Devotional: We seek God afar off...

We seek God afar off, in projects perhaps altogether unattainable, and we do not consider that we possess Him now in the midst of confusion, by the exercise of simple faith, provided we bear humbly and bravely the annoyances which come from others, and our own imperfections.

...Francois Fenelon image

Alaskans brace for Redoubt Volcano eruption

posted 1/31/09
KHQ-TV

ANCHORAGE, Alaska. - Volcanic activity is picking up at Alaska's Mount Redoubt, and that has meant an increase in business for hardware stores and auto parts shops in south-central Alaska.

Residents of Anchorage and other communities have been stocking up on dust masks and protective eye wear ahead of a possible eruption of Redoubt Volcano. the rest image

A.S. Haley: Episcopal Church Asked to Pay for San Joaquin Lawsuit

Friday, January 30, 2009

The litigation in San Joaquin has entered a new phase with the filing of a cross-complaint against the Episcopal Church (USA) by the parties it initially sued last April. The cross-complaint, brought by Bishop Schofield and two diocesan investment entities which he heads (the Episcopal Foundation and the Diocesan Investment Trust), seeks an award against ECUSA for the amount of attorneys' fees those defendants are being called upon to expend in defending the suit instigated by Bishop Jerry A. Lamb and a group calling itself the "Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin", and joined in by ECUSA.

The cross-complaint states two claims for relief. The first asserts that ECUSA in effect put Bishop Lamb and his followers up to bringing the lawsuit that was filed in Fresno County Superior Court on April 24, 2008, by making false representations to them that they could be plaintiffs because they were now a genuine diocese of the Episcopal Church who had met in a legitimate "special convention" the previous month and elected a bishop. The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, convened the special convention herself, and proposed the Rt. Rev. Jerry A. Lamb, the resigned (retired) bishop of the Diocese of Northern California, to be its "provisional bishop". After it concurred, the convention proceeded to adopt resolutions authorizing him to claim ownership of the corporation sole that holds title to diocesan real property, and to file the present lawsuit against Bishop Schofield and the investment entities, which manage the funds belonging to the diocese. the rest

Council: Delay Vote on Covenant Until 2015

January 31, 2009

Executive Council endorsed a report on the proposed Anglican Covenant which expresses significant reservations with the current draft and recommends delaying until 2015 a final up-or-down vote by General Convention.

In a press conference at the conclusion of three-day council meeting in Stockton, Calif., Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and Bonnie Anderson, president of the House of Deputies, said council made virtually no changes to a report prepared by a task force in response to the second draft of the proposed covenant.

The report said that delaying a vote until 2015 “would provide a fruitful opportunity for TEC to hear the voices of other members of the Anglican Communion as they discuss future drafts.” It also said the covenant can only “be embraced on the provincial level, that is, The Episcopal Church, and not on a diocesan level.” the rest

Millions hit by Google 'breakdown'

Google users around the world have been hit by a malfunction that incorrectly reports every other website as potentially harmful.
By Alastair Jamieson
31 Jan 2009

An apparent system error left millions of visitors to the site puzzled when links to all search results were flagged with the warning 'This site may harm your computer'.

It is thought the site had erroneously identified all other websites - and some of its own pages - as containing malicious software or 'malware'.

The glitch, which prevented internet users from directly clicking through to search results, was fixed within 30 minutes although users of Google's email service Gmail have since reported finding genuine messages sent mistakenly to spam folders.

The errors prompted panic among web surfers who at first feared the popular search engine had suffered some kind of major failure that could have had serious implications for internet commerce. the rest

Search Service on Google Briefly Fails

Google users get bogus warning on site searches

Nearly 1M still without power in ice storm's wake

Jan 31, 2009
By BRUCE SCHREINER

MURRAY, Ky. (AP) - Utility crews renewed work in subfreezing temperatures Saturday in their effort to put the power back on for nearly a million customers left in the dark by an ice storm that crippled parts of several states this week.

Thousands of people in ice-caked Kentucky awoke in motels and shelters, asked to leave their homes by authorities who said emergency teams in some areas were too strapped to reach everyone in need of food, water and warmth.

A 20-degree temperature boost was forecast across much of the region, a boon to the power crews but one that carried with it the threat of flooding.

Dozens of deaths have been reported and many people are pleading for a faster response to the power outages. About 536,000 homes and businesses across Kentucky were without power, down from more than 600,000 the largest outage in state history, surpassing the damage last year from the remnants of Hurricane Ike. the rest

Reading teachers balk at condom lesson for middle-schoolers

1/30/2009
By David Mekeel
Reading Eagle

Reading, PA - Safe-sex advocates preach that there are ways to make sex with condoms fun, but some Reading middle school teachers are uneasy about discussing the topic in class.

Teachers union President Daniel Grim is questioning whether a planned teen-pregnancy program in the health curriculum is appropriate for students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades.

Grim told the school board that some teachers feel the material is too graphic and they are uncomfortable teaching it. the rest

The Diocese of Central New York stays classy

Matt Kennedy
Saturday, January 31, 2009

St. John the Evangelist Church is a large Catholic parish one block away from the former Good Shepherd buildings. Msgr. Meagher, the priest at St. John's, graciously offered to host Good Shepherd's Thursday night soup kitchen,the Shepherd's Bowl, temporarily while we were are transitioning from one location to another. Last week, having already vacated the buildings, we hung signs on the former Good Shepherd property directing Shepherd's Bowl people to St.

John's where they would find a good warm meal and free loaves of bread. This Tuesday our attorney handed the keys to our former building over to the Diocese of Central New York. I considered taking the signs down, but thought better of it. Surely, I thought, the Diocese of Central New York would not want to make it difficult for poor, hungry people to find a soup kitchen.

Silly me. The rest at Stand Firm

Canada: Anglicans eyeing same-sex blessing

Toronto diocese to draw up details for 'committed' gay relationships amid bitter debate within church
Jan 31, 2009
Stuart Laidlaw
Faith and Ethics reporter

Toronto Anglicans will start blessing same-sex relationships within a year, the Toronto Star has learned, a move that puts local churches at the forefront of the issue but could inflame an already divisive debate within the church.

"One of the chief purposes of the church is to provide care for people who come to the church in a particular need," Toronto Bishop Colin Johnson told the Star in an exclusive interview.

The move, a first for any diocese in Canada, brings Toronto churches closer than any others in the country to allowing same-sex marriage blessings – the most contentious issue facing Anglicanism today.
the rest

Diocese of Toronto: Bishops propose pastoral response to committed same-sex relationships

Draft Discussion Document for Consultation
(h/t Thinking Anglicans)

To Add Members, Church Subtracts Pews

By NICOLE NEROULIAS
January 30, 2009
WHITE PLAINS

WHEN the Rev. Gawain F. de Leeuw stands before his flock at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church here on Sunday mornings, he sees the pews as a quarter full, not three-quarters empty.

Five months after removing more than a dozen of the long, red oak pews — more than a third of those in the church — to bring the shrinking congregation closer together physically and spiritually, he is open to any other cost-effective ideas to make St. Bart’s a more welcoming place.

