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The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh has voted to leave the Episcopal Church and join a more conservative province of the Anglican Church. The vote was taken today at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Monroeville. The results were greeted with silence. Immediately after the results were announced, the Rev. Harold Lewis from Calvary Church in East Liberty announced that his church would stay with the Episcoal Church and not follow the lead of the diocese. --snip-- Those who supported the split say it has been decades in coming. They point to Episcopalians who doubt the divinity of Jesus, blessing dogs as...

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday said Iran bore no hatred towards the United States as he held talks with American Christians in a rare official contact with visitors from Tehran's arch enemy. State television showed Ahmadinejad meeting with a dozen American representatives from various Christian orders who are in Iran for a week-long visit to promote peace and dialogue between the foes. "The Iranian nation does not have any feeling of hatred and opposition towards the American people and we believe that all people are respectful and given the common grounds people have, they could achieve peace and justice," Ahmadinejad...

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...

President Bush may follow in the footsteps of his brother Jeb and convert to Catholicism, several European papers are reporting. In the wake of the president’s visit to see Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican, Italian newspapers, citing Vatican sources, said Bush was open to the idea of converting to Catholicism. The Italian newspaper Il Foglio referred to such talk about Bush’s possible conversion and stated that “anything is possible, especially for someone reborn like Bush.� Noting that Tony Blair converted to Catholicism after leaving office as Britain’s prime minister last year, the paper also stated that “if anything happens,...

Police -- Stonington Pastor Provided Alcohol For Minors http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=bd09de68-90d0-408b-aa22-6d3f42ec354e http://tinyurl.com/6jdj56 Priest arrested during party after 2 girls hospitalized for intoxication Published on 6/3/2008 By Joe Wojtas Stonington - Police arrested the Rev. Mark Robinson of Calvary Episcopal Church Monday and charged him with hosting a graduation party at his Barnes Road home Sunday night that resulted in two 17-year-old girls being taken by ambulance to The Westerly Hospital for treatment for intoxication. The 50-year-old Robinson, who has led the borough church since 1993, was charged with delivery of alcohol to minors, second-degree reckless endangerment and permitting minors to possess alcohol....

Chapter 4 (Pages 1 to 6 of the manuscript, containing chapters 1 - 3, are lost. The extant text starts on page 7...) . . . Will matter then be destroyed or not? 22) The Savior said, All nature, all formations, all creatures exist in and with one another, and they will be resolved again into their own roots. 23) For the nature of matter is resolved into the roots of its own nature alone. 24) He who has ears to hear, let him hear. 25) Peter said to him, Since you have explained everything to us, tell us this...

For some time now, people have been asking me why I haven't written anything on the current—or, depending on your point of view, everlasting—crisis in the Anglican world. After all, I have been an Anglican for nearly twenty-five years, virtually all of my adult life. Surely I have some opinions on the mess the Anglican Communion is now in, on how it got this way, and how it might get out again? Well, yes, I do have such opinions. But they are worthless. All such opinions amount to little more than the assignation of blame for past events and predictions...

Vedic Recitations in a Christian Church on Thanksgiving http://newsblaze.com/story/20071101085222tsop.nb/newsblaze/TOPSTORY/Top-Stories.html http://tinyurl.com/2kmxfe Nov 1, 2007 Judyth Piazza, News Blaze Recitations from ancient Sanskrit scriptures will reverberate in a Christian church in Nevada on the occasion of coming Thanksgiving eve service. Rajan Zed, the prominent Hindu chaplain, will read from Rig-Veda (oldest existing scripture of the world dated from around 1,500 BCE), Upanishads (Hindu scriptures containing mystical teachings), and Bhagavad-Gita (famous philosophical and spiritual poem) in Trinity Episcopal Church in Reno (Nevada) during Twenty-second Annual Thanksgiving Service of Northwestern Nevada to be held on November 21 evening. Despite conflicts around the world, various...

Though global Anglican leaders have urged the U.S. church to unequivocally exclude gay bishops by next month, an openly lesbian Episcopal priest is among the five nominees for bishop of the Chicago diocese announced Tuesday. Rev. Tracey Lind, who followed Chicago Bishop William Persell as dean of Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland, is one of three women named as finalists to replace Persell, who plans to resign after his successor is installed. It is the first slate of candidates in the diocese to include women. "Since the day last winter when I was asked to make myself available to this nominating...

