Thursday 29th November 2007
“Disconnectedness Marks World Anglican Leaders” “The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, stepped aside briefly from the theological wars raging in the Anglican Communion and launched a massive broadside at American foreign policy and George W. Bush. In an interview with the British Muslim lifestyle magazine ‘Emel,’ Williams ripped the leadership of the US in the world saying it had broken down. In an interview he urged a change in US foreign policy...” – This week’s news commentary from David Virtue of VirtueOnline.
Monday 26th November 2007
“Sydney firm on Women Bishops”“A decision by a NSW diocese to elect a female bishop would clearly ‘break the unity’ of the Anglican Church, says the Bishop of North Sydney, Glenn Davies. In his column in this month’s Archbishop Writes, Archbishop Peter Jensen has confirmed that he cannot participate in the consecration of a woman bishop. Yet Anglican protocol holds that as Metropolitan of NSW, the Archbishop of Sydney consecrates all NSW bishops.” Report from SydneyAnglicans.net.
Monday 26th November 2007
What does Prime-Minister-Elect Kevin Rudd believe?It has been widely reported that one of Kevin Rudd’s first acts as Prime-Minister Elect was to attend his local Anglican church in Brisbane yesterday. But what does the new Australian leader believe and how does it affect his decision-making? This interview, broadcast on ABC Radio’s Sunday Profile in March 2006, gives some insight. Read the transcript – or listen via the links at the top of that page.
Friday 23rd November 2007
 “Anglican Church offshoot launched”“A parallel national Anglican Church was launched yesterday amid charges by a leading theologian that the Anglican Church of Canada has been poisoned by liberalism and that is the real cause of the schism now underway. ‘Schism means unwarranted and unjustified separation from the rest of the Church [structure], causing an indefensible breach of unity,’ said J.I. Packer, a Canadian who Time magazine called one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in America. ‘Those who are unfaithful to the heritage are the schismatics. It is not we who are the schismatics.’... ... The Anglican Network has 16 parishes that have been aligned with the group. But the parishes will now have to formally decide whether to separate from the Canadian Church and put themselves under the new authority of the Southern Cone...” Report from The National Post.
Friday 23rd November 2007
Messages from Archbishops Peter Jensen and Gregory Venables to the Anglican Network in CanadaAnglican Mainstream is reporting these words of encouragement from Archbishop Peter Jensen to the Anglican Network in Canada national conference being held in Burlington, Ontario – “I know that as Canadian Anglicans you are beginning this new initiative only after much prayer and searching of the word of God. The issue on which you have taken a stand is absolutely correct. Your obedience to the word of God is a necessary witness both to the Church and to society about the way in which God has designed us to live. You have my admiration for your courage and my prayers for the Lord’s richest blessing on this venture. I extend my warmest Christian greetings to Archbishop Venables and to Bishop Harvey.”
Via Anglican Mainstream. See also a letter on the ANiC from Archbishop Gregory Venables, read 22 November 2007 at the Anglican Network in Canada national conference – “... Jesus died not to establish and preserve institutional franchises but for our sins so we could come into a right relationship with God our Father and Creator. Structural norms cannot be equated to the eternal gospel which determines our eternal destiny. These are sad but significant days. It has been heartbreaking to recognize that we have reached such a crucial and critical point in the life of the Anglican Communion. What has been perpetrated has indeed torn the fabric of our Communion at its deepest level. We recognize this tragedy with profound grief and love for all those involved and affected. We judge no one but cannot and will not deny the eternal truth which has purchased our redemption....”
