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ANOTHER WAY TO BEAUTIFY THE CHURCH or 10 REASONS NUNS SHOULD WEAR HABITS Behold the Dominican nuns pictured above.   We cannot see their faces, but we are instantly attracted to and fascinated by them.  And we all know why.  IT'S THE HABITS.Nuns wearing habits are beautiful, enchanting and wonderful.  They are a bold rebuke to a corrupt society hypnotized by its own vanity.  They are a mystery.  Those habits are an invitation to God.  They preach to us.  They say, "I have something deeper that gives my life meaning and I don't need or want all that other stuff."And...

President Obama has hired Michael Wear,an apostate Catholic who belongs to a ‘nondenominational,evangelical-style church in Washington’,to counter the Bishops campaign to protect religious freedom in the US. CNN reports: ‘Michael Wear,who currently serves as executive assistant to the executive director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships,will join the Obama campaign in Chicago as faith vote coordinator,a campaign official said.’ Wear,who was raised a Catholic but now attends a nondenominational,evangelical-style church in Washington,has spearheaded White House outreach to evangelicals and has focused on policy issues like adoption throughout Obama’s first term. A source close to the campaign...

The evangelical church is under constant threat to compromise its reliance on biblical truth. The human desire to be accepted, to not be seen as “outside the mainstream,” can be overwhelming. But that desire is our weakness, our downfall. It does not always immediately destroy the dam we build to protect the waters of truth, but instead it leads to tiny fissures that grow until destruction is inevitable. Twenty years ago, I experienced the painful demise of the Episcopal Church, who once was a bastion of biblical truth. It was not a pretty picture. It was a picture painted in...

The evangelical church is under constant threat to compromise its reliance on biblical truth. The human desire to be accepted, to not be seen as "outside the mainstream," can be overwhelming. But that desire is our weakness, our downfall. It does not always immediately destroy the dam we build to protect the waters of truth, but instead it leads to tiny fissures that grow until destruction is inevitable. Twenty years ago, I experienced the painful demise of the Episcopal Church, which once was a bastion of biblical truth. It was not a pretty picture. It was a picture painted in...

Hollywood star Gerard Butler increased his security team at the Toronto Film Festival over the weekend after receiving death threats. The "300" star has been promoting his role in controversial movie "Machine Gun Preacher," a true-life story based on a Hells Angel who rescues orphans in Muslim-dominant Sudan after converting to Christianity. Butler was forced to hire more bodyguards when he took to the red carpet at the Canadian festival after reportedly receiving a string of threatening messages. A source tells Scotland's Daily Record, "It is quite a controversial subject and some people are upset by the strong religious theme....

"It is the duty of every Muslim to kill those who leave Islam." This statement was made on Radio Sweden recently when an Imam from Rinkeby (Stockholm) was allowed to speak about how people should act against Somalis who convert to Christianity. The program with the death threats against converts was broadcast by the Somali department of Radio Sweden and was a follow-up on a previous segment about a group of Christian Somalis who came to Rinkeby Square to evangelize. They also got to talk about it in the radio report. "I was there when they preached about Christianity. I...

MARLBOROUGH — After St. Ann’s Catholic Church was closed in 2004, Stacie LaBoissiere and her husband began looking for another spiritual home. But they ruled out joining another Catholic parish. “My sister is a lesbian, married to a woman,” LaBoissiere explained. “I knew that I did not want to remain Catholic as a result of their views on homosexuality. I could not become a member of a church that would condemn my sister. If a church would not accept my sister, then they would not accept me.” The couple joined Marlborough’s St. Stephen Lutheran Church, after its pastor Scott Howard...

I just witnessed a couple of Orthodox posters get kicked off a "Catholic Caucus" thread. I thought, despite their differences, they had a mutual understanding that each sect was considered "Catholic". Are not the Orthodox considered Catholic? Why do the Romanists get to monopolize the term "Catholic"? I consider myself to be Catholic being a part of the universal church of Christ. Why should one sect be able to use a universal concept to identify themselves in a caucus thread while other Christian denominations need to use specific qualifiers to identify themselves in a caucus thread?

