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Hundreds of United Methodist clergy are expressing deep concerns over a pledge made by a large group of fellow ministers to marry same-sex couples. They argue that if the pledge is carried through, the future of the denomination is in jeopardy. "We do not know how many, if any, marriages or 'holy unions' of same-sex couples will be performed by UM clergy in the near future," reads a letter, currently signed by more than 400 pastors, to the Council of Bishops. "But we do know the destructive effects that will result in our local churches and throughout the denomination if...

As an out Presbyterian preacher, I'd experienced prejudice before. But nothing like what I faced in North CarolinaI was reading "Home in Henderson" -- the unofficial city website for a small town in North Carolina where I had recently moved to preach -- when I came across the blog entry. It was posted under the pseudonym "Church Reporter." "A friend that attends the First Presbyterian Church told me to do a Google search on their new minister Brett Webb-Mitchell," the entry began. "Having done so, I have only three comments to make on the pastor selection: 1. Who is responsible...

Okay, here's the deal in a long story short. I was raised Lutheran, moved out to Long Island and continued to be raised in St. Paul's Lutheran Church. Aunt Jeannie (my name sake) has been a member since. I decided years ago I wanted back, so I went. I did not feel Him there, thought it was me. I kept looking around the congregation, thinking it was me. After a while, I realized it wasn't (a couple of things happened after that confirmed it wasn't me). Anywho, the icing on the cake was my Aunt Jeannie stopped going as well....

More news from the USCCB confab in Washington state: As many as 100 U.S. Anglican priests and 2,000 laypeople could be the first members of a U.S. personal ordinariate for former Anglicans who want to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church, Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington reported to his fellow bishops June 15. Cardinal Wuerl was appointed by the Vatican last September to guide the incorporation of Anglican groups into the Catholic Church in the United States under “Anglicanorum coetibus,” an apostolic constitution issued by Pope Benedict XVI in November 2009. At a news conference following his...

There has only been one official schism in the Roman Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council. That occurred in 1988, when Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four bishops against the express instructions of Pope John Paul II. That led to the excommunication of Lefebvre and those four bishops, and the schism of Lefebvre and his followers from Rome. Now 23 years have passed. In the history of the Church, it is often the case that, once a schism endures for a certain time, it becomes less easy to restore full union. Separate ecclesial cultures evolve, positions harden. Reunion postponed is...

CAMDEN - Rutgers University in Camden will host a woman theologian next week whom the university describes as a "female Catholic bishop." "Roman Catholic Bishop Patricia Fresen, one of only three ordained female bishops in the world," will lecture at the university at 12:20 p.m. April 15, according to a Rutgers news release.Fresen was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church in 2008, according to www.CatholicCulture.org."Patricia Fresen is not a Roman Catholic bishop. That would be the position of the Diocese of Camden," said Peter Feuerherd, diocesan spokesman, on Monday when contacted about Rutgers' symposium.The lecture is being sponsored by Rutgers-Camden's...

It took the Vatican about 72 hours to declare excommunicated Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and the four bishops he consecrated without a papal mandate on June 30, 1988. Whether one agrees with his decision or not, Lefebvre acted for what he thought was the best interest of the faithful, consecrating four bishops to preserve the traditional Mass and sacraments in a time of "diabolical disorientation" in the Church, to recall Sister Lucy’s memorable phrase. Indeed, the Church’s Code of Canon Law exempts from penalties such as excommunication one who acts out of what he believes is necessity, even if his good...

Editor’s Note: We’re reproducing the following article from The Remnant (February 1987) as a means of calling to mind how traditional Catholics generally reacted to the first interreligious prayer meeting held at Assisi in 1986. So scandalous was that event that to this day it is often cited as the “straw that broke the camel’s back” with respect to the breakdown in discussions between the Vatican and Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who described it as “an immeasurable scandal that has no precedent”. With a 25th anniversary event having been scheduled by the Vatican to take place in Assisi in October 2011,...