Tuesday 20th November 2007
 Bishop Iker’s Fort Worth Convention Address OnlineAnglican TV has now posted online Bishop Jack Iker’s address to the Convention of his Diocese of Fort Worth on Saturday. The 45 minute address is available via Google Video and also in DivX formats at Anglican TV. The text of the address is also available from the Fort Worth website. Bishop Iker’s comments about the nature of a ‘National Church’ have parallels in Australia. “... just last week, the Presiding Bishop sent me an open letter, that she quickly posted on the internet, threatening disciplinary action against me if I did not prevent this Convention from acting on certain legislative proposals. I believe all of you have seen my reply. What you may not have seen is the Episcopal News Service story saying that if I did not heed her warning it would (and I quote) “force her to take action to bring the diocese and its leadership into line with the mandates of the national Church.” Now hold on there a minute. I don’t want to force her to do anything, but I must object to the claim that the Presiding Bishop has any canonical authority in this Diocese or any legitimate power over the leadership of this Diocese. She has no authority to bring Fort Worth into line with the mandates of a so-called ‘national Church.’ There is no such thing as ‘the national Church.’ We are a confederation of Dioceses, related to each other by our participation in General Convention. From the earliest days of the beginnings of the Episcopal Church in this country, including the formation of dioceses and eventually the creation of the General Convention itself, there has been a strong mistrust of centralized authority that is deeply rooted in our history as Episcopalians. We do not have an Archbishop in this Church, who has authority over other Bishops and their Dioceses. Instead, we have a Presiding Bishop, with very limited canonical responsibilities, mainly administrative in nature. We must object to the tendency in recent years in this Church to create some sort of central bureaucracy at the top that holds power and authority over the various Dioceses of this Church. We do not have a Curia that dictates policy and dogma in this Church. We do not have a Presiding Bishop with papal authority over us, nor do we believe in the infallibility of any Bishop or any council or, indeed, of any General Convention. If I may be so bold to speak on your behalf, dear friends: the leadership of this Diocese does not need to be brought into line with the mandates of some mythical ‘national Church.’...”
Bishop Iker’s address is worth reading (or watching) in full.
Saturday 17th November 2007
“Bishop leaves Canadian church for South American province”“The retired bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, Don Harvey, has left the Anglican Church of Canada to become a bishop in the South American province of the Southern Cone, a decision that the primate of the Canadian church acknowledged would pose “complications” for the already fragile unity within the local church and the worldwide Anglican Communion...” Report from The Anglican Journal.
Saturday 17th November 2007
“Bishop says she made diocese sue 11 churches”“The Episcopal Church’s top official says she forced the Diocese of Virginia to sue 11 churches that broke away a year ago over disagreements on biblical authority and the 2003 consecration of a homosexual bishop. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said she acted to prevent ‘incursions by foreign bishops’ during a four-hour deposition taped Oct. 30 and entered yesterday as evidence during a trial involving the largest property battle in Episcopal Church history under way at Fairfax Circuit Court. According to prior testimony, Virginia Bishop Peter J. Lee was ready to accept buyouts from the 11 departing churches, several of which sat on historic pieces of property in Fairfax and Falls Church. That changed after he met with the new presiding bishop soon after her Nov. 4, 2006, installation...” Full story from The Washington Times.
Thursday 15th November 2007
 Fort Worth – and the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone“The following resolution will be considered by the Diocesan Synod of Fort Worth on November 16 and 17, 2007 A Response to the Invitation of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone Whereas, it is the resolve of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth to remain within the family of the Anglican Communion while dissociating itself from the moral, theological, and disciplinary innovations of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America; And whereas, the Synod of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, meeting Nov. 5-7, 2007, voted to ‘welcome into membership of our Province on an emergency and pastoral basis’ those dioceses of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America who share this resolve; Therefore, be it resolved, that the 25th Annual Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth extend its sincere thanks to the Synod of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, and to its Primate, the Most Reverend Gregory J. Venables, for the generous and fraternal invitation to join their Province; And, be it further resolved, that the Bishop and Standing Committee prepare a report for this diocese on the constitutional and canonical implications and means of accepting this invitation...” Read the full proposed resolution here via Anglican Mainstream.
Tuesday 13th November 2007
“... let me be very clear. While your threats deeply sadden us, they do not frighten us.” |
Bishop Jack Iker of Fort Worth responds to letter from Katharine Jefferts Schori “November 12, 2007
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
815 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Dear Katharine,
I have received your letter of November 8th and am rather surprised by your suggestion that I have somehow abandoned the communion of the church and may be subject to ecclesiastical discipline. Such a charge is baseless. I have abandoned nothing, and I have violated no canons. Every year at our Chrism Mass, I very happily reaffirm my ordination vows, along with all our clergy, that I will be “loyal to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of Christ as this Church has received them.” (BCP, pages 526 and 538)
It is highly inappropriate for you to attempt to interfere in the internal life of this diocese as we prayerfully prepare to gather in Convention. The threatening tone of your open letter makes no attempt to promote reconciliation, mediation, or even dialogue about our profound theological differences. Instead, it appears designed to intimidate our delegates and me, in an attempt to deter us from taking any action that opposes the direction in which you are leading our Church. It is deeply troubling that you would have me prevent the clergy and laity of this diocese from openly discussing our future place in the life of the wider Anglican Communion, as we debate a variety of proposals. As you well know, the polity of this Church requires the full participation of the clergy and lay orders, not just bishops, in the decision making process. It grieves me that as the Presiding Bishop you would misuse your office in an attempt to intimidate and manipulate this diocese.
