Five Anglican Primates (senior Archbishops) from the global Anglican Communion have offered Temporary Adequate Episcopal Oversight (TAEO) to Anglican churches across Canada, citing an “emergency” triggered by clergy firings and parish closures. Four of eleven congregations affiliated with the Anglican Communion in New Westminster (ACiNW) have accepted the Primates’ offer and formally notified Bishop Michael Ingham of their decision. Contrary to media reports and diocesan webs

Diocesan News The report from the Canadian House of Bishops’ Task Force on Adequate/Alternative Episcopal Oversight for Dissenting Minorities—which recommended a form of “flying bishops” for Anglicans opposed to same-sex blessings—received a skeptical response at the Diocesan Council last month. Archdeacon David Retter of St. James, Vancouver, remarked, “It seems as if they are recommending an alternate church.” The task force proposed that any parish opposing same-sex blessi

It’s not too late to register for the Anglican Communion Institute Conference, Anglicanism, History and Hope: The Future of Anglicanism in North America, to be held in Colorado Springs, Colorado, April 20–22, 2004. The Most Rev. Dr. George Carey, Professor Edith Humphrey, the Rev. Dr. John Karanja, the Rev. Dr. Robert Prichard, the Rev. Dr. Jeremie Begbie, the Rev. Dr. Christopher Seitz, the Very Rev. Dr. George Sumner, the Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner, and the Rev. Dr. Ashley Nul

By Alan Jones The culture wars are now concentrating on the polarizing issue of "gay marriage" and we're all caught up in it. The President has declared his support to amend the Constitution specifically to exclude gay people. For some, gay marriage rocks the very foundations of our culture and way of life. The question not only of gay marriage but even gay rights has already become one of the wedge issues of the upcoming presidential election. It has also become the occasion

By Uwe Siemon-Netto UPI Religious Affairs Editor WASHINGTON, March 30 (UPI) -- Editor's note: This is part two of the UPI series on the new schism running horizontally through most Christian denominations. In this installment, theologians argue that the rift constitutes the Church's Third Gnostic Crisis, which is as menacing as were its predecessors 1,000 and almost 2,000 years ago. When Don Westblade, a religion professor, tries to explain the Gnostic crisis of the early chu

By Uwe Siemon-Netto UPI Religious Affairs Editor WASHINGTON, March 25 (UPI) -- Editor's note: The Christian Church is in the process of a new schism running horizontally across the denominations. The dividing issue is truth -- is truth eternal or is it temporal? What follows is the first installment of an open-ended UPI series on the many ramifications of this religious phenomenon. In Canada, a medical student, who is a devout Christian, will not be allowed to graduate becaus

Declaration of the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church of the Central American Region (IARCA) Peace and hope to the Churches of Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and the Provinces of the Anglican Communion. We, the Bishops that make up The Anglican Church of the Central American Region (IARCA) gathered in Managua, Nicaragua have made a space for reflection and biblical analysis and shared our individual concerns and experiences of our ministry as pasto

By James Murray, Religious Affairs Editor THE AUSTRALIAN April 01, 2004 Priests in Australia's largest Anglican diocese are being forced to fill out a detailed and highly personal questionnaire about their sexual history, including relationships outside marriage, as part of a crackdown on child abusers in the church. The Sydney diocese questionnaire also asks about any involvement in the occult, whether priests have been cruel to animals, their attitudes to alcohol and any co

By William A. Wheatley 2/4/2004 Recently I made a trip to the Republic of Sudan, and wish to report on the conditions I witnessed while I was there. I was in Khartoum from Tuesday, 24 February 2004, until the evening of Wednesday, 03 March 2004. While the purpose of my trip was to scout for business opportunities for a client once the US sanctions are lifted, I was also very curious and concerned about what I have read in the press regarding the treatment of Christians in Sud

By Cal Thomas March 20, a lesbian Methodist pastor was acquitted on charges stemming from her sexual orientation and will continue her ministry. A jury of pastors in Bothell, Wash., deliberated 10 hours before a majority ruled the homosexual relationship between the Rev. Karen Dammann and another woman, who recently "married," is allowable under church social principles, although the Methodist Book of Discipline declares homosexual practice "incompatible to Christian teaching

