St. John’s Shaughnessy responds to New Westminster
From St. John’s Shaughnessy in Vancouver –
The Diocese of New Westminster (DNW) initiated action against St. Matthew’s Abbotsford and St. Matthias – St. Luke Vancouver on August 26th and is seeking to take over governance of the parishes. We are deeply disappointed by this action as it fails to recognize:
- repeated attempts by the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) parishes to seek dialogue before litigation;
- repeated statements from the Primate of Canada that any such action will damage the public witness of the church;
- repeated calls from the Anglican Communion to refrain from such hostile action
It is a sad irony that the Diocese invoked Canon 15 on the same day that the Archbishop of Canterbury released his Pastoral Letter to all Bishops of the Anglican Communion reflecting on the recent Lambeth conference saying: Read more
Ian Cox new Archdeacon
It’s been announced that Ian Cox, currently the Rector of Brighton/Rockdale, will become the new Archdeacon of Liverpool in the Georges River region of Sydney Diocese from December 1st.
Please pray for Ian as he prepares to take on this new role.
SydneyAnglicans.net has the story.
New Westminster moves to seize control of ANiC parishes
From the Anglican Network in Canada
On August 26, 2008, the Anglican diocese of New Westminster informed St. Matthew’s in Abbotsford and St Matthias and St Luke’s in Vancouver that the bishop had dismissed the parish Wardens and other officers (Trustees) that were duly elected by the congregation and appointed new Wardens who are more “loyal” to the bishop. According to their press release, these actions were taken to regain “control of the parishes”, which includes control of the properties and buildings. Read more
New Westminster takes steps against Southern Cone clergy
“The Diocese [of New Westminster] has taken steps under Canon 15 towards removing clergy who have left the Anglican Church of Canada rather than accepting the decisions of the Diocesan Synod and General Synod.
The Diocese has invoked the provision that returns control of the parishes to the Diocese, an action that was approved by Diocesan Council.
The parishes are St. Matthew’s Abbotsford and St. Matthias and St. Luke, Vancouver…
No steps have been taken at present at Good Shepherd, and at St. John’s Shaughnessy, Vancouver, two other parishes where former diocesan clergy remain who have left the Anglican Church of Canada…”
– from the Diocese of New Westminster. A press release (pdf format) may be found here.
Archbishop of Canterbury writes on Lambeth
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has today sent a letter to the bishops of the Anglican Communion, setting out his personal reflections on the Lambeth Conference.
“The Conference was not a time for making new laws or for binding decisions… The Conference Design Group believed strongly that the chief need of our Communion at the moment was the rebuilding of relationships – the rebuilding of trust in one another – and of confidence in our Anglican identity. …”
– from the Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury. (Photo: Lambeth Conference media.)
Evangelical Fellowship of India calls for prayer for peace
Following the murder of a Hindu leader, the Evangelical Fellowship of India reports widespread attacks on Christians in Orissa State, North India.
Anglican Mainstream has published this report along with a request for prayer.
From Mainline to Sideline – The Death of Protestant America
The collapse of the Protestant mainline has been swift, steady, and self-inflicted. These denominations embraced theological liberalism and adopted accommodationism as a cultural posture. Bottum estimates that less than 8 percent of Americans are now members of “the central churches of the Protestant Mainline”.
– Al Mohler comments on a revealing article by Joseph Bottum in the current issue of First Things.
After Lambeth, what now?
The unfortunate truth of the Lambeth conference is that the only certain outcome has been a £1.2 million debt. As for the rest, opinions vary widely. …
The official figures have since revealed that The Episcopal Church sent the largest contingent of bishops, almost one quarter of the total. …
Rt Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, the Bishop of Winchester … said, “I cannot see that the members of an ‘international family of Churches’ can thrive and grow and offer a clear witness to Jesus Christ as Lord while offering contradictory teaching, on a matter as central as the character of the Holy Life, in different parts of a world knit together by instantaneous e-communications.”
– Russell Powell provides a helpful summary at SydneyAnglicans.net.
(Photo credit: Archbishop of Canterbury’s website.)
TEC’s Virginia seminary welcomes first Muslim exchange student
Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) welcomed its first Muslim exchange student, Salih Sayilgan, on August 20 as part of its continuing effort to encourage deeper cross-cultural conversations within the VTS community and equip students to envision new and creative ways to undertake ministry in the world.