“Fifty years ago, everybody used to go to church,” Mr. de Leeuw, the rector, said, smiling at about 50 people gathered in his 22 remaining pews last Sunday. “The sense of obligation people had is gone, but maybe that’s a good thing. Those of us who gather here are here because we want to be.” the rest

Devotional: O for Pentecostal outpourings and Pentecostal labours...

"When thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, then thou shalt bestir thyself." 2 Samuel 5:24

The members of Christ's Church should be very prayerful, always seeking the unction of the Holy One to rest upon their hearts, that the kingdom of Christ may come, and that His "will be done on earth, even as it is in heaven;" but there are times when God seems especially to favour Zion, such seasons ought to be to them like "the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees." We ought then to be doubly prayerful, doubly earnest, wrestling more at the throne than we have been wont to do. Action should then be prompt and vigorous. The tide is flowing—now let us pull manfully for the shore. O for Pentecostal outpourings and Pentecostal labours. Christian, in yourself there are times "when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees." You have a peculiar power in prayer; the Spirit of God gives you joy and gladness; the Scripture is open to you; the promises are applied; you walk in the light of God's countenance; you have peculiar freedom and liberty in devotion, and more closeness of communion with Christ than was your wont. Now, at such joyous periods when you hear the "sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees," is the time to bestir yourself; now is the time to get rid of any evil habit, while God the Spirit helpeth your infirmities. ...CH Spurgeon image

Communion Relationship is Focus for Executive Council

January 30, 2009

The Anglican Communion and The Episcopal Church’s relationship with it is the focus of the three-day meeting of Executive Council which began in Stockton, Calif., on Jan. 29.

The meeting is being held in the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin to show council’s support for Episcopalians in the area who are reorganizing after the majority voted during the annual convention in December 2007 to affiliate with the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone. Council members are scheduled to spend time hearing about the progress made by the diocese.

The proposed budget for 2010-2012 and The Episcopal Church’s preliminary response to the proposed Anglican Covenant are the most significant “action” items appearing on the preliminary agenda. Council is responsible for preparing a preliminary budget for approval by General Convention, which meets in Anaheim, Calif., in July. the rest

Lesbians File Human Rights Complaint against Canadian Physician

Lesbians File Human Rights Complaint against Canadian Physician
By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, January 29, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Two lesbians, who are legally "married" in Canada, have filed a complaint against Dr. Kamelia Elias with the Manitoba Human Rights Commission and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, alleging she discriminated against them for suggesting they find a physician who has experience with homosexuals.

Dr. Elias, who practiced medicine in Egypt before coming to Canada, was approached last week by the two women who were looking for a doctor after having moved to Winnipeg from Yellowknife.

After discovering that the two were homosexuals, Dr. Elias told them that though homosexuality was incompatible with her religious beliefs, she had never had occasion to treat lesbians during her twenty years as a physician, and suggested they seek someone with more experience. the rest

Lawsuit Filed for Baby Born Alive at Abortion Clinic then Killed and Hidden from Police

Wrongful Death, Medical Negligence and Personal Injury Alleged

MIAMI, Jan. 30 /Christian Newswire/ -- On Tuesday, January 27, 2009, suit was filed in Miami on behalf of Shanice Denise Osbourne, an infant girl who was murdered in July, 2006. Thomas More Society retained the prominent Miami personal injury attorney, Tom Pennekamp, to prepare and prosecute the case, which alleges that Shanice was born alive and then murdered by defendant, abortion clinic owner, Belkis Gonzalez. Thirteen defendants (including Gonzalez, abortionist Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacques Renelique and their conglomerate of four South Florida abortion clinics) have been sued for unlicensed and unauthorized medical practice, botched abortions, evasive tactics, false medical records and the killing, hiding and disposing of the baby. the rest

Anglican Bishop John Rucyahana Receives Wilberforce Award

Love Your Enemies
By Chuck Colson
1/30/2009

In a large open area of a Rwandan prison, Anglican Bishop John Rucyahana spoke to a crowd of killers responsible for the 1994 genocide. “Close your eyes,” he instructed them. “Go back in your mind to 1994. What did you see?” he asked. “What did you smell? What did you hear?”

Many in the crowd began to weep. He told the men to see their victims’ faces. The sobs grew louder. “Now,” said Bishop John, “that which made you cry, that you must confess.”

It’s amazing enough that Bishop John, himself a Tutsi, would speak to the Hutu perpetrators of the genocide. It’s even more amazing when you consider that John’s own niece, Madu, was brutally raped and killed during the genocide. But Bishop John had a reason to reach out to these men in compassion—for he, too, had found forgiveness of his sins through Jesus Christ.

That compassion to love his would-be enemies is just one of the many reasons why we recently awarded Bishop John Rucyahana the William Wilberforce Award. the rest image

Anglicans Set to Consider Rival North American Church

Thursday January 29, 2009

Conservative Anglicans say they do not expect their new North American church to receive official approval from Anglican archbishops who will convene next week (Feb. 1-5) in Alexandria, Egypt.

"We do expect that our situation will be discussed," said the Rev.Peter Frank, a spokesman for the newly established Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). "At the same time, it would be very surprising if there was some kind of quick, game-changing action."

After years of disagreeing with the liberal majorities in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada, conservatives broke off and formed a rival church last December. Conservatives hope the fledgling province will ultimately be recognized as the official Anglican franchise in North America. the rest

Primates to meet in Egypt behind closed doors

by Pat Ashworth
30 January, 2009

THE PRIMATES of the Anglican Commun­ion will meet in Egypt from Sunday to Thurs­day, behind closed doors. They will use a format largely modelled on the Lambeth Conference.

It will be the first time that the Archbishops who were at Lambeth will be together with those who boycotted the event, although some acceptances had still not been received this week. On Wednesday, the secretary of the Primates’ Meeting, Canon Kenneth Kearon, put that down to “personal dis­organ­isation” on the part of some. the rest

Ohio Bishops: Domestic Partner Opponents Misread Bible

January 30, 2009

Local pastors who oppose Cleveland’s domestic-partner registry, recently enacted by the city council, are guilty of selective reading of the Bible, according to the Bishop of Ohio, the Rt. Rev. Mark Hollingsworth.

Bishop Hollingsworth and three assisting bishops in the diocese wrote to commend the council Jan. 21, contending that passage of the registry witnessed to the Judeo-Christian mandate to love one another.

“Your action gives comfort, support, and affirmation to all those among us who are committed to sharing responsibility for one another’s personal welfare,” the bishops wrote. “As well, it insists that all men and women are equal in the sight of God.”

The bishops decried clergy who have tried to organize a vote referendum on the registry. the rest

Placing children with two gay men...is a sickening assault on family life

30th January 2009
MELANIE PHILLIPS

When homosexuality was legalised back in 1967 did anyone dream that some four decades on a British grandmother and grandfather wanting to adopt their own grandchildren would be refused permission and the children adopted instead by two gay men?

The case in Edinburgh reported today, where precisely this grotesque development has occurred, illustrates the sickening way in which what started out as a decent attempt to be tolerant towards a minority lifestyle has turned into a totalitarian assault upon family life and human rights.

