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Washington Episcopal Bishop Marianne Budde, writing in her blog on the subject of Resurrection, opined that if someone were to discover a tomb with Jesus' remains in it, the entire enterprise would not come crashing down. VOL: Actually, Bishop it would. Our faith would be in vain and we would be of all men (and women) most miserable. St. Paul writes in I Cor. 15, "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day...

It’s sad when clergy egregiously politicize worship, especially on an important holy day at an historic church that used to symbolize non partisan unity. But the Episcopal clergy Luis Leon at St. John’s Episcopal Church next to the White House, known as the church of the presidents, discharged some cheap shots during Easter worship today, with the Obamas in the congregation. “It drives me crazy when the captains of the religious right are always calling us back, back, back,” Leon sermonized. “For blacks to be back in the back of the bus, for women to be back in the kitchen,...

President Obama attended an Easter service with his family today at St. John's Episcopal Church near the White House, and the Pastor delivering the sermon at the service veered into political territory when he slammed the religious right for living in the past and lionizing "the good old days." The sermon at the service, delivered by Dr. Luis Leon, an Episcopal pastor who delivered the benediction at Mr. Obama's second inauguration, took a turn for the political when the pastor decried those who wax nostalgic about the way things once were. "I hear all the time the expression 'the good...

While many Christians were celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Sunday, Barack Obama, his family, and everyone else attending St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. received a message that included an attack on conservatives, the Weekly Standard reported. "It drives me crazy when the captains of the religious right are always calling us back ... for blacks to be back in the back of the bus ... for women to be back in the kitchen ... for immigrants to be back on their side of the border," said Dr. Luis Leon. According to a tweet sent by Reuters'...

The pastor at the Washington, D.C. church where the Obama family celebrated Easter on Sunday said members of the religious right want blacks “in the back of the bus,” women “back in the kitchen” and immigrants “back on their side of the border.” “It drives me crazy when the captains of the religious right are always calling us back…for blacks to be back in the back of the bus…for women to be back in the kitchen…for immigrants to be back on their side of the border,” Rev. Dr. Luis Leon said in his sermon, according to the White House press...

(AP) -- The Washington National Cathedral had been ready to embrace same-sex marriage for some time, though it took a series of recent events and a new leader for the prominent, 106-year-old church to announce Wednesday that it would begin hosting such nuptials. The key development came last July when the Episcopal Church approved a ceremony for same-sex unions at its General Convention in Indianapolis, followed by the legalization of gay marriage in Maryland, which joined the District of Columbia. The national church made a special allowance for marriage ceremonies in states where gay marriage is legal.Longtime same-sex marriage advocate...

LONDON (Reuters) - The leader of the Church of England on Tuesday said a vote last month that struck down proposals to allow women to become bishops had been "deeply painful", but that Christianity was still relevant in Britain despite falling numbers of believers. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who leads the global 80-million-strong Anglican Communion, said in his Christmas day sermon that the answer to the question of whether Christianity had "had its day" was a "resounding no". The Church of England narrowly voted against allowing women bishops last month - to the dismay of Williams and Prime Minister...

Former Episcopal priest Larry Gipson. CNA file photo. Houston, Texas, Dec 8, 2012 / 01:33 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Former Episcopal priest Laurence Gipson, who became Catholic in October, says his reaction to the Catholic ordinariate for former Anglicans is one of “gratitude.” “The ordinariate, I think, is a wonderful opportunity for people like me, Anglican clergy and Anglican laity, who are seeking Catholic faith,” he said. On Jan. 1, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI established the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter to allow Anglican and Episcopalian groups in the U.S. to become Catholic as groups, not only as...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The former rector of the nation’s largest Episcopal church has become a Roman Catholic.The Rev. Larry Gipson was dean of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham from 1982-94 and rector at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, where his parishioners included former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, from 1994-2008.Last month, Gipson was accepted as a Catholic into the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, a structure set up by Pope Benedict XVI to accept former Anglicans into the Catholic Church. “The nature of authority in the Catholic Church is what...

An Episcopal priest who was accused of sex crimes against a young parishioner died of an apparent drug overdose last night on the sixth floor of the Government Center parking garage, police and his lawyer said. Police said they were called to the garage about 7:40 p.m. and found a man inside a gray 2006 Saturn. Police attempted to perform CPR on the man, but were unsuccessful. Boston EMS declared the patient dead at 8:05 p.m., and the call was referred to the Medical Examiner, police said.

Recently, the Archdiocese of San Francisco, perhaps at the instigation of its incoming archbishop, Salvatore Cordileone, denied permission for drag queens to emcee at charity events in the community hall of Most Holy Redeemer, a Roman Catholic church in the Castro district. That prompted this letter to me from the Rev. Robert Warren Cromey, who will identify himself in the letter: "When I was rector of Trinity Episcopal in the late nineteen nineties, I conducted at least five funerals of drag queens in the church. They were usually held on Saturday afternoons. Neighbors' heads would lean out the windows in...

