over 5% in adult baptisms with a combined total of 139,751 baptisms - meaning that the Church of England conducted an average of over 2,600 baptisms each week during 2011. Thanksgivings for the birth of a child also rose; an 11.9% increase taking numbers to 6,582.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

The court order, which comes at what could be the end of a series of court battles over three church properties on 32nd Street, was reaffirmed Monday by Judge Kim G. Dunning.

"I give thanks for the culmination of this marathon litigation, and I pray this action will settle the fact that people can disagree but cannot take property that has been entrusted to the Episcopal Church for ministry," Right Rev. J. Jon Bruno, bishop of the six-county diocese, said in a statement. "I give thanks to God that, after these cases spanning more than eight years, we now can proceed with the continuing ministry of the Episcopal Church in Newport Beach."

St. James leaders said they were "obviously disappointed by this ruling."

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts: Los Angeles • TEC Departing Parishes • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues

The Church of England has lost thousands of worshippers in two of its top dioceses, according to statistics due to be released today.

The Durham diocese, former home to the present Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the Canterbury diocese, from which Dr Rowan Williams has just retired, were among the three biggest losers in the Church’s latest membership tally.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

Religion should be incorporated into “reality” television shows in order to increase understanding of other faiths, the Archbishop of Canterbury has claimed.

The Most Rev Justin Welby, who was enthroned in March, warned of “dangerous” consequences if religion disappeared from television schedules. Broadcasters who force religion to the margins are helping to “cultivate ignorance”, the Archbishop said.

He praised the ITV documentary series, Strictly Kosher, which featured an internet-dating Rabbi and a flamboyant fashion boutique owner based in Manchester’s orthodox Jewish community, for “stitching” religion into everyday life.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Justin Welby • * Culture-Watch • Movies & Television • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has urged evangelical congregations within the Church of Scotland not to “walk away” over the ordination of [noncelibate] gay ministers.

Speaking on the eve of a visit to Scotland as the new chairman of Christian Aid, Williams said he understood some congregations might threaten to break away if the Kirk’s ­General Assembly votes to allow the ordination of gay ministers later this month, but warned against such a divisive move.

“The impulse to walk away, while deeply understandable, is not a very constructive one,” he said. “The things which bind Christians together are almost always more profound and significant for themselves and the world than the things that divide them. When you do walk away from other Christians you are in effect saying well, either I can do without you or I’ve got nothing to learn from you. That can’t be good for us. You may disagree, you may think somebody else is tacitly perverse, but you might want to hang in there with them.”

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Rowan Williams • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • * Culture-Watch • Marriage & Family • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • --Civil Unions & Partnerships • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • --Scotland • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Presbyterian • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Theology: Scripture

Beloved New York Annual Conference:

Many of you may have read the recently published article in The New York Times that centered on same sex marriage and The United Methodist Church. The confidentiality requirements of the complaint process prevent me from discussing the case in detail. However, as is the case on many issues confronting the church today, there are multiple perspectives associated with human sexuality.

There is also a multiplicity of other concerns that we are confronted with as a body of Christian believers. Immigration reform, gun violence, poverty and the challenges within our criminal justice system are but a few of the significant issues on the local and national landscape.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Marriage & Family • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • --Civil Unions & Partnerships • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Methodist • Sexuality Debate (Other denominations and faiths) • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Theology: Scripture

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, will preach at the 900-year-old Church of St Aidan, Thockrington, Northumberland, in a service of Evening Worship at 4.00pm on Sunday 12 May 2013. At the service he will give thanks for the life of Lord Beveridge who was buried in the churchyard fifty years ago in 1963.

Also present will be Lord Beveridge's two surviving step-grandsons, Mr George Gwilt and Mr David Burn, who serves as Lay Chair of Thockrington's Parochial Church Council and as a Churchwarden of the neighbouring church of St Giles, Birtley.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • Archbishop of York John Sentamu • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

The Rev. William Stokes, who has been an advocate in Florida for immigrants and the poor, was elected yesterday to be the bishop of New Jersey, the sixth largest diocese in the Episcopal church.

He will replace Bishop George Councell, who announced earlier this year, that he would pass on his mantle after nearly 10 years.

