epiScope

Church undergoes a 'family argument'

Episcopalian priest urges reconciliation
By Peter Smith
Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal
February 24, 2008   

Kentucky Episcopalians heard a combination pep talk and Bible study yesterday from one of the leaders in efforts to keep the fragile Anglican Communion together despite what seem irreconcilable differences over sexuality and theology.

The Rev. Katherine Grieb told the annual meeting of the Diocese of Kentucky that divisions in the church are as old as the church itself, and Bible passages offer differing models on whether to split or stay together despite differences.

"We're having a family argument," said Grieb, a Virginia Theological Seminary biblical scholar and a member of a team drafting a "covenant" to hold together the Anglican Communion, which consists of the Episcopal Church and other national churches descended from the Church of England.

"There never was a golden age when everybody in the church agreed about everything," she said at the gathering at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in southwestern Jefferson County.

It’s all here …and here's a link to Grieb's excellent address to the House of Bishops last March--worth a re-read.

One among many

Cardinal DiNardo calls on Texas Episcopalians
By Rick Cousins
Galveston (TX) Daily News
February 17, 2008

GALVESTON — Malcolm Gee of Texas City seemed just a little bit nervous at Moody Gardens on Friday night — and with good reason. He was at the head of a 150-yard long procession that included hundreds of Episcopal priests and deacons drawn from throughout the Diocese of Texas, along with one Roman Catholic cardinal, Daniel N. DiNardo.

As the diocesan council convened, Gee was leading this line of notables with an ancient banner from the first Episcopal congregation in the Diocese of Texas, Christ Church, Matagorda. Dressed in a traditional off-white cassock with rope belt, he supported a 7-feet tall staff that displayed the embroidered symbol of church history, which was handmade in 1838 for that initial and successful Episcopal mission effort to evangelize early Texans.

It’s all here …

New and renewed

Bishop to install Glover as rector of Grace Episcopal Church
2/14/2008

The Rt. Rev. Dean E. Wolfe, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas, will be in Winfield on Saturday to preside at a Celebration of New Ministry.

At the service, the bishop will officially install the Rev. Betty M. Glover as rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Winfield and Trinity Episcopal Church in Arkansas City.

The service, to be held at Grace Episcopal Church, will begin at 6 p.m. A reception will follow. The public is invited to attend this service.

Rev. Glover moved to Cowley County in June 2007 after graduating from Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Va., one of the 11 Episcopal seminaries in the United States. She served as the priest-in-charge of Grace Episcopal and Trinity churches until Jan. 1, 2008, when the joint vestries voted to call her as their rector.

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Episcopal church welcomes new vicar
Pensacola (FL) News Journal
February, 15, 2008

St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church in Navarre welcomed the Rev. Elizabeth Powell as the new vicar Feb. 3, with a special lunch after the Sunday Eucharist services.

Powell and her husband, the Rev. David Powell (rector of St. Andrew's by the Sea in Destin), live in Fort Walton Beach. She was the associate rector at St. Simon's on the Sound in Fort Walton Beach.

Powell graduated from Agnes Scott College with a major in biology and completed her medical education at Vanderbilt University. After a career in pediatrics, in 2002 she began her studies at the General Theological Seminary in New York City and received her Master of Divinity in 2005. She joined the staff at St. Simon's soon after. She continues to hold her medical license, as she participates in medical missions to Central America.

It’s all here …

159th Diocesan Council event to reflect church’s rich heritage
By DAVID TAYLOR
02/15/2008

Diocesan delegates and clergy from the Episcopal Diocese of Texas will converge on Galveston Island this weekend, Feb. 15-16, for their 159th annual convention.

It was that many years ago that the diocese met in Galveston for the election of their first bishop, the Rt. Rev. Alexander Gregg of South Carolina.

This weekend, more than 1,000 representatives of 156 churches, clergy, visitors and exhibitors will gather for the two-day convention to worship and be involved in the annual business meeting. Those delegates include Rev. Heber M. Papini from St. Peter’s Episcopal Church 705 Williams in Pasadena. Delegates elected to represent the church are David Martin, Annanelle Hay, and Ed and Phyllis Svrcek.

