Week Ending 03/13/17

Episcopalians Support Washington March Against Pipeline

The Episcopal Church provided a large contingent of marchers, including seminarians from the Virginia Theological Seminary and five bishops with Native American heritage, to the recent march in Washington D.C. organized by those opposing the building of the Dakota Access pipeline. North Dakota Bishop Michael Smith led a prayer service at the National Cathedral the night before the march.   Despite nearly complete construction, the Standing Rock Dakota and others continue to fight the line's activation and use.  The most recent previous Update article on these efforts is here.

St. James the Great in Newport Beach Prepares for Bruno Hearing

Members of St. James the Great in Newport Beach, CA have posted notices on both their web page and Facebook giving the time and location of the Hearing Panel that will try the complaint members filed against Bishop Jon Bruno of Los Angeles for lying and going back on promises made to the start-up congregation.  The hearing will be held on March 28-30, 2017 at a Marriott Courtyard Hotel in Pasadena.  The parish is encouraging anyone with interest to attend. The most recent previous update story is here.

Tanzanian Anglican Leaders Remain at Odds

The battle between the current Archbishop of Tanzania and his predecessor (the Bishop of Dar es Salam continues. The Archbishop has supposedly deposed Bishop Mokiwa for bribery and financial wrongdoing, but his actions have raised a reaction in the Tanzanian House of Bishops that could lead to efforts to impeach Archbishop Chimeleyda and reinstate Bishop Mokwa.  The Anglican.ink story on the latest events suggests that lines are actually drawn between evangelicals and ango-catholics.  For previous Update coverage, begin here.

South Carolina Schismatics Join ACNA

After several years of trying to go it alone, Mark Lawrence has led his diocese into the Anglican Church of North America.  The group, which claims to be the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, but not a part of the Episcopal Church voted overwhelmingly at its annual convention to join ACNA.  Both the ACNA Archbishop, Foley Beach and former Archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola were guests at the convention.  It is not clear what effect this might have on the group's claims to the term "Episcopal Diocese" and "Episcopal Bishop."  Blogger Steve Karadon Jr. offers commentary in his March 3 and 10 entries at scepiscopalians.com.

Controversy Continues as North Declines Appointment as Bishop of Sheffield

Philip North has declined appointment  as Bishop of Sheffield, citing the opposition within the diocese.  North, currently Bishop of Burnley, and a conservative who does not ordain women as priests, was unable to convince critics that he could be sufficiently supportive of women's ministry in the diocese.  Comments and statements in reaction to his decision have been coming in from all quarters.  Episcopal Cafe and Thinking Anglicans have links to most of the statements here, here, and here.  What happens next for the diocese is covered in this piece.  You can find the previous Update coverage here.

EU Headscarf Ruling Prompts Church of England Response

A recent ruling by the EU courts that employers can fire women for wearing headscarves was worded broadly enough to raise major concerns for the Church of England.  Despite Brexit, the Church of England is still affected by EU rulings because it has parishes spread across a number of countries in the Diocese of Europe.  The ruling suggested that employers could not target a specific kind of religious garb or ornament, but could have policies forbidding all forms of religious identification.  This would mean not only the hijab, but yarmulkes, Sikh turbans, and crucifixes would be covered by such a policy.  The Church of England statement is here.

Anglican Communion Growing to 39 Provinces with Division of Province of Sudan and Southern Sudan

The continuing hostility between the Sudan and Southern Sudan has led to approval of a request the Primate of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan and Southern Sudan to grant the  Episcopal Church of Sudan status as a separate province in the Anglican Communion.  While the strife-torn country of Southern Sudan has a large Christian population, Sudan has a majority Muslim population.   Sudan applied to the Anglican Consultative Council in 2016 for separate status and a fact-finding team from the ACC has reported back favorably on creating the new province.  Formal admission of the province will occur in July when Archbishop of Canterbury Welby makes a visit to the Sudan.  The Pittsburgh Update has reported recently on action against Christian churches in the Sudan. The hope is that the new province will give Anglicans more support in the country.