Week Ending 03/20/17

Some Conservatives Concerned about Supreme Court Nominee Gorsuch Because He Attends Episcopal Church

Update first noted that Supreme Court Nominee Neil Gorsuch was a member of St. John's Episcopal Church in Boulder immediately after his appointment was announced.  St. John's bills itself as an inclusive church with a rector who attended one of the women's marches the day after the inauguration. Episcopal Cafe reports that Episcopal Church stances and his parish's activities are continuing to worry some conservatives.  You can find examples of this concern in this article from the Christian Post and this blogger. The National Review has taken the concerns seriously enough to post a rebuttal. The best discussion of Gorsuch's religion is probably found on CNN.

UN Conference on Women Opens

The Anglican Communion News carried a story about the enthusiasm with which Anglican women approached the UN Conference on women now meeting in New York.  Anglican women from around the globe are among the 8000 women from NGOs attending the conference.   The conference has taken up numerous issues of women's rights and is focusing this time on economic rights. You can learn more about the meeting and the Americans attending as part of the Anglican deputation here.   The deputation being sent by the U.S. government may be a problem.  While  the official U.S. deputation appointed by the State Department is headed by Nickey Haley, it also includes two members who have opposed women's and LGBT rights vehemently, so vehemently that the organization one of the two heads is listed as a hate group.  The other's mission states it is opposed to most of the statements on women's rights issued by the UN.

ACNA's Truro and Diocese of Virginia to Cooperate on School for Peace and Reconciliation

At the Diocese of Virgnia's annual meeting Bishop Shannon Johnston announced that talks were under way for a jointly sponsored institute in Fairfax City to look at Peace and Reconciliation.  The institute would be a joint venture of the diocese and Truro Church, an Anglican Church in North America, which lost a hotly contested lawsuit over church property to the diocese and now rents its building from the Episcopalians.  All te details are not worked out and it will be interesting to see if this measure goes forward.  Previous gestures of friendship between the diocese and Truro were quashed by the ACNA bishop with jurisdiction over Truro.

Spat Over Diocese in Wales Not Electing Jeffrey John Continues

When Archbishop Barry Morgan retired both as archbishop and from his duties as Bishop of Llandaff, the Diocese held an election for a new bishop.  Jeffrey John, whose homosexuality cost him a mitre in the Church of England, was one of two candidates.  Neither reached the required 60% of votes and the diocese will have to hold another election.  John has raised concerns that he failed because the church simply didn't want to deal with the publicity and possible controversy that would come if he were elected. The most recent group to weigh in are Members of Parliament from Wales. Numerous sources have weighed in with statements,  You can find the best roundup of these statements on Thinking Anglicans.  

Anglican Communion Makes Two Announcements of Interest

The African leaders involved my not be the usual GAFCON leaders, but the Anglican Communion is definitely paying attention to its non-western members in recent appointments. The Anglican Center at the Vatican has a new head and he is Archbishop Bernard Ntahoturi, the former primate of Burundi.  GAFCON leaders were unhappy with Ntahoturi because he was willing to maintain ties with the TEC.  Ntahaoturi represented protestant churches at the negotiations that led to the end of Civil War in Burundi and is looking forward to building on the good ecumenical relations already in place with the Vatican.  Meanwhile, the committee planning for the Lambeth Conference for 2020 has met and set dates for the meeting of Anglican bishops -- the last week of July at Canterbury.  The planning committee is headed by the Archbishop of Capetown, Thabo Makgoba. Africa is also represented by Bishop of Nairobi, tow women (not ordained) with African roots, the moderator of the Church of North Indian and the Bishop of Sabah in Malasia.  Two TEC representatives are part of the group, the head of Virginia Theological Seminary and the Bishop of Dallas.