epiScope

What the Pope said

Pope urges all Christians to 'hold fast' to scripture
By Cathy Lynn Grossman
USA TODAY

NEW YORK — Pope Benedict XVI met with leaders of other Christian faiths on Friday evening, telling them that only by "holding fast" to sound doctrinal teaching can they confront secular ideology and the individualism that "undermines or even rejects transcendent truth."
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In his audience in the whitewashed church sanctuary were leaders from the embattled Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of the Anglican church, which has lost 10% of its parishes to conservative groups that consider themselves the true expression of Anglicanism. The head of the U.S. Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, was not present; she was meeting with church leaders in South Florida.

But New York Episcopal Bishop Mark Sisk, who was present, said he did not read the pope's remarks as a "shot across the bow" in the factionalism between conservative Anglicans and Episcopalians who supported the election of openly gay Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson in 2003. Many who supported Robinson's election called it a "prophetic" witness for justice and inclusion, even as traditionalists saw it as unbiblical and damaging to church unity.

Sisk said he thought that the pope's words were "respectful of our legitimate disagreement." He thought Benedict's speech was "rich and provocative, not contentious, but engaging."

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Pope: Hold to church tradition
April 19, 2008
By Daniel Burke
Religion News Service

NEW YORK Pope Benedict XVI on Friday strongly urged leaders from U.S. Christian churches to hold fast against "so-called prophetic actions"' and to unify under traditional Christian teachings.

Though Benedict did not single out any particular action, the remark appeared to be a subtle dig aimed at a growing acceptance of homosexuality in some U.S. churches, especially the election of an openly gay Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson in 2003.

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Pope calls on Christians to work for unity
By Ann Rodgers
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
April 19, 2008

NEW YORK -- After an historic visit to a New York synagogue, Pope Benedict XVI issued a ringing call to other Christian leaders to uphold scripture and the ancient creeds as the foundation of Christian doctrine.

"Only by holding fast to sound teaching will we be able to respond to the challenges that confront us in an evolving world. Only in this way will we give unambiguous testimony to the truth of the gospel and its moral teaching," he told 250 national and local Eastern Orthodox and Protestant leaders at St. Joseph Church on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

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Pope pushes for religious solidarity
Benedict meets with leaders of other faiths
David Briggs
Cleveland (OH) Plain Dealer
April 19, 2008

Pope Benedict XVI Friday called on the world to care for the environment, solve conflicts through dialogue and defend religious freedom on a day when he also reached out to other Christian communities and visited a synagogue.

Global and religious solidarity was the theme Friday as the pope flew to New York and addressed the United Nations.

In a much-anticipated meeting with Christian leaders at St. Joseph Church, Benedict asked leaders of other churches to persevere in efforts to achieve unity, while urging them not to give up on the idea of objective truth.

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BXVI

The Pope's Visit: What's the Big Deal?
David Crabtree: News With a View
WRAL-TV5 Raleigh Durham Fayetteville

Pope Benedict XVI is on American soil …”What’s the big deal?”

I’ve heard that question asked by several of my friends and acquaintances, none who are Roman Catholic.

I understand their question. If totally honest, I have to admit that up until 15 years ago, I might have had the same question. Much has changed in my life since then.

It’s all here …and a shout-out to the Rev. David Crabtree, vocational deacon in the Diocese of North Carolina, anchor/reporter for WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina, and reporter for General Convention Nightly at the 2006 General Convention.

A toast

New York and the Famine
By PETER DUFFY
The Wall Street Journal
March 17, 2008

On this St. Patrick's Day, Ireland is peaceful and prosperous. The animosities of the past will have little bearing on the great parade that travels up Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The so-called Celtic Tiger, with its cubs more interested in the strength of the euro than the durability of sectarian differences, appears to have entered a new era in its history.

Perhaps then, on this day of all days, the Irish Catholics of New York should do something that would've been unthinkable even a few years ago: raise a toast to the Protestants.

I am referring to the Protestants of New York City and their actions during the winter of 1847, an unjustly forgotten episode in the Irish history of this city.

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Naivete

Vatican official says Anglican head naive on Sharia
By Philip Pullella
ReutersUK
11 Mar 2008

ROME, March 11 (Reuters) - The Vatican's top man for relations with Islam on Tuesday criticised the Archbishop of Canterbury as mistaken and "naive" for suggesting that some aspects of Sharia law in Britain were unavoidable.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, in a wide-ranging discussion with reporters about Christian-Muslim relations, also said he was confident that a new, permanent body between the Vatican and Muslims would help defuse misunderstandings in the future.