By Michael J. McManus Ethics & Religion This week the Senate began debating re-authorization of Welfare Reform that includes a "Healthy Marriage Initiative" to increase the percentage of couples who marry - and enjoy healthy marriages. The House passed its version of the bill a year ago. Only 54 percent of adults are married today and half of new marriages end in divorce. When Welfare Reform was passed by Congress in 1996, it was denounced by Sen. Pat Moynihan as "the most br

Rift in church growing Some Episcopalians want a new bishop By ANNE RUDERMAN Monitor staff April 04. 2004 7:03PM Conservatives don't want to recognize Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop, as their leader. ROCHESTER - Conservative New Hampshire Episcopalians who opposed the consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson said yesterday they would like to be reorganized under the jurisdiction of a more orthodox bishop from another diocese or even another country - so they could rem

By Jay Tokasz News Staff Reporter The Buffalo News 4/2/2004 The Episcopal Diocese of Western New York is facing a major budget deficit caused in part by the withdrawal of more than $100,000 in pledges from parishes that disagree with the confirmation last summer of a gay bishop. At least five parishes are withholding most of their "fair share" gifts to the diocese in 2004 because of the national church's confirmation of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire. An

A Contra Perspective By David Thorman I do not intend this to be an argumentative response to Bob Seitz's case study, but I had to add a few things from where I sit. I am friends with people on both sides of the current issues at Grace Episcopal Church in Tampa, Florida. I hope by writing this I have not offended any of them. That is not my intention. As a point of clarification, My wife and I are individual members of the AAC. I was the first of the speakers at the March Ves

Four decades of incremental erosion of Christian faith and morals in the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) and the Episcopal Church in USA (ECUSA) became evident in 2003 with the consecration to the episcopate of a non-celibate homosexual in New Hampshire and the approval of same-sex blessings (SSB) in New Westminster. An emergency meeting of the Primates called by the Archbishop of Canterbury to deal with this crisis issued a statement requiring the ACC and ECUSA, in consultat

Special Report By David W. Virtue Five orthodox priests and a deacon in the Diocese of New Westminster resigned from the Diocese late last week over Bishop Michael Ingham's approval of same-sex unions and his support of the consecration of gay American Episcopal bishop V. Gene Robinson. Yesterday the five parish priests woke up and got on with their collective ministry despite the fact that the revisionist bishop now regards the priests as having left his diocese and the Angl

"The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the Word of the Lord; so what wisdom do they have?" Jeremiah 8:9 Dear Brothers and Sisters, These words of Jeremiah could be written over the doorposts of the entranceway to Camp Allen, Navasota, Texas as the current holders of apostolic succession - The Episcopal Church's House of Bishops - weighed their recent actions. These words might also be their epitaph. The vast majority of ECUSA's bish

RICHARD N. OSTLING Associated Press The spokesman for bishops who claim leadership of a majority of the world's Anglican Christians denounced the gay-rights policies of America's Episcopal Church on Saturday, following a two-day caucus in Atlanta with U.S. conservatives. Archbishop Peter Akinola said the future of true Anglicanism in the United States lies with conservative minority opposition groups within the Episcopal Church who oppose gay marriage and the church's approva

By The Rev'd Canon John Heidt April 2, 2004 An Open Letter to the Presiding Bishop and House of Bishops Dear Bishop Griswold, It has come to my attention that since the recent meeting of the House of Bishops there are those who claim that the more "liberal" bishops led by yourself were eager to find out what the more "orthodox" bishops really want and would have come up with a stronger statement if more of them had attended the meeting. This is a serious indictment, and knowi

Rowan Williams: To Understand Believers, Understand Unbelievers By Robert Stowe England The Christian Challenge Washington, DC March 30, 2004 WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams told a packed house at a lecture delivered at Georgetown University that one can better understand believers in other faiths and even atheists by understanding what others disbelieve about one’s own faith. In turn, their understanding of your unbelief can help them. The lectur