epiScope

Proposition 22 Overturned

Local advocates cheer clear path to gay marriage
Proponents celebrate at SLO courthouse Thursday, but opponents say the state Supreme Court ruling ignores the will of voters who passed a ban in 2000
By Tonya Strickland
May. 16, 2008

Local gay-marriage proponents celebrated what they called an important step toward equality Thursday after the state’s highest court overturned a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriages in California.

But the decision striking down Proposition 22 left some locals complaining that the state Supreme Court disregarded the will of people.
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“This is a landmark day for the gay and lesbian community,” said the Rev. Caroline Hall of St. Benedict’s Episcopal Church in Los Osos. “It’s a tremendous sense of the vindication that we should not be discriminating against gay and lesbian civil rights and that (gays and lesbians) should have the same legal and civil protections that everyone else has.”
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Hall has officiated about five local spiritual same-sex ceremonies in the past four to five years (the state had previously allowed civil unions for gay and lesbian couples). She said the ruling Thursday upholds the religious freedoms of leaders such as herself to marry same-sex couples.

“Not being able to marry gay people in legal ceremonies was against my own values,” she said. “I felt like I should have been able to marry people both spiritually and legally and, until now, I was limited to simply spiritually.”

It’s all here …

Local Gays Celebrate CA Supreme Court Ruling
LGBTQ Community Stresses Many Additional Obstacles Remain in the Fight for Equality
By Brooke Elliot and Laura Wiesenberg
Daily Nexus
May 16, 2008

Following yesterday’s California Supreme Court decision to end a ban on same-sex marriage, the local gay community celebrated and declared the ruling a victory on the path toward equality.
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Also present at the courthouse were several members of the religious community, including Reverend Mark Asman of the Trinity Episcopal Church in Santa Barbara. Asman said the gay and lesbian community should not merely celebrate the victory, but commemorate the work of past activists.

“We stand on the shoulders of women and men who have fought for us,” Asman said. “It’s not enough for us to just be happy today; we need to get organized.”

It’s all here …

Area gay, lesbian couples to wed
By Fred Ortega
Pasadena (CA) Star News
05/15/2008

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The Rev. Susan Russell of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena said she is thrilled that her church, which has been blessing same sex unions for 15 years, will soon be able to offer official wedding rites.

"It is a very exciting day," said Russell, who had her union with her partner blessed at All Saints last year. But she acknowledged the continuing efforts to outlaw same-sex weddings.

"It is not the end of the story by any means," she said, noting the court's decision means homosexual persons are entitled to equal protection under law. "But it is a huge step nonetheless."

It’s all here …and here's the response from some of California's Episcopal bishops...

Bully pulpit

Archbishop criticises gay threats
Dr Williams criticised what he called "unchristian bullying"
BBC

The Archbishop of Canterbury has condemned death threats made against the leader of a group representing homosexual Anglicans in England.

Dr Rowan Williams said threats against Rev Colin Coward, director of Changing Attitude, marked the "latest round of unchristian bullying".

He was also criticising assaults on gay Anglicans in Nigeria.

It’s all here …

Row on archbishop 'immoral' claim
Welsh assembly in Cardiff Bay
Some Welsh law-making is possible in consultation with the UK government
BBC

The archbishop of Wales says it would be "immoral" for Wales not to have full law-making powers in the near future.

But Conservative Monmouth MP David Davies said his comments were "disappointing" and there were more pressing issues he could speak out on.

Barry Morgan spoke to BBC Radio Wales in his role as chair of Tomorrow's Wales, which looks at devolution.

It’s all here …

Events

All Saints Students Rally To Help Snuff Out Smoking
By ADAM RUSSELL
Tyler (TX) Morning Telegraph
April 03, 2008

Students gathered downtown Wednesday holding signs expressing the numerous dangers of smoking cigarettes and secondhand smoke as part of Tobacco Free Kids Day.

Twenty-four students from All Saints Episcopal School took part in the youth-led event to bring awareness to the health risks of smoking and secondhand smoke and to be an example for area youth, said event coordinator Freshman Claire Roberts.

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St. Vincent’s to honor MLK Jr. with vigil
Galveston (TX) Daily News
April 2, 2008

GALVESTON — St. Vincent’s Episcopal House will have a silent vigil at noon Friday to observe the 40th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr.

The Galveston County Coalition for Justice is organizing the event at St. Vincent’s House, 2817 Postoffice St.

King was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968. He was 39.

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Isaiah 5:7

New generation's pastors take up cause for civil rights and `silver rights'
Sunday, March 30, 2008
GREG GARRISON and VAL WALTON
News staff writers

They were pastors and civil rights leaders who broke the back of unjust segregation laws in Birmingham and set in motion the transformation of America into a more racially tolerant nation.

Four decades after the violent death of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, the generation of pastors whose passion and commitment to civil rights rang from Birmingham pulpits, stirred marches and rallies, and even filled jail cells, is fading.

In the post-civil rights movement years, local activist preachers have set their sights on different kinds of injustices - crime, education and the gap between the rich and poor.

It's all here ...

Editorial: Church call to go back 17 years
NZ Herald (New Zealand)
March 31, 2008

Church leaders invariably lead with their chins in political debate. We have not heard from them for some time on poverty, in fact not since the last National Government was in office. They implicitly conceded this on Friday when they declared: "Our primary concern since the 'Hikoi of Hope' held 10 years ago has remained constant."

They could have fooled us. Their hope may have been constant but not their action. This is all the more strange because they have seen no progress on poverty since. As the clerics observe, Labour has left National's benefit levels largely intact after inflation adjustments. Now the collective social conscience of the Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian and Salvation Army leadership will be mobilised in a "call to action" for the restoration of benefit rates that were cut in 1991.

It's all here ...

Bill would ban discrimination

Governor opposes bias based on sexual orientation
BY JOHN JOHNSTON
Cincinnati (OH) Enquirer
March 12, 2008

Ohio legislators are making another attempt - the fourth in six years - to pass a bill that would make it illegal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.
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Rev. Paula Jackson is pastor of the Church of Our Saviour, an Episcopal church in Mount Auburn that long has advocated for gays.

"I actually have parishioners - they're law-abiding, tax-paying, God-fearing, church-going family-oriented people - who have had exemplary employment records and have lost their jobs when the boss one day figured out they were gay or lesbian," she said.