For two years these grandparents fought for their right to care for the children, a five-year-old boy and his four-year-old sister, whose 26-year-old mother is a recovering heroin addict. But at 46 and 59 they were ruled to be too old to adopt.

Reluctantly, therefore, they agreed to the children being adopted by another couple, on the basis they would be brought up by a loving mother and father figure. But although several heterosexual couples were available to adopt them, the children were handed over instead to two gay men. the rest

Delivery Nurse Describes Obama’s Efforts to Stop a Law to Protect Babies Who Survived Abortion

Thursday, January 29, 2009
By Terence P. Jeffrey

(CNSNews.com) - In 1999, Jill Stanek, a labor and delivery nurse at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Ill., held a premature baby in her arms for forty-five minutes as the child struggled for life and then died.

The little boy, who had Down Syndrome, had survived an induced-labor abortion and was going to be left alone in a soiled utility room until he expired without any medical treatment or comforting. Stanek could not bear the thought of that, and the experience of holding the baby as he fought to breath converted her into a pro-life activist.

Thanks to Stanek, the U.S. Congress enacted the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2002. In Illinois, however, a state version of the law was thwarted for three years, in part because of the resolute opposition of then-Illinois-state Sen. Barack Obama. the rest

Judge Refuses Anonymity to Prop. 8 Donors

By Lawrence Jones
Christian Post Reporter
Fri, Jan. 30 2009

A federal judge on Thursday denied a request to keep the names of late donors to the Proposition 8 campaign undisclosed, a move that backers of the California same-sex marriage ban say puts more donors at risk of harassment or reprisals.

Early Proposition 8 donors, whose names have already been disclosed on the secretary of state's website, have been harassed and some have received death threats, according to officials of the Yes on 8 campaign. Harassing e-mails, phone calls and post cards received by contributors to the California marriage amendment include "Burn in hell" and "If I had a gun I would have gunned you down along with each and every other supporter."

In seeking protection for late donors, ProtectMarriage.com and the National Organization for Marriage California had sought a preliminary injunction to hide the identities of donors who contributed $100 to $999 in the last two weeks before the election last November. the rest

George Beverly Shea to Celebrate 100th Birthday on February 1

Billy Graham Crusade Soloist to be Honored at Private Gathering at the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove in Asheville, N.C.

CHARLOTTE, NC, Jan. 30 /Christian Newswire/ -- For decades he was a fixture on the Billy Graham Crusade stage and on televisions in living rooms around the country. Now, George Beverly Shea, the award-winning baritone who is often described as "America's Beloved Gospel Singer," will reach a new milestone in his storied life - the century mark.

Shea will celebrate his 100th birthday on Sunday, February 1. One day later, he will be the guest of honor during a special private gathering of family and friends at the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove in Asheville, N.C. the rest

Noonan: Look at the Time

In Congress and the boardroom, failure to recognize a new era.
By PEGGY NOONAN
Janurayr 30, 2009

It looks like a win but feels like a loss.

The party-line vote in favor of the stimulus package could have been more, could have produced not only a more promising bill but marked the beginning of something new, not a postpartisan era (there will never be such a thing and never should be; the parties exist to fight through great political questions) but a more bipartisan one forced by crisis and marked by—well, let's call it seriousness.

President Obama could have made big history here. Instead he just got a win. It's a missed opportunity.

It's a win because of the obvious headline: Nine days after inauguration, the new president achieves a major Congressional victory, House passage of an economic stimulus bill by a vote of 244-188. It wasn't even close. This is major.

But do you know anyone, Democrat or Republican, dancing in the street over this? You don't. Because most everyone knows it isn't a good bill, and knows that its failure to receive a single Republican vote, not one, suggests the old battle lines are hardening. Back to the Crips versus the Bloods. Not very inspiring. the rest

Proof that all debate is now over
By David Harsanyi
01/30/2009

Imagine that. The most expensive social experiment in American history — one that will cost taxpayers more than both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined — was allotted less than a single day of debate in Congress.

How many speed-reading whiz-kid representatives do you think slogged past their own pork to read the entire 647 (or so) pages of the "stimulus" menu?

This week, more than 200 notable economists — including three Nobel laureates — signed an open letter in The New York Times challenging President Barack Obama's false suggestion that all economists agree a bailout is needed. It was titled: "With all due respect Mr. President, that is not true." the rest

GOP has a duty to deny Barack Obama his one-party state

Delaware ‘More Light’ PCUSA congregation closing its doors after 140 years of ministry

The Layman
Posted Wednesday
January 28, 2009

Excerpt:
In the ‘90s, it became a More Light Presbyterians governing body member by ascribing to their mission statement: "Following the risen Christ, and seeking to make the Church a true community of hospitality, the mission of More Light Presbyterians is the full participation of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people of faith in the life, ministry, and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA)."

In the 10 years for which statistics are available (1997-2007), the membership has dwindled to half what it once was, average attendance at worship services has dropped from 68 to 30, and “the endowment is no longer paying the bills it once did,” according to published reports. Even the pastor has moved on, taking a position at a local ministry to the poor, leaving West Presbyterian to be led by an interim pastor for its remaining weeks of operation. full story

New Jungles Prompt a Debate on Rain Forests

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
January 29, 2009

CHILIBRE, Panama — The land where Marta Ortega de Wing raised hundreds of pigs until 10 years ago is being overtaken by galloping jungle — palms, lizards and ants.

Instead of farming, she now shops at the supermarket and her grown children and grandchildren live in places like Panama City and New York.

Here, and in other tropical countries around the world, small holdings like Ms. Ortega de Wing’s — and much larger swaths of farmland — are reverting back to nature, as people abandon their land and move to the cities in search of better livings.

These new “secondary” forests are emerging in Latin America, Asia and other tropical regions at such a fast pace that the trend has set off a serious debate about whether saving primeval rain forest — an iconic environmental cause — may be less urgent than once thought. By one estimate, for every acre of rain forest cut down each year, more than 50 acres of new forest are growing in the tropics on land that was once farmed, logged or ravaged by natural disaster. the rest

NBC rejects pro-life ad using Obama

NBC rejects pro-life ad using Obama
Julia Duin
Friday, January 30, 2009

A popular pro-life video portraying President Obama as an unborn child has been rejected by NBC-TV as an ad during Sunday's Super Bowl.

"Imagine Spot 1," a YouTube video that has amassed more than 700,000 hits since its Jan. 2O premiere on Black Entertainment Television, was submitted earlier this week to NBC by Fidelis, a Chicago-based Catholic organization. Its subsidiary, CatholicVote.org, runs the 30-second spot on its Web site. the rest

Alaskans brace for Redoubt Volcano eruption

Jan 30, 2009
By DAN JOLING

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Hardware stores and auto parts shops scored a post-holiday run of business this week as Anchorage-area residents stocked up on protective eyewear and masks ahead of a possible eruption of Mount Redoubt.

Monitoring earthquakes underneath the 10,200-foot Redoubt Volcano about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, scientists from the Alaska Volcano Observatory warned that an eruption was imminent, sending experienced Alaskans shopping for protection against a dusty shower of volcanic ash that could descend on south-central Alaska. the rest

Jan. 29, 1895: Electrifying!

