Christopher Howse in the Daily Telegraph had this to say about the papal announcement on the Tridentine Mass: The facts about a misreported Mass.
David Bryant in the Guardian wrote about Jean-Paul Sartre in Face to faith.
In The Times Stephen Plant writes about Simone Weil in A passionate companion on the path to religious truth.
And for a bonus article, here is an extract that the Guardian reprinted from Stephen Bates’ new book, God’s Own Country: Tales from the Bible Belt. The piece is entitled Thou shalt not judge.
12 CommentsThose who felt uncomfortable about the process which the General Synod approved last Sunday for the Church of England to respond to the ACO about the Draft Anglican Covenant may be interested in this.
Nine members of the Episcopal Church’s Executive Council (which is somewhat similar in function to the CofE’s Archbishops’ Council) have been appointed to draft the Church’s response to the first version of an Anglican covenant. None of them are bishops.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson made the appointments. The nine members of the Covenant Response Drafting Group are:
The group is charged with writing a proposed response of the Executive Council to the draft Anglican covenant for the council, to be considered at its October 2007 meeting in Dearborn, Michigan. Anderson said that the drafting group will also “design a process for continuing to gather input from the entire Episcopal Church to aid the Executive Council in its response to subsequent covenant drafts.”
32 CommentsFrom the Wycliffe Hall website:
During the first week of July, Wycliffe Hall hosted over 100 visitors from around the Anglican Communion for a four-day consultation. Building on the work of a similar venture exactly five years ago, we were able to invite a wide selection of bishops and pastors, theologians and those in mission agencies. They came together to confer on two key matters of common concern: taking forward the proposed Anglican Communion Covenant and examining the challenges and opportunities for Anglican Mission in the ‘First World’.
There were good contingents of visitors from Australia and New Zealand and from the United States and Canada, as well as smaller numbers from Continental Europe, South America and the Caribbean, Africa and the Middle East. Each day included worshipping together and hearing from the Scriptures (focused on Ephesians). The consultation concluded with a Communion service in the chapel with a decidedly African feel as it was presided over by Bishop Gideon Githiga (Kenya), with a sermon from Archbishop Mouneer Anis (Egypt) on the theme of covenant renewal.
Wycliffe owes many thanks to those who made this consultation possible—especially our co-hosts in the Anglican Communion Institute. It is hoped that many of the ideas, generated through building good relationships and creative discussion, will bear fruit during the coming months as the Covenant Design Group receives input from around the Communion and as bishops prepare to gather for the Lambeth Conference in July 2008.
Papers are available as PDF files here and here and also here, and some are now on the ACI website:
When God Brings Things to a Point by Philip Turner
Why a Covenant, and Why Its Conciliar Form: a Response to Critics by Ephraim Radner
The Place of Confession in an Anglican Covenant: Outline by Ephraim Radner
Covenanting in the Church and in Scripture – Congruent or Discordant? by Christopher Seitz
Following Christ the Lord by Martin Davie
From the Diocese of South Carolina website:
12 CommentsNo Petition Candidates Submitted for Bishop’s Election
The deadline for the submission of petition candidates for the Bishop’s Election of the Diocese of South Carolina has come and gone. No petitions were submitted.
The special Bishop’s Election, as previously called by the Standing Committee on June 9, will be begin at 10:00 am on August 4, 2007 at St. James Church, James Island. Registration of clergy and lay delegates will begin at 8:00 am. Immediately following the celebration of Holy Communion the convention will convene to elect the XIV Bishop of South Carolina. We request that each mission and parish submit the names of their specially elected lay delegates to the Diocesan office as soon as possible.
The Rev. J. Haden McCormick
President, Standing Committee
The Church Times has a leader about the General Synod: Sins of the Synod.
Giles Fraser writes about the synod too: Talk about life, not church politics.
And there is a summary of what happened in Synod pushes Brown for more power.
Full detailed reports of synod are in this week’s paper edition of the Church Times and will be on the public web next week.
5 CommentsThe Ugandan primate, Archbishop Henry Orombi has written an article entitled What Is Anglicanism?
The article is a very clear statement of his views. He says that he will not meet with the ECUSA House of Bishops in New Orleans, as he has been invited to do by the Archbishop of Canterbury. And the Ugandan bishops will not attend the Lambeth Conference next year if ECUSA bishops attend. There are further comments on this at TitusOneNine including some by Ephraim Radner and Stephen Noll. Mark Harris has also written about this here.
