The Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday convened an ecumenical gathering to discuss ways in which Christian-Muslim engagement might be strengthened and deepened.
It brought together more than 40 participants from a broad range of geographical, cultural and denominational settings.
In his welcome to the participants the Archbishop expressed his gratitude that so many had taken the “opportunity for church leaders and scholars representing something of the geographical and confessional diversity of Christianity to discuss together the current experience of dialogue with Muslims – situating the significance of the open letter A Common Word within it, and determining what degree of consensus might be possible as we look forward.”
During the discussions church representatives from around the globe, including Iraq, Lebanon, Nigeria, Malaysia – alongside those from Western countries where Christianity is the majority religion – shared their experience of engagement.
Dr Williams said, “It has been tremendously important to me personally … that we have heard such a range of perspectives. As well as deepening our shared understanding of the challenge before us it has, I think, renewed for us all the significance of the church’s work in this area of cooperation with other faiths for the sake of peace in our common home.”
Read the whole press release from Lambeth Palace Archbishop – Christian-Muslim engagement ‘for the sake of peace in our common home’.
See the website for A Common Word here.
3 CommentsSince the last report here, the Standing Committee of the diocese issued this statement:
Standing Committee Statement on Threatened Deposition
Editor’s Note: The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh has released the following statement regarding the threatened deposition of Bishop Robert Duncan at the September 2008 meeting of The Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops. Their statement has been faxed and mailed to the office of the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church.
The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is saddened to learn the Presiding Bishop and her chancellor will continue to press for the deposition of our Diocesan Bishop, Robert W. Duncan, Jr. for the Abandonment of Communion at the September 2008 House of Bishops Meeting. Although we recognize the authority of the Episcopal Church to discipline and remove its ministers for violations of its canons, we believe Canon IV.9, Sec.1 has been misapplied and Canon IV.9, Sec.2 has been misinterpreted in this instance.
Should our Diocesan Bishop be validly deposed pursuant to the requirements set forth in the canons, the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is prepared to exercise its role as the Ecclesiastical Authority of this diocese.
Unanimously affirmed by the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, May 27, 2008.
And this weekend, a meeting was held at St Andrew’s Church Highland Park, which has been reported on in some detail by Lionel Deimel. Read the report at Resigned to Realignment.
25 CommentsOn Sunday, June 1, 2008, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, in the Highland Park neighborhood of Pittsburgh, held a forum and panel discussion on Bishop Robert Duncan’s plan for “realignment.” Duncan, who has been determined to have already abandoned the communion of The Episcopal Church and is awaiting a vote by the church’s House of Bishops on his deposition, is attempting to change the constitution of the diocese and to transfer the entire diocese from The Episcopal Church to another Anglican Communion province, most likely South America’s province of the Southern Cone. The only bishop ever to have tried this ploy, John-David Schofield, late of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, was deposed shortly after doing so. It is unclear whether Episcopal bishops will, this time around, shut the barn door before the horse gets out…
In an earlier article, I linked to an article in the Church Times by Jonathan Clark explaining why The C of E is losing its own history.
More recently, Brian Crowe wrote in the Church of Ireland Gazette in response to that, the article was titled The embarrassment of history? Restoring proper confidence in our Anglican past.
That article can be read in full here.
1 CommentFor background to this matter, see the Church Times blog entry General Synod to debate evangelising other faiths.
Now, the Telegraph has a report by Martin Beckford headlined Church of England accused of censoring debate on Islam. Regardless of the headline, it appears definite that the item will not be debated in July.
A spokesman for the Church of England insisted the debate on the missionary role of clergy had only been dropped because the other Private Member’s Motion had more signatures.
He said: “Owing to time constraints, the Business Committee has been able to schedule only one such motion for July, on the subject of Church Tourism, which heads the list in terms of the number of signatures from members.”
This is indeed the case, see the list here.
4 CommentsWe reported earlier on the plan to publish guidelines on bullying in church contexts.
Last week, the Church Times had a news article by Ed Beavan Report urges Church to face up to its bullies.
