News for Week Ending 1/25/2010

Church of England covenant approval process outlined

According to Thinking Anglicans, members of the Church of England’s General Synod have been sent a description of how approval of the Anglican covenant will be considered by the Church of England. According to that description, the Faith and Order Advisory Group will make a recommendation to the church’s House of Bishops, so that bishops may consider the covenant in May. According to the author of the paper, William Fittall, the church’s decision will require 18 to 24 months from December 18, 2009. As indicated in a comment on the Thinking Anglicans post, Articles 7 and 8 referred to in the paper can be found here.

The Lead reports on Glasspool consents

The Episcopal Church maintains no running tally of votes to consent to or withhold consent to the consecration of newly elected bishops. On January 25, 2010, however, The Lead, a blog sponsored by the Diocese of Washington, offered an unofficial tally of decisions made so far by diocesan standing committees about the consecration of Los Angeles suffragan-bishop-elect Canon Mary Glasspool. Glasspool could become the second openly gay partnered bishop in The Episcopal Church if she gets the consents of a majority of the church’s standing committees and a majority of bishops with jurisdiction. (See Pittsburgh Update story here.) According to The Lead, 15 standing committes have voted their consent, and 5 standing committes have withold consent. The Diocese of Los Angles reported that requests for consent for Glasspool were sent January 5. Standing committees and bishops have until May 5, 2010, to act on the election of Glasspool.

Bennison appeals sentence

According to Episcopal News Service, on January 19, 2010, Bishop Charles Bennison, the currently inhibited bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, appealed his conviction for conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy. Bennison was found guilty in 2008 of failing to act on the knowledge that his brother, a youth minister at the time, was engaging in sexual misconduct. Bennison was denied a new trial or dismissal of the charges against him by the original trial court (see Pittsburgh Update story here). He has now appealed to the Court of Review for the Trial of a Bishop.

Bishop Price invites conversation

On January 20, 2010, Bishop Kenneth L. Price, Jr., Pittsburgh’s provisional bishop, sent letters to “lay leaders and clergy of 40 congregations that have not actively participated in the Episcopal Church since October 2008,” according to a story on the diocesan Web site. In his letter, Price invited recipients to meet with him face-to-face to discuss what he called “misunderstandings about the Episcopal Church.” Price noted that the diocese still views the parishes that consider themselves members of another diocese as being part of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. His letter can be read here. Episcopal News Service wrote about the reconciliation effort here.