The Nation reports: Anglican Church to bishops: attend London conference at your own risk:
11 CommentsThe Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) yesterday threatened to impose “serious sanctions” on any Nigerian bishop who attends the forthcoming Lambeth Conference in London.
Registrar of the church, Mr. Abraham Yisa, issued the warning following reports that a Nigerian bishop had broken ranks and would attend the conference opening in London tomorrow.
Yisa told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that “Lambeth is a once-a-decade meeting of all Anglican bishops. We have not confirmed whether any Nigerian bishop is attending the Lambeth or not; we are waiting till the conference opens.
“Should any Nigeria bishop be at the Lambeth, then we cannot rule out serious sanctions against him because it would be contrary to the position of the House of Bishops”.
A source said at least one bishop “is already in London for the conference”.
The source said the bishop, a former employee of Lambeth, might be the only Nigerian attending the conference.
The source added that the bishop was absent at the just-concluded Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem, Israel.
“The bishop had explained that he was absent from GAFCON because he submitted his travel documents late,” the source added.
Nigerian bishops led by the Primate, Archbishop Peter Akinola, said they were boycotting Lambeth because of the invitation of pro-homosexual bishops to the conference.
The bishops also decided to stay away from the conference because of the exclusion of Rev. Martyn Minns, an American, who was consecrated as a bishop by the Anglican Church of Nigeria.
Officials of the Lambeth Conference recently said 230 of the 880 bishops in the worldwide Communion were staying away from the Lambeth Conference.
The entire Anglican provinces of Uganda, Rwanda and Nigeria and at least four bishops from the Church of England are boycotting the event.
The official Lambeth Conference site is here and the official press release is here.
Lambeth Palace published this History.
It’s interesting that only 2 of the 38 provinces now have no bishops registered to attend.
Several sites have published primers about the conference:
The Guardian has this Q&A, the main players, and the absentees.
The BBC has What is the Lambeth Conference?
The Times had this history article.
Many bloggers will be there.
Dave Walker of the Church Times blog explains what he will be doing in this post.
Episcopal Café has a list of Blogging bishops and other Lambeth resources.
Fulcrum has two blogging bishops.
The Conference takes place within the parish of St Stephen’s, and the parish priest has noticed this.
The first press conference will not occur until next Sunday.
6 CommentsBishop Gregory Venables has written a letter to Bishop Schofield and others in San Joaquin, which has been published in full here as a PDF file. It includes the following:
12 Comments…In addition, I have been in conversation with Archbishop Rowan. Over the weekend I received the following message from him: “I understand that Bishop John-David Schofield has been accepted as a full member of the episcopal fellowship of the Province of the Southern Cone within the Anglican Communion and as such cannot be regarded as having withdrawn from the Anglican Communion. However, it is acknowledged that his exact status (especially given the complications surrounding the congregations associated with him) remains unclear on the basis of the general norms of Anglican Canon Law, and this constitutes one of the issues on which we hope for assistance from the Windsor Continuation Group. Bishop Schofield has elected to decline the invitation to the Lambeth Conference issued to him last year although that decision does not signal any withdrawal from the Communion. I hope there may be further careful reflection to clarify the terms on which he will exercise his ministry.”
This statement from the Archbishop of Canterbury is clear, even though we are in somewhat new territory; you remain within the Anglican Communion. Given the rigors of international travel and the work that there is to do in the Diocese, I am in agreement with Bishop John-David’s decision not to attend the Lambeth Conference. I am also aware of statements by Bishop Jerry Lamb in which he makes statements and demands that miss the mark of Christian leadership and fall short of what many consider propriety. I would encourage the clergy and lay members of the diocese to ignore this.
We are glad to have you as full members of the Southern Cone. As you can see, you are well regarded as members of the Anglican Communion. May God richly bless you!
The Government has published yet another White Paper on Lords Reform. You can find it over here.
The section relating to Church of England Bishops is reproduced below the fold.
Ekklesia has already published its opinion, Time to remove Bishops from the House of Lords:
11 Comments…The Church of England, an external institution with its own particular agenda, would be able to parachute whomever they choose into the second chamber of Parliament as a matter of right. This would not be a step forward but a step back into the dark ages of special political privilege. With the Prime Minister’s power to appoint bishops being ended, that section of the House of Lords would be more unaccountable than it has ever been…
We reported earlier on the outcome of the legal dispute at the Parish of Trumpington.
The Cambridge Evening News now has this report: Sacked vicar’s tirade over departure:
A VICAR sacked for “spitting” at his parishioners has posted a lengthy website criticism over his departure.
However, the Rev Tom Ambrose has withdrawn his bid to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights and an employment tribunal after being sacked from his Trumpington parish.
The parish becomes vacant from today and in two ‘vicar writes’ articles on the St Mary and St Michael