While I do not wish to meet antagonism with antagonism, I must remind you that 25 years ago this month, the newly formed Diocese of Fort Worth voluntarily voted to enter into union with the General Convention of the Episcopal Church. If circumstances warrant it, we can likewise, by voluntary vote, terminate that relationship. Your aggressive, dictatorial posturing has no place in that decision. Sadly, however, your missive will now be one of the factors that our Convention will consider as we determine the future course of this diocese for the next 25 years and beyond, under God’s grace and guidance.
In closing, let me be very clear. While your threats deeply sadden us, they do not frighten us. We will continue to stand firm for the unchanging truth of the Holy Scriptures and the redeeming Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whatever the costs. I shall continue to pray for you, as I trust you will pray for me, in the difficult days ahead.
Faithfully in Christ,
The Rt. Rev. Jack Leo Iker
Bishop of Fort Worth ” See the letter to which Bishop Iker responds here.
Tuesday 13th November 2007
Tony Willis to be new Assistant to the Bishop of WollongongIt was announced last night that Tony Willis is to be the new Assistant to Bishop Alan Stewart of Wollongong. Full details from SydneyAnglicans.net.
Monday 12th November 2007
 “Anglicans move for women to become bishops”“The Anglican Church has moved to open the way for women to be appointed as bishops. The historic legislation was brought before the Melbourne Synod yesterday at St Paul’s Cathedral by Melbourne Archbishop Philip Freier...” Story from News.com.au.
Saturday 10th November 2007
“Chicago Convention Seeks Repeal of Resolution B033”“With the election of a new diocesan bishop on the agenda tomorrow (Nov. 10), clergy and lay delegates to Diocese of Chicago’s two-day convention in Wheeling decisively approved a resolution calling on General Convention 2009 to overturn the moratorium on the consecration of partnered homosexual candidates to the episcopacy. ... There are eight nominees on the ballot for the election of a bishop. One is a partnered lesbian....” Story from The Living Church.
Saturday 10th November 2007
“‘Realignment’ of Anglican Communion underway”“One of the largest provinces in the Anglican Church has voted to ‘extend its jurisdiction’ to cover the whole of the US. The decision marks the formal start of a ‘realignment’ of the Anglican Communion in the row over gays and could help stave off actual schism. The province of the Southern Cone, which includes Argentina, Peru and Chile and is headed by expatriate British Bishop Greg Venables, is offering itself as a ‘safe haven’ for traditionalist US dioceses that wish to secede over gays. The plan will allow disaffected US dioceses to leave the oversight of The Episcopal Church Primat Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori but to remain within the body of the Anglican Communion and in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury...” Read the full story by Ruth Gledhill in The Times Online. (Note, of course, that the issue at hand is much larger than “seceding over gays”.)
Thursday 8th November 2007
‘Open Letter to my fellow Primates’ from Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our One and Only Saviour Jesus, the Christ.
I write on the 490th anniversary of that moment in Church history when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Cathedral in Wittenberg in which he asserted, among other things, that the truth of the gospel must always take precedence over the structures of the church. It is becoming increasingly clear that we are facing a similar situation today. While it has been my hope that we would be able to share these reflections face to face it seems unlikely that we will be called to meet together in the near future and so I offer these thoughts by letter... ...I believe that we Primates must meet in the next few months to respond to the crisis that now confronts us. The situation in The Episcopal Church is deteriorating rapidly. Lawsuits are escalating and I have just heard that Bishop Bob Duncan is now threatened with ecclesiastical trial by the Presiding Bishop for his faithful attempts to find a way to protect his faithful members and diocese. Other godly bishops are under the same threat. Their only crime is a desire to continue their Christian pilgrimage as faithful Anglicans. This situation will affect all of us. We dare not let our love for the historic structures of our beloved Communion, important as they are, allow us to destroy its future...” – Excerpts from Archbishop Akinola’s letter – dated November 1st, and just published on the Church of Nigeria’s website. See also this article by Ruth Gledhill in The Times – Global South Archbishops call for postponement of Lambeth.
