The Anglican Church of Canada's House of Bishops has released a pastoral statement on same-sex blessings that will be sent to delegates of General Synod.

In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The House of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada, meeting from April 16-20, 2007, once again discussed the question of the blessing of same-sex unions. Once again a number of diverse opinions were expressed. Again questions were raised about theology, scripture, discipline, and our church's constitution. However we did find a common strong concern for the pastoral care of all members of our church. While not all bishops can conceive of condoning or blessing same-sex unions, we believe it is not only appropriate but a Gospel imperative to pray with the whole people of God, no matter their circumstance. In so doing we convey the long-standing Gospel teaching that God in Christ loves each person and indeed loves him/her so much that Christ is calling each person to change and grow more fully into God's image and likeness. To refuse to pray with any person or people is to suggest God is not with them. All of us fall short of the glory of God but all are loved by God in Christ Jesus. We believe that in offering the sacraments we invite God's transformative action in people's lives.

Read the whole statement here.

The Rev. Astrid Storm, vicar of the Church of St. Nicholas-on-the-Hudson, writes about Akinola's upcoming visit to install the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns as CANA's missionary bishop in The Huffington Post. In her essay, she remarks on how the departure of certain Virginia churches sowed a deeper dissent this past December:

As has been noted plenty of times before, the decision these churches made to leave the Episcopal Church because of its gay-friendly leanings is monumental, involving complex property disputes, legal wrangling, and the possible—probable—loss of dearly loved church buildings. That's not to mention the risks that come with aligning with an erratic bishop with a dubious human rights record from a country with problems that these Virginians probably can't begin to fathom—problems that have and will continue to have an enormous impact on the church and society in Nigeria.

In showing their willingness to take on such risks, the people in these parishes are making a strong statement against friends, acquaintances, and members of their own families who are gay or at least sympathize with gay people—sons, daughters, aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings. Through those emails last December, I got but a glimpse of the sadness and alienation that must have resulted in many homes.

She continues, bearing witness to her own church, where people with opposing opinions came together in worship.

Read the whole thing here: A Split Episcopal Church.

[ENS] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has written to Nigerian Primate Peter J. Akinola asking him to reconsider plans to install Martyn Minns as a bishop in the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), an action she says "would violate the ancient customs of the church" and would "not help the efforts of reconciliation."

Such action, Jefferts Schori added, "would display to the world division and disunity that are not part of the mind of Christ, which we must strive to display to all."

The installation service, set for May 5 the Hylton Memorial Chapel, a nondenominational Christian Event Center in Woodbridge, Virginia, is intended to install Minns as bishop of CANA, which describes itself as "an Anglican missionary effort in the US sponsored by the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)."

Read it all.

[Episcopal News Service] A South Carolina state judge has ruled that the minority of the members of the parish of All Saints, Waccamaw in Pawley's Island, South Carolina who remained loyal to the Episcopal Church do, in fact, constitute All Saints' Episcopal congregation.

The ruling arose from two different lawsuits, the earliest filed in 2000, over the issue of who owns the 50-acre campus that is also home to the breakaway Anglican Mission in America (AMiA). One of the cases arose in 2000 when the Diocese of South Carolina filed a public notice that All Saints, subject to applicable canon law, holds its property in trust for the diocese and the Episcopal Church as a whole. Attorneys for the diocese said that the notice was filed "out of concern that All Saints might attempt to convey its property" to the AMiA.

Read it all with special attention to the judge's reasoning. The Episcopal Church will be in a strong legal position if this logic is embraced by courts in other states.

From Anglican Journal:

Rowan Williams said on his recent visit to Canada that his job as Archbishop of Canterbury—the spiritual leader of the world’s 77 million Anglicans—is to get people around the table and keep them there as long as possible.

