Rome opens arms to world's Anglicans

By Anna Arco
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/articles/a0000684.shtml
November 13, 2009

The Vatican has released an eagerly awaited document outlining the Pope's provision for Anglican groups wishing to enter into full communion with Rome.

The Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus ("On groups of Anglicans") was published on Monday, two weeks after the Vatican announced a new provision for Anglican communities that wish to become Catholic while retaining aspects of their Anglican identity. The document, which introduces a new legal structure called a Personal Ordinariate, was accompanied by a set of complementary norms, clarifying some of the points outlined.

Latest US victims of gay-affirmative mandates

November 15th, 2009


When your politically-correct friends discuss the plight of gay victims, you could ask them what they are doing on behalf of those of other sexual 'orientations', whose ways of doing intimate relationships are still either frowned upon or completely anathematized by even the more liberated and progressive-minded in the West. What is ironic is that these other persecuted minorities repeat the LGBT mantra word for word. They cannot understand why they are such pariahs when, according to their literature, they are only doing what comes naturally to them (even as LGBT folk do) and are not hurting anyone else. What about them? Why are they kept in the closet by official LGBT organizations whose moral high ground centres upon the invaluable (but fallacious) 'all are wanted and welcome' claim?

A second point. What of the latest and (for the most part) ignored or mimimized victim category in the US today? Indeed, an almost complete sea change has occurred. The 'poor downtrodden gay' remains the default PC perception. But most are unware of the change which makes this an increasingly irrelevant and outdated perception.

ST. CATHARINES, ON: ACNA Archbishop Duncan on the Anglican Schism

By Charles Lewis,
National Post
http://www.nationalpost.com/
November 15th, 2009

Archbishop Robert Duncan rejects the term "breakaway" to describe the faction of orthodox Anglicans he now leads.

He argues, instead, that the more than 700 orthodox Anglican parishes in Canada and the United States that have left their national churches behind represent where the vast majority of Anglicans in the world are - and where the rest of the Anglicans will soon be.

Archbishop Duncan, visiting Canada last week for the first time since he became head of the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA), the first Anglican jurisdiction that crosses national boundaries, earlier this year, says it is the national churches in Canada and the United States - the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Church USA - that are the real schismatics, trading in the Bible and orthodoxy for a trendy form of Christianity that is trying to be popular instead of faithful.

Ex-NJ Gov McGreevey training to become Episcopal priest

By ANGELA MONTEFINISE
The New York Post
http://tinyurl.com/yg3v49c
November 15, 2009

"Gay American" Jim McGreevey is spending his Sunday mornings with a new man -- Jesus.

The former New Jersey love gov has gone from Turnpike rest stops to the church rostrum as part of his training to become an Episcopal priest, working each weekend at All Saints Church in Hoboken. McGreevey -- who resigned from office in disgrace in 2004 -- isn't far enough along in his seminary studies to actually give sermons, but he assists the Rev. Geoffrey Curtiss at three Masses on Sunday and participates in parish programs, donation drives and activities.

Joel Osteen and the Glory Story: A Case Study

by Michael S. Horton, Ph.D.
Westminster Seminary California
November 2009

"Name it, claim it"; the "health-and-wealth" or "prosperity gospel" : these are nicknames for a heresy that in many respects is only an extreme version of perhaps the most typical focus of American Christianity today more generally. Basically, God is there for you and your happiness. He has some rules and principles for getting what you want out of life and if you follow them, you can have what you want. Just "declare it" and prosperity will come to you. (1) God as Personal Shopper.

Cost of Church of England bishops increases by £2 million

by Ruth Gledhill and Tim Glanfield
The Times
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6877114.ece
November 14, 2009

The running costs of the Church of England's 113 bishops increased by £2 million, or 13.5 per cent, to £16 million last year at a time when the Church has been telling the nation to embrace a more lowly life.

The bishops spent £1.3 million on travel in a period when the Church's own assets dropped from £5.67 billion to £4.36 billion during the credit crunch.

As many of the bishops' own costs increased, in repeated Lent campaigns they urged worshippers to turn off televisions, lights and use charity shops to save both cash and climate.

ENGLAND: Snub to traditionalists over women bishops

By Jonathan Wynne Jones,
The Telegraph
http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/?p=18000#more-18000
November 15th, 2009

Traditionalist clerics in the Church of England have been delivered a major snub after a compromise deal over women bishops was rejected.

Anglo catholics and evangelicals had hoped the church would appoint dedicated male bishops to oversee them. But yesterday the Church's committee tasked with looking at the proposal failed to back the idea.

The move is likely to spark an exodus of clergy who have warned previously that they would leave the Church if they were not given safeguards to protect their beliefs.

