Presiding Bishop Restricts Bishop Bruno
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has issued a partial restriction on Bishop Jon Bruno of Los Angeles directing him to not sign any sales agreements until the Hearing Panel completes its work and issues its decision. The measure adds legal weight to the order of the Hearing Panel issued when they were presented with evidence that Bruno had negotiated a new sale of the St. James property in Newport Beach. The Episcopal News Service has issued both the press release and a story on the Presiding Bishop's actions. The Church attorney in the hearing has now filed an addendum to his filing about the rumored sale asking that Bruno be deposed as a bishop and recommending a forensic audit of the Corporation Sole records. The reader comments on these and the Episcopal Cafe story are worth reading. For the earlier action by the Hearing Panel, see the Pittsburgh Update here and here.Bishops From Around the World Continue Building Bridges
A group of Bishops from the Anglican Communion issued their communique from the latest in a series of conversations begun in 2010 to build bridges and understanding among parts of the Communion. Twenty-two bishops, including two from TEC (Virginia and Oklahoma) met in Kenya to continue learning about each other. The Anglican Church of Canada has facilitated the meetings and provides the staff. Over 45 bishops have participated in at least one of the meetings. Most have been from Africa and North America.ACNA Meeting Continues Disruption of Communion
Last week the Provincial Council and Assembly of ACNA met at Wheaton College, just outside of Chicago. The Council ratified the entrance of the schismatic South Carolinia diocese into ACNA. The South Carolinians had voted at their diocesan convention in March to join ACNA. The move compounds the confusion of ACNA's overlapping jurisdictions in South Carolina, a point noted by blogger Steve Skaradon in his posting on June 28. It also clearly ends Bishop Mark Lawrence's claim to still be part of the Anglican Communion.In a separate action at the ACNA meeting, the group consecrated Andrew Lines as Bishop to Europe. GAFCON bishops decided to consecrate their own bishop for Europe in response to the decision of the Scottish Episcopal Church to allow same -sex marriage. (See Updates here and here.) The Archbishop of Sydney and the Bishop of Tasmania, both members of the Province of Australia, participated in the ceremony over the objections of Archbishop Philip Freier, the Primate of Australia. The Sydney diocese is an extremely conservative low church diocese usually at odds with the rest of its province. The Tasmanian bishop already serves on the Anglican Relief and Development Board, the agency created by Bishop Robert Duncan shortly before the creation of ACNA to provide an alternative to Episcopal Relief and Development. The rationales of the two Australians for participating reflect the muddied status of the whole project. Sydney Archbishop Glenn Davies defended his action as the consecration of a bishop for people who were no longer in the Church of England or Scotland and thus he was not participating in a "border-crossing," ( a position that undercuts ACNA's claim to being part of the Anglican Communion) while Bishop Condie of Tasmania claimed he was going to show support for those who were remaining in the "true" church.