Are we witnessing the death of America's Christian denominations? Studies conducted by secular and Christian organizations indicate that we are. Fewer and fewer American Christians, especially Protestants, strongly identify with a particular religious communion—Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, etc. According to the Baylor Survey on Religion, nondenominational churches now represent the second largest group of Protestant churches in America, and they are also the fastest growing...

Gene Robinson, the homogenital bishop of New Hampshire and the first homosexual to be ordained to the episcopacy, has opted for an early retirement saying that seven years of controversy have "taken their toll" on him, his family and followers. Robinson told his diocesan convention that "the constant strain" was too much to bear. He went on to say that death threats, and the now-worldwide controversy surrounding his election as bishop, have been a constant strain, "not just on me, but on my beloved husband, Mark, who has faithfully stood with me every minute of the last seven years, and...

GROVE CITY, Ohio -- Critics of the country's largest Lutheran denomination and its more open stance toward gay clergy formed a new Lutheran church Friday at a meeting of a conservative activist group. The overwhelming voice vote by members of the Lutheran Coalition of Renewal created the North American Lutheran Church, a tiny denomination of churches formerly affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, headquartered in Chicago. . . .

Monday August 16, 2010 Fallout Continues from ELCA’s Gay Clergy Decision as Lutheran Churches Leave By Peter J. SmithCHICAGO, August 16, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The departure of several more congregations in central Illinois from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has once again highlighted how the denomination’s decision to approve active homosexual clergy has triggered a slow, steady bleeding of congregations.One year ago this month at its national convention, the ELCA voted "to open the ministry of the church to gay and lesbian pastors and other professional workers living in committed relationships." The policy change was decided by more...

Individual Lutherans may be informally "voting" against their current denomination with their checkbooks. Last November, the national Evangelical Lutheran Church in America church council, or board of directors, had to cut spending by nearly $7.7 million and eliminate the equivalent of 40 full-time jobs. That was just three months after the controversial vote to allow homosexuals in committed relationships in the pulpit. The organization reported a decrease in income of $2.9 million, or 15.6 percent, in the three-month period ending in April, compared to the same period in 2009. "The ELCA will endure but with smaller numbers and less money,"...

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America witnessed its biggest-ever drop in membership last year, according to a recently released analysis. By the end of 2009, ELCA membership stood at 4.5 million – 90 thousand less than the year before, reported the ELCA Office of the Secretary and ELCA Research and Evaluation. Before the latest drop, the biggest loss was 79 thousand – a drop witnessed in 2005. The ELCA congregation count, meanwhile, was recorded as 10,348 – 48 less than the year before. The largest-ever drop in the congregation count was recorded in 2004 – a drop of 72. Despite...

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America witnessed its biggest-ever drop in membership last year, according to a recently released analysis. By the end of 2009, ELCA membership stood at 4.5 million – 90 thousand less than the year before, reported the ELCA Office of the Secretary and ELCA Research and Evaluation. Before the latest drop, the biggest loss was 79 thousand – a drop witnessed in 2005. The ELCA congregation count, meanwhile, was recorded as 10,348 – 48 less than the year before. The largest-ever drop in the congregation count was recorded in 2004 – a drop of 72. Despite...

According to ELCA secretary David Swartling: "As of June 30, the Office of the Secretary has been advised that 462 congregations have taken first votes to terminate their relationship with the ELCA (some congregations have taken more than one first vote). Of these 462 congregations that have taken first votes, 312 passed and 150 failed. Synods also have informed the Office of the Secretary that 196 congregations have taken a second vote, 185 of which passed and 11 failed. (The numbers previously reported on June 3 for second votes contained an error; the correct number of failed second votes as...

Ann Coulter's recent column "Bill Kristol Must Resign" may have officially kicked off the next great schism within the conservative movement. At issue is the war in Afghanistan -- and, more specifically, whether Republicans should support President Obama's approach to a conflict that has now lasted for Americans far longer than World War II. Mocking neoconservatives, Coulter wrote: "Bill Kristol [editor of The Weekly Standard] and Liz Cheney have demanded that [Michael] Steele resign as head of the RNC for saying Afghanistan is now Obama's war -- and a badly thought-out one at that. (Didn't liberals warn us that...

