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“[We must] talk of hard financial issues and church decline and growth, to address elephants in the room, and to speak truth to one another in love." Executive Council of the Episcopal Church A month long investigation by Virtueonline into the numerical state of The Episcopal Church reveals that more than one third of all 6825 Episcopal parishes in the U.S. have an average Sunday attendance (ASA) of 40 or less. VOL believes that the figure of 2.3 million Episcopalians, regularly stated by TEC leaders and officials, does not reveal the true state of church attendance. More than two-thirds of...

To ramp up the Ick Factor on Weiner.. he is sponsoring a bill that protects children from men like himself. This guy is really a piece of work.

After decades of debate, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on Tuesday struck down a barrier to ordaining gays, ratifying a proposal that removes the celibacy requirement for unmarried clergy, in the latest mainline Protestant move toward accepting gay relationships... Differences over the Bible and homosexuality have split Protestant groups nationally and worldwide for years. Within the Presbyterian Church, about 100 of the 11,000 congregations had already broken away ahead of the vote, but a group of large theologically conservative congregations, which calls itself Fellowship, has decided to remain in the denomination for now. Top Presbyterian executives issued a statement to the...

As of March 1, Rev. Gerald Miller, the senior pastor of St. Martin's Church, stepped down from the role he filled for 17 years.

ELCA Presiding Bishop Responds to Veto of Resolution on Israeli Settlements 11-019-JB CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, said he is "dismayed" the U.S. government today vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that called on Israel to stop illegal construction of settlements on Palestinian land. The U.S. veto stopped the resolution, which had the backing of 14 other members of the U.N. Security Council. "I now am concerned that this action will increase a despondent mood about the future of such talks and will possibly strengthen extremist voices in...

The historic marriage of Episcopal Divinity School, dean and president, the Very Reverend Katherine Hancock Ragsdale and Mally Lloyd, Canon to the Ordinary, took place today at the Cathedral Church of St Paul in Boston.The Episcopalian bishop of Massachusetts began 2011 by solemnizing the first lesbian marriage - of two senior Episcopalian clergy - at Boston's St Paul's Cathedral Saturday (January 1). The marriage of Episcopal Divinity School, dean and president, the Very Reverend Katherine Hancock Ragsdale and Mally Lloyd, Canon to the Ordinary, was the first lesbian marriage solemnized by the Right Reverend M Thomas Shaw SSJE, Bishop Diocesan...

In its 2009 Churchwide Assembly in August of 2009 the Evangelical Lutheran Church took the momentous step to allow for the blessing of gay and lesbian unions as well as for the ordination of gays and lesbians in partnered relationships. It was the first major confessional church to take those steps. In anticipation of much disagreement about its decisions, the church struck what it thought was a compromise so that we could “journey together faithfully” even though there was no consensus on these issues. The instrument for compromise was the “bound-conscience” doctrine. Realizing that we now had no authoritative teaching...

OGDEN -- There may be some congregations that are leaving the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for other Lutheran sects, but the state of the church is good, even locally. This was the message Sunday delivered by Bishop Allan Bjornberg of the Rocky Mountain ELCA Synod when he paid a visit to Ogden's Elim Evangelical Lutheran Church. The Rocky Mountain Synod includes 175 congregations in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and El Paso, Texas. He is currently chair of the ELCA Conference of Bishops. Bjornberg said the synod continues to open new congregations. "There are always more opportunities than there...

ELCA Presiding Bishop Responds to Members in Third 'Town Hall' of 2010 10-292-JB CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In his third online "Town Hall Forum" with members this year, the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) addressed a variety of ELCA topics and concerns, such as outdoor and campus ministry, immigration reform, contemporary worship, the place of people who are gay and lesbian in the church and interfaith relationships. The Rev. Mark S. Hanson answered 21 questions in the hour-long forum Nov. 21, which was broadcast live on the ELCA website. Questions were posed by online viewers, many...

BANGALORE: Archbishop of Canterbury Reverend Rowan Williams is known to be broad-minded, liberal and outspoken in his thoughts. As the Archbishop was about to rush in his car to a programme after the inter-faith dialogue at ECC concluded, TOI asked him what his view on gay rights was. Williams replied: "The answer to this question is a long one. But yes, I support gay rights as a personal and legal right in the civil domain." Dr Mani Chacko, director of ECC, said: "The Archbishop of Canterbury is broad-minded and liberal. It is true that he had proffered gentle criticism of...