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...

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...

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...

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...

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (Reuters) -- The openly gay Episcopal bishop at the center of the Anglican Church's global battle over homosexuality said Thursday he hopes to enter into a civil union with his partner next year. But New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson added that he wants to hold separate religious and legal ceremonies to set a precedent for how marriages and civil unions are performed in the United States. Next week, New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch is expected to sign a bill that allows civil unions for same-sex couples, making his state the fourth in the nation to do so....

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,"...

LONDON, United Kingdom (AP) -- The Church of England's assembly on Wednesday affirmed existing teaching that homosexuality is no bar to full participation in the church but avoided the fractious debate within the Anglican Communion about accepting gay sexual relationships. A motion approved nearly unanimously by the governing General Synod disposed of language including a commitment to "respect the patterns of holy living to which lesbian and gay Christians aspire," but affirmed "that homosexual orientation in itself is no bar to a faithful Christian life or in full participation to lay and ordained ministry." Bishop Michael Perham of Gloucester had...

The Anglican Communion's directive this week that its Episcopal branch in the United States ban the blessing of same-sex unions is a direct rebuke to the Bay Area, where the Diocese of California has blessed the practice for nearly three decades. The Episcopal Church risks being severed from the 77 million-member Anglican Communion, the largest, most unified Protestant denomination in the world. The question roiling the global body is whether it can be multicultural enough to include literal believers in Nigeria as well as liberals in the Bay Area. In the Bay Area diocese, which is believed to have performed...

Much has been made of The Episcopal Church's gradual but steep decline in membership. But membership isn't the most useful statistic; in a church where most members have become inactive, counting members is mostly counting former congregants, not current ones. Membership is the statistic that is easiest to get valid, but it is very misleading. "Worshipping members" is a far more useful statistic, but harder to get... for most denominations. However, The Episcopal Church does keep records of Sunday attendance. And these statistics show most clearly what a tragic turn of events the gay-bishop controversy has been, for The Episcopal...

Dear Christians of the Church of Uganda, Greetings in the name of our risen and reigning Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! I am writing with a heavy heart to share with you sad news about our beloved Anglican Communion. On Saturday, 4th November, the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA) enthroned as their Presiding Bishop a leader who has permitted the blessing of same-sex unions and who also denies that Jesus is the only way to the Father. Her name is the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori. Our problem with ECUSA is not that they have enthroned...

Plano parish will pay to leave Episcopal Churchhttp://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_77847_ENG_HTM.htm Christ Church Plano, Diocese of Dallas reach 'godly judgment' Episcopal News Service Mary Frances Schjonberg Friday, September 15, 2006 The vestry and rector of Christ Church in Plano, Texas announced September 15 that the parish will pay the Diocese of Dallas $1.2 million for its title to the parish property and disassociate themselves from the Episcopal Church. Bishop James Stanton said, in one of two statements posted on the website of Christ Church in Plano, that he had come to the conclusion that there are "irreconcilable differences between Christ Church and the...

Division looms for Episcopal Churchhttp://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=2216 http://tinyurl.com/kr9gt July 25, 2006 Signs of a full-blown split between the Episcopal Church and most of the worldwide Anglican Communion appeared only days after the U.S. church's General Convention refused to renounce the election of gay bishops. The 2.2-million-member Episcopal Church would be reduced to nonvoting "associate" status in a proposed two-tiered membership policy for the 77-million-member communion that was announced June 27 in London. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said those national churches that sign a covenant affirming Anglicanism's traditional stance on homosexuality could be full members of the communion, while other churches would...

A Schismatic Canterbury Talehttp://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/14/opinion/main1805855.shtml http://tinyurl.com/r9z5a (The American Prospect) This column was written by Adele M. Stan July 16, 2006 It was with great joy that religious members of the progressive movement received, late last month, news of the election of Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori to the top leadership position in the U.S. Episcopal Church. For one, the fact of the bishop’s gender heralded an important first for Episcopalians, whose rites and rituals cling closely to those of the Roman Catholic Church. Furthermore, the inclusive position taken by Jefferts Schori with regard to the full participation of gays and lesbians in...

