http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/episcopal/ en-us Sun, 14 Sep 2008 15:44:51 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2082186/posts Leaders of the Episcopal Church of America will take a vote this week on whether to remove Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan from ministry. Duncan notified the Pittsburgh diocese Saturday of the vote, which be taken Thursday during a meeting of the Episcopal House of Bishops in Salt Lake City. Duncan is charged with abandonment of the Communion of the Church, a charge initiated by five priests and 16 lay people from the Pittsburgh diocese, Duncan said in a letter. The Pittsburgh diocese is scheduled to vote Oct. 4 on whether to secede from the U.S. branch of the Episcopal Church... TRIBUNE-REVIEW http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2082186/posts#comment Sun, 14 Sep 2008 15:44:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2078529/posts San Francisco, CA (AP) -- The Episcopal bishops of Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area are opposing a November ballot initiative to overturn the California Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage in the state. AP via SFGate http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2078529/posts#comment Tue, 9 Sep 2008 22:44:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2065967/posts A Fairfax County judge dealt the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia a third defeat in their efforts to retain millions of dollars of church property being held by 11 breakaway congregations. On Tuesday, Circuit Judge Randy I. Bellows ruled on whether the U.S. Constitution's contracts clause applies to the case and whether the breakaway churches had the right to invoke what's been termed the "division statute," an 1867 law that allows a majority of a breakaway church to retain the property. ... The diocese and the Episcopal Church had asserted in an Aug. 11 hearing that even if... Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2065967/posts#comment Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:50:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2063986/posts CANTERBURY, UK, August 18, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Gene Robinson has castigated a fellow Anglican bishop for publicly disapproving of his crusade to inculcate "gay" values into the Anglican Communion. In an interview with SXNews, an Australian homosexual news website festooned with explicit sexual advertising, Robinson complained that the Sydney archdiocese is "bigoted" because its archbishop, Dr. Peter Jensen, boycotted the Lambeth conference, held this month in Canterbury, England. Gene Robinson is the active homosexual whose consecration as Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire caused a crisis in the global Anglican Communion. He called the Sydney archbishop's defence of Christianity "ironic" given... LifeSiteNews http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2063986/posts#comment Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:15:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2061841/posts <p>Okay, this is just an initial list of people I know. I know that there are many more Reformed converts to Catholicism. I've missed a lot of them. I just ran down the ones I knew off the top of my head, either from the blogosphere or from personal contact.</p> Cantuar http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2061841/posts#comment Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:04:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2060833/posts <p>A delegation of Episcopal priests from Fort Worth paid a visit to Catholic Bishop Kevin Vann earlier this summer, asking for guidance on how their highly conservative diocese might come into "full communion" with the Catholic Church.</p> <p>Whether that portends a serious move to turn Fort Worth Episcopalians and their churches into Catholics and Catholic churches is a matter of dispute.</p> Catholic Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2060833/posts#comment Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:28:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2058755/posts The writhings of worldwide Anglicanism are another reason to disestablish the Church of England IN THE end it held together, but only just. The 650-odd bishops who attended the once-a-decade Lambeth conference went home with open schism between the liberal and conservative wings of the worldwide Anglican Communion averted. A split may prove no more than postponed, as the agreed mechanisms for making minds meet are oh-so-slowly put in place (see article). But at least the unedifying spectacle of comrades in Christ tearing strips off each other over gay sex will vanish from the headlines for a bit. Does it... The Economist http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2058755/posts#comment Fri, 8 Aug 2008 21:03:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2055784/posts <p>New York (AP) -- The spiritual leader of the world's Anglicans is urging an extended ban on consecrating another gay bishop until their troubled fellowship can be healed.</p> <p>Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams made the plea Sunday, the final day of the Lambeth Conference, the once-a-decade Anglican meeting in Canterbury, England.