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Meet Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch's ultra-liberal church St. John's Episcopal Church is led by a pastor who proudly attended the anti-Trump Women's March in Denver the day after the President's inauguration Rev. Susan Springer has said she is pro-gay marriage and offers blessings to same-sex couples Another member of the clergy is outspoken about the need for gun control The church's Rev. Ted Howard also signed a letter slamming the 'disrespectful rhetoric' directed at Islam as Trump floated a ban on Muslim immigrants Church authorities also appear to be strongly in favor of environmental initiatives and added solar panels...

Parishioners at a California Episcopal church will no longer pray by name for the president of the United States over fears the name "Donald Trump" might trigger microaggressions among sanctified snowflakes. Mike Kinman, the rector of All Saints Church in Pasadena, broke the news to the congregation in a blog posting that was filled with all sorts of liturgical lunacy.

A passage from the Koran that denies one of the central tenets of the Christian faith was sung aloud at a cathedral service in Scotland. The passage from Surah 19, which specifically denies that Jesus was the Son of God and says He should not be worshipped, was sung during a Eucharist service at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow to mark the feast of the Epiphany.

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...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - An Episcopal priest accused of molesting children at an elite Rhode Island boarding school and elsewhere has been removed from the priesthood. The Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania announced Monday that it had defrocked the Rev. Howard White. The diocese says White accepted his removal but didn't admit guilt. White didn't immediately return a message seeking comment Tuesday. The move came after an investigation into widespread abuse at St. George's School in Middletown, Rhode Island, found White abused children there in the 1970s before being fired. He went on to teach in other private schools.

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.”

Father Jeremy Lucas won an AR-15 at auction so he could have it destroyed. The pastor from Lake Oswego who spent $3,000 on auction tickets in a successful attempt to win an automatic weapon so that he could have it destroyed, will be able to proceed as planned. Reverend Jeremy Lucas from the Christ Church Episcopal Church in Lake Oswego was being investigated by the Oregon State Police for allegedly giving the gun to someone for safekeeping without having conducted a background check. "The case was referred to the Clackamas County District Attorney's Office for review who advised OSP that...

The Very Rev. Katherine Ragsdale, lesbian cleric and then president and dean of Episcopal Divinity School, delivers 2009 'abortion is a blessing' address (National Organization for Women/Flickr) Via the Episcopal News Service, a press release revealing that the ultramegaliberal Episcopal Divinity School is winding things down: Episcopal Divinity School will cease to grant degrees at the end of the upcoming academic year, the seminary’s board of trustees decided July 21 on a 11-4 vote. During the next year, the board will explore options for EDS’s future, some of which were suggested by a specially convened Futures Task Force to...

Young protesters from the Baltimore uprising share their experience and hope to the Diocese of Maryland convention. Delegates began the work of what reparations for the sin of racism and slavery to determine what that might look like. At its recent convention, the Diocese of Maryland took the first of what could be many small steps to engage the issue of reparations and set aside money to help heal the centuries-old wounds of slavery. Though the resolution that anchored the conversation, known as “Reparations Investment,” was referred to Diocesan Council for further review, its appearance marked a beginning for the...

Whenever an activist Episcopal priest shows up in the news, as a general rule, scratch beneath the surface and you’ll find a dead or dying congregation. A recent example comes from USA Today, covering the March 2 U.S. Supreme Court hearing about a Texas law requiring abortion clinics to meet the same regulatory requirements as ambulatory surgical centers. Pro-Life advocates argue that such health and safety regulation is necessary, especially in the wake of Philadelphia abortionist Hermit Gosnell’s murder trial and the gruesome discoveries about his clinic. Abortion rights advocates counter that a rapid decline in the number of U.S....

The Anglican Communion voted to censure its American branch, the Episcopal Church, during a meeting in Canterbury, England, called to reflect on the future of the communion. The vote Thursday (Jan. 14) to suspend the Episcopal Church from voting and decision-making for a period of three years was leaked a day ahead of a press conference that had been scheduled for Friday.