"I think it was a mistake, a mistake because, above all, one has to ask what type of Sharia. And then, it was a bit naive," Tauran said in answer to a question at a breakfast meeting.

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Voices united

Music, prayers unite faiths
By STEPHANIE PORTER-NICHOLS
Wytheville (VA) Enterprise
February 29, 2008

Candles flickered across the altar, at times their flames seemingly imbued by the prayers they symbolized.

About 20 voices united in ecumenical prayer that on this cold Lenten night was voiced in music.

People from at least three faiths were scattered among the dark wooden pews of Christ Episcopal Church in Marion for a Wednesday evening service with roots harkening to a small village in France.

The celebrants were gathered for a Taizé service, which uses repetitive music to enhance prayer.

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Reading comprehension test

Remember those? Let's do one for the story below.

ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 21, 2008

NEW YORK (AP) -- Most of the United States' 25 largest church bodies either lost members or experienced no growth in the past year, according to a 2008 yearbook produced by the National Council of Churches.

The Episcopal Church, locked in a conflict over the Bible and homosexuality, suffered the steepest decline, reporting a more than 4 percent drop to slightly fewer than 2.2 million members. Another mainline Protestant group, the 3 million-member Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), facing similar divisions, suffered a 2.4 percent membership decrease.

The figures are outlined in the 2008 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, which tracks membership and other trends from 224 national church bodies.

The yearbook's editor, the Rev. Eileen W. Lindner, said many churches' said many people in their 20s and 30s attend and support local congregations but resist becoming members.

Of the churches that reported growth, the Jehovah's Witnesses said their group had a 2.25 percent increase to 1 million members, while The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said it grew 1.56 percent to 5.8 million members in the U.S.

The Roman Catholic Church, Southern Baptist Convention, Assemblies of God and African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church also reported membership gains under 1 percent each.

A dozen churches said membership remained steady, while seven reported declines.

The yearbook also reported a 4 percent increase in per capita giving from the 65 churches that reported contribution trends.

It’s all here …and now for the test.

Corrections

Hindu-Episcopal service: An article in Sunday's California section about a joint religious service involving Hindus and Episcopalians said that all those attending the service at St. John's Cathedral in Los Angeles were invited to Holy Communion. Although attendees walked toward the Communion table, only Christians were encouraged to partake of Communion. Out of respect for Hindu beliefs, the Hindus were invited to take a flower. Also, the article described Hindus consuming bread during Communion, but some of those worshipers were Christians wearing traditional Indian dress.

It’s all here …and here's the original story:

Service celebrates 2 beliefs
Episcopalians hold an Indian Rite Mass with Hindus and apologize for past religious discrimination.
By K. Connie Kang
Los Angeles Times
January 20, 2008

Hindu nun Pravrajika Saradeshaprana, dressed in a saffron robe, blew into a conch shell three times, calling to worship Hindu and Episcopal religious leaders who joined Saturday to celebrate an Indian Rite Mass at St. John's Cathedral near downtown.

The rare joint service included chants from the Temple Bhajan Band of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and a moving rendition of "Bless the Lord, O My Soul" sung by the St. John's choir.

"This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience in worship service," said Bob Bland, a member of St. Patrick's Episcopal Church of Thousand Oaks, who was among the 260 attendees. "There was something so holy -- so much symbolism and so many opportunities for meditation."

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Unity begins with you

Praying for Christian Unity, When Diversity Has Been the Answer
By PETER STEINFELS
New York Times
January 19, 2008

Has the movement for unity among Christians gone into a coma?

The annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity began Friday, a century after the first such celebration. In many countries, Christians deeply devoted to unity among their separate groups will gather in one anothers’ churches to pray and reflect on passages from Scripture. Since 1968, prayers and readings for the week have been jointly planned by the Vatican and the World Council of Churches.

But for most Christians, the week, centennial or not, carries no more resonance than, say, National Secretaries Week (now officially Administrative Professionals Week).

Has the ecumenical movement lost steam? Or has it, perhaps, fallen victim to its own success? One way or the other, does it make any difference?