“I am humbled beyond expression and deeply honored to have been elected as the Twelfth Bishop of New Jersey. I am grateful to the people of the diocese for their confidence, support and prayers,” Stokes said in a church press release.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops

The Archbishop of Nigeria Nicholas Okoh has warned that a blanket amnesty for the terror group Boko Haram would see Christians driven from Northern Nigeria. In a position paper prepared by the church in response to the creation of an amnesty commission by President Goodluck Jonathan, the archbishop warned that amnesty without reconciliation would not solve the problem.

“If the Federal Government goes ahead through the amnesty committee to make peace on BH’s terms, it would have inadvertently and effectively banned Christians and Christianity from the North. In the amnesty committee, who will speak for the right of the church, not to be tolerated, but as Nigerian Christians to exist side by side with Islam and Muslims, build churches, worship freely, move about freely without being hunted down with all sorts of weapons?,” said the document entitled “’The rough edges of the amnesty proposition”.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of Nigeria

It started out as a deeply personal act, that of a father officiating at the wedding of his son.

But it was soon condemned as a public display of ecclesiastical disobedience, because the father, the Rev. Dr. Thomas W. Ogletree, is a minister in the United Methodist Church, which does not allow its clergy to perform same-sex weddings.

Dr. Ogletree, 79, is now facing a possible canonical trial for his action, accused by several New York United Methodist ministers of violating church rules. While he would not be the first United Methodist minister to face discipline for performing a same-sex wedding, he could well be the one with the highest profile. He is a retired dean of Yale Divinity School, a veteran of the nation’s civil rights struggles and a scholar of the very type of ethical issues he is now confronting.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • * Culture-Watch • Marriage & Family • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • --Civil Unions & Partnerships • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Methodist • Sexuality Debate (Other denominations and faiths) • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Theology: Scripture

The final report for the enquiry into the operation of the diocesan child protection policies in the Diocese of Chichester has today been published.

The report was written by Bishop John Gladwin and Chancellor Rupert Bursell QC who were appointed in 2011 as the former Archbishop of Canterbury’s commissaries to carry out the enquiry.

In responding to the final report, Archbishop Justin has made the following statement:

“I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to not only the Commissaries for their care and concern in the course of carrying out this Visitation, but also to the survivors of abuse who have been able to share their experiences. The hurt and damage that has been done to them is something the Church can never ignore and I can only repeat what I have said before - that they should never have been let down by the people who ought to have been a source of trust and comfort and I want to apologise on behalf of the Church for pain and hurt they have suffered. I remain deeply grateful for their cooperation in the work of the Visitation....

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Justin Welby • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Children

Aanglican Bishop of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, Rt Rev Dr Howard Gregory, is suggesting that the media have more to offer.

"While we expect the media to be truthful in reflecting what is happening in our midst, I submit that the journalistic community has a significant role to play in the shaping of our society," he said. Gregory said the view that media only reflect what is going on is a cop-out.

"If the journalistic community is simply going to reflect the dynamics and values of society, then we are in deep trouble." Speaking at the World Press Freedom Day Forum at The Knutsford Court Hotel on Thursday, Bishop Gregory said a spirit of individualism is permeating societies and institutions of governance and commerce are taking more control over citizens' lives. He said there seems to be no exploration of the values which are informing the decisions being made and the extent they influence society's choices.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • * Culture-Watch • Media • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Caribbean • Jamaica • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Theology • Anthropology • Christology • Theology: Scripture

The Second Global Anglican Future Conference will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, 21st-26th October 2013. The focus will be on our shared Anglican future, as we engage with the missionary theme, ‘Making Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.’

The first conference, GAFCON 2008, was held in Jerusalem. GAFCON gave birth to a movement, the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans. The aims of the GFCA are to proclaim and defend the apostolic gospel within and beyond the Anglican Communion and to recognise and share fellowship with orthodox Anglicans globally, especially those who have been disaffiliated by false teaching and behaviour.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Global South Churches & Primates • GAFCON 2008 • * Culture-Watch • Globalization

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts: Los Angeles • TEC Departing Parishes • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues

Judge Kim Dunning of the Orange County Supreme Court handed down on May 1 a surprise ruling in the case involving the property of St. James's parish in Newport Beach, and held that St. James could not retain title to its property after it voted in 2004 to disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church (USA). But due to the bizarre reasoning she used to reach that conclusion, the ruling -- if upheld on appeal -- would put a cloud on the title of every previous sale or disposition of any Episcopal parish property in the State since 1980.