2 sides face off at Gaza protests Israeli official plans to meet with Christian leaders By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff | July 13, 2006 Israel's top diplomat in Boston has agreed to meet next week with local Christian leaders, including some whose unhappiness with the Israeli military offensive in Gaza fueled contentious protests outside the Park Plaza consulate yesterday. hed at mJewish community leaders said the meeting between the consul general, Meir Shlomo, and the Christian denominational leaders was in the works before yesterday's protests and was in response to the concerns over the Gaza situation . The protest highlighted...

Liberal Christianity is paying for its sinsOut-of-the-mainstream beliefs about gay marriage and supposedly sexist doctrines are gutting old-line faiths.By Charlotte Allen, CHARLOTTE ALLEN is Catholicism editor for Beliefnet and the author of "The Human Christ: The Search for the Historical Jesus." July 9, 2006The accelerating fragmentation of the strife-torn Episcopal Church USA, in which several parishes and even a few dioceses are opting out of the church, isn't simply about gay bishops, the blessing of same-sex unions or the election of a woman as presiding bishop. It also is about the meltdown of liberal Christianity. Embraced by the leadership of...

ENGLAND: Liberals may split from Canterbury over homosexuals By Jonathan Wynne-Jones THE TELEGRAPH 7/2/2006 Liberal clergy in Britain are preparing to turn to America 's Anglican bishops for leadership in a move that could produce "civil war" and destroy the Church of England, The Sunday Telegraph has learned. They are considering the drastic action after the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, delivered a strong warning to liberals that they could be marginalised from the Anglican Church if they are unable to subscribe to more traditional doctrine over the issue of homosexuality. A delegation of influential liberals flew out to the...

For anyone who doubts that the newly elected Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church is a dedicated partisan of the left in the present crisis, take a look at the quotes from her interview yesterday with Diane Rehm on NPR. And remember, she was almost certainly trying to be "diplomatic" during her turn in the national spotlight. Some highlights:On dioceses threatening to “leave the church”: The diocese as an entity is a creature of General Convention and unless and until General Convention gives consent for them to leave it simply represents the departure of a few individuals. RWF translation: Even...

In a step toward creating a church within the Episcopal Church, the Diocese of Pittsburgh decided yesterday to seek formation of a boundary-less, theologically conservative province, and it appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury for immediate alternative oversight and pastoral care. Yesterday's resolution does not change the diocese's standing within the Episcopal Church. Nor is it likely to have immediate impact on the diocese's 20,000 members. It does signal, however, that biblically conservative Episcopalians are replacing talk of dissatisfaction with the national church with concrete efforts to create a separate place for themselves within the wider Anglican Communion. Pittsburgh Bishop...

First the Episcopalians gave us V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the openly gay bishop who left his wife and kids to have sex with a man and later revealed that he had been a closet alcoholic for years. He was the obvious choice because he is just like Jesus with the minor exceptions of his beliefs and life. In an effort to continue selecting such fine leaders they have now elected the first female leader in Anglican history. The Bishop of Nevada, Katharine Jefferts Schori (notice the hyphenated last name), was elected Presiding Bishop of the Episcopalian church on...

What do I have to do to join the American Episcopal Church? It sounds great now that it has a woman, the Bishop of Nevada, the Rt Rev Katharine Jefferts Schori, in charge and an openly gay bishop in Gene Robinson. That, for me, encapsulates all the best Christian virtues of tolerance, diversity and acceptance. A woman at the head of a Church! Who would have thought it? All we need now is a female Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Oh, and a President too, but that may not take too long either. I may cheer, yet all...

The new leader of the Episcopal Church in America, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, says she does not believe homosexuality is a sin and that homosexuals were created by God to love people of the same gender. As the Episcopal leadership continues to huff and puff to catch up with the world, it would be helpful if it could tell its members what it regards as sinful behavior, or will the very concept of sin soon be up for negotiation in order to avoid giving offense to anyone? Truly what Paul, the Apostle, warned would happen in the "end times" is...

Why on Earth would there be any controversy about the election of the first woman as presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church? When I heard the news of the election of the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, my heart leapt and I thanked God. I wanted to celebrate even as I was surprised by the news. For some within the worldwide family of Anglican Christians, Bishop Jefferts Schori's election is cause for concern. I believe this election is an invitation into holy conversation about discovering the face of God among us. It is a sign of hope. When the Episcopal...

