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The first thing I want to say is that people have no idea of how much sacrifice it took by those involved for the document to reach this point. This really was a contract negotiation (look at the appendix/Foundations section). I have said a number of times that I thought the most important piece written in the Episcopal Church in the last year was by Michael Smith, Bishop of North Dakota. He basically said this: When I got home from General Convention 2006, I thought even though TEC had not satisfied the letter of the Windsor Report, we had satisfied...

A split within the Episcopal Church has begun and is on its way to court -- something akin to "divorce court," it seems. More than 100 Episcopal parishes -- and some dioceses -- have either left the denomination or requested alternative oversight within the worldwide Anglican Communion. One of them is St. Stephen's Church in Heathsville, Va. "We left the Episcopal Church because we could no longer be under the leadership of people who have the attitude that they did about the authority of Scripture," said the Rev. Jeffrey Cerar, rector of St. Stephen's. "Starting several years ago, the Episcopal...

As expected, the Episcopal Women's Caucus is bent about the Panel of Reference's Fort Worth decision: The Episcopal Women’s Caucus receives with deep distress and dismay the decision of the Panel of Reference that, "while the Communion is in a process of reception, no diocese or parish should be compelled to accept the ministry of word or sacrament from an ordained woman." This decision provides a basis for the reason that a "foreign curia" is antithetical to the Spirit of Anglicanism in general and the Episcopal Church in particular. Again with the anti-Rome blast.  What that means, of course, is...

I mentioned some time back that my church-- The Falls Church in Falls Church, Va.-- was breaking away from other Episcopal Churches in what amounts to a pretty big shake-up for the Anglican Church. I'm not a member, but I attend regularly, along with about 2,500 other worshippers, including Alberto Gonzales, Fred Barnes, and Porter Goss. It's a conservative, Bible-based church that thinks Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life," and doesn't cotton to the "evolving" teachings of the Episcopal Church that aren't so sure about that whole Jesus thing, which is the entire basis of our faith....

Colin Coward, left, welcomes Bishop Gene Robinson in November 2005 (BBC News) A report claiming at least 51 priests are in same-sex civil partnerships will confront the Church of England at two major upcoming meetings. The figures, which include four lesbian priests, come from a homosexual-rights group comprised of church members called Changing Attitude, the Times of London reported. "Civil partnerships have helped to increase the stability of same-sex relationships and reduced the social exclusion to which lesbian and gay people are often subjected," said the group's director, Colin Coward. But next month, proponents of homosexuals in the clergy...

Don't look now, but Virginia is seceding again. On Sunday nine Episcopal parishes in Virginia, including the one where George Washington served as a vestryman, announced that they had voted to up and leave the U.S. Episcopal Church to protest its increasingly equal treatment of homosexuals. In 2003 an overwhelming majority of the nation's Episcopal bishops ratified the selection of a gay bishop by the New Hampshire diocese. This past June the church's general convention elevated Nevada Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori to the post of presiding U.S. bishop. Jefferts Schori is the first woman to head a national branch of...

Katharine Jefferts Schori took office Saturday as the first woman presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church, a first not only for her denomination but also for the global Anglican Communion, which has never before had a female priest leading one of its provinces. In a ceremony at the cavernous Washington National Cathedral, filled by more than 3,000 well-wishers, Jefferts Schori took leadership of the U.S. church as the Anglican rift over the Bible and sexuality threatens to erupt into schism. Jefferts Schori, 52, was bishop of Nevada when she was the surprise winner of the election for presiding bishop at...

The Episcopal Church has approximately 2 million members and 7,200 churches in the U.S. and is part of the 77-million member Anglican Communion. Because of its presence in the U.S., the relative wealth of its members, and its connections to Anglicans throughout the world, the Episcopal Church is in a strategic position to influence attitudes toward Israel on both a national and global scale. - Sadly, the Episcopal Church is Not a trustworthy observer of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The church's leaders and constitutive bodies routinely issue one-sided statements about the Arab-Israeli conflict, and its publications portray Israel as exclusively responsible...

Excerpt from an article in The Christian Century by Jason Byassee: When I ran into a friend from divinity school recently, we asked each other the normal catch-up questions. Then, in the same casual tone, she said, "So are you going to become Catholic?" It's not that odd a question these days in theological circles. Last year a string of theologians left their Protestant denominations for the church of Rome. The list includes three Lutherans—Reinhard Hütter and Bruce Marshall, theologians at Methodist seminaries (Duke and Southern Methodist), and Mickey Mattox, a Luther scholar at Marquette; two Anglicans—Rusty Reno of...

In case you haven't been keeping up -- and, as it's August, who could blame you? -- the Anglican Communion is still doing its utmost to make the Catholic conversation look civil and decent by comparison. As plans develop for the early November inaugural of Presiding Bishop-elect Katharine Jefferts Schori, the latest developments have a representative of archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams slated to meet in New York with six bishops of the Episcopal church (four dissidents, the PB and PB-elect), a Virginia cleric ordained under the aegis of the church of Nigeria (with the blessing of the conservative...