The wrinkle in the St. James case -- a feature which distinguished it from the cases of two other parishes in the Diocese of Los Angeles (St. David's Hollywood; and All Saints, Long Beach) which Judge Dunning ruled last September could not retain their properties either -- was that St. James had been given an explicit letter from the Diocese in 1991 prior to purchasing the property at issue here, and undertaking the multi-million-dollar expense of developing it....

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts: Los Angeles • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues

The Ven. Leslie Stevenson, who was to have been consecrated this week as Bishop of Meath & Kildare, in the Irish Republic, withdrew on Sunday after a press campaign against him.

His decision to step aside followed two newspaper articles. One in the Dublin-based Sunday Business Post noted that he would be the first divorced bishop in the history of the Church of Ireland, and that he had had a relationship after his first marriage failed.

The second appeared last Friday in the Belfast-based Nationalist daily Irish News, which suggested that Archdeacon Stevenson's consecration was in doubt. It named the woman with whom he had had a relationship, who is now a serving priest in the diocese of Connor.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of Ireland • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Marriage & Family • Media • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • --Ireland • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology

You recently decided to take the issue of gay marriage on, head-on, at the National Cathedral. What led you to that decision?

There’s my own track record on the issue and then there’s the cathedral’s process. I’ve been a proponent of same-sex marriage at least 20 years. I worked in the ’90s on this stuff at All-Saints Church in Pasadena, California, a progressive church in that part of Los Angeles. Los Angeles has a very large gay and lesbian population, it had an AIDS service center. I got to know a lot of gay and lesbian people well, personally, which I hadn’t before. And during my time there, that parish decided to do same-sex blessings. We aren’t talking about marriage yet. So, I’ve been involved in same-sex blessing and a couple of same sex marriages, really, over the last 20 years. But I had a book of essays about it.

On the public side, it’s that in 2012, thanks to all this activity that I and others did, the Episcopal Church authorized a liturgy, a ritual for same-sex blessings. And in the areas where marriage was legal, nine states plus the District, it could be locally adapted for marriage. The cathedral is an Episcopal cathedral, it’s part of the Episcopal diocese of Washington. So same-sex marriage has been legal in Washington for a while. Maryland just passed a referendum in November saying same-sex marriage is legal now. So all parts of our diocese were where same-sex marriage was legal.

The bishop and I met and said we’re going to start allowing same-sex marriage everywhere, in that diocese in January, and the cathedral would also do it. It was part of a long process in the Episcopal Church. We’ve had controversies over openly gay bishops and all that kind of stuff. We worked through those. Our denomination has come to a place that’s made it possible. And at our general convention in 2015, we’ll probably take up the marriage question.

Read it all (my emphasis).

I will take comments on this submitted by email only to at KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Marriage & Family • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • --Civil Unions & Partnerships • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Theology: Scripture

The Anglican Bishop of Selby is to retire in November after 10 years in the post.

The Right Reverend Martin Wallace, 64, said it had been an "enormous privilege" to serve people in the area.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops

Provincial Secretary and Bishop of Eastern Zambia, the Rt Revd William Mchombo made the announcement after the Elective Assembly meeting held at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Botswana capital Gaborone on Saturday.

"I am pleased to let you know that Fr Metlhayotlhe Rawlings Belemi is the bishop-elect of the Diocese of Botswana," said Bishop Mchombo. "The whole programme began with a solemn mass which was presided over by Archbishop of Central Africa Albert Chama."

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Latest News • Anglican Provinces • Church of Central Africa

Single Christians feel "isolated, alone and lonely" within their churches, according to new research. More than a third of worshippers who were not married or in a relationship said they did not feel treated the same as those that were part of conventional families.

Nearly four out of ten single churchgoers said they often felt "inadequate or ignored" whilst 42.8 per cent said their church did not know what to do with them. A total of 37 per cent said they "did not feel treated as family members"

The findings were based on the responses of 2,754 people who used the Christian dating site Christian Connection and suggest there is a significant minority of worshippers who feel alienated by the prevailing attitudes within protestant denominations in Britain including the Church of England.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Marriage & Family • Religion & Culture • Young Adults • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

It was left to Cambridge to right the [Oxford] injustice, and in the early Fifties to bestow a newly created chair. In the meantime, Lewis, like his colleague Tolkien, had created a series of imaginative stories. The Chronicles of Narnia were works of keen imagination, appealing alike to many children and perceptive adults. They echoed the incarnation of Christ, his death and resurrection, and have enjoyed a mass-revival in the United States in recent years, where they have been responsible for creating a new kind of Christianity: what might be called educated evangelicalism. This is a remarkable and valuable phenomenon, and gives Lewis a high rank among writers on religion, alongside Wesley and Newman.

