South Carolina Supreme Court Hears Property Arguments
The SC Supreme Court heard
oral arguments in the church
property cases on September 23. Both sides faced numerous questions from the
judges. Several justices made comments suggesting
that the original trial court had been less than balanced. Both sides have issued press releases about
the hearings. Those who
remained in the
Episcopal Church stated that they finally felt as if they had been able to
present their case. The group following Bishop Lawrence used
much of their press release to
restate their case. While those
supportive ( see September 23 post on scepiscopalians.com) of
TEC were generally pleased with what happened in court,
opponents of TEC’s
legal position have raised issues of bias, asking why justice Kaye Hearn had
not recused herself since she is a member of the Episcopal Church. The day before these hearings, the federal
judge who was supposed to hear the federal trademark case
again stayed the case
until after the state court issues had been resolved.He had already ruled this way once and had
been ordered by the appeals court to hold the trial.
Conciliation Fails in Los Angeles
The conciliation process asked for by the panel of review in
the Charges filed against Bishop Bruo of Los Angeles for actions taken to close
the parish of St. James in Newport Beach and sell the property to a developer
was
unable to resolve the issues. The
parish continues to
meet on the grass in a park across from the church. Bishop Bruno’s lawyers continued to depose
people throughout the process, despite orders from the panel to both sides to
do nothing that would further inflame the situation. The matter goes back to the panel or review
which can either dismiss the case or proceed towards further gathering of information
and a full hearing by the panel elected at General Convention to hear bishop’s
cases.
Anglican Communion Loses Two Prominent Lay Members
Death has claimed two lay members of the Anglican Communion
who had made prominent contributions to religion. Choir members around the world are familiar
with the many arrangements, compilations and choral works by
David Willcocks
who died September 17 at age 95. Willcocks had a long association with Kings
College, Cambridge serving for many years as organist and choir director. He also headed the Royal College of Music.
Phyllis Tickle, an active lay member of the
Episcopal Church, founding editor of the religion department for Publisher’s
Weekly and author in her own right of numerous books on theology , faith and
spirituality died from lung cancer on September 22. Tickle, frequently sought out as a speaker for retreats, and for comments
on religious issues by the media, had spent her last several years exploring
emerging churches.
Rwandan Churches in USA Affiliate with ACNA
The border-crossing efforts in North America by the Anglican
Church of Rwanda have now been officially released by that province to be part
of ACNA. Rwanda is one of the provinces
in the Anglican Communion that has rejected the Episcopal Church and supports
making the Anglican Church in North
America a member of the Anglican Communion.
PEARUSA formed in 2012 from parts of the Anglican Mission in America who
remained attached to both ACNA and Rwanda following a split in group. (See
Update story from 2012.)
Top Level Talks
Several different meetings concluded this last week which
involved the Episcopal Church and leaders of other denominations. The
International Commission for
Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue met in Buffalo, New York September
19-25. The Church of the Annunciation
(Greek Orthodox) served as host. Although there is no member of TEC on currently on this commission, the
group attended evensong at St. Paul’s cathedral and received a greeting from
Bishop Franklin of Western New York. Top Evangelical Lutheran bishops
met in Washington, D.C. with their counterparts in the Episcopal
Church and the Anglican Church of Canada. Their main topic of conversation was lay presidency. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada has recently made limited provision for this in remote parishes. (see Update Story
here.) This meeting coincided with an ecumenical
meeting on faith and the environment being held at the National Cathedral in
Washington at which Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori also spoke.
Anglican Communion Continues to Explore Global Warming
Issues
The provincial council of the Anglican Church of Southern
Africa has
voted to study divestment from fossil fuel companies. The study is to result in a report to the
Provincial Synod in 2016. In their discussion, they noted that churches in
Britain, New Zealand and the U.S. had already divested. In England, Archbishop Justin Welby
endorsed the United Nations goals for a sustainable environment.
European Churches Continue to Deal with Refugee Crisis
While a gathering at St. Michael’s College in Cardiff, Wales
of the Anglican Communion bodies in Europe were grappling with the refugee
crisis, the Archbishop of Canterbury
announced that he would host two refugee
families at Lambeth Palace in London. The
regional meeting of Anglican
leaders from Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and England (and its churches in
continental Europe) was looking for ways to cooperate in dealing with a variety
of social justices issues, of which the refugee situation loomed large. The meeting was the first regional meeting of the churches.