Free Republic

MADISON — An era is ending in Madison Sunday. First Presbyterian Church is having its final service after 137 years of Sunday morning worship. “We lost people,” said Darlene Barrett, who has been a First Presbyterian member for 62 years. “Our members have passed away and (there’s) no young people.” Actually, the town is growing — from 2,135 in 1990 to 2,367 in 2000 — but that hasn’t meant new members for the church. “This is a Hispanic community now, they have their own church,” Barrett said. Madison is one of several Nebraska towns that have seen dramatic changes in...

Division looms for Episcopal Churchhttp://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=2216 http://tinyurl.com/kr9gt July 25, 2006 Signs of a full-blown split between the Episcopal Church and most of the worldwide Anglican Communion appeared only days after the U.S. church's General Convention refused to renounce the election of gay bishops. The 2.2-million-member Episcopal Church would be reduced to nonvoting "associate" status in a proposed two-tiered membership policy for the 77-million-member communion that was announced June 27 in London. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said those national churches that sign a covenant affirming Anglicanism's traditional stance on homosexuality could be full members of the communion, while other churches would...

A Schismatic Canterbury Talehttp://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/14/opinion/main1805855.shtml http://tinyurl.com/r9z5a (The American Prospect) This column was written by Adele M. Stan July 16, 2006 It was with great joy that religious members of the progressive movement received, late last month, news of the election of Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori to the top leadership position in the U.S. Episcopal Church. For one, the fact of the bishop’s gender heralded an important first for Episcopalians, whose rites and rituals cling closely to those of the Roman Catholic Church. Furthermore, the inclusive position taken by Jefferts Schori with regard to the full participation of gays and lesbians in...