New Church of England General Synod meets
“The new General Synod is inaugurated today (Tuesday 24th), starting with a Communion service at Westminster Abbey, followed by an opening ceremony in Church House, at both of which her Majesty the Queen is present. The membership, recently elected and tasked with the governance of the Church over the next five years, features a high proportion of first timers. …
Anything to do with homosexual practice or same sex marriage has been kept off the agenda of this Synod. But the issue is there, hanging unseen over the proceedings. Rev Andrew Foreshew-Cain, vicar of a parish only a few miles north of where the Synod meets in Westminster, married his same sex partner last year in defiance of the Bishops’ clear guidance and plea for restraint. He takes up his place as one of the new Synod members; he is due to take Communion in the presence of the Queen and become part of the governing body of the Church. Behind the scenes strong letters will have been written to the Bishop of London and the Archbishop of Canterbury; some may decide not to receive Communion and make other acts of protest.”
– Anglican Mainstream’s Andrew Symes sketches an overview of the current C of E General Synod.
‘Doubting Thomas Welby is no help in these terrible times’
“I doubted God after the Paris attacks, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby told a reporter for the BBC’s Songs of Praise. He said when the jihadis struck in Paris he was left asking why? …
I hate to think where Christianity would be if Welby’s predecessors had suffered from the same lack of conviction.”
– Opinion from The Conservative Woman.
Lord’s Prayer cinema ad ban ‘bewilders’ Church of England
“The Church of England has said it is ‘disappointed and bewildered’ by the refusal of leading UK cinemas to show an advert featuring the Lord’s Prayer…”
– Report from BBC News. Watch the ad here. (h/t Anglican Mainstream.)
‘Profound forgiveness. Profound mercy. Profound grace.’
– Archbishop Mouneer Anis, Primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East, responds to the Paris attacks.
UNSW Campus Bible Study 40th Anniversary
Campus Bible Study at the University of New South Wales held a 40th anniversary thanksgiving and reunion event on October 31st.
There is much cause for thanksgiving to the Lord for a ministry that has been such a blessing to so many around the world.
Video from the day has now been posted at phillipjensen.com.
First they came for the Catholics…
“The proposed action for sexual orientation vilification against a Roman Catholic bishop for teaching what the Roman Catholic church believes about marriage, which I noted at an early stage in a previous post, is now becoming broader…”
– Associate Professor Neil Foster expands on his previous posts about the anti-discrimination case brought against the Roman Catholic Bishop of Hobart.
Related: Bishops face discrimination case – The Australian.
“All Australia’s Catholic bishops have been drawn into a national test case for freedom of religion and speech after Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Commission found they have a case to answer over humiliating gay, lesbian and transgender Australians by distributing a booklet supporting traditional marriage.”
Article 32 and the CofE Same Sex Marriage case
“The case of a gay clergyman whose Permission to Officiate was revoked and who was refused a licence to minister after marrying his same-sex partner, has hit the headlines again. Peter Sanlon reflects on Jeremy Pemberton’s defensive use of Article 32.”
At the Church Society blog, Peter Sanlon, Vicar of St. Mark’s Tunbridge Wells, looks at the use and misuse of The Articles in the case of a gay clergyman who married his same-sex partner.
Bishop Duncan to retire as Bishop of Pittsburgh
“During his address to 150th Annual Convention on Saturday, November 6, held at St. Stephen’s Church, Sewickley, the Most Reverend Robert Wm. Duncan, D.D., Archbishop Emeritus of the Anglican Church in North America, and Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh, formally announced his desire to retire from diocesan leadership effective June 30, 2016…”
– from The Diocese of Pittsburgh. (Image courtesy Anglican TV.)
Archbishop Wabukala ‘to retire in June 2016’
“The Primate of the Anglican Church of Kenya, the Most Rev. Eliud Wabukala, has informed the members of the Kenyan House of Bishops that he will step down in June 2016, upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 65…”
– George Conger has a brief report at Anglican Ink.
Freedom of conscience clause ‘eliminated’ by Church of Iceland
“The Church of Iceland has scrapped its freedom of conscience clause, ending the right of clergy to refuse to solemnize same-sex marriages…’
– George Conger reports at Anglican Ink.
(Map: Wikipedia.)
See also:
Bishop speaks out for gay marriage – Iceland Monitor.
The Bishop who is spring cleaning the church – Nordic Labour Journal.
Abortion ‘buffer zones’, free speech and religious freedom
“Governments around Australia are showing a sudden enthusiasm for introducing restricted ‘zones’ around clinics offering abortions, in order to prevent protestors from operating in those areas. Tasmania has introduced such legislation…”
– Neil Foster looks at some of the ethical and legal implications of ‘buffer zone’ legislation. Where does freedom of religion fit in?
New TEC Presiding Bishop to be installed
Bishop Michael Curry will be installed as Presiding Bishop in the Episcopal Church’s Washington National Cathedral on Sunday. It appears to be an exercise in multi-faith spirituality.
The order of service is available at this link.
Is God a She?
“As Christians, we cede power to God. We give up the claim to run our own life, and submit to him as our Lord. That is our basic relationship to him: we are creatures and disciples. …
I found it noteworthy that Mrs Treweek … asserts her right to be addressed as she wants to be addressed, so that Her Majesty the Queen herself has to comply in her writs. … Should we not extend the same courtesy to God as Bishop Rachel insists upon for herself?”
– Church Society’s Dr Lee Gatiss responds to statements by Bishop Rachel Treweek, that Christians should use male and female pronouns when referring to God.
(Photo: Diocese of Gloucester.)
‘Good Disagreement’ — Book review
“As a collection of informative and thought provoking essays the book is outstanding …
However some questions arise which are not answered in this book. For example, the issue of what is adiaphora and what is non-negotiable is discussed, but no answer is provided on what are the key doctrines, and who decides them. If those who come to a different conclusion and still claim the name ‘Anglican’ can’t be ‘chucked out’ (Archbishop Welby’s phrase), does that essentially mean there are no boundaries, there are many ‘truths’ or ‘integrities’, and is that ecclesiologically credible? As has been said, an outcome of respectful ‘walking apart’ is mentioned but not explored at all.”
– At Anglican Mainstream, Andrew Symes looks at a book produced to help everyone in the Church of England get on together.
‘God is not a he or a she’, says first female bishop to sit in House of Lords
“God should not necessarily be seen as a masculine figure, according to the UK’s first female bishop to sit in the House of Lords on Monday. ‘God is not to be seen as male. God is God,’ said Rachel Treweek, bishop of Gloucester, who is to be inaugurated in parliament.
While acknowledging that many Anglicans would profoundly disagree, Treweek said the Church of England should use both male and female pronouns when referring to God…”
– Story from The Guardian. (Photo: Diocese of Gloucester.)
See also: Is God a She?
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…