U. S. Supreme Court Denies Falls Church Petition
“The order list published this morning by the United States Supreme Court shows that, after relisting the case for its conferences four times, it has denied certiorari (review) in No. 13-449, The Falls Church v. Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, et al.”
– A S Haley, The Anglican Curmudgeon, with bad news for The Falls Church in Virginia.
Church of Pakistan college Principal says he was beaten, told to leave
“The Principal of Edwardes College in Peshawar, Pakistan, has revealed he was beaten by ‘intelligence agents’ who destroyed his visa and warned him to leave the country…”
– Story from the Anglican Communion News Service.
Pilgrimage to mark Marsden Bicentenary
“Anglican bishop Kelvin Wright will not be just walking when he makes a 27-day pilgrimage around his huge Dunedin diocese this month to commemorate the bicentenary of the first Christian sermon preached in New Zealand…”
– Story from The Otago Daily Times. Photo: Anglican Taonga.
An Atheist becomes an evangelist… sort of
“Last week, sitting in a little pub in Dorset and about to sip my pint of Doombar, I was approached by the local vicar. He’d officiated at my daughter’s wedding last year and knew I was a Green, although he probably doesn’t know I’m an atheist.
He asked me if I had heard of the Diocese of Salisbury’s initiative called ‘Carbon Fast’…
I’ve never thought of myself as an evangelist, but now it suddenly makes sense.”
– Jenny Jones writes in The Telegraph.
More on the Carbon Fast here. And some thoughts from the Apostle Paul here and here.
‘Bishop’s consecration: The power of sacred objects’
“The Anglican diocese of New Westminster… will install its new bishop at 1 p.m. Saturday in an elaborate centuries-old ceremony set in a contemporary West Coast urban culture. …”
– The Vancouver Sun previews this weekend’s consecration of Melissa Skelton.
A Statement Concerning the Consecration of Rev Dr Sarah Macneil in the Anglican Diocese of Grafton
Here’s a Statement from ACL President, The Rev. Gavin Poole:
“On 1 March 2014 the Anglican diocese of Grafton will consecrate its new Bishop. The consecration will be hailed as ‘historic’ as she will be the first female diocesan Bishop in the Anglican Church of Australia.
The fact that the diocesan Bishop will be a woman is of concern, especially considering there has been no publicly available provision by the Grafton diocese for those who cannot in good conscience accept her episcopal ministry. The matters raised in this document however are of more grave concern. …”
Read the full text – or download it – below – Read more
GAFCON Chairman’s February 2014 pastoral letter
“When we met for GAFCON 2013 here in Nairobi last October, we drew inspiration from the living tradition of the East African Revival, a movement of the Spirit that led the churches of this region back to a new love for the Lord Jesus and a new obedience to the Scriptures as the Word of God.
The authenticity of the Revival was demonstrated in times of persecution, including Uganda under the regime of Idi Amin. Earlier this month my brother Primate of Uganda, Archbishop Stanley Ntagali, gathered with thousands of people at Mucwini, Kitgum, for the 34th commemoration of the martyrdom of Archbishop Janani Luwum who was murdered at the hands of Idi Amin on 16th February 1977.”
– Archbishop Eliud Wabukala’s full letter may be read at the GAFCON website.
Statement from the Global South Primates Steering Committee, Cairo, February 2014
“…we believe that we have to make every effort in order to restore our beloved Communion. Therefore we took the following decisions:
a) We request and will support the Archbishop of Canterbury to call for a Primates Meeting in 2015 in order to address the increasingly deteriorating situation facing the Anglican Communion. It is important that the agenda of this Primates Meeting be discussed and agreed upon by the Primates beforehand in order to ensure an effective meeting.
b) We decided to establish a Primatial Oversight Council, in following-through the recommendations taken at Dromantine in 2005 and Dar es Salam in 2007, to provide pastoral and primatial oversight to dissenting individuals, parishes, and dioceses in order to keep them within the Communion. …”
– Read the full statement here at Global South Anglican.