In 1908, it certainly did to the Rev. Paul Wattson and Mother Lurana White, an Episcopal priest and nun, founders, in Garrison, N.Y., of a small Anglican religious community in the Franciscan tradition. They initiated eight days of prayer between what were then feast days associated with Saints Peter and Paul.

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'A Call to Pray for the Unity of the Church’
Lawn Griffiths
East Valley (AZ) Tribune
January 19, 2008

Ten denominational leaders, executives and pastors in Arizona will participate in a prayer service on the theme “Pray Without Ceasing: A Call to Pray for the Unity of the Church,” at 7 p.m. Tuesday at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, 4715 N. Central Ave., Phoenix.

The leaders are Bishop Thomas Olmsted (Roman Catholic), Bishop Steve Talmage (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), the Rev. Ken Moe (Presbyterian), Bishop Kirk Smith (Episcopal), the Rev. Andrew Barakos (Eastern Orthodox), the Rev. Zacharia Sarabekian (Armenian), the Rev. Mark Buckley (nondenominational evangelical), the Rev. Gary Romack (Episcopal), the Rev. Benjamin Thomas (African Methodist Episcopal), and the Rev. Jan Olav Flaaten (Arizona Ecumenical Council).

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Worship service begins week focused on Christian unity
BY CHRIS EPPLETT
Grand Haven (MI) Tribune
Jan 19, 2008

In his letter to the Thessalonians, St. Paul wrote to "pray without ceasing."

That's one thing local organizers are focusing on as they prepare for the 100th annual Week of Christian Unity, which is themed "Pray Without Ceasing" this year.

The week kicks off with a Unity Worship Service at 6 p.m. Sunday at Resurrection Life Church, 12900 U.S. 31 in Grand Haven Township. The service, which is open to all faiths, will feature speaker Eugene Habecker of Taylor University. Music will be provided by Christ Memorial Church of Holland.

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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.
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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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Nearer to God, and one another

Churches in Eastern Shore village, black and white, gather at worship
By Rona Kobell
Baltimore (MD) Sun
December 23, 2007

NANTICOKE - The distance between the two Methodist churches in this Eastern Shore village is little more than a mile. Yet for decades, it seemed as if a great gulf separated them.

One church was black. The other was white. Though the two communities in the watermen's town got along fine, come Sunday, people went their own way.

White families flocked to Nanticoke Road for prayers at the picturesque Nanticoke United Methodist Church. Black families followed the narrow roads east to the equally pretty Asbury United Methodist Church on Hickman Lane.

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Immigrants are changing the face of faith in South Florida
Houses of worship embrace area's changing population
By Gregory Lewis and Alva James-Johnson
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 23, 2007

The European traditions at St. Benedict's Episcopal Church are now spiced with Caribbean and Latin American flavor.

Jamaican lilts and Spanish accents blend harmoniously with the sounds of standard English at the church in Plantation. Traditional hymns mix with old black spirituals. And potlucks create a multicultural medley of foods, ranging from potato casserole to curried goat.

The trend started with Caribbean immigrants who poured into the pews during the 1990s. Now the Central and South Americans are coming.

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'Lost Boys' return to Sudan years after horrors of youth
As children in 1987, many fled genocide. Now, as U.S. citizens, a few men revisit their homeland and families
By Patrick May
Contra Costa (CA) Times
12/23/2007

It's early Friday morning in San Jose. James Atem Tuor walks out the front door of his apartment and is engulfed by darkness, dragging two flea-market suitcases packed with clothes and toiletries -- ordinary cargo for an extraordinary journey into his past.

One of the so-called "Lost Boys of Sudan," Tuor joined thousands of child refugees who fled their war-ravaged land in 1987. He eventually settled with other Sudanese in San Jose.

It was a shotgun blast of an exodus, a diaspora defined by families ripped apart and villages set ablaze.

Tuor now heads for a waiting car, the first steps that will take him over three continents to a refugee camp in Kenya and the parents he last saw 20 years ago when he was 7 years old.

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Congregations

Two Elmira churches added to National Register
December 7, 2007
Elmira (NY) Star-Gazette
John P. Cleary

Chemung County Historian J. Arthur Kieffer reports that two Elmira churches have been added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Trinity Episcopal Church at Church and Main streets and the former German Protestant Evangelical Church, now First United Church of Christ, on Madison Avenue have been added to the listing, Kieffer said.

