News for Week Ending 6/16/2014

Archbishop of Canterbury and Pope meet in Rome

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has visited Rome and, among other things, met with Pope Francis. (Welby also met with the Vatican cricket team.) The meeting, which was notable for the unanimity of the two leaders on the subject of modern slavery and human trafficking, is described on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Web site. Welby’s address to Francis is here, and Francis’s address to Welby is here.

Executive Council completes June meeting

The Executive Council of The Episcopal Church met in Phoenix June 10–12, 2014. The Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs released the opening remarks of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and President of the House of Deputies the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings. A summary of Executive Council resolutions can be found here. Among the actions of the Executive Council was the authorization of two lines of credit to be extended to the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin.

South Carolina property trial nears

As we reported earlier, the lawsuit brought by the breakaway group led by former Bishop of South Carolina Mark Lawrence against loyal South Carolina Episcopalians is scheduled to go to trial on July 7, 2014. Ronald J. Caldwell, Ph.D., Professor of History Emeritus at Jacksonville State University has written a blog post suggesting that the Episcopalians are likely to lose at the trial court level but will likely prevail eventually. He finds the recent tentative decision in the San Joaquin case and the discussion between the two sides to be especially encouraging. (See Pittsburgh Update story here.) You can read the Caldwell post here. Caldwell has also published a helpful chronology of events related to the schism in the South Carolina diocese.

Sewanee allows same-sex ceremony

The Tennessean reported June 10, 2014, that Sewanee: The University of the South will allow a commitment ceremony to be celebrated in its chapel for the newly married couple of Kathryn Kendrick and Eva Walton. (Kendrick is a Sewanee alumna.) The university at first rejected the request of the lesbian couple. Its position was reversed after a social media campaign was initiated to get the university to reconsider. (See Facebook group Rethink this, Sewanee.) According to The Tennessean, “the ceremony will be slightly revised to further differentiate it from marriage.”

Filmmaker seeks to make Clemente a saint

According to the Los Angeles Times, Richard Rossi, the director of the film Baseball’s Last Hero: 21 Clemente Stories, is seeking to have former Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder declared a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. Clemente, who was involved in various charitable causes, lost his life in 1972 in a plane crash while taking relief supplies to earthquake-ravaged Nicaragua.