The report is now available online and can be downloaded as a .doc file here. h/t Dave Walker who also had trouble finding it on the web.
5 CommentsUpdated Tuesday
The Provisional Bishop of San Joaquin has received an invitation to the Lambeth Conference.
According to Dan Martins writing about this today:
…In the meantime, “mum” seems to be the word from Fresno on Bishop Schofield’s travel plans post-GAFCON…
Tuesday update
The Living Church reports that Bishops Schofield, Lamb Both Attending Lambeth.
Meanwhile, Episcopal News Service reports in Episcopal Church, San Joaquin diocese amend property dispute that:
11 CommentsThe Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin on June 2 amended their complaint in a lawsuit seeking recovery of diocesan real estate and financial assets, adding Merrill Lynch and the “Anglican Diocese Holding Corporation” as defendants.
“The main reason for the amendment is that we have obtained information that John-David Schofield has actually been transferring both real property and investment accounts (the latter held by Merrill Lynch) to non-Episcopal entities, including specifically a new corporation known as the Anglican Diocese Holding Company,” said Heather Anderson, an attorney with the Goodwin Procter law firm based in Washington, D.C.
The San Joaquin diocese, along with TEC, sued Schofield and several Episcopal legal entities that he asserts the right to control on April 24 “to establish who is the true incumbent of Corporation Sole, which owns most of the real estate of the diocese and accounts such as the investment fund and trust fund” containing more than $4 million in cash, diocesan chancellor Michael Glass told a gathering in San Joaquin on May 31.
“We are just trying to set aside those transactions,” Glass told the “Day of Discernment” conference of about 80 people at Holy Family Church in Fresno on May 31. “We are not going after money or punitive damages, which we are entitled to. We simply want to undo the transactions and have the court declare that John-David Schofield has no more right or authority to purport to act on behalf of the diocese or Corp Sole and to stop doing so.”
Updated again Tuesday evening
Jonathan Wynne-Jones has a report in the Sunday Telegraph headlined ‘Poor quality’ of vicars alarms Church leaders.
This is based on a Ministry Division report entitled Quality and Quantity Issues in Ministry.
…It found that there are “serious concerns” at the top of the Church hierarchy over the quality of its clergy.
The internal report suggests that the standards of new clergy has dropped, because of the demands on the Church to fill vacant posts, while many vicars who have been in the job several years have lost their energy and enthusiasm.
To tackle the problems, the Church is to vet new applicants for ordination more vigorously and is considering changing the selection criteria and a pay review…
…The report, which was produced by the Ministry Division, the Church body responsible for staff issues, reveals deep anxiety amongst bishops over the competence of its paid ministers.
A survey of diocesan bishops found that one-third believe that more than half of current clergy – as many as 6,000 – are unable to cope with the demands of the job.
In addition, 90 per cent of the bishops believe that a third of the new intake of clergy do not have the necessary gifts and abilities…
Sunday evening update
Dave Walker has a roundup of responses on other blogs.
Tuesday evening update
Bishop Alan Wilson has written an informative article at Vicarage Allsorts: Clergy Supply. This shows that we have slightly more clergy than we did in 1950. One of the main reasons is that we now have far more “active retired” clergy than before, 4468 vs. 1262. (Click on the graphic in his article to get the numbers larger.)
And he has written a further article, Vicarage Allsorts: Clergy Quality.
Since Chaucer’s time there’s been public anxiety about this subject. 200 years ago Sidney Smith lamented the decline in the quality of clergy since the enforcement of residence was preventing gentlemen from desiring ordination. In the roaring 20’s, Hensley Henson bemoaned the decline in the quality of ordinands since the first world war. The document quoted in last week’s Sunday Telegraph, however, is barking up a very different tree. A more accurate headline than “poor quality of vicars alarms church leaders” would probably be “desperation to inject alarm into drab HR questionnaire twits journalist.”
As Dave Walker notes, Bishop Pete Broadbent also supplied further information here, i.e. in the comments below.
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