Resolution No. 6, passed at a diocesan convention in September, was at the heart of an October lawsuit filed by a Shadyside church against Duncan and the diocese's board of trustees to prevent them from transferring ownership of any church property.

Addressing several hundred attendees at a conference here, Seitz, Professor of Divinity at the University of St Andrews, Scotland said, "one can actually hear the timbers of our Communion boat creak, and there seems to be little sign that the winds are calming. The Communion has been hit by a tsunami, and we are salvaging what we can and hoping things have not gone beyond the possibility of repair."

I refer of course to the actions of the Bishop and Synod of the Diocese of
New Westminster in Canada where same sex blessings were officially endorsed and
authorized by the Synod and subsequently implemented as a matter of diocesan
policy. These actions in New Westminster must be considered against the
background of an existing official policy that forbids such actions and a Provincial

Under date of November 30, 2003, I have received a letter from Gregory K.
Hotchkiss in which he officially vacates his episcopal office and renounces his
ministerial orders in the Reformed Episcopal Church. In his correspondence he
cites changes in his "moral and theological understanding" which have resulted
in a "growing distance" between himself and the Reformed Episcopal Church. In