Episcopal Church Criticizes Cut in Refugee Admissions
The decision by Donald Trump to cut the number of refugees admitted to the U.S. to 18,000 for 2020 has elicited strong protests from the Episcopal Church and other churches who work with refugees. The U.S. expects to receive over 380,000 requests for entry from refugees next year, and the quota is the lowest since the U.S. began its refugee program in 1980. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry authored an opinion piece for Religion News arguing that welcoming refugees was a part of Christian faith. The Episcopal Migration ministries also issued a strong statement.Georgia Church Offers Rest Stop for First Responders
Ben Day, the rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Kennesaw, Georgia occasionally rides along with the police as part of his service as police Chaplain. He noticed that the officers needed a place where they could use the restroom, or regroup after a troubling event. His parish responded by creating St. Michael Law Enforcement Chapel which was dedicated after the main service on Sunday, September 29. The chapel is actually open to all first responders and offers a quiet place for decompression, prayer, and refreshment, as well as clean restrooms. It is open to people of all faiths. The local paper carried a feature story on the new chapel.Southern Africa Church Joins in Boycott
The Provincial Synod for the Anglican Church of Southern Africa voted to join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement to protest Israel's treatment of Palestinians. While South Africa is the largest country in the province, the province includes several other countries in southern Africa. The resolution warned people to not confuse Zionism with Judaism, condemned all forms antisemitism and Islamophobia, and compared the experience of Palestinians with that of blacks under apartheid. The synod also requested that bishops from all over the Anglican Communion vote on a similar resolution during Lambeth 2020. The full text of the resolution is here.Primate Changes for Two Provinces May Bring Slight Change
Both the Provinces of South East Asia and Nigeria have new primates, but the change seems unlikely to bring much softening of the hard-line GAFCON stances these two provinces have espoused. The Archbishop, Henry Chukwudum Ndukuba, seems to be fully on-board with Nigeria's anti-LGBTQ stance. He has been the Archbishop of Jos, and area with a Muslim majority. South East Asia primates have been involved with the revolt against inclusion of LGBTQ for many years. South Asia provided one of the bishops that took part in the irregular ordination of bishops for the Anglican Mission in America, and has close ties to the GAFCON stronghold in Australia, the Diocese of Sydney. The new Archibishop, Datuk Melter Jiki Tais is a member of the largest ethnic group in diocese of Sabah, which he has served as bishop. There may be some softening of a GAFCON stance in South East Asia since Melter is serving on the 2020 Lambeth Planning Committee and his province has not yet announced whether they will boycott Lambeth or not.Follow-Ups to Previous Stories
Church of England Gets Another Taste of Division
The announcement by a priest in Cornwall that he intends to leave the Church of England and start a parish affiliated with GAFCON brings another taste of the divisions that the churches in the U.S., Brazil, Scotland, New Zealand, and Canada have been dealing with. GAFCON has its own bishop and structure outside the church structures in the British Isles The Cornish minister was most upset by recent guidance by the church on how to deal compassionately with transgender people and previous baptisms.
Wales First Province to Reach Episcopal Gender Parity
When Update reported last week on the election of Cherry Van as a bishop in Wales, we failed to note that her selection means that half of the six bishops in Wales will be women. Wales thus becomes the first province in the Anglican Communion to reach episcopal gender parity with three women and three men.
Mediation Proves Fruitless in South Carolina
State district court Judge Dickson tried to punt on the implementation of the property decision referred to his court by the South Carolina state supreme court by ordering everyone to mediation, but the attempt fizzled. The implementation of the 2017 decision is now squarely back in Dickson's courtroom. A full day of mediation resulted in no agreements in South Carolina. That was hardly surprising given that two previous rounds of mediation also came to nothing (see Update here and here.). The two parties each issued the identical agreed-upon one sentence announcement of that fact. They are here and here. Blogger Steve Skardon has more to say in his September 26 posting.
Canadian Province Moves Forward on Same-Sex Marriage
The Diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador has implemented parish choice in the matter of same-sex marriage and several parishes have moved forward to declare themselves willing to provide such celebrations. The most recent Canadian Synod by the vote of two bishops turned down a proposal that would have approved same-sex marriage ceremonies for the whole Anglican Church of Canada. This however left in place an interpretation of canons that allowed bishops to permit such celebrations in willing parishes. The Bishop of Eastern Newfoundland-Labrador has now moved forward after receiving petitions from 8 parishes. They are willing to provide services for non-members who cannot be married in their own church, regardless of denomination.
South African Primate Remains Positive Despite Synod Defeat of Same-Sex Blessing Proposal
South Africa is the only African country recognizing and permitting same sex couples to marry. While South African Anglicans may be willing to move forward with blessing same-sex marriages, the rest of the province of Southern Africa (St. Helena and Tristan da Cunha, Mozambique, the
Republic of Namibia, the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Kingdom of Swaziland
and Angola) is more hesitant. Three years ago the provincial synod voted against such blessings, and the 2019 synod had the same outcome. Archbishop Thaba Makgoba remains positive however, seeing progress in the discussions on sexulaity that have been held in the province. He will continue to look for a what for the church in South Africa to offer blessings.