Of course, in ecclesiastical terms, Archbishop Williams’ words carry two meanings: he is attempting to keep all parties around the meeting table, continuing to talk about the challenges surrounding human sexuality and the authority of Scripture that threaten to divide them forever. He is also faced with the task of trying to keep all members around the eucharistic table. In some respects, he can record some success and some failure on both counts.

The recent meeting of primates in Tanzania is one marker of his progress. While there in February, seven leaders of the Anglican Communion’s 38 provinces boycotted a communion service to symbolize the “brokenness” of the communion. Granted, the number of absentee bishops was about half that which declined to share communion two years earlier at the same meeting in Northern Ireland. But it nevertheless shocked some observers, who could not fathom why church leaders would refuse to partake in the greatest gift to believers: the body and blood of Christ, simply in order to make a point.

Read it all here.

The General Synod Canadian Anglicans meets in June. Among the resolutions before the synod are several dealing with same-sex blessings.

The Anglican Journal reports that several groups within the Anglican Church of Canada have separate statements of caution. These include the Primate's Theological Commission:

The commission has clarified that only one of five resolutions related to the blessing of same-sex deals with the St. Michael Report it released in 2005.

That resolution states, “That this General Synod accepts the conclusion of the Primate’s Theological Commission’s St. Michael Report that the blessing of same-sex unions is a matter of doctrine, but is not core doctrine in the sense of being creedal.”
...
Bishop Victoria Matthews, chair of the commission, explained why the commission issued a clarification: “I don’t think the Anglican Church of Canada has been as diligent as I would like to think it has. And so I’m afraid that people could read those resolutions and believe that that’s the recommendation of the St. Michael Report.” She added: “We don’t make recommendations, we do raise theological questions.”
...
In an interview, Bishop Matthews said that she was “very surprised” by CoGS’ recommendation that General Synod deal with the issue of same-sex blessings through resolutions requiring the approval of a 60 per cent majority of the members of the order of bishops, laity and clergy or 60 per cent of dioceses if a vote by dioceses is requested, instead of the adoption or amendment of a canon....
...
She said that she was surprised by CoGS’ decision because when she presented the Commission’s report to CoGS, she had heard the chancellor (legal advisor) of General Synod express a legal opinion that it would be dealt with as doctrine.

A majority of CoGS members decided at their March meeting that a canonical change “set the bar too high” and would create an impasse in a church already exhausted with the divisive issue of sexuality.

The commission, appointed by the primate to consult on theological matters, also said that General Synod should, as part of its determination, consider whether it is “theologically and doctrinally responsible for one member church of the Communion to approve a course of action which it has reason to believe may be destructive of the unity of the Communion.”

Bishop Matthews is one of four nominees for primate in Canada.

The Toronto Star is reporting this morning:

Canada's Anglican bishops are rejecting same-sex marriage blessings in this country, leaving the U.S. church alone in a fight that has pushed the international communion to the verge of schism.

The surprise move came in the form of a pastoral letter issued early yesterday by the church on behalf of its bishops.

The church had no one available to comment yesterday. The office of Edmonton Bishop Victoria Matthews, one of the architects of the letter, for instance, said she is out of town for a few days and could not be reached for comment. Matthews is a top candidate to be the next primate of the church.

Chris Ambidge, a spokesperson for the gay Anglican group Integrity Canada, said yesterday the situation is incredibly frustrating and reveals a lack of leadership among the bishops.

See also this companion piece on this morning's The Lead.

Read all of the Toronto Star article here.

Bishop Peter James Lee of the Diocese of Virginia has written a letter to his diocese regarding Archbishop Peter Akinola's upcoming visit. He writes:

This weekend’s ceremony will provide false comfort to those who seek certainty in an uncertain world. But in truth, it will serve only to inflame the differences we have been struggling with. When there is so much that brings us together as brothers and sisters in Christ, in a Church that has always celebrated and respected a wide variety of opinions, it is painful to see our shared ministry and faith overshadowed by our differences.

Read more »

As reported yesterday, the Diocese of South Carolina has won its latest legal round with the secessionist parish All Saints Pawley's Island.

