In the days leading up to his consecration, Bishop Robinson had rejected calls by Anglican leaders in the worldwide communion to stand down from his election. Similarly, presiding Bishop Frank Griswold deflected the calls from his fellow primates around the world to avoid schism in the church through the election of an openly homosexual man as bishop of the church.
Read more"I pass prostitutes, drug pushers and street people every day," she said. "I am part of who they are and they are part of who I am."
Judy Sarick, long-time owner of the now defunct Children's Book Store in Toronto, said L'Engle's books are popular because "they speak the truth. They ring true to human nature. There are writers who sell even more, but they tend to be formula stuff which is heavily marketed," Sarick confessed. "They are not in her league."
Read more"Very soon, this is not going to be the congregation it has been," Reeder told Sunday's Bible study crowd over pastries and coffee. He confessed to typos in this week's study outline and added, "Go easy on me. This has been a tough week."
Unlike the bloody war of lawsuits elsewhere, this parish breakup is civil and polite - gentle, even. Nobody's trying to take the property. Reeder won't even discuss who's staying or going, lest it seem like a bitter "us" versus "them" issue.
Read moreSpong is a paradox. He is universally acknowledged as a featherweight intellect who is at the same time a heavyweight performer. For this he is envied by his peers in the HOB on both the left and the right. Very few are immune to the sycophantic adulation that comes with the purple shirt. Upon obtaining their exalted positions many redefine their values in terms of what maintains their status and position. They become politicians, not apostles.
Read moreIn their meeting in Dar es Salaam in February the Primates asked the American House of Bishops to clarify the decisions of last year's General Convention, which, in turn were The Episcopal Church's response to the recommendations of the 2004 Windsor Report and subsequent requests from the Primates themselves.
Read moreEven if the American bishops overcome their initial huffiness at being asked to respond at all, and that is not certain, it is difficult to see how they could come up with a response that is both adequate and credible. The liberal tide seems to be running just too strongly. Too many of the American bishops have pledged their allegiance to the pro-gay camp.
Read moreMost Americans are not aware that yours is an appointed, not an elected position. Those of us who knew you were keenly aware of your intellectual gifts, your openness on all of the great social debates of our generation and indeed of your personal warmth. We also believed that the Lambeth Conference of 1998, presided over by your predecessor, George Carey, had been a disaster that would haunt the Communion for at least a quarter of a century.
Read moreIn a packed press conference in Nairobi before the service, Archbishop Nzimbi explained the background to these consecrations.
Read moreBecause of his near universal appeal, it was inevitable that Bonhoeffer's demanding body of work would be made more available for popular consumption and reduced to an "Everyday-with-Dietrich" style anthology of sayings, sermons and other morsels of spiritual advice. But every now and then, one comes across an appropriation of Bonhoeffer that is so perverse that one is compelled to put one's foot down and say, "Enough is enough."
Read moreThe actual services were exuberant celebrations attended by thousands and both lasted approximately five hours! They were also important milestones in our effort to build a united, biblically-based, missionary-minded expression of Anglicanism in the USA.
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