Vancouver Magazine on St. John’s Shaughnessy
“On a Sunday morning earlier this year, hundreds of Anglicans pour through the doors of St. John’s Shaughnessy Church. The stately grey building at the corner of Granville and Nanton is home to a well-heeled and diverse congregation: parents with a clutch of teenage sons, elderly women in wheelchairs, youthful couples.
Sitting near the front with her husband is soft-spoken, 72-year-old Gail Stevenson, who has attended the church her whole life. Closer to the back, sitting all by himself, is 46-year-old Steve Schuh. Many of the parishioners sit in the same pew week after week—pews that may soon be pulled out from under them. …”
– Jonathan Graham at Vancouver Magazine reports on the challenges facing St. John’s Shaughnessy and like-minded churches in that city. (Hat tip: Ed Hird.)
Evangelical – by Phillip Jensen
What is an “evangelical”? There is a series of similar words that are commonly confused such as “evangelical”, “evangelism”, “evangelistic”, “evangelise”, “evangelist” and “evangelicalism”. These words carry so much meaning to the initiated but are quite confusing to others.
They all start with “evangel” for they are all about the gospel. “Evangel” is the anglicised version of the Greek word for gospel. These different English words are just different grammatical forms of the word gospel. …
– Dean of St. Andrew’s Cathedral Sydney, Phillip Jensen, unpacks the meaning of “evangelical” in the Cathedral’s weekly newsletter for August 10.
California clergy receive ultimatum
The Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, based in Stockton, California, has written to clergy affiliated with the breakaway Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin, based in Fresno, California, asking that they affirm their loyalty to him or be deposed from the ordained ministry. …
– George Conger reports for Religious Intelligence. (Photo: Bishop Jerry Lamb greets TEC Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori – Episcopal Life Online.)
Standing against the culture of death
Back in May, Al Mohler spoke of the family of Trig Paxson Van Palin, a little boy born with Down Syndrome.
“…Trig Palin is now in a very rare group of very special children, because it is now believed that the vast majority of babies diagnosed with Down syndrome before birth are being aborted.”
Trig’s mum, Sarah Palin, is the Governor of Alaska, and was yesterday announced as the running mate for Senator John McCain for the US Presidency.
– Read Albert Mohler’s article here. He also spoke of it on his radio programme. (Hat tip: Justin Taylor.)
See also this page about Trig from the Governor’s Office.
GAFCON Communiqué on establishment of the Primates Council and Fellowship
The first meeting of the GAFCON Primates Council took place in London from Wednesday 20th to Friday 22nd August 2008.
“Given that some esteemed colleagues from the Global South have strongly commended the Windsor Process to us, we are reluctant to say that it cannot work. But there is nothing new here such as to make us hesitate from the course we are taking, given the urgency of the situations with which we are dealing and the realities already on the ground.”
The full Communiqué is reproduced below. Read more
Bishops write to GAFCON Primates Council
This letter was sent to Archbishop Peter Akinola, Chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council, by five bishops from North America. It is referred to in the GAFCON Primates Council communique.
“As requested we have carefully studied the Reflections of the Windsor Continuation Group – in particular the section that refers to our ministry within North America. We offer these comments…”
New Westminister letters to parishioners
The Diocese of New Westminister has released the letters sent to members of St. Matthias and St. Luke Vancouver, and St. Matthew’s Abbotsford.
There are links from this page on the New Westminster website.
St. John’s Shaughnessy responds to New Westminster
From St. John’s Shaughnessy in Vancouver –
The Diocese of New Westminster (DNW) initiated action against St. Matthew’s Abbotsford and St. Matthias – St. Luke Vancouver on August 26th and is seeking to take over governance of the parishes. We are deeply disappointed by this action as it fails to recognize:
- repeated attempts by the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) parishes to seek dialogue before litigation;
- repeated statements from the Primate of Canada that any such action will damage the public witness of the church;
- repeated calls from the Anglican Communion to refrain from such hostile action
It is a sad irony that the Diocese invoked Canon 15 on the same day that the Archbishop of Canterbury released his Pastoral Letter to all Bishops of the Anglican Communion reflecting on the recent Lambeth conference saying: Read more