Back in January 2004 Bishop Salmon (South Carolina) wrote to the members of the parish. His letter echoes current events that surround CANA. Here is some of what he wrote:

When Bishop Murphy was consecrated in Singapore in an irregular consecration in 2000, I was not in favor of the consecration because I believed that it would be divisive to orthodox unity. I believe it has. I could not change the fact that it had taken place. Since Bishop Murphy was no longer under our Canons, I had no control over the exercise of his ministry. The hope and expectation was that All Saints Parish would remain a faithful part of the Diocese of South Carolina.

When the Vestry in Moorehead City, N.C. voted to leave the Diocese of East Carolina they first transferred title to the church property to another group, and then informed the bishop that they were leaving the Diocese of East Carolina. Because of this the Chancellor advised me to record in the Georgetown County Courthouse, the Canons of the Diocese reflecting the requirement regarding property under which all congregations operate.
...
I discovered, by happenstance, that the All Saints vestry had voted to amend the 1902 Charter which the then serving Chancellor had assisted the parish in securing. By way of background, the granting of the 1902 Charter by the Secretary of State was followed by the Trustees of the Diocese’s conveying the title to the church property to All Saints Church Parish by quit claim deed dated 1903.
...
The basic issues on the table are those of lawlessness and the stability of the Diocese itself. We have no theological issues with All Saints. If any parish in the Diocese can unilaterally decide to not be under the Canons, appoint vicars, do what they want to when they want to, our strength as a Diocese is soon destroyed. There is no authority, only individual choice. That is exactly why the Episcopal Church is in the mess it is in. Bishops have individually acted without accountability, believe or not believe as they choose. That is lawlessness. It is my duty to oppose it.

I have met with members of All Saints who are loyal to the Diocese. It was my decision to treat the loyal membership as a parish rather than a mission.

We missed its appearance in Church Times back on April 20, but Andrew Brown has written a barbed account of the Anglican Communion Institute. The opening:

One of my favourite satirical websites is The Poor Man, which, some years ago, felt it was suffering from a lack of gravitas, and changed its name to The Poor Man Institute for Freedom, Democracy, and a Pony. The Pony was added on the principle that no wish-list of wonderful things could not be improved by adding “and a pony” to the end. Who would have thought this joke could have been independently discovered by such earnest parties as Lord Carey and Dr Ephraim Radner?

Both men were directors of the Anglican Communion Institute (ACI), something that claimed on its website that: “By bringing together the finest theological and biblical scholars in the Church, it has been and will continue to be our goal to offer a forum for significant reflection on core matters of the doctrine and discipline of the Church for its clergy and lay members.”

With a pitch like that, it hardly needed to mention the ponies. But what was this thing in real life? The Poor Man Institute is just a couple of bored graduate students. The ACI, on the other hand, claimed hundreds of supporters, as well as a distinguished board of directors, and funding from the rich and influential Grace Church in Denver, Colorado.

Keep reading here. And a thanks to Thinking Anglicans for the link.

Ecclesia reports:

The Archbishop of York, has placed an advert in his local newspaper urging voters to come out against the BNP in Thursday's local elections.

In the advert, the Church of England's most senior black cleric Dr John Sentamu warns that if people fail to vote they will be sleepwalking into "a wall of hate".

The advert comes after criticism that he and other bishops in the church may be playing into the hands of extremist parties, by urging the defence of Britain's 'Christian culture'.

Groups such as the religious thinktank Ekklesia have warned that the BNP has recently stepped up its religious rhetoric. In recent local elections, the party's literature included copies of the controversial Mohammed cartoons
...
In the advert, which appears in York newspaper The Press, today, the Archbishop, says voters should beware of political parties which promise much but have policies that promote hate and division.