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America witnessed its biggest-ever drop in membership last year, according to a recently released analysis. By the end of 2009, ELCA membership stood at 4.5 million – 90 thousand less than the year before, reported the ELCA Office of the Secretary and ELCA Research and Evaluation. Before the latest drop, the biggest loss was 79 thousand – a drop witnessed in 2005. The ELCA congregation count, meanwhile, was recorded as 10,348 – 48 less than the year before. The largest-ever drop in the congregation count was recorded in 2004 – a drop of 72. Despite...

Earlier this year, two congregations expelled from the ELCA in the 1990s for welcoming gay pastors, received an invitation to rejoin the denomination. One of those congregations — St. Francis Lutheran Church in San Francisco — voted 69-1 this week to begin the process, according to the head of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, or ELM.The other congregation is First United Lutheran Church, also in San Franciso. Both congregations are in the boundaries of the Sierra Pacific Synod.“These two congregations issued calls to openly gay and lesbian pastors in 1990, beginning a chain of events that led the ELCA to where it is today,”...

L.A. Region's First Two Female Episcopal Bishops Are Ordained The two — Diane Jardine Bruce and Mary Douglas Glasspool — are ordained to applause and cheers. Glasspool is also the church's first lesbian bishop. Two protesters are removed from the ceremony. Mitchell Landsberg May 15, 2010 There was a moment on Saturday when even the usually unflappable J. Jon Bruno, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, held his breath. It was the point when the 3,000 people at the Long Beach Arena were asked if anyone had any objections to the ordination of the region's first two female...

Bishops in the nation's largest Lutheran denomination have approved preliminary steps to welcome a group of openly gay and lesbian ministers as official clergy with new liturgical rites. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Conference of Bishops approved a draft proposal on Monday (March 8) for the new rites, which include prayers and the laying on of hands by the local bishop, according to the denomination's news service. The proposal only applies to 17 pastors who had followed normal ELCA procedures for education and ordination, but remained barred from the denomination's official clergy roster because of their sexuality. The clergy...

If Pastor John Vaswig or Pastor Kim Latterell were to leave their East Pierce County Lutheran churches, their congregations could replace them with a gay or lesbian clergy member. In August 2009, the church-wide assembly of the Ecumenical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) voted to allow churches to call pastors who are in a committed, same-gender relationships to head up their congregations. Many other important issues were discussed and voted on at the assembly meeting in Minneapolis, but this decision is the one that generated the most interest. John Brooks, spokesman for the ELCA, said that most of the churches...

MODESTO – The Episcopal-Anglican battle in Stanislaus County got very personal this week when the Episcopal faction filed a lawsuit against St. Francis Anglican Church in Turlock seeking control of the its assets. The suit was filed Monday in Stanislaus Superior Court by the Rev. Jerry Lamb, bishop of the Modesto-based Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin. It names the Rev. Gerald "Gerry" Grossman and nine members of the church's vestry, or ruling body, as well as the St. Francis parish as defendants. St. Francis is the first parish in the diocese to face an individual lawsuit in the dispute that...

The South Dakota bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America said he has no plans of leading his synod out of the denomination over last year's pro-gay actions. That's not to say he's content with the national body. "This is not the first time I have been upset with the church," the Rev. David Zellmer told local Lutherans Thursday at First Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls, according to the Argus Leader. Since last week, Zellmer has been hosting "conversations" at several Lutheran congregations to reflect on the actions of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly and their implications. Thursday's meeting was...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) ― [Click to zoom.] Click to enlarge 1 of 1 ELCA convention delegates in August voted to lift a ban prohibiting gay and lesbian pastors who were not celibate from serving as clergy. (File) AP Close numSlides of totalImages Related Links * Read The Latest Local News * Read The Latest Political News The bishop of the South Dakota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America says seven congregations in the state have taken initial steps toward leaving the country's largest Lutheran denomination over its policy to allow gay clergy. The Rev. David Zellmer says...

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is on the attack. And they will let nothing get in the way of their goal, a nation called Palestine, with Jerusalem as it's capital. They are shameless. The ELCA is now on the attack against Christians that care for and support Israel. Presiding ELCA bishop Mark Hanson says the support of Israel by Christians “ . . . is a dangerous and radical political movement.” The ELCA has websites and brochures denouncing them. The ELCA gathered with other like-minded mainline denominations, not to long ago, to find ways to combat these Christians. The...

CLEAR LAKE — The Northeastern Iowa Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is disputing Zion Lutheran Church’s vote in December to leave the denomination. In a news release on Friday Rev. Steven L. Ullestad, bishop of the Northeastern Iowa Synod ELCA, declared that the two-thirds vote needed was not achieved. The December vote at Zion came in reaction to a resolution adopted by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in August that would allow gay pastors in a committed relationship to serve congregations. Prior to that, gay pastors had to commit to being celibate in order to serve. According to...