"The boss would never come right out and say that's why, but everybody knew that was why. It was not the sort of thing the person could do anything about because there's no protection. And it's a tragedy, because you've got a parent supporting a child."

It’s all here …

Rights and wrongs

Report: N.J. Civil Union Law 'Total Failure'
WNBC
February 17, 2008

TRENTON, N.J. -- Tuesday marks one year since civil unions became legal for gays and lesbians in New Jersey.

But don't celebrate the anniversary so soon. WNBC has learned that a state commission studying the matter will issue a report claiming the law has been a total failure.

The first government report since New Jersey began allowing same-sex unions said civil unions create a "second-class status" for gay couples.

The law was intended to give same-sex couples marriage equality without the title. However, the report found that many self-insured companies refuse to provide health insurance to the partners of their employees.

Same sex couples like Episcopal ministers Paul Walker and Randy Webster said they have been frustrated by government bureaucracies and medical offices that don't have a clue about their rights.

It’s all here …

Formerly gay survivors go forth -- still gay and OK
By Wendi C. Thomas
Memphis (TN) Commercial Appeal
February 17, 2008

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

After years of wrestling with whether his sexuality made him sinful, including two months in a Memphis religious treatment program designed to de-gay him, Jacob Wilson can confidently declare that that Scripture has a new meaning for him.

"The truth is I don't have to change for anyone and I'm fine the way I am. I'm fully accepted by God," said Wilson, now 22, who will join dozens of others for an ex-gay survivors' conference here next weekend.

Wilson, then 19, was a part of Love In Action's adult program, housed in a former Episcopal church in Raleigh, at the same time that a Bartlett teen was forced into since-closed LIA's youth program, Refuge.

It’s all here …

Finding justice

Los Angeles area interfaith clergy visit Rome, Israel
By Orit Arfa
Jewish Journal
2008-02-08

Late last month, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 27 delegates of a weeklong interfaith mission from greater Los Angeles gathered in a circle at Yad Vashem's Valley of Communities, a monument carved out of bedrock to honor Jewish communities obliterated in the Holocaust. The cold morning foreshadowed the upcoming Jerusalem snowstorm, and the leaders representing Jewish, Catholic, Protestant and Muslim denominations warmed one another with words of conciliation and prayer, countering the chilly air and the chilling images of Jewish genocide they had seen a few moments earlier at the Yad Vashem museum.

"The first thing I felt was pain, and that pain became an attitude for all other emotions that flooded my being," began Bishop Sergio Carranza-Gomez of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles in his light Mexican accent. "The first was sadness -- sadness at seeing how many lives were destroyed, completely obliterated; and it became a pained sadness. Then sorrow -- sorrow for the needless suffering of thousands of human beings; and it became a painful sorrow."

Speaking with The Journal after his poetic speech, Bishop Gomez expressed his fear that "there is a real danger of an increased anti-Zionism. You can see that in their world. Anti-Semitism has not been abolished. It's still alive everywhere."

It’s all here …

Truth and consequences
The Rev. Susan Russell and All Saints take on ‘Violence, Religion and the American Soul’
By Carl Kozlowski
Pasadena Weekly (CA)

As the president of Integrity USA, the 30-year-old national Episcopal lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) advocacy organization, the Rev. Susan Russell has been at the forefront of some of the boldest, most inclusive and most controversial policy statements of any church leader in America. She’s also the convener of “Claiming the Blessing,” a national ministry focused on the full inclusion of the LGBT population within the Episcopal Church, and a charter member of the Human Rights Campaign’s Religion Council.

But it’s in her role as the senior associate for parish life at All Saints Episcopal Church that Russell has a strong hand in the discussions of social, political and moral issues in Pasadena. And as All Saints celebrates its 125th anniversary this year, Russell finds the challenges to equal rights and social justice of all stripes are just as formidable as ever — but also utterly worth fighting to overcome.

This weekend, All Saints plays host to a special three-day conference on “Violence, Religion and the American Soul,” which will involve “examining the state of the American conscience” and exploring “the Christian responsibility to live a faith of nonviolence, healing and respect.”

It’s all here …

Apology in Oz?

Church leaders campaigning for gay apology
By Barney Porter
ABC (Australia)
February 7, 2008

As the Federal Parliament prepares for its apology to the Stolen Generations, another group in society is also hearing the word "sorry".

A group of Christian leaders has apologised to the gay and lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities for excluding them from church activities.

But the group, calling itself 100 Revs does not represent the official church position.
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The group's members are now drawn from several denominations including the Church of Christ; and the Baptist; Pentecostal; and Anglican churches.
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Sydney's Anglican Bishops have said that they are pulling out of the church's top global meeting in the UK this year over issues of gay bishops and same sex marriage.

A spokesman for the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, says the Archbishop would not want to weigh into a debate about the plan.

It’s all here …

WWMLKD?

Seeking Peaceful Change
By DAVID FUNKHOUSER
Hartford (CT) Courant
January 21, 2008

TORRINGTON - On the morning of April 4, 1968, 27-year-old Bernard LaFayette Jr. sat down with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., and caught a glimpse of the future.

LaFayette, already well-seasoned in the civil rights movement, was about to go to Washington, D.C., to organize the Poor People's Campaign, an effort to recruit the poor to deliver a message directly to government officials of the need for greater economic opportunity. But King had something even grander in mind.

"He said the next campaign we've got to have is to institutionalize and nationalize nonviolence," LaFayette recalled Sunday.

An assassin shot King down later that day, but in LaFayette, as in countless others, the civil rights leader's ideas live on.

LaFayette, 67, director of the Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies at the University of Rhode Island, came to Trinity Episcopal Church to mark King's birthday.

It’s all here …

King's dream lives on in Connecticut
BY JIM MOORE
Waterbury (CT) REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
January 21, 2008

TORRINGTON — Bernard LaFayette Jr. still keeps a key to a room no longer to be found at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. The last words he heard there from Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 still ring in his memory.

"'The next thing we have to do is internationalize and institutionalize nonviolence,'" LaFayette quoted Sunday as he sat in Trinity Episcopal Church minutes before a ceremony to commemorate the slain civil rights leader's birth. "He didn't leave me with any other information. That was a conversation we were going to have later."

In the four decades since an assassin's bullet struck King down, LaFayette has applied King's teaching to fight violence with nonviolence in war-torn corners of the world. LaFayette, director of the Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies at the University of Rhode Island, has trained nine Connecticut residents to teach King's philosophy and methods to students and teachers in area schools. Programs for police officers and community leaders may follow, as they have elsewhere in the country.