By Randy Alfred
01.29.09

1895: Charles Proteus Steinmetz receives a patent for a "system of distribution by alternating currents." His engineering work makes it practical to build a widespread power grid for use in lighting and machinery alike.

Steinmetz was born Carl August Rudolph Steinmetz in Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland) on April 9, 1865 (the day Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox to end the U.S. Civil War). While a university student, he wrote for a socialist newspaper and had to flee Germany in 1888 during an anti-radical crackdown. After a stop in Switzerland, he arrived in the United States in 1889.

Rudolph Eickenmeyer hired the young engineer to work on a project to run streetcars on alternating current. Steinmetz wanted to minimize the power loss, or hysteresis, caused by the reversing magnetic fields of AC circuits. the rest

Devotional: And what am I, to know..

...and what am I, to know
your promises, your mercies, your grace, your love?
Suppose my heart is (as I can only too well believe)
hard, unfruitful, deep deceitful: is that beyond the power
of the fingers that made the heavens?

O, majestic Lord, you care for me,
you have me in your mind and heart.
In that I rest. Amen.
... Timothy Dudley-Smith image

Report: Myanmar's Christians Persecuted

By Associated Press Writer
Denis D. Gray
Thu, Jan. 29 2009

BANGKOK, Thailand – The Chin people, Christians living in the remote mountains of northwestern Myanmar, are subject to forced labor, torture, extrajudicial killings and religious persecution by the country's military regime, a human rights group said Wednesday.

The New York-based Human Right Watch said as many as 100,000 people have fled the Chin homeland into neighboring India, where they face abuse and the risk of being forced back into Myanmar.

"The Chin are unsafe in Burma and unprotected in India," a report from the group said. The report said the regime in Myanmar, also known as Burma, continues to commit atrocities against its other ethnic minorities. the rest

Good Shepherd, Binghamton: An update and a note of thanks

Matt Kennedy
Thursday, January 29, 2009

Dear Friends,

Just a brief update on our status and note of thanks. There are no words fit to express my gratitude for your outpouring of love, prayer, and support (financially and otherwise) for my congregation and my family. Anne and I and the vestry and people of Good Shepherd thank you for everything you have done and are doing.

I sent the following brief letter to the congregation last week. I'm posting it here so that those who have supported us will have a sense for where things stand. You can also see photos of the transition time here and here and pictures of the various places we've worshiped and studied together here. Here's the letter: the rest

‘Really weird’, but Scriven bears no ill will on orders

by Pat Ashworth
30 January, 2009

THE Rt Revd Henry Scriven, former Assistant Bishop in the diocese of Pittsburgh, says he bears no ill-will towards the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, Dr Katharine Jefferts Schori, after she appeared to interpret his resignation from the US House of Bishops as a voluntary renunciation of his orders.

Bishop Scriven, who is British, has returned to the UK this month, where he is to be director of the South American Mission Society (SAMS), soon to be affiliated to the Church Mission Society, He accepted an invitation to be an honorary bishop in the diocese of Oxford, and wrote to Dr Jefferts Schori in October last year, resigning from the House of Bishops. He considered himself to be under the episcopal authority of the Bishop of Oxford as soon as he moved, which was scheduled to be just after Christmas.

Dr Jefferts Schori responded on 12 November 2008: “I understand your request to resign as a member of the House of Bishops to mean that you will become a bishop of the Church of England, serving as assistant to the Bishop of Oxford.” the rest

A.S. Haley: The Case of the Missing Letters
"The excuse machine is in high gear. Episcopalians throughout the Church are trying to cover the embarrassing mess of Inter-Communion relations made by the Primate of All ECUSA on the eve of her meeting with her fellow Primates in Egypt. It seems that she has claimed the power to deprive a Bishop in good standing in the Church of England of the "gifts and spiritual authority as a Minister of God's Holy Word and Sacraments conferred on him in Ordinations." (For more background, see this earlier post.)"

Egypt: Judge tells Christian: 'I would kill you'

Reportedly threatens woman who chooses to worship Jesus
January 27, 2009
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

A woman arrested at the Cairo airport because her identity card described her as a Christian has been threatened for her faith by the judge in her case, according to a new report.

As WND reported, authorities in Egypt deprived the woman's two children, ages 2 and 4, of food to try to coerce her to abandon Christianity and return to Islam.

According to the Assyrian International News Agency, a woman identified as Martha Samuel Makkar was arrested Dec. 13 as she, her husband, Fadl Thabet, and two sons were trying to leave Cairo for Russia. the rest

Spanish Supreme Court Deadlocked Over Allowing Families to Opt Out of Homosexual Indoctrination Program

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman
MADRID
January 27, 2009

(LifeSiteNews.com) - The Spanish Supreme Court has been deadlocked for two days over whether or not to permit parents to remove their children from a government civics program that indoctrinates students with homosexual ideology.

The program, entitled "Education for Citizenship," instructs teachers to "revise the student’s attitude towards homosexuality" and to teach children to reject "existing discrimination for reason of sex, origin, social differences, affective-sexual, or whatever other type" and to carry out a "critical evaluation of the social and sexual division of labor and racist, xenophobic, sexist, and homophobic social prejudices." the rest

Hate Crimes: The Importance of Lady Justice's Blindfold

Thomas Landen
Wed, 2009-01-28

The introduction of hate crime legislation brings a subjective element into the legal system. Where typically Lady Justice is blind and only takes objective facts into consideration, disregarding the position and the opinions of those committing the crimes, she may now apply the law unequally and selectively. Our societies subsequently risk losing an important principle of Western law, viz. equality under the law. Europe has already gone further down this road than America, but the U.S. is following fast in Europe’s tracks.

“If I talked about Muslims the way their holy book talks about me, I’d be arrested for hate speech,” Pat Condell, a British stand-up comedian, says in a youtube video released earlier this week. Mr. Condell, though a comedian by profession, is not joking. He knows how two years ago a British television crew which went undercover in British mosques and taped sermons inciting to violence against non-Muslims, was itself charged by the police and Crown Prosecution Service for “stirring up racial hatred” against Muslims, while the preachers were left undisturbed. According to the police and the public prosecutor the words of the preachers had been “taken out of context,” while the “context” of the makers of the television program was filled in by their accusers: their aim was said to be to stir up anti-Muslim feelings among the public. the rest

Welsh Primate: New Province is ‘Total Nonsense’

January 28, 2009

The Primate of the Church in Wales will oppose any attempt to form a parallel Anglican jurisdiction when the primates of the Anglican Communion meet next week in Alexandria, Egypt. Leaders of the GAFCON movement, however, have pledged not to back down from their support of Bishop Robert Duncan and the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), setting up the potential for a clash of views when the primates meet.

On Jan. 24, Archbishop Barry Morgan of Wales told delegates attending the annual council meeting of the Diocese of Virginia he would oppose the creation of the ACNA with “every fiber of his body.” Another North American province was “total nonsense,” he said, according to a report by Anglican blogger Mary Ailes, but the archbishop conceded that his views were in the minority among primates.