Sayilgan’s arrival marks a new relationship between the Seminary and the Istanbul Foundation for Science and Culture …
– from Episcopal Life Online.
Fort Worth FAQs on ‘Fiduciary Duty’
“As we approach the time of decision concerning our continued affiliation with The Episcopal Church (TEC), one of the issues raised by those who desire to maintain affiliation with TEC concerns the legal question of the existence of ‘fiduciary’ relationships.
The issue seems to have been raised as a veiled threat against those who would vote to disaffiliate with TEC. Accordingly, it would be helpful for anyone who is concerned about this issue to understand what a fiduciary is and how fiduciary relationships are created in order to evaluate the credibility of the threat. …”
– The Diocese of Fort Worth provides guidance for its members in the light of statements in recent months from TEC Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori (here’s one) and echoed by others.
Remodelling Hell
Is belief in hell disappearing? “Absolutely,” says Barnard College professor Alan Segal, author of Life After Death: A History of the Afterlife in Western Religion. Segal’s remark is found within a news story released by Religion News Service. …
– Al Mohler writes in his blog.
Worth thinking about: What are the implications of preaching to people who don’t believe God will judge? And how many professing Christians think this way?
Obama and McCain at Saddleback
“Today we’re going to be live-blogging the Saddleback Civil Forum, with presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain. The candidates will appear at the Lake Forest church this evening and give back-to-back, hourlong interviews with Pastor Rick Warren.
As our Maeve Reston reports today, the event will be an important preview of what’s to come in the three presidential debates, the first of which takes place next month at the University of Mississippi. This will be the first time since the general-election campaign kicked off that the candidates will share a stage together. …”
– This liveblog from the LA Times gives a feel for the Saddleback meeting. (As is usual in reading a live blog, start at the bottom.) The BBC has video excerpts.
If they build it, will He come?
Last Thursday, in Jerusalem’s Old City, around five hundred Jewish teenagers signed a declaration – to spend at least half an hour each week working towards building the Third Temple.
If they ever succeed, it’s going to be a day to remember. For Jews, it will be the trigger for the coming of the Messiah – who will descend from the Mount of Olives, break through the sealed Golden Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City, and redeem the people. …
– ABC Correspondent Ben Knight reports from Jerusalem. (Photo: ABC.)
TEC’s San Joaquin diocese: deadline passes
Bishop Jerry Lamb, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, said it is unlikely that there will be any action taken Aug. 15 at a meeting of the standing committee to depose clergy who failed to reply to a letter sent with an Aug. 5 deadline.
Bishop Lamb said it was within his canonical authority as the elected bishop of the Episcopal diocese to proceed to depose all clergy who did not respond affirmatively to the first of three options he outlined in a July 10 letter. But he said it was very unlikely that the standing committee would take any action toward that purpose at this time. He said a more likely prospect would be the issuance of another invitation leading to reconciliation. …
– Report from The Living Church. The letter sent to clergy is available here (direct link to PDF file).
Bishop Don Harvey reflects on Lambeth
My dear members of our ANiC family, For the past three weeks, I have been combing the Internet for news from Lambeth. And there has been no lack of it. The blogs and (especially UK) media have been full of information. Making sense of all that information, however, has been a challenge. This is my best effort to make sense of Lambeth from this side of the Atlantic.
One of the key benefits of this Lambeth conference was the opportunity it afforded Anglican leaders from throughout the world, including our own Primate, Archbishop Greg, to meet together in groups, as well as one-on-one, to discuss important matters. There have been many reports of positive “indaba” and Bible study group meetings.
There have also been reports of frustration. Frustration that Lambeth, by design, did not produce any further clarity on the crisis – no clear direction, no decisions. However, this was indeed by design and was cited by bishops who chose not to attend as one of the factors in their decision. Two Primates – one attending Lambeth, one not – spoke passionately and eloquently of the intransigent anti-Christian actions of the North American churches, actions that precipitated the crisis. I have great respect for both Archbishop Deng Bul (Sudan) and Archbishop Orombi (Uganda) for their courage in taking their stands when silence would have been far easier. …
– Read all of Bishop Harvey’s comments at the Anglican Network in Canada.
See also his Reflections on GAFCON.
(Photo: Bishop Don Harvey of the Anglican Network in Canada at St Mary of the Incarnation, Metchosin.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…