It’s all here …

Forty Years After His Death, Dr. King's Words And Actions Still Inspire
24th ecumenical service held to honor his memory
By Kevin Dale
The Day (CT)
1/21/2008

New London — A saxophone started the service, and the mellow opening notes of “We Shall Overcome” established the tone of the day's message: “Are we living Dr. King's dream?” which was asked more as a gentle reminder than harsh criticism.

Phrased in different ways by several speakers, the question was put to about 100 people who attended Sunday's 24th Annual Ecumenical Service to honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The service, held at St. James Episcopal Church, is sponsored by the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Trust Fund, which has awarded scholarships to minority students in New London County high schools since 1968, the year of King's assassination.

It’s all here …

Dover service commemorates civil rights leader's dream
By AMIE PLUMMER
Foster’s Daily Democrat
January 21, 2008

DOVER — Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

That was 39 years ago, but his legacy was still compelling enough to a hundred residents who braved bone-chilling temperatures to attend the King service Sunday night at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Dover.

The Dover Area Religious Leaders Association and Dover Cooperative Ministries sponsored the annual event, which featured special readings, music and expressions on the theme of living the dream and realizing King's vision.

It’s all here …

Remembering the day the dream was heard
Jersey residents recall their trip to hear King's iconic speech
By RICK MALWITZ
GANNETT NEW JERSEY
January 21, 2008

Within a year after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. declared "I have a dream" to 250,000 people gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial, he would win the Nobel Peace Prize. Nearly 45 years later, it remains one of the most memorable speeches in American history, the climax of a peaceful day.

But for those who attended the speech on Aug. 28, 1963, the trip was not one without risk, when it was not known the day would be peaceful.

Charles and Mary King of Metuchen left their three children with Mary's mother in Iselin, and some people questioned them going together to Washington.

"They were concerned about what if something happened to the both of us," King recalled.

Lee Powers, then 13, went to Washington with his parents, and his mother was wary.

"She'd seen what happened in Alabama: Dogs sicced on people, firehoses," said Powers, the former pastor of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Spotswood.

It’s all here …

Event remembers Martin Luther King Jr.
By MICHAEL BECKER
Bozeman (MT) Chronicle
January 21, 2008

More than the answer was blowing in the wind Sunday as two-dozen hardy souls braved frigid winds to march in the second-annual "Walk the Dream" event for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The marchers proceeded east along Main Street from the Imperial Inn to the Bozeman Public Library, where they gathered to hear musicians play classic protest songs and listen to the words of King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech, originally delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963.

Organizer Ruth Forrest said the holiday, which marks King's birthday, is perfect for remembering that King's message of equality and racial tolerance is just as valid today as it was 45 years ago.

It’s all here …

King's birthday party rocks the church
Music, praise fills Little Rock Baptist
By JEAN PRESCOTT
Gulfport (MS) SUN HERALD
January 21, 2008

GULFPORT --The program called it a "birthday celebration" in honor of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and it was.

… Crowell praised Biloxi's Episcopal Church of the Redeemer before introducing its associate pastor, the Rev. Jane Beardon, who with the congregation read words of praise for King written by a long-ago Redeemer rector, the Rev. Jackson Biggers. Redeemer, Crowell said, deserved high praise for having opened its doors to nonprofit groups to meet and discuss the Coast's recovery.

It’s all here …

Denison honored for facing racial tension
By Mary Beth Lane
COLUMBUS (OH) DISPATCH
January 21, 2008

In November, Denison University erupted in student demonstrations that exposed a raw nerve of racial tension on the campus of the small liberal-arts school in Granville.

Students faced off with university leaders, accusing them of ignoring the racial insults and tensions that minority students said they faced.

Thursday, it was different. Two student demonstrators and the college president drove together to Columbus to receive an award recognizing the campus for facing up to the issues that prompted the protests and for trying to resolve them.

The "Dream in Action" award is new. Denison University is the first to receive it from the Ohio Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Commission.
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Denison was among nine individuals and organizations honored by the commission this year. The award winners are "living examples of Dr. King's legacy," Senate Minority Leader Ray Miller, a Columbus Democrat, told them at the ceremony at Trinity Episcopal Church.

It’s all here …

What would King do?
Residents suggest what actions he would take if he were alive today
Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette
January 21, 2008

Today, as we celebrate the birth, life and work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the world is a much different place than it was 40 years ago when the civil rights leader was assassinated on a Memphis, Tenn., motel balcony on April 4, 1968.

Since his death, the United States and the hearts and minds of its people have made great strides in the areas of civil rights and equality -- for the first time in U.S. history a black man and a white woman are serious, viable candidates for the presidency. But how would he react to the ongoing violence that is taking the lives of so many young black men in our inner cities, including Pittsburgh? Or the wide achievement gap that continues between black and white students? Or the Hurricane Katrina disaster?

To mark the 40th anniversary of his death, we asked people throughout the Pittsburgh area: What would Martin Luther King Jr. do if he were alive today?

It’s all here … and note this response.

The struggle that never ended

'The pastor who came down the hill.'
FATHER NEIL GRAY RETURNS TO ST. PETER'S WEDNESDAY.
By KEVIN TURNER
Nassau (FL) Sun
1/17/2008

FERNANDINA BEACH - Father Neil Gray remembers when there were two churches at St. Peter's Episcopal, and the pivotal time, from 1952 to 1962, when he was minister of both.

Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, a small wooden church that had once been the original St. Peter's building, was for the black congregation. The congregation at the current, stone and stained-glass church, was all white.

Gray, 89, now retired and living in Neptune Beach, didn't think the two should be separate and wasn't afraid to say so.

"I think I hit that as far as I could go without starting a riot," Gray said Tuesday. "I had the love of the black community, and I was aware of that. I had the love of the white community, too, but not all of it. Not by a long shot. I was aware of that, too."

Gray will be among the participants Wednesday as St. Peter's, which is marking its 150th anniversary this year, hosts a panel discussion looking at the church's history with past and present church members.

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Sitting at Daddy King's table
Pivotal summer for intern who cooked, shared breakfast with civil rights patriarch
By CHRISTOPHER QUINN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
01/19/08

In the summer of 1961, Gurdon Brewster had more reasons to look forward to breakfast in Atlanta than just hot coffee and grits.