It’s all here …

Cardinal addresses Episcopalians

DiNardo to address Texas Episcopal leaders
By Rick Cousins
Galveston (TX) Daily News
February 9, 2008

GALVESTON — On Friday, hundreds of Episcopalians will assemble in Moody Center for a routine, annual council meeting. Hundreds of Episcopalians, that is, and one Catholic cardinal.

The 159th gathering of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas will begin with a keynote address by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of the Galveston-Houston Catholic Archdiocese.

“It makes our hearts glad that he, the first cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church in Texas, will preach at the opening service,” said Ron Pogue of Galveston’s Trinity Episcopal Church. Pogue is one of the host pastors for the meeting.

It’s all here …

Virginians meet

Episcopal church agrees to 'resist' illegal alien laws
By Julia Duin
The Washington Times
January 27, 2008

Virginia Episcopalians tangled over immigration yesterday, finally passing a resolution committing the 86,000-member diocese to resisting the "criminalization of persons providing humanitarian assistance to migrants."

Meeting at the Reston Hyatt for their annual council meeting, Episcopalians passionately debated whether they should "resist legislation and actions that violate our fundamental beliefs as Christians."

The resolution, "Working for a Just and Humane Legal Immigration Policy," also includes a provision that the council "opposes recent efforts by some local governments within our diocese to implement policies that deny rights, privileges and services to immigrants."

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Bishop exhorts Episcopalians to fund diocese
By Julia Duin
The Washington Times
January 26, 2008

Virginia Episcopal Bishop Peter J. Lee rebuked fellow Episcopalians yesterday for stinginess, saying the nation's largest Episcopal diocese is financially strapped because of the "continuing inability or unwillingness" of its churches to contribute.

Speaking at the annual diocesan council meeting at the Hyatt Regency Reston, he also revealed that the diocese has spent $2 million to date on a lawsuit involving 11 churches that left the diocese a year ago over differences in theology and the 2003 consecration of the openly homosexual New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson.

The diocese officially does not ordain homosexual clergy, although a resolution is on the table for today's meeting that would change that policy.

It’s all here …

Perspective

Bishop asks for perspective in debate on gays
By Nancy McLaughlin
Greensboro (NC) News-Record
Jan. 19, 2008

He's not asking people to change their positions, necessarily, but an Anglican bishop says there can be middle ground in the lingering and angry debate over the ordination of an openly gay man as a bishop by U.S. Episcopalians.

"When I hear all these harsh tones being exchanged," said the Right Rev. Musonda Trevor Mwamba of Botswana, "... I ask if anybody is praying."

Mwamba, speaking Friday to the 192nd annual meeting of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina in Greensboro, has been working for mutual tolerance by speaking out about the things that he says should be drawing people of his denomination together: bringing people into the kingdom of God.

It’s all here …and note these words...

Episcopal Diocese prepares for budget reduction

Delegates to address financial, social and theological issues
Jean Gordon
Natchez (MS) Clarion-Ledger
January 19, 2008

Close to 1,000 representatives from congregations in the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi will gather at the Natchez Convention Center Friday through Jan. 27 for the church's 181st annual council.

"It's primarily an opportunity to review the budget for the coming year and adopt that and have conversations about the mission and ministry of the diocese," said the Rev. Chip Davis, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Natchez. "But I would say the more important reason is the opportunity to be together as a diocesan family of Mississippi."

It’s all here …

Secession stories

Diocese splits from national Episcopalians
By Ron Orozco
Fresno Bee
December 9, 2007

FRESNO – In a historic decision that highlights deep divisions over such core issues such as homosexuality, the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin pulled out Saturday from the U.S. Episcopal Church.

It's the first time a diocese has left the U.S. church since the Civil War, although individual churches have done so. Delegates made the decision during the diocese's annual convention at St. James' Cathedral in Fresno.

"This is the start of a rebirth of faithful Anglicanism within this part of the country," said the Rev. William Gandenberger, assistant to San Joaquin Bishop John-David Schofield. "It will be a reunification of churches who have felt alienated."