According to a new study from Trinity College, 15% of Americans don't associate with a religious denomination. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2009/09/22/2009-09-22_new_study_americans_are_losing_their_religion_choosing_to_be_nones_instead_of_nu.html#ixzz0SDnQoSOr

Five ex-Muslims who founded a group called Former Muslims United put out a public appeal Thursday to the U.S. government for protection, saying the lives of thousands of "apostates from Islam" are in peril. Speaking at a Capitol Hill press conference, the Granada Hills, Calif., group cited the case of Fathima Rifqa Bary, a 17-year-old from Ohio who converted to Christianity four years ago. She fled to Florida this past summer in fears that her parents would murder her for "honor" reasons. Her father, the girl said in a court filing, had already

Former Muslims United speak out on eve of “Islam on Capitol Hill” march By Michelle Malkin  •  September 24, 2009 02:55 PM Earlier this week, I noted the “Islam on Capitol Hill” event taking place tomorrow in Washington DC. Well, a group of brave apostates has launched Former Muslims United and they are holding an event today to raise awareness of the ravages of sharia law. The group is pressing the DOJ to protect the rights and safety of ex-Muslims in America: Former Muslims send “Freedom Pledge” Nationwide to Muslim Leaders for 220th Anniversary of Bill of Rights“Muslim Pledge for Religious Freedom...

The 2009 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Churchwide Assembly made grievous decisions that will not help the denomination in the years ahead. Those decisions were the adoption of a social statement on sexuality and four resolutions that approve of sexual relationships outside of marriage and direct a change in the ELCA’s ministry standards to allow for practicing homosexuals to serve as ordained pastors and lay ministers. One biblical phrase kept coming to mind in the weeks leading up to the ELCA churchwide assembly and very often during the August assembly—“ears to hear.” The phrase occurs repeatedly in the Old and...

Very few people in the West know what is going on inside the Muslim world and what it portends for them. The fact is that through the dominant media, such as CNN, Americans are subjected to much of the same misinformation with regard to Islam that I grew up with inside the Muslim world. The result is that Americans are in the dark attempting to formulate their strategy of how to defend themselves against the threat of terror, domestic jihad and Sharia. While Americans get ridiculed for being “Islamophobes,” the Muslim world itself is undergoing a huge and painful awakening.

More than 200 delegates, representing more than 60 countries are discussing diverse issues in the light of Shariah at the . . .International Islamic Fiqh Conference. . .organized by the International Islamic Fiqh Academy, an offshoot of the Jeddah-based Organization of the Islamic Conference. ". . . .The view that Islamic scholars of the past had different views on how to punish apostates is incorrect. They only disagreed on how soon apostates should be executed. . . .The waiting time is at the discretion of the ruler," said Muhammad Al-Nujaimi, a professor at the Higher Institute of Law in Riyadh.....

We are a community of communities, which are ecumenical and catholic in that we celebrate a characteristically Catholic faith tradition that is not sectarian. About Us We support such necessary and just changes as... giving priests the freedom to marry and raise families of their owngiving women the opportunity to serve God’s people as ordained ministersinviting the divorced and remarried back to the sacraments and Church life without subjecting them to annulment proceduresentrusting married couples with the responsibility of following their own conscience in regard to the use of artificial contraceptionincluding all the baptized, whether Catholic or Protestant, in the...

PROVO, Utah (AP) - Thousands of issues of Brigham Young University's student newspaper were pulled from newsstands because a front-page photo caption misidentified leaders of the Mormon church as apostates instead of apostles. An apostate is a person who has abandoned religious faith, principles or a cause. The photo in The Daily Universe on Monday was of members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at the weekend general conference. The caption called the group the "Quorum of the Twelve Apostates." The mistake happened when a copy editor...

I was thinking of attending there worship. I have admired many of thier teachings on Sabbath Observance Healthy Living, Chatiable Giving and Prophetic teachings. However I am not sure if all thier doctrine is sound. I understand Ellen G White is the founder of this church In brief, she was a woman of remarkable spiritual gifts who lived most of her life during the nineteenth century (1827-1915), yet through her writings she is still making a revolutionary impact on millions of people around the world. During her lifetime she wrote more than 5,000 periodical articles and 40 books; but today,...

As Republicans sort out the reasons for their defeat, they likely will overlook or dismiss the gorilla in the pulpit. Three little letters, great big problem: G-O-D. I'm bathing in holy water as I type. To be more specific, the evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue to afflict and marginalize its constituents if reckoning doesn't soon cometh. Simply put: Armband religion is killing the Republican Party. And, the truth -- as long as we're setting ourselves free -- is that if one were to eavesdrop on private conversations among...