The 24-year-old white seminary student from New York spent his early morning table time listening to stories from the Rev. Martin Luther King Sr., known as Daddy King, the father of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

An incidental illness opened a door into Daddy King's life that might have otherwise remained closed, and Brewster gives a peek through that door in his book, "No Turning Back: My Summer With Daddy King" (Orbis Books, $18).

It’s all here …

PLAINFIELD: Grace Episcopal celebrates black history
Plainfield (NJ) Courier-News
January 19, 2008

Grace Episcopal Church, 600 Cleveland Ave., Plainfield, will celebrate Black History Month with a series of jazz events starting Monday in honor of Martin Luther King.

The 3 p.m. concert on Monday will feature:
-- a performance by acclaimed New Brunswick-based keyboardist Radam Schwart of two movements from John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme"
-- a reading by young Queen City poet Keesha Monroe
-- a reading of Martin Luther King’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech by Colin Baptiste.

Donations collected at the free series will go to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Project Foundation in Washington, D.C.

"The rhythms and style of jazz is a reflection of the way forward," said Rev. Carolyn Eklund, the rector at Grace Episcopal. "An original American musical art form, jazz was created out of the African-American experience. Its infectious energy and true spirit of swing crosses racial, economic and national borders, accompanying and syncopating the rhythms of our lives."

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Father Carlo got the King memorial celebration started in Rolla
By Stephen E. Sowers
Rolla (MO) Daily News
January 19, 2008

It is no coincidence that Christ Church Episcopal on Tuesday will celebrate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Christ Church has been remembering Dr. King for 40 years.

It does so with a public memorial service, a service first started in January 1968 by Father Joseph Carlo, then the rector at Christ Church, after the assassination of Dr. King. Reverend Carlo opened the memorial service to everyone in the community who loved and admired the civil rights leader.

It’s all here …

Meanwhile, back in the parish...

Four area clergymen select life's biggest imponderables
By Clint Cooper
Chattanooga (TN) Times Free Press
January 12, 2008

What are life’s toughest questions? The Times Free Press asked four area clergymen to consider, based on their experience and questions posed to them through the years, what those issues might be. The questions they offered centered around the origin and existence of humankind and interplay among human beings. The participants were the Rev. Hugh Jones, rector of St. Thaddaeus’ Episcopal Church; Dr. Dwight Kilbourne, senior pastor of First-Centenary United Methodist Church; Dr. Bernie Miller, senior pastor of New Covenant Church; and the Rev. Tony Walliser, senior pastor of Silverdale Baptist Church. The dilemma, Dr. Miller pointed out, is “there is no quick solution or an immediate remedy to any of these problems.” Below are the questions from each participant and why the question is on his list.

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Uganda Native Wears 4 Hats As An Episcopal Priest
By SARAH ROTHWELL
The Tampa (FL) Tribune
January 12, 2008

TAMPA PALMS - Growing up in Uganda, the Rev. Benjamin Twinamaani studied the Bible every day. He fell in love with the passages and despite opposition from some of his countrymen, made a commitment to Christianity. Walking to church, Twinamaani dreamed of one day preaching God's word to others.

In 1992, he traveled to the United States to study theology. In 2000, he graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary and took his place in the Episcopal Church.

Today, Twinamaani is the head priest at Grace Episcopal Church in Tampa Palms.

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Local voices raised in response to hold on domestic partnership law
Newport (OR) News Times
Jan 11, 2008

About 40 people were presnt at Tuesday night's panel discussion on the state's new anti-discrimination law and the current hold on the domestic partnership law.

The anti-discrimintation law went into effect Jan. 2, while the domestic partnership law was put on hold following a last-minute ruling by a federal judge.
...
Father Robert Morrison of St. James Episcopal Church said, “Life should be a celebration, not constantly looking over one's shoulder. People need a degree of security so they aren't constantly worrying.”

“It sad it has to be differentiated between gay and straight - people are people,” agreed Denker.

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Reclaiming the biblical stories of women
St. George's Episcopal Church offering lectures on women in the Bible
BY AMY FLOWERS UMBLE
The Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
1/12/2008

Women show up 250 times in the Bible.

They seduce kings, receive revelations, drive stakes through their enemies, lead armies, save their people and even give birth to God's son.

But women rarely show up in sermons, said the Rev. Gay Rahn, associate rector at St. George's Episcopal Church in Fredericksburg.

"If we fail to learn the stories of the women, we're failing to acknowledge their great presence and the impact they had not only on their communities but also the impact and the knowledge they can give to us," she said. "It's important work for the church to receive and reclaim the stories of the women."

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St. Peter's Episcopal celebrates 150 years
Nassau (FL) Sun
1/10/2008

St. Peter's Episcopal Church invites the community to share in the celebration of its Sesquicentennial Year by joining them on Wednesday and Jan. 23 for dinner and programs designed to share St. Peter's history.

On Wednesday, volunteers from the Amelia Island Museum of History will presents dramatic monologues as Mary Martha Reid and Sarah Delaney. Attendees will learn how these women were directly involved in the history of St. Peter's.

On Jan. 23, the history will be told by those who were actually there. A panel of past and present parishioners has been assembled to share stories of St. Peter's "way back when."

The Rev. Neil Gray will be the honored guest of the evening; he was the priest when St. Peter's was segregated, and then integrated with the members of Good Shepherd Church.

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Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue

Congressional Hearing Held on Slavery Reparations Bill
Final Call
Askia Muhammed
Jan 10, 2008

WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com) - For the first time ever, the U.S. Congress officially studied the institution of slavery, its legacy, as well as U.S. efforts to address it and its consequences, during hearings by the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties on Dec. 18.
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“Too many Episcopalians did not raise their voices,” against slavery “when God would have wished them to do so,” Bishop Thomas Shaw, from the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts said during the hearing. “Episcopalians were owners of slaves and of the ships that brought them to this land,” Bishop Shaw testified representing Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori on behalf of the Episcopal Church. “Episcopalians lived in the north and in the south and, as a privileged church, we today recognize that our Church benefited materially from the slave trade.”

“The importance of the Episcopal Church being present to testify at this hearing on H.R. 40 cannot be overstated,” Jayne Oasin, social justice officer of the Episcopal Church, said according to a published report. “Our church must call itself and our country to repentance. Since we have always held and still hold great power in this country, we are duty bound to follow St. Paul’s admonition in Roman’s 12 to not ‘conform’ but to ‘transform’ the country by the power of the Holy Spirit working through us. Studying the issue of reparations for slavery is a key way to begin to transform ourselves, our church and our country.”

