Week Ending 02/24/20

Consecration of New Bishop in Taiwan Goes On Despite Coronavirus

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry was the chief consecrator at the  service for the new bishop of Taiwan on Saturday, February 22.  The Archbishop and other bishops from Hong Kong had to cancel attendance given restrictions on travel related to the coronavirus, but the Taiwan Diocese, which is one of the overseas dioceses of the Episcopal Church went ahead with the ceremony.  They did cancel a planned banquet following the service.  The planners announced precautions they were taking to prevent the large gathering to be possible site of exposure to the virus, but these were not expected to include having participants in the consecration wear masks.Taiwan has reported 30 cases (including one death) of the virus, most associated with one family with a member who was in China in December.

Mexican Anglicans Aid Families Seeking News of "the Disappeared"

The Anglican Church of Mexico has joined with the Roman Catholic Church in trying to support the pleas of families searching for information on what has happened to loved ones who they fear have been killed by cartels in the on-going violence in Mexico.  The various morgues in Mexico have a backlog of 30,000 unidentified bodies, and while the Mexican government had promised to create a genetic database and ask help from the United Nations, nothing has been done.  Anglican Churches have held special masses to support the families and are petitioning for action.  The Anglican Communion News Service has the full story.

Updates on Continuing Stories

South Carolina Episcopalians Request Writ from South Carolina Supreme Court

The South Carolina Supreme Court remitted the implementation of their decision on Episcopal church property to Circuit Court Judge Dickson in 2017.  Since then he has delayed hearings, and has made only one ruling confirming the South Carolina Supreme Court decision that 9 parishes had never assented to the Dennis Canon.  He has refused to move forward on implementing the ruling in favor of Episcopalians on diocesan property and another 29 parishes.  South Carolina Episcopalians are concerned that he intends to use a February 27 hearing to consider a motion filed by the schismatic group that would then let him relitigate the entire property issue.  As a result Episcopalians have filed a writ with the state supreme court asking that the judge be barred from doing anything except dismissing schismatic group's motion.  The Episcopal diocese's web site has both a explanation of the action and a link to their filing with the South Carolina Supreme Court. Blogger Steve Skardon has additional commentary in his February 22 post.