"Jesus warned us to be wary of wolves who come in sheep’s clothing," the Archbishop says in the quarter-page advert. "They come with honeycombed words, promising a New England, and a land of milk and honey. In reality they offer us a diet of bile and discord, a desert of hopelessness and policies which stoke the ashes of Clifford’s Tower."

Clifford's Tower was Britain's worst anti-Semitic attack, when 150 Jews were killed in York on March 16, 1190.

Fort Worth Weekly describes the state of The Episcopal Church in Fort Worth. Writer Eric Griffey interviews people from a variety of views on issues in the Episcopal Church, the Diocese of Fort Worth and their Bishop Jack Iker.

A Great Schism?
The fight between liberal and conservative Episcopalians comes to Cowtown.

....this rich tapestry, threaded with strong strands of tolerance and freedom from clearly defined dogma, is threatening to unravel. The American-based Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion of which the church is a part are engaged in a bitter struggle over the roles of homosexuals and women within the church. This long-simmering disagreement broke out into open warfare in 2003 with the consecration of the openly gay V. Gene Robinson as the Bishop of New Hampshire. Since then, the events in this intense and increasingly less polite fight have often seemed more like something you might read while standing in the checkout line in the grocery store than in the annals of a denomination that intuitively searches for the “middle way.”

Read more »

The Washington Times is saying:

Despite a general invitation to CANA-affiliated parishes in Virginia plus about 200 invitations to out-of-town church officials, most conservative Episcopal leaders are avoiding the rite.

A phone survey of 10 Episcopal dioceses that belong to the Anglican Communion Network (ACN) -- a confederation that opposes the Robinson consecration -- revealed that only its moderator, Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan, plans to attend. Bishop Don Harvey, moderator of the Anglican Network of Canada, has also accepted.

Read more »

From The Church of Nigeria website

2nd May, 2007

The Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori,
Episcopal Church Center
815 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10017, USA

My attention has been drawn to your letter of April 30th ostensibly written to me but published on the Episcopal News Service website.

In light of the concerns that you raise it might be helpful to be reminded of the actions and decisions that have led to our current predicament.

At the emergency meeting of the Primates in October 2003 it was made clear that the proposed actions of the Episcopal Church would “tear the fabric of our Communion at its deepest level, and may lead to further division on this and further issues …” Sadly, this proved to be true as many provinces did proceed to declare broken or impaired communion with the Episcopal Church. Since that time the Primates have established task forces, held numerous meetings and issued a variety of statements and communiqués but the brokenness remains, our Provinces are divided, and so the usual protocol and permissions are no longer applicable.

You will also recall from our meeting in Dar es Salaam that there was specific discussion about CANA and recognition – expressed in the Communiqué itself – of the important role that it plays in the context of the present division within your Province. CANA was established as a Convocation of the Church of Nigeria, and therefore a constituent part of the Communion, to provide a safe place for those who wish to remain faithful Anglicans but can no longer do so within The Episcopal Church as it is currently being led. The response for your own House of Bishops to the carefully written and unanimously approved Pastoral Scheme in the Communiqué makes it clear that such pastoral protection is even more necessary.

Read more »

The Falls Church News-Press comments on the visit to Virginia by Abp Akinola:

While the political elites in Abuja will use guns to maintain dominion over voters, Akinola will be lording over a ceremony in Old Dominion to install church rector Martyn Minns as the bishop of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, a subsidiary of the Nigerian church. Basically, conservatives who think the Episcopal Church is too liberal, are refusing to submit to its authority, and instead have opted to align themselves with Akinola.

Read more »

Bishop Christopher Epting relates the story of three faiths in search of common ground - real ground. A Synagogue, a Mosque and an Episcopal Church work together to share land and build common space.

From Epting's blog That We All May Be One

They are now looking for property on which to build three worship sites and a “middle building” tentatively called “Abraham’s tent” which can be a gathering space, coffee shop, educational and outreach center for the larger community. They are clear that each community needs to tend to its own internal needs of formation, nurture, “life cycle” issues like births and marriages and funerals and more.

