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Resolved the House________ concurring, the 75th GC of TEC, mindful of the “repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation enjoined on us by Christ,” (WR134) expresses its regret for breaching the proper constraints of the bonds of affection in the events surrounding the General Convention of 2003 and the consequences which followed; offer its sincerest apology to those within the Anglican Communion who are offended by our failure to accord sufficient importance to the impact of our actions on our church and other parts of the communion; and ask forgiveness as we seek to live into deeper levels of communion one with another.”

NOTE: This is a blog-lite posting, with an emphasis on news-sites & suchlike. The GC blogroll will be tackled later in the day, the Lord willin’, and the creek don’t rise.....

After the joint AAC, ACN, FiFNA Eucharist this morning, Bishop Jim Adams of Western Kansas gave an update on an attempt to have the General Convention endorse basic Christian beliefs about Jesus Christ and Salvation. The resolution, D058, simply states: Resolved, the House of _____ concurring, That the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church declares its unchanging commitment to Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the only name by which any person may be saved (Article XVIII); and be it further...

Discussing Wednesday night’s open hearing before the Special Committee regarding the response to the Windsor Report, Fr. Guy Lytle of Tennessee makes these observations and shares his concerns: There is no question that we are, at the moment at least, a divided and unreconcilable body...

American Anglican Council President's Response to David Virtue Article David Virtue gets it wrong again! Virtue got it wrong in Dromantine, N. Ireland, when he rushed to print before the Primates had actually agreed on what they were doing. He has gotten it wrong several times when he went with stories on the American Anglican Council. Now it has happened again in Nottingham. Virtue apparently interviewed a Primate, one for whom English is his seventh out of eight languages, and he has run with a major breaking story. The only trouble is it is catastrophically wrong. Many of the Primates,...

The Anglican Consultative Council is currently meeting in Nottingham. This is an explanation of what is going on.

Well folks, Sionnsar is out of the country and I am about to lose radio contact for a few days. He should be back some time over the weekend and depending on jet lag, I imagine he'll be picking things up pretty quickly. I'll be in a canoe on a river in the Ozarks till Wednesday. At any rate, I suspect the list will only go dark for 24-48 hours. What can possibly happen in that amount of time? ;-) God bless you all.

Some words leak out from a meeting between a bishop of another diocese and his clergy. Here is what the bishop reports: The primate of the Anglican Church of the Province of the Southern Cone [the Most Rev. Gregory Venables] predicts that within three years the dreams of the American Anglican Council with its Network [the Anglican Communion Network of Dioceses and Parishes] will come true. The majority of the primates, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, will disenfranchise the Episcopal Church and acknowledge that the Network is the only Anglican presence in North America. "That will begin the crumbling ....

Nashotah Dean Speaks on Issues of Sexuality in the Aftermath of General Conventio Dear Friends: Recently, I reread Robert Boyd Munger's classic booklet, My Heart Christ Home (IVP). With over ten million copies in print, it has had great impact in aiding readers to better understand what Christ's Lordship really means. Munger points out that submission to Jesus involves not a single decision, but a series of daily choices that give Him control over various "rooms" in our lives - the study (mind), dining room (ambition), living room (quiet time), recreation room (entertainment), bedroom (sexuality) and even the hall closet...

The Most Revd Frank T. Griswold Presiding Bishop ECUSA May 7, 2005 Dear Bishop Frank, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. I write in response to your letter of May 5th. Since it has found its way all over the internet, I am constrained to respond more broadly than just in a personal note. With great respect it must be said that considering what you now write in the light of what you have already done brings to mind the old cliche of Nero fiddling while Rome burns. It's like the...

In discussing the Bedford Communique last month I posted the following: Another paragraph from the communiqué I find interesting: The primates of the Anglican Communion at their meeting in Newry called “as a matter of urgency” for a panel of reference (paragraph 15), and yet as of this date, the panel has not been organized. We implore the Archbishop of Canterbury to organize this panel immediately to help ensure the protection of beleaguered parishes and clergy of the Episcopal Church. Sounds like some polite but public impatience to me. I, too, am wondering why the Panel of Reference hasn’t been...

Spending three days in a Bedford, Texas, high school gym hardly makes for a spring break get-away. That fact didn’t keep two lay delegates from the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, Joan Malley of The Church of the Ascension in Oakland, and Bill Roemer of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Sewickley, from giving up their time to represent the Diocese at the Anglican Communion Network’s annual council meeting April 18-20. The annual gathering set the course of the Network for the year ahead and received reports outlining mission and ministry the group has accomplished since the first council meeting in January...