Persuading Western Muslim leaders to repudiate Shari'a-sanctioned violence against apostates can be a frustrating exercise, as Prince Charles discovered in 2004. Troubled by the treatment of Muslims who convert to Christianity in Islamic nations, the prince convened a summit of senior figures from both religious communities. It ended in disappointment. The Islamic representatives failed to issue a declaration condemning the practice, which the Christians had requested; they also cautioned non-Muslims not to discuss such matters in public, arguing that moderates would be more likely to make progress if the debate were kept internal. Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, the outspoken Anglican prelate...

James Tramel went from convicted murderer to priest while in prison, a transformation that the Episcopal Church used to successfully lobby for his parole and celebrate him before politicians and the press. But the church is now grappling with the sexual abuse of a parishioner under his care. Tramel has been suspended for sexual misconduct, temporarily stripped of his priestly authority and left searching for a new job. The San Francisco-based Episcopal Diocese of California now faces questions of whether, in its haste to proclaim Tramel's story, it redeemed and promoted him too quickly. Convicted of second-degree murder in a...

I can't decide if Gene Robinson should be made an honorary member of Herman's Hermits (second verse same as the first) or just be named Crybaby of the Decade. Sure does a lot of book tours for someone who wants to just be a simple country bishop. Can't you just hear the heavy sigh? Robinson is in London to promote his new book, In The Eye of the Storm. It is a spiritual memoir aimed, he says, at showing that he is more than "a one issue guy". The last of its five sections, however, sets a course for the...

No joke: NYC couple wed by Kathy Griffin Mon Mar 10, 7:44 AM ET She has been a sitcom character, a sometime talk show host and the centerpiece of her own reality show. Now Kathy Griffin has appeared in an unlikely new role — minister. The often provocative comedian — who raised some Christian groups' hackles by joking about Jesus while accepting an Emmy Award last September — became ordained through an online church to officiate Saturday at the New York wedding of two fans, Brian Anstey and Elka Shapiro. "The request came in, and how could I say no?"...

To speak very generally, there are two kinds of left apostate: there are those who break with the left in order to move elsewhere (usually to the right, though not always) and there are those who repudiate certain beliefs or modes of thinking within the left in order to strengthen other competing traditions within the left, which they see as more authentic and valuable. Among the former, one can instance Norman Podhoretz, David Horowitz, Paul Johnson and, more recently, Christopher Hitchens. Among the latter, Rosa Luxemburg, Victor Serge, Arthur Koestler, C.L.R. James, and George Orwell are prominent. Since the terror...

Former Episcopal Priest Explores Christianity and Druidry in New Novel http://www.bloggernews.net/112455 December 17th, 2007 by suzanne evans On March 22nd 2005, The Rev Walter William Melnyk was forced out of the priesthood of the US Episcopal Church after facing charges of “holding private opinions inconsistent with the teachings of the Church.” This allegation, effectively a heresy charge, ended his 23 year-strong vocation as a priest, even though his only transgression was to look into Celtic Christianity and its connection with pre-Christian Druidry. Now, Walter William Melnyk has delved further into those links in a new novel written with Druid priestess...

US Episcopal report highlights concerns over church attendance drop http://www.christiantoday.com/article/us.episcopal.report.highlights.concerns.over.church.attendance.drop/15084.htm http://tinyurl.com/3d37yq by Lillian Kwon, Christian Today US Correspondent Posted: Saturday, December 1, 2007, 12:26 (GMT) An Episcopal Church committee has released an interim report that reveals positive trends as well as concerns in declining membership and church conflicts. In a brief assessment of facts and trends in the Episcopal Church, the 'State of the Church' report – issued by the House of Deputies Committee in November – indicated the need for a "plan for action" at all levels of the denomination in response to membership drops. In 2006, the number...

Jim McGreevey to begin Episcopal seminary classes http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2007/09/01/2007-09-01_jim_mcgreevey_to_begin_episcopal_seminar.html http://tinyurl.com/2p469w BY CHRISTINA BOYLE DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Saturday, September 1st 2007, 4:00 AM Jim McGreevey, the nation's first openly gay governor, is returning to the classroom Tuesday as a seminary student. The former New Jersey governor will begin full-time studies at the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in Chelsea, where he will pursue a three-year Master of Divinity program. McGreevey, 50, switched denominations from Roman Catholic to Episcopalian earlier this year and has expressed an interest in becoming a priest. "I hope that Jim McGreevey finds some contentment and...

The Episcopal Diocese of Chicago included an openly lesbian priest among five nominees for bishop Tuesday, as fellow Anglicans demand that the church bar gay bishops. The Rev. Tracey Lind, dean of Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland, who has a female partner, will be on the November 10 ballot. If she wins, she would be the second bishop living with a same-sex partner in the Episcopal Church. New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, who has a male partner, was consecrated in 2003, pushing the world Anglican Communion to the brink of schism.

