This week it was announced that two Primates, Drexel Gomez (Nassau) and Greg Venables (Southern Cone), have invited the Presiding Bishop and leadership of the US-based Reformed Episcopal Church to a gabfest in Nassau. This is important because ECUSA has been trying to rope in the REC with talks of unity—but the REC is now in impaired communion with ECUSA over the Robinson consecration. In the announcement, Archbishop Gomez said he had been impressed and delighted by the new “

A rift between the only liberal province—Southern Africa—and the rest of Africa was patched over between Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane and Nigerian Primate Peter Akinola. Their statement (included in today’s digest) said: “We concluded to work together to strengthen the position of the Church in Africa on the issue of Human Sexuality. We uphold the Lambeth resolution on Human Sexuality as passed at the 1998 Lambeth Conference and subsequent Primates Meetings, which categori

Dear Brothers and Sisters, The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Frank T. Griswold, has written a letter to Irish Primate Archbishop Robin Eames in an effort to put into perspective what he believes are the central issues facing the Anglican Communion from ECUSA’s standpoint as the commission pursues what could be a break-up or a new configuration of the whole communion. As ECUSA heads with Gadarene-like swiftness toward the cliff’s edge, Griswold wrote a letter rathe

News Analysis By David W. Virtue The ECUSA Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold wrote to the Lambeth Commission and Irish Primate Robert H. A. Eames this week to explain to him and the Commission the mind of the ECUSA on human sexuality as it faces possible censure from the Primates for its actions in consecrating a known homosexual to the episcopacy. GRISWOLD: Rather than respond to the questionnaire I thought it would be more helpful were I to send to you to share with members o

By Ellen Rossini, Correspondent National Catholic Register WASHINGTON — It has been called the "elephant in the sacristy." In the Catholic clergy abuse scandal, most of the activity was homosexual in nature, and yet this central fact of the abuse has been treated as almost unmentionable in the Church’s internal discussions. But now that the abuse picture has been thoroughly studied, the elephant is making a racket. The John Jay study and National Review Board reports released

Commentary By David W. Virtue The Anglican Communion is at a cross roads, some say it is in the process of an international ecclesiastical meltdown. The liberal Western provinces largely dominated by post-modern, pluriform thinking — loose on doctrine and morals — face a vastly outnumbered Global South Anglicanism that is at once orthodox in faith and morals with a high view of the authority of Holy Scripture. It is an unbridgeable divide. But what is truly tragic is that the

Evangelical Drift Outsiders say we're the status quo. Our call is to prove them wrong. By Charles Colson with Anne Morse 3/29/2004 Have evangelicals come full circle in just 50 years—from fundamentalist isolation to mainstream acceptance? Have we embraced a national creed that values personal growth over doctrinal orthodoxy? Unhappily, one of America's most insightful observers says that's precisely what we've done. Conservative columnist David Brooks of The New York Times ar

"Christianity and Islam" Collison or convergence? Address given by Lord Carey at the Gregorian University March 25th 2004. I would like to begin this lecture by thanking Dr. Eugene McCarthy for the privilege of being a McCarthy Visiting Professor this year at the Gregorian University. I have enjoyed the experience immensely and am grateful to the Dean, Dr. Franco Imoda, for his kindness and Fr.Bill Henn for his considerable helpfulness in so many ways. We have been housed in

Bill could criminalize Scriptures say Bishops Bob Harvey CanWest News Service March 27, 2004 Portions of the Bible are in danger of being condemned as hate literature, say religious groups opposed to changes in the Criminal Code to be debated next week by the Senate. In a letter to Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said Friday that Bill C-250 proposes changes that could lead to the church being prosecuted for its teaching that "sexual

Setting the Record Straight: What Really Happened at the House of Bishops March 26, 2004 THE AMERICAN ANGLICAN COUNCIL: SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT What Really Happened at the House of Bishops? The House of Bishops meeting was tightly controlled and "process oriented". The Presiding Bishop stated in his opening address that V. Gene Robinson has borne all the pain over the last several months. The House neither acknowledged nor dealt with the severe level of crisis in the chur