He deserves his lasting appeal, and for three reasons. First he was immensely well- read, delving into every corner of English literature with intelligence and sympathy, and squeezing from it moral qualities which had been hitherto unsuspected in many works. Second, he had an enviable clarity, so that his meaning, even when making rarefied distinctions, always leaps from the page. Thirdly, he had excellent judgment in both literature and theology, and combined them both in fascinating books which never condescend and are always a pleasure to read. Alister McGrath gives us much food for thought in this dutiful, sound and worthy book.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Laity • * Culture-Watch • Books • History • Poetry & Literature • * Theology • Apologetics

Anglican-Catholic dialogue is back on the agenda this week as a team of ecumenical experts from both sides meet in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro from April 30th to May 6th.
This 3rd meeting of the current Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission will continue its work on the relationship between local and universal Church, as well as the way in which both communities respond to the most pressing ethical issues of our time.

To find out more about the meeting, Philippa Hitchen talked to Mgr Mark Langham from the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity who serves as Catholic co-secretary of ARCIC III…..
She also spoke, during the recent enthronement of the new Archbishop of Canterbury, to an Anglican member of ARCIC III, Bishop Christopher Hill who chairs the Church of England's Council for Christian Unity. He told her that Pope Francis’ emphasis on his role as the Bishop of Rome is extremely encouraging for the whole ecumenical endeavor…

Listen to it all (about 8 1/2 minutes).

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • * International News & Commentary • South America • Brazil • * Religion News & Commentary • Ecumenical Relations • Other Churches • Roman Catholic

The Bishop of Niagara is suing a blogger over online material he claims was fashioned to hold the spiritual leader of 25,000 Anglicans up to ridicule and contempt.

The defamation lawsuit claims that Michael Bird, Hamilton-based bishop for the 90 parishes in the diocese, which includes Hamilton, has been pilloried on the blog as a weak, ineffectual leader, portrayed as a thief, described as having a sexual fetish and labelled an atheist.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Canada • * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • Law & Legal Issues • Church/State Matters • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Canada

Almost three thousand years ago the Prophet Amos asked ‘can two walk together except they be agreed?’ How can the Church of England, pragmatic and volunteer-led but with complex legal and cultural structures, stay meshed with its culturally incompatible overseas churches? What is its future?

Theo Hobson argues in this week’s Spectator that the C of E needs to find a third way in order to survive, affirming gay partnerships whilst simultaneously rejecting equal marriage.

Can this be done? If the deadlock Hobson describes arose from a frail incoherent compromise, Some Issues in Human Sexuality, how can more hand-wringing duplicity solve it?

The world has moved radically on since 1991....

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Analysis • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • * Culture-Watch • Marriage & Family • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • --Civil Unions & Partnerships • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Theology: Scripture

It is a wearyingly obvious observation, but the Church of England remains crippled by the gay crisis. It is locked in disastrous self-opposition, alienated from its largely liberal nature. Maybe the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has a secret plan that will break the deadlock: there is no sign of it yet. The advent of gay marriage has made the situation look even more hopeless. It entrenches the church in its official conservatism, and it further radicalises the liberals. A few weeks ago the church issued a report clarifying its opposition to gay marriage, in which it ruled out the blessing of gay partnerships. This was not a hopeful move: it ought to be keeping these issues separate.

The ending of the turbulent Williams era is an opportunity to take stock, rethink, take a step back. What we see is that, for more than 20 years, the church has tried and failed to reform its line on homosexuality; and this failure has been amazingly costly. The church used to be good at gradual reform. Why did it fail so dismally this time?

I blame the liberals....

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Analysis • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Justin Welby • --Rowan Williams • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Marriage & Family • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • --Civil Unions & Partnerships • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Theology: Scripture

The British public hold Google and religious institutions in equally low regard, with less than one in five saying they believe the search giant and faith leaders have their best interests at heart.

By contrast, almost 40 per cent said they thought the NHS put their needs first, the highest scoring institution on the list, followed by the police, who have the confidence of more than a quarter of Britons.