The Rev. Canon Mpho Tutu, the daughter of former South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, tied the knot this week with Professor Marceline van Furth in the Netherlands. According to Netherlands broadcaster Jeanette Chabalala of News24, the couple reportedly married in a private ceremony held in Oegstgeest in the Netherlands. The couple is set to celebrate their wedding in Cape Town in May. Tutu is currently the executive director of the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, while Furth is a professor in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the Vrije University in Amsterdam, and holds the Desmond Tutu Chair in Medicine at...

In a development that few Episcopalians of four or five years ago could have imagined, the Episcopal bishops of the most powerful and financially secure dioceses have begun to turn on their own once-strong, but now severely weakened, parishes. Having driven out all the dissenters at enormous expense to their coffers, these dioceses are increasingly trying to make up their losses by sacrificing valuable real estate -- even if it means turning out previously loyal congregations from their hard-won property. And -- who could have foreseen it? -- the parishes most harmed by the continuous litigation were precisely those with...

The historic St. Paul’s Episcopal Church known as the “Cathedral of the Confederacy” has begun removing all images of the Confederate flag from within its walls. The measure includes six plaques with various versions of the Confederate flag, the church’s coat of arms with the flag on kneelers at the high altar, and bookplates in some books in the church’s library. The coat of arms will be retired, and the church will start to dig deeper in its history, the role of race and slavery in that history, and how parishioners can engage in conversations about race in the Richmond...

When the 2014 stats came out last week, it was no surprise that The Episcopal Church had again lost membership across the board. However, the newest released figures show that there is a dip in most church growth indicators -- total membership, ASA, congregations, baptisms, communicants, faith formation pupils, confirmations, and receptions from other Christian denominations. There is a slight uptick in marriages and an increase in funerals. For the first time in 75 years, The Episcopal Church's total membership dipped below the two million member mark. TEC's just-released official 2014 stats show worldwide church membership standing at 1,956,042. The...

The Church Divinity School of the Pacific offers a forum on “Imagining a new prayer book” as part of its Alumni Convocation Symposium, October 8, from 3-5 p.m., local time. The Rev. Dr. Ruth Meyers, presenter, is the current dean of academic affairs, and a long-time teacher of liturgy and liturgics. She served on the Standing Commission for Liturgy and Music from 2008 – 2015, and as chair from 2009 – 2015.The seminary website describes the event:  The 2015 General Convention called for a plan for revision of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer that will “utilize the riches of...

Planned Parenthood, which makes money from selling dead baby parts, has a Clergy Advocacy Board, which released a statement defending the abattoir.I tried to find the names of the board members, but came up with this when I clinked their link.  HEREI want to know who the Catholics are.A commentator (below) found it. I dates to April 2015, but we can assume it is still accurate for the most part.Here is a screen shot.

The Episcopalian marriage of Fordham University’s theology chairman to his same-sex partner, just one day after the Supreme Court’s marriage ruling, begins a new flood of challenges to Catholic identity that most Catholic colleges and universities are unprepared to face, warns Cardinal Newman Society President Patrick Reilly.“Even if a Catholic college leader wants to uphold Catholic teaching on marriage, the persistent embrace of dissent and opposition to the Church at many Catholic universities makes it highly unlikely that the law will now permit them to uphold moral standards for professors,” Reilly said.“The fact that a theology chairman at a...

Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson with a friend The AP reports here from the Episcopal Church’s General Convention  that the Episcopal Church of the USA is now formally permitting same sex weddings.  Episcopalians voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to allow religious weddings for same-sex couples, solidifying the church’s embrace of gay rights that began more than a decade ago with the pioneering election of the first openly gay bishop.the House of Bishops prayed and debated the issue for five hours earlier this week before passing it on to the House of Deputies.The Rev. Bonnie Perry of Chicago, a lesbian married to a...

"This is just the beginning. This is a declaration of war by five judges who have spat in the face of their Creator, of marriage, of biology, and freedom. Now a major proper response for Christians and others is massive civil disobedience and defiance of this homo-fascist decision."