The Most Rev. Drexel Gomez, Anglican Primate of the Province of the Bahamas and West Indies, and the Most Rev. Gregory Venables, new Archbishop of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, have invited the Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Leonard Riches, and the Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Province of America, the Most Rev. Walter Grundorf, to Nassau this week to meet with other primates and bishops of the Anglican Communion who are in b

The Most Rev. Drexel Gomez, Anglican Primate of the Province of the Bahamas and West Indies, and the Most Rev. Gregory Venables, new Archbishop of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, have invited the Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Leonard Riches, and the Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Province of America, the Most Rev. Walter Grundorf, to Nassau this week to meet with other primates and bishops of the Anglican Communion who are in b

By David W. Virtue 3/29/2004 BIRMINGHAM, AL--The Dean of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham says that the recent HOB statement regarding Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight is unsatisfactory, because it withholds "jurisdiction", and makes a consistent distinction between "jurisdiction" and "pastoral oversight". The Very Rev. Dr. Paul Zahl says that what is needed for the dissenting minority, is a suspension, in love, of business as usual, indeed a suspension,

By Steve Levin Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 3/28/2004 An influential Church of England bishop visiting Pittsburgh this week believes the crisis in the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion over gay ordination is related to America's unilateralism. The Rt. Rev. N.T. Wright, bishop of Durham in the Church of England and former canon theologian of Westminster Abbey, said "America has been screwing the world into the socket" for years to reach agreements on land mines, global debt,

By Wolfhart Pannenberg Good News Magazine Can love ever be sinful? The entire tradition of Christian doctrine teaches that there is such a thing as inverted, perverted love. Human beings are created for love, as creatures of the God who is Love. And yet that divine appointment is corrupted whenever people turn away from God or love other things more than God. Jesus said, "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me..." (Matt. 10:37, NRSV). Love for God mus

By HARRY R. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS ATLANTA (AP) - Moderate and liberal Episcopalians from dioceses that oppose an openly gay bishop called Saturday for church members to find common ground and tolerate differing viewpoints so the church can remain whole. Episcopalians from 11 conservative dioceses said at the conclusion of a three-day meeting in Atlanta they are trying to move past a debate that has caused divisions in the church. "There is a place for everybody in this churc

By Cheryl H. White, Ph.D. There seems to have been a renewed interest in the via media – indeed, this term has been invoked with increasing frequency amidst the rhetoric of the revisionists within the Episcopal Church. Many groups who support the recent consecration of Gene Robinson as a bishop of the Church are using the term via media in an attempt to corrupt its historic meaning. By applying the term to actions that can only be described as unorthodox, these elements withi

Church of England Newspaper 3/25/2004 The American House of Bishops was this week under immense pressure to reach a compromise on providing Episcopal oversight to dissenting traditional parishes, amid an intractable divide between conservatives and liberals. Guards have been posted at the gates and a media lockdown is in force during the Episcopal Church's retreat for bishops which began on March 19 in Navasota, Texas. Aides to Presiding Bishop Frank T Griswold denied the Chu

by Bishop Dave Bena The House of Bishops met this week in Texas to take up action on the growing number of parishes (now in the hundreds) who feel that they cannot accept Episcopal Oversight by their bishops. Most of these are traditional parishes which take Scripture very seriously and which teach and model biblical, conservative values. They have gathered that their bishops are teaching and modeling values in opposition to theirs, and are concerned that the teaching role of

By Marites N. Sison, Anglican Journal   Archbishop David Crawley, acting Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, has written formal letters of protest to the Primates of Central Africa, Congo, Rwanda, and Southeast Asia, objecting to their offer of “temporary adequate episcopal oversight” to New Westminster parishes opposed to same-sex blessings—calling it interference . Four of 11 dissenting churches in the Anglican Communion in New Westminster (ACiNW) have accepted the