News for Week Ending 10/11/2010

Baltimore congregation may defect to Rome

According to The Living Church, the congregation of Mt. Calvary Church, an Anglo-Catholic parish in Baltimore, Maryland, may soon decide to leave The Episcopal Church and take advantage of the Vatican’s offer to join the Roman Catholic Church while maintaining certain Anglican traditions. (See Pittsburgh Update story here.) The vestry has voted unanimously to leave The Episcopal Church for Rome, and the congregation will vote October 24, 2010, on two resolutions, one to leave The Episcopal Church and one to petition the Roman Catholic Church to become an Anglican-use parish, according to an October 6 article in The Catholic Review. It is expected that the congregation will negotiate with the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland to purchase the parish property if the congregation votes to leave the diocese.

Plano church to leave AMiA for ACNA

According to a story on the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh Web site, Christ Church Plano (Texas) has announced its intention to leave the Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMiA) and to join the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) as part of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh. The large, suburban Dallas congregation, lead by the Rev. Canon David Roseberry, left the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas in 2006. Shortly thereafter, it became part of the AMiA, which is sponsored by the Anglican Province of Rwanda. The Plano church, which supported the establishment of ACNA, began consideration of a move from AMiA after AMiA withdrew from being a full member of ACNA. (See Pittsburgh Update story here.)

Omaha church challenging Dennis Canon

VirtueOnline reported September 29, 2010, that Anglo-Catholic St. Barnabas Parish in Omaha, Nebraska, is challenging the Dennis Canon in litigation brought by the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska. The vestry of St. Barnabas voted in 2007 to leave the diocese and take the parish property into the Traditional Anglican Communion, a body that is not part of the Anglican Communion and is seeking to become part of the Roman Catholic Church. (See Pittsburgh Update story here.) Parish leaders believe that the Dennis Canon, which declares that property is held in trust for The Episcopal Church, will not be upheld under Nebraska law.

Pittsburgh to hold annual convention October 15–16

The annual convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh will be held at Trinity Cathedral October 14 and 15, 2010. Information about the convention, including pre-convention materials, can be found here. On October 11, 2010, the diocese sent e-mail to deputies. It contained substitutes for the two resolutions to be voted on. The revised resolutions are not on the diocesan Web site as this is being written. The e-mail message, however, can be read here. A number of workshops are being offered on Saturday, October 16, which are open to all. Descriptions of the workshops can be found on the diocesan Web site here.