Thursday 8th November 2007
“Synod backing for US Bishop”“Evangelical and Anglo-Catholic members of General Synod have pledged their support to the Bishop of Pittsburgh in his dispute with the US Presiding Bishop over the proposed secession of his diocese from The Episcopal Church. In a letter published in today’s edition of The Church of England Newspaper, over 40 members of General Synod, along with a number of leaders of Forward and Faith and the Church Society, stated they were ‘outraged’ by the threats of litigation against Pittsburgh by the ‘current leadership’ of the Episcopal Church...” – by Geoerge Conger via Anglican Mainstream.
Wednesday 7th November 2007
 “Theology for All” Conference talks available onlineIn late September, Mark Dever of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington DC, spoke at the Theology for All conference in the UK. Theology for All is a part of the ministry of the Tyndale Fellowship. Three talks – ‘Lessons from the Past’, ‘Lessons for the Present’, and ‘Looking to the Future’ – are now available as mp3 files on the Theology for All website.
Saturday 3rd November 2007
“Resolution One Approved – If approved again in November 2008, changes would allow for realignment”“Clergy and deputies to the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh’s 142nd Annual Convention strongly approved a resolution that begins the process of amending the diocesan constitution. If the amendment passes a second reading, slated for November of 2008, a future diocesan convention would be able to realign the diocese to another province of The Anglican Communion if it so chose.
Deputies voted 118 to 58 with one abstention to approve the change. Clergy voted 109 to 24 in favor. An effort to instead return the diocese to full “accession” to The Episcopal Church was defeated by voice vote....” Full report from the Diocese of Pittsburgh website.
Saturday 3rd November 2007
 “In Pittsburgh, No Changes to Convention Agenda”“Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh will respond publicly to the public warning he received yesterday from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori after his address to convention tomorrow afternoon. In an Oct. 31 letter to Bishop Duncan, Bishop Jefferts Schori warned Bishop Duncan that the proposed changes to the diocesan constitution and canons are illegal and that she would initiate an abandonment of communion investigation against him. ‘This was an attempt to intimidate clergy and lay deputies,’ said Peter Frank, director of communications. ‘The timing of the letter is a surprise, but the contents are not.’...” Story from The Living Church. See also Bishop Duncan’s response. “Dear Katharine,
Here I stand. I can do no other. I will neither compromise the Faith once delivered to the saints, nor will I abandon the sheep who elected me to protect them.
Pax et bonum in Christ Jesus our Lord,
+Bob Pittsburgh.”
Bishop Duncan’s Address, yesterday, to the 142nd Convention of the Diocese is also available on the Diocesan website. “As a diocese we have come to a fork in the road. Some will take one course forward. Others will elect the other course. All of us will choose the road we do because of our Faith, because of how we understand the Gospel. But our understandings are quite different. Indeed, it has become clear that our understandings are not only different, but mutually exclusive, even destructive to one another...”
Thursday 1st November 2007
 Presiding Bishop “reaches out” to bishops attempting to withdraw dioceses“Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori is making public a letter of warning that is being sent to a bishop who is actively seeking to withdraw his diocese from the Episcopal Church, and has stated that letters to other bishops will follow. ‘In this way the Presiding Bishop is reaching out with open arms once more to those bishops contemplating realignments for their dioceses, while also warning them of the consequences should they choose to follow through with their proposed actions,’ said the Rev. Dr. Charles Robertson, Canon to the Presiding Bishop. The full text of the first of these letters, addressed to Bishop Robert Duncan of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, is included below...” Story from Episcopal Life Online.
Tuesday 30th October 2007
“New Episcopal bishop in South Carolina to be consecrated; first election was invalidated”“A theologically conservative bishop whose election to the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina was invalidated by the national church has gained approval a second time and will be consecrated, officials said. The Very Rev. Mark Lawrence will be consecrated on Jan. 26. Lawrence, who was a priest in the tradition-minded Diocese of San Joaquin, based in Fresno, California, was first elected bishop in September of last year. But the national church’s Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori took the unusual step of invalidating the election in South Carolina, which has rejected her authority because of her liberal theological outlook...” Read the full story from The International Herald Tribune. See also the Diocese of South Carolina website – and this earlier note about Bishop Lawrence’s re-election in August.