Read more »

With two days to go until he is installed as Bishop Missionary Leader of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) by the Most Rev. Peter J. Akinola, Archbishop of Nigeria, Bp. Martyn Minns held a press conference Thursday to place the May 5 event into context.

Read more »

Revival of sanctuary movements among churches and lobbying for immigrant rights have become ways that Episcopal Churches are joining with other faith groups and with workers and their families to respond to Jesus' command to love our sisters and brothers. Many marched on May 1st with Immigrant Rights groups.

"Immigrant-rights groups around the United States marched on May 1 to urge Congress to pass legislation that will make the immigration system one that balances enforcement with acknowledgment of the need for an expanded program to permit foreign workers to enter the country legally. Immigrant-rights and faith-based advocates of reform, including the Episcopal Church, have consistently pressed for allowing those immigrants without documentation the chance to earn credit toward permanent status if they are employed and meet certain additional requirements.

Read more »

The following has been posted on the website of the Diocese of Florida:

Judge Karen Cole of the Circuit Court of Duval County has granted the diocese's motion for summary judgment in connection with our claim of ownership of Church of the Redeemer in Jacksonville. We expect to regain possession of the church property very soon and Episcopal worship and ministry under the leadership of the Rev. Davette Turk will be resuming at Redeemer shortly. Please stay tuned for details regarding the schedule.

SeattlePI.com columnist Joel Connelly has a report from the "walk-abouts" going on in the Diocese of Olympia in preparation for the diocesan election of a new bishop:

As five candidates vying to become Western Washington's new Episcopal bishop were driven here to meet the faithful at a "Walkabout," their bus broke down.

Was it a warning from the Holy Spirit? The mainstream Protestant churches in these parts, especially the troubled Diocese of Olympia, badly need tuneups and a new battery.

Seattle is the least "churched" of America's major cities. Despite -- or because of -- that fact, the area's churches have displayed ingenuity in good works and witness.

For a frank discussion of the challenges facing the Diocese of Olympia, read the rest of the article here.

In an article titled "Synod members support for Bishop Minns" comes this interesting nugget about the trip Archbishop Akinola is making to Virginia this weekend to install Bishop Minns as the Missionary Bishop for CANA:

Lambeth Palace today confirmed the Archbishop of Canterbury has written to the African Primate asking him to cancel his trip to Virginia to carry out the service. A spokesman for Dr Rowan Williams confirmed a letter had been sent to the Archbishop of Nigeria, while it has also been reported that the Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has also appealed to Bishop Akinola not to carry out the installation at Hylton Memorial Chapel in Woodbridge, Virginia. She is reported to have said such an action would "violate the ancient customs of the church, in terms of the sacrosanct boundaries of individual bishops" and would not "help the efforts of reconciliation that are taking place in the Episcopal Church and in the Anglican Communion as a whole." But Mr O'Brien said he would be giving the greeting to Mr Minns to show solidarity with orthodox Anglicans in North America.

The full article is here: Anglican Mainstream » Synod members support for Bishop Minns

"Gay Anglicans offer mixed reviews of a statement by the Canadian House of Bishops in which the bishops claim to support 'the most generous pastoral response possible' toward gay and lesbian couples while they also signal they will veto attempts to clarify the church's teaching. Members of Integrity Canada are at turns offended, disappointed, and confused by the bishops' 'possible pastoral responses' and demands for prolonged dialogue and study. The proposed pastoral provisions are a 'slap in the face of committed gay and lesbian couples,' says Michelle Crawford-Bewley of Integrity Toronto. 'We are relegated to second-class status in our own church.'"

"As limited as the proposal is," observes Chris Ambidge of Integrity Toronto, "in some jurisdictions this would be an improvement. In some places children of gay parents are denied baptism, gay people are turned away from the communion rail, and the bishops know that. We'd expect them to implement their earlier policy that it is unacceptable to deny baptism to children to discipline their parents, but until then any tentative statement in that direction is welcome."