It's all here …

Episcopal fold loses 1st diocese - in valley
Ellen Lee
San Francisco Chronicle
December 9, 2007

The Diocese of San Joaquin, a conservative fold that serves California's Central Valley and has long chafed under what it considers the increasing liberalism of its fellow Episcopals, on Saturday became the first in the nation to separate from the U.S. Episcopal Church, voting overwhelmingly to take a strong and definitive stance against how the church deals with homosexuality and other controversial issues.

The diocese, which serves nearly 9,000 parishioners in an area stretching from Lodi to Bakersfield, has effectively seceded from the American wing of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and has placed itself in the hands of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone of America, which oversees the dioceses in six South American nations.

From now on, its officials say, the diocese, which operates out of offices in Fresno, will report to the Most Rev. Gregory James Venables, presiding bishop of the Southern Cone and of Argentina, in his office in Buenos Aires.

It's all here …

Diocese will leave Episcopal Church
San Joaquin 1st in nation to make dramatic move
By SUE NOWICKI
Modesto (CA) Bee
December 09, 2007

The Diocese of San Joaquin on Saturday voted overwhelmingly to change its constitution to leave the Episcopal Church USA and align with the Southern Cone of the worldwide Anglican Communion because of long-simmering theological issues.

It is the first diocese in the country to take such action.

The constitutional vote was 70-12 (85 percent) by clergy and 103-10 (91 percent) by laity at the diocese's annual convention in Fresno. A 75 percent vote was required in each group. A subsequent vote to accept the Southern Cone's oversight was passed by similar margins.

It's all here …

Anglican diocese quits over gay rights
By Catherine Elsworth
Daily Telegraph (UK)
10/12/2007

A conservative diocese of the US Episcopal Church has become the first to secede from the liberal-leaning denomination in protest over its growing support for gay and women's rights.

The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, in central California, voted overwhelmingly to break with the US branch of the Anglican Communion, which has been embroiled in debate since US Episcopalians consecrated the first openly gay bishop in 2003.

"We've seen a miracle here today," John-David Schofield, the diocese's bishop, said after the vote. "We are already outside the jurisdiction of the Episcopal Church."

It's all here …

Sad division in San Joaquin

San Joaquin diocese will leave U.S. Episcopal Church
Ron Orozco
The Fresno Bee
12/08/07

Delegates at the annual convention of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin voted Saturday in Fresno to withdraw from the U.S. Episcopal Church. With the decision, the diocese is the first to leave the U.S. Episcopal Church, which has 110 dioceses and 2.4 million members.

It’s all here …

Calif. diocese leaves Episcopals in historic split
By Adam Tanner
8 Dec 2007

FRESNO, Calif., Dec 8 (Reuters) - An entire California diocese of the U.S. Episcopal Church voted to secede on Saturday in a historic split following years of disagreement over the church's expanding support for gay and women's rights.

It’s all here …

Episcopal Diocese Votes to Secede From Church
By NEELA BANERJEE
December 9, 2007

FRESNO, Calif., Dec. 8 — The Diocese of San Joaquin voted on Saturday to cut ties with the Episcopal Church, the first time in the church’s history a diocese has done so over theological issues and the biggest leap so far by dissident Episcopalians hoping to form a rival national church in the United States.

It’s all here …

Diocese Breaks With Episcopal Church
Calif. Diocese Votes to Split With Episcopal Church Over Role of Gays and Lesbians
By JORDAN ROBERTSON
The Associated Press

An Episcopal diocese in central California voted Saturday to split with the national denomination over disagreements about the role of gays and lesbians in the church.

Clergy and lay members of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin voted 173-22 at their annual convention to remove all references to the national church from the diocese's constitution, according to spokeswoman Joan Gladstone.

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US Church splits over gay rights
BBC NEWS

A Californian diocese has voted to become the first to break away from the US Episcopal Church in protest at its support for gays in the Church.

Delegates of the San Joaquin diocese in Fresno voted 173-22 to secede.

It follows years of disagreement with Church authorities triggered by the consecration of a gay bishop in 2003.

