Ohio litigation ends ‘peaceful coexistence’

Diocese of OhioThe Diocese of Ohio recently filed a declaratory judgment with the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas in Cleveland, asking that it, the diocesan trustees, and a minority of members at five dissident congregations be declared the rightful owners of church properties where the congregations voted overwhelmingly to leave in 2005. The March 26 filing came just a month after an article in the Akron Beacon Journal described how the relationship between the five dissenting congregations and the diocese was an exception to the personal acrimony and litigation prevalent throughout many other dioceses of The Episcopal Church. …

from The Living Church. (Graphic: The Diocese of Ohio.)

Breakaway parishes awarded property

Truro ChurchA Fairfax (Virginia) circuit judge has awarded a favorable judgment to a group of 11 Anglican churches that were taken to court last fall after breaking away from the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia in late 2006. …

Story from Julia Duin in The Washington Times.
Update: Statement from the office of the Presiding Bishop.

(Truro Church – logo above – is the largest of the churches involved.)

Good news is no news in Nnewi!

Bishop Martyn MinnsA funny thing happened in Nnewi, Nigeria, last week. (Nnewi is a bustling city in southeast Nigeria.) Archbishop Peter Akinola presided over a remarkable meeting of the Standing Committee of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), but nobody from the world media noticed.

It wasn’t that it was a closed or secret meeting – it’s hard to keep a gathering of a thousand church leaders quiet, and preparations had been public for months. So why didn’t any of them care?

For one thing, he didn’t talk about anything that would make a good headline; instead he focussed on a call to personal and corporate holiness. He told all those present that they were too attached to the ways of the world and they needed to change. …

Read the full article by CANA Bishop Martyn Minns. (Photo: Truro Church.)

See also the Church of Nigeria website.

Archbishop Peter Jensen on ABC Radio’s The Conversation Hour

Archbishop Peter JensenOn Tuesday April 1st 2008, Archbishop Peter Jensen was the guest on ABC Radio’s The Conversation Hour with Richard Fidler.

It’s a fascinating and wide ranging interview, turning to apologetics at the end. It is certainly worth listening to (and pointing your friends to).

While not yet on a page on the ABC’s website, the mp3 file (48MB / 52 minutes) is available for direct download via this link.

Canada upholding Windsor Process?

St. Michael and All Angels OttawaJust in case you still believe that the Anglican Church of Canada is upholding the Windsor Process that has been so fondly pointed to by some in the ACC, we have this bit from Ottawa.

Some of you will recall that a couple of years ago, Peter Coffin – then Bishop of Ottawa – granted his permission to a female priest (Linda Fisher-Privitera) to minister in the Diocese of Ottawa. Fisher-Privitera came to Ottawa with her partner, Melissa, whom she had married in a civil union in Massachusetts, prior to arriving. …

Bishop Chapman, now bishop of Ottawa, has granted a full appointment to Fisher-Privitera at St. Michael & All Angels in Ottawa. …

Story from LC.net/Canada. (Photo: St. Michael & All Angels in Ottawa.)

Bishop Cox demands a correction

Bishop William CoxAn attorney representing Bishop William J. Cox has accused Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of defaming the bishop, and has demanded that she publish a correction of her announcement concerning his deposition. …

Story from The Living Church. (Photo credit: George Conger.)

New San Joaquin address – sjoaquin.net

Diocese of San JoaquinNow that the Diocese of San Joaquin’s website address has been reassigned to point to that of the ‘reconstituted’ Episcopal Church diocese, the real (Southern Cone) diocese is back on the web.

Their new address: sjoaquin.net

As the old URL began to point to the Episcopal Church’s San Joaquin website, we discovered that the official Anglican Communion website was also listing the TEC website as the ‘official’ site for the diocese. Coincidence?

(After first being reported here, the story now has been picked up by VirtueOnline and Anglican Mainstream.)

All not well in the Diocese of Niagara

All Saints’ Niagara Falls“We had hoped that with the coming of our new Bishop, the church would redirect its efforts and return to its historic roots. We had hoped for a Shepherd who would care for his flock. …”

– frustration echoed in this newsletter (PDF file) from All Saints’ Niagara Falls (via St. Hilda’s Oakville). See also these comments on the state of the diocese from LC.Net/Canada. (Image: McMaster University Library.)

Keep an eye on the date

Oh Lord, won’t you buy me aNew initiatives for evangelism in Sydney Diocese have been announced today via SydneyAnglicans.net.

They are so timely, it’s worth keeping an eye on the date.

San Joaquin website disappears

website disappearsVisitors to www.sanjoaquin.anglican.org – the website of the (Southern Cone) Diocese of San Joaquin – are now magically redirected to the new website for the reconstituted TEC diocese, at www.diosanjoaquin.org.

The Society of Archbishop Justus are the custodians of www.anglican.org, of which www.sanjoaquin.anglican.org is a subdomain.

(This underscores the value of owning your domain.)

‘San Joaquin Episcopalians celebrate’

Bishop Jerry Lamb and KJSA jubilant celebration of Holy Eucharist concluded the March 29 special convention in the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin and made official Bishop Jerry Lamb’s role as provisional bishop. …

– report from Episcopal Life. (Photo: Episcopal Life Online.)

An Inconvenient Truth: Ecclesial Warming Ahead

Bishop David AndersonMuch of the news this week centers on the recent actions of The Episcopal Church House of Bishops and the Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori in relation to a vote to depose retired bishop William Cox and former TEC bishop John-David Schofield. Dovetailing into these legally questionable depositions are two subsequent issues: the fact that the deposition notice for Bishop Cox misstates his title and the diocese he retired from; and the calling for a Special Convention of the Diocese of San Joaquin to elect a new bishop. …

… KJS and her Chancellor DBB are functioning as police, prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner, and most of the other TEC bishops fall in dutifully behind them. …

The latest weekly letter from AAC President, Bishop David Anderson – via Anglican Mainstream. (Photo: The Common Cause Partnership.)

Diocese of South Carolina strongly protests

Diocese of South Carolina“Dear Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori:

We, as the Standing Committee and Bishop of South Carolina, write this letter to strongly protest what we recognize as a failure to follow the Canons of our Episcopal Church in the recent depositions of Bishops Schofield and Cox. …

we must respectfully refuse to recognize the depositions, and we will not recognize any new bishop who may be elected to replace Bishop Schofield, unless and until the canons are followed.”

– via TitusOneNine.

Bishop Michael Ingham’s Easter Message

Michael Ingham, New Westminster“For resurrection to come, some things must die. This church of ours, for example, is moving through a great time of change. And the paradox is that in order for the Gospel to live, some aspects of the church may have to die. Anglicanism has survived centuries of turmoil – world wars, religious wars, the end of slavery, the emancipation of women – but Anglicanism as we have known it for four hundred years may not survive the movement for dignity and respect that is now being sought for gay and lesbian people today.

There is a great struggle going on in our church between those who see God in the traditions of the past, and those who see God in the new wind of the Spirit challenging our old assumptions about human nature…”

A classic liberal interpretation of what “The Resurrection of Jesus” is about – from the Diocese of New Westminster. (Photo: New Westminster.)

Access All Areas conference 2008 announced

Access All Areas 2008Christians in the Media has announced this year’s Access All Areas conference, to be held May 22-24 – “Access All Areas 08 will be the most important conference of the decade for Christians in the media, journalists, editors, producers and executives in print, broadcast and online.”

– Details from Christians in the Media.

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