Porn star now seeks priesthood instead http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2007/07/15/2003369673 http://tinyurl.com/2wv9qm NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE, OAK PARK, CALIFORNIA Sunday, Jul 15, 2007, Page 7 Some people have their midlife crisis in reverse, like Ronald Boyer, who for most of his professional life has been better known as a star of pornographic films, Rod Fontana. After 30 years of sowing the wildest of oats, Boyer, 54, has searched his soul and chosen, to the surprise of family and colleagues, to seek a priesthood in the Episcopal Church. From his work in the rented villas of the San Fernando Valley, where hard-core sex films...

The Rev. Ann Holmes Redding, a local Episcopal priest who announced she is both Muslim and Christian, will not be able to serve as a priest for a year, according to her bishop. During that year, Redding is expected to "reflect on the doctrines of the Christian faith, her vocation as a priest, and what I see as the conflicts inherent in professing both Christianity and Islam," the Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf, bishop of the Diocese of Rhode Island, wrote in an e-mail to Episcopal Church leaders. During the next year, Redding "is not to exercise any of the responsibilities...

A Left-Wing Priestess for Allah http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070630/28250_A_Left-Wing_Priestess_for_Allah.htm http://tinyurl.com/33pmot By Mark D. Tooley Christian Post Contributor Sat, Jun. 30 2007 11:57 AM ET A Seattle priest has become a Muslim while also retaining her clergy status in the Episcopal Church. Her local bishop has described the development as “exciting.” "I look through Jesus and I see Allah,” explained the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding to the “Seattle Times”, which reported that Redding puts on her Islamic headscarf on Fridays and her clerical collar on Sundays. She has denounced Christianity as a "world religion of privilege.” But she still sees Jesus as her Savior,...

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6) On the other hand: "Jesus is not the only way to God . . ." Rev. Ann Holmes http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/reader_feedback/reader_feedback.php?id=171 http://tinyurl.com/36ss36

Episcopal Panel 'Dodges' Response to Moratorium http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070615/27991_Episcopal_Panel_'Dodges'_Response_to_Moratorium.htm http://tinyurl.com/35qes6 By Lillian Kwon Christian Post Reporter Fri, Jun. 15 2007 07:13 AM ET An Episcopal panel of clergy and lay people indicated on Thursday they will not give a response to the moratorium Anglican leaders requested for by September, arguing that only the General Convention has the authority to respond. The next General Convention – The Episcopal Church's primary governing and legislative body – however, meets in the summer of 2009. After a four-day meeting that ended Thursday, the Executive Council said that no governing body other than General Convention can agree...

Executive Council prepares for communiqué response http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_86791_ENG_HTM.htm Two committees hear experience of gay Nigerian activist By Mary Frances Schjonberg June 11, 2007 [Episcopal News Service] The Executive Council, the Episcopal Church's governing body between General Conventions, began its four-day meeting June 11 in New Jersey learning that a draft of a response to the Anglican Communion Primates' latest communiqué was ready for their consideration. In a public plenary session, House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson said that Executive Council members would discuss during private conversation later in the day a draft report of the EC008 Task Group, requested by the...

Williams Not 'Absolutely Confident' Anglicans Can Get it Together http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070608/27856_Williams_Not_'Absolutely_Confident'_Anglicans_Can_Get_it_Together.htm http://tinyurl.com/2om7ed By Lillian Kwon Christian Post Reporter Fri, Jun. 08 2007 10:56 AM ET The spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion is hopeful, but not "absolutely confident" that the global church body, which many say is on the brink of division, can stay together. "Anglicans should remain Anglicans ... I don't think schism is inevitable," said Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams in an interview with Time magazine. The Anglican head added, however, "If you're asking am I absolutely confident that we can get it together after the Lambeth Conference? No....

Breakaway Anglican Groups Invited to Form New Alliance http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070604/27766_Orthodox_Anglicans_to_Initiate_Talks_on_Forming_'Anglican_Union'.htm http://tinyurl.com/37dsm9 By Lillian Kwon Christian Post Reporter Mon, Jun. 04 2007 07:09 AM ET The head of a conservative Anglican network in the United States has invited major breakaway Anglican groups to up the level of their partnership for a united Anglicanism in North America as some predict a split in the Anglican Communion. Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, moderator of the Anglican Communion Network, called for a Sept. 25-28 meeting to initiate discussion of creating an "Anglican Union" among the partners. The creation of the union would be a step...