It ends with this:
41 Comments…If, as I have suggested, the future of Anglicanism lies in a revival of the key Reformation and evangelical principles that shaped the Church of Uganda and our mother Church of England, then our instruments of communion need to find a way to serve that vision. I fear, however, that our conciliar instruments are in danger of losing their credibility and being rendered irrelevant. The resolutions of the Lambeth Conference of Bishops have always had a moral authority among the communion’s autonomous but interdependent provinces, yet some of those resolutions are now flagrantly defied and even mocked.
We primates have worked hard in recent years to find consensus even in our present situation of broken or impaired communion. Through the grace of God, our communiqués have been consensus statements, unanimously agreed upon, and they are evidence of our commitment as primates to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3). Yet some provinces have not taken our communiqués seriously, and the primates, as an instrument of communion, have been scorned.
The current crisis presents us with an opportunity to mature into a global communion that represents not just historic bonds of affection but also an advancing mission force for the Kingdom of God that Jesus inaugurated. For this to happen, our instruments of communion may also have to become instruments of discipline. As a member of the primates’ standing committee, I was invited to come to the United States in September 2007 to attend the meeting of the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops. But I recently wrote the archbishop of Canterbury and informed him that I could not participate.
Among my reasons is this: In February 2007, the primates of the Anglican Communion met in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and made certain requests of the Episcopal church. It is my conviction that our Dar es Salaam communiqué did not envision interference in the American House of Bishops while they are considering our requests. For me to violate our hard-won agreement in Dar es Salaam would be another case of undermining our instruments of communion. My decision to uphold our Dar es Salaam communiqué is intended to strengthen our instruments of communion so we will be able to mature into an even more effective global communion of the Church of Jesus Christ than in the past.
In December 2006, the House of Bishops of the Church of Uganda unanimously adopted “The Road to Lambeth,” a statement drafted for a council of African provinces. Among other things, it stated, “We will definitely not attend any Lambeth Conference to which the violators of the Lambeth Resolution [1.10] are also invited as participants or observers.” Accordingly, if the present invitations to the Lambeth Conference stand, I do not expect the Ugandan bishops to attend.
It is important that this decision not be misunderstood as withdrawing from the instruments of communion. On the contrary, our decision reflects the critical importance of the Lambeth Conference: Its value as an instrument of communion is greatly diminished when the persistent violators of its resolutions are invited. If our resolutions as a council of bishops do not have moral authority among ourselves, how can we expect our statements on world affairs to carry weight in the world’s forums? An instrument of communion must also be an instrument of discipline in order to effectively facilitate meaningful communion among its autonomous provinces.
The Church of Uganda takes its Anglican identity and the future prospects of the global Anglican Communion very seriously. Our thoughtfulness in how we participate in the instruments of communion reflects our fundamental loyalty to our Anglican heritage. Likewise, our devotion to the Word of God—expressed through our martyrs, revival, and the historic episcopate—reflects our commitment to the ongoing place of the Church of Uganda as a province of the Anglican Communion.
The Independent’s Education section has a feature on Wycliffe Hall, written by Peter Stanford: Fear and loathing at Wycliffe: Oxford’s theological college is being rocked to its foundations.
21 CommentsGuardian Stephen Bates Church moves to reclaim lost wedding market by loosening rules on venues
The Times Ruth Gledhill Rules are relaxed on wedding venues
Earlier, in the Sunday Telegraph Jonathan Wynne-Jones had Choose your church, the CofE tells couples
Yorkshire Post Michael Brown
Synod backs move to halt gay priest split
Church eases restrictions on weddings
Archbishop of York warns of hatred born of fear
Archbishop backs fund for farmers
BBC
Appeal to help flood-hit farmers and Flood-hit farmers get church aid
Alastair Cutting has several interesting reports on his blog Synod.
11 CommentsBishop Ben Kwashi, Bishop of Jos in Northern Nigeria, chairman of SOMA (Sharing of Ministries Abroad) and co-ordinating Bishop of CANA (The Convocation of Anglicans in North America) spoke at the Anglican Mainstream Fringe meeting at the General Synod of the Church of England held in York on 9th July 2007.
Read the full text of his remarks here.
Update
Changing Attitude has a press release: Davis Mac-Iyalla meets Bishop Ben Kwashie at Church of England General Synod, York.