The degree of support for the ACNA among the primates is uncertain, but a core group representing a near majority have given public and private assurances of support. On Dec. 5 five primates from the steering committee of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) met with the Archbishop of Canterbury at Canterbury Cathedral telling him that Bishop Duncan and the ACNA had their full support. the rest

World gets first gay head of state

ANDY MCSMITH
SYNDICATED COLUMNIST
January 28, 2009

The first government collapse of the global crisis is about to yield the world's first openly gay prime minister. Johanna Sigurdardottir, a former air hostess, is expected to be sworn in as Iceland's prime minister by the end of the week.

Her moment in the international spotlight comes at the most horrendous moment in her nation's recent history: As the global credit crisis broke, the collapse of Iceland's grossly over-leveraged economy was followed smartly by the implosion of its currency and banks. Now its government has gone the same way, the first in the world to succumb to the backwash from the crisis. the rest

Abortion Foes Warn Of Hospital Closures

Catholic Churches Are Pushing Parishioners To Pressure Congress Not To Pass "Radical" Abortion Bill
Jan. 28, 2009
This story was written by Brian Montopoli

On the past two Sundays, parishioners at the Holy Family Church in Nutley, New Jersey, have received a stark warning: If the Obama administration and Democratic Congress have their way, Catholic hospitals around the country will be forced to close.

The reason? A piece of legislation known as the Freedom Of Choice Act, or FOCA, that opponents believe will force hospitals and doctors to perform abortions even if they have moral opposition to doing so.

Since doctors at Catholic hospitals won't perform an abortion, the logic goes, the hospitals would have no choice but to shut their doors under FOCA rules. the rest

In China, a Grass-Roots Rebellion

Rights Manifesto Slowly Gains Ground Despite Government Efforts to Quash It
By Ariana Eunjung Cha
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, January 29, 2009

SHANGHAI -- When Tang Xiaozhao first saw a copy of the pro-democracy petition in her e-mail inbox, she silently acknowledged she agreed with everything in it but didn't want to get involved.
Tang, a pigtailed, 30-something cosmetology major, had never considered herself the activist type. Like many other Chinese citizens, she kept a blog where she wrote about current events and her life, but she wasn't political.

A few days later, however, Tang surprised herself. She logged on to her computer and signed the document by sending her full name, location and occupation to a special e-mail address.

"I was afraid, but I had already signed it hundreds of times in my heart," Tang said in an interview. the rest

Social services remove young children from grandparents and arrange adoption by gay couple

Social services have removed two young children from the care of their grandparents and arranged for them to be adopted by a homosexual couple.
By Lucy Cockcroft
28 Jan 2009

The five-year-old boy and his four-year-old sister were being looked after by their grandparents because their mother, a recovering drug addict, was not considered capable.

But social workers stepped in after allegedly deciding that the couple, who are aged 59 and 46, were "too old" to look after the children.

They were allegedly stripped of their carer's rights and informed they would be barred from seeing the children altogether unless they agreed to the same-sex adoption. the rest

Traditional Anglicans 'to be offered personal prelature by Pope'

Damian Thompson
Jan 29, 2009

The Pope is preparing to offer the Traditonal Anglican Communion, a group of half a million dissident Anglicans, its own personal prelature by Rome, according to reports this morning.

"History may be in the making", reports The Record. "It appears Rome is on the brink of welcoming close to half a million members of the Traditional Anglican Communion into membership of the Roman Catholic Church. Such a move would be the most historic development in Anglican-Catholic relations in the last 500 years. But it may also be a prelude to a much greater influx of Anglicans waiting on the sidelines, pushed too far by the controversy surrounding the consecration of practising homosexual bishops, women clergy and a host of other issues."

Here is Anthony Barich's report in full. the rest

CDF to Offer Personal Prelature Status to the Traditional Anglican Communion

Devotional: We Christians must simplify our lives...

We Christians must simplify our lives or lose untold treasures on earth and in eternity. Modern civilization is so complex as to make the devotional life all but impossible. The need for solitude and quietness was never greater than it is today. ...AW Tozer image

Are All Religions Valid?

Nancy Leigh DeMoss
From Revive Our Hearts

Excerpt:
We’re talking during this series about deception. The Scripture says that in the last days—which we find ourselves in—there will be many deceivers who will be in the world and in the church, even feasting with us at our potluck suppers or our church dinners or our Communion services, who will try to draw us away from Christ.

Maybe they themselves are deceived. But they will deceive many.

Many will follow after them. And we have many, many millions of people sitting in our churches today who have been deceived by some type of teaching that is contrary to Christ.

Over the next couple of days, before we get into the subject of discernment, which is where we’re headed, I want to teach some things about how to discern truth from error. I want to first take a couple of sessions to spell out some of the areas where deception is prevalent today.

We could actually spend a year on this, based on the research I’ve been doing over the last several weeks, and still only skim the surface of all the deception that’s out there. So as I said in the last session, the best way to deal with this is not to focus in on deception; it’s to focus in on truth. the rest-Excellent!

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Plans for new province in US opposed by senior Anglican

The Archbishop of Wales has condemned plans to form a new province in the US saying it would splinter the Anglican Church
Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
From Times Online
January 28, 2009

A senior Anglican Archbishop from the UK has condemned plans by conservative Anglicans to form a new province in the US.

The Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, said he would oppose a new province “with every fibre of my being.”

He warned that if the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Anglican Communion allow traditionalists to set up a new province to exist as a parallel jurisdiction to the US Episcopal Church, no province would be safe and the worldwide Anglican Church would splinter into many fragments. the rest

Vatican welcomes choice of new Russian patriarch

Wed Jan 28, 2009
By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict Wednesday welcomed the Russian Orthodox Church's choice as new patriarch of a man seen as a modernizer who may usher in a thaw in difficult relations with the Vatican.

Metropolitan Kirill, 62, the acting head of the world's second-largest Church since the death last month of Patriarch Alexiy II, won 508 out of 677 valid votes cast in a secret ballot Tuesday.

The pope said he hoped Kirill would help lead the two Churches to full unity following the historic break of the eastern and western Churches in 1054. the rest image

Russian Orthodox Church Elects Outspoken Patriarch

Faith mixes with football for the big game

By TIM DAHLBERG
posted January 28, 2009

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Arizona running back Tim Hightower had just finished a thoughtful explanation of his religious beliefs when one of the media types who found their way into the Super Bowl stadium Tuesday decided he needed more proof.

"Can you pray right now?" he asked.

"I can pray that whatever is going on in your life right now that you find God," Hightower said.
Hightower handled the question with the same ease he handled would-be tacklers to score the winning touchdown that got his team into the Super Bowl, which by itself was somewhat surprising since he is a rookie on the biggest stage of his young life.

Even more surprising at this Super Bowl, though, is how so many players on both teams aren't hesitating to invoke the name of God as they prepare to play a violent game where there will be no mercy shown on either side. the rest

Storm may leave thousands in darkness for days

Jan 28, 2009
By JOHN RABY

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Utility companies and road crews prepared for the worst Wednesday as a winter storm barreled into the Northeast, while officials in areas already hit hard by the blast warned it may be days before some shivering communities have electricity again.

