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A chapel named for retired Episcopal Church Bishop Gene Robinson was dedicated Thursday as part of the consecration of a newly redeveloped Washington, D.C. church building. St. Thomas’ Episcopal Parish chose to honor the former New Hampshire bishop who was the first openly partnered gay man to be consecrated a bishop in the Episcopal Church and the wider Anglican Communion. The chapel is envisioned as a pilgrimage site for youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT). Robinson’s 2003 consecration as bishop was one of several contested actions fueling a broader Anglican realignment in North America and beyond....

The head of The Episcopal Church has issued a partial restriction on the ministry of a New York bishop who recently refused to allow same-sex wedding ceremonies at his diocese. Bishop William Love of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany released a pastoral letter last year stating his refusal to follow a recently passed resolution mandating that all regional bodies in The Episcopal Church perform same-sex marriages. A spokesperson for The Episcopal Church directed The Christian Post to a statement released Friday by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, who supports same-sex marriage and leads the mainline Protestant denomination. “During the period of...

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 1, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – The Episcopal church in the Diocese of Washington, D.C., passed a resolution last week to stop using masculine pronouns for God in future updates to its Book of Common Prayer. The resolution to stop using "gendered language for God" was passed quickly by delegates to the Diocese's 123rd Convention. “If revision of the Book of Common Prayer is authorized, to utilize expansive language for God from the rich sources of feminine, masculine, and non-binary imagery for God found in Scripture and tradition and, when possible, to avoid the use of gendered pronouns for...

A 129-year-old, strikingly beautiful West Pasadena church suffered major damage and the loss of at least one significant historical statue after a vandal or vandals broke in early Saturday morning, spray painted graffiti, destroyed property and set fire to the structure. Although the fire was quickly extinguished by the Los Angeles City Fire Department, the Church of the Angels, at 1100 Avenue 64, suffered major damage from the assault, Pasadena Fire Dept. spokesperson Lisa Derderian said. The fire was reported by a 911 caller in the neighborhood who saw smoke at about 2:20 a.m. A Los Angeles Fire Dept. spokesperson...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - The bishop of West Virginia's Episcopal Church is encouraging congregations to carry the opioid overdose-reversing drug naloxone. The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the Rev. W. Michie Klusmeyer made the request at the West Virginia Episcopal diocese's annual convention in Charleston last weekend. Klusmeyer says naloxone should be available not only to members of the surrounding neighborhood who might overdose, but to church members who might have substance abuse problems.

Tennessee Episcopal Priest Kira Schlesinger believes so strongly in legalized abortion that she wrote a book to reconcile her Christian beliefs with the killing of unborn babies. In her new book “Pro-Choice and Christian: Reconciling Faith, Politics, and Justice,” Schlesinger criticizes churches that “shame” and stigmatize women who abort their unborn babies. She said church congregations should have more open conversations about abortion, and support women who have them. “The shame and stigma surrounding abortion and unwanted pregnancies, particularly in religious circles, are a huge impediment to having honest and forthright discussions about something nearly a third of women have...

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.

Controversy about the Episcopal Washington National Cathedral’s stained glass windows caused a stir last year when the previous cathedral dean called for removal of windows marking the lives of Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. But a small Episcopal congregation in North Dakota is making news this week with their own new LGBT window dedicated to the gay community. St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Fargo dedicated a new window on Sunday featuring a rainbow and words from the denomination’s 1979 revision of the Book of Common Prayer: “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people and...

It's a mighty difficult thing to be incognito as a well-known personage attending Sunday church services. This is most especially true if you are the 48th Vice President of the United States, accompanied by wife Karen. It is well known the Pences are deeply devout Evangelical Christians. Mike Pence calls himself an "Evangelical Catholic". He was raised a Roman Catholic, but later underwent an evangelical conversion experience. Despite their heavy schedules, they are regular churchgoers. Last Sunday, February 26, and the two previous Lord's Days, the Vice President and Second Lady have attended services at The Falls Church Anglican in...

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.