http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/anglican/ en-us Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:31:25 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2412570/posts AnalysisMany balk at this element of the Nativity story, but historical and astronomical evidence tends to corroborate it. By Michael J. MillerDuring a 2007 BBC radio interview, the archbishop of Canterbury deconstructed elements of the Nativity story. “Stars simply don’t behave like that,” Rowan Williams said. Asked about the existence of three wise men, he replied, “It works quite well as legend.”But years ago Father Walter Brandmüller, president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, published an essay applying the historical-critical method to the question of the Nativity story. (The essay is reprinted without cumbersome footnotes in Light and Shadows: Church... Catholic World Report http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2412570/posts#comment Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:31:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413083/posts Poor people who are desperate for cash have been advised to go forth and shoplift from major stores - by an Anglican priest. The Rev Tim Jones said in his Sunday sermon that stealing from successful shops was preferable to burglary, robbery or prostitution. He told parishioners it would not break the eighth commandment 'thou shalt not steal' because it 'is permissible for those who are in desperate situations to take food that they might not starve'. But his advice was roundly condemned by police and the local Tory MP. Father Jones, 42, was discussing Mary and the birth of... Mail Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413083/posts#comment Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:18:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412627/posts A priest in Britain is under fire Monday for advising his congregation to shoplift in tough economic times, the Daily Mail reports. Father Tim Jones, a 41-year-old clergyman at St. Lawrence Church in York, England, said that shoplifting — rather than prostitution or burglary — is sometimes the best option for poor people struggling to make ends meet, according to the Web site. "My advice as a Christian priest is to shoplift," Jones reportedly told churchgoers during his Sunday sermon. "I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it... Foxnews http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412627/posts#comment Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:41:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410703/posts According to numbers released in December by the Episcopal Church, that denomination’s membership dropped by 3 percent in 2008. That doesn’t sound like much, but I am a bit of a demographics junkie, plus I researched and examined a lot of church membership and growth data in writing my book A Lover’s Quarrel With The Evangelical Church. I can tell you that I have never heard of a major denomination that has ever lost 3 percent of its membership in a single year. What’s even more interesting about these numbers is that the Episcopal Church now says it has only... WORLD http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410703/posts#comment Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:51:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2408743/posts A "Progressive" Anglican church in Auckland New Zealand paid to have this billboard placed near their parish. Here are some excerpts written by the Vicar, Archdeacon Glynn Cardy on the church's website touting what he did. ________________ To make the news at Christmas it seems a priest just needs to question the literalness of a virgin giving birth. Many in society mistakenly think that to challenge literalism is to challenge the norms of Christianity. What progressive interpretations try to do however is remove the supernatural obfuscation and delve into the deeper spiritual truth of this festival. Christian fundamentalism believes a... St. Mathew In The City http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2408743/posts#comment Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:38:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2408011/posts KEVIN Rudd's decision to take holy communion at the Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel in Sydney has sparked debate within the Catholic Church because he is a practising Anglican. The controversy mirrors a debate nearly a decade ago when Jeff Kennett complained he was sent a letter by Cardinal George Pell instructing him not to take communion at the state funeral of prominent Catholic B.A. Santamaria, despite the then Victorian premier's own shift to Catholicism. The Australian has confirmed that the chaplain and sisters at the chapel were caught unawares by the Prime Minister's visit on Sunday. They were concerned that... The Australian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2408011/posts#comment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:57:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2407924/posts So Archbishop Rowan Williams reckons that the Pope’s Apostolic Constitution for ex-Anglicans is “theologically eccentric”. You can see his point. Much better to adopt a clear-cut, rational approach to the problem by allowing parishes to refuse to recognise the orders of the local woman diocesan bishop and neighbouring women vicars by supplying them with the oversight of a male bishop who himself rejects women’s orders but is in full communion with a primate who heads an international communion divided into an inner tier of provinces which obey a moratorium on ordaining gay bishops and an outer tier of provinces not... The Daily Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2407924/posts#comment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:14:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2407722/posts What happens when former Evangelicals find their way home to the Catholic Church through the Anglican Church? They bring with them into the Catholic Church a whole range of gifts from their former traditions. They bring the zeal and dedication of the Evangelical. They bring wide and deep knowledge of the Scriptures. They also bring the Anglican love of fine preaching, excellent hymns, reverent worship and beautiful language and liturgy. The new Personal Ordinariate for Anglicans may attract far more than a few disgruntled Episcopalians. A whole range of Protestant Evangelical Christians are 'out there' searching for a church where... gkupsidedown.blogspot