The Episcopal Church has “asked God’s forgiveness for our complicity in and the injury done by the institution of slavery and its aftermath,” Bishop Shaw said.

“Oversight Hearing on The Legacy of the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.” Academic and public policy experts reviewed the legacy of the slave trade in American history and culture, and placed it into a Congressional record. Another hearing is scheduled in February.

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Remembering what happened in Nanking
Filmmakers take up historian Iris Chang's cause in a documentary on the 1937 massacre.
By Robert W. Welkos
Los Angeles Times
January 11, 2008

THE chilling black-and-white images in the archival photographs and film footage speak to the horrors of war: decapitated bodies sprawled in streets, prisoners being bayoneted by their captors, women and young girls being led off by soldiers to be raped, many of the women then murdered or turned into sex slaves.

The year was 1937. The place was Nanking, then the capital of China, now called Nanjing. It would be four years before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor would draw the United States into World War II.

The Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal estimated that 200,000 Chinese civilians and prisoners of war were murdered in Nanking during the first six weeks of the Japanese occupation and that 20,000 females, ranging from infants to the elderly, were raped. The events in Nanking still touch a raw nerve in Japan, where many people dismiss the stories as exaggerations or lies.

Amid this lingering debate comes a documentary called "Nanking." The film, which was just nominated by the Writers Guild of America for its best documentary screenplay award, is dedicated to the late author Iris Chang, whose 1997 bestselling book, "The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II," brought renewed attention to the atrocities in the West.
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Among the Westerners singled out in the film for their courage was John G. Magee, an Episcopal minister who set up a makeshift hospital to take care of wounded Chinese soldiers and refugees. Magee, an avid amateur photographer, used a 16-millimeter camera to secretly record some of what he witnessed in Nanking. The footage was then smuggled out of China in the lining of a suit worn by George A. Fitch, a missionary who worked at the YMCA in Nanking. The film remained hidden in Germany until the fall of the Berlin Wall.

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Too busy to hate...50 years later

Gathering recalls 1957's 'Ministers' Manifesto'
By JIM AUCHMUTEY
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
10/25/07

Atlanta, Mayor William B. Hartsfield claimed, was a city too busy to hate.

Even as boy in the 1950s, Bob Shands knew it wasn't true. The son of a minister who had spoken out about race relations, he witnessed the wasp nest of passions it provoked.

"There were bomb threats to the church and bomb threats to our home," he remembered. "Whenever a car slowed down in front of the house, my parents made us move away from the picture window."

All because his father, the pastor of West End Baptist Church, signed a 1,379-word statement calling for calm and decrying hatred. Endorsed by 80 local clergymen and dubbed the Ministers' Manifesto, it was one of the first times Atlanta tried to live up to Hartsfield's famous boast.

On Thursday morning at All Saints' Episcopal Church in Midtown, six of the 15 surviving signers attended a breakfast commemorating the 50th anniversary of the manifesto. Now in their 80s and 90s, some of them used hearing aids as they strained to listen to speakers praise their courage for taking a position that most white Southerners opposed.

It’s all here …

A church on mission

U2charist: Service based on rock group's songs benefits fight against diseases
By Patrick Wilson
Winston-Salem (NC) JOURNAL
October 21, 2007

Bishop Michael B. Curry of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina finally learned how to pronounce the name of Bono, the lead singer of rock band U2.

Curry led a communion service yesterday based on U2’s music.

“I finally learned how to pronounce Bono’s name. I was saying ‘Bo-No,’” Curry said.

A congregation at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church on Parkway Drive in Ardmore danced and sang along to such U2 songs as “Mysterious Ways,” “Window in the Skies” and “One.”

The “U2charist,” as the service was called, had a theme of raising support for the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The service was sponsored by the Episcopal churches of Winston-Salem. The Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina is the largest of three in the state, and stretches from Charlotte to Rocky Mount.

It’s all here …

Australian on a mission to stay in U.S. for God's work
By Mark Houser
Pittsburgh (PA) Tribune-Review
October 22, 2007

John Stanley has been trying for years to save people's souls over cups of coffee, but he can't drink it.

"I did, until all this immigration stuff started," Stanley said. "Now I'm too nervous as it is."

A tall, lean Australian who favors paisley shirts, keeps his long hair tied in a bandanna and rides a donated Harley, Stanley is an unlikely looking Episcopal missionary.

His mission is odder still. A bright, airy coffeehouse, seemingly plucked from the suburbs and dropped among the abandoned storefronts of Aliquippa, Uncommon Grounds is Stanley's base for starting a spiritual and civic revival of the decaying former mill town.

It’s all here …

It is our obligation to care for the Earth
Carolyn Tanner Irish
Salt Lake Tribune
10/20/2007

The decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to former Vice President Al Gore and the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change vindicates both a courageous political leader and the multitude of scientists who have been warning us about climate change for decades.
    The fact that we haven't wanted to face "inconvenient truths" doesn't alter the realities they point to, nor does it mitigate the devastating consequences of our continuing denial.
    It is interesting to reflect on what has fed our illusion that climate change is just a "maybe." For a time scientists published studies, and other scientists (as well as politicians and political appointees) challenged them. Many communities began recycling waste rather than reducing it, thinking that might fix the problem.
    But probably the biggest factor in our denial is simply fear; we like our way of life, sustainable or not. Given our dependence on so many things we do not control, as well as the global scale of the problem, we naturally feel powerless to deal with what threatens it.
    Nevertheless, the case has been made. It is now time for us to look honestly at the kinds of choices we will have to consider.

It’s all here …

Walk for Peace unites faiths
By Joe Killian
Greensboro (NC) News-Record
Oct. 22, 2007

GREENSBORO — Signs, angry chanting, arrests — these have become the hallmarks of downtown anti-war protests. But Sunday afternoon's interfaith walk from Guilford College to Center City Park put the peace back in peace protest.

"I stopped attending the regular protests downtown because they got so aggressive and ugly," said Jane Carter , 52. "But the peace walk today was calm, and everyone came together in a real sense of community to oppose the war in Iraq and promote peace."

More than 300 people participated in the walk, called "Peace With Every Step." Christians, Jews and Muslims from the Triad and beyond came out for the event, including representatives from N ew Garden Friends Meeting, Persimmon Grove AME and the Islamic Center of the Triad.