It’s all here …

Episcopal diocese secedes in rift over gays
The Diocese of San Joaquin in Central California is the first to break from the U.S. church over its relatively liberal views on homosexuality and biblical authority.
By Rebecca Trounson
Los Angeles Times
December 8, 2007

FRESNO -- The Central California Diocese of San Joaquin today became the first in the nation to secede from the Episcopal Church, taking the historic, risky step as part of a years-long struggle within the church and global Anglican Communion over homosexuality and biblical authority.

Delegates to San Joaquin's annual convention then also formally accepted an invitation to align the largely rural 14-county diocese with a conservative Anglican leader overseas, Archbishop Gregory James Venables of Argentina.

It’s all here …

Episcopal diocese nears a split with church

The Fresno-based group might decide Saturday to leave the national organization.
By Rebecca Trounson
Los Angeles Times
December 7, 2007

The bishop of a Central California diocese that is poised to become the first in the country to secede from the Episcopal Church has brushed aside a warning from the national church's leader and likened the church to an "apostate institution."

Bishop John-David M. Schofield, whose Fresno-based Diocese of San Joaquin is expected to decide Saturday whether to finalize a split with the national church over gay-related issues, complained in a letter released Wednesday that his conservative views had been ignored by church leaders for two decades.

It's all here …

Local diocese faces big decision
Episcopalians to vote on split from U.S. church.
By Ron Orozco
The Fresno Bee
12/06/07

The world will be watching this weekend as local Episcopal leaders decide whether to pull out of the American church.

Delegates from 14 California counties will gather today for the annual convention of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin at St. James' Cathedral. But attention will be focused on Saturday, when delegates will vote on whether to leave the U.S. Episcopal Church, confirming a preliminary vote last year.

It would be the first diocese to leave the U.S. Episcopal Church, which has 110 dioceses and 2.4 million members. The Diocese of San Joaquin is made up of 48 congregations with 10,276 members.

It's all here …

Episcopal diocese set to vote to depart
By Julia Duin
The Washington Times
December 7, 2007

The 8,500-member Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin in Fresno, Calif., is expected to vote to secede from the Episcopal Church on Saturday, the first diocese in the country to do so in the civil war among Episcopalians over biblical authority and the ordination of an openly homosexual bishop.

Besides San Joaquin, three other dioceses — Pittsburgh; Fort Worth, Texas; and Quincy, Ind. — have all signaled their intent to depart.

In addition, four Episcopal bishops have left the denomination for the Roman Catholic Church, one of whom, the Rt. Rev. Jeffrey Steenson of the Diocese of the Rio Grande in New Mexico, was received into the Catholic faith last weekend at St. Mary Major Church in Rome. Former Boston Archbishop Bernard C. Law conducted the ceremony.

It's all here …

Fort Worth push

Episcopal diocese takes step to cut ties
By TERRY GOODRICH
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Nov. 18, 2007

FORT WORTH -- Delegates to the Fort Worth Episcopal Diocese's annual convention took the first step Saturday to cut ties to the Episcopal Church, a move driven in part by the diocese's opposition to the ordination of women and gay men and the blessing of same-sex unions.

More than 200 clergy and lay delegates voted at the Will Rogers Memorial Center, with an overwhelming majority rejecting on first reading an amendment assenting to the authority of the Episcopal Church.

The church's 2.1 million members constitute the U.S. body of the Anglican Communion, but the national church has taken more liberal stances than the worldwide communion in the past 30 years.

It's all here ...

Fort Worth Episcopals [sic] Move Toward Split
By MATT CURRY
Associated Press
November 17, 2007

The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth took the first steps Saturday to withdraw from the national church as part of a growing rift over Scriptural interpretation and homosexuality, giving preliminary approval to constitutional amendments.

The conservative diocese is among four of the 110 Episcopal dioceses - including Pittsburgh, San Joaquin, Calif., and Quincy, Ill. - that have approved similar measures to break away and align with an overseas Anglican leader. The dioceses contend U.S. church leadership has wrongly abandoned Scriptural authority and traditional teachings on truth, salvation and the divinity of Jesus Christ.

