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MOSCOW. Dec 27 (Interfax) - The Moscow Patriarchate has suspended relations with the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Sweden after it decided to establish an official ceremony on blessing homosexual couples. "We have received with great disappointment and grief the news that not only does the Lutheran Church of Sweden not oppose so-called homosexual marriages, but has even ruled to establish an official blessing ceremony," Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church said in a statement at a session in Moscow on Tuesday. The members of the Synod believe that the Church of Sweden's decision contradicts the Biblical concept of family and...

Fr. Ashey's Response to Canon III.13 Judgment 20 December 2005 The Right Reverend Peter James Lee The Diocese of Virginia 110 W. Franklin Street Richmond, VA 23320 Dear Bishop Lee, Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I am writing to you in response to the Diocesan Press Release that I received shortly after our phone conversation yesterday. Since the intent of your action and the Standing Committee contradicts the plain language of Canon III.13, let me restate and reiterate the facts: 1) On the first Saturday after the Epiphany 1989 the Right Reverend Frederick H....

SignonSanDiego.com ALPINE – There are two churches, where there once was one. In the morning chill of East County, the two congregations gathered separately yesterday, a mile apart. Each had candles marking the final Sunday of Advent. Each had Communion. They even sang the same hymn. NANCEE E. LEWIS / Union-Tribune The remaining members of Christ the King Episcopal Church worshipped yesterday at their church in Alpine. The bulk of the congregation left with the Rev. Keith Acker, who resigned Monday. But they are divided now, the first local casualties of a theological debate over homosexuality that is threatening to...

The good times spread to San Diego: An Episcopal priest has resigned from his church and taken much of his congregation with him in the first significant sign that the divisions between the U.S. Episcopal Church and its Anglican counterpart have arrived in San Diego. The Rev. Keith Acker, rector of Christ the King Episcopal Church in Alpine, resigned Monday and turned over the church keys to the diocese, San Diego Bishop James Mathes said yesterday. Most of the parish’s leaders also have resigned. Acker, 49, said last night that come Sunday morning he will be at his new parish,...

From the Anglican Alliance of North Florida JACKSONVILLE, FL.--On December 12, 2005 a letter (below) was delivered to Bishop Howard which stated that during the first week of January, five congregations will transfer from the Episcopal Diocese of Florida to other provinces within the worldwide Anglican Communion. These congregations seek to remain faithful to Christ and be in full communion with the majority of the members in the larger Communion. The congregations are Grace Church in Orange Park, St. Luke's Community of Life in Tallahassee, St. Michael's in Gainesville, and Redeemer and All Souls both in Jacksonville. St. Michael's will...

After a year-long break sparked by the election of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire, talks have resumed between the Vatican and the Anglican Communion. In a Communiqué released on December 12, the Anglican members of the Consultation stated that tensions between the two Churches “following developments in two of the Anglican Provinces relating to ministry by and to persons of a homosexual orientation and practise” had led to a postponement of the 2004 meeting. Assurances by the Anglican Communion led to a resumption of talks and a fourth meeting of IARCCUM, the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity...

JACKSONVILLE, FL. (December 14, 2005)--On December 12, 2005 a letter (below) was delivered to Bishop Howard which stated that during the first week of January, five congregations will transfer from the Episcopal Diocese of Florida to other provinces within the worldwide Anglican Communion. These congregations seek to remain faithful to Christ and be in full communion with the majority of the members in the larger Communion. The congregations are Grace Church in Orange Park, St. Luke's Community of Life in Tallahassee, St. Michael's in Gainesville, and Redeemer and All Souls both in Jacksonville. St. Michael's will be renamed Servants of...

In another setback for the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, an Orange County Superior Court judge ruled Monday that two conservative breakaway parishes were the rightful owners of their church buildings and other property. ...[the] parishes pulled out of the six-county Los Angeles Diocese and the 2.3-million member national Episcopal Church in August 2004. They said there were sharp differences over how to interpret the Bible, including what they said was the diocese's unorthodox and lenient views on homosexuality.

SANTA ANA, Calif.-A judge ruled that two conservative parishes that broke away from the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles to protest the ordination of a gay bishop are the rightful owners of their church buildings and other property.The diocese had argued that it held the property in trust for All Saints Church in Long Beach and St. David's Church in North Hollywood.

NEWS Episcopalians face up to decline Friday, December 9, 2005 By JOHN CHADWICK STAFF WRITER The Episcopal Diocese of Newark, for years the epitome of liberal Protestant Christianity in America, acknowledged Thursday in an unusually candid report that it has suffered a steep slide in membership and needs a bishop who can revitalize its struggling parishes. The diocese, which covers seven northern New Jersey counties including Bergen, Passaic, Hudson and Morris, has lost nearly 24,000 congregants, or 46 percent of its membership, since 1972. That's nearly three times the average decline in the Episcopal Church nationwide, the report said. "Many...

