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Petertide — the days around the feast of St. Peter on June 29 — is traditionally one of the most joyful seasons for the Church of England, a time for ordination of new priests and deacons. But this year’s Petertide has been marred by what many have interpreted as an attack on the future of Anglican priesthood itself. As Britain’s national church prepared to gather for its General Synod, which begins Friday (July 9), one of its most senior clerics submitted a paper for discussion arguing that the future lies not with clergy in the pulpit, but with worshipping communities...

The Washington National Cathedral has come under fire for hosting Max Lucado, a prominent author and pastor who holds biblical Christian views on marriage, as a guest preacher. Max Lucado was invited by the Episcopal Church's Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Paul in the City and the Diocese of Washington to preach at a virtual service Sunday. A backlash among members of the Episcopal Church, a denomination known for politically liberal views on marriage and sexuality issues, quickly followed. Critics of Lucado cited his previous written opinions about same-sex marriage as a cause for concern in a petition asking...

This Christmas will be a special one for the church where George Washington once served as a Vestryman. After seven years in the wilderness that saw the church giving up nearly every earthly possession it had, the congregation has finally found a permanent building to call home for Christmas. In 1624, a statute was passed that mandated the Anglican Church (Church of England) as the official church for Colonial Virginia. In 1732, a church was established on a location in Northern Virginia. The church became known as The Falls Church, an Anglican Church named after the Little Falls of the...

The escalation of racialized rhetoric from the President of the United States has evoked responses from all sides of the political spectrum. On one side, African American leaders have led the way in rightfully expressing outrage. On the other, those aligned with the President seek to downplay the racial overtones of his attacks, or remain silent. As faith leaders who serve at Washington National Cathedral ¬– the sacred space where America gathers at moments of national significance – we feel compelled to ask: After two years of President Trump’s words and actions, when will Americans have enough? This week, President...

An Episcopal bishop in Albany, New York, has issued a directive banning same-sex marriages in his diocese, saying the church has been “hijacked by the ‘Gay Rights Agenda.’” The Rev. William Love says in a pastoral letter that Scripture describes same-sex relationships as “sinful.” He also says that “Satan is having a heyday bringing division into the church.” His directive Saturday comes three weeks before a resolution allowing same-sex marriages in Episcopal churches nationwide goes into effect. …

Cardinal Edwin O'Brien is one of the most powerful and respected cardinals in America, former archbishop of the military services, promoted to archbishop of Baltimore, Maryland and now grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre. But the truth is that O'Brien has promoted gay clergy and covered up homosexual misconduct by his priests over the decades. A former Catholic Navy chaplain who worked under O'Brien when he was archbishop of the military services is going on the record about a case of homosexual cover-up perpetrated by O'Brien. Gene Thomas Gomulka served on active duty at Marine Corps...

The first senior African-American bishop in the U.S. Episcopal Church has been asked to preach a sermon at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle this coming Saturday. Kensington Palace has announced that Prince Harry and Markle have asked The Most Reverend Michael Bruce Curry, the head of the Episcopal Church, to preach at the highly-anticipated wedding at Windsor Castle. "Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle have asked that The Most Reverend Michael Bruce Curry, the 27th Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church, give the address at their wedding," the Palace stated in a tweet on May...

The Church of England is torn over plans by the The Episcopal Church (TEC) in the United States to efface the terms “husband” and “wife” – as well as references to “procreation” – from its marriage liturgy. The change is meant to make the church’s marriage ceremonies more “gay-friendly.” Gay and lesbian Episcopalians have complained that the language of the current liturgy is offensive and exclusionary. The move prompted a critical response from Church of England Secretary General William Nye last October, strongly urging the TEC to reconsider. The letter threatened to cut ties with the U.S. church if it...

A fire damaged a 129-year-old Episcopalian church Saturday morning in Pasadena and statues outside the building were defaced, prompting an arson investigation. ...House of Worship Task Force also was summoned to investigate, according to Bastman. “At this time investigators are not calling this a hate crime, but referring to it as arson, graffiti, vandalism and a burglary,” said Lisa Derderian of the Pasadena Fire Department. The building, which was built in 1889, is the oldest church along the Arroyo Seco waterway, according to the church’s website.

Another reminder, as if we needed one, that it's not going to stop with Confederate generals. Or, for that matter, Virginians or slaveowners. Look at the history of the left around the world. And look at where they drew the line and stopped. The answer is nowhere. And so we have this insult, unthinkable in the pre-Obama era where the Dems at least feigned respect for America. An historic Episcopal parish where George Washington frequently worshiped has decided to remove a memorial plaque honoring the nation’s first president, saying the decision was out of a desire to provide a “welcoming”...