Saturday 27th October 2007
“A question of staying or straying” – report on General Synod“Since the US Episcopal Church consecrated Robinson in 2003, the Anglican Communion has been teetering on the brink of schism. Rival wings of the church are now brawling over the fine details of the US church’s latest promise not to approve any more gay bishops or authorise the blessing of same-sex marriages for at least the next two years. The Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen, and his five bishops have not responded to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s invitation to Lambeth next year, a gathering of church leaders held every decade to plot the global church's future. At its heart, Jensen says, the gay debate is a contest over the authority and reading of scripture. ‘Nobody is saying we should throw gays out of the church,’ says Mark Thompson, president of the Anglican Church League, which opposes same-sex blessings and gay clergy because it says homosexual practice is incompatible with Scripture. ‘We want gay people to hear about Jesus as we want others to hear about Jesus. The Bible calls on gay people to change their behaviour, just as it calls on me to turn away from temptations, whatever they are,’ he says...” Full report by Linda Morris in The Sydney Morning Herald.
Saturday 27th October 2007
 “Forward in Faith’s US bishops hope to be free in 2009”
“Conversations about affiliating the three Forward in Faith (North America) dioceses — Fort Worth, Quincy, and San Joaquin — with an overseas province were “very far along”, the Bishop of Fort Worth, Texas, the Rt Revd Jack Iker, told Forward in Faith UK’s National Assembly in London last Saturday. ‘Our plan is not only to disassociate... from the Episcopal Church, but to officially constitutionally reaffiliate with an existing orthodox province of the Communion that does not ordain women to the priesthood. These conversations are very far along, but cannot be announced until the province that is considering our appeal has made the final decision,’ the Bishop said. They had reached ‘the end of the road’ in the Episcopal Church. None of them would be able to secure consecration of ‘orthodox’ bishops-elect under the canons of the Episcopal Church, as they would need the consent of a majority of the diocesan standing committees and of the Episcopal Church’s bishops — ‘and that is simply not going to happen’...” Full story from The Church Times.
Thursday 25th October 2007
“Audit Finds Anglican Priest Innocent of Theft”
“A clergy member of a breakaway Episcopal church was found not guilty of stealing nearly $400,000, an independent forensic auditor reported Tuesday. The Rev. Donald Armstrong, rector of Grace Church & St. Stephen’s, was accused this year of financial misconduct by the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado, which his parish split from over a leftward ‘theological drift,’ as Armstrong put it. The recent audit, however, found no theft or tax fraud...” – Report from Christian Post.
Thursday 25th October 2007
“Support for US Bishops Evaporates”
“It looks highly unlikely Australian Anglicans will offer US Episcopal bishops any clear support for their attempts to re-enter full participation in the worldwide Anglican Communion, despite two senior Anglicans backing the American bishops. Both the Australian Primate, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall in his presidential address and Canon Kenneth Kearon, head of the Anglican Consulative Council, in an after-dinner speech, advised Synod that US bishops had complied with requests not to consecrate another homosexual bishop and not to authorise same-sex blessings...” Jeremy Halcrow reports from General Synod.
Tuesday 23rd October 2007
 “Responding to the American House of Bishops” – Peter Jensen
“We have heard three weighty defences of the Joint Standing Committee’s response to the American House of Bishops’ Statement – from the Primate, from Canon Kearon, from Mr Fordham. These are men we trust as first-hand participants in the making of these documents. However, as Proverbs 18:17 says: ‘The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.’ My difficulty with the Primate’s summary is that it omitted to account for the many and strong voices on the other side of this debate. Thus, we already have a negative statement on behalf of thirteen African primates. Since we have been invited to join a political process, we need to hear the concerns of those equally weighty witnesses who believe that the House of Bishops has failed to give the assurances for which it was asked. The political forces which are understandably pushing this forward as a decisive reply by the Americans and one which will lead to an outbreak of peace, are bound to be frustrated...” Read the full text of Archbishop Jensen’s article here.
Friday 19th October 2007
Reform Conference Resolutions 2007
At its 2007 Reform Conference, just held, a number of resolutions were passed – read the full text from the Reform website.