"Most churches have been opposed to this war, not just in Greensboro but the denominations themselves," said Charlie Hawes , a retired Episcopal minister from Greensboro. "Our House of Bishops has spoken very strongly against this war, as has the Pope. Other people may be surprised to see us coming together on this, but we're not surprised to see each other here."

It’s all here …

Peace...and justice

Concert For Peace At National Cathedral
Fundraiser Celebrating Congressional Medal For Dalai Lama
CBS News
Oct. 17, 2007

(CBS/AP) The National Cathedral in Washington - home to so many momentous ceremonies over the years, including state funerals - was host to another kind of event Tuesday: an interfaith Pray for Peace service, followed by a Pray for Peace Concert.

Both were organized not so much in reaction to Iraq, but more to pray for an end to all wars, and also to honor the Dalai Lama, who has embraced non-violence throughout his some 50 years of exile from Tibet and is to receive a Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday.
…
Looking around the huge sanctuary before the concert, David Crosby acknowledged that it was an unusual venue for him.

"I have a lot of trouble with organized religions," said Crosby, in an interview with the Washington Post, adding that his faith has been renewed by Episcopal Bishop John Bryson Chane, who also happens to be a musician. "He's got real courage, to say war is not the answer. I feel comfortable here."

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Residents rally against poverty in downtown Escondido
Local event part of worldwide awareness effort
By: DAVID GARRICK
North County (CA) Times
October 17, 2007

ESCONDIDO -- Carrying handmade signs and chanting together, 60 residents from across North County staged a peaceful rally against worldwide poverty Tuesday night outside Escondido City Hall.

Organizers said the goal of the rally was to raise awareness about the root causes of poverty and inequality, and to inform people that poverty can easily be eradicated if world leaders make it a priority.

Similar rallies were held around the globe on Tuesday, but there were no others in San Diego County. The rallies were coordinated by Stand Up and Speak Out, an anti-poverty group that hopes to break the world record for greatest number of people rallying against poverty in one day.

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Canada honor students help in rebuilding New Orleans home
San Mateo County (CA) Times
10/16/2007

FOUR Canada College honor students spent two days helping to rebuild a New Orleans house destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Rene Rivera, Denise Pincomb, Mandi McIntosh and Carson Conner-Collado last month joined other students from an Alabama community college in an effort organized by the Episcopal Diocese of New Orleans.

The group shoveled sand, erected support beams, installed insulation and laid flooring.

It’s all here …

Politics and prayers

Kenya: Politicians, Clergy in Prayer Meeting
Alex Ndegwa
East African Standard (Nairobi)
12 September 2007

Leaders of political parties will meet Church heads Wednesday, at a forum on electoral violence.

This will be the first of a series of campaigns lined up by the mainstream religious groups in the run-up to the December General Election.

The climax will be a peace-pledge campaign scheduled for September 21, which President Kibaki and his key opponents are expected to attend. The highlight will be the lighting of a peace torch.

The lobbying comes in the wake of a recent move by Parliament to shoot down a proposed legislation that would have criminalised hate speech.
…
Guest speakers at the forum include, Anglican Church Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi, Head of the Civil Service, Mr Francis Muthaura, Electoral Commission of Kenya chairman, Mr Samuel Kivuitu and career diplomat, Ambassador Bethuel Kiplagat.

It’s all here …

Archbishop Orombi speaks out on Museveni
Sunday Vision (UGANDA)

ARCHBISHOP Henry Luke Orombi has dismissed allegations that there is friction between him and President Yoweri Museveni.

“My relationship with the President is very good,” the Anglican Archbishop said in an interview with Sunday Vision.

“I look at the President as someone God has chosen to be a leader. The duration of that leadership is God’s decision.”

It’s all here …

Museveni was chosen by God to lead Uganda
Archbishop Orombi

THE Archbishop of Uganda, Henry Luke Orombi, recently consecrated a US bishop, John Guernsey, to oversee those congregations that broke away from the US Episcopal Church after the ordination of a homosexual bishop four years ago. Alfred Wasike talked to Orombi about corruption and sowing in the church, homosexuality, fake pastors and his relationship with State House. Below are excerpts.

Sections of the media recently reported friction between you and President Yoweri Museveni. They say he once summoned you to State House late at night with intent to arrest you after you disagreed with him over presidential term limits? Is it true the two of you don’t get on well?

That is a load of rubbish. I will tell you why. There are people who will always fabricate stories to implicate me. Take for instance this one about the President and me not getting on well.

It is an old story, which was fabricated during the presidential campaigns and published in a local daily. The fabricator’s agenda was to decampaign the President by driving a wedge between him and me.

My relationship with the President is very good. I look at the President as someone God has chosen to be a leader. The duration of that leadership is God’s decision. I believe Museveni is not what people want him to be or think he is. Every leader has problems with people around him who use his name to do wicked things.

It’s all here …

Hope

Church benefit raises money for AIDS crisis in Africa
By KATHLEEN LYNN
Bergen (NJ) Record
September 10, 2007

More than 300 people swayed, clapped and sang along to gospel music Sunday in a Hackensack concert that starred Melba Moore and raised money to help African children affected by AIDS and genocide.

"I'm so happy to be here among people who care," said Moore, a Broadway star who sang gospel songs and told her own story of being born again as a Christian.
…
In organizing the concert, Lori Rumley reached out to churches in both suburban and urban areas. The sponsors of the event included Episcopal congregations in Oradell and Haworth as well as mostly African-American congregations in Paterson, Hackensack and Newark.

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NAACP applauds stand against Klan
By Karen Middleton
Athens (GA) News Courier
September 11, 2007

A representative of the NAACP came before the Athens City Council Monday to commend Mayor Dan Williams for publicly telling the Ku Klux Klan they are not wanted in this community.

The Klan had applied for a permit to rally Saturday on the lawn of the Limestone County Courthouse. Williams said he could not grant a permit for the courthouse because the city does not control that property.
…
When word went out that the Klan had obtained their rally permit, three local churches, First Methodist, First Presbyterian and St. Timothy’s Episcopal said their congregations would come out in “silent witness” against the Klan’s message of separation.

It’s all here …

Hearing on grant application Wednesday
Suffield (CT) Journal Inquirer
09/10/2007

SUFFIELD - A public hearing on plans to turn Calvary Episcopal Church into the town Senior Center and to participate in a program that assists low- and moderate-income homeowners will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 12, at Town Hall.