The Fort Worth convention followed a testy exchange of letters between the national church's presiding bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, and the diocese's Bishop Jack Iker.

It's all here ...

Blessings supported

Diocese's vote supports gay couples
By Kimberly Ross
Redding (CA) Record
November 11, 2007

A historic, largely symbolic vote supporting blessing rites for same-sex couples was made Saturday during the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California's annual convention, held in Redding this weekend.

By phone, the Rev. James Richardson of Sacramento said the packed room of about 300 members at the Redding Convention Center surprised him by passing the resolution he authored.

"The vote was done by voice, and it was a loud enough yes' that no one asked for a roll call," he said.

Richardson called it "a historic moment" for the Northern California diocese. Though the vote doesn't authorize same-sex blessings in the diocese, it joins 11 similar resolutions that could influence U.S. Episcopal Church leaders to adopt a nationwide change in 2009.

It’s all here …

Weekend update

Episcopalians to gather this weekend in Dayton
By Khalid Moss
Dayton (OH) Daily News
November 08, 2007

More than 500 Episcopalians from the Southern Ohio diocese will meet at the Dayton Convention Center, 22 E. Fifth St., for the 133rd Diocesan Convention beginning at 2 p.m. on Friday.

It will be Dayton's first Episcopal convention in five years and the first for the diocese's newly elected bishop, the Rev. Thomas E. Bridenthal, who was consecrated in April.

Members of the 80 Episcopal congregations of Southern Ohio will gather Friday and Saturday to discuss the work of the church and consider resolutions ranging from a call to end predatory lending to forming an interfaith utility coalition.

It’s all here … and that’s Breidenthal, y'all…

Lesbian among candidates in election for Episcopal bishop
Susan Hogan-Albach
Chicago Sun-Times
November 7, 2007

The Episcopal Diocese of Chicago will elect a new bishop on Saturday. The election is receiving international attention because the slate of eight candidates includes a lesbian priest.

The Rev. Tracey Lind is seeking to become the second openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church.

After Bishop V. Gene Robinson's 2003 election in New Hampshire, divisions over the issue escalated worldwide. The 2.2-million member Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Chicago Diocese has about 41,000 members.

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Comedy of errors

Following Faith: Controversy in the Episcopal Church
KAUZ-TV Wichita Falls (TX)
Nov 6, 2007

A battle is raging within the national Episcopal Church. The debate began when the Bishop of Canterbury began ordaining openly gay bishops.

Father Scott Wooten of Church of the Good Shepard in Wichita Falls says, "It's very simple. God blessed Man and Woman. If  If he had wanted same sex i'm sure he would have created Adam and Adam, not Adam and Eve."

Wooten says the Regional Bishop over the Diocese of Fort Worth should have something to say about Canon law. Wichita Falls is part of the Forth Worth Diocese. Currently, the Church's National Bishop is making the decisions.

"They want to force us to do their theology and essentially put down our holy scripture and pick up their new modern scripture that they have written themselves," Wooten says.

This battle over authority has raged for more than ten years, and Wooten believes it will end with the Forth Worth Diocese separating from the National Church. The Diocese of Fort Worth will meet November 16th and 17th to review Canonical law. If the church decides to split, It would align with the Anglican Church.

It’s all here …

Disunion

Pittsburgh Episcopal Diocese Votes to Leave the Church
By SEAN D. HAMILL
The New York Times
November 3, 2007

JOHNSTOWN, Pa., Nov. 2 — By more than a two-to-one vote, members of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh voted Friday in favor of separating from the national church because of a theological rift that began with the consecration of an openly gay bishop in 2003.

The vote sets the stage for what could become a protracted legal battle between the diocese and the Episcopal Church U.S.A., which had warned Pittsburgh’s bishop not to go forward with the vote.

After passionate appeals from both sides of the debate, clergy members and lay people voted 227 to 82 to “realign” the conservative diocese.