HAGERSTOWN - The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland passed by a "substantial majority" four resolutions dealing with same-sex issues, including one that opposes any constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Episcopal Bishop Robert W. Ihloff announced the passage of the resolutions in a written statement on Tuesday. The diocese also held a press conference on the resolutions Tuesday at the Diocesan Center in Baltimore. The votes were cast during the diocese's 221st convention, which was held Friday and Saturday at the Clarion Inn and Conference Center Antietam Creek in Hagerstown. Rectors of several Episcopal churches in Washington County did not return phone...

Controversy causing the exile of most St. Nicholas Episcopal Church parishioners also weighs heavily on Holy Trinity Episcopal Church members, most of whom believe the worldwide denomination has strayed from biblical teachings concerning homosexuality. "We are saying exactly the same thing St. Nicholas said," the Rev. Mark Cannady of Holy Trinity said Monday. "We cannot continue to go forward in this teaching." The Northwest Texas Diocese last week rejected a request by St. Nicholas to help keep their 523 active members together after nearly 90 percent of voting parishioners disagreed with the Episcopal stance on same-sex unions and 2003 appointment...

Frank Griswold has exactly one idea these days and he beats it to death here: Our recent meeting of the House of Bishops produced a remarkable convergence summed up in a Covenant Statement which has been seen by many as the fruit of the Spirit’s activity among us. What emerged is far more than words on a page but a fundamental disposition rooted and grounded in a force that transcended us all and brought us together in ways few could have imagined when we convened. Wow. And I thought it was just another ECUSA evasion. Show's why Frank's Presiding Bishop,...

(ACNS) A senior Primate, the Most Rev. Peter Carnley of Australia, has accepted the Archbishop of Canterbury’s request to serve as chair of “The Panel of Reference” created by Archbishop Williams in response to the request of the Primates Meeting in February. Carnley is the Archbishop of Perth, Anglican Co-Chairman of Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission, a member of the original “Eames Commission” on Women in the Episcopate and was spokesperson for the Primates at their recent meeting in Ireland. The Archbishop of Canterbury has issued the following directive in the forming of the panel: Rowan Douglas by Divine Providence...

THE EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF FLORIDA 162nd Diocesan Convention - May 21, 2005 – 9:00 am Camp Weed & the Cerveny Conference Center - Live Oak, FL Proposed Resolution # 2005-04 Submitted by: Church of the Advent, Tallahassee St. Catherine’s, Jacksonville Title: [None Given] Be it resolved, in the Spirit of Christian love and with the desire of keeping property issues from the courts (1 Corinthians 6), should a congregation in the Diocese of Florida desire to leave ECUSA because of its unwillingness to repent and comply with the full recommendations of the Windsor Report and Primates’ Communiqué, or desire to...

The Bishop of Northwest Texas, Wallis Ohl has written a letter to his clergy reversing himself in his earlier support of the letters written by a group of orthodox bishops to the Archbishop of Canterbury and to Frank Griswold, ECUSA Presiding Bishop. Bishop Ohl sent a letter to the clergy of Northwest Texas denying everything and reversing himself in his support of the AAC and the Network. VirtueOnline has received a copy of the letter from an anonymous clergy spouse. In the letter dated April 25, 2005 Ohl wrote, "I am sure you are aware by now that I signed...

KAMPALA (May 9,2005)--The Church of Uganda, West Buganda Diocese has joined other dioceses in rejecting money from the Diocese of New Hampshire. New Hampshire is headed by a gay Bishop, Gene Robinson. The diocese rejected $27,000 (Shs 48.6m) which had been earmarked for improvement of secondary school education in the diocese. The Bishop of West Buganda Diocese, Dr Samuel Kefa Semakula, led a group of about 20 Christians at the weekend to Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi to report the rejection. "We want to report that our diocese was offered a donation of $27,000 from a gay diocese which we have...

The Methodists could become the first mainstream church in Britain to offer blessings to gay couples who get "married" under the Government's new civil partnerships law. Representatives at the Methodist Conference next month will debate whether to offer prayers or blessing services to same-sex couples. The Civil Partnership Act, which takes effect on December 5, creates a legal status of "civil partner", conferring many of the rights of married couples on gay partnerships. The Methodist Church, which has 300,000 full members and more than a million other people who worship with it or have other links, is the country's third...