Being listed on the register, which is approved and maintained by the National Park Service, gives the properties some protection against development, Kieffer said, and also makes available state matching funds for restoration and repair projects.

The congregation at Trinity Episcopal is in the midst of a yearlong celebration of the 175th anniversary of its founding. Its current building was put up in 1860 and designed by the New York City architect Henry Dudley. This past year, cranes hoisted workers to the top of its tall steeple for restoration work. Trinity, along with First Baptist Church and The Park Church, is one of a trio of big, beautiful churches at the same intersection in the center of downtown Elmira.

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A world contained in grains of sand
By Niesha Lofing
Sacramento (CA) Bee
December 7, 2007

The sights and sounds within Trinity Episcopal Cathedral on Thursday morning were anything but typical.

While evergreen wreaths adorned the pulpit and garlands decorated pillars, it wasn't the sound of hymns or Christmas carols that filled the Episcopal church.

Instead, the melodic voices of two Tibetan monks chanting and praying rang through the cathedral. The smell of sweet incense filled the air.

And in an alcove near an empty manger awaiting its Nativity figurines stood a table with a blueprintlike outline of what would become a Medicine Buddha sand mandala decorating its surface.

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Cold water baptism

Cardinal pours cold water on union with rebel Anglican group
The Catholic Herald (UK)

One of the Vatican’s most senior cardinals has dismissed the idea that a breakaway group of Anglicans might be received into the Catholic Church en masse – despite Benedict XVI’s personal support for such a move.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, told The Catholic Herald: “It’s not our policy to bring that many Anglicans to Rome.”

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Telephone

Pope in talks over Anglican converts
By Jonathan Petre
Daily Telegraph (UK)
24/11/2007

The Pope is understood to be considering ways to accommodate disaffected Anglicans who are thinking of joining the Catholic Church.

Many Anglicans are hopeful that Rome will allow groups who convert to Catholicism en masse to maintain elements of their current identity.

At a meeting with cardinals from around the world, the Pope discussed the growing splits between liberals and conservatives on issues such as the ordination of women and openly homosexual bishops.

In an apparent appeal to Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, a senior Roman Catholic called for Anglican leaders to resolve the matter urgently.

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Crises of faith

Uganda: Gay, Clergy Clash At People's Space
Josephine Maseruka
New Vision (Kampala)
23 November 2007

PEOPLE advocating for the rights of homosexuals and those against the practice are using the People's Space at Hotel Africana in Kampala to air out their views. Drama ensued on Thursday when the Catholic and Anglican clergymen, who were condemning gays, sat next to pro-gay people who were watching a film on homosexuality.

The film, which attracted several youth, showcased the various countries which have embraced gays, particularly Egypt.

As homosexuals and lesbians gave testimonies on how they were attracted to each other in the movie, the clergy were addressing a press conference to express their disappointment at Commonwealth member-states that were advocating for gay rights.

Whereas the youth mischievously cheered at the gays' testimonies in the film, the clergy were defending the Church's stand on what they referred to as 'evil and unnatural behaviour.'

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Turks accused of killing Christians go on trial
Three died in brutal attack during Bible study group
Case begins amid growing intolerance to minorities
Helena Smith
The Guardian (UK)
November 24, 2007

Seven months after a German and two Turks were murdered in a Bible publishing house in eastern Turkey, the five men accused of the crime filed into court yesterday for their long-awaited trial.

The case is seen as a test of how the country will handle mounting intolerance towards non-Muslim minorities. It began at a time of draconian security and heightened nationalist fervour after attacks by Kurdish separatists.

The members of a Protestant missionary group were killed during a Bible study class in Malatya on April 18. Their attackers tied the men to their chairs, targeting Tilmann Geske, a German father of three, before turning to Pastor Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel. By the time police arrived, the Turkish converts had been virtually decapitated, with their buttocks, testicles, stomachs and backs repeatedly stabbed, their fingers sliced and throats slashed from ear-to-ear. The accused, all between 19 and 20, allegedly filmed clips on their mobile phones.

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Hindu, Episcopal divides continue
By SUE NOWICKI
The Modesto (CA) Bee
November 23, 2007

While an officer in the British army, John Bowker was sent to control a riot over a donkey between religious factions in a northern Nigerian marketplace.

