What Did the Anglican Consultative Council Mean?
Responding to the Archbishop of Canterbury's claim (see last week's
Update) that the ACC had fully adopted the "consequences" outlined in the January
Communique issued at the Primate's meeting, six members of the Standing Committee including its chair and vice chair
issued a statement saying that the ACC had endorsed nothing except the desire to continue to work together, and that "received" is not the same as "endorsed" or "affirmed." Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon of Nigeria, the current Secretary-General of the Anglican Communion followed with
a defense of Archbishop Welby's interpretation. More interpretations are sure to be forthcoming.
Virginia Suffragan Bishop to Serve Jointly as Assistant Bishop in England
The Church of England continues to find ways to increase the number of women serving as bishops . The latest is the outgrowth of partnership ties between the Diocese of Virginia and the Diocese of Liverpool. Suffragan Bishop Susan Goff of Virginia has been commissioned as an Assisting Bishop in the Diocese of Liverpool. She will continue to have duties in Virginia and will commute periodically to England. Her first duties in England will be to share in the June ordinations scheduled for Liverpool and to speak at that diocese's clergy conference. The arrangement has the approval of both Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and Archbishop of York, John Sentamu. She will also be available to Liverpool on-line. You can read more about the arrangement
here or watch a Facebook
video of Bishop Goff explaining what she will be doing.
Sale of Church Off Before Bishop Bruno Locked Out Newport Beach Congregation
The
Update report of May 2, noted that evidence had emerged that the supposed sale of the church building in Newport Beach had been cancelled weeks ago. The online newspaper, the Newport Beach Indy
has now revealed that the sale offer had been withdrawn in June 2015, probably before Bishop Bruno locked the congregation out of the building under the pretext that it had been sold. One of the partners in the condominium complex planned for the church site withdrew its financing when it learned that there might be a restriction on the deed limiting the property to use by a church. At that point the investors cancelled the sale. Bruno has sued the company that originally donated the land for damages because its insistence that the original deed restrictions were never removed has held up the sale. Documents filed in that suit provided the evidence that the sale was dead before the end of June 2015. This article has generated a
fair amount of discussion on a Facebook page dedicated to issues of interest to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church.
New Zealand Synod Struggles with Same-Sex Blessing Resolution
The Anglican Synod in 2014 authorized a committee to study and propose a way to bless civil marriages of same sex couples. The committee report has been a major focus of the Synod meeting now in New Zealand. Two (Maori and Polynesian) of the three ethnic strands of the New Zealand church were ready to approve the blessing forms brought forward, but the seven dioceses in New Zealand were divided and looking for ways to accommodate those unhappy with the idea of blessing same-sex couples. After a closed door discussion for voting members only on Monday afternoon, the
Synod granted time to the "Pakeha" strand to try to rewrite the resolution to make it more acceptable. They are expected to report by the synod meeting on Wednesday. The
Anglican Communion and
New Zealand news sources cover the various concerns leading up to Monday meeting.