Episcopal boredom http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50644 http://tinyurl.com/p3s8y Posted: June 15, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Hans Zeiger Let me see if I can capture the mood at the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Columbus, Ohio. The main thing about it is the generation. It is a gathering, chiefly, of baby boomers on the older end of their cohort. If they preceded the boom, they at least participated in the '60s. I half expected the long hair and dope to flow with the crowds that came yesterday to hear the debates about homosexuality and the consequently precarious relations of the Episcopal...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Episcopal General Convention approached another defining vote Monday in the wake of electing its first female presiding bishop: whether the church should temporarily bar gays from becoming bishops to preserve Anglican fellowship. Delegates began considering a moratorium at the request of world Anglican leaders, who remain angry over the 2003 consecration of the first openly gay Episcopal bishop — V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The Rev. Frank Wade opened debate by asking delegates not to view the request from Anglican leaders as an ultimatum, but as a request for peace. "No one is being asked...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Nevada Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori became the first woman to lead any church in the global Anglican Communion when she was elected Sunday to be the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. The choice of Jefferts Schori may worsen — and could even splinter — the already difficult relations between the American denomination and its fellow Anglicans. Episcopalians have been sparing with many in the other 37 Anglican provinces over homosexuality, but a female leader adds a new layer of complexity to the already troubled relationship. Only two other Anglican provinces — New Zealand and Canada —...

The solemnity of hymns played on an organ was replaced by thumping speakers that amplified a thick bass line. Instead of a more traditional, staid sermon, listeners heard a hip-hop homily. Mixing the motifs of hip-hop music and culture with Christian doctrine is all part of the HipHopEMass service. The Rev. Timothy Holder, an Episcopal minister from New York City, created the HipHopEMass concept. He and his posse of musicians and religious rappers brought their in-your-face ministry to Richmond last night, holding a service at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 1719 N. 22nd St.

Danforth: Ban on Gay Marriage a Silly Idea WASHINGTON — Former Sen. John Danforth says a conservative push to ban gay marriage through a constitutional amendment is silly, calling it the latest example of how the political influence of evangelical Christians is hurting the GOP. Danforth, a Missouri Republican and an Episcopal priest, made the comments in a speech Saturday night to the Log Cabin Republicans, which support gay rights. He said history has shown that attempts to regulate human behavior with constitutional amendments are misguided. "Once before, the Constitution was amended to try to deal with matters of human...

An Anglican clergywoman in a long-term, same-sex relationship is set to become the first lesbian bishop, causing uproar among traditionalists. The evangelical wing of the worldwide Anglican Communion has said that the election of the Rev Bonnie Perry will lead to the "unravelling" of the Church. Miss Perry, 43, is one of five shortlisted candidates standing for election for the bishopric of California on May 6. She has been the pastor at All Saints' Episcopal Church, Chicago, since 1992. Her girlfriend of 18 years, Susan Harlow, is a professor of religious education at the nearby Meadville Lombard theological school and...

RICHMOND (AP) -- Two black bears killed last month after one of them bit a child were buried this weekend at an emotional memorial service attended by 500 mourners. The bodies of the bears, euthanized to be tested for rabies after biting a 4-year-old who put his arm through the fence surrounding their 2-acre habitat, were exhumed from a landfill and cremated last week after a public outcry over their deaths intensified. "This is where they belong," said a teary Samantha Monk, 9, of Glen Allen, who joined several people in laying flowers and wreaths at the grave. "They shouldn't...

NEWS Episcopalians face up to decline Friday, December 9, 2005 By JOHN CHADWICK STAFF WRITER The Episcopal Diocese of Newark, for years the epitome of liberal Protestant Christianity in America, acknowledged Thursday in an unusually candid report that it has suffered a steep slide in membership and needs a bishop who can revitalize its struggling parishes. The diocese, which covers seven northern New Jersey counties including Bergen, Passaic, Hudson and Morris, has lost nearly 24,000 congregants, or 46 percent of its membership, since 1972. That's nearly three times the average decline in the Episcopal Church nationwide, the report said. "Many...

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Members of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut passed a resolution Saturday urging Bishop Andrew Smith to allow priests in Connecticut to preside at civil union ceremonies. The resolution passed overwhelmingly at the diocese annual meeting, church officials said. A law allowing same-sex civil unions in Connecticut took effect Oct. 1. But Smith reminded clergy in a recent memo that they are not authorized to officiate at blessings of same-sex unions. He said that won't change at least until the House of Bishops meets in 2006. The resolution, while not binding, gives the diocese, "a sense of this...

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