"I did everything by the book," Bowker said. "You had to blow a trumpet, you had to have an interpreter, you had to say, 'Go home,' three times or, 'I'll fire.' "

It was no use. The crowd could not be calmed and soon pulled the donkey limb from limb. While witnessing the spectacle, Bowker had an epiphany.

"I suddenly realized I wanted to understand why religious people hated each other so much," he says. His career has included Anglican priesthood and editing The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. He also has written several books, including "Licenced Insanities: Religions and Belief in God in the Contemporary World."

"My answer is that religions are so dangerous because they matter so much," he said.

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Pluralism is part of gift from creator
Youngstown  (OH) Vindicator
November 24, 2007

Pilgrim Governor William Bradford of the Plymouth Colony surely did not intend a pluralist feast when he proclaimed a three-day Thanksgiving celebration in October 1621.

Nonetheless, that first Thanksgiving brought together the 50 (of 102) Mayflower Pilgrims who survived their first year in America and 90 or so Wampanoag Indians. The celebration was built on a relationship with the Indians that had begun only in March. The Wampanoags outnumbered the Pilgrims nearly 2 to 1. They enhanced the feast with their abundant food, including four wild turkeys and pumpkins, but probably not with their faith.

Whatever Gov. Bradford's intent, the first Thanksgiving was in fact a pluralistic celebration. The Wampanoags were not Christian. They were one of numerous tribes in the Plymouth Bay area (Massachusetts, Punkapogs, Narragansetts, Nipmicks, and others) belonging to the Algonquin language group that stretched from Canada to South Carolina and as far west as today's Wisconsin.

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CARY MCMULLEN: Even religion reporters have crises of faith
Tuscaloosa (AL) News
November 24, 2007

One of the stereotypes of popular fiction is the hardboiled, cynical reporter. He’s seen it all, heard it all, nothing surprises him or gets to him.

Stereotypes have at least one foot in the truth. If you report on enough crimes or hang around city hall long enough, it certainly can foster a jaded view of human nature, although very few of my colleagues over the years fit the stereotype. Even the tough ones have had soft spots.

That’s true, too, for my fellow religion reporters. We are affected by what we write about. So my attention was caught by a recent report that for the second time within the past four months, a religion reporter for a major newspaper had not only left the beat, he had given up his faith as well.

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A match made in heaven

Process of selecting clergy varies among denominations
By Jean Gordon
Jackson (MS) Clarion-Ledger
November 17, 2007
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In the Episcopal Church, rectors are selected by a group of church members who make up a clergy search committee, and the finalist is approved by the bishop.

In most Methodist traditions, pastors are assigned to a church by a regional bishop.

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Fighting won't work as church advertising

Arguments about change cause churches to decline.
By SAM HODGES
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
November 10, 2007

This week's election for president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas may be remembered as the thriller in Amarillo.
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The BGCT is a state convention that has long been the size of a denomination, and it seems to be suffering from what experts call post-denominationalism. It's hardly alone.

The United Methodist Church is losing members in this country. The Presbyterian Church (USA) and Episcopal Church are losing members and churches, with conservative congregations bolting over the gay clergy issue and more.

When conservatives won control of the large, national Southern Baptist Convention, they promised that if the SBC stuck to the "faith of our fathers" — including biblical inerrancy and men only in the pulpit — it wouldn't decline like other mainline Protestant groups.

But the SBC reports only very modest growth, and some pastors think even that's overstated. They note that the rolls of many SBC churches include people who haven't attended in years.

The more telling SBC statistic is baptisms, which have been declining. And the SBC annual meeting, held in June in San Antonio, drew the same kind of relatively small, definitely graying crowd that the more moderate BGCT drew in Amarillo.

One problem struggling denominations have in common is infighting. Whether it's over gay clergy (United Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Lutherans), or biblical inerrancy and women in the pulpit (Baptists), it's still fighting.

Fighting — especially when it seems to be as much about power as principle — is lousy advertising.

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Funeral prompts firing of priest

S. Baltimore pastor joined by Episcopal priest during Mass
By Liz F. Kay and Kelly Brewington
Baltimore (MD) Sun
November 9, 2007

Baltimore's new Roman Catholic archbishop removed a priest who was pastor of three South Baltimore parishes for offenses that include officiating at a funeral Mass with an Episcopal priest, which violates canon law.

Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien personally ordered the Rev. Ray Martin, who has led the Catholic Community of South Baltimore for five years, to resign from the three churches and sign a statement yesterday apologizing for "bringing scandal to the church."

