Episcopal Bishop opens old wounds
Seven years after 18 priests in the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado left the diocese and were given Letters Dimissory to the Province of South East Asia by then Episcopal Bishop Jerry Winterrowd, the present Episcopal Bishop of the diocese, Rt. Rev. Rob O’Neill, has decided to reopen old wounds. He has sent letters to the priests saying they must either renounce their orders in the Episcopal Church (TEC) or he will officially depose them. …
[The Rev. Dennis Garrou] esponded to O’Neill’s letter asking what was the “need to resolve” his status in TEC. “I am at a complete loss to guess why this unstated ‘need’ now arises for you, but hasn’t for over seven years. Has something recent occurred of which I am unaware that now arises the issue of my status to a point of concern for you?…”
– Full report from VirtueOnline. (Photo of Bishop O’Neill: Episcopal Life Online.)
Archbishop Peter Jensen in The Australian
I did something really odd the other day. I looked up the dictionary definition of marriage, just to make sure that my understanding was not too off-line. I was relieved to find that it is called the legal union of a man with a woman for life. It is a public, lifelong and exclusive relationship. There is no hint in the dictionary that the word can extend to two men or two women in a public, lifelong and exclusive relationship.
Of course, dictionaries change to mirror the times, and governments do all sorts of things with words, but changing the definition of marriage would be as fatuous as declaring that Perth is Sydney or that the moon is made of ice cream. We would then need a new word to describe the reality that occurs when a man and a woman publicly promise each other to live in lifelong and exclusive relationship, “in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others so long as you both shall live”. …
– Read the full article in The Australian.
Sin and Grace
“We can think of forgiveness as something real only when we hold that sin has betrayed us into a situation where we deserve to have God inflict upon us the most serious consequences, and that it is upon such a situation that God’s grace supervenes.
When the logic of the situation demands that He should take action against the sinner, and He yet takes action for him, then and only then can we speak of grace. But there is no room for grace if there is no suggestion of dire consequences merited by sin.”
– Leon Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross (London: The Tyndale Press, 1955). (From Firstimportance.org)
Communion ‘breaking up because nobody is leading’
At a meeting in the Diocese of Fort Worth last week, Archbishop Gregory Venables said that “the Anglican Communion in the United States has been hijacked” by an Episcopal Church leadership that doesn’t “mind what happens as long as they control it”.
“I am astounded that in America, the land of the free, so many people have been robbed of their freedom,” he said.
– See The Living Church for the story.
Pittsburgh Bishops to attend Lambeth
Bishops Robert Duncan and Henry Scriven confirmed today that they will be attending both the Global Anglican Future Conference in Jordan and Jerusalem in June and the Lambeth Conference of Bishops in Kent, England, this July and August. …
– More at the Diocese of Pittsburgh website.
Don’t waste your pulpit
John Piper exhorts preachers to do what they ought to be doing, in this 4 minute video from Desiring God. (Thanks to Between Two Worlds.)
Abp of Canterbury and Pope meet
Pope Benedict XVI held a private meeting with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams at the Vatican May 5 to discuss ecumenical and Muslim-Christian relations. … During the visit… it was announced that India-born Cardinal Ivan Dias, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, would be among the plenary speakers at this summer’s Lambeth Conference of bishops.
– Story from the Episcopal News Service. (Photo: ACNS / James Rosenthal)
‘Stunning’ creed from Toronto Youth Synod
“We believe in Jesus of Nazareth, who is our brother, who wants not to be idolized but to be followed.
We believe that we dwell in the presence of the Holy Spirit; without her we are nothing;…”
– a prayer used as a creed at the recent Anglican Church of Canada’s Toronto Youth Synod. (Graphic: Anglican Church of Canada.)
Ontario churches disappointed by decision
A press release from the Anglican Network in Canada –
A judge in the Ontario Superior Court in Hamilton, Madam Justice Milanetti, has ordered three southern Ontario Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) parishes to share their building facilities with a diocese of the Anglican Church of Canada pending the resolution of a trial over who is legally entitled to exclusive possession.
Read more
Plant rights and lunacy in Switzerland
The failure to distinguish between human beings and the larger animal world is a hallmark of a post-Christian culture. The extension of this ideology to vegetation is a frightening sign of mass delusion. …
Al Mohler on what can happen when you reject a biblical worldview.
Archbishop Greg Venables in San Joaquin: Video
Archbishop of the Southern Cone, Gregory Venables, drew applause when he affirmed the Bible as the revealed Word of God at a special gathering in the Diocese of San Joaquin during the week.
Simply and clearly, Archbishop Venables outlined how the Anglican Communion has arrived at where it is now. The 50 minute video (by Anglican TV) is now available from the Diocese of San Joaquin blog. Well worth watching.
Archbishop Gregory Venables at St John’s Shaughnessy
“People still need to hear about Jesus – and if we don’t tell them, who will?” Archbishop Greg Venables preached at St John’s Shaughnessy in Vancouver last Sunday (April 27 2008).
The audio of his sermon has now been posted online. Listen to his challenging and Christ-honouring talk at the St. John’s website.
Direct link to audio: Windows Media. mp3.
TWIST Conference nears
The TWIST08 Music Ministry Conference in Sydney will be held on 7–9 June at the King’s School in Parramatta.
Set up to equip and encourage evangelical Christian music ministry, details of the conference are available from the TWIST website. (Early registration discounts end on 10 May.)
More from the Athabasca synod
The archbishop of Athabasca has issued a letter confirming his diocese’s commitment to the Canadian church and the Anglican Communion after its synod passed motions supporting churches that have left the Anglican Church of Canada and criticising bishops who have gone to court over property issues.
The letter was released after the leader of the Anglican Church of Canada asked the archbishop to explain his synod’s motions. …
– from the Anglican Journal. See also our earlier report.
(Photo of Bishop John Clarke: Diocese of Athabasca)
Fort Worth Bishop Iker to Schori: It’s you who are meddling
Bishop Jack Iker of the Diocese of Forth Worth has responded to TEC Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori’s letter to Archbishop Greg Venables.
Bishop Iker points out that Archbishop Venables is in his diocese by his invitation.
And he has more to say –
April 30, 2008
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
815 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10017Dear Katharine,
I am shocked and saddened by the rude letter you released yesterday to Archbishop Greg Venables, concerning his visit this weekend to the Diocese of Fort Worth. Far from being “an unwarranted interference,” he is coming at my request as an honored visitor and guest speaker.
You should know that under the canons this does not require either your approval or your support. You have no say in this matter. A diocesan bishop is free to invite other bishops to visit and speak in his diocese.
There are no efforts at reconciliation proceeding within this Province, which is one reason why faithful people continue to leave TEC in droves. Your attitude and actions simply reinforce alienation and bring further discord.
Once again, you are the one meddling in the internal affairs of this diocese, and I ask you to stop your unwelcome intrusions.
Faithfully in Christ,
The Rt. Rev. Jack Leo Iker
Bishop of Fort Worthcc: The Archbishop of Canterbury
See the PDF file. (Photo: Diocese of Fort Worth.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…