HARVEY, N.D. — Grace Erickson has that air of the classic strong Midwestern woman, but tears welled up in her eyes as her husband talked about those who have left their church, First Lutheran. She said she’s brokenhearted about it. “I see families and I see friends being broken apart,” she said. “It’s a tough situation,” said Grace’s husband, Floyd, a custodian at First Lutheran, whom everyone knows as Lefty. “I see it. I work in that church ... taking that vote just kind of separated people.” The vote was First Lutheran’s second survey of its members’ desire to leave...

Seven years after the Episcopal Church caused an uproar by consecrating its first openly gay bishop, it has done the same thing again -- only this time with a woman. The Rev. Canon Mary Glasspool, of Baltimore, was ordained and consecrated on Saturday, making her the second openly gay bishop in church history and one of the first two female bishops in the Diocese of Los Angeles' 114-year history. Breakaway Episcopal conservatives have formed a rival church, the Anglican Church in North America. Several overseas Anglicans have been pressuring Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world's 77...

The Anglican rift over homosexual clergy has grown deeper than ever after the ordination in California of the Church’s first lesbian bishop. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, had previously called the move regrettable and warned that it called into question the place of the US Episcopalian Church in the global Anglican Communion. Mary Glasspool, 56, was ordained on yesterday in front of 3,000 supporters — and two protesters — in the Long Beach Arena, south of Los Angeles. Canon Mary Glasspool after her ordination as bishop in a Los Angeles arena Calling herself a “reconciling person”, she offered...

There are two separate stories with links to local news coverage. Northeast It's been 13 years since the Rev. Jim Callan and the now Rev. Mary Ramerman split with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester over a variety of practices and issues at Corpus Christi parish on East Main Street. Rochester schism claims 1,500 members In a manifestly supportive profile of a local schismatic Catholic community, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports that Spiritus Christi Church “has about 1,500 members on the books, about 1,100 in attendance at weekend liturgies, and an incredible 700 volunteers active in one or more...

Ten years ago I asked the following question in a column titled "It's Time To Part Company": "If one group of people prefers government control and management of people's lives and another prefers liberty and a desire to be left alone, should they be required to fight, antagonize one another, risk bloodshed and loss of life in order to impose their preferences or should they be able to peaceably part company and go their separate ways?" The problem that our nation faces is very much like a marriage where one partner has broken, and has no intention of keeping, the...

The co-pastor of an Atlanta Baptist church said she has no interest in stepping down, even though state and national leaders threaten to cut ties with her congregation because it is led by a woman. "I know this is hurting people, so I'm saddened," the Rev. Mimi Walker said. "I'm not so much offended but saddened for the path they're taking." Walker and her husband, the Rev. Graham Walker, co-pastors of the Druid Hills Baptist Church for two years, were told in late January that the Georgia Baptist Convention would recommend "defellowshipping" the Walkers' church unless Mimi Walker stepped down...

Chief Congressional Correspondent House Democratic leaders pledge to hold a vote on health care by their Easter break, which gives lawmakers about three weeks to resolve dozens of disagreements that stand in the way of passing legislation. "There is all kinds of stuff in the ether," Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., said, referring to the long list of differences Democrats have over how to write the health care bill. Democrats plan to have the House vote on a Senate-passed version of the plan and then make corrections in a smaller bill that would have to be approved by both chambers. Democrats...

ROY -- A church in Roy may end up affiliated with a different Lutheran congregation because of a split with national church leaders over gay priests. Last summer the Evangelical Lutheran Churches of America voted to allow openly practicing gay and lesbian pastors to preside over congregations instead of requiring gay pastors to practice celibacy, as had been the previous policy. The Standard-Examiner reports that vote has caused concern for at least one Utah congregation. Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Roy will hold a forum on Thursday to talk about the possibility of joining a different Lutheran congregation, the Lutheran...

