News for Week Ending 3/28/2011

Standing Committee meeting begins

Anglican Communion News Service reported on the first day of the Standing Committee meeting March 26, 2011, here. A report on the second day was posted March 28 here. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori is not attending due to prior commitments. However, the Rt. Rev. Ian Douglas, Bishop of Connecticut, is at the meeting. It is not clear whether any business of special importance to The Episcopal Church or to the integrity of the Anglican Communion will be taken up at the multi-day meeting.

Church Times offers Covenant guide

Church Times, a U.K. publication covering the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, has published a guide to the Anglican Covenant. It is available as a 12-page PDF file. The guide contains a number of essays both favoring and opposing the Covenant. It also contains an annotated version of the Covenant text. The Church Times publication may be a better study guide to the Covenant than those published by either the Anglican Communion Office or The Episcopal Church. It is available here.

Fort Worth Episcopalians attempt to force document disclosure

In the continuing battle over church property in Fort Worth, The Episcopal Diocese of Forth Worth filed a motion March 25, 2011, to compel the defendants who broke away from The Episcopal Church to surrender documents that have been requested. The motion asserts that the documents properly belong to the Episcopal Church diocese and that the defendants are dragging their feet. Of particular interest in the filing is this sentence: “However, Defendants have worked irreparable harm during this litigation, including purporting to encumber church property with a $3,500,000 lien [emphasis in original] despite having no legal right to the property.” Both sides in the litigation have also entered into an agreement to preserve relevant documents. Both filings were reported by the Episcopal diocese here. (The most recent Pittsburgh Update story on the Fort Worth litigation can be found here.)