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John Howe strongly urges Katharine Jefferts Schori to think again: Saturday, November 3, 2007 The Presiding Bishop 815 Second Avenue New York, NY 10017 Dear Katharine, I have read with great sadness your letter to Bishop Bob Duncan of Pittsburgh. And, since you have chosen to make your letter to him public, I will make this one public, as well. I have stood shoulder to shoulder with Bob in the efforts of the Network to reverse the course of The Episcopal Church with regard to recent decisions regarding human sexuality. I part company with him in his decision to abandon the commitment...

The Most Revd Katharine Jefferts Schori Episcopal Church Center New York, New York Dear Katharine, Here I stand. I can do no other. I will neither compromise the Faith once delivered to the saints, nor will I abandon the sheep who elected me to protect them. Pax et bonum in Christ Jesus our Lord, +Bob Pittsburgh

Representatives of Pittsburgh's Episcopal Diocese ignored a warning to their bishop from the church's national leader on Friday and took a step toward a possible affiliation with an Anglican church outside the United States. Lay representatives voted 118-58, with one abstention, in favor of a resolution to leave the New York-based Episcopal Church, said Peter Frank, a diocesan spokesman. Representatives of the clergy at their 142nd Diocesan Convention at the Frank J. Pasquerilla Conference Center in Johnstown voted 109-24 in favor. Another measure must pass the next convention in November 2008 to make the action binding, Frank said. Just before...

The annual convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh November 2 gave the first of two approvals needed to enact a constitutional change to remove language in the diocesan constitution stating that the diocese accedes to the Episcopal Church's Constitution and Canons as the church's constitution requires. Deputies voted 118 to 58 with one abstention to approve Resolution One. Clergy voted 109 to 24 in favor. An effort, labeled Resolution Two, to instead return the diocese to full "accession" to The Episcopal Church was defeated by voice vote. "This vote does not change the diocese's current affiliation with The Episcopal...

On the eve of the November 2-3 annual convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, Bishop Robert Duncan rejected Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's request that he lead the diocese away from efforts to disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church. The three-sentence letter, dated November 1, said in full: "Here I stand. I can do no other. I will neither compromise the Faith once delivered to the saints, nor will I abandon the sheep who elected me to protect them." The first two sentences echo the conclusion of Martin Luther's speech to the Diet of Worms in 1521, during which Luther...

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori is making public a letter of warning that is being sent to a bishop who is actively seeking to withdraw his diocese from the Episcopal Church, and has stated that letters to other bishops will follow. "In this way the Presiding Bishop is reaching out with open arms once more to those bishops contemplating realignments for their dioceses, while also warning them of the consequences should they choose to follow through with their proposed actions," said the Rev. Dr. Charles Robertson, Canon to the Presiding Bishop. The full text of the first of these letters,...

"My beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain" My beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. [I Cor 15: 58] 29th January, A.D. 2007 4th Monday After the Epiphany TO THE CLERGY AND PEOPLE OF THE DIOCESE: Beloved in the Lord, Writing from my hometown more than two hundred years ago, the great pamphleteer of the American Revolution, Thomas Paine, wrote these words: “Now are the times that...

Picture perfect cowboy BY JOE GULICK AVALANCHE-JOURNAL A photograph taken of a Lubbock cowboy and his horse in front of a spectacular West Texas sunset has gained fame both inside and outside the Lubbock city limits and was honored in Austin last week by both houses of the Texas Legislature. Employees of Visit Lubbock, the city's convention and visitors bureau, titled the photograph "The Legend Lives On" and used it as the cover of its current Lubbock Visitor Guide. The picture also has been used in several advertisements for Lubbock, including ones in People Magazine, Texas Monthly and Continental Airlines....