The storm has been blamed for at least 19 deaths, shuttered government offices and kept kids home from dozens of schools from the Southern plains to the East Coast. With more than a foot of snow forecast for New Hampshire, the Legislature canceled Wednesday's sessions. In Louisville, Ky., the mayor delayed opening government offices until 10 a.m. and urged businesses to follow suit.

Tree limbs encased in ice tumbled onto roads and crashed onto power lines in hard-hit Arkansas, Kentucky and Oklahoma, keeping thousands without power. In Arkansas - where ice in some places was 3 inches thick - people huddled next to portable heaters and wood-burning fires as utilities warned electricity may be out for days. the rest

Chief Rabbinate of Israel cuts ties with Vatican over Holocaust bishop

From Times Online
January 28, 2009
Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent and Richard Owen in Rome

The Chief Rabbinate of Israel has cut ties with the Vatican over the Pope's decision to lift the excommunication on an English bishop who denies the full extent of the Holocaust.

In a measure of Jewish anger around the world at the decision to reinstate the four bishops of the Society of St Pius X, the Chief Rabbinate has written to the office of Pope Benedict XVI condemning Bishop Richard Williamson's comments as "odious" and "outrageous". The letter was leaked to the Jerusalem Post.

Jewish leaders in the UK have also protested at the lifting of the excommunicatons on Bishop Williamson and three other bishops.
the rest

Calif. Anglican church wants its day in court

By John H. Adams
The Layman
Tuesday, January 27, 2009

St. James Anglican Church in Newport Beach, Calif., has filed a “petition for rehearing or modification of decision” to challenge a Jan. 5 California Supreme Court opinion that the national Episcopal Church (USA) is the owner of the local church property.

The petition includes evidence that was not weighed by the Supreme Court that disputes the Episcopal Church (USA) claimed ownership of St. James property.

Furthermore, the petition, again in California Supreme Court, says the ruling was preemptive because it did not allow St. James to present its case to the court: “ … [N]o affirmative defenses have been raised; no discovery has taken place; no full factual record has been developed; no cross-claims (if any) have been brought; and no trial has occurred.”
the rest

Shorting the Poor: The Fallout of Climate Change Policy

Dr. E. Calvin Beisner
January 22, 2009

In his inaugural address, President Barack Obama had heart-warming words for the poor around the world. "To the people of poor nations," he said, "we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds."

These words have the ring of truth, coming from a President whose father, the late Barack Obama Sr., was born in a Kenyan village and whose half-brother George Obama lives in a slum in Huruma, Kenya.

Obama also spoke about climate change and energy. How we use our energy, he said, "threaten[s] the planet." Calling for a change, he said, "We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories." Before hundreds of thousands bundled up against below-average, sub-freezing temperatures in Washington, Obama called on America and other nations to "work tirelessly to . . . roll back the specter of a warming planet." the rest

Albert Mohler: What Makes Abortion Plausible? What Makes Abortion Unthinkable?, Part Four

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

In the world in which abortion would make sense, we would have to talk about life as being potentially worthy, having potential dignity. We would talk about life as perhaps being worthwhile and worthy of protection. Immediately, you can see where that slippery slope leads as you then have to decide which life is worthy of life and which life is not worthy of life.

In the 20th century we can look at the long parade of horrible terrors, and one of the easiest to identify is the medical ethics of Germany before and during the Third Reich. There, the Germans actually had a medical philosophy - Lebensunwerten Lebens - "life unworthy of life," that formed the foundation for their murderous atrocities. The Germans actually came up with a gradation of life, from life that was definitely worthy of life to life that was definitely unworthy of life. And the life that was worthy of life was Aryan life. It was the life of those who were considered to be physically and genetically superior, who could contribute to the welfare and the defense and the policies of the Third Reich. And the life unworthy of life: Gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally retarded, the physically disabled, Jews. the rest

Part I here Part II here Part Three here

A 40-Year Wish List

You won't believe what's in that stimulus bill.
JANUARY 28, 2009

"Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you couldn't do before."

So said White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in November, and Democrats in Congress are certainly taking his advice to heart. The 647-page, $825 billion House legislation is being sold as an economic "stimulus," but now that Democrats have finally released the details we understand Rahm's point much better. This is a political wonder that manages to spend money on just about every pent-up Democratic proposal of the last 40 years.

We've looked it over, and even we can't quite believe it. There's $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn't turned a profit in 40 years; $2 billion for child-care subsidies; $50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts; $400 million for global-warming research and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects. There's even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons. the rest

Stop, thief! Kill the bill, melt the phones

Contraceptive Measure Dropped from Stimulus

Obama's abortion war

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

No sooner had President Obama taken the oath of office than he betrayed two of his campaign promises.

In pledging to unite us, not divide us, he promised to find common ground on cultural issues, especially to search for ways to reduce the number of abortions. He thus won the vote of many pro-life voters who believed they could find compromise measures to America's most contentious domestic policy issue. In fact, Mr. Obama secured 54 percent of the Catholic vote, many of whom are staunchly pro-life. Yet, on late Friday afternoon, in as quiet a manner as possible, the president repealed the ban on U.S. funding for foreign family planning aid groups that offer abortion services. This means that American tax dollars can now be used to provide abortions around the world; America is back in business as Doctor Death to millions of the world's babies.

Democrats and Republicans have fought for more than twenty years over this. Ronald Reagan first introduced the ban in 1984; Bill Clinton overturned it in 1993; George Bush re-instated it in 2001. Now, Mr. Obama has declared a culture war right from the outset of his presidency - an act of pure political folly as he will immediately squander much goodwill. the rest image

Dissenting Catholics hookup with Obama team

Primates’ Meeting to avoid divisive issues

Wednesday, 28th January 2009
By George Conger

The agenda for next week’s 2009 Primates’ Meeting will avoid taking action on the problems dividing the Anglican Communion, focussing its energies on discussion on how to discuss keeping the truth claim alive within the church.

The Feb 1-5 meeting at the Helnan Palestine Hotel in Alexandria will open with a morning retreat led by the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams followed by worship at St Mark’s pro-Cathedral. Business sessions will be interspersed over the week with worship and excursions to local sites, including the Alexandria School of Theology and the newly renovated Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

However it is unlikely the agenda for the five-day gathering will survive unscathed. At their meeting in 2005 in Northern Ireland and in 2007 in Tanzania the primates rebelled, forcing the meeting to address the issues that had split the Anglican Communion. the rest

US Presiding Bishop deposes Church of England Bishop

Wednesday, 28th January 2009
By George Conger

The Presiding Bishop of the US Episcopal Church has announced that she has deposed a bishop of the Church of England from the ordained ministry.

On Jan 23, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori announced that she had accepted the voluntary renunciation of ministry given to her by the Rt Rev Henry Scriven, Mission Director for South America of the newly merged South American Mission Society (SAMS) – Church Mission Society (CMS) and removed him from the ranks of the ordained ministry.

Under the terms of American Canon law Bishop Scriven is now “released from the obligations of all ministerial offices, and is deprived of the right to exercise the gifts and spiritual authority as a minister of God’s word and sacraments conferred in ordination.”

However in a statement given to The Church of England Newspaper, Bishop Scriven denied that he had ever renounced his orders, and stated that he was at a loss to understand the presiding bishop’s actions. the rest

Devotional: "Consider the lilies of the field"...