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Episcopal Diocese of California inducted Saturday the Rev. Marc Handley Andrus as its eighth bishop. Andrus, 49, of Alabama, was installed at an 11 a.m. ceremony at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral, succeeding retiring Bishop William Swing. About 566 electors representing the diocese voted to elect Andrus in May, according to the church. Andrus and his wife, Sheila, plan to serve breakfast Sunday morning to residents of the Sanctuary, a homeless shelter and support services center run by Episcopal Community Services, according to the diocese. The Episcopal Diocese of California has about 30,000 members in 80 congregations...

A Presbyterian and an Episcopalian walk into a bar ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: July 18, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Jim Rutz -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com It's 95 degrees today – too hot to discuss anything serious – so I'm going to write about the Presbyterians and Episcopalians, who seem intent upon turning their sacred franchises into a comedy show. As you know, presbyopia is the visual malady that renders its victims unable to see what's right in front of their noses. Presbyterian comes from the same root word, presbys, meaning old, or perhaps in this case, over the hill. The...

Chest of Joash Campaign Evocative of 2 Kings 12:1-2, and 2 Chronicles 24: 1-11 The Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches is this summer launching an international fundraising campaign – the Chest of Joash campaign -- to fund a planned expansion of global mission work. For instance, a number of Christian churches, in West Africa, and elsewhere around the world, have inquired about being received into the CEEC to join a rapidly growing branch of God's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church . This is the first year of the annual giving campaign, and the fundraising goal is a “modest” $25,000,...

The US Episcopal Church has taken a significant pro-Israel turn at its triennial General Convention, joining the Presbyterians in abandoning pro-Palestinian rhetoric and adopting a resolution repudiating anti-Jewish interpretations of the New Testament. While the bulk of the 75th General Convention held here June 12 to 21 was dedicated to the contentious issue of homosexuality and to the election of the church's first female leader, bishops and deputies also addressed the church's stance toward Israel and Judaism. A resolution directing the church's liturgical commission to prepare materials to "assist members of the church to address anti-Jewish prejudice expressed in and...

New bishop has feeble following By MICHAEL COREN Toronto Sun Saturday, June 24, 2006 Pass another cup of tea and a cucumber sandwich, please. Better still, make it a sherry because, darling, the Anglicans are in a spin. Last week the U.S. Episcopalian Church, the American equivalent of Canada's Anglicans or the Church of England, chose Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori as the new leader of its 2.3-million-member denomination. The lady bishop is an oceanographer by training and thinks that, "the great message of Jesus is to include the excluded." Golly, who knew? I thought the great message of Jesus...

Jun 23, 2006 Reflections on the 2006 General Convention of The Episcopal Church The Rt. Rev. Chuck Murphy Chairman, The Anglican Mission in America The actions and direction of the Episcopal Church, as evidenced in its just concluded General Convention, remain a continuing tragedy. The decisions reached, the language used, and the directions taken, are nothing new. Much of their rhetoric mirrors that of other groups that departed orthodoxy centuries ago, such as the Unitarian Universalists who continue to this day to present both the language and the theology of this latest Convention in their literature and on their webpage....

It's the season for denominational conventions. We've already told you what's on the agenda of the Presbyterian Church (USA). But who will the Episcopalians be honoring at their General Convention, which runs June 13-21 in Columbus, OH? The Episcopal Peace Fellowship (EPF) will give its 2006 EPF John Nevin Sayre Award to the Rev. Canon Naim Ateek, director of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem, and Madeline Trichel, director of the Interfaith Peace Center in Columbus, Ohio. Here are some words from Rev. Ateek, the "peacemaker": 1989: "It has taken me years to accept the establishment of the...

Two days before Christmas, I was in a store in Vermont buying a last-minute gift when the owner’s twentysomething daughter walked in. “Thanks for the sweater, mom,” she said. “Kevin really liked his present, too.” “But it’s only the 23rd,” said the bewildered lady. “Mom,” sighed the kid, wearily. “How many times do I have to tell you? We always open our presents on the solstice.” A couple of weeks later, a neighbor of mine in New Hampshire got married. He’s a biker and a tattooist, and he’s deeply spiritual. So he and his bride were married in the middle...

There is a paradox about the current bout of media atheism. It is producing a great deal of sound and fury, but most ordinary, fair-minded people I talk to find it increasingly lacking credibility. Richard Dawkins has produced two films suggesting that religion, not the love of money, is the root of all evil and he has a new book on the subject out later in the year. Daniel Dennett has been touring the broadcasting studios plugging his book, Breaking the Spell, about the evolutionary origins and purpose of religion, and Lewis Wolpert has just written a book about believing...

The Archbishop of Canterbury today attacks society's obsession with books such as The Da Vinci Code which, he says, encourage people to believe that the Christian faith is a series of "conspiracies and cover ups". In a strongly worded Easter sermon being delivered in Canterbury Cathedral this morning, Dr Rowan Williams says that there is a tendency to treat Biblical texts "as if they were unconvincing press releases from some official source, whose intention is to conceal the real story". Fascination with "bringing secrets to light", he said, evoked All the President's Men, the 1976 film about the investigative journalists...