http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2407722/posts#comment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 05:19:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2407145/posts Did not Jesus say not to throw pearls before swine? faithfreedom.org http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2407145/posts#comment Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:45:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2406548/posts It does not matter so much what God thinks of sodomy [I have it on good report, that He does not think well of it, despite that modern liberal churches and synagogues have all but sanctified it], but how can the American people accept this new found glory in all things homosexual? Will they allow the Safe School Czar Jennings and his cohorts [members of of GLISN and NAMBLA] to thrust their USDA Approved buggery on public school children? Now that the Jenning' FistGate has been outed, proving that the Gay Lobby has, indeed, very diabolical plans to ramrod (forgive... JoeClarke.net http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2406548/posts#comment Sun, 13 Dec 2009 13:57:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2402128/posts Father John Lipscomb was the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida. He converted to Catholicism in 2007, a few months after his retirement, and was ordained a priest this week. LUTZ — John Lipscomb, the married, 59-year-old former bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida, was ordained a Catholic priest Wednesday.The morning after, he expressed joy and a sense of relief. He’s at peace, spiritually. He’s just a priest now. He’s not the boss.“The part of the job that never fit was sitting in judgment of other people’s lives,” he said. “I’m at a point in my... Anglicans United http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2402128/posts#comment Mon, 7 Dec 2009 17:41:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401251/posts The worldwide Anglican Church has been plunged into a fresh crisis after a lesbian was chosen as its second gay bishop. In a move that will dismay the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, Canon Mary Glasspool was elected as an assistant bishop for the diocese of Los Angeles. The Rev Rod Thomas, the leader of the conservative evangelical group Reform and a member of the General Synod, said: ‘I feel deeply ashamed that this is happening in the Anglican Church. ‘I think a schism is absolutely inevitable.’ Daily Mail http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401251/posts#comment Sun, 6 Dec 2009 00:29:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2397956/posts As of Nov. 29, clergy of the diocese may solemnize marriages for all eligible couples, Bishop M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE has announced.  The decision comes after a long discernment process leading up to and continuing after the action of General Convention this past July allowing that “bishops, particularly in dioceses within civil jurisdictions where same-gender marriage is legal, may provide generous pastoral response to meet the needs of members of this church.” The full text of Bishop Shaw’s statement follows. Advent I, November 29, 2009 Christian marriage is a sacramental rite that has evolved in the church, along with confirmation,... Episcopal DIocese of Massachusetts http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2397956/posts#comment Tue, 1 Dec 2009 22:42:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2397057/posts Bishop John Chapman has given a church in the diocese of Ottawa permission to begin offering a rite of blessing to same-gender couples who are civilly married. The Church of St. John the Evangelist could offer its first blessing as soon as a married couple asks. At least one person in the couple needs to be baptized. “Same-sex couples who are civilly married and seek the Church’s blessing of their marriage must be welcomed with the same care and solicitude that the church would extend to any other of its members,” Bishop Chapman wrote in his charge to the recent... Anglican Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2397057/posts#comment Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:30:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2394231/posts Gordon Brown today sparked controversy on the eve of the Commonwealth summit by suggesting he backs the sweeping away of 300-year-old laws that prevent Roman Catholics ascending to the Throne. Mr Brown is also keen to change the ancient rule of primogeniture, which stipulates that men must always take precedence over a woman in line to the throne. The Prime Minister is expected to raise the issue with heads of government in the "margins" of the Commonwealth summit that begins in Trinidad on Friday. It is not a formal item on the agenda of the gathering, which will be dominated... The Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2394231/posts#comment Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:08:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2393371/posts A new group calling itself The LGBT Anglican Coalition, network 'working for the full and equal inclusion of LGBT Christians within and beyond the Church of England', has sent an open letter to the Archbishop of Uppsala, the Most Rev Anders Wejryd and Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams at the Church of England's decision to shun the consecration of the new lesbian bishop Eva Brunne of Stockholm. I like the sound of Eva. She's a mum, like me. Blogger Sandra Showtime writes: 'Her sense of humor doesn’t hurt either. When Brunne, who was a pastor in Stockholm for 16... The Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2393371/posts#comment Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:41:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2393199/posts Modernism and the Magisterium After analyzing the modernism in the Anglican Church it was pointed out that there's plenty of modernism in the Catholic Church too. True enough, and because blog posts should be short and punchy, I left this issue for another day. It is true that all the problems I outlined in the post on Modernism in the Anglican Church are present in the Catholic Church. In many ways the effects have been even more devastating. At least the Anglicans with their good taste have preserved beautiful liturgy, architecture and sacred music in the midst of the modernism. Many... gkupsidedown.blogspot.