And in a secular world of Sunday shopping, Tesco and Sainsburys were ranked as more trustworthy than religious groups, with 19 per cent saying they trusted supermarkets, compared with just 17 per cent for Google and religious institutions.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

Small wonder, given the harrowing times recently, that news about a long-running property fight over a picturesque church in northern Virginia escaped most people’s notice. But the story of the struggle over the historic Falls Church is nonetheless worth a closer look. It’s one more telling example of a little-acknowledged truth: though religious traditionalism may be losing today’s political and legal battles, it remains poised to win the wider war over what Christianity will look like tomorrow.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts: Virginia • Global South Churches & Primates • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Evangelism and Church Growth • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Lutheran • Methodist • Presbyterian • * Theology • Anthropology • Christology • Soteriology • Theology: Salvation (Soteriology) • Theology: Scripture

Molly Ethridge, a Winnetka resident of 25 years, feels at home sitting on the church steps.

Yes, Christ Church at 470 Maple St. has been a home away from home for the 23 years she’s worked here as parish administrator.

Fittingly, at Easter this year, Ethridge celebrated her retirement among friends, colleagues and loved ones. Her accomplishments include comforting parishioners at very difficult times, often during devastating situations such as the death of a child. She has received several national awards through Episcopal Communicators, a professional organization. Her graphics art skills have assisted in the publishing of two Christ Church books with author and historian Bob Bradner.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Parishes • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Laity

Guidelines have been established for same-gender blessing ceremonies to be performed in Oklahoma Episcopal churches, a state leader with the denomination said.

The Rt. Rev. Ed Konieczny, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma, said three parishes already have expressed interest in starting the process so they can conduct such ceremonies, although he does not believe “there are large numbers of people out there waiting for this.” He declined to name the interested parishes, as they have yet to request formal approval.

“I don't expect that this is going to be a floodgate of things. We will make it available and people will take advantage of it according to who they are,” he said.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • * Christian Life / Church Life • Liturgy, Music, Worship • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Marriage & Family • Sexuality • --Civil Unions & Partnerships • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Theology: Scripture

In 2003, after the Episcopal Church consecrated the first openly gay bishop within the Anglican Communion, the Province of the Southern Cone severed its relationship with the Episcopal Church. It also broke communion with the Anglican Church of Canada after one of its dioceses in 2002 authorized a rite for blessing same-sex unions. Are you still in broken communion with these two provinces?
Yes. In 2010 when an earthquake struck in Chile, I received many, many phone calls from [the Episcopal Church Center in] New York offering us money. But I said no; not out of arrogance but because we had broken communion with TEC and it would not be right to accept their money.

Did you ask permission of the local Anglican Church of Canada bishop to visit here?
No, because I am coming to another, different Anglican church.

n 2003, the Province of the Southern Cone offered Episcopal oversight to conservative Anglicans who had left the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada but who wanted to realign with another province. Does this make you a primate of the Anglican Church in North America along with its elected primate, Bob Duncan?

No. That is over. We provided temporary supervision. When ACNA was founded in Texas in 2008 the very next day I had breakfast with Bishop John Guernsey and said, “My churches in the States will now be under your supervision. Let me know what I should do to pass them to you.” Others like [Bishops] Frank Lyons of Bolivia and Greg Venables may have taken a bit more time but the Southern Cone decided to pass the [North American] churches to the new ACNA primate.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Canada • Episcopal Church (TEC) • Global South Churches & Primates • GAFCON 2008 • Instruments of Unity • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • * International News & Commentary • South America • Chile • * Theology • Anthropology • Ecclesiology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Theology: Scripture

Justin Welby, the new leader of nearly 80m Anglicans around the world, has won a respectful hearing for his ideas on banking and the British economy. Even if they disagree with the details, people have generally not reacted by saying "this man hasn't a clue what he is talking about" or "he should go back to singing hymns."

On April 21st, the archbishop of Canterbury suggested that big, unhealthy banks should be broken up into regional ones, as part of a "revolution in the aims" of banks designed to make sure that they served society as well as their own narrow interests. That sounded very like the proposal made last month by Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, for local lenders modelled on the German system. It comes at a time when the government faces hard decisions about the future of the Royal Bank of Scotland after its rescue by the tax-payer. Given the immediacy of the issue, some people will accuse the archbishop (who lists his hobbies as French culture, sailing and politics) of making narrow political points rather than broad moral ones.