Unfortunately, the Bishops' statement forecloses any further discussion of the blessing of same sex unions by accepting those in committed homosexual relationships to Communion and confirmation. The statement advocates using the Eucharist as a device to give the church's recognition to gay and lesbian married couples. This supposes that gay and lesbian practice is, in principle at least, a form of Christian holiness, and it clearly insinuates the hope that the forthcoming General Synod will explicitly sanction the blessing of same-sex unions, so bringing the ACC into line with the civil marriage of gay couples that are now sanctioned by Canadian law. This deviates directly from the pastoral care of homosexuals which the whole Christian church has practiced till very recently, and to which the Lambeth Conference of 1998 recalled us all, and to which the greater part of the world-wide Anglican Communion adheres today. The deviation is totally unacceptable to all those who hold to the apostolic Christian faith as the churches of the Anglican Communion have received it.

The statement issued by the Canadian House of Bishops was intended to anticipate the pastoral needs of Anglicans after a decision on same-sex blessings, which will be made by our General Synod in June. The statement describes the status quo and is not pre-emptive of the decision General Synod will make. Bishops will be part of that process, but they do not make such decisions on their own.

The Right Reverend Dr. Ben Kwashi, bishop of the Diocese of Jos in the Church of Nigeria, will celebrate the Holy Eucharist at both 8:30 and 11 a.m. services at Family of Holy Trinity Anglican Church on Sunday, May 6.

...Holy Trinity Anglican Church is a new member of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America. Church leaders say that since its first service, March 18, the congregation has grown steadily, and the parish has bought land on Miller Road in Rowlett to eventually build a permanent home.

Bishop Kwashi is the Coordinating Bishop for the Convocation of Anglicans in North America. He's on the board of Trinity School for Ministry and is chairman of Sharing of Ministries Abroad (SOMA) International.

It's unclear what the difference in roles is (or will be) betweeen Bishop Kwashi who serves as coordinating bishop of CANA and Bishop Minns, who is to be installed as "Bishop Missionary Leader" of the same organization.

News report from here

More news from the swirl of controversy surrounding Grace and St. Stephen's parish in Colorado Springs:

Faith at Altitude: Vestry says Don't Vote

"We ask that you not participate in this vote both because it is unlawful and because its outcome has already been determined," the vestry told parishioners in a May 3 letter. Grace's Web site states it's now part of CANA, and the banner in the sanctuary is that of CANA, too -- replacing the Episcopal flag.

The Grace Episcopal vestry called Grace CANA a "secessionist congregation now occupying our property," and argued the whole vote was anti-Episcopalian, and anti-Anglican, for that matter.

"We don't vote locally about parish migration," the letter read. "If Father Armstrong comes to disagree with Archbishop Akinola (who leads the Nigerian province) or if Bishop Minns (leader of CANA) investigates him for wrongdoing, what then? Another move to another bishop followed by another sham vote?"

There's much more, and also the text of the letter that was sent by the leadership of the "episcopalian" portion of the congregation, at the link above.

Anglican Church Intercedes

WASHINGTON, May 4 — The archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, has waded into a gathering dispute over efforts by conservative congregations in this country to break away from the Episcopal Church.
...
[But] according to organizers of the installation ceremony, Archbishop Akinola is already in the United States.

- Neela Banerjee, New York Times

Archbishop Angry About Minister Becoming Bishop

The head of the Anglican Communion is displeased, his spokesman says, that the leader of the Nigerian branch plans to make a bishop of a Fairfax City minister who left the Episcopal Church. Martyn Minns, rector at Truro Church, led about a dozen Virginia congregations last winter out of the U.S. church, part of the Anglican Communion, and into the Convocation of Anglicans in North America.

Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola will install Minns today as a missionary bishop for the convocation. "This is clearly not a development that the Archbishop would wish to encourage," said a spokesman for Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

-- Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post

Of course, Martyn Minns was consecrated a bishop in Nigeria last year. Today's installation is ceremonial.

