Bishop of Montreal approves same-sex blessing liturgy

“Bishop Barry Clarke  is pressing ahead with a liturgy to bless same-sex unions in spite of the fact that General Synod in Halifax made no decision on the local option for or against…”

– from the Anglican Essentials Canada blog.

(Photo: Diocese of Montreal.)

Church Society updates on C of E General Synod

Church Society is posting updates on the meeting of the General Synod of the Church of England – here.

(Photo: Church of England website.)

‘C of E ‘blocks’ gay cleric from becoming bishop’

“An openly gay cleric has been blocked from becoming a Church of England bishop, amid fears the controversial ordination could have further strained the Anglican movement, reports said Thursday…”

– Report from AFP. (Photo: The Cathedral and Abbey Church of Saint Alban.)

Call for Prayer from Anglican Mainstream

This just in from Canon Chris Sugden, Executive Secretary of Anglican Mainstream. –

“Reports in the press over the weekend indicate the urgent need for prayer with regard to the nomination of a new Bishop of Southwark. They follow earlier reports about the timing of the proposed changes to the Church of England’s discipline with regard to divorce being driven by the need to consider a particular candidate for Southwark.  Read more

Latest 9Marks eJournal: Pastoring Women

Jonathan Leeman, editor of the 9Marks eJournal, writes about the latest issue:

“There’s safety in homogenization. If you treat men and women as the same, you don’t risk offending anyone. Or limiting anyone. Or hindering anyone.

But what if God created men and women differently? What if it’s not a question of limitations but a matter of distinct divine purposes for different parts of the body? I guess you could say that the eye is limited because it cannot hear. Or that the ear is limited because it cannot see. But that would be missing the point, wouldn’t it?

The egalitarianism of Western culture, for all its good purposes, leads to the homogenization of men and women. To unisex clothes, colognes, roles, and lifestyles. The lovely and distinct color palettes of men and women mush together into a gray-brown muck.

You can have that if you want it. But we think God intends something better. That’s why this issue of the 9Marks eJournal is dedicated to how to distinctly pastor women. We want to reflect on what he uniquely and wonderfully intends for women in the life of the church, and how to specially pastor them.”

Grab your copy at 9Marks.

Italy seeks to end classroom crucifix ban

“The Italian government is appealing to the European court of human rights to overturn a ban on classroom crucifixes. … If the government loses, it would mean that all religious artefacts in classrooms across the European Union could be outlawed.”

– report from BBC News.

Presiding Bishop welcome in Brisbane, says Primate

“The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, Katharine Jefferts Schori, is welcome to visit the Diocese of Brisbane, according to Dr Philip Aspinall, Archbishop of Brisbane and Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia…”

– Report from Anglican Media Melbourne. Related: ACL Statement on visit.

(Photo taken at the November 2008 JSC meeting: ACNS Rosenthal.)

Jefferts Schori in Canterbury

Not that Canterbury. TEC Presiding Bishop Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori spent Sunday evening in the Canterbury region of New Zealand, preaching at St. Michael and All Angels in Christchurch.

Sermon here. Also, Episcopal News report. (Photo: Anglican Taonga.)

Katharine Jefferts Schori heads Down Under for ‘conversations around human sexuality’

From the Episcopal News Service:

“The Anglican churches in Australia and New Zealand are hosting Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori for an informal two-week visit to the two provinces.

‘I’m to speak with people there about their conversations around human sexuality and also about their missionary development work…’ Jefferts Schori told members of Executive Council during their June 16-18 meeting in Maryland…

During her visit to Australia, the presiding bishop will preach July 4 at Christ Church St. Lucia in the Diocese of Brisbane, where Archbishop Philip Aspinall of the Anglican Church of Australia serves as bishop.…”

J I Packer’s preface to Griffith Thomas’ Principles of Theology

In 1977, Dr J I Packer wrote the Preface to an edition of W.H. Griffith Thomas’ The Principles of Theology.

“As in general terms Calvin’s 1559 Institutes rounded off the forty-year Reformation era in European theology, so in general terms The Principles of Theology may be said to have rounded off a four-hundred year era of Protestant Anglicanism, and in particular to have summed up a century of vigilant scholarship which, in face of what looked like Rome’s Trojan horse in the Church of England, had sought to vindicate historic Protestantism as authentically Anglican and as the only position with more than squatter’s rights within the Establishment.

This was the scholarship of such men as William Goode, George Cornelius Gorham, T. P. Boultbee, T. S. L. Vogan, Nathaniel Dimock, E. A. Litton, Henry Wace, Handley C. G. Moule, J. T. Tomlinson, W. Prescott Upton and Charles Sydney Carter – giants in the land in their own day, however little remembered now.”

– Read the rest on the Church Society website.

Learn more about Griffith Thomas here. (Photo: Theopedia.)

SMBC Preaching conferences

Sydney Missionary and Bible College has a couple of interesting preaching conferences coming up in September. Click on the links for PDF brochures: Communicating Isaiah and Preaching the Old Testament with Integrity.

‘Federal leaders court Christian vote’

A few cliches in this ABC TV Lateline report on the Australian Christian Lobby’s leaders’ debate.

And Russell Powell has this report at SydneyAnglicans.net.

Bishop of Ballarat resigns

“Shock and relief have rippled through the south-west Anglican community in the wake of Ballarat bishop Michael Hough’s decision to step down.

His departure follows months of speculation and was announced at a synod in Portland by Melbourne assistant bishop and acting Ballarat vicar-general Philip Huggins.

It will take effect on December 20, with a 12-member committee elected over the weekend to find his replacement…”

– Report from the Warrnambool Standard. (Image: Diocese of Ballarat.)

Tasmanian Prayer Pilgrimage continues

Bishop John Harrower would appreciate your prayers as he continues his ‘Prayer Pilgrimage’ around Tasmania.

Jesus says, ‘for apart from me you can do nothing.’ – John 15:5.

New Archbishop of PNG

“The provincial council of the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea has elected the Rt. Reverend Joseph Kopapa, bishop of Popondota diocese, as its new archbishop and primate…”

– report from the Episcopal News Service.

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