If Friday’s vote is approved again in a year, the diocese will begin steps to remove itself from the American church and join with another province in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

It’s all here …

Local Episcopalians vote to leave the U.S. church
By Ann Rodgers
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
November 02, 2007

JOHNSTOWN -- Members of the Pittsburgh Episcopal Diocese have voted overwhelmingly to break away from the denomination in the United States and align with an Anglican province in another country.

In today's vote at the 142nd diocesan convention, the laity approved the measure 118-58 with one abstention. The clergy vote was 109-24 in favor of breaking away.

For the break to occur, the diocese must pass the same measure next year and select which Anglican province to join.

It’s all here …

Episcopal bishop won't 'abandon' his local sheep
By Mike Cronin
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
November 3, 2007

Representatives of Pittsburgh's Episcopal Diocese ignored a warning to their bishop from the church's national leader on Friday and took a step toward a possible affiliation with an Anglican church outside the United States.

Lay representatives voted 118-58, with one abstention, in favor of a resolution to leave the New York-based Episcopal Church, said Peter Frank, a diocesan spokesman. Representatives of the clergy at their 142nd Diocesan Convention at the Frank J. Pasquerilla Conference Center in Johnstown voted 109-24 in favor.

Another measure must pass the next convention in November 2008 to make the action binding, Frank said.

It’s all here …

Watching Pittsburgh

All eyes on local Episcopal meeting
BY KECIA BAL
Pittsburgh (PA) Tribune-Democrat
November 01, 2007

Episcopalians nationwide are watching as leaders and delegates of the Episcopal Church’s Pittsburgh Diocese converge on Johnstown today to consider separating from their national affiliation.

“It is like my parents are getting divorced,” said Cindy Leap, parishioner at St. Mark’s Episcopalian Church in Johnstown. “I have to pick whether to go with my mommy or daddy.”

A constant struggle over beliefs is deeply affecting local and national congregations, said the Rev. Mark Zimmerman of St. Francis in-the-Fields Episcopal Church near Somerset.

“This is not about the Episcopal Church. There is nobody who is not going to be touched by this,” he said.

“Every major denomination in America is wrestling with this issue. Even though it takes us out of our comfort zone, we have to wrestle with it.

“God is calling us to take a stand.”

It’s all here …

Wait and see

Door still open for Quincy Diocese exit from Anglican church
By Leon Lagerstam
Quad-Cities Online   
10/27/2007

An Episcopal train still may be leaving an Anglican station, and members of the Quincy Diocese are waiting for it to pass by before deciding to disembark, according to a diocesan press officer.

Resolutions paving the way for a possible split from the embattled U.S. Episcopal Church body were approved during an annual synod meeting last weekend at Christ Church in Moline, said the Rev. John Spencer.

No final decisions about leaving were or could have been made during that synod meeting, he said.

It’s all here …

Blessings

Bay Area Episcopalians affirm pro-gay positions
By Lisa Leff
ASSOCIATED PRESS
October 23, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO – Delegates representing Episcopal churches in the San Francisco Bay area approved three sets of prayers that clergy can use to bless same-sex couples, a move taken in opposition to their faith's leaders pledging not to authorize special rites for gay unions.

During the annual convention of the Diocese of California, about 500 lay delegates and clergy members also approved a resolution challenging last month's decision by U.S. bishops to refrain from approving any more gay bishops to preserve the global Anglican community.

The Episcopal Church is the Anglican body in the U.S.

Two Canadian dioceses also have endorsed creating services for same-sex blessing ceremonies. The Bay Area diocese, which represents 82 churches, is believed to be the first in the U.S. to make the such rites available to its members, said Sean McConnell, a spokesman for the diocese.

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The business of the Church is mission

Diocese of Quincy stays in national church
The Associated Press

MOLINE, Ill. -- While the Episcopal Church struggles with issues related to homosexuality, delegates of the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy have decided to remain part of the national church -- at least for the immediate future.

The diocese's annual synod was supposed to be a forum on the possibility of leaving the national church but remaining part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

"We gather every year to assess the life, ministry and mission of the diocese," said the Rev. John Spencer, a diocesan spokesman. "We are a diocese that's focused on mission and outreach, so that's always the primary focus when we come together. We didn't make any formal changes in our relationship with the (U.S.) Episcopal Church this weekend."