Martin led the funeral Mass on Oct. 15 for Locust Point activist Ann Shirley Doda at Our Lady of Good Counsel with several clergy, including the Rev. Annette Chappell, the pastor of the Episcopal Church of the Redemption in Locust Point, Martin said.

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Climate changes

Anglican leader and Pell in bitter row over climate
By Barney Zwartz
The Age
October 25, 2007

A BITTER rift over climate change has developed between a senior member of the Anglican Church and Sydney Catholic Archbishop George Pell.

Canberra Bishop George Browning, the Anglican Church's global environmental chief said Cardinal Pell was out of step with his own church and made no sense on global warming.

Bishop Browning also criticised the Federal Government for its "utter obsession" with growth and warned that climate change refugees would be a bigger problem than terrorists in a century of desperate struggle.

At the national Anglican synod in Canberra yesterday, Bishop Browning attacked the cardinal for saying Jesus said nothing about climate change. "It's almost unbelievable," said Bishop Browning, who is the chairman of the Anglican Communion Environmental Network.

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A rift grows over Scripture

Presbyterians are latest mainline Protestant group with widening split over interpretations
By Bruce Schreiner
The Associated Press
October 20, 2007

The Episcopal Church isn't the only mainline Protestant group shaken by open conflict between theological liberals and conservatives.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is facing similar trials, with traditionalist congregations planning to bolt and a conservative denomination preparing to take them in.

About 30 of the nearly 11,000 Presbyterian congregations have voted to leave the national church since the denomination's national assembly session in 2006, according to The Layman, a conservative Presbyterian publication that has been tracking the breakaways. Denominational leaders say they could lose an additional 20 congregations as a result of this latest rupture.

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Understanding

In Davos the C-100 aims hopes to boost understanding between Christians and Muslims
Brisbane (AU) WestEnder
July 26, 2007

The World Economic Forum in Davos is not just about globalisation and doing business. A group called "The Council of 100 Leaders" uses the event to promote dialogue between world religions

Former Anglican archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey of Clifton, is a member of a panel which was founded three years ago as the "Council of 100 Leaders (C-100) and a man with a mission.

Despite the ongoing wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere Carey is convinced that the misunderstandings between Christians and Muslims can be overcome. In his opinion there is only one way to do this, namely through a dialogue designed to enable both sides to appreciate each others point of view.

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Uganda: Citizens Yet to Recover From Historical Religious Conflicts
New Vision (Kampala)
OPINION
Rev. Dr. Fred Mwesigwa
25 July 2007

IN a lead The New Vision article of Wednesday July 4, 2007, Dradenya Amazia reported that blood was shed when five students of Itula Secondary School in Moyo were shot by the Police following a stand-off between Christian students belonging to the Scripture Union and Muslim students. True to the summation of the incident by Moyo LC5 chairman Peter Dolo, this was not a strike but a manifestation of religious differences engineered by some old people.

It is unfortunate that the ugly head of religious intolerance has reared its head in Uganda as attested to by the The New Vision editorial of Friday July 6, 2007 that referred to similar incidents in the recent past and argued that the Moyo riot was not isolated.

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Former chef ordained as priest
25-Jul-2007
Joy Online (GHANA)

A former chef of La Palm Beach Hotel, Samuel Benjamin Kofi Annim, has been ordained as a Deacon of the Anglican Church at the Aburi St. Luke's Anglican Church at the weekend.

The Anglican Bishop of Koforidua, Rt. Rev. Francis Benjamin Quashie, ordained Fr Annim, who is also a final year student of the St. Nicholas Seminary, Cape Coast.

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A church's assertive shift toward tradition

Pope Benedict XVI consolidates sweeping changes, reasserting the spiritual supremacy of the Vatican.
By Robert Marquand
The Christian Science Monitor
July 18, 2007

The leader of 1.1 billion Catholics, Pope Benedict XVI, is completing a significant theological shift of the Roman Catholic church – a sweeping change that not only eclipses 40 years of a more moderate and collegial Catholicism, but seeks to reassert the spiritual supremacy of the Vatican and more openly proclaim the authority of the office of pope among all Christians.