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Community center gives hope to neighborhood
by Michael Olesker
The Baltimore (MD) Examiner
Sep 11, 2007

BALTIMORE - Baltimoreans gaze toward the future when they go to the polls today, but they should also gaze inside a place such as the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Pimlico Road Arts and Community Center, just off lower Park Heights Avenue. Not long ago, this was a collection of scruffy vacant lots where the cops uncovered murder. Now, there are little children in immaculate, brightly lit rooms here, trying to cast off the neighborhood’s shameful past.
…
“It’s been more than four years in the making,” said Ellen Frost, who served as project developer for the Episcopal Housing Corp., one of the center’s prime movers, “which is enough to send any developer running.”

It’s all here …

Sin

Land of Reggae and Homophobia
Jamaica's intolerant attitude toward gays runs counter to its unofficial motto, 'No problem, mon.'
By Joe Contreras
Newsweek International
Sept 7, 2007

Sept. 8, 2007 - While governments in a number of Latin American countries and elsewhere begin to recognize the legal rights of same-sex partners, Jamaica is bolstering its image as one of the most virulently anti-gay societies in the Western Hemisphere. Between February and July of this year, 98 gay men and lesbians were targeted in 43 different mob attacks, according to the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays. Four lesbians were raped, four gay men were murdered, and the houses of two gay men were burned down. On Valentine’s Day the police took two hours to reach a Kingston pharmacy where a crowd shouting anti-gay epithets had cornered three men; then the constables allegedly attacked an activist who had tried to help the men, striking him in the abdomen with a rifle butt and slapping him repeatedly in the face.

It’s all here …

Most Christians agree homosexuality is a sin
BY TIMOTHY R. FURNISH
Cincinnati Enquirer
September 7, 2007

Not all American Lutherans agree with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America's decision to "encourage bishops to accept gay clergy," as "Your Voice" columnist Debby Rieselman put it ("Lutherans' opening up to gays a loving act," Aug. 25).

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the second largest Lutheran denomination in America, agrees with the 95 percent of the world's 2 billion Christians - including the largest denomination, the Roman Catholic Church - that homosexuality is a sin. By abandoning that view, the ELCA aligns itself with a small percentage of renegade Protestant groups, such as the Episcopal Church in America (ECUSA). Both it and the ELCA are hemorrhaging members.

It’s all here …

Seeking redemption

Groups want expansion of bottle, can deposits
by amy zimmer
metro new york
SEP 10, 2007

MANHATTAN. Charles Kelly earns his living rummaging through trash. With bottles and cans of soda and beer, he carts them around to collect the 5-cent-each deposit.

He’s been a full-time “canner” since 1984, when he lost his job at the Board of Education. That’s almost as far back as when New York’s “bottle bill,” enacted 25 years ago, put the deposit on beer and soda containers.

For the last several years, many environmentalists and homeless advocates have been pushing Albany to pass what’s known as the “Bigger Better Bottle Bill.” The proposed legislation would update the law to include bottled water and other non-carbonated beverages that have since exploded on the market.

Kelly and other canners who meet at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Harlem call themselves “redeemers.” They, along with Bronx-based group Picture the Homeless, support the expanded bill, but also want to open their own mobile redemption center.

It’s all here …

Tireless advocate for Island's hungry is retiring
Episcopal Feeding Ministry will continue as a food pantry only with the departure of Joan Cupo
Saturday, September 08, 2007
By LESLIE PALMA-SIMONCEK
Staten Island (NY) Advance

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Joan Cupo remembers the time a 91-year-old man came into her office crying, asking for food for his bedridden wife.

"If it wasn't for her, he wouldn't have asked," said Mrs. Cupo, who has been with the Episcopal Feeding Ministry since 1976, the last 12 years as its executive director.

It’s all here …

Sept. 11 tributes
Danbury (CT) News-Times
Sep 09 2007

Bells will toll throughout the region Tuesday as communities gather to remember those who died during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Roxbury First Selectman Barbara Henry said church bells will toll twice Tuesday morning, once at 9:43 a.m. and again at 10:10 a.m., when people in the community will be called upon to walk outside and observe a moment of silence and reflection.

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Seeking to survive
Sep 09, 2007
TriCities (TN/VA) Herald Courier

Immigrants come to this country to build a better life. Refugees seek something more basic – survival.

Rick Pinson doesn’t make that distinction. In his myopic, xenophobic world view, all "foreigners" are strange, alien beings intent on destroying his country.

Pinson and his ilk are free to harbor such thoughts, even to express them, but he crossed a line when he began harassing and sending threatening e-mails to two social workers who help refugees settle in East Tennessee. Harassment is a crime. We hope he’s prosecuted.

It’s all here …

Churches protest Klan rally
By Karen Middleton
Athens (GA) News-Courier
Sep 10 2007

Imagine if you will, the encircling of vocal Ku Klux Klan protesters with silent protesters bearing placards reading, “Love.”

It’s going to happen Sept. 15 when the Klan has scheduled a rally against immigration on the City Hall lawn.

Ministers of at least three local churches are urging their congregations and anyone else who would like to join them in “silent witness against” the Klan’s message of separation, according to St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church rector, the Rev. Jeremy Lucas.

It’s all here …and an excellent quote here...

Anti-gay rally in Kampala

Rally Denounces Homosexuality
By Katherine Roubos
The Monitor (Kampala)
22 August 2007

ABOUT 100 people gathered on the grounds of Kyadondo Rugby Club in Kampala yesterday to rally against homosexuality. Members of the Interfaith Rainbow Coalition Against Homosexuality delivered a document to Minister of Ethics and Integrity Nsaba Buturo, calling for stronger government action against what Pastor Martin Ssempa described as "a well-orchestrated effort by homosexuals to intimidate the government".

Born-again Pastor Ssempa of Makerere University Community Church was the key organiser of the event.

The rally was convened in response to a news conference held last week by Sexual Minorities Uganda at which gay, lesbian, and transgender Ugandans asked the government to let them live in peace.

Gays have reported various forms of harassment, especially from the police.
...
Former Anglican Bishop Christopher Ssenyonjo said he supported everyone's right to publicly voice concerns, but felt that the language used at the rally was inappropriately threatening.

"Their use of threatening language is very un-Christian," said Bishop Ssenyonjo, who has ministered to gays. "We are no longer in the era of 'an eye for an eye.' The Lord taught us to respect each person, however different, as full human beings."