Pastoral Guidance from the C of E concerning Same Sex Marriage
The Church of England House of Bishops has issued a Letter and Statement offering Pastoral Guidance on Same Sex Marriage.
“Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ
We write as fellow disciples of Jesus Christ who are called to love one another as Christ has loved us. Our vocation as disciples of Christ in God’s world is to hold out the offer of life in all its fullness. God delights always to give good gifts to his children.
The gospel of the love of God made known to us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest of these gifts. The call of the gospel demands that we all listen, speak and act with integrity, self discipline and grace, acknowledging that as yet our knowledge and understanding are partial.
As members of the Body of Christ we are aware that there will be a range of responses across the Church of England to the introduction of same sex marriage. As bishops we have reflected and prayed together about these developments. As our statement of 27th January indicated, we are not all in agreement about every aspect of the Church’s response. However we are all in agreement that the Christian understanding and doctrine of marriage as a lifelong union between one man and one woman remains unchanged. …”
Updated with these comments:
“Anglican Mainstream appreciates and affirms the clear and unequivocal statement that the Christian understanding and doctrine of marriage as a lifelong union between one man and one woman remains unchanged. We are grateful for the assurance that the idea of same sex marriages being solemnized in C of E churches in future is not supported by the Bishops. …”
– Andrew Symes, Anglican Mainstream.
“… The credibility of this pastoral guidance will, I fear, be very quickly tested. How these things are handled in practice will determine and define the Church’s stance on the issue, more than well-intentioned words. It will be difficult for the bishops to implement their guidance in the face of the intense lobbying they will face, and we must pray for them and support them in any way we can as they seek to carefully shepherd the flock.”
Senate rejects push to dump Lord’s Prayer
“The Australian Christian Lobby has welcomed the Senate’s decision to reject the Greens’ push to dump the Lord’s Prayer from parliament.”
– from the Australian Christian Lobby.
TEC Annual Litigation Summary 2014
A. S. Haley, Christian lawyer and blogger (as The Anglican Curmudgeon) has provided a comprehensive list of legal action by (and against) The Episcopal Church of the USA.
See also: How Much Has ECUSA Spent on Lawsuits? (Updated Jan. 2014).
Church Society Director looks to Archbishop Welby for credible action
“After this candid speech, we are looking to him, in a positive and hopeful way, to make the claim that he wants evangelicals like us to flourish in the Church truly credible. He could do that in two ways: first, by engaging conservatives in real dialogue, listening in detail to our concerns; and second, encouraging and ensuring the appointment of 12 Conservative Evangelical Bishops.”
– Church Society Director Lee Gatiss responds to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Presidential Address to the Church of England’s General Synod.
UK Girl Guide troop which refused to drop ‘God’ from their oath win their fight
“Girl Guides who were told to adopt a new promise which omits God or face being axed from the organisation have won a reprieve after they were told no further action would be taken. …
The group, which meets at Jesmond Parish Church, received a letter from the Girl Guide’s chief commissioner in the North East saying their membership to the organisation would end on December 31 last year unless they used the new promise.”
– story from Mail Online. (h/t SydneyAnglicans.net.)
Related:
Girlguiding’s New Direction – Is It Really Wanted? – David Holloway, Jesmond Parish Church.
The Religion of the Self – David Holloway, Jesmond Parish Church.
Primate of West Africa’s funeral to be broadcast on the web
“Members of the global Anglican Communion have been invited to watch the funeral of Primate of the Church of the Province of West Africa Archbishop S. Tilewa Johnson, online.
Anyone with access to the Internet will be able to watch the funeral and requiem mass which is being streamed live on Friday 21 February.”
– from the Anglican Communion News Service.
Related: Condolence message on the death of Archbishop Johnson. Photo: ENS.
Archbishop of Canterbury on BBC HardTalk
Aired a fortnight ago, Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury was interviewed on the BBC’s HardTalk. In a wide-ranging interview, he is asked about human sexuality from 13:27.
The American Anglican Council has a link to the video and a partial transcript. (Image: BBC.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…