The Episcopal Church's 77th General Convention concluded Thursday with the adoption of a long list of resolutions, from one that calls on the U.S. Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act to another providing rites for pet funerals. Episcopal leaders, who met in Indianapolis for over a week, considered dozens of resolutions – the most controversial being the approval of transgender ordination and rites for the blessing of same-sex unions. In protest, leaders from the Diocese of South Carolina, including its bishop, left the convention early after expressing clearly their belief that the decisions mark a departure from Scripture...

Its numbers and coffers shrinking, the church votes for pet funerals but offers little to the traditional faithful. Episcopalians from around the country gathered here this week for their church's 77th triennial General Convention, which ended Thursday. Although other Protestant denominations have national governing councils, the Episcopal Church's triennial gathering stands apart. For starters, it's one of the world's largest such legislative entities, with more than 1,000 members. General Convention is also notable for its sheer ostentation and carnival atmosphere. For seven straight nights, lavish cocktail parties spilled into pricey steakhouses, where bishops could use their diocesan funds to order...

The headlines coming out of the Episcopal Church’s annual U.S. convention are stunning — endorsement of cross-dressing clergy, blessing same-sex marriage, the sale of their headquarters since they can’t afford to maintain it. The American branch of the Church of England, founded when the Vatican balked at permitting King Henry VIII to continue executing any wife who failed to bear him sons, is in trouble. Somehow slipping out of the headlines is a harsh reality that the denomination has been deserted in droves by an angry or ambivalent membership. Six prominent bishops are ready to take their large dioceses out...

South Carolina deputation leaves General Convention [Ed. Note: South Carolina has shown constant grown in parishes and average Sunday attendance figures for years. In the discussion, House of Bishops on July 9 prior to the vote on A049 gay blessing liturgy, Bp. Mark Lawrence said the following, "40 years ago, I was backpacking in the High Sierras and we were above the timberline. There was no trail and as the sun set, we realized that we had to make camp and settle in for the night. We could not see and did not know where we were. In the morning,...

Bishop Robinson, You are reaping what you have sown Why the Bishop of New Hampshire is wrong NEWS ANALYSIS By David W. Virtue in Indianapolis www.virtueonline.org July 110, 2012 When the openly gay bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson took a private communication one of my staff sent him and made its contents public inside the House of Bishops this week, he opened a can of worms that he has only himself to blame for. No one asked him to do that; he did it on his own recognizance. He did not ask my permission. The communication was about rumors...

GC2012: Communion Partner Bishops Issue Minority Report July 11, 2012 The Indianapolis Statement The following statement was read from the floor of the House of Bishops on the final day of the 77th General Convention in Indianapolis: The 77th General Convention of The Episcopal Church, in passing Resolution A049, has authorized the provisional use of a liturgy for blessing same-sex unions. The purpose of this statement is to record our dissent from this action. 1. At our ordination as bishops of the Church, we have all taken a solemn oath: "I solemnly declare that I do believe the Holy Scriptures...

GC2012: HOD Vote came Silently on Same-Sex Blessings By Mary Ann Mueller Special Correspondent July 10, 2012 INDIANAPOLIS - The House of Deputies' afternoon vote on A-049 came in silence, the result of modern technology. When the House of Bishops voted to approve same-gender blessings each bishop was called by name and with their own voice they were required to vocalize their vote - yea or nay. Electronic voting was the rule of the day in the House of Deputies. Each Order - lay and clergy, were called to vote using their hand-held electronic voting devise. The laity was called...

GC2012: HOB Passes Provisional Blessings for Same-Sex Unions By David W. Virtue in Indianapolis July 9, 2012 To no one's surprise the House of Bishops passed a provisional rite for the blessing of same sex unions. By a vote of 111 to 41 with three abstentions the HOB changed the definition of marriage, approving a liturgy to bless homosexual couples of both sexes, something that has never been done in 2,000 years of church history. Resolution A049 was passed by the bishops on the 5th legislative day of the 77th General Convention. The text of the resolution states that the...

GC2012: Transgender, Homosexual Activists Hail Victories at Episcopal Convention By Jeffrey Walton July 9, 2012 Officials in the U.S.-based Episcopal Church have given homosexual and transgender activists two victories on the fifth day of their triennial denominational convention. The House of Deputies passed legislation stating that "gender identity and expression" would not be barriers to ordained ministry, while also altering the church's canons to include the transsexual categories alongside gender, race and sexual orientation as specially protected status. Later the same afternoon, the House of Bishops voted 111-41 to authorize rites for same-sex blessings. The bishops had already signed off...