Friday 19th October 2007
“Fallout from Women Bishops Ruling”
“As General Synod approaches, Sydney’s Standing Committee has made clear its ‘disappointment’ with the majority opinion of the Appellate Tribunal on women bishops. The ‘disappointment’ concerns the Tribunal’s September 28 decision that there is nothing in the wording of the current Constitution which would prevent women becoming bishops. This was a legal interpretation of a 1995 amendment to the definition of ‘canonical fitness’ originally given in the 1961 Constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia...” – From Anglican Media Sydney.
Thursday 18th October 2007
“Anglican parishes to ordain own clergy”
“Dozens of conservative parishes will start ordaining their own clergy in an open revolt against their bishops if the Church of England continues its liberal drift, the Archbishop of Canterbury has warned. Dr Rowan Williams was told that evangelicals would increasingly defy Church rules and their own bishops by parachuting in outsiders to carry out irregular ordinations of ‘orthodox’ candidates. The warning came from Reform, a 1,700-strong evangelical network, which is setting up structures to allow it operate as a resistance movement within the Church...” – by Jonathan Petre in The Telegraph. (Note: “the Archbishop of Canterbury has warned” should probably read “the Archbishop of Canterbury was warned”.
Thursday 18th October 2007
 “Forgiveness, Guilt and Harm”
“Interesting, how some things drop unnoticed from the collective Christian memory. Perhaps because they are taken for granted. They are tacitly rather than explicitly confessed, and then they slip away, leaving without even saying good-bye, perhaps because they are smothered by the culture. Some of these things are not insignificant. Currently among them, I believe, is this non-trivial sentiment: God alone can forgive sins. Does the contemporary church still hold this in her mind?” – thought-provoking article by Paul Helm on Reformation21.
Monday 15th October 2007
Funeral service held for Jean Raddon
Pioneer missionary Jean Raddon died last week – with a service held at St. Paul’s Chatswood last Friday. Jean was well known through her work with “Know Your Bible” and CWCI. Read about Jean at the International Nepal Fellowship website.
Monday 15th October 2007
 Archbishop Peter Jensen interviewed on ABC Radio’s Sunday Profile
Last night, a wide-ranging interview with Archbishop Peter Jensen, by ABC Radio’s Monica Attard, was broadcast. There was much discussion on the nature of family and headship, as well as women bishops, industrial relations laws and a future government. The transcript is now available from the ABC website. The interview can be heard here.
Monday 15th October 2007
“Josiah Idowu-Fearon: At the heart of two flashpoints”
“Archbishop Josiah recently spent a few days in Dallas as the guest of the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation. He sat down for an interview with Points... ‘Today, the emphasis within the Pentecostal movement is getting the best out of this world. But they have no discipline, they have no self-denial. They are terribly flamboyant. Because Africa is poor, people now take passages from the Bible that give them hope. They say this earth belongs to God, so if you invest, if you sow a seed of faith, God will multiply it for you. So the poverty we suffer in Africa, coupled with the simplistic use of Scripture, this is why. You go to a church and you see hundreds of people who call themselves Christians, and they cannot even articulate for you the basics of the Christian gospel... Q: Many Episcopalians today are turning to African Anglicans for spiritual leadership. Is that healthy or sustainable? Personally, I wouldn’t support that. My reason is very simple. In America today, we have a huge number who accept the authority of Scripture, especially among the lay people... The solution is right here. I believe Evangelicals, those who believe in the authority of Scripture, need to stay and fight it out.’”
Read the full report from DallasNews.com.
Monday 15th October 2007
“Anglican diocese gives its blessing to same-sex marriages”
“The Anglican diocese of Ottawa has approved blessings of same-sex marriages by a vote of 177 to 97, making it the first in Canada to support some sort of church recognition of gay marriage. Bishop John Chapman said in a news conference yesterday after the vote that the final decision on whether to bless the marriages still rests with him, and he expects to take his time making that decision...” From the Victoria Times Columnist, Canada.