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Deacon honored for hurricane relief
Episcopal church leader given award for service to Katrina victims
By MICHAEL MILLER
Peoria (IL) Journal Star
October 23, 2007

MOLINE - Deacon Phil Fleming of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Canton was gratified by national recognition of his relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Katrina, but receiving the Diocese of Quincy's award for meritorious service "stunned him," he said Monday.

Fleming was given the Certificate of Recognition of Diaconal Ministry in the Tradition of St. Stephen, awarded by the North American Association for the Diaconate, at a dinner Friday during the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy's annual synod, held this year at Christ Church in Moline.

But he wasn't ready for the diocese's St. Paul Award for Meritorious Service.

It’s all here …

Debates

Diocese to stay in U.S. church
Quincy Episcopals to remain as debate on gays continues
Associated Press
October 22, 2007

MOLINE, Ill. - While the Episcopal Church struggles with issues related to homosexuality, delegates of the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy have decided to remain part of the national church, at least for the immediate future.

The diocese's annual synod was supposed to be a forum on the possibility of leaving the national church but remaining part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

"We gather every year to assess the life, ministry and mission of the diocese," said Rev. John Spencer, a diocesan spokesman. "We are a diocese that's focused on mission and outreach, so that's always the primary focus when we come together. We didn't make any formal changes in our relationship with the [U.S.] Episcopal Church this weekend."

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One faith, two perspectives on Anglicanism
Dana Clark Felty
Savannah Morning News
October 21, 2007

Two long-time members of Christ Church explain how the recent decision to break ties with Episcopalians has caused them to take an honest look at what they believe.

Celia Dunn learned early on that the Episcopal Church serves a broad spectrum of Christians.

She grew up with the "low church" style of worship at Christ Church through the 1940s that mirrored its Protestant neighbors.

At age 15, she was introduced to the "high church" style of St. Mary's School, an Episcopal convent school in New York. The worship included daily Mass, incense and genuflecting that mirrored practices of the Roman Catholic Church.

There's room within the Episcopal Church for both, she said.

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Faith and love
By Lindsay Whitehurt
Farmingtn (NM) Daily Times
10/21/2007

FARMINGTON — Chris Carlson prayed every week for three months before choir practice, asking God what she should do about her homosexual daughter.

"I would be listening to people tune up instruments, and kind of humming, making sure they got the bars right ... and I would start praying. I would just go, God, is this a sin? What am I supposed to do here?'" said Chris, 53.

Her husband, John Carlson, 55, knows there are specific passages in the Bible that condemn homosexuality.

"I don't want to reject my daughter. I don't want to disown her. I don't want to lose her. So what's the best thing I can do?" he said.

Their church leadership at St. John's Episcopal Church would later vote to split from the Episcopal Church following the confirmation of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire.

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Church audit of leader completed
The Denver Post
10/22/2007

A breakaway Episcopal church said Sunday that its audit of allegations against its leader is complete.

Grace Church and St. Stephen's Parish set a news conference for Tuesday to discuss it. A parish meeting was planned Tuesday night on the subject, spokesman Alan Crippen said. He declined to discuss the report and said it had not yet been formally released Sunday.

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Now playing in Peoria

Quincy diocese may move from Episcopal Church
The Quincy Herald-Whig
September 13, 2007

The Episcopal Diocese of Quincy said Tuesday it will consider proposals in October that would allow it to break away from the Episcopal Church, diocesan leaders say, so it can stay with the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The Peoria Journal-Star reported that Bishop Keith Ackerman and other leaders of the West-Central Illinois diocese discussed the resolutions with clergy members Tuesday at St. Paul Cathedral in Peoria. The proposals had to be filed one month in advance of the annual synod in October.