Anglican Conflict: A Battle with 'Eternal Significance' http://www.christiantoday.com/article/anglican.conflict.a.battle.with.eternal.significance/10915.htm http://tinyurl.com/2ndbyg by Lillian Kwon, Christian Today Correspondent Posted: Saturday, May 26, 2007, 12:39 (BST) The recent non-invitation of two wayward bishops to a decennial global Anglican meeting produced a media frenzy this week. But what does all this mean? "First of all, it is clear that the Archbishop of Canterbury faces an impossible task – he is confronted by two irreconcilable truth claims," stated Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns, newly installed missionary bishop of CANA (Convocation of Anglicans in North America) – an orthodox Anglican splinter group and offshoot of the Church of...

Mitt Romney Was A Conservative Republican Governor In The Bluest Of The Blue States: The Economist, On Governor Romney: "Being The Republican Governor Of Such A Liberal State As Massachusetts Must Be Like Swimming Through Sugary Sludge." "Being the Republican governor of such a liberal state as Massachusetts must be like swimming through sugary sludge. Everywhere he looks, he is surrounded by sweet-talking liberal legislators, judges and citizens." (Editorial, "Mitt Romney And Gay Marriage," The Economist, 6/30/05) There Are Almost 3 Times As Many Registered Democrats As Republicans In Massachusetts: - Registered Democrats: 1,526,711 - Registered Republicans: 532,319 (Massachusetts Secretary...

President James E. Faust Second Counselor in the First Presidency If we can find forgiveness in our hearts for those who have caused us hurt and injury, we will rise to a higher level of self-esteem and well-being. President James E. FaustMy dear brothers and sisters and friends, I come before you humbly and prayerfully. I wish to speak on the healing power of forgiveness. In the beautiful hills of Pennsylvania, a devout group of Christian people live a simple life without automobiles, electricity, or modern machinery. They work hard and live quiet, peaceful lives separate from the world. Most...

Episcopal break up? http://www.catholic.org/views/views_news.php?id=24184 5/23/2007 Our Sunday Visitor One could argue that the Episcopal Church in the United States has been on the brink of disaster for years. Thomas Reeves, in his book The Empty Church: The Suicide of Liberal Christianity, quoted an observation made about the Episcopal Church in 1994 that seems no less true today: “The Episcopal Church is an institution in free fall. We have nothing to hold on to, no shared belief, no common assumptions, no agreed bottom line, no accepted definition of what an Episcopalian is or believes.” The Episcopal Church has been divided by...

No Lambeth Invitation for Bishop Robinson http://www.livingchurch.org/publishertlc/viewarticle.asp?ID=3366 http://tinyurl.com/yoerxw 5/22/2007 The Bishop of New Hampshire will not be invited to participate in the 2008 Lambeth Conference, according to the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary of the Lambeth Conference. Invitations to the conference were mailed May 22 to more than 800 bishops of the Anglican Communion by the conference’s host, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. The Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns, Bishop of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) and the Rt. Rev. Charles Murphy and his suffragans, the bishops of the Anglican Mission in North America (AMiA) will not receive...

Katharine Jefferts Schori on the future of the Episcopal Church http://www.statesman.com/life/content/life/stories/faith/05/19/0519schori.html http://tinyurl.com/2vknks First woman to preside as bishop talks with Statesman religion reporter By Eileen Flynn American-Statesman Staff Saturday, May 19, 2007 The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, addressed the graduates of the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest on Tuesday in Northwest Austin. After the commencement, Jefferts Schori, the first woman to lead the national church, sat down with an American-Statesman reporter to talk about her denomination's challenges, including tensions within the 2.4 million-member American province and with Anglicans worldwide and her recent...

Orthodox Anglicans Take 'First Step' Away from Episcopal Church http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070507/27269_Orthodox_Anglicans_Take_'First_Step'_Away_from_Episcopal_Church.htm http://tinyurl.com/ywlc4m By Lillian Kwon Christian Post Reporter Mon, May. 07 2007 06:43 AM ET WOODBRIDGE, Va. – The installation of a local minister who recently broke with the Episcopal Church and will now oversee other breakaway congregations was a unique and historic event and one that the Nigerian Anglican leader called "just the first step." "The journey ahead is long, the road ... rough, rugged," said Archbishop Peter J. Akinola of the Church of Nigeria, who defied top church leaders on Saturday and installed the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns as...

