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I think Anglican ecclesiology has probably always been a mess. This is partly a result of the way Anglicanism came about in the 16th century, initially through a break with Rome for the King’s own idiosyncratic reasons. So there’s a sense in which the national identity of the Church came first to Anglicanism in a rather topdown sort of way. However, what emerged over the ensuing decades, and indeed centuries, was a national and then international church which underwent reformation. This was on a different path from the continental Reformation and Counter Reformation but was heavily influenced by at least...

In a remarkable article in the London-based Church Times (13th April), Canon Gregory Cameron, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Anglican Communion, publicly distanced Anglicanism from Protestantism. Canon Cameron spoke of an Anglican "dialogue with the Protestant traditions," making it clear that he regarded Anglicanism as lying beyond the pale of Protestantism. Many in Ireland will regard his views with puzzlement, and perhaps not a little concern. So will many historians. We need to appreciate that the sixteenth-century Reformation was a complex phenomenon. There was no single Protestant 'template'. Rather, a variety of reforming movements emerged during the sixteenth century, whose...

Anglicanism is the most debated form of Christianity. It is judged in a variety of ways not only by outsiders and spectators, but also by Anglicans themselves. Even for a person who has spent a great part of his life in the world of Anglicanism, it is not easy to disentangle the knot of misunderstanding about Anglicanism. A first point of discussion is whether Anglicanism should be considered part of Protestantism. In many of its expressions, particularly among those who are called Anglo–Catholics, Anglicanism shows striking resemblance to Roman Catholicism. Today we can even find Anglican churches in which the...

(from the CANA website (www.canaconvocation.org )) Letter from The Most Revd. Peter J Akinola 2nd May, 2007 The Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Episcopal Church Center 815 Second Avenue New York, NY 10017, USA My dear Presiding Bishop: 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...

An Episcopal group has a doomsday plan that calls for ousting conservative bishops and seizing church property if they attempt to break from the denomination over its increasingly liberal position on homosexuality. The so-called "Day After" plan could kick in as early as June, when the Episcopal Church USA holds its General Convention in Columbus, Ohio, according to minutes from a closed steering committee meeting of the group Via Media. Joan Gunderson of Aspinwall, who served as recording secretary for committee meeting in late September, said nothing from the strategy session has been approved by the group's leadership. "The minutes...

The leader of the Anglican Church says Christians should stop openly criticizing homosexuals, out of concern for their lives. In a letter targeting the world's Anglican churches, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said harsh language about homosexuals can lead to murder, according to a BBC report. Although many traditional Anglican leaders oppose homosexuality, since it is unambiguously condemned in both the Old and New Testaments, Williams reportedly said in his letter: "Any words that could make it easier for someone to attack or abuse a homosexual person are words of which we must repent. "Do not think repentance is always...

Tim Bayly on getting men involved in church First, I just want to say I am back online since our phone service has been restored, and now that we have most of our move behind us. This has been an experience, to say the least, and I have a healthy respect for those hardy souls who move every few years due to work or other reasons. I'd like to call readers' attention to an article by Tim Bayly, Go for the men and the women will follow. In many churches we see much diminished attendance by men--Rev. Bayly cites membership...

A year ago I was still commenting over on the Conservative Anglican board on Beliefnet. After the special Primates meeting, I remember several conservative Episcopalians saying that we needed a stronger centralized authority, that we needed to give the Archbishop of Canterbury greater powers, and so forth. One Catholic wag, who had been silently lurking, popped up with the quip “You need a Pope? Use ours!” The question of conferring greater powers upon the Archbishop of Canterbury has been mildly raised in the recent Windsor Report, and even this mild suggestion has generated strong objection. Karen over at the Heretic’s...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- The Anglican Communion's Lambeth Commission tried to avoid a split Monday by asking its American branch to do something highly fashionable these days -- apologize. As if they had just spilled some sherry on their hostess' new carpet, 50 prelates of the Episcopal Church USA, known as ECUSA, were to "apologize" for having consecrated Canon Vicki Gene Robinson, an active homosexual, as bishop of New Hampshire. That's what the Lambeth Commission, set up a year ago to prevent a schism, demanded of the Episcopalians. Primates from the southern hemisphere, where the majority of the world's...

I was reading a news item in the Guardian the other day. Didn't get very far. This was the first sentence: "The Church of England said yesterday that police counter-terrorism operations were directed disproportionately against Muslims and risked alienating them." At that point, I fell off the chair, howling with laughter. Not because of the strikingly non-ecumenical character of the infanticidal thugs at Beslan, the bombers of the Australian embassy in Jakarta, the murderers of the 12 Nepalese workers, the terrorist suspects arrested in north London on Friday, or the beheaders of two American hostages and impending beheader of a...

