Church of Sweden elects first woman archbishop
Episcopal News Service
reported that Bishop Antje Jackelén was elected the first woman archbishop of the Church of Sweden, a church in the Lutheran World Federation. The October 15, 2013, election will make Jackelén the first woman to head the Swedish church.
Anglican Ink also reported on the election, adding that Jackelén has said that belief in the virgin birth is inessential to Christianity.
GAFCON II begins in Nairobi
The second Global Anglican Futures
Conference (GAFCON) is now underway in Nairobi, Kenya. It runs from
October 21 to October 26, 2013. Extensive reporting is being done by the
conservative site,
Anglican Ink.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby visited Nairobi briefly on
October 20, staying with Kenya’s Archbishop Eliud Wabuka, preaching at
two services at All Saints Cathedral, and meeting with the Primates’
Council of the
Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans. Anglican Ink
reported that Welby greeted Archbishop Robert Duncan, of the
Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), before preaching at the cathedral, but had to
report the next day that Duncan was flying back to the U.S. for emergency dental surgery. (ACNA is also covering GAFCON II
here.)
Anglican Ink
wrote
about Welby’s visit to Nairobi, suggesting that Welby gave at least a
partial endorsement to the the GAFCON movement. Video of one of Welby’s
two sermons is available
here, although it is not clear whether it is Welby’s first sermon or his second.
Ballarat votes to have women priests
The
Anglican Diocese of Ballarat, in the
Anglican Church of Australia, has voted to ordain women priests. Ballarat is a Victoria town about 70 miles west of Melbourne. The
story was reported by
The Courier of Ballarat on October 20, 2013.
PB, UTO president issue joint statement
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and United Thank Offering (UTO) president Barbara Schafer issued a
joint statement October 18, 2013, declaring that all involved parties will work to heal “recent challenges.” The statement comes after four members of the UTO board resigned over proposed UTO bylaw changes. (See Pittsburgh Update story
here.)
Executive Council meets in Chicago
The Episcopal Church’s Executive Council met in Chicago October 15–17, 2013. Opening remarks by the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies can be found
here. A summary of resolutions passed by Executive Council is
here.
Seitz declares conservative defeat in Episcopal Church sex wars
The Rev. Canon Christopher Seitz, Senior Research Professor at Wycliffe College in the University of Toronto and president of the
Anglican Communion Institute, has declared that traditionalists have been defeated in the sex wars within The Episcopal Church. The question now, Seitz declared at the conference marking the 50th Anniversary of the 1963 Toronto Anglican Congress, is whether The Episcopal Church will make room for traditionalists. George Conger wrote about Seitz’s views on his
blog, reproducing a story he wrote for
The Church of England Newspaper.
N.J. bishops to allow priests to perform same-sex marriages
As a result of a decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court and the decision of New Jersey’s Governor Chris Christie not to appeal the decision further, same-sex couples began getting married in New Jersey October 21, 2013. Bishops in both the Episcopal Diocese of Newark and the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey will allow priests to officiate at same-sex marriage ceremonies, Episcopal News Service
reported.
Fort Worth appeals
The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth has, as
expected, made an appeal to the Texas Supreme Court October 18, 2013,
for a reconsideration of the August 30 decision that vacated the trial
court finding that awarded diocesan property to the Episcopal diocese.
(See Pittsburgh Update story
here.) Anglican Ink reported the story
here.
PEP lists questions for convention
The pre-convention information meetings for the November 1–2, 2013, annual convention were held this past week. (See Pittsburgh Update story
here.)
The PEP board prepared a number of questions, primarily about the proposed
budget, and these were largely asked and (to a degree) answered, though
not always satisfactorily and definitely not on the record. Lionel
Deimel has posted the questions from the board on his
blog, and interested people can read them there.
Bishop delays decision on same-sex issues yet again
In a letter
to clergy of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, Bishop Dorsey
McConnell announced his intention to delay his announcement of his
decisions regarding same-sex blessings and the ordination of partnered
homosexuals until after the annual diocesan convention. The bishop
offered three reasons for the delay. His most important reason for the
delay, according to McConnell, is to be able to offer “all active
assistance and support” to clergy “fielding questions and ministering to
a variety of responses from your people.” Lionel Deimel published and
commented on the letter on his
blog.