News for Week Ending 1/31/2010

West Indies, Myanmar adopt Covenant

According to Anglican Communion News Service, The Church in the Province of the West Indies adopted the Anglican Covenant in November 2010. In the same story, the adoption of the Covenant by The Church of the Province of Myanmar (Burma) is mentioned, though no date for the acceptance is given. Three churches of the Anglican Communion have now adopted the Covenant.

Note that the status of the Covenant in the churches of the Anglican Communion is being tracked by the No Anglican Covenant Web site.

Primates’ Meeting concludes with minimum drama

The Dublin meeting of Anglican primates concluded January 30, 2011. Approximately 2/3 of the primates attended, with many conservative primates staying away because of the presence of the Episcopal Church’s Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. (See Pittsburgh Update story here.) The meeting did not issue the usual post-meeting communiqué. Instead, it issued individual documents on particular topics (the nature of the Primates’ Meeting, the crisis in Haiti, climate change, and the murder of Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato), issued two open letters (on gender-based violence, and the crisis in Zimbabwe), and sent several letters whose contents have not been disclosed (to the primate of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, to the leaders of Pakistan, to the prime minister of Israel, to the nations negotiating the status of Korea, and to religious leaders in Egypt.) Issues of homosexuality and the church or of boundary violations seem not to have been much discussed.

Episcopal News Service, in a January 30 story, offers a fine summary of the meeting, with links to documents, to a brief video by the Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori, and to audio of the concluding news conference. Anglican Communion News Service published a number of stories about the meetings, beginning January 22.

Virginia moving forward on same-sex blessings

The Living Church reported January 25, 2011, that Bishop of Virginia Shannon S. Johnston will begin working with parishes to develop guidelines for conducting same-sex blessings in the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. Johnston announced his plan at the 2011 Annual Council, which was held January 20–22. Johnston also said that he hopes the 2012 General Convention will formally authorize same-sex blessings.

Anglicans appeal Fort Worth ruling

As expected—see Pittsburgh Update story here—the breakaway Anglican Fort Worth diocese has filed court papers in response to the Tarrant County court ruling that the Episcopal Church’s Diocese of Fort Worth is the proper custodian of diocesan property and the diocesan corporation. Defendants’ Objections to Form of Summary Judgment Orders, which was filed January 25, 2010, seeks to stay enforcement of Judge John Chupp’ January 21 order, pending appeal. The original order required a transfer of property within 60 days.