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2393199/posts#comment Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:20:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2393104/posts Bishop Joseph Grech / Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto Bendigo, Australia, Nov 23, 2009 / 05:06 pm (CNA).- The Vatican has said “no” to the use of a Catholic church in Australia for the ordination of four women and three men as Anglican Deacons. St. Killian's Catholic Church in the Australian Diocese of Sandhurst was proposed as the ordination site after the local Anglican cathedral was closed due to safety concerns.According to The Advertiser, the ordination was set to take place at the Catholic church before the Catholic Bishop Joseph Grech of the Diocese of Sandherst addressed the issue with Archbishop... cna http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2393104/posts#comment Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:00:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2392797/posts Why I Left Anglicanism I'm often asked why I left the Anglican Church to become a Catholic. Was it women's ordination or some other issue? Well, the debate over women's ordination was an influence. It made me re-examine the question of authority in the church. I have written about my conversion several places, and these articles can be found on my website under the 'articles' tab. However, the more I think about the reasons for my conversion, the more I realize that the real problem was not women's ordination, nor was it, at depth, the question of authority in the... gkupsidedown.blogspot.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2392797/posts#comment Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:44:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2392718/posts Those disaffected Anglicans in England and Wales who think they can take up Pope Benedict’s offer and switch to Rome with a “pick and choose” attitude should think again, the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols has said. Many Anglicans unhappy with women’s ordination and gay clergy cannot just convert to Roman Catholicism as a way out, but must accept Catholic doctrine wholeheartedly, he said. “Nothing is envisaged in this provision that the Pope has put in place is a kind of minimalist approach to picking bits of the Catholic faith that I like and then seeing myself as it... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2392718/posts#comment Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:14:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2392611/posts The Roman Catholic bishops of England and Wales have set up a task force to help the possible exodus of tens of thousands of disaffected Anglicans into their church. The move was announced as Anglican leader Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, protested to the Pope in the Vatican over its plans to receive Anglican converts en masse. Pope Benedict XVI was last month accused of attempting to poach Anglicans unhappy about decisions taken in their church to ordain women and sexually-active homosexuals as priests and bishops. In response to requests from about 30 Anglican bishops around the world... Daily Mail http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2392611/posts#comment Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:03:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2392208/posts OVER 4,000 Anglican priests all over the world, including married ones, are expected to join the Catholic Church, Bishop Matthias Ssekamanya announced on Friday. Ssekamanya, who doubles as the chancellor of Uganda Martyrs University, said this does not mean that the Catholic Church is removing the requirement for priests to remain unmarried. “We are not becoming soft on celibacy for Catholic priests. We shall also not tolerate homosexuals and polygamous marriages in the Catholic Church,” he added. He was officiating at the 15th graduation ceremony of the Nkozi-based university. Vatican officials announced that married Anglican priests would be allowed to... Sunday Vision http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2392208/posts#comment Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:24:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2391962/posts VATICAN CITY - THE archbishop of Canterbury held his first talks on Saturday with Pope Benedict XVI since the Roman Catholic church's unprecedented invitation to disaffected Anglicans, with the Vatican saying the two sides still want to press ahead for closer relations. Archbishop Rowan Williams and Pope Benedict met privately for 20 minutes in what the Vatican called 'cordial discussions', as part of what has clearly been a difficult visit by the Anglican leader. The Vatican said in a brief statement that the two leaders 'turned to the challenges facing all Christian communities' and the need 'to promote forms... Straits Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2391962/posts#comment Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:43:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2390793/posts The Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday made his most outspoken challenge to the Roman Catholic Church since the Pope invited disaffected Anglicans to switch to Rome. Speaking before he meets Benedict XVI tomorrow, Dr Rowan Williams told a conference in Rome that the Catholic Church’s refusal to ordain women was a bar to Christian unity. “For many Anglicans, not ordaining women has a possible unwelcome implication about the difference between baptised men and baptised women,” he said. The Anglican provinces that ordain women had retained rather than lost their Catholic holiness and sacramentalism, he said. Addressing an ecumenical conference at the... The Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2390793/posts#comment Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:29:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2389893/posts Just in the nick of time we see some real leadership from the Archbishop of Canterbury. No no, he isn't doing anything crazy to save the Anglican communion like embracing orthodoxy or anything. Canterbury leads us in a different direction, off a cliff. Rowan Williams has come out strongly in favor of the doctrine of higher taxes. Further, he gives us the source of this divinely inspired revelation, Big Brother 11. [Telegraph]Dr Rowan Williams said that taxation should not be seen as a way of stifling business or redistributing wealth but helping to make the world a better place in... Creative Minority Report http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2389893/posts#comment Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:48:28 GMT