But he also had some longer-term ideas on the financial sector. Drawing on his experience as a member of a parliamentary Banking Standards Commission, he said senior positions in banking ought to form a regulated profession which required qualifications.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Justin Welby • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • Credit Markets • Currency Markets • Stock Market • The Banking System/Sector • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007-- • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

Read it all. The preface alone, to his two sons and only daughter, is wonderful--KSH.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Parish Ministry • Adult Education • Ministry of the Laity • Ministry of the Ordained • Youth Ministry • * Theology

After an intense, busy but fascinating few days in Argentina, I've finally found space to write my first blog update, so here goes.

After recovering from the 13 hour flight we spent the first full day learning about the history of Argentina, the present financial and political climate, and the Anglican Church. There will be much to share about the political and financial situation and its impact on daily life when I return. Suffice to say there's much anxiety and fear about levels of crime and violence. But the people of Argentina are resilient and optimistic and I experienced that in the people I have met.

90% of population still have some vestiges of faith, enough not to abandon it.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • * International News & Commentary • South America • Argentina

Speaking on Radio 4... [on Saturday], the Archbishop of Canterbury stressed the implications of Christian ethics for the City of London

The Christian Gopsel has "always had strong social implications" and been concerned with "the common good", the Archbishop of Canterbury said....

In an interview for Radio 4's Week in Westminster, Archbishop Justin said his main mission wasn't to inject morality back into British business. But he said that how the City of London - which “is so important and so full of very gifted people” – behaves in relation to the common good is a major concern not just for the Church but for society generally.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Justin Welby • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • Credit Markets • Currency Markets • Stock Market • The Banking System/Sector • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, in conjunction with other Governments, to document the scale and nature of the alleged use of sexual violence as an instrument of war by the Government of Syria and other parties involved in the conflict in Syria....

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the extent of the use of sexual violence as an instrument of war in Syria....

To ask Her Majesty's Government what resources they are providing, either unilaterally or as part of international action, to ensure that victims of sexual violence in Syria are provided with the necessary medical and trauma support.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • * Culture-Watch • Sexuality • Violence • Women • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • Middle East • Syria • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

The Anglican bishops of the West Indies have urged their governments to hold fast and resist pressure from Britain and the United States to legalize gay rights and gay marriage.

In a statement released on 25 April 2013 following the House of Bishops meeting in Barbados, bishops of the Church the Province of the West Indies (CPWI) reiterated their belief in marriage “defined as a faithful, committed, permanent and legally sanctioned relationship between a man and a woman.”

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • West Indies • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Marriage & Family • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • --Civil Unions & Partnerships • * Economics, Politics • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Theology: Scripture

All Saint's Cathedral in Nairobi, Kenya will host the second Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) October 21-26, 2013. Canon Phil Ashey is in Nairobi where the leaders of GAFCON recently held a planning meeting and finalized plans for the upcoming event. The first GAFCON, held in Jerusalem in 2008, was a major step in an organized, global effort to refocus the Anglican Communion around a common confession including Jesus Christ as Lord, the Bible as the Word of God and other central beliefs.

Watch it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Kenya • Global South Churches & Primates

Dr Rowan Williams has stepped down from his role as Archbishop of Canterbury - but don't go thinking this means that he has slowed down. As well as being the Master of Magdalene College Cambridge, Dr Williams is a member of the House of Lords and continues to work with churches and other faith groups all around the world.

Listen to it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Rowan Williams • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, laughs when it is suggested that he has a mission to raise moral standards in the City. “My key mission is to lead the Church in worshipping Jesus Christ,” he says.

He points out, however, that Christian teaching concerns the “common good”, and he is concerned about “how the City of London, which is so important and so full of very gifted people”, relates to this concept.

Dr Welby is in a unique position to do something about it. Outside the cathedral he enjoys two political pulpits from which to shape the debate: in the House of Lords and on the cross-party parliamentary banking commission.

Read it all (another link ).

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Justin Welby • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • Credit Markets • Currency Markets • Stock Market • The Banking System/Sector • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

Listen to it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Kenya • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • Preaching / Homiletics • * South Carolina

This gospel is one of the most notable that a man can find in the New Testament, and worthy to be commended with all kinds of commendation. But as it is not possible that a man should sufficiently express this sermon of Christ by words ; first let us call unto God, that he will expound these words more plainly in our hearts, than we can by our words and interpretation, and that he will enkindle them, and make them so plain, that our conscience may receive comfort and peace thereby. Amen.

