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The Fellowship of St Gregory the Great is the provisional title of the organisation of ex-Anglican clergy who plan to stay with their flocks once they become Roman Catholics. The Anglicans, led by the "flying" bishops of Ebbsfleet and Richborough, are hoping that Rome will give the new body formal recognition - possibly as an "apostolic administration" supervised by a senior Catholic bishop. I've written an article in the Catholic Herald outlining what the Vatican may be prepared to offer Bishop Andrew Burnham and his colleagues, for whom it has the highest regard. I'm pretty sure that parishes will be...

Church of England General Synod to touch off an exodus by approving women bishops YORK, England - "There can be no future for Christianity in Europe without Rome," an Anglican bishop told the Sunday Telegraph this weekend, after it was revealed that a group of "senior" bishops from the Church of England has been in secret negotiations with the highest levels of the Vatican to discuss the current crisis in Anglicanism over the acceptance of homosexuality and female bishops. Bishops from both the Church of England's "evangelical" or protestant and "high" or "Catholic" wings are said to have been involved...

SAINT AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY CONFESSOR, APOSTLE OF THE ENGLISH—C. 605 Feast: May 28 When Pope Gregory began to plan for the evangelization of England, the land was still largely pagan, although in the southwest there were remnants of earlier missionary efforts. To lead this important mission, Gregory chose Augustine, prior of St. Andrew's monastery in Rome, of which Gregory had been the founder. Nothing is known of Augustine's life until the year 596, when, with a party of Benedictine monks, he set out northwards from Rome. He carried letters of commendation to various Gallic bishops. On reaching Provence, the...

Anglican churches in Zimbabwe have expressed their intention to pull out of the Central African province in opposition to other churches which were in favor of homosexuals. Three of five dioceses in Zimbabwe had "unanimously agreed" to sever ties with dioceses in the Central African province, saying it will not "stand with homosexuals," a cleric at Harare diocese, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Agence France-Presse. The cleric noted that according to the Diocesan Act adopted by the Harare diocese in August and put into effect on Aug. 4, the Zimbabwe church body will "dissociate and sever relationship...

ST. JOHN'S, June 20, 2007 (LifeSitenews.com) - Dr. Robert A.J. Gagnon, Associate Professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, released a paper responding to a recent push for the official blessing of homosexual unions within the Anglican Church of Canada. Just a few weeks prior to the 2007 General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada in St. John's, a pro-homosexual "marriage" paper was sent to all the delegates attending the synod. Recently published by John Thorp, professor of philosophy at the University of Western Ontario, the paper was entitled "Making the Case: The Blessing of Same Sex Unions...

The New York Times: Episcopal Parishes in Virginia Vote to Secede. Reuters: Virginia churches break from U.S. Episcopal Church.The Washington Times: 8 Virginia flocks break away.The Richmond Times-Dispatch: Seven Va. Episcopal churches break away. Ruth Gledhill has comments on her blog here.An article in the Guardian is there.The Telegraph has an article here.A press release from the diocese of Virginia deserves to be quoted in full: News Update from the Diocese of Virginia Yesterday, Sunday, December 17, eight churches in the Diocese of Virginia announced that a majority of the voting members of the congregation had voted to separate from...

Division looms for Episcopal Churchhttp://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=2216 http://tinyurl.com/kr9gt July 25, 2006 Signs of a full-blown split between the Episcopal Church and most of the worldwide Anglican Communion appeared only days after the U.S. church's General Convention refused to renounce the election of gay bishops. The 2.2-million-member Episcopal Church would be reduced to nonvoting "associate" status in a proposed two-tiered membership policy for the 77-million-member communion that was announced June 27 in London. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said those national churches that sign a covenant affirming Anglicanism's traditional stance on homosexuality could be full members of the communion, while other churches would...

A Schismatic Canterbury Talehttp://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/14/opinion/main1805855.shtml http://tinyurl.com/r9z5a (The American Prospect) This column was written by Adele M. Stan July 16, 2006 It was with great joy that religious members of the progressive movement received, late last month, news of the election of Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori to the top leadership position in the U.S. Episcopal Church. For one, the fact of the bishop’s gender heralded an important first for Episcopalians, whose rites and rituals cling closely to those of the Roman Catholic Church. Furthermore, the inclusive position taken by Jefferts Schori with regard to the full participation of gays and lesbians in...

There's growing controversy after someone defaced a sign at a well-known west Nashville Church. Reverend James Guill spent part of Tuesday afternoon scraping rainbow-colored stickers off the sign in front of St. Andrews Episcopal Church. The stickers called for diversity. In August a national vote confirmed the nation's first openly gay Episcopal bishop. In a symbolic response to the vote St. Andrews covered the word Episcopal on its own signs. Guill said he’s upset about what he called a political message implying that St. Andrews isn't tolerant. “It's vandalism and an attack at St. Andrews,” Guill said. “You feel violated.”...

Beloved in Christ, By the time you hear these words you will be well aware of the actions of the 74th General Convention which met in Minneapolis July 30-August 8, 2003. While the Convention dealt with a great many issues and opportunities facing the church, the media attention was focused on issues of human sexuality. All of the mail and calls I have received also centered on those issues. And while I hope we will have opportunities to highlight the Convention actions on which most of us would agree, this letter is written to address the two major "hot button"...