San Joaquin ‘diocese’ sues for return of ‘church’ property
Posted on March 13, 2010
Filed under News
The Episcopal News Service provides the TEC version of the latest lawsuit –
“The parish litigation is in addition to pending litigation brought by the diocese and by the Episcopal Church against the former bishop, John-David Schofield, which is now before the Fifth District Court of Appeal for review of the trial court’s determination that: (a) Bishop Lamb is the Bishop of the Diocese and incumbent of the Corporation Sole and other Diocesan entities; and (b) the attempts to modify the diocesan constitution and canons and articles of incorporation of the Corporation Sole to disaffiliate the Episcopal Diocese from the Episcopal Church were null and void.”
(Photo: Bishop Jerry Lamb of the TEC remnant diocese of San Joaquin greets TEC Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori – Episcopal Life Online.)
Far-flung flock
Posted on March 13, 2010
Filed under News
Bishop David Mulready is featured in the February–March 2010 edition of R.M. Williams’ Outback magazine. It’s a refreshingly positive article.
“David Mulready pulls on his purple polo shirt, adjusts his Akubra and sets off to tend to his flock in the heat and red dirt. He’s mustering, but not the Santa Gertudis and the Brahman and Black Angus cattle that abound on the vast stations of Australia’s north and west, which is his beat. It’s the people who live in this remote area that he’s off to care for.
David is an Anglican clergyman and he is the bishop of North West Australia, responsible for the world’s largest landed diocese.…”
You can download it as a 1.1MB PDF file, courtesy of Editor-in-Chief Mark Muller.
(Photo: Maureen and David Mulready and friends at Wyndham.)
Honouring Christ
Posted on March 13, 2010
Filed under Opinion
“We are beset by problems.
Outside the Church is the collapsing nature of society as it abandons its Christian heritage; this impacts families, the workplace, school, and the Church. At its worst is the growing antagonism to Biblical Christianity.
Inside the Church we see the fruit of theological liberalism in false teaching, decline and immorality. Ritualism is now accepted as the norm and much so-called evangelicalism now believes what liberals believed a generation ago.
In the midst of all this how can we honour Christ? …”
– David Phillips, General Secretary of Church Society, writes in the Winter 2010 edition of Cross†Way. (PDF file.)
The Trellis and the Vine discussion guide
Posted on March 12, 2010
Filed under Resources
At The Sola Panel, Ian Carmichael reports:
“We at Matthias Media have recently made available a free and downloadable discussion guide for Col Marshall and Tony Payne’s The Trellis and the Vine. Download it from our Australian or North American store.”
– Read more and get the links here. (Plug from Mark Dever here.)
Are we still responsible for sins for which we may be genetically predisposed?
Posted on March 12, 2010
Filed under Theology
Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds quotes these helpful words from Tom Schreiner at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky–
“Even if some sins could be traced to our genetics, it would not exempt us from responsibility for such sins. The Scriptures teach that all human beings are born into this world as sons and daughters of Adam, and hence they are by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:3). Read more
Glasspool receives required number of consents
Posted on March 11, 2010
Filed under News
“Diocese of Los Angeles Bishop Suffragan-elect Mary Douglas Glasspool has received the required number of consents from diocesan standing committees to her ordination and consecration, pending verification by the presiding bishop’s office…”
– No surprises in this story from Episcopal Life.
From a December 5 2009 Diocese of Los Angeles press release:
“The second woman to be elected a bishop in the diocese’s 114-year history, Glasspool is also the first openly partnered lesbian to be elected a bishop in the Episcopal Church…”
South Carolina Resolutions to respond to Schori
Posted on March 11, 2010
Filed under News
The Diocese of South Carolina’s annual convention will consider five resolutions on March 26, three of which stress diocesan authority amid conflicts with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.
In proposing one resolution, the diocese’s standing committee calls it a “Response to Ecclesiastical Intrusions by the Presiding Bishop.” That resolution refers to the diocese’s “legal and ecclesiastical authority as a sovereign diocese within the Episcopal Church,” adds that “the Presiding Bishop has no authority to retain attorneys in this Diocese that present themselves as the legal counsel for the Episcopal Church in South Carolina,” and demands that she “drop the retainer of all such legal counsel in South Carolina as has been obtained contrary to the express will of this Diocese.” …
– Full report from The Living Church.
(Photo of Bishop Mark Lawrence: Diocese of South Carolina.)
What would you want on your tombstone?
Posted on March 11, 2010
Filed under Opinion
What is the resurrection to you? What part does it hold in your thinking?
NSW Moderator of The Presbyterian Church, Chris Balzer, wrote this for the Presbyterian magazine, Pulse:
–––––
“A few months ago a friend and I ‘discovered’ the graveyard at Sofala NSW.
From my perspective, the most interesting inscription on a tombstone was this:
The dust of Vestry Walker, who slept in Jesus 28th August 1875, waits here (until) the morning of the first resurrection.
If you call yourself a Christian, would you be pleased at the thought that your relatives might use similar words on your tombstone? I would.
What theological insight those relatives of Vestry Walker had! Can you see the theology? Read more