"Consider the lilies of the field" - they grow where they are put. Many of us refuse to grow where we are put, consequently we take root nowhere. Jesus says that if we obey the life God has given us, He will look after all the other things. Has Jesus Christ told us a lie? If we are not experiencing the "much more," it is because we are not obeying the life God has given us, we are taken up with confusing considerations. How much time have we taken up worrying God with questions when we should have been absolutely free to concentrate on His work? Consecration means the continual separating of myself to one particular thing. We cannot consecrate once and for all. Am I continually separating myself to consider God every day of my life? ...Oswald Chambers image

Muslims seek to close oldest Christian monastery

Muslim leaders have sued the Syriac Orthodox monastery for alleged proselytism
Monday, January 26, 2009
By Asia News

Demonstrations are being held in many European countries to save the monastery of Mor Gabriel, a spiritual center for the Syriac Orthodox community in Turkey.

Founded in 397, it is the oldest functioning Christian monastery in the world. It is located on the plateau of Tur Abdin, "The Mountain of the Servants of God," on the Turkish border with Iraq. The see of the metropolitan archbishop of Tur Abdin, Mor Timotheus Samuel Aktas, with its three monks, 14 nuns, and 35 young people who live and study there, it is a religious and cultural point of reference for all Syriac Orthodox Christians, who still preserve ancient Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Every year it welcomes more than ten thousand tourists and pilgrims, many of them Syriacs of the diaspora in Germany, Switzerland, and Sweden. the rest

NYTimes Treats Massive March For Life As If It Never Happened

By Don Feder
Friday January 23, 2009

More than 300,000 people assembled in Washington, D.C. yesterday for the 36th Annual March for Life.

But as far as The New York Times is concerned, it never happened.

If 50,000 feminists had gathered on the Mall in D.C., to demand passage of the so-called Freedom of Choice Act, it would have been above-the-page-one-fold coverage in The Times, accompanied with an aerial photo of the crowd.

If 25,000 environmentalists had congregated in our nation’s capital to call for the deindustrialization of America, to combat global warming, it would have rated at least a photo-illustrated half-page spread. the rest

Albert Mohler: What Makes Abortion Plausible? What Makes Abortion Unthinkable?, Part Three

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

The following is an edited transcript of a message preached by R. Albert Mohler, Jr. for "Sanctity of Human Life Sunday" on January 18, 2009. Today's installment is the third in the six-part series.

For us, abortion can never be merely an issue of controversy, an issue of public debate, an issue of some kind of public conflict. For us, it is far more than that. Abortion is an issu­­­­­e relating to the very glory of God and what it means to be human.

We are trying to go into that world in which abortion makes sense. And abortion can only make sense if human life is expendable. For abortion to make sense, individual life must be graded on some kind of scale - from life that is worthy of life, to life that is unworthy of life. the rest

Click here for Part One of this message

Click here for Part Two

“Children as the enemy”

Pelosi says federal spending on contraceptives stimulates economy by reducing number of kids requiring state services
January 27,2009

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the San Francisco Democrat who describes herself as “an ardent practicing Catholic,” said on a nationally televised news program on Sunday that federal spending on artificial contraception helps states financially by lowering the amount spent on education and health care for children. Pelosi, appearing on the ABC program This Week, was asked by moderator George Stephanopolous about the inclusion of huge federal outlays for contraception in President Barack Obama’s proposed $825-billion ‘economic stimulus package.’

“Hundreds of millions of dollars to expand family planning services. How is that stimulus?” asked Stephanopoulos. Replied the Speaker, “Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children’s health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those -- one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.” the rest

Bills to Legalize Assisted Suicide Files in New Hampshire, Hawaii Legislatures

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 27, 2009

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- With Washington state voters deciding to become the second state to legalize assisted suicide and courts in Montana poised to make it the third, the pro-euthanasia movement is working with legislators in Hawaii and New Hampshire to try to make them states four and five to allow the grisly practice.

Hawaii has tried and failed repeatedly to approve a bill to legalize assisted suicide.

A coalition of pro-life groups, religious organizations, medical professionals and disability rights advocates banded together to defeat the measure. the rest

Foreign Policy Workers Ask U.S. To Back Benefits for Gay Partners

By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Nearly 2,200 government employees involved in foreign policy issues signed a letter delivered to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday calling on the government to give equal benefits to same-sex partners.

The Bush administration had eased some rules, opening up some training to same-sex partners, but had resisted efforts to treat homosexual partners the same as married couples. But Clinton, during her confirmation hearings, indicated a greater willingness to explore the issue. the rest

Anglican primates to meet in Eygpt

Leaders will discuss how to get the Church "back on track" after fall-out from rows over homosexuality and new traditionalist province
Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
Times Online
January 27, 2009

The Archbishops of the Anglican church worldwide are to debate the damaging effects of the row over homosexuality at a meeting in Egypt next week.

The 39 Primates who head the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion are meeting at Alexandria from Sunday where they will discuss how to get their churches back on track after a series of damaging disputes that have taken them to the brink of schism.

A new traditionalist grouping from North America, led by deposed Pittsburgh bishop Bob Duncan who now styles himself as their Archbishop, will also present a new constitution and canons to the Primates in an attempt to secure recognition as the 39th province of the 77-million strong Church. the rest

Misuse of the Canons & Abuse of Power by the Presiding Bishop: A Statement on Bishop Scriven

The Anglican Communion Institute
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

The Reverend Canon Professor Christopher Seitz
The Reverend Dr. Philip Turner
The Reverend Dr. Ephraim Radner
Mark McCall, Esq.

In recent months ACI has asked with increasing urgency whether the Presiding Bishop is willing and able to comply with the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church. Her most recent canonical misadventure is purporting to remove from the ordained ministry a bishop in the Church of England canonically resident and working in England and subject to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Oxford and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Her canonical overreaching has now extended into the heart of the Church of England, placing in serious question the extent to which the Presiding Bishop continues to perceive herself as in communion with that church and its primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

On January 15, 2008, the Presiding Bishop purported to accept the “renunciation” of ordained ministry by Bishop Henry Scriven. It is now sadly evident that an actual renunciation is no longer a prerequisite for the Presiding Bishop’s “acceptance” of such an extraordinary action by a bishop of the church. In her zeal to remove from office those with whom she disagrees what started only two years ago as the canonically appropriate, if misguided, procedure of using presentments under the disciplinary canons of Title IV quickly evolved into abuse of the “abandonment of communion” canon in order to avoid the procedural protections afforded to those charged with presentment. But even the summary procedures of the abandonment canon require some process, including a vote in the House of Bishops by a majority of the bishops in TEC entitled to vote. The fact that she has been repeatedly unable to assemble such a majority has not stopped the Presiding Bishop from using this canon, most recently in the case of Bishop Duncan, who at the time he was purportedly deposed for “abandonment of communion” was still actively performing his duties as the Diocesan Bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. After her widely criticized handling of Bishop Duncan, however, the Presiding Bishop dispensed with canonical process altogether and since then has simply adopted the tactic of “accepting” renunciations that were never given. Bishops of the church are removed with nothing more than the stroke of a pen.