Some two years after taking the reins, say Protestant and Catholic theologians and religious experts, the Bavarian-born pope is moving swiftly to affirm orthodox doctrines and medieval church rituals that undermine the spirit of Vatican II, a period of modernization in which the church appeared to be rethinking its centuries-long insistence that it had exclusive claims to matters of grace, truth, salvation, and church structure in the Christian world.

It’s all here …including this quote.

Mass confusion, or the rite stuff?

Will Latin services restore the lore and mystery of Catholic worship?
By Michael McGough
July 13, 2007

On Easter, I attended Mass at Sacred Heart parish in Pittsburgh, Pa., the church where I was baptized and confirmed and where I executed the exquisite choreography required of altar boys in the early 1960s. But, as Thomas Wolfe might have put it, you can't go to your home church again. The Easter liturgy (a less sectarian term than "Mass" and the way my 16-year-old Catholic-school nephew refers to the rite) was in English, not the Latin I had to memorize as a child. The priest faced the congregation, and women played a prominent role.
…

The pertinent question is whether reviving the old Latin Mass is the only way to return mystery to worship. And the answer, I think, is no. I recently attended Sunday Mass at a church in Hollywood at which the liturgy was remarkably like the 11 a.m. Solemn High Mass at Sacred Heart circa 1962, complete with "smells and bells," the sprinkling of holy water and priestly vestments of a French cut. The Mass also had something I don't remember from the old Sacred Heart: an erudite and affecting sermon.

But the Mass, which took me to the same "mysterious world" the pope recalls from his Bavarian childhood, was in English. It was also, ironically, in an Episcopal church. Long before Vatican II, "high church" Anglicans demonstrated that the alternative to the Latin Mass was not "pizza and beer: Jesus is here," but a reverent enactment of the sacred mysteries in a language the people understand and speak.

It’s all here …

Sorry, Pope, but this 'proper church' declaration is surreal nonsense
I'm an atheist but still I resent this joker in Rome slighting my community. A residual theological chauvinism is aroused
Simon Jenkins
The Guardian
July 13, 2007

This week's declaration by the Pope that the Church of England and other denominations are "not proper churches" was strictly for addicts. Like Dr Johnson responding to Berkeley on the non-existence of matter, I was tempted to walk round to my local St Mary's, kick a buttress and "refute it thus". Then I remembered that Pope Benedict is a theological surrealist. His church is like Magritte's pipe: "Ceci n'est pas une pipe." He talks in riddles.

It’s all here …

To some, Mass in Latin more than a throwback
by Elizabeth Gibson
Medill Reports
Jul 12, 2007

…

“The Episcopal Church has tremendous respect for His Holiness but we have a different understanding of the historic faith,” said the Rev. Canon Michael Stephenson of the Chicago Episcopal Diocese. “We believe the Church, if you’re going to use a capital ‘C,’ includes all baptized Christians. They share equally in God’s salvation.”

But Stephenson said the week’s papal decisions won’t have much of an impact on interfaith relations in Chicago. He said it’s painful to hear, but there are more important issues for churches to worry about, such as trying to live by the Gospel.

It’s all here …

The Vatican's Product Recall

Defects found in Protestant and Eastern Orthodox sects.
Timothy Noah
Slate Magazine
low concept: Dubious and far-fetched ideas.
July 11, 2007

ROME—Pope Benedict XVI restated Tuesday what he said were the "defects" of Christian faiths other than Roman Catholicism, prompting anger from Protestants who question the Vatican's respect for other beliefs.
—Ian Fisher, New York Times, July 11, 2007

It's all here ... because, well... because you have to laugh when these things happen. Full text below.

True church

Vatican Reaffirms Catholic Primary
Document Cities 'Wound' in Orthodox, Protestant Churches
By Phil Stewart
Reuters
July 10, 2007

VATICAN CITY, July 10 -- The Vatican said Tuesday that Christian denominations outside the Roman Catholic Church were not full churches of Jesus Christ. Some Protestant leaders responded that this would hurt interdenominational dialogue.

A 16-page document prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Pope Benedict XVI headed when he was a cardinal, described Christian Orthodox churches as true churches, but suffering from a "wound" because they do not recognize the primacy of the pope.

The document said the "wound is still more profound" in the Protestant denominations. "Despite the fact that this teaching has created no little distress . . . it is nevertheless difficult to see how the title of 'Church' could possibly be attributed to them," it said.