Saturday 13th October 2007
 Church of England Evangelical Council Statement on The Episcopal Church’s Response
The Church of England Evangelical Council has released this statement: “The Church of England Evangelical Council has met and considered the responses of The Episcopal Church (TEC) to the questions asked of it from the Primates’ Meeting in Tanzania. We wish to report back to the Anglican Evangelical churches we represent the results of our consultation. We are committed to the Church of England and the Anglican Communion. We believe TEC’s response does not meet the requests of the Primates from Dar es Salaam, not merely for clarification but for repentance and turning back from their clear intention to affirm same-sex blessings and the consecration of practising homosexuals to the episcopate. They have continued to widen a gap of their own making. As a result the fabric of the Communion is torn almost beyond repair. We support attempts to draw the Communion back together around a covenant, but in the light of TEC’s response this covenant may not hold. TEC has shown by its pronouncements and its practice to have placed itself outside the faith uniquely revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the Catholic Creeds. We support the intentions of the Common Cause Council and those bishops invited to give pastoral care for congregations in the United States. We support those Bishops who have said that under the present arrangements they cannot attend the Lambeth Conference. We invite those English dioceses who are twinned with dioceses and provinces overseas to consult with their companion dioceses about whether to attend the Lambeth Conference. We prayerfully counsel Church of England bishops to consider whether in the light of TEC’s response they may wish to absent themselves. Jesus Christ unites people from different races, cultures, economic groups, genders and sexual inclinations into a true inclusivity based on repentance, faith and the gift of the Spirit. This is the true diversity of the transforming gospel. In effect TEC’s approach to inclusiveness excludes the majority of Anglicans from other provinces who are faithful to Biblical teaching. We affirm as the will of God the biblical teaching that we are called either to heterosexual marriage or celibacy. We wish to uphold the Primates in our prayers as they receive TEC’s response and as they work for the health of the Anglican Communion.”
From the Church of England Evangelical Council website.
Saturday 13th October 2007
“Conservative Presbyterians Leave Church”
“The Episcopal Church isn’t the only mainline Protestant group shaken by open conflict between theological liberals and conservatives. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is facing similar trials, with traditionalist congregations planning to bolt and a conservative denomination preparing to take them in. About 30 of the nearly 11,000 Presbyterian congregations have voted to leave the national church since the denomination’s national assembly session in 2006, according to The Layman, a conservative Presbyterian publication that has been tracking the breakaways. Denominational leaders say they could lose an additional 20 congregations as a result of this latest rupture...” News from Associated Press.
Thursday 11th October 2007
 “The Next Twenty Years for Anglican Christians”
“ ‘Crisis’, ‘schism’, ‘division’, ‘break-up’ – this has been the language of the last five years in the Anglican Communion. Again and again we have reached ‘defining moments’, ‘crucial meetings’ and ‘turning points’, only to discover that they simply lead into another period of uncertainty. Uncertainty is now over. The decisive moments have passed. Irreversible actions have occurred. The time has come for sustained thought about a different future. The Anglican Communion will never be the same again. The Windsor process has failed, largely because it refused to grapple with the key issue of the truth. A new and more biblical vision is required to help biblically faithful Anglican churches survive and grow in the contemporary world. Some have still set their hopes on the Lambeth Conference. But that is to misunderstand the significance of our time. It can no longer either unify Anglicanism or speak with authority. The invitations have gone to virtually all, and it is likely that some of those not invited will still attend as guests. There are faithful Anglican bishops who are not invited, and there are others who cannot be present in good conscience. The solemn words of the 1998 Conference were ignored by the American Church in 2003, and any authority which we may have ascribed to the deliberations of the Bishops has been lost permanently. Not surprisingly, Lambeth 2008 is not going to attempt a similar exercise in conciliar pronouncements. Why would it? There is no vision here...” – by Archbishop Peter Jensen – via SydneyAnglicans.net.
Sunday 7th October 2007
“African Archbishops respond to New Orleans: crisis is about the nature of Christ, the truth of the Gospel and the authority of the Bible”
“Communiqué of the CAPA Primates’ Meeting in Mauritius, October 2007 ... We therefore propose the following actions:
a. Call a special session of the Primates Meeting.
b. Postpone current plans for the Lambeth Conference...” Communiqué via Anglican Mainstream.