The First Evangelical Church of the Atheistic Promulgation of Richard Dawkins is having its first schism. Awwww. Isn't that so cute. And guess what, poor widdle Dawkins doesn't like to be called names. Poor thing. The Times Online reports:Richard Dawkins is accustomed to provoking the wrath of religious communities, but now a schism seems to have opened up within the atheist community who make up his fan-base. The split occurred after he announced that a discussion section on his website, considered one of the busiest online atheist forums, would in future be tightly moderated and “irrelevant postings and frivolous gossip�...

She sings the litany. He delivers the sermon. It is Sunday morning at All Saints Episcopal Church in Sacramento and both the Revs. Michael and Betsey Monnot preside over the worship services, one of several ways the church keeps down expenses. "We trade off duties every week," said Betsey Monnot. The two priests, who are married and have two children and another due in three weeks, said the church could afford one full-time clergyperson. So they agreed to job-share and serve as co-rectors. "When you're a small church, you have to be creative," said Michael Monnot. He echoes a message...

The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia hedged on recognizing same-sex unions Saturday, instead voting to form a committee to set standards for church-sanctioned blessings of such unions once they are approved by the entire 2-million-member Episcopal Church. About 346 delegates to the dioceses annual council meeting at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria narrowly voted -- by a show of hands -- to form the committee. It was a less radical choice for the 80,000-member Virginia diocese, the largest in the Episcopal Church. A substitute amendment suggesting the diocese allow openly gay clergy and same-sex blessings failed after a lengthy debate. The...

The organization orchestrating the split from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will not be part of the new church. Dissident Lutherans overseeing a split from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) outlined their plan for launching a new denomination Thursday. But at the same time they announced that the new church will remain separate from the group that got it started. BACKGROUND:Lutheran CORE, an umbrella group of organizations, led the fight against the ELCA proposal to roster gay and lesbian pastors last summer. When the vote went in favor of gay pastors, CORE announced it would have a...

Sean Hannity had Ann Coulter as a guest on his show on Monday night and he asked her the question “how can we screw this up?” referring to the GOP. I can tell you exactly how we will screw this up and at the end of this column – how we can AVOID screwing this up. The way we can screw this up is the same way we screwed it up last time around. We can screw this up by..."

One mini-saga of the past decade in American politics has been the flirtation—with talk of a deeper partnership—between progressives and libertarians. These two groups were driven together, in the main, by common hostility to huge chunks of the Bush administration's agenda: endless, pointless wars; assaults on civil liberties; cynical vote-buying with federal dollars; and statist panders to the Christian right. This cooperation reached its height during the 2006 election, in which, according to a new study by David Kirby and David Boaz, nearly half of libertarian voters supported Democratic congressional candidates—more than doubling the support levels from the previous midterm...

MODESTO – The Episcopal-Anglican battle in Stanislaus County got very personal this week when the Episcopal faction filed a lawsuit against St. Francis Anglican Church in Turlock seeking control of the its assets. The suit was filed Monday in Stanislaus Superior Court by the Rev. Jerry Lamb, bishop of the Modesto-based Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin. It names the Rev. Gerald "Gerry" Grossman and nine members of the church's vestry, or ruling body, as well as the St. Francis parish as defendants. St. Francis is the first parish in the diocese to face an individual lawsuit in the dispute that...

I don’t belong to a Church which makes decisions about something as fundamental as the ordination of women priests by voting in a quasi-parliamentary General Synod. But, if I did, and if that Church then prepared to take the logical step of ordaining women bishops, I’d ask myself a simple question. Will these ordinations be valid? Then I stay. Invalid? Then I go. I am not saying that if you are an Anglo-Catholic who opposes women’s ordination then you must now seek to join the Ordinariate that Pope Benedict has set up for ex-Anglicans. Lots of conservative “Catholic Anglicans” don’t...

