The University Sermon at Oxford on 6 November 2005 was preached in the University Church of St. Mary by The Reverend Canon Marilyn McCord Adams, Regius Professor of Divinity.
It was titled: A serious call to a devout and holy life.
The full text of this sermon can be found as a Word file, here.
Or alternatively as an ordinary web page here.
14 CommentsUpdate Wednesday
Ruth Gledhill has more about this on her blog at Southwark acts against unorthodox ordinations.
Unauthorised Service at Christ Church Surbiton
Press Release from Southwark Diocese
The Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Rev Dr Tom Butler, has written to the clergy in his Diocese explaining why he has revoked the licence of the Revd Richard Coekin. This follows the unauthorised ordination of three members of Mr Coekin’s staff team which took place at Christ Church Surbiton on November 2nd. Writing “We do not do schism in the Diocese of Southwark” the Bishop points to Church tradition and law that bishops from outside the Diocese have no authority to perform ordinations within it without the express permission of the Diocesan Bishop.
The case was made more complicated by the bishop concerned being a bishop from the Church of England in South Africa, a church not in communion with the Church of England nor a member of the Anglican Communion
Mr Coekin had earlier threatened to take action of this sort unless the Bishop of Southwark dissociated himself from the House of Bishops’ Pastoral Statement on Civil Partnerships.
As well as revoking Mr Coekin’s licence the Bishop of Southwark made it clear that the three people involved in the unauthorised ordination, Andy Fenton, Richard Perkins, and Loots Lambrechts have no legal authority to claim to exercise ordained ministry in the Church of England in the Diocese of Southwark.
Ends
The full text of the bishop’s letter appears below the fold.
54 CommentsLast Saturday there was this piece on the Today radio programme, which I missed at the time (hat tip AM)
58 CommentsA church in London has had three of its priests ordained by a foreign bishop, in protest at the Church of England’s stance on homosexual relationships. We hear from the church’s minister, Reverend Richard Coekin, and the Rt Reverend John Gladwin, the Bishop of Chelmsford.
Two items from the BBC Radio 4 Sunday programme today.
Changing Attitude
The Anglican Campaign group Changing Attitude is celebrating its tenth anniversary this weekend. …the Anglican Communion’s first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson, accepted an invitation to fly to the UK and join the birthday celebrations. He was speaking at St Martin in the Fields church in London yesterday, November 5th.
Listen here (7 minutes) Includes interview with Gene Robinson and also one with Davis Mac-Iyalla in Nigeria.
See also this BBC news report, Gay bishop attacks Catholic stand
Uganda
The Church of England and indeed the whole of the Anglican Communion is in an edgy, some would say fractious, mood over issues such as homosexuality, the authority of scripture and whether the communion can hold together in its present form. Against that background two events this week have led some to fear that a break up is already starting here in the English church…
Listen (6 minutes) An interview with Pete Broadbent.
1 CommentSeveral this weekend are about the 400th anniversary of the gunpowder plot. In the Guardian Catherine Pepinster (who is editor of The Tablet) wrote about this and in The Times Geoffrey Rowell wrote Remember, remember the legacy of suspicion, intolerance and hostility.
Christopher Howse however, wrote about The vision of Magnus Martyr.
In The Tablet *Michael Barnes continues the gunpowder theme with Terror, treason and plot and there are also book reviews. related to this.
Giles Fraser in the Church Times asks Is Sandy Millar a Trojan horse?
The gunpowder theme even extends to Peter Steinfels in the New York Times with A Day to Think About a Case of Faith-Based Terrorism. (hat tip KH)
18 CommentsPat Ashworth has this lengthy report today, Divisions dominate Global South conclave. There is a related editorial comment Sinners A & M.
28 CommentsUpdated
There are several stories about the irregular ordinations that took place in South London this week.
Ruth Gledhill in The Times has Church imports bishop to be tough enough on gays
Jonathan Petre in the Telegraph has Evangelicals defy bishop by holding ‘irregular’ ordinations and it gets covered in the Guardian story on Robinson already linked which has a strapline ‘Rogue’ ordinations escalate church crisis.