TitusOneNine has an unofficial transcript of the speech made by the Bishop of Durham in Sunday’s debate. The link to that transcript is here.
48 CommentsSee official afternoon report here.
Church Times Monday 9 July.
The Times leader in Tuesday’s paper: Church and/or State.
0 CommentsThe complete audio recording of the debate is linked from the official report page here.
The full text of the opening address by Archbishop Drexel Gomez can be found here.
Also, the speech of the Bishop of Rochester here.
News reports of the debate:
Church Times Synod: Sunday 8 July
BBC Church agrees plan over disputes
Update And Robert Pigott also has Nervous support for Church rules.
Guardian Stephen Bates Synod agrees deal over discipline to head off church rift over gay clergy
The Times Ruth Gledhill Church takes a step back from schism with gay expulsion plan
Update And now also Ruth’s blog comments on this at: Synod Days 2,3 & 4.
Daily Telegraph Jonathan Petre Anglican covenant ‘will halt slide to a schism’
Press Association Synod try to avoid schism over gays
Church Society has this version of what happened.
31 CommentsOther items of business concerned The Anglican-Methodist Covenant and Minority Ethnic Anglicans.
See the official report here for details of the motions that were passed on these two subjects.
21 CommentsThere was an unusually large number of Questions directed to the Ministry Division about the supervision and inspection of theological colleges. Most of these did not mention Wycliffe Hall by name. One however did:
The Revd Jonathan Alderton-Ford (St Edmundsbury & Ipswich) to ask the Chairman of the Ministry Division:
Q. Given the reports in the media that staff relationships have broken down at Wycliffe Hall theological college, what steps is the Ministry Division taking to resolve the matter?
The Bishop of Derby to reply as Vice Chairman of the Theological Education and Training Committee
A. The Bishop of Norwich, the Chair of Ministry Division has been in regular contact with the Bishop of Liverpool, the Chair of the Wycliffe Council. Further, the Bishops’ Committee for Ministry has set in place a process to inform itself regarding the situation at Wycliffe. A small team of independent advisors, drawn from current Senior Inspectors, will report to the Bishops’ Committee for Ministry, which can then take any further action, if required.
0 CommentsThe official report of the morning’s business is here. Full audio recordings are available there.
The revision stage of the Marriage Measure was completed with no substantive changes to the draft published at GS 1616B.
The BBC has a report on this: Church relaxes rules on marriage.
The Parochial Fees Order was approved with one substantial amendment: the fee payable to the PCC in respect of a service for the burial of cremated remains in a churchyard was increased: from £55 to £74.
The item to consider the report of the Standing Orders Committee was not reached before the lunch break and will probably be taken up on Monday afternoon.
Further report of the afternoon’s business to follow.
0 CommentsColin Slee writes in the Guardian about the Anglican covenant proposal.
Jonathan Sacks writes in The Times about Elijah and the prophetic truth of the ‘still, small voice’.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about Iraqi Christians, in On the plains of Nineveh.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about how Faith is on the front line in the war on terror.
5 CommentsThe official reports, including audio of the entire proceedings, can be found here.
TA will publish some further details of Answers to Questions later today. Meanwhile, Church Society has some notes here.
The Church Times has a brief report here.
Jonathan Petre has a report of the presentation by the Children’s Commissioner, Prof Sir Albert Aynsley Green: Church told to defend youth ‘failed by Britain’.
Alastair Cutting also has a report of this, see Children have more fun – (b) 6July2007.
GS 1650A has been issued, in which it says:
…The Synod agenda already provides for substantial consideration of appointments issues on Monday afternoon. The report Talent and Calling (GS 1650) did not, however, consider the appointment arrangements for diocesan bishops and its recommendations in respect of Crown appointments to cathedral posts were made before this week’s announcement from the Government. The Presidents have decided, therefore, that some change is needed to Monday’s business so that there can be a debate that takes account of the Green Paper.
The Presidents have directed that after item 26 (address from Sir Joseph Pilling) there should be a debate on a motion moved by the Bishop of Leicester [copy below]. This will be place of items 27 and 28 in the agenda.
The new motion will give Synod the opportunity to consider how it wishes to respond both to the Government’s proposals and the recommendations in Talent and Calling.
