News for Week Ending 6/2/2014

Bishops in Dialogue reaffirm Communion as family of churches

Meeting for the fifth time since the 2008 Lambeth Conference, the so-called Anglican Bishops in Dialogue released a statement following their May 22–25, 2014, convocation in Coventry, England. Anglican Communion News Service reported on the meeting and provided background here. The statement has much to say about reconciliation within the sometimes contentious Anglican Communion. Most noticed has been this declaration: “We are family. The Anglican Communion is a family of churches. It is not a Church itself. There is much we have in common as Anglicans, which is
evidenced in mutuality in mission, but we remain independent and diverse provinces.” Mark Harris took special note of this statement on his blog.

ECW requests survey responses

The Episcopal Church Women (ECW) National Board has created an ad hoc committee to advise it on the future of the ECW. According to a letter to Episcopalians from that committee, “We are attempting to determine how the organized ministry of women, known as ECW, will have a continuing role and impact on the life of The Episcopal Church.” The committee is asking Episcopalians—there is no suggestion that only Episcopal women are being asked—to respond to a brief survey. The letter and a link to the on-line survey can be found here.

Chicago Standing Committee expresses support for marriage equality in Illinois

The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago issued a statement on June 1, 2014, “to express its strong support” for the advent of legal same-sex marriage in Illinois on that date. The statement asserts that “as Episcopalians, we have seen the joy and blessing that same sex marriages have brought to our communities.”

Crusty Old Dean makes General Convention predictions

The next General Convention is still more than a year away, but blogger Tom Ferguson, Dean of Bexley Hall Seminary, has posted some predictions about what he thinks will and will not happen in Salt Lake City. Some of his predictions are credible, but, even if Ferguson is off-base, his blog post, like most of his posts, is amusing.

Movie preview has Episcopal connection

The movie The Fault in Our Stars, which is based on the bestselling John Green novel of the same name, will be the focus of a June 5, 2014, red-carpet preview at Carmike Galleria Cinemas at 1500 Washington Road in Mt. Lebanon. The Fault in Our Stars enters general release on June 6. The movie is a love story involving teenagers who meet in a cancer-support group that meets in an Episcopal church. The movie was partially filmed in Pittsburgh, and one venue used is St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Mt. Lebanon. (Click here for ticket information.) Lisa Brown, Director of Children’s Ministry at St. Paul’s wrote about the movie here.