</p> AP via SFGate http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2055784/posts#comment Sun, 3 Aug 2008 17:09:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2051907/posts CANTERBURY, England -- Gene Robinson's bodyguard didn't have to worry this time. The 40-year-old man who rushed over to Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the worldwide Anglican church, just wanted to shake his hand. "Thank you for bringing the church into the 21st century, for moving things forward," said Martin MacCiarrain, a government employee. The bodyguard, a retired policeman who trails the American bishop because of death threats, eased back. On Sunday during a sermon Robinson delivered in London, a long-haired man had suddenly leapt up screaming at the American bishop: "Repent! Repent!" Since Robinson, 61, was consecrated... The Washington Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2051907/posts#comment Sun, 27 Jul 2008 01:36:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2050334/posts The Bishop of Rochester Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, one of just two bishops in the Church of England to boycott the Lambeth Conference entirely, insisted today that he is being true to biblical authority. Explaining a decision that he admits has been painful for a man who sought refuge in Britain from persecution, and who has been at the heart of the two previous convocations at Canterbury – first as Coordinator in 1988 and then as a Member of the Steering Committee in 1998 - he said it was a matter of ‘conscience and logic’. He said that ‘persistent false teaching’... Lapido Media http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2050334/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:48:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2050290/posts History's humongous wheel turns and turns and turns again. Over time, mud and sludge accumulate on even the sprucest institutions. Take the 500-year-old Anglican family of churches, Christianity's third-largest, after Rome and Eastern Orthodoxy. With Anglicanism's biggest family event under way - the every-10-years gathering of bishops and archbishops in England - what the world sees, accurately or not, is a family in moral and spiritual disarray. --snip--For all that, Anglicanism's public troubles proceed from the takeover of Western Anglicanism by theological activists whose purpose is the remolding of Christianity into something less like the old-time religion than like the... The Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2050290/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:38:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2049677/posts A Statement from the Virginia Annual Council of the United Methodist Church July 11, 2008 On June 27, 2008, the Circuit Court of Fairfax County declared constitutional—as applied to the case before it—a Virginia statute which gives ownership of church property to breakaway congregations of a church denomination, which for years had held the property in trust for the purpose of worship within the denomination, according to denominational doctrine. The statute, known as the “Division Statute,” was enacted by the Virginia legislature only a few years after the end of the Civil War, and was used then as a vehicle... The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2049677/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:35:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049521/posts The gay bishop of New Hampshire should resign in order to save the Anglican Communion, a senior African archbishop said today. The call came from the Rt Rev Dr Daniel Deng, the archbishop of Sudan, and followed a strongly worded statement that accused the US Episcopal church of exposing Anglicans to ridicule and damaging their credibility in a multi-religious environment. African bishops who signed the statement rejecting homosexual practice said they could not accept it as part of their church. They reiterated their opposition to developments in the US and Canada, where gay clergy are ordained and where same-sex relationships... The Guardian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049521/posts#comment Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:19:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2049150/posts A leading Anglican bishop has condemned conservatives as "demonic" for using his church as a punch bag. The Bishop of Washington, the Right Rev John Chane, a leading liberal in the Episcopal Church in the United States, accused conservatives of leading the church in a "dangerous" direction. *** "I think it's really very, very dangerous and I think it's demonic ... the Episcopal Church has been demonised. It has been a punching bag and I'm sick of being a punching bag as a Bishop and I'm sick of my church, my province being a punching bag. Times Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2049150/posts#comment Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:52:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2047600/posts 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... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2047600/posts#comment Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:57:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2047572/posts Knife crime is at epidemic proportions in Britain's inner cities, with an attack of some kind taking place every four minutes. In London alone 21 young people have been stabbed to death this year. A church group has come up with a new solution. It's reported here. The suggestion is that church leaders should move into crime ridden inner city areas to work with the youths and become role models since most of the boys who stab each other don't have Dads. Whoops! problem is, since women's ordination the Anglican Church has been turned into a matriarchy remember? Nearly half... Standing on my Head http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2047572/posts#comment Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:04:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046027/posts Christian Methodist Episcopal Bishop Kenneth Wayne Carter has been suspended by the church until his criminal case is resolved. Carter, 51, was indicted by a Tarrant County grand jury last month on sexual assault charges involving a 46-year-old Dallas County man. The man was applying for a job as the bishop’s driver and says he was assaulted at Carter’s home in Arlington. Carter was released on $10,000 bail last week. The CME’s College of Bishops made the decision to suspend Carter with pay during a special meeting last week. Under the suspension, Carter is barred from performing sacramental duties. Although... star ledger http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046027/posts#comment Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:17:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2041039/posts Almost exactly five years after he was elected as the Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson remains the most controversial Christian in the world. His consecration as the first openly gay, partnered Anglican bishop launched a global conversation about sexuality in Christianity and divided the Anglican Communion, the largest Protestant body in the world with 77 million members. Yet what he is doing now may be more radical: Robinson is traveling the country and the world to talk more openly and more publicly than ever about his faith. "The principal identity that I have is as a follower of... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2041039/posts#comment Sat, 5 Jul 2008 11:39:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2038601/posts Believing that God has called them to a "new work", Primates at the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) announced tonight that they have launched a movement of Confessing Anglicans that will, in effect, be a rival Anglican Communion. Tomorrow, when orthodox Anglicans meet for their final day of pilgrimage, 1,200 representatives including 303 bishops of the Anglican Communion representing more than 70% of the Communion, will announce the formation of a new Anglican body that will affirm "'the faith once for all delivered to the saints"' as a bulwark against the growing and rampant liberalism in the mostly Western church.... Catholic Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2038601/posts#comment Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:37:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2037983/posts The Anglican Church faces what is in effect a schism this weekend after the declaration last night of conservative evangelicals to create a “church within a church”. The new body, called the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, will have its own bishops, clergy and theological colleges. Details of the fellowship were announced in Jerusalem last night at a summit of conservative Anglicans, It follows a protracted battle within the church over gay clergy. Many evangelicals were outraged when it was revealed this month that the civil partnership of two gay priests had been blessed in a London church with a traditional... TimesOnline http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2037983/posts#comment Sun, 29 Jun 2008 01:44:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2037982/posts STATEMENT ON THE GLOBAL ANGLICAN FUTURE Praise the LORD! It is good to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting. The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. (Psalm 147:1-2) Brothers and Sisters in Christ: We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, send you greetings from Jerusalem! Introduction The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), which was held in Jerusalem from 22-29 June 2008, is a spiritual movement to preserve and promote the truth and power of the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ as we Anglicans... TitusOneNine (Et al.) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2037982/posts#comment Sun, 29 Jun 2008 01:36:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2037929/posts Just minutes ago, conservative Anglicans announced what they are calling “The Jerusalem Declaration,” which states their intention to erect a new “fellowship of confessing Anglicans.” "We grieve for the spiritual decline in the most economically developed nations, where the forces of militant secularism and pluralism are eating away the fabric of society and churches are compromised and enfeebled in their witness…Sadly, this crisis has torn the fabric of the Communion in such a way that it cannot simply be patched back together."... The declaration is the unanimous product of the bishops and archbishops meeting here in Jerusalem, whose dioceses together... National Review Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2037929/posts#comment Sat, 28 Jun 2008 23:19:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2037349/posts Anglican Churches Win on Constitutional Grounds Va. Court Upholds Constitutionality of Virginia Division Statute to End Episcopal Attempt to Seize Control Over Church Property FAIRFAX, Va. (June 27, 2008) – The 11 churches sued by The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia celebrated today’s Fairfax County Circuit Court ruling that confirms the constitutionality of Virginia Division Statute (Virginia Code § 57-9). The 11 churches named in the lawsuit are members of the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV). “We are pleased with Judge Bellows’ ruling today. After meticulous examination, the judge ruled to uphold the constitutionality of the Virginia Division... Stand Firm http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2037349/posts#comment Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:01:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2037213/posts An Episcopal bishop was found guilty by a church panel of covering up his brother's assaults of a teenage girl in the 1970s. Charles E. Bennison Jr., 64, was convicted of two counts of engaging in conduct unbecoming of a member of the clergy, according to his attorneys and the church verdict, dated Tuesday and released Thursday. He could be reprimanded, suspended or ousted from the church. The victim, now 50, testified during a four-day ecclesiastical trial this month that the abuse by the bishop's brother, John Bennison, happened three to four times a week for several years. She testified... Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2037213/posts#comment Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:46:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2035714/posts Last week there was this news from Germany: German Lutherans in northern Schleswig will decide on July 12 whether to elect an openly gay bishop. Conservatives have opposed Horst Gorski's candidacy, saying it would lead to divisions within the church. When Horst Gorski, 51, first took up his archdeacon post in the northern city of Hamburg, some members of the congregation had misgivings about this homosexuality. But within a few years it was no longer an issue, Gorski said. Gorski believes the same will be the case if he is elected the next bishop of Schleswig, a mostly rural region... Insight Scoop http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2035714/posts#comment Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:17:29 GMT