The new motion is:
That this Synod, noting that proposals in the Government’s Green Paper of 3 July (attached to GS 1650A) will necessitate further discussion with the Church:
(a) welcome the prospect of the Church achieving the ‘decisive voice in the appointment of bishops’ for which Synod voted in 1974;
(b) affirm its willingness for the Church to have the decisive voice in the selection of cathedral deans and canons appointed by the Crown, given the Prime Minister’s wish no longer to play an active role in the selection of individual candidates;
(c) invite the Archbishops, in consultation with the Archbishops’ Council and the House of Bishops, to oversee the necessary consequential discussions with the Government and to report to the February group of sessions, including on the implications for those matters covered by chapter 8 of GS 1650); and
(d) endorse the recommendations in chapter 10 of GS 1650, with the exception of recommendations 20-30, invite those responsible to give effect to them and invite the Archbishops’ Council to report to Synod during 2008 on progress with implementation.
In the light of this direction, the Bishops of Sheffield and Leicester give notice that they do not intend to move items 27 and 28.
0 CommentsPat Ashworth in the Church Times reports: Synod members to urge caution over Anglican Covenant.
and also PM to withdraw from choosing diocesan bishops.
Jonathan Petre in the Daily Telegraph has Church of England coalition to tackle liberals.
Earlier in the week, he had Biggest change since Henry VIII and Pope.
9 CommentsIt appears that Church Society doesn’t think so. Read Is an Anglican Covenant a good idea? and then also read General Synod The Anglican Covenant.
23 Commentspress release from InclusiveChurch
Covenant proposals and extra-Provincial Bishops
5th July 2007
The growing number of bishops created by African provinces for “pastoral oversight” in North America (and potentially in other provinces), the attempts to create a Covenant that defines Anglican doctrine and ethics, and the apparent intention to organise an alternative to the Lambeth Conference in London next year all point towards one thing. The strategy to destabilise the Anglican Communion is moving into another phase.
The creation by the provinces of Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria of extra-provincial Bishops is against the expressed wish of the Windsor Report and the post Lambeth ’98 process of listening and reconciliation. It is more evidence that the Primates of those provinces and their supporters in the US and Britain profoundly misunderstand the nature of the Communion. We very much regret that the Chair of the Covenant Design Group, the Archbishop of the West Indies, has welcomed these appointments.
Inclusive Church’s aim is to support and celebrate the traditional breadth and generosity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as it has been received and passed on through Anglican history and lived out in the Communion. This creates challenges when there are fundamental disagreements. But the way to respond to disagreements is not to walk apart, nor to create separate structures, nor to seek to impose one particular point of view on the Communion. It is to engage, to communicate, to speak, to listen and to learn.
Clearly there are outstanding issues over how the Communion should respond to the reality that many Provinces include lesbian and gay Christians who live with partners in loving, faithful relationships. But the extraordinary way in which this issue has been allowed to dominate the life of the Communion over the past ten years is not coincidence.
There can be little doubt that the issue is being used by some, mainly conservative, Christians as a lever to try to change the Communion into something it is not; from a conciliar church into a confessional one. From a praxis-based Communion where the bonds between us are the bonds of fellowship and love to a codified Communion where exclusions are legally determined and legally enforced, and where the Communion defines itself not by who it includes but by who it excludes.
The Covenant process has been moved, by this group, away from its original intention which was to affirm the bonds of fellowship which exist. The way in which the draft was received by some at the Primates meeting in Tanzania is indication that, whatever the intention, it will be used to enforce a particular interpretation of the Scriptures to the detriment of the life of the Communion. We do not need a Curia, and the process of drafting a Covenant is already giving more power to the Primates than is justified by our history, by our life and by some of their actions to date.
Hard cases make bad laws. We wish to see, urgently, greater understanding between provinces, and we can see the value of a Covenant which enables this to happen . But the proposed draft before us is likely to be an instrument of further division, not unification. Some of our structures may need reform – but it is already clear that this Covenant process is unlikely to help.
The suggestion of an alternative “not the Lambeth Conference” is, simply, sad. Those who suggest it are walking away from the possibility of dialogue. The suggestion has little to do with dealing with our post-imperial past, and little to do with ensuring that particular voices are heard. It has a great deal to do with power; and with the location of power in the Communion.
We call on those supporting these actions to recognise that there is more than one answer to the questions which face us. Resolution will be achieved only through mutual respect and communication, and an acknowledgement that different views are sincerely held by faithful and loyal members of the Communion.
Inclusive Church is deeply committed to continuing the debate over these questions. The Anglican Communon has faced problems before and moved through them. With God’s help, we will again.
Giles Goddard
Chair, IC