Church of England Bishop Removed
The Church of England has recently made public that in disciplinary proceedings last August retired Bishop Peter Hullah was sanctioned and forbidden to act in any capacity as a clergy person for the rest of his life. The reason for the action was charges brought by two women that he had committed sexual improprieties with them in 1984 and 1999. Hullah was already controversial for mishandling the disciplining a music director at the church school Hullah headed. The faculty member had sexually abused children at the school. This is the most serious penalty handed down under the "Safe Church" provisions of the Church of England.
Architect of Schism Dies
We note the death of The Rt. Rev. John Rogers at age 92. Rogers was a founder and Dean of Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge and was one of two priests ordained as a bishop by four bishops (from Rwanda, Southeast Asia and two retired TEC bishops) in a service not associated with any diocese or the Episcopal Church in 2000. The church plants and congregations they oversaw became part of the Anglican Mission in America, and then were merged into ACNA when it formed. Several of Rogers's students are now ACNA bishops.
Parochial Data for TEC Released
The parochial report data for 2020-2021 has just been released, much later than usual. The on-going pandemic affected not only the date the data came into the church, but clearly affected the data itself. Although the church membership shrank again by 3%, that was a slower decline than many larger denominations. Attendance, however, took a very large hit. With parish buildings closed for part of the reporting period, and difficulty in figuring out how to count attendance of those attending via live streaming, zoom, or viewing recordings after the fact, the attendance figures took a tremendous drop. One bright spot was that giving was actually up. Worth noting since this blog is based in Pittsburgh, that diocese was one of six dioceses that actually did not show a loss in memberships. You can find more data here.
Continuing Stories
More on the Recent Bishop Elections
Last week update commented on the contrasting elections of bishops that had occurred over the preceding weekend, one in Ohio and one in Florida. This week, The Living Church took that contrast further with more detail. Ohio elected the Rev. Anne Jolly on the second ballot, with a slate of all women. In Ohio the question of full inclusion of LGBTQA people is a given, and was not an issue. In Florida, although the Rev. Charles Holt was elected on the first ballot, the convention was much longer than in Ohio because of a number of protests and parliamentary maneuvers by those who challenged whether Florida's second attempt to elect a bishop was actually legal, a challenge that had sunk Florida's first attempt. Holt is a conservative who has opposed atempts to fully include the LGBTQA community in the church. Despite his promise to fully implement the resolution B012 which requires every diocese to provide a means for same sex couples to have church blessings and marriages, many of those raising objections were skeptical.