Too many Episcopalians are being purposefully kept in the dark about what is going on in ECUSA and the Anglican Communion. Too many clergy, revisionist and orthodox alike, feel like it is better to keep their parishioners in the dark about what is really going on for fear of dividing their parishes and losing members and contributions. Well, that is not true for three parishes in the Diocese of Southern Virginia! The clergy and vestries at Messiah, Chesapeake; Christ Church, Emporia; and Grace Church, Purdy not only keep their own people well informed, they want to get the word out...

November 25, 2005STOCKHOLM, Sweden --The first openly gay Episcopal bishop said Thursday that unity in the Anglican Communion was being challenged by those who oppose the ordainment of gays and lesbians.The Right Rev. V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire was referring to a letter signed last week by Conservative leaders within the Anglican Communion urging the archbishop of Canterbury to crack down on U.S. and Canadian churches that affirm gay relationships."The issue of unity is really being raised by those who are saying we can't stay in a church with a province that would raise up gay and lesbian people"...

A congregation that refused to pay its dues in protest of the Episcopal Church of the USA's ordination of a homosexual bishop has been dissolved by its diocese. Rochester's Episcopal diocese in New York voted Saturday to shut down All Saints Episcopal Church in Irondequoit, according to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle newspaper.The church's property and other assets are to be turned over to the trustees of the diocese. The church refused to pay $16,000 it owed the diocese after the 2003 ordination of Bishop Gene Robinson in New Hampshire – a practicing homosexual – and the denomination's decision to...

A Virginia congregation says it has left the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) -- and the pastor of that congregation fears his former bishop may take retaliatory action against the parish. South Riding Church is the first parish to leave the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia after two years of conflict over ECUSA's ordination of an openly homosexual bishop in New Hampshire. But Pastor Phil Ashey says his problems with the Episcopal Church run much deeper than its approval of Bishop V. Gene Robinson. "Really the issue of Robinson's consecration and the blessing of same-sex unions is simply the presenting issue of...

Average Sunday attendance at Episcopal churches declined for the third consecutive year, a situation which Kirk Hadaway, director of research in the mission program office at the Episcopal Church Center, described as “worrisome and troubling.” Average attendance declined from 823,017 in 2003 to 795,765, a 3.4 percent decline. Active membership also declined by 2 percent to 2.25 million. Although there was encouraging news that almost one third of all Episcopal churches grew by 10 percent or more during the past five years, and that the average annual pledge increased church wide by nearly 5 percent to $1,881, Dr. Hadaway said...

Contact: The Rev. Phil Ashey (o)703-961-1983 (M) 703-963-3185Mr. Paul Branch(H) 703-327-3318South Riding Church Disaffiliates from the Episcopal Church, Joins Anglican Province of Uganda South Riding Church, established in 2000 as a new church plant in Fairfax, Virginia, has ended its affiliation with the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) and the Diocese of Virginia. The church is now under the jurisdictional authority of Bishop Kisembo in the Diocese of Rwenzori, Anglican Province of Uganda.South Riding is a biblically faithful church committed to the authority of Scripture, traditional Christian teaching and the historic faith and practice of Anglicanism. The decision to disaffiliate with...

The Nation's Pulse The Peculiar Peculations of PECUSA By Thomas Lipscomb Published 11/14/2005 12:06:13 AM In a meeting last week in Pittsburgh, an international panel of prominent Anglicans has called for an open break between members of the Anglican Communion and what they view as the wayward Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States. The meeting was hosted by the Bishop Duncan of Pittsburgh and presided over by seven archbishops from the West Indies, South East Asia, and Africa. The collapse of the authority and membership of mainstream churches in the United States has paralleled the collapse of the influence...

PITTSBURGH, Nov. 11 - Conservative leaders of the Episcopal Church U.S.A. and their Anglican counterparts from overseas intensified their warnings Friday about the possibility of a schism in the Anglican Communion if the Episcopal Church did not renounce the consecration of gay bishops and the blessing of same-sex unions. About 2,400 Episcopal Church and Anglican bishops, clergy members and lay leaders from around the world gathered here Thursday for a three-day show of solidarity in preparation for a general convention of the Episcopal Church next June in Columbus, Ohio. While Episcopal and Anglican conservatives have warned before of the possibility...

Overseas Anglican archbishops told about 2,500 Episcopalians meeting in Pittsburgh yesterday they might have to leave the Episcopal Church unless its leaders "repent" at the church's General Convention next June for consecrating an openly homosexual bishop. If Episcopal leaders refuse to back off from the 2003 installation of Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the prelates said they might boycott the 2008 conference of the world's Anglican bishops. The mood at the David C. Lawrence Convention Center -- the site of the three-day Hope and a Future Conference sponsored by the Anglican Communion Network -- ranged from upbeat to...

The first openly gay Episcopal bishop insisted Wednesday he was not encouraging Roman Catholics to leave their church when he criticized its view of homosexuals during a recent speech in London. New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, at a service Friday commemorating the 10th anniversary of Changing Attitude, a British group which advocates full inclusion of gays in the Anglican faith community, noted during his talk that many Catholics in his home state were becoming Episcopalian. "Pope Ratzinger may be the best thing that ever happened to the Episcopal Church," Robinson said, referring to former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who is...