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Leaving

Quincy diocese may leave Episcopal Church
Consecration of actively gay bishops, blessings of same-sex unions at odds with local leadership
By MICHAEL MILLER
Peoria Journal Star
September 12, 2007

PEORIA - The Episcopal Diocese of Quincy said Tuesday it will consider proposals in October that would allow it to break away from The Episcopal Church in order to, diocesan leaders say, stay with the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Bishop Keith Ackerman and other leaders of the west-central Illinois diocese discussed the resolutions with clergy members Tuesday at St. Paul Cathedral. The proposals had to be filed one month in advance of the annual synod in October.

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Keyword Kops

Bishop to report on international summit focusing on gays in Episcopal Church
By Peter Smith
psmith@courier-journal.com
Friday, February 23, 2007
The Louisville Courier-Journal

When he gives his annual report tomorrow, Episcopal Bishop Ted Gulick says he plans to talk "in the broadest brushstrokes" about a recent international church summit that focused on homosexuality in the Episcopal Church.

Even so, he and other pastors are expecting a low-key annual convention for the Diocese of Kentucky, which begins tonight at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Anchorage.

It’s all here … Somewhere I read recently that online newspaper headlines are really being skewed by the quest for keywords and tags that will vault them into the most-read category on a search engine. I'm thinking that may be what happened here: a "low-key convention" in which the Bishop speaks "in the broadest brushstrokes" about the Primates' Meeting becomes keyword = "bishop," international," "summit," "gays," "Episcopal Church."

Reconciliation in Alabama

Bishop calls for reconciliation
Article published Feb 17, 2007

TUSCALOOSA | Bishop Henry Parsley Jr. called for reconciliation within the Episcopal Church and larger Anglican Communion during his address during the Convention of the Diocese of Alabama.
Parsley, the presiding bishop for the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama, said Episcopalians should focus on unity and love despite the differences over sexuality that have caused a rift within the church.
“This kind of separation is not what God wants for us," he said. “We are to be one family in God."

It’s all here … and that's the Bishop of Alabama, not the presiding bishop.

TEC 'Alive, well and vibrant'

KnoxNews
Alive, well and vibrant
Episcopal leader shows her 'depth' at ET convention
By MILLETE BIRHANEMASKEL, birhanemaskelm@knews.com
February 11, 2007

GATLINBURG - Anglicans might be compared to squids, as the former oceanographer and the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori tells it.

"They are all created by God. They are all wondrous in their own way. Some of them can't survive in the environments where others live," Jefferts Schori said.

The Episcopal leader's address Saturday morning at times left an audience of about 750 in stitches at the annual Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee convention in Gatlinburg, which had invited her to appear.

Some were surprised Saturday at how effortlessly Jefferts Schori, 52, switched from being calm and deliberate to lighthearted and comical.

It's all here ... especially this good quote:

"Christianity in its breadth says that God became human in Jesus, that God revealed God's full self in Jesus," Jefferts Schori said in an interview with the News Sentinel. "It does not overtly say that God has never been present anywhere else, and I think that's what irritates people.

"There is a desire to say 'Well, I have the fullness of the truth, and there can't possibly be any truth anywhere else.' And if that's our understanding of God, it's too small."

Amen. And I'm so thankful God didn't decide to send us a bumper sticker, instead of Jesus.

UPDATE: Text of her address is here.

San Diego diocesan convention preview

ANALYSIS
Among Episcopalians, division is prevailing topic

By Sandi Dolbee
San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE RELIGION & ETHICS EDITOR

February 10, 2007

It's a church ingrained in our country's history, having arrived with the early settlers at Jamestown in 1607. Before there were Mormons, Methodists and Southern Baptists, there were Episcopalians – though they were called the Church of England back then.

After the Revolutionary War, followers changed their name to the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, which became an independent branch of what is now the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Through the centuries, the Episcopal Church has given us more U.S. presidents than any other denomination. The Washington National Cathedral, which has become America's spiritual gathering place, is an Episcopal church.

So it should have come as no surprise that this storied denomination would find itself in the thick of the country's culture wars. As religions debated the role of homosexuals in their faiths, the Episcopal Church ordained its first openly gay bishop. As talk escalated about a female candidate for U.S. president, the church elected its first woman presiding bishop, the top leader of the denomination.

And it also should be no surprise that the backlash has been sharp.

It's all here ...