The Presiding Bishop’s problem in the case of Bishop Scriven, however, is that he was not in fact a “Bishop of this Church” as required by the canon the Presiding Bishop invoked when she purported to remove him from the ordained ministry and to pronounce him “deprived of the right to exercise the gifts and spiritual authority as a Minister of God’s Word and Sacraments conferred on him in Ordinations.” Those “Ordinations” of which she purports to deprive him were conferred on Bishop Scriven not by TEC but by the Church of England, including by the Archbishop of Canterbury personally. The Presiding Bishop has no authority to deprive him of the ministry conferred on him by his ordination in the Church of England. the rest

Comments at TitusOneNine

Virtueonline: KATHARINE IN WONDERLAND: Schori's Judicial Oligarchy
Commentary by Canon Gary L'Hommedieu
1/26/09

FiF reacts to Schori’s disinformation on Bishops Wantland & Scriven

Devotional: This fitness of heart...

This fitness of heart and thoughts of a person is like that of the strings of a guitar or violin. When these are tightened and made to harmonize, then by the touch of the plectrum or the bow the most charming music is produced; but if that is not done the touch of the bow only produces discords. And the production of sweet sounds when the strings all harmonize is again dependent on the air, by the force and motion of which sound is carried into the ear. In the same way,to harmonize the thoughts and imaginations of men the presence of the stimulating breath of the Holy Spirit is necessary. When that is present there will be produced heavenly airs and joyous harmonies in men's hearts, both in this life and in heaven. ...Sadhu Sundar Singh image

Northern Michigan Bishop Nominee Has Background in Buddhism

January 26, 2009
The Diocese of Northern Michigan is set to elect as its bishop a priest who once received “lay ordination” in Buddhism. On Jan. 23, a diocesan search committee announced that a single candidate had been put forward to stand for election as bishop at the diocese’s special electing convention Feb. 21 at St. Stephen’s Church, Escanaba.

The Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester, rector of St. Paul’s, Marquette, and St. John’s, Negaunee, was put forward by the diocesan search team to stand for election as bishop/ministry developer under the “mutual ministry model” used by the small, rural diocese on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. A priest of the diocese since 2001, Fr. Forrester also serves as ministry development coordinator and newspaper editor for Northern Michigan.

In recent years, he also was a practicing Buddhist, according to the former Bishop of Northern Michigan, the late Rt. Rev. James Kelsey.

In his Oct 15, 2004 address to the diocese’s annual convention, Bishop Kelsey took note of some of the milestones among the lives of members of the diocese. After recognizing recent university graduations, the bishop said Fr. Forrester “received Buddhist ‘lay ordination’,” and was “walking the path of Christianity and Zen Buddhism together.” the rest

Hiltz to update other primates on state of Canadian church

Marites N. Sison
staff writer
Jan 26, 2009

The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has asked the primates (national archbishops) of five provinces, including the Anglican Church of Canada, to reflect on the impact that the current Anglican conflict over sexuality has had on the mission and priorities of their churches.

Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, said that he and the primates of the U.S. Episcopal Church, Uganda, Pakistan, and South Africa, have been invited to offer their reflections during the primates’ meeting scheduled Feb. 1 to 5 in Alexandria, Egypt. the rest

Third Bishop Quits Anglican Church of Canada

Virginia: Tiny church with big aspirations and affiliations

Norge congregation finds a home in the Anglican Church in North America.
By PRUE SALASKY
January 25, 2009

Each Sunday, between 12 and 15 worshipers gather at a rented storefront next to the Doll Factory in Norge to participate in Episcopal services that combine traditional observance with an evangelical slant.

The group has been together for about four years, taking on various incarnations. It started as the Church of the Blessed Redeemer of the Charismatic Episcopal Communion in the Grove section of Williamsburg. Most recently, it affiliated with the Reformed Episcopal Church and recently renamed itself Epiphany Anglican Church.

Over the years it has moved its services from place to place until finding its current home in December.

Coincidentally, also in December, the Common Cause Partnership, which since 2004 has encompassed several Anglican organizations, laid the groundwork for launching a new national province, the Anglican Church in North America, ACNA. the rest

Western NY: Episcopal Diocese forms new church

Takes over building of group that left
By Jay Tokasz
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
01/26/09

One friend told her, “Run away and run quickly.”

But the Rev. Sarah E. Gordy decided not to retreat from the intriguing task of establishing a new Episcopal congregation in the church building of her youth — a sanctuary that a thriving congregation packed up and left slightly more than a month ago.

On Sunday, Gordy, an Episcopal priest, will celebrate her first liturgy as vicar of Holy Apostle Episcopal Church in the Town of Tonawanda.

The mission parish was created by the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York following last month’s departure of most members of the former St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, a large, conservative congregation that had been at odds for years with the direction of the national church. the rest

Faith & Fertility

By R.R. Reno
Monday, January 26, 2009

With fertility rates dipping to almost one child per woman in Spain and other European countries, it’s hard to even imagine the future. Who will work and pay all those retirement benefits to the current and larger generation of workers? How can societies with declining populations maintain a robust, confident cultural outlook? Will European demographic suicide turn the continent over to Islamic domination, as Mark Steyn and others darkly foresee?

But why the demographic suicide? In The Cube and the Cathedral, George Weigel offers an explanation. “There are,” he writes, “economic, sociological, psychological, and even ideological reasons why Europe’s birthrates have fallen below replacement level for decades. But the failure to create a human future in the most elemental sense—by creating a successor generation—is surely an expression of a broader failure: a failure of self-confidence.” And by Weigel’s reckoning, this failure is “tied to a collapse of faith in the God of the Bible.” the rest

Pakistani Christians Acquitted in ‘Blasphemy’ Case

Michael Larson
Compass Direct News
January 26, 2009

ISTANBUL (Compass Direct News) – Five Christians charged with “blasphemy” against Islam during April 2007 religious holidays were released on Monday (Jan. 19) after reconciliation meetings between Christian and Islamic leaders – the first verdict to have resulted from such efforts in Pakistan. the rest

UK: Church vows to keep faith with its schools, despite Muslim majority

Andrew Norfolk
The Times
January 24, 2009

Christian families are such a rarity in some inner-city communities that two Church of England schools now cater exclusively for Muslim pupils, The Times has learnt.

In many church primary schools in English cities, more than half of the pupils are Muslim. In at least a dozen such schools, more than 80 per cent are from Islamic homes.

Five church schools, in Blackburn, Birmingham, Bradford, Oldham and London, have become 99 per cent Muslim and in two – another school in Blackburn and one in Dewsbury – every pupil is Muslim. the rest

Albert Mohler: What Makes Abortion Plausible? What Makes Abortion Unthinkable? Part Two

January 26, 2009

In thinking through the implications of Jeremiah’s calling, we have gained a clear understanding that every single human being is made by God - formed by God within the womb.

Now, as we open to Psalm 139, we turn our attention from the prophet Jeremiah to King David. In Psalm 139, we have the most rigorous autobiography we can probably find anywhere in Scripture. David writes a Psalm about his own experience. He says:

O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it. (Verses 1-6) the rest

Click here for Part One of this message.