Saturday 6th October 2007
 “Primate of Uganda: Episcopal Bishops Were Coached”
“Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori’s participation in the evaluation of the House of Bishops’ response to the primates was a ‘gross conflict of interest,’ according to Archbishop Henry Orombi, Primate of Uganda. The archbishop said the Joint Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates inserted themselves uninvited into a process the primates originally devised. ‘Our Dar es Salaam communiqué did not envision interference from the Communion in the American House of Bishops while they were considering our requests,’ Archbishop Orombi said in a written statement provided to a reporter for The Living Church. ‘Yet, members of the Joint Standing Committee met with Presiding Bishop [Jefferts] Schori in the course of the preparation of their House of Bishops’ statement in order to suggest certain words, which, if included in the statement, would assure endorsement by the Joint Standing Committee... ‘TEC has lost the right to give assurances of their direction as a church through more words and statements,’ Archbishop Orombi said. ‘They write one thing and do another. We therefore cannot know what they mean by their words until we see their meaning demonstrated by their actions.’....” Report from The Living Church.
Saturday 6th October 2007
“Still Christ, not Christa”
“... a great many Anglicans have been marginalised and sacramentally disenfranchised to placate a group of women whose belief that they had priestly vocations would have been regarded as plainly delusional throughout almost all of Christian history. Because women are now entrenched in the priesthood in many but not all Australian dioceses, it has often been argued that the time for argument is over and that everyone should concentrate on peaceful coexistence. However, the imminent prospect of women as diocesan bishops in Australia, after a 4-3 split decision last week from the appellate tribunal, is a grim reminder of how the problem of invalid orders will compound through time...” Opinion piece by Christopher Pearson in The Australian.
Thursday 4th October 2007
 The Report of the Joint Standing Committee to the Archbishop of Canterbury on the Response of The Episcopal Church to the Questions of the Primates
“...we believe that the Episcopal Church has clarified all outstanding questions relating to their response to the questions directed explicitly to them in the Windsor Report, and on which clarifications were sought by 30th September 2007, and given the necessary assurances sought of them.”
Read the report, released this week, as a 160kb PDF file. Dr. Mouneer Anis (pictured) , President Bishop of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East and a Member of the Primates Standing Committee, was not present for all the deliberations of the Joint Standing Committee as has released a letter in which he strongly disagrees with the above report. “The response of the House of Bishops of TEC represents a superficial shift from their previous position; the fact remains that their position since 2003 has not changed. The House of Bishops has not responded positively to either the Windsor Report or the Dar El Salaam Primates recommendation.”
Download the PDF file of his letter.
Wednesday 3rd October 2007
 Press Release from The Church Society
“2 October 2007 African Bishops’ Meeting As Bishops from the African Anglican churches meet in Mauritius over the next few days we recognise that they have serious and pressing issues to address such as evangelism, poverty, disease and injustice. We pray that God would prosper their efforts to proclaim Christ in Africa and elsewhere, and to transform society for His glory. We know that many of them are disturbed by the apparent fixation of some in the western churches with promoting homosexual practice and changing the church’s traditional teaching based on Scripture. Yet we hope and pray that out of concern for their brother and sister Anglicans around the world they will find time to do the following: • Declare that the statement of the US House of Bishops produced last week does not satisfy the modest request of the Anglican Primates meeting earlier in the year, and demonstrates that as a whole they have abandoned orthodox Christianity. • Recognise that in Anglican tradition discipline is a mark of the true Church, and therefore act clearly and decisively in the hope of bringing those in error to their senses. Specifically declare The US Episcopal Church to be out of communion, refuse to recognise their orders, and refuse to participate in fellowship with them. • Agree that, since the Lambeth Conference 2008 appears to be intended primarily for fellowship, they will together decline to attend and call for its suspension. • Seek together to formalise the previous steps considered to require the withdrawal of The US Episcopal Church as a body from the Primates Meetings, The Anglican Consultative Council and future Lambeth Conferences.”
Also available on the Church Society website.
Monday 1st October 2007
“In S.F., presiding U.S. Episcopal bishop affirms same-sex unions”
“On Sunday – the deadline set by church leaders for the Episcopal Church to roll back support for same-sex unions – the U.S. church’s presiding bishop said unequivocally at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral that there would be no retreat. ‘All people – including gay and lesbian Christians and non-Christians – are deserving of the fullest regard of the church,’ the Most Rev. Katherine Jefferts Schori declared during an hourlong discussion before services. ‘We’re not going backward.’ Jefferts Schori said these are the views of the church’s bishops as well as its lay members – who have increasingly affirmed rights for same-sex couples. As such, Jefferts Schori’s comments served as the punctuation to a historic day...” From The San Francisco Chronicle.
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