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One decade after the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) was inaugurated, Anglicans returned to Plano, Texas to release a revised Book of Common Prayer (BCP) and hear presentations on Christian discipleship. Much like previous Provincial Assemblies, this one was characterized by the participation of Global South bishops exhorting adherence to orthodoxy amidst cultural headwinds. ACNA also continues to be shaped by constituent groups with significantly differing churchmanship. During the opening Assembly Eucharist, bishops clad in cope and mitre sang contemporary worship songs including Hillsong Music’s “Who You Say I Am”, a juxtaposition that seemingly only ACNA could facilitate. Assembly...

The Rev Andrew Foreshew-Cain had served as a vicar for around two decades until his fractious exit in 2017. His crime? Marrying his partner, Stephen, in 2014. While he kept his position at St Mary with All Souls, Kilburn, and St James’, West Hampstead, after his wedding, he says he was “blacklisted” from finding a new job. In 2017, he resigned, publicly condemning the church as “institutionally homophobic”. It was a bold statement, and one he knew would bar him from ever returning. While heterosexual priests can marry and have sex, gay clergy members are expected to remain unmarried and...

New Zealand catches me between two arms, as it were; one in the past and the other in the present. The past is a memory. It’s the memory of a man who was an awkward bearded Kiwi law don. He used to invite a number of us who were law students to his rooms in the late evening to argue over ideas. We drank and argued. He helped me to learn to think; more importantly, he taught me never to be afraid of ideas I found alien or alarming. Later, during the quarter century I taught at university, with a...

The Bishop of Liverpool has said he will attend an international summit of Anglican leaders without his wife next year, in protest at a bar on the partners of gay clergy. Rt Rev Paul Bayes described the decision to prevent same-sex partners of clergy from attending the 2020 Lambeth Conference as an "act of exclusion". In a message posted on Twitter, he said: "I deeply regret that, in the fractious complexities of our life as a worldwide people, this act of exclusion has taken its place. "It is a grief to me and to my wife, and to many others....

CHURCHES can adapt the liturgy for the Affirmation of Baptismal Faith “in a creative and sensitive way” to mark a person’s gender transition, the House of Bishops has said in guidance published this week. The House decided earlier this year that special liturgical provision on gender transition was not needed, after the General Synod requested that it consider the matter (News, 26 January). The resulting guidance, published on Tuesday, states that, where churches wish to recognise a person’s gender transition, baptism would be the “natural liturgical context for recognising and celebrating their identity in Christ and God’s love” for the...

Last week, politicians in the State of New York passed legislation enabling the killing of unborn babies throughout all nine months of pregnancy, right up until the moment before birth. A full-term baby can now be killed. This legislation is a disastrous development for all of us. One of the foundational responsibilities of the State is to provide physical security to the vulnerable, and none are more vulnerable than babies. I am profoundly saddened by the blatant disregard for the value of life exhibited by the politicians who have done this and by the evident celebration exhibited in the New...

UNITED KINGDOM, December 11, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – While the Church of England – the largest Christian denomination in the United Kingdom – is stopping short of calling its newly instituted blessing for “transgenders” a second baptism, priests are being directed to offer baptism-style ceremonies for those announcing their new sexual identity. In a newly issued pastoral guidance, clergy are being told to call men by their new female names, and women by their new male names. The guidance declares, “For a trans person to be addressed liturgically by the minister for the first time by their chosen name may be...

A group of Ohio religious leaders criticized lawmakersÂ’ efforts to pass protections for unborn babies Thursday during a pro-abortion protest at a church in downtown Columbus. The event at Trinity Episcopal Church, coordinated by the Ohio Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, included Christian and Jewish leaders who oppose a bill to prohibit abortions after unborn babies have a detectable heartbeat, about six weeks of pregnancy.The state House passed the bill in November, and the Senate is considering it this week. It is expected to pass the Republican-controlled legislature. HAPPENING NOW: Faith leaders organized by @OhioRCRC are speaking against bans on...

Glenn Beck has recently raved about a book on the faith of George Washington, helping to propel the book to #1 on Amazon for six days in a row. MediaMatters, which is funded by George Soros, accuses this book of being “revisionist history.” But just who is rewriting history? The book in question is near and dear to my heart, because I co-wrote it. The chief author of George Washington’s Sacred Fire is Dr. Peter Lillback, president of Westminster Theological Seminary, who researched the subject for some 20 years before we met. We began to collaborate in late 2004, and...

