News for Week Ending 7/18/2011

NZ church to study gay and lesbian ordination

On July 12, 2011, Episcopal News Service reported that the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia is about to embark on a study to determine the appropriateness of ordaining gay and lesbian persons in the New Zealand church. A commission is to be set up to explore the issue and to report to the 2014 General Synod/te Hinota Whanui. A recent legal opinion suggested that bishops ordaining gay or lesbian persons would be on canonical thin ice. Additional details can be read in the ENS story here.

Explanation offered for formation of Anglican Mission in England

The Rev. Richard Coekin, Director of Co-Mission, has published an explanation of what the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE) is intended to be and how it came about. (See Pittsburgh Update story here.) His apology is titled “We rejoice in the emergence of the ANGLICAN MISSION IN ENGLAND.” The essay is best understood after reading “Co-Mission Plays Role in AMiE’s Launch” from The Living Church. Coekin’s essay is not easily summarized, but it is fair to say that it asserts that the AMiE is the result of Church of England bishops’ failing to view “homosexual practice” as a “salvation issue.” It remains to be seen how the Church of England will treat this incursion into its jurisdiction. Coekin repeatedly describes the AMiE as “Anglican,” but does not strongly identify it with the Church of England.

Status of gay weddings varies by diocese in NY

The recent legalization of gay marriage in New York—see Pittsburgh Update story here—has led to a patchwork of decisions by Episcopal bishops in the state. According to a July 18, 2011, story in The New York Times, “gay and lesbian Episcopalians will be allowed on Sunday to get married by priests in Brooklyn and Queens, but not in the Bronx or Manhattan or on Staten Island; in Syracuse but not in Albany.” General Convention, of course, has not approved same-sex marriage, though it has given bishops latitude in dealing with the matter in their jurisdictions. An AP story offers another analysis of the situation in New York. Whereas some stances were predictable—no one expected gay marriages in Episcopal churches in Albany—some are surprising. According to Rachel Zoll, “gay priests with partners in the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island will head to the altar. They have to. Their bishop set a nine-month deadline for them to marry or stop living together.”

Church restarts in Northern Cambria

St. Thomas Episcopal Church of Northern Cambria was scheduled to reopen July 17, 2011. (See Pittsburgh Update story here.) The Tribune-Democrat of Johnstown published a story on the event July 16, 2011. It can be read here.