Week Ending 12/03/18

Primates from the Americas Meet ad Elect Anglican Communion Standing Committee Member

Canada hosted a regional meeting of primates from Anglican Communion Provinces in the Caribbean, and South, Central and North America.  All provinces were represented and they discussed a number of issues.  The primates also elected a representative to sit on the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion.  Presiding Bishop Michael Curry declined to be considered in order not to upset some members of the communion.  The Canadian primate also declined, noting he was due to retire within a year.  The group chose Archbishop Julio Murray of Panama, the primate for the Province of Central America.

Presiding Bishop Statement on Death of George H.W. Bush

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry issued this statement upon the death of former U.S. President, George H.W. Bush. The funeral will be at the National Cathedral.  Bush was a lifelong Episcopalian as was his wife.

Conservatives Upset by English Cathedral Dean

When a student organization wanted to hold an Carol Service at the Derby Cathedral, the Dean of the Cathedral agreed, but he refused their first choice of preacher.  That choice was a man whose parish has refused to pay assessments to the diocese because of its stand in favor of inclusion of  LGBTQ people and because a member was "insulted" when she tried to support conversion therapy at a diocesan synod meeting.  Those associated with GAFCON are raising a stink claiming he has banned the clergy person from the cathedral. Typical is this Anglican.ink story.  Dean Stephen Hance invited another leading evangelical conservative to preside instead.

New Zealand Church Issues Apology to Maori 

Archbishop Philip Richardson  of the "Settler" strand in the threefold structure of the Province of Aotera, New Zealand and Polynesia, led a deputation to Tauranga Moana iwi to apologize for the Church's failure to hold on to land entrusted to the Church Missionary Society in the 1830s.  In 1867 the Society protested but did not prevent the government from claiming 526 hectacres of ancestral lands of the Maori.  Maori leaders were on hand to welcome the deputation and receive the apology.  The loss of this land has long been a source of on-going pain for the Maori.

Church in Japan Begins Campaign to End Use of Nuclear Power

The Anglican Communion province in Japan, the Nippon Sei Ko Kai has announced a campaign to end the use of Nuclear Power stations worldwide.  Japan, of course has more experience than any other nation in the power of nuclear explosions, and following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami has the most recent experience with a nuclear power station disaster.  The Anglican New Service has more details. 

Updates on Ongoing Stories

Another Filing in Fort Worth Appeal

The filings seem endless in the lawsuit over Episcopal Church property in Texas.  The latest filings are based on identity claims each side making the case that documents needed to be interpreted from a stance that their side was the real diocese of Fort Worth. You can read the latest filing by the schismatic group here.  Update provided links to the filings this latest brief references here. 

South Carolina Parish Defying Court Decision

 In August 2017 the South Carolina Supreme Court awarded the diocesan property and the property of 29 parishes participating in the schismatic group to the Episcopal Diocese.  Implementation of the decree was assigned to Judge Dickinson, a SC district court judge.  He has not yet made a ruling, although he has received filings and had a hearing on some of the issues.   St. Jude's parish in Walterboro, however has decided to act as if the supreme court decision had not been made and is listing for sale some of the church property.

Lawsuit by Bishop Sauls Postponed

Retired Bishop Stacy Sauls was put on leave during an investigation of working climate issues in December 2015, and  let go from his position at the Episcopal Church Center in April 2016 when the position was eliminated by Presiding Bishop Curry.  He has been frustrated in his search for a new position, so he filed suit against the Episcopal Church in Alabama where he was living in 2017, but the Alabama suit was thrown out of court,  and he filed a new suit in New York where the Episcopal Center offices are located. The hearing was scheduled for late this year, but has now been delayed for several months more.

More Commentary on the Albany Ban on Same Sex Marriages

Responses to Bishop Love of Albany's announcement that he would defy General Convention and forbid implementation of Resolution B012 in his diocese because it was part of a "gay agenda" that was the work of "Satan" have continued to surface.  St. Andrews in Albany invited everyone to attend their services on the First Sunday of Advent  when they had a visitation from their DEPO bishop, DeDe Probe of Central New York, and hung a rainbow flag as part of their Advent door decorations.  The rector of an inclusive parish in Schenectady responded in his parish's December newsletter by countering Love's statement and vowing the church would continue to be inclusive.  The Standing Committee of Albany put out a non-committal announcement that they had had a conversation with the Presiding Bishop, and Mark Harris wrote a scathing rejoinder in his blog.  

Another All-Woman Slate for Bishop Announced

Update has noted that in several recent episcopal elections dioceses chose from slates where all the candidates were women.  These were all for diocesan bishops.  Now the Diocese of Texas has announced the slate for their election of a suffragan bishop to replace Suffragan Bishop Dena Harrison, and it is three women, all of whom serve in the Diocese of Texas.