Nebraska and Iowa are feeling the fallout from a decision by the nation’s largest Lutheran denomination to allow non-celibate gay clergy and church leaders, as well as recognition of same-sex couples. Thanksgiving! Lutheran Church in Bellevue voted Jan. 31 to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, or ELCA. It takes two votes with at least a two-thirds majority, taken at least 90 days apart, for a congregation to split from the national church. The Jan. 31 vote was Thanksgiving!’s second vote, so it appears to make the church the first Nebraska congregation to break from the ELCA since a...

February 10, 2010 Church May Split Over Women Bishops and Gay Priests, Warns Rowan Williams Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent Members of the General Synod listen to Dr Williams?s address yesterday The Archbishop of Canterbury warned yesterday that damaging infighting over women bishops and gay priests could result in a permanent split in the Anglican Communion. Dr Rowan Williams stressed that he did not “want or relish” the prospect of division. He called on the Church of England and Anglicans worldwide to step back from a “betrayal” of God’s mission and to put the work of Christ before schism. But he...

MEDIA ADVISORY, Feb. 3 /Christian Newswire/ -- ELCA leader and Pastor Barry Hoerz is no stranger to twisting arms to get his way. While he was a member of the Weyauwega School Board in Wisconsin, he sued his colleagues over a disagreement and resigned his elected office. Hoerz serves the dwindling Saint John Lutheran Church in Weyauwega, with an average attendance of about 100. He wrote a letter to the editor of the Appleton Post-Crescent- part of a broad ELCA letter-writing strategy to shape public opinion about congregations leaving the group. The headline was "Homosexuals Are Now Part of LCMC...

J.I. Packer, one of the world's most renowned evangelical theologians, left the Anglican Church of Canada, citing "poisonous liberalism" in the church body. Packer, 81, who was named one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in the world by Time magazine in 2005, quit the Canadian arm of the global Anglican Communion with 10 other B.C. Anglican clergy last week, he said, according to The Vancouver Sun. They joined the more conservative and orthodox Province of the Southern Cone in South America. The Oxford-trained theologian said he can no longer serve under Vancouver-area Bishop Michael Ingham, arguing that he "appears...

Don't Let The Crazies Take Over The Playground Don't underestimate the importance of cultivating healthy relationships in your organization. Leadership blogger Jon Gordon reminds us today that research has found successful marriages have a 5-1 ratio of positive interactions. Similarly, workgroups with a 3-1 ratio of positive interactions are more effective. It's not all just about being happy-bunny at work, though. Pretending that all is wonderful when it's not is no better than scowling your way through everyday, ignoring all the good stuff. Gordon reports that workgroups with an 11-1 ratio of positive interactions are less effective. The point is:...

The Singsaas Lutheran Church of rural Brookings County has decided to drop its affiliation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. ELCA rules dictate that in order to leave, a congregation must hold two meetings at least 90 days apart. A vote taken at each meeting must pass with at least a two-thirds majority. For the historic "old church in the country" near Lake Hendricks, the process has already been completed , with the first vote held Oct. 18 and second vote Jan. 17. Singsaas President Trygve Trooien, a lifelong member of the church, said both votes passed with more...

Bishop Richard Williamson, the ultra-traditionalist prelate whose denial of the extent of the Holocaust created an uproar in the Catholic Church and with Jews early last year, has said the discussions at the Vatican to rehabilitate his Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) are a “dialogue of the deaf.� Williamson, one of the four SSPX bishops whose bans of excommunication were lifted by Pope Benedict only days after his controversial views were aired on Swedish television, said the two sides had “absolutely irreconcilable� positions. In a 15-minute interview posted on the French video-sharing website Dailymotion, Williamson discussed a number of...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) ― [Click to zoom.] Click to enlarge 1 of 1 ELCA convention delegates in August voted to lift a ban prohibiting gay and lesbian pastors who were not celibate from serving as clergy. (File) AP Close numSlides of totalImages Related Links * Read The Latest Local News * Read The Latest Political News The bishop of the South Dakota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America says seven congregations in the state have taken initial steps toward leaving the country's largest Lutheran denomination over its policy to allow gay clergy. The Rev. David Zellmer says...

