News for Week Ending 6/25/2012

Danish Lutheran bishops offer same-sex rite

Episcopal News Service reported June 13, 2012, that eight of the ten bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark presented a rite for same-sex marriage to the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs in response to parliament’s authorizing same-sex marriage in either a civil or church venue—see Pittsburgh Update story here. (The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark is a state church.) As part of the Parvoo Communion, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark is in communion with the Church of England, which has resisted gay marriage. Details can be found in the ENS story here.

English bishops protest CoE position on gay marriage

As we predicted last week, the controversy in the Church of England over the anonymous paper opposing the government’s plan to approve gay marriage—see Pittsburgh Update story here—continues unabated. The Telegraph has now reported that two Church of England bishops, Alan Wilson, Bishop of Buckingham, and Tim Ellis, Bishop of Grantham, have distanced themselves from the statement. This row over gay marriage threatens to become another major controversy—provisions for women bishops being the other—at next month’s General Synod. Readers are again referred to Thinking Anglicans for recent and future news on the latest Church of England controversy.

Episcopal Church budget battle heats up

As the July 5 beginning of the 2012 General Convention approaches, the budget controversy has become more complex. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has now offered an alternative budget to the original triennial budget that was widely criticized. (See Pittsburgh Update story here.) The alternative budget was reported by Episcopal News Service. Katie Sherrod, a member of Executive Council, has written a detailed explanation on her blog of what many see as the dysfunctional way the budget has been produced. The budget is expected to be the subject of lively debate at the General Convention. The Living Church has reviewed other matters of interest coming before the General Convention here.