A Deal That ECUSA Cannot Refuse

By A.S. Haley
http://accurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2009/11/deal-that-ecusa-cannot-refuse.html
November 14, 2009

The law must mean nothing any more. Up is down; black is white; and all property of Episcopal parishes everywhere is now the "property of the Episcopal Church." Consider this quote, taken word for word from a press statement issued by the Diocese of San Diego after yet one more California trial court judge ruled that he was not interested in the facts or considering the parties' different versions of them, and that he would give the victory to the Episcopal Church (USA) as a matter of law (emphasis added):

ST. CATHARINES, Ont: Three new Bishops consecrated

Anglican Network in Canada News
November 13, 2009

Three bishops were consecrated today in St Catharines, Ontario into the Church of God for ministry in the Anglican Network in Canada. The Right Reverend Stephen Leung, the Right Reverend Charles Masters and the Right Reverend Dr Trevor Walters were consecrated today by the Most Reverend Robert Duncan in a service which saw the participation of 15 bishops and more than 60 priests and deacons from across North America.

The service of consecration was the culmination of the second synod (church convention) of the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC). During the synod, ANiC moderator, the Right Reverend Donald Harvey announced his intention to step down in November 2010. The Right Reverend Malcolm Harding, who like Bishop Harvey emerged from retirement in November 2007 to serve as the original bishops of ANiC, re-retired earlier in June.

Former Gay Youth Leader Re-Emerges to Tell His Dramatic Conversion Story

Interview

By Patrick B Craine,
LifeSite News
November 13th, 2009

Two years ago Michael Glatze sent shockwaves through the homosexualist establishment when he declared publicly that he had left his life as a prominent homosexual activist, become Christian, and embraced "normal human sexuality."

However, after being subjected to intense criticism and ridicule following his conversion, Glatze decided to "go inside," "be silent," and "process" for a time, but now says he feels compelled to share his story anew.

The offence of the cross. The 'stumbling block of the cross' remains. Sinners hate it because it tells them that they cannot save themselves. Preachers are tempted to avoid it because of its offensiveness to the proud. It is easier to preach man's merits than Christ's, because men greatly prefer it that way. --- From "Our Guilty Silence" John R.W. Stott

One of the laments I hear most often is about numbers of Episcopalians. When asked by a reporter about the small numbers of Episcopalians in his diocese, one Western bishop was heard to reply, "Well, look at who those Episcopalians are. They include many of the judges, the leaders in local government and the school principals. We may not be many, but we have a remarkable part in caring for the whole community." --- Katharine Jefferts Schori, TEC Presiding Bishop

"Robinson 'is not the only gay-partnered bishop. He's the only one who's open about it." ---Katharine Jefferts Schori, TEC Presiding Bishop

SAN DIEGO: Superior Court Rules in Favor of Episcopal Diocese

Diocesan Release and Response

Submitted by David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
November 13, 2009

The San Diego Superior Court ruled in favor of the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego on Tuesday, November 10 in a property dispute involving the congregations of two churches that claimed to leave the Episcopal Church, taking church property with them.

The dissenting congregations in the San Diego Diocese were members of St. Anne's in Oceanside and Holy Trinity in Ocean Beach. In January 2006 and September 2006 respectively, leaders of these congregations renounced their membership in the Episcopal Church and aligned themselves instead with a foreign diocese.

Former clinic director: Church chilly to my pro-life turn
Now feels unwelcome among Episcopalians

By Julia Duin
The Washington Times
http://tinyurl.com/ya9eakc
November 13, 2009

Abby Johnson, the former Planned Parenthood clinic director whose about-face on abortion prompted her to resign her job, says she's gotten flack for her decision from an unexpected quarter: her own church.

Her Oct. 6 decision to leave Planned Parenthood in Bryan, Texas - after viewing an ultrasound-guided abortion of a 13-week-old fetus two weeks earlier - made headlines, especially when she ended up volunteering at the Coalition for Life center a few doors away. Her former employer filed a restraining order to silence Mrs. Johnson, but a judge threw out the case on Tuesday.

The Cost of an Incoherent Strategy Just Went Up

By A.S. Haley
http://accurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2009/11/cost-of-incoherent-strategy-just-went.html
November 11, 2009

Now there is a new downside to ECUSA's take-no-prisoners strategy of driving congregations from their churches and then letting them sit vacant (rather than allow them to be sold to, or rented by, the congregation which was forced out): in Pennsylvania, at least, county assessors have begun to remove the property tax exemptions on church properties that sit vacant. The article explains that the impact will be felt most by Catholic dioceses:

Although this applies to any religion, the impact would essentially be felt by the Diocese of Scranton, which has already started implementing a plan to close some schools and half of the 90 churches in Luzerne County.

SCRANTON: Closed churches to be taxed
Diocese of Scranton will feel most impact by plan to take effect next year.

By Jennifer Learn-Andes
Luzerne County Reporter
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Closed_churchs_to_be_taxed_11-07-2009.html
November 7, 2009

Closed churches and religious schools will likely be taxed in Luzerne County next year, county Assessment Director Tony Alu said Friday.

Although this applies to any religion, the impact would essentially be felt by the Diocese of Scranton, which has already started implementing a plan to close some schools and half of the 90 churches in Luzerne County.