Representatives of the Anglican Peace and Justice Network announced in Jerusalem last week their intention to recommend that their church - with an estimated worldwide membership of 75 million Anglicans and Episcopalians - follow in the American Presbyterian church's footsteps and consider divesting itself from Israel. Effectively this means declaring a boycott of firms who do business with Israel, thereby applying economic pressure in addition to moral censure. The APJN delegation deplored, at the conclusion of a 10-day visit, Israel's "worse than draconian" measures against the Palestinians. The delegates met with Yasser Arafat but stressed that they balanced this visit...

"Those made alive by the Spirit grounded in sacred scripture come to these times confidently." Methodist theologian Thomas Oden Dear Brothers and Sisters, Panic, or perhaps the realization that the days of denial are over, have finally dawned on Frank Griswold, the Episcopal Church's Presiding Bishop. Confirmed reports say that Griswold is flying to London tomorrow to consult Archbishop Rowan Williams over the looming crisis. While he is scheduled to preach at St. Paul's next Sunday there can be little doubt that he will be talking at length with Dr. Williams about the consequences for himself personally of the Lambeth/Eames...

LAMBETH REPORT WILL BE DISASTROUS FOR ANGLICAN PANSEXUALISTS Anglican Communion will be reshaped. Anglican Communion Office to close Special Report By David W. Virtue 9/3/2004 The Lambeth/Eames Commission's report is going to have teeth; it will be disastrous for the Anglican Communion's pansexualists; there will be some kind of "formal suspension" of The Episcopal Church, following which there will be a radical restructuring of the Anglican Communion that could see the dissolution of the Anglican Communion Office in London because of its ultra-liberal pro-Western stance. The Queen has apparently made it clear to Dr. Rowan Williams that she will not...

I need your help. I have an idea for a protest against the Episcopal Church USA. The idea is to link them with the phrase "heretical cretins" in Google's search page. Such an effort is commonly referred to as "Google bombing". First off, if you're not familiar with the controversy surrounding the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA), do some research. A good place to start is David Virtue's site I've created a mock-up web site here. The idea is for everyone to create as many HTML links (using the "href" tag) with the phrase heretical cretins in web logs, online journals,...

Conservative archbishops representing more than half of worldwide Anglicanism demanded the expulsion of the Canadian Church yesterday for describing homosexual relationships as holy. In a significant blow to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, traditionalist leaders lambasted the Canadian general synod for affirming that same-sex unions had "integrity and sanctity". They said the Canadians should be ejected with the liberal American Episcopal Church, which backed the consecration of Anglicanism's first openly-gay bishop last year. Their intervention has badly damaged efforts by Dr Williams and other Anglican leaders to broker peace between the factions on homosexuality. Last week it appeared...

No green hill far away ALL the best films about Jesus have been controversial. The worst have had more sugar than a builder’s cuppa. No one can disagree that Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ is causing controversy; but is it a good film about Jesus? It depends on what you want. If you are looking for a straight narrative portrayal of his life, death and resurrection, as you might find in one of the Gospels, you’ll be disappointed. If you prefer evocative Jesus films, poetic and fighting interpretative closure, you’ll get out of your cinema seat heavy with...

Episcopalians meet and discuss future of the church By Cara Eastwood rep4@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CASPER - A church is much, much more than just a building. Relatives are buried there, daughters are married there, and it's the place where many people have their first experience in a classroom. In church, many people feel safe, supported and at home. On Saturday, in Casper, a group of Episcopalians talked about the importance of the church buildings they've grown to love over the years and the friends and memories they contain. It's the church itself, and all its trappings, which...

Anglicans in Kenya are ready for split in the church over gay priests, writes Adrian Blomfield Architecturally, St Francis's Church in the Nairobi suburb of Karen would not seem out of place in a village in Kent. But there the similarities end. The Book of Common Prayer still sits on the pews and is used every week, although not in every service. The congregation still sings from "Ancient and Modern" hymnbooks. But it is not just the style that is traditional. Parishioners are deeply conservative. Most believe homosexuality is abhorrent. "The church is very strongly against a person who has...

Seattle -- Advent is for Christians a season of hope and anticipation that precedes Christmas. But this year it is a time of splintered hopes for Seattle's Roman Catholic Archbishop Alex Brunett. Brunett has made ecumenical dialogue the touchstone of his 45 years as a Catholic clergyman. ...[snip]As Catholic co-chairman of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, Brunett was set to host -- in Seattle -- a February meeting due to produce a landmark common statement of faith. A chill has come over the commission's work, however, in the wake of the consecration of V. Gene Robinson, a non-celibate gay, as...

<p>NEW KENSINGTON: At the center of a controversy about the place of gay clergy in the Episcopal Church, Bishop Robert W. Duncan Jr. spoke Sunday about the battle that is the Christian faith. During his annual appearance at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in New Kensington, the bishop of the Pittsburgh Diocese didn't speak directly of the issue threatening to divide America's Episcopal congregations.</p>