Free Republic

A new study has found that Catholics now have the lowest proportion of "strongly affiliated" followers among America's major religious traditions, while evangelicals are growing stronger in their devotion to their faith. Philip Schwadel, a sociologist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, whose findings rely on a survey conducted among a cross-section of Americans on an annual or bi-annual basis since 1974, notes that from about a 5-percentage-point difference in the 1970s in how strongly Catholics and evangelicals felt about their religion, it has increased to around 20 percentage points today. Roughly 56 per cent of evangelicals now say they're strongly...

In the wake of the narrow defeat of the women bishops measure in the Church of England's General Synod by six votes in the House of Laity, a torrent of criticism has been unleashed on evangelical and Anglo-Catholic Anglicans who opposed the measure. From the Archbishop of Canterbury, members of Parliament, and down through the ranks, the consciences and reasons of those who voted against the measure have been belittled and even vilified. This vilification is most obvious in the editorial in The Guardian (London) from Friday, Nov. 23 by Canon Giles Fraser. Until recently, Canon Fraser held a senior...

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...

The Rev. Larry Gipson, who was dean of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham from 1982-94 and rector at the largest Episcopal church in the nation from 1994-2008, has become a Roman Catholic. Gipson retired in 2008 from the 8,000-member St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston, where his parishioners included former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara. 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...

Of the elements of the Anglican Patrimony the Ordinariate brings with it, one of the most enjoyable is the seasonal pleasure of a Lessons and Carols service. The first of these was held in a temporary shed serving as Truro's Anglican cathedral on Christmas Eve, 1880, by future archbishop of Canterbury Edward White Benson--purportedly to give his flock something better to do than spend the night before Christmas in local bars and pubs. It has since been a tradition adopted by Catholic as well as Anglican parishes, as well as Lutheran and even Presbyterian communities. King's College, Cambridge, has been...

How would the ordination of women as Bishops affect the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Church of England? More specifically, how would it affect dialogue? At the end of an article about Professor Henry Chadwick's thoughts on the matter, Independent Catholic News reports on the position taken by Archbishop Nichols: Meanwhile, the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, was asked during a press conference in London on Friday 16 November 2012 about the impact on ecumenical relations if the General Synod of Church of England General votes...

The Archbishops’ Council issued this statement today.Statement on the Conclusion of the Meeting of the Archbishops’ Council November 201228 November 2012“The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England met on November 27-28th to consider a wide ranging agenda. A substantial amount of time was given over to the discussion of the recent vote by General Synod on Women in the Episcopate. “As part of their reflections, many council members commented on the deep degree of sadness and shock that they had felt as a result of the vote and also of the need to affirm all women serving the church...

Between 4 and 5 p.m. that day, 1,000 “flying saucers” dropped out of the sky and onto the city. But it was no Roswell. No aliens were sighted, and the only wreckage recovered throughout the city was made from paper. The stunt was performed by First Reformed Church as a promotion for their vacation Bible school. The “saucers” were paper plates dropped from an airplane that took off from Grand Haven Airport, commanded by the Rev. Bernard Brunsting, a veteran wartime B-17 bomber pilot. The co-pilot was Kenneth Lestma, assistant pastor of the church. He flew with a rescue squadron...

MessageToEagle.com - Normally, as a matter of personal preference I don’t get into politics, but when we have a presidential campaign that begins to cross over into the strange twilight zone of religious weirdness that centers on the one person who’s going to control the most powerful government and army on the face of the earth, well, it brings up some unusual scenarios to wonder about. It is being reported in the media today that former presidential candidate Mitt Romney only wrote a victory speech for Election Day; presumably a harried, last minute scramble to revise his speech was being...

As I’ve listened to and participated in conversations on “after death, what?” with students and family in various areas in the Church, I’ve nearly always found people expressed two feelings: a great desire to know about the post-earthly spirit world (hereafter referred to as the spirit world), and an apologetic feeling for having questions, feeling as though the spirit world were a subject that we should not discuss.My feeling is that caution in discussing a sacred subject is always proper, especially when much popular “information” in contemporary society about the spirit world involves sensational ghost stories, devil worship, and other...