As the Prince of Wales accompanied Meghan towards the altar, where Harry was waiting, Handel’s Eternal Source Of Light Divine played. The spell-binding cantata was sung in Windsor Castle’s St George’s Chapel by Welsh soprano Elin Manahan and featured David Blackadder as the trumpet soloist. The Duke of Sussex has revealed he picked the poignant music his wife walked down the aisle to. Harry, speaking in the audio commentary notes for a new Windsor Castle exhibition about his wedding, said: “I was looking for something completely different and ended up stumbling across this piece of music. “Something that epitomises the...

LEICESTER, United Kingdom - Catholic schools in the Republic of Ireland can no longer give preference to Catholic students. Richard Bruton, the Irish Minister for Education and Skills, made the announcement Oct. 3 on Twitter. Unlike in the United States, the government funds religious schools in Ireland, and about 96 percent of elementary schools in the country are under the patronage of a religious group, and approximately 90 percent of these schools are run by the Catholic Church. In some areas of the country - mostly in and around the capital Dublin - there are more students seeking places in...

LEICESTER, United Kingdom - In the wake of Ireland’s May 25 referendum legalizing abortion in the country, the Irish Labour Party has started a petition seeking a referendum to end religious schools in the country.Unlike in the United States, the government funds religious schools in Ireland, and about 96 percent of elementary schools in the country are under the patronage of a religious group, and approximately 90 percent of these schools are run by the Catholic Church.“It’s time for a national conversation about how we achieve a modern, secular and equality-based education system for the Ireland of today, and what...

* The Archbishop of Wales, John Davies, has been accused of ‘sowing confusion’* He said it was ‘terribly hard’ for people to grasp the idea of a bodily resurrection* The Archbishop, 65 was elected in September to head the Church in WalesOne of Britain’s leading Anglican clerics has sparked controversy by casting doubts over the Resurrection of Jesus – just days before Easter. The Archbishop of Wales, John Davies, has been accused of ‘sowing confusion’ over the biblical story that will be celebrated by millions around the world today. Asked in an interview about the New Testament account of Jesus...

The Church of England’s most senior clergyman has attacked Brexit and told Britons they must welcome mass immigration in an extraordinary political opinion piece. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby made his intervention in the Mail on Sunday, which like Welby backed the Remain campaign during the EU referendum.

The Church of England is facing as many as 3,300 potential sex abuse cases in the form of concerns and allegations, as revealed by the Church's lead bishop on safeguarding issues. The Times reported on Thursday that Peter Hancock, bishop of Bath and Wells, shared the latest figures, which concern sex abuse against children and vulnerable adults reaching up to 2016, during a three-day meeting of the General Synod in London. Hancock did not make it clear whether all the complaints are new or a combination with longstanding ones, but even if a fraction of them are upheld, the CofE...

The archbishop of Canterbury has spoken out against “tyrannical and populist” world leaders in a Christmas message likely to be seen partly as a rebuke against US president Donald Trump. Justin Welby was preaching at Canterbury cathedral at the same time as Pope Francis made oblique criticism of Trump in his traditional Christmas address in St Peter’s Square in Vatican City.

Dear Friends: As leaders of various communities of faith throughout the United States, many of us came together in the past to affirm our commitment to marriage as the union of one man and one woman and as the foundation of society. We reiterate that natural marriage continues to be invaluable to American society. We come together to join our voices on a more fundamental precept of our shared existence, namely, that human beings are male or female and that the socio-cultural reality of gender cannot be separated from one's sex as male or female. We acknowledge and affirm that...

You know gay-rights activism has gone goofy when the New York Times raises an eyebrow at it.Some Christians attracted to the same sex try to “pray the gay away,” to the annoyance of LGBT advocates who believe orientation is inborn and that trying to “cure” homosexuality through prayer further stigmatizes it. Well, good news and bad news. The good news: Praying the gay away is out of vogue.The bad news? Looks like we’re “praying the straight away” instead. In four-year-olds. Mr. Holdsworth, the provost of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Glasgow, belongs to the Scottish Episcopal Church, a separate province...

Kensington Palace told The Tablet that Miss Markle is a Protestant but had not previously been baptised or confirmed. In addition, she will seek to become a British citizen, the palace said. Prince Harry's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, is Supreme Governor of the Church of England. Prince Harry is currently fifth in line to the throne and will become sixth in line after the birth of his brother Prince William's third child next year. Ms Markle went to a Catholic school but is not a Catholic. In any case, the 2013 Succession to the Crown Act 2013 removed the law...

Pope Francis has requested that Roman Catholic priests be given the right to get married. The request applies to priests in Brazil, and is on the agenda for an upcoming synod (church council) in the Amazon region. The controversial move would address the critical shortage of men joining the priesthood