It’s all here …

Tolerance greets papal claim of one 'true church'
By Meredith Heagney
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Jul 11, 2007

Pope Benedict XVI has reasserted the Vatican's position that the Catholic Church is the one true church.

The document released yesterday stated that other religions could not be called "churches" in the proper sense because they cannot trace their bishops back to Christ's original apostles.

Local Protestants disagreed with the Vatican's declaration, but they and local Catholics said it is not new and shouldn't affect relationships between Catholics and other religions.

"Obviously, as an Episcopalian, I have a broader sense of what constitutes the true church," said the Rev. Thomas E. Breidenthal, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio.

Episcopalians believe they can trace their roots to Christ's apostles, but Breidenthal isn't offended that the Vatican disagrees, he said.

It’s all here …

Pope's message disappoints other faiths
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 11, 2007 12:00 AM

Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday asserted the spiritual primacy of the Roman Catholic Church.

He did so at the expense of Christian Orthodox churches, which he said are wounded, and Protestant churches, which he said are not really churches at all.

The pope approved a document that says the only path to true salvation is Catholicism. The move was a stark reaffirmation of centuries-old Catholic belief that Protestant churches are lacking because they cannot trace their leadership back to Christ's apostles.

...

The Episcopal bishop of Arizona, the Rt. Rev. Kirk Stevan Smith, was surprised by the pope's position.

"It's disappointing to see such a hard line," Smith said. "I don't know what would cause him to say this at this time."

Smith also pointed out that Catholics and Episcopalians in the community work together frequently. "It's not consistent with what's happening in the grass-roots."

It’s all here …and below the fold is the full text of Bishop Christoper Epting's response.

A city of faith

For a Master Class on Global Worship, It’s Destination Queens
By DAVID GONZALEZ
The New York Times
July 2, 2007

Albert Walters lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he is an Anglican priest and seminary professor. He wanted to learn more about the world’s religions.

Naturally, he went to Flushing.

This dizzyingly diverse corner of Queens is an urban showcase for the varieties of religious experience, where traditions brought over by Asian immigrants coexist alongside those of Catholics, Jews and mainline Protestants. For one week recently, it was also a laboratory for seminary professors who walked around to learn how congregations and cities affect one another. They visited a mosque whose elementary school boasted of excellent test scores, and a Sikh temple where they were treated as honored guests to a spicy home-cooked meal. They met with social workers, police officers and librarians, too, not to mention a troupe of Christian breakdancers.

It’s all here …

Only Adam and Eve?

Homosexuality has become a defining issue for churches
June 20, 2007
By Holly Zachariah
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Homosexuality is wrong. The Bible says so. Leviticus 18:22.

You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; such a thing is an abomination.

But wait. What about Galatians 3:28?

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Such is the riddle for organized religion: Can churches keep true to the faith while accepting sexually active gay men and women into their fold?

It’s all here …

Celibacy waived

Diocese cites special waiver to ordain 1st married priest
Associated Press
05.08.2007

CAMARILLO, Calif. — The Rev. Bill Lowe was ordained as the first married priest in the Los Angeles Roman Catholic Archdiocese.

Lowe, who retired after 32 years as an Episcopal priest in Newton, Mass., was ordained Sunday by Cardinal Roger Mahony by way of a little-known pastoral provision allowing married clergy who have left the Episcopal Church to enter Catholic priesthood. The celibacy requirement is waived.

More than 70 men have used the 27-year-old provision to become Catholic priests in the United States.

Church officials said Lowe was the first member of the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese to be so ordained, and Mahony said the action should be viewed as an exception, not an indication the church is looking to bring in more married priests.

It’s all here …

Family reunion?

Bishops urge Anglicans, Catholics to reunite
[Published: Monday 19, February 2007 - 10:29]

By Maureen Coleman

Senior Catholic and Anglican bishops have agreed on proposals - which will be published later this year - to reunite under the leadership of the Pope, it was claimed today.

In a 42-page statement prepared by an international commission of both churches, Catholics and Anglicans are asked to explore how they might end their split and reunite with the Pope as leader.

The statement is being considered by the Vatican, where Catholic bishops are understood to be preparing a formal response.

It’s all here … and when I hear Bishop Chris Epting tell me this, I will believe it. For more information and resources on ecumenical and interfaith dialogues, check out this page…

UPDATE: Clarifications regarding the front page article in The Times, 19
February 2007, on Anglican - Roman Catholic relations...