It’s all here …

The devil wears purple?

Millions believe this man is the Antichrist
ANDREW COLLIER

FORTY years after the decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales, American The Rt Rev V Gene Robinson, the world's first openly gay bishop, explains to ANDREW COLLIER in an exclusive interview what it's like to be many Christians' number one enemy.

THE Devil has arranged to meet me in the lobby of a London tourist hotel. It's an odd choice of venue: Westminster Cathedral, the great temple of Roman Catholicism in England, is close by; and a glimpse of the fire and colour of Hell would have been more interesting.

Nor does he look like Satan. No horns, no tail, no pitchfork, no smoke and sulphur. He's of medium height, thinning hair, wearing a smart shirt and tie. He's immediately warm, friendly, open and assured. I like him.

Yet millions of Christians the world over are convinced - absolutely assured - that this man is the Antichrist. They believe he is the Devil, sent to destroy the church from within. Welcome to the fan club of the Rt Rev V Gene Robinson, Primate of the American diocese of New Hampshire and the world's first openly gay bishop.

It’s all here … and +Gene is not a primate, nor is his second name Imogene...

Without gay priests Church would be lost claims Bishop Gene
Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
The Times of London
July 27, 2007

The openly gay bishop whose ordination sparked the crisis in the Anglican Communion has claimed the Church of England would be close to shutting down if it was forced to manage without its gay clergy.

The Bishop of New Hampshire in the US, the Right Rev Gene Robinson, who is divorced and lives openly in partnership with a gay man, said he found it "mystifying" that the mother church of the Anglican Communion was unable to be honest about the number of gay clergy in its ranks.

He said many of the English church's clergy lived openly in their rectories with gay partners, with the full knowledge of their bishops. But he criticised the stance of bishops who threaten the clergy with emnity should their relationships become public.

It’s all here …

Safety

Lesbians want protection
The Monitor (Uganda)
Katherine Roubos & Val Kalende
July 27, 2007

Two years ago, a government official broke into a home, seized property and detained one of the occupants without a warrant. The case seems clear, but will the plaintiff's homosexuality affect the verdict? The ruling, due next month in Uganda's Constitutional court, could set a precedent for sub-Saharan Africa's reportedly conservative masses.

Two Ugandan lesbians are suing the government for trespassing, theft of property, illegal arrest, and inhuman and degrading treatment. The case has been in court since December 2006 and a verdict is expected when the court session resumes in August.

…

Recently, after a split in the Anglican church of America over gay rights, Ugandan churches stepped up to provide pastoral assistance to several dioceses which were anti-gay. Gay rights activists like Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMU) claim the atmosphere in Uganda is constantly hostile to them.

It’s all here …

Discernment

Same-sex unions might earn blessing
By Carolina Astigarraga
News & Observer
Modified: Jul 12, 2007 09:06 AM

******

CORRECTION

A story Wednesday in the City & State section about The Chapel of the Cross Episcopal church in Chapel Hill incorrectly described how the Rev. Gene Robinson became the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church. Robinson was elected bishop of New Hampshire. The article was also imprecise in describing the participation of the Rev. Pauli Murray in a rite at the Chapel of the Cross. Murray celebrated her first Eucharist as an ordained priest at the church.

******

CHAPEL HILL -- At a time when women were often denied positions of authority, the tattered book that chronicles the 1842 incorporation of The Chapel of the Cross bears the signatures of 12 women beside those of 12 men.

The book also lists the names of young slave children whose owner brought them to be baptized in the 1850s. Pauli Murray, the granddaughter of one of those slaves, became the first black woman ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church. She returned to Chapel Hill and received her first Eucharist as an ordained priest in the church.

Now, The Chapel of the Cross Episcopal Church is incorporating another minority community into its 1,200-member congregation by entering into a discernment process -- or active discussion -- about blessing same-sex unions.

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Bishop loses gay employment case
BBC News
18 July 2007

A gay man has won his case for unlawful discrimination after he was refused a youth official's job by a Church of England bishop.

The employment tribunal said John Reaney, 42, was discriminated against "on grounds of sexual orientation" by the Hereford diocesan board of finance.

Mr Reaney, from Colwyn Bay, Conwy, said he was "delighted" at the decision.

The Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Rev Anthony Priddis, said he was "naturally disappointed" and may appeal.

It’s all here …

Outfest to lead a Bible study
By JOHN HORN
Los Angeles Times
Jul 18, 2007

LOS ANGELES — The battle for gay and lesbian equality has been fought at the ballot box, within the government and military, through the courts and on the streets. But arguably the most dramatic and divisive clashes are now unfolding inside churches — and a group of independent filmmakers is taking notice.

There is so much new documentary and dramatic work exploring the explosive intersection of spirituality and sexuality that this week’s Outfest, as the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival is known, has created a five-film series, “Queers in Christ,” on the subject. Although diverse in story and tone, the movies are linked by a common argument: That God and Jesus would welcome every member of the human family into their realm, regardless of sexual orientation. Since good storytelling involves conflict, though, there are any number of people in these films — including Scripture-quoting anti-gay activists and not-in-my-house Pentecostal parents — taking a dramatically different view of inclusion.

It’s all here …

Invitation lists

Gay bishop invited to Lambeth
Ruth Gledhill
Times Online
June 29, 2007

The gay American bishop Gene Robinson, whose consecration in 2003 brought the worldwide Church to the brink of schism, is to be invited to the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Church next summer, The Times has learnt.

The decision to include the bishop on the guest list makes a boycott by bishops of the Nigerian Church more likely.

The Times understands that Bishop Gene will be able to attend meetings as an official guest but will not have the right to vote on motions at the conference - the meeting of leaders of the world wide Anglican communion which takes place every 10 years.

Martyn Minns, bishop of the conservative Convocation of Anglicans in North America, which is sponsored by the Church of Nigeria, remains off the Lambeth guest list.

It’s all here …

Nigerian man to speak tonight on being gay in his native land
Possible peril: criminalization of homosexuality
By Stephanie Innes
Arizona Daily Star
06.29.2007

The notice on the Anglican Church of Nigeria's Web site warns of a man named Davis Mac-Iyalla: Anyone relating to him does so at his or her own risk.

Mac-Iyalla, a 35-year-old openly gay Nigerian, will be in Tucson tonight as part of a 20-city tour titled "Journey of Truth" to talk about what it's like to b