(To see Cal Grondahl’s cartoon that goes with this post, click here) A key difference between Latter-day Saints and many other Christian churches is that Mormons believe that there are various post-judgment kingdoms in the outskirts of heaven. There’s the Telestial Kingdom, for anyone from Hitler to that lawyer who’s cheating on his wife. There’s the Terrestrial Kingdom, for those decent folks who said “not now” when the missionaries came by the door. And then there’s the Celestial Kingdom, the jackpot prize. But even the Celestial Kingdom comes in degrees. According to Joseph Smith, there are three degrees of glory...

Cardinal John Onaiyekan walks through Vatican City after being made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI Nov. 24. Credit: Lewis Ashton Glancy - CNA. Rome, Italy, Nov 26, 2012 / 06:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The newest cardinal from Nigeria has condemned a deadly terrorist attack on a Protestant church at a local military base, lamenting the lack of security in the country. “Once again, a great tragedy has taken place but in this case the circumstances are particularly worrisome,” Cardinal John Onaiyekan of Abuja told Aid to the Church in Need in Rome Nov. 26. “This attack took place...

Half of women bishops opponents in Synod were women Almost half of the lay members of the Church of England General Synod who voted down women bishops were themselves women, official voting returns show.According to a list provided by the Church of England, 33 of the 74 members of the House of Laity who rejected the plan to open the episcopate to women were female. Women’s campaigners rounded on them calling their stance “ridiculous” arguing that those who believe in the idea of “male headship” should have followed the male leaders of the Church and voted in favour. They also...

The vote against women bishops at the General Synod by the House of Laity may be puzzling to some; perhaps even more so if you are told (correctly) that a significant number of those who voted against it are themselves in favour of women bishops. Tom Sutcliffe has written a balanced and helpful article for Anglican Ink which explains things well. See: A "liberal" member of Synod explains his "no" vote on women bishops. (H/T The Deacon's Bench) Essentially he and others considered that the proposal was misguided in its approach to those who opposed women bishops, and would over-ride...

Being cruel to Anglicans is about as low as kicking a puppy. The Anglican Church does a lot of good for a lot of people and its presence in British public life forces debates about politics and social policy to be a bit more reflective than they would otherwise be. It is also capable of profound beauty. Village churches are arks of Englishness: neatly stacked Books of Common Prayer, hard wooden pews, a perfume of human breath and burning wax, a Union Jack hung above a shrine to the fallen. I pray that the Church of England is never disestablished,...

We, of all people, ought to know better. "Progress" gave us modern medicine, liberal democracy, the internet. It also gave us the guillotine, the Gulag and the gas chambers. Western intelligentsia assumed in the 1920s that "history" was moving away from the muddle and mess of democracy towards the brave new world of Russian communism. Many in 1930s Germany regarded Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his friends as on the wrong side of history. The strong point of postmodernity is that the big stories have let us down. And the biggest of all was the modernist myth of "progress". What is more,...

The Church of England will definitely have women bishops “in my lifetime”, claims Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York.The second most powerful man in the church said that it was “very disappointing” it had not happened during this General Synod but he was sure the principle had been accepted. His comments came the day after the church tore up plans to ordain women as bishops despite overwhelming support in the parishes. After a tortuous 12-year legal process, which secured strong backing in all but two of the 44 dioceses, the move was denied final approval by just six votes....

Channel 4 offers a reflection today from a clergyman of the Anglican Church who quite openly states a complete and sincere disbelief in God. He is an atheist who considers the scriptures nothing more than human literature. What are we to make of him? Personally I find this sort of liberal wooliness in a clergyman not only absurd but frankly dishonest. What an affront to those who do believe, to the faithful in the pews whose giving pays his stipend! How does he stand at the altar with a straight face I wonder? Little surprise he opts to be filmed...

The transcript for a debate which took place in the British parliament yesterday makes for sobering reading. The debate took place in the wake of the vote by the General Synod of the Church of England not to pass the measure which would have brought in women bishops. One of the remarks made by Sir Tony Baldry, the Second Church Estates Commissioner is particularly noteworthy. He said: As a consequence of the decision by the General Synod, the Church of England no longer looks like a national Church; it simply looks like a sect, like any other sect. If it...