As background to this, see these statements:
Reform EVANGELICAL CHURCHES IMPORT AFRICAN BISHOP FOR ORDINATION
the co-mission initiative NEWS OF ALTERNATIVE ORDINATION which has a list of signatures of persons supporting this action, including several well-known names, and a link to a press release in Word format. The full text of the latter is reproduced here, below the fold to make it more easily available.
Anglican Church League Sydney The Anglican Church League, Sydney, expresses unqualified support for London ordinations
Further press coverage:
Reuters UK group imports African bishop in gay clergy row
Ekklesia Conservatives by-pass bishop over ordinations
Updated Friday morning
Both Lambeth Palace and the Anglican Communion Office issued press releases about this. The differences were in the headlines used:
Lambeth Palace Archbishop – ‘friendly but candid’ meeting with Bishop Gene Robinson
ACNS Archbishop Williams meets with Bishop Robinson
The press reported on this quite quickly:
Reuters Williams has “candid” talks with gay U.S. bishop
Associated Press Archbishop of Canterbury meets with Robinson
Times Online website Ruth Gledhill Rowan Williams has ‘candid’ meeting with gay US bishop
And Ruth has much more to say in her blog: Archbishop meets Gene Robinson
Friday morning
The paper edition of The Times has this version of the above: Archbishop meets US figure at heart of row
Independent Robert Verkaik Archbishop meets cleric who set off gay clergy row
Guardian Stephen Bates (who actually talked to the bishop) has Gay US bishop in ‘candid’ talks with Archbishop of Canterbury
Jonathan Petre in the Telegraph mentions it but gives priority to the Southwark ordination story (of which more anon) in Evangelicals defy bishop by holding ‘irregular’ ordinations
The BBC, coming late to the party (having previously focused on the Oxford Union), notes that Gay bishop meets head of Church
The BBC Today radio programme carried an interview with Gene Robinson in its prime 8.10 am slot and also had this earlier brief report (Real Audio required)
Update
Associated Press Bishop Predicts Acceptance Of Gays
BBC Bishop’s battle ‘for soul of church’ by Robert Pigott
The Church of England Newspaper website is already updated this week, and has:
Global South holds back from action against liberal provinces by George Conger and Andrew Carey
Archbishop appeals for unity in Egypt by Andrew Carey
And also, an analysis: Communiques message delivers a blow to West by Andrew Carey
3 CommentsACNS has published an interview with Archbishop Peter Carnley entitled The Panel of Reference – An Update.
In this interview he draws attention to the Panel web pages on the same site. Here’s an extract from the interview:
…I understand from the Chief of Staff at Lambeth Palace that at the moment there are a number of cases that have been drawn to the attention of the Archbishop, and those involved have been invited to collate the material necessary in order to enable the Panel to begin its work. So in fact the first formal referrals are only just coming through.
Can I emphasise the Panel is totally committed to acting with despatch on these issues. There are very substantial reasons why the work of the Panel has taken time, but we should see some positive action very shortly.
There have been several high profile appeals to the Panel, notably the Diocese of Recife in Brazil, and the Diocese of Fort Worth in the United States. Have you any comment to make on these?
Well, I’m aware of both the serious situation of dispute in Brazil and of the appeal of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth. I understand that the Archbishop of Canterbury is talking with all parties to find the best way forward in Recife. The Panel itself recommends that every effort should be made for a pastoral intervention and reconciliation rather than the sort of formal process that reference to the Panel involves. The material requested in support of the application from Fort Worth has recently been sent on to the Panel’s Secretariat from Lambeth Palace, and we are beginning to process that now.
In a further press release, ACO announces that:
The Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, the Revd Canon Kenneth Kearon, has appointed the Revd Canon Philip Groves as the facilitator of the “Listening Process” for the Communion.
See the full press release about Philip Groves here. For TA’s earlier report on the recruitment process for this position, see here: ACO advertises for unaligned listener.
1 CommentThe Times Ruth Gledhill Williams apologises to ‘cultural captives’
Telegraph Jonathan Petre Church faces crisis over gay policies
Guardian Stephen Bates and Mark Honigsbaum Anglican traditionalists warn church on gay rights
Another press report, not British, is in Christianity Today and is by Timothy C. Morgan Anglicans ‘Severely Wounded’. This contains more information not reported elsewhere.
And also there is this press release from the Province of Nigeria: GLOBAL SOUTH ANGLICAN CHURCHES COME OF AGE
37 Comments