A church attended by George Washington will take down a memorial to the nation's first president, a move church leaders say is intended to make the place of worship more welcoming. The Washington Times reported Friday that Christ Church in Alexandria, Va., will remove memorials of Washington and former Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, which stand on either side of the church's altar. "The plaques in our sanctuary make some in our presence feel unsafe or unwelcome," church leaders said. "Some visitors and guests who worship with us choose not to return because they receive an unintended message from the prominent presence...

The Washington National Cathedral on Wednesday said it will remove stained glass windows honoring Confederate generals, saying they act as “a barrier to our important work on racial justice and racial reconciliation.” In a statement, Cathedral leaders said they’ve debated for two years whether to remove the windows honoring Gen. Robert E. Lee and Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. That debate concluded Tuesday, and the Cathedral Chapter voted to remove them.

However, multiple reports have pointed out that Gorsuch and his wife attend St. John's, Boulder — a liberal Episcopal church headed by a very liberal, pro-LGBT female rector named Rev. Susan Springer. Opposition to Gorsuch's affiliation with St. John's was voiced even before he was nominated. Christian conservative activist and lawyer Andy Schlafly, the son of the late pro-life leader Phyllis Schlafly, voiced his concern over the possible nomination of Gorsuch in an email sent in November with the subject line: "veto these Sup. Ct. nominee candidates." Schlafly wrote that Gorsuch "probably would NOT be pro-life on the Supreme Court"...

President Trump has announced that he has nominated 10th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Neil Gorsuch to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court as the replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia. “Judge Gorsuch has outstanding legal skills, a brilliant mind, tremendous discipline and has earned bipartisan support,” Trump stated in introducing his pick to the public Tuesday night. “Mr. President, I am honored and I am humbled. Thank you very much,” Gorsuch, an Episcopalian, said to applause in accepting the nomination. While it is not known where Gorsuch himself stands on abortion, he is the author of the book...

A Canadian study found that conservative churches are still growing, while less orthodox congregations dwindle away.Mainline Protestant churches are in trouble: A 2015 report by the Pew Research Center found that these congregations, once a mainstay of American religion, are now shrinking by about 1 million members annually. Fewer members not only means fewer souls saved, a frightening thought for some clergy members, but also less income for churches, further ensuring their decline. Faced with this troubling development, clergy members have made various efforts to revive church attendance. It was almost 20 years ago that John Shelby Spong, a U.S....

President-elect Donald Trump was applauded and cheered by parishioners as he and his wife arrived for a Christmas Eve service around 10:30 p.m. EST at Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida according to reports. The church was the site of Trump’s 2005 wedding to soon to be First Lady Melania Trump. “ Florida parishioners cheer for Trump tonight as he arrives for Christmas Eve mass pic.twitter.com/WF08gtF5OM — Chris Snyder (@ChrisSnyderFox) December 25, 2016 “Florida parishioners cheer for Trump tonight as he arrives for Christmas Eve mass” The pool report was posted to Twitter by Time’s Zeke Miller: “...

Trump and his wife Melania and an entourage of Secret Service agents and Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputies made the trip from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club to attend the 10:30 p.m. service at the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, which sits about 400 yards from the Atlantic Ocean. They received a standing ovation from the congregation when they arrived.

An influential seminary affiliated with The Episcopal Church has announced that it will no longer issue degrees starting next year, and is reporting a net loss of $7.9 million in assets since last year. The Episcopal Divinity School of Cambridge, Massachusetts, announced in July that they will stop granting degrees at the end of the 2016-2017 academic year. Last week, the divinity school sent out an update to supporters and members of its campus community wherein they noted that the net assets of the seminary had declined rapidly over the past couple of years. "At our meeting, we also accepted...

Beginning today, a controversial sculpture depicting a nude female Christ on the cross is returning to New York’s Episcopal Cathedral, displayed on a chapel altar. “Christa”, the bronze sculpture by artist Edwina Sandys, will appear alongside the work of 21 other contemporary artists according to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine web site: “all exploring the language, symbolism, art, and ritual associated with the historic concept of the Christ image and the divine as manifested in every person—across all genders, races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and abilities.”

Edwina Sandys had seen this before: the 250-pound bronze statue of a bare-breasted woman on a translucent acrylic cross being installed in the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. This time around, however, she does not expect to see something else she had seen before: the statue being packed up after a call from a ranking church official telling her it had to go. That happened the first time “Christa,” Ms. Sandys’s sculpture of a crucified woman, was shown at the cathedral in Manhattan during Holy Week in 1984. A controversy erupted, complete with hate mail attacking it as...