The South Dakota bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America said he has no plans of leading his synod out of the denomination over last year's pro-gay actions. That's not to say he's content with the national body. "This is not the first time I have been upset with the church," the Rev. David Zellmer told local Lutherans Thursday at First Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls, according to the Argus Leader. Since last week, Zellmer has been hosting "conversations" at several Lutheran congregations to reflect on the actions of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly and their implications. Thursday's meeting was...

I believe it is time to leave the denomination that long ago left God. God's Word is true and the ELCA has decided that their thoughts are above God's thoughts. This is evident in many ways that I don't think the typical ELCA member is aware of. Below I outline a number ways the ELCA has turned away from God and deny the very Word of God. The ELCA church, that I am a member of, is in the process of deciding what they will do regarding the ELCA and if they will leave the denomination. If you believe the...

A decision to ordain actively gay clergy has caused deep fissures in the nation's largest Lutheran church group, with some traditional Lutherans saying they have been subjected to threats and retaliation as they consider breaking away. Several disaffected members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) say the decision made at the church's national convention in Minneapolis in August could prompt a major exodus from one of America's biggest Protestant denominations. "I wouldn't even begin to tell you how many thousands [of calls] I've gotten," said Paull Spring, chairman of Lutheran Coalition for Renewal, or CORE, a national coalition...

CLEAR LAKE — Members of Zion Lutheran Church voted to withdraw from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on Sunday, a reaction to the issue of practicing gay pastors. The vote was 238 to 119, exactly the two-thirds majority vote needed for it to pass. “I’m happy that they decided to go this direction because I think it sets the possibility for a new and stronger future for the congregation,” said Rev. Dean Hess, senior pastor at the Clear Lake church. Carole Roth, church council president, said she was pleased with the results, too. “Certainly God has spoken today,” she...

NEW YORK – AOL resumed life as an independent Internet company Thursday as it completed its spinoff from Time Warner Inc. and closed the book on one of the most disastrous business combinations in history. AOL shares fell 47 cents, or 2 percent, to $23.20 in afternoon trading. Today's AOL is much different from the company once known as America Online, which got big in the 1990s by selling dial-up Internet access and then used $147 billion of its inflated stock to buy Time Warner. AOL, which is now worth about $2 billion, is trying to get most of its...

The Oromo Evangelical Lutheran Churches have unanimously voted to join Lutheran CORE. Lutheran CORE is honored to have these faithful Christians standing with us. We are humbled by their faithful witness both during the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly and since then. These faithful Christians faced persecution in their homeland of Ethiopia. They know what it means to stand firm in faith even in the face of intense opposition. Their witness is a source of encouragement to all who bear the name of Christ and to all who stand on the witness of Scripture and thus in opposition to the ELCA...

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...

Mainline Protestant churches seem to have weathered the past decade better than many people have assumed, but the future is raising serious challenges to continued stability, said a Christian pollster. George Barna analyzed data for The Barna Group's latest report examining mainline denominations. Weekend attendance at mainline churches has remained relatively stable, ranging from 89 to 100, over the past decade but the report suggests that they may be "on the precipice of a period of decline." Mainline bodies – which the research group identifies as American Baptist Churches in the USA; The Episcopal Church; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in...

Six area churches in the Wolf River Region have voted in recent weeks to sever ties with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Two other churches have votes coming up, said the Rev. John Justman, bishop of the East-Central Synod of the ELCA in Appleton. All eight of the churches are in either Waupaca or Oconto counties. Justman said he thinks several of the churches will eventually leave the ELCA. “It makes me sad — they’re all special, and they’ve been good partners,” he said. “And if they do leave, we will wish them well. There’ll be sad feelings, not...