The pith of this excellent sermon is, that God so greatly loved the world, that he delivered his only begotten Son for it, that we men should not die, but have everlasting life. And first let us see who is the giver. He is the Giver, in respect of whom all princes and kings, with all their gifts, are nothing in comparison. And our hearts might worthily be lifted up and exalted with a godly pride, since we have such a giver, so that all who should come unto us by any other liberality, might be counted of no price in comparison of this. For what can be set before us that is more magnificent and excellent than God almighty. Here God, who is infinite and unspeakable, gives after such a manner as passes also all things. For that which he gives, he gives not as wages of desert, or for a recompense, but, as the words sound, of mere love. Wherefore this gift wholly proceeds of God's exceeding and divine benevolence and goodness, as he saith, God loved the world. There is no greater virtue than love, as it may hereby be well understood, that when we love anything, we will not hesitate to put our life in danger for it. Verily, great virtues are patience, chastity, sobriety, &c., but yet they are nothing to be compared with this virtue, which comprises and includes within itself all other virtues. A good man does no man wrong, he gives every man his own ; but by love, men give their own selves to others, and are ready with all their heart to do all that they can for them. So Christ saith here also, that God gives to us, not by right or merit, but by this great virtue, that is by love.

This ought to encourage our hearts, and to abolish all sorrow, when this exceeding love of God comes in mind, that we might trust thereto and believe steadfastly, that God is that bountiful and great Giver, and that this gift of his, proceeds of that great virtue of love. This sort of giving, which has its spring of love, makes this gift more excellent and precious. And the words of Christ are plain, that God loveth us. Wherefore for this love's sake ought we greatly to esteem all things that he gives us.

--Writings of the Rev. Thomas Becon (London, J. Nisbet), pp. 494-495

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Theology • Anthropology • Atonement • Christology • Soteriology • Theology: Scripture

O Lord, we most humbly beseech thee to give us grace not only to be hearers of the Word, but also doers of the same; not only to love, but also to live thy gospel; not only to profess, but also to practise thy blessed commandments, unto the honour of thy holy name.

--Thomas Becon (1512–1567)

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • Spirituality/Prayer

The Loma Prieta earthquake tore through northern California in 1989, shaking the ground for 10 to 15 seconds, killing 63 people and doing extensive damage to bridges, roads and buildings. Much of the worst damage was in built-up areas around San Francisco Bay, including Oakland.

This could be sounding like a familiar story by now. One of the casualties was a 96-year-old Gothic brick church, the Catholic diocese of Oakland's Cathedral of St Francis De Sales. Rather than simply rebuild, the diocese opted to be even more radical: it built a new cathedral on an entirely new site. In 2008, the Cathedral of Christ the Light opened on the shores of Oakland's Lake Merritt and it is already regarded as one of the greatest of contemporary church buildings.

It has been called the first cathedral to be built in the 21st century, and that has become a symbolic value as well as a chronological fact. It says to others that this is the future of church buildings.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Liturgy, Music, Worship • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Urban/City Life and Issues • * General Interest • Natural Disasters: Earthquakes, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, etc. • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A. • Australia / NZ

Melrose resident Jurgen Liias’s spiritual journey has led him down an unusual path: Last weekend he became one of the first Episcopal priests in the country to be ordained as a Catholic priest.

Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, ordained Liias as a Catholic priest on Saturday, April 20, at St. Mary Star of the Sea Church in Beverly.

Citizens have likely seen Liias around the city, gardening at his Melrose Street home or on MMTV’s “Wellsprings of Faith” — a religious show that focuses on various people’s journeys in faith.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Religion News & Commentary • Ecumenical Relations • Other Churches • Roman Catholic

A Church of England diocese has made building bridges with the gay community part of its new bishop’s job description.

The Diocese of Manchester has instructed the official panel appointing its new bishop to select someone who can establish “positive relationships” with gay Anglicans and non-worshippers.

The panel, which met on Friday, was told that the successor to the Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, who retired earlier this year, should build on “significant engagement” with “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities” in Manchester.

The move comes amid growing tensions within the Church over its attitude to gay worshippers and clergy.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • --Civil Unions & Partnerships • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Theology: Scripture

Oklahoma Episcopal Bishop Edward J. Konieczny, who once strongly opposed stricter gun control laws, is changing his views.

Konieczny will participate Sunday at Trinity Episcopal Church in an adult forum on gun control titled "The Thin Line Between God and Guns."

A former police officer, Konieczny discussed his changing views on gun control in a recent CNN Belief Blog that drew national attention.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • * Culture-Watch • History • Law & Legal Issues • Religion & Culture • Violence • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology