Canberra & Goulburn prepares to elect new bishop
After the retirement of Bishop George Browning last month, the Diocese of Canberra & Goulburn is preparing to elect a new bishop. The Election Synod begins on October 31st.
The diocesan website has details on what’s involved – and at least one parish (Gungahlin) has issued an invitation (PDF file) to join them in prayer.
Bad news overshadows good news for Chinese Christians
A popular house church leader and his wife were released from government custody in China recently, but that good news was overshadowed by the fact that countless other Chinese Christians still are imprisoned, including bookstore owner Shi Weihan who has been described as ‘unrecognizable’ following his poor treatment in detention.
Zhang ‘Bike’ Mingxuan, chairman of the Federation House Church, and his wife Xie Fenglan were released from Public Security Bureau custody Aug. 29 but were told they could not return to Beijing until the end of the Paralympics Sept. 16, according to the human rights group China Aid Association.
– A report from Baptist Press.
‘Good Saint Sarah’
“A week ago the media could not break away from Barack Obama. Today Sarah Palin is dominating the discussion. …
Interestingly, while feminists have been asking whether Palin can care for her nation and her family, Christians have been wondering the same. Is it right for a woman to take on a position of such responsibility?…”
– Canadian Andrew Challies comments on (and provides links to) varied reactions to Sarah Palin’s nomination as John McCain’s running mate for the US Presidency.
(Photo: johnmccain.com)
GAFCON leaders say Communion can never be the same again
The Anglican Communion has been broken and it is an “illusion” to believe things can ever be the same again, the archbishops of the Gafcon movement said last week following their first organizational meeting in London. …
George Conger writes at Religious Intelligence about the recent GAFCON Primates meeting.
Photo: Archbishops Peter Akinola, Emmanuel Kolini and Valentino Mokiwa at a press briefing after the closing session of GAFCON 2008 – by Joy Gwaltney. (hat tip Anglican Mainstream)
Anglican Network in Canada: Open letter to Primates
5 September 2008
Open letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Primates of the Anglican Communion
After consulting with my Primate, Archbishop Gregory Venables, I report with great sadness that two Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) churches under my jurisdiction – St Matthews (Abbotsford, BC) and St Matthias and St Luke’s (Vancouver, BC) – received letters on 26 August 2008, informing them that the Bishop of New Westminster had taken action on 10 July 2008 to seize control of those parish properties. The letters also notified the wardens, trustees and parish councils that Bishop Michael Ingham had dismissed and replaced them and ordered the clergy to vacate the church buildings by mid-September. It is clear that our other two ANiC parishes in Vancouver, St. John’s Shaughnessy and Church of the Good Shepherd, will receive the same action in the near future.
This is the fourth Canadian diocese to act in this way against ANiC churches which have come under the jurisdiction of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. …
– Read the full letter from Bishop Don Harvey, Moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada as a 48kb PDF file (direct link).
See also our earlier stories –
New Westminster takes steps against Southern Cone clergy.
New Westminster moves to seize control of ANiC parishes.
St. John’s Shaughnessy responds to New Westminster.
New Westminister letters to parishioners.
Bishop Jack Iker urges period of prayerful discernment
As the date approaches for our momentous Diocesan Convention vote in November, many parish clergy have attempted to make certain that their parishioners understand the issues surrounding the proposal that we separate from the General Convention of The Episcopal Church. …
As your bishop and chief pastor, I am inviting and urging that every congregation in this Diocese enter into an intentional 40-day period of prayerful discernment to be concluded the week prior to our Convention on November 14 and 15. …
– Bishop Jack Iker writes to all clergy, vestry members, and convention delegates in his Diocese of Fort Worth.
Lambeth absentees press on as letters wait to be sent out
A month after the Lambeth Conference, the 230 or so absent Anglican bishops have not yet been contacted in order to “build bridges” with them. In the mean time, their leaders have stated that they have heard nothing from Lambeth to give them pause as they seek to form a new North American province. …
– report from Bill Bowder in Church Times.
(Photo: Joy Gwaltney – taken at the final GAFCON session.)
Persecution Index 11: Orissa
One of the biggest waves of anti-Christian violence for some years is currently sweeping through the state of Orissa in India. Websites and blogs from the area have for many months been reporting deaths, mainly of Dalits or low-caste Indians, and thousands fleeing for their lives. But as sites here are reporting now, the persecuction is reaching a new intensity. …
– Ruth Gledhill reports at Times Online.
New fears of schism in Anglican Church
The day in 2003 when the Archbishop of Canterbury forced his friend Dr Jeffrey John to reject his appointment as Bishop of Reading became a defining moment of his archiepiscopate. The consecration of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire became a defining moment for the entire Anglican Communion.
Now Britain could be about to have its own “Gene Robinson moment” with growing support in the province of Wales for his election to a bishopric, possibly as soon as in Bangor next month. …
– Ruth Gledhill reports in TimesOnline. (Photo: The Cathedral and Abbey Church of Saint Alban.)
Vancouver Magazine on St. John’s Shaughnessy
“On a Sunday morning earlier this year, hundreds of Anglicans pour through the doors of St. John’s Shaughnessy Church. The stately grey building at the corner of Granville and Nanton is home to a well-heeled and diverse congregation: parents with a clutch of teenage sons, elderly women in wheelchairs, youthful couples.
Sitting near the front with her husband is soft-spoken, 72-year-old Gail Stevenson, who has attended the church her whole life. Closer to the back, sitting all by himself, is 46-year-old Steve Schuh. Many of the parishioners sit in the same pew week after week—pews that may soon be pulled out from under them. …”
– Jonathan Graham at Vancouver Magazine reports on the challenges facing St. John’s Shaughnessy and like-minded churches in that city. (Hat tip: Ed Hird.)
California clergy receive ultimatum
The Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, based in Stockton, California, has written to clergy affiliated with the breakaway Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin, based in Fresno, California, asking that they affirm their loyalty to him or be deposed from the ordained ministry. …
– George Conger reports for Religious Intelligence. (Photo: Bishop Jerry Lamb greets TEC Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori – Episcopal Life Online.)
Standing against the culture of death
Back in May, Al Mohler spoke of the family of Trig Paxson Van Palin, a little boy born with Down Syndrome.
“…Trig Palin is now in a very rare group of very special children, because it is now believed that the vast majority of babies diagnosed with Down syndrome before birth are being aborted.”
Trig’s mum, Sarah Palin, is the Governor of Alaska, and was yesterday announced as the running mate for Senator John McCain for the US Presidency.
– Read Albert Mohler’s article here. He also spoke of it on his radio programme. (Hat tip: Justin Taylor.)
See also this page about Trig from the Governor’s Office.
GAFCON Communiqué on establishment of the Primates Council and Fellowship
The first meeting of the GAFCON Primates Council took place in London from Wednesday 20th to Friday 22nd August 2008.
“Given that some esteemed colleagues from the Global South have strongly commended the Windsor Process to us, we are reluctant to say that it cannot work. But there is nothing new here such as to make us hesitate from the course we are taking, given the urgency of the situations with which we are dealing and the realities already on the ground.”
The full Communiqué is reproduced below. Read more
Bishops write to GAFCON Primates Council
This letter was sent to Archbishop Peter Akinola, Chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council, by five bishops from North America. It is referred to in the GAFCON Primates Council communique.
“As requested we have carefully studied the Reflections of the Windsor Continuation Group – in particular the section that refers to our ministry within North America. We offer these comments…”
New Westminister letters to parishioners
The Diocese of New Westminister has released the letters sent to members of St. Matthias and St. Luke Vancouver, and St. Matthew’s Abbotsford.
There are links from this page on the New Westminster website.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…