The nation's first openly gay governor has become an Episcopalian and been accepted into a seminary, according to a published report. Former Gov. James E. McGreevey, who was raised as a Roman Catholic, was officially received into the Episcopal religion on Sunday at St. Bartholomew's Church in New York, said the Rev. Kevin Bean, vicar at the church. McGreevey has been accepted to study at the General Theological Seminary in New York, the oldest in the Episcopal Church, school spokesman Bruce Parker said Wednesday. Parker did not know whether the former governor wants to become a priest. ''Mr. McGreevey has...

McGreevey mulling Episcopal priesthood Posted by The Star-Ledger May 02, 2007 12:08PM Categories: News Patti Sapone/The Star-Ledger Former Gov. James E. McGreevey appears during custody proceedings in the Union County Courthouse last week.Former Gov. James E. McGreevey has started the process to become a priest in his newly adopted Episcopal faith and hopes to begin a three-year seminary program in the fall. McGreevey, who often described himself as a devout Catholic while in public office, was officially received into the Episcopal religion on Sunday, at St. Bartholomew's Church in Manhattan, and is now part of the church's "discernment" phase that...

Church History: America once an Episcopalian nation http://www.thedailycitizen.com/articles/2007/04/28/news/features/features05.txt http://tinyurl.com/383b4f Friday, April 27, 2007 8:43 PM CDT Statistically no group of Christians held a greater influence over the founding and initial direction of the United States of America than the Episcopal Church. According to the website www.adherents.com, fifty-five percent of the founding fathers were Episcopalian. In addition, Episcopalians comprised thirty-two percent of all Supreme Court Justices and more than twenty-five percent of all presidents in the past two and a quarter centuries of American history. The Revolution may have been a “Presbyterian Parson's War,” as King George referred to it, but...

Episcopal Bishop says few leaving over same-sex issues http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=123562&ran=89412 By STEVEN G. VEGH, The Virginian-Pilot April 26, 2007 Last updated: 12:16 AM VIRGINIA BEACH - The Episcopal Church's presiding bishop on Wednesday downplayed the notion of a denominational schism over homosexuality, saying only a tiny fraction of congregations have moved to break away. In an interview, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said the congregations had "gotten a lot of attention and been very noisy," but accounted for less than 1 percent of the country's total number of parishes, which she put at 7,500. "The Episcopal Church is alive and well,"...

Gay Bishop Will Make Union with Partner Official http://www.beliefnet.com/story/217/story_21727_1.html Associated Press Concord, New Hampshire - The Rev. V. Gene Robinson became the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop. Now, he and his partner want to be among the first gay couples in New Hampshire to officially unite under a soon-to-be-signed civil unions law. New Hampshire is set to become the nation's fourth state to offer civil unions for gay couples after legislation approved by the state Senate on Thursday was sent to Gov. John Lynch, who has said he would sign it. "I think this moves us one step closer...

Archbishop of Canterbury announces plans to visit the Episcopal Church http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_84949_ENG_HTM.htm By Mary Frances Schjonberg and Solange de Santis April 16, 2007 [Episcopal News Service] The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, announced April 16 that he intends to visit the United States this autumn in response to the invitation from the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church. Speaking in a news conference in Toronto, Williams said he would make the visit together with members of the Standing Committee of the Primates, of which Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori is a member, and the Anglican Consultative Council. "I look...

Episcopalians Begin Considering Response to Moratorium http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070412/26840_Episcopalians_Begin_Considering_Response_to_Moratorium.htm http://tinyurl.com/2mzvet By Lillian Kwon Christian Post Reporter Thu, Apr. 12 2007 09:19 AM ET Episcopal leaders have begun considering a potential response to requests from Anglican leaders to not consecrate another openly gay bishop. An appointed Executive Council work group convened for the first time early this month to begin discussion on a report responding to the communiqué that was issued by the Anglican Communion's Primates in February. The Episcopal Church was given a Sept. 30 deadline to respond to a moratorium on the consecration of gay bishops and the blessing of same-sex...

Fate of Episcopal Church Left to Anglican Leaders, Not Head http://tinyurl.com/3dn5pf An Episcopal bishop recently revealed that the latest Anglican conference, while publicly centered on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, had a hidden agenda - concern over the issue of homosexuality. Tue, Apr. 10, 2007 Posted: 13:08:34 PM EST An Episcopal bishop recently revealed that the latest Anglican conference, while publicly centered on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, had a hidden agenda - concern over the issue of homosexuality. More than 400 people had convened in Boksburg, South Africa, last month for the Towards Effective Anglican Mission (TEAM)...