Archbishop Peter Akinola's visit to northern Virginia to install the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns as bishop of a North American initiative of the Church of Nigeria has set the blogosphere buzzing. The Mad Priest has weighed in, and Mark Harris has posted two thoughtful entries.

What's been missing so far from the commentary and the coverage is an analysis of who the audiences for Akinola's initiative are. We take a stab at that on the Daily Episcopalian blog.

Former police officer, The Rev. Dr. Edward J. Konieczny was elected bishop of Oklahoma today on the first ballot. He has served as rector of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Grand Junction, Colorado, and has also served congregations in the Diocese of Texas.

According to Oklahomans, his last name is pronounced: con YETCH nee

Full story HERE
Information on the bishop-elect HERE

Where have all the letters to Archbishop Peter J. Akinola gone?

Read more »

The Rev. Mark Harris, the Mad Priest and the Associated Press have early coverage and commentary on the installation of a bishop from the Church of Nigeria to lead parishes in the United States against the wishes of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

More coverage:
New York Times, Neela Banerjee, reports on the ceremony and hopes of CANA.
Jared Cramer at Scribere Orare Est reflects on Installation, Schism, and a Blessing.
Richmond Times Dispatch reports on attendance.

Beyond the pomp of yesterday's service and the buzz, it is too early to predict the future of Minns's group and the conservative movement in general, clergy and scholars say.
The Washington Post has a page A01 story on Saturday's installation of Bp. Minns by Archbishop Akinola of Nigeria:

Read more »

The Presiding Bishop in Iowa:
"...one of the great joys I've had in my first six months, getting to travel and see the health and vitality that exists in this church,'' she told a crowd of about 300 at Christ Episcopal Church [Cedar Rapids.] "I know it's not always what you read in the newspaper or hear on the news, but it's true.''

Read more »

The Episcopal Church, Archbishop of Canterbury and The Anglican Diocese of Ghana work together to build a hostel to accomodate pilgrims to the Retreat Center at Accra and serve as a counseling center.

Read more »

The Grace Episcopal Church controversy took a bizarre turn Sunday when a man barged into the 9 a.m. service, hurled a cream pie at the Rev. Don Armstrong and dashed out without saying a word.

More: According to a report by Jennifer Wilson in the Colorado Springs Gazette:

The pie thrower didn’t get far. Several parishioners chased him for several blocks, apprehended him near Palmer High School, then hauled him back to the church for Colorado Springs police.

Marcus Hyde, 18, faces misdemeanor charges of harassment, trespassing, criminal mischief and disrupting a lawful assembly, police Sgt. Vince Niski said. Hyde was cited and released at the scene.

Armstrong was delivering a sermon titled “Of Christian Love and Charity” when Hyde burst through the side door closest to the pulpit, said church member Tim Chambers, who wrote about the incident on his blog at tbc.livejournal.com.

Armstrong responded to a request for an interview by writing an e-mail to The Gazette. In it, he said he avoided a face full of dessert by ducking behind the pulpit. He said the missile smelled like banana cream.

“He aimed right at me and would have hit me squarely, but I ducked into the pulpit and it went right over me and onto the floor,” Armstrong wrote. “This poor guy needs to find a more effective (way) to express himself without all the messy resulting complications.”

Reached by phone Sunday night, Hyde declined to comment, saying he had to speak with an attorney first. Police said he told them he was passing judgment on Armstrong on behalf of church parishioners.

A blog post written by a person who was there and a supporter of Fr. Armstrong called the incident "a hate crime." The Gazette spoke to a friend of Hyde's who said “It’s a protest move, and it’s hilarious.” Both the Gazette and the Rocky Mountain News said that Hyde "was passing judgment on Armstrong for his fellow parishioners, according to a police report."

Somewhere between hilarious and a hate crime is the fact of the emotionality of the situation and one hopes that the acting out remains both civil and safe.

It's one thing to have a grand liturgy in a rented space. But, according to a report in the Post and Courier of Charleston, SC, it is quite another thing to take the property with you.

In his article, Post and Courier reporter Adam Parker contextualizes the installation Saturday of Bishop Martyn Minns as Missionary Bishop of the Church of Nigeria. He writes today that:

Efforts to achieve realignment, however, have been complicated by church property disputes. A recent court ruling concerning All Saints Parish, Waccamaw, on Pawley's Island favored the Episcopal Church's position that individuals can elect to leave the church but parishes cannot.

In the ruling, S.C. Court of Common Pleas Judge W. Thomas Cooper said that the Episcopal Church is a hierarchical structure, and that its former vestry members are not officers of All Saints Parish, which belongs to those who remained part of the U.S. church.

But, virtually ensuring future legal challenges, he also noted the mixture of civil and ecclesiastical law: "Which of two church factions should be recognized as the 'communicants' who, under the parish's constitution, make up the voting members of the church and are therefore entitled to choose its officers?" Cooper wrote in the ruling.

"That quintessentially religious question is left up to the church authorities."

The judge ordered that the amendments made to the parish's certificate of incorporation, amendments meant to disassociate the parish from the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of South Carolina, are to be canceled, and he said members of the breakaway parish did not have a legal right to use the property.

According the text of the actual ruling, a parish can neither unilaterally change their corporate amendments to become an independent, congregational church from a hierarchical church nor can they unilaterally transfer themselves to another hierarchical church without both violating the first amendment rights of the Episcopal Church or without constituting a fraud towards the members who are communicants of the church.

In addition, the judge wrote that the definition of a communicant is set out by the Episcopal Church not the parish. As soon as the members declared themselves members of another denomination, in this case the Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMiA) via the Church of Rwanda, they ceased to be communicants in the Episcopal Church and their vote to leave was invalid.

Readers wishing to more fully understand the strategic ins and outs should read the Report of the House of Bishops' Task Force on Property Disputes which has just become available over at Daily Episcopalian.

Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria wrote a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury after the installation of the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns as Missionary Bishop to CANA claiming that his action in the United States Saturday was "for the Communion" and was a result of the actions of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church.

Akinola reiterated his claim that CANA by being an extension of the Church of Nigeria is a bona-fide member of the Anglican Communion. He says that once conditions are right, he would be happy to surrender CANA to the Communion. The letter does not state he means by that or what those conditions might be. Nor did he address the claims on real property of the Episcopal Church that most CANA parishes have made.

He called the response of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church disrespectful towards Akinola and the rest of the Anglican Communion Primates and reiterated previous claims that the Episcopal Church is undertaking "their own unbiblical agenda (which) exacerbate our current divisions."

Saying that "the Lord’s name has been dishonoured," Akinola says that to not act would imperil "thousands of souls" and that therefore the establishment of a missionary diocese overlapping the Episcopal Church offers "hope for the future of our beleaguered Communion."

The letter is posted on the Church of Nigeria website.

A Florida state judge has agreed with the Episcopal Diocese of Florida's claim that it and not a group of dissidents owns the property of the Church of the Redeemer in Jacksonville.

"We expect to regain possession of the church property very soon and Episcopal worship and ministry under the leadership of the Rev. Davette Turk will be resuming at Redeemer shortly," the diocese said in a statement on its website.

Fourth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Karen K. Cole ruled on April 27 that Florida state law requires her to accept the diocese's determination of who is the rightful occupant of a congregation's property.

She wrote that the state law defers to decisions made by the "highest ecclesiastical authority" in a denomination structured as a "hierarchical church." Such a denomination is one that is organized into governing bodies of hierarchical ascending jurisdiction, Cole explained.

This is the second civil court settled in favor of an Episcopal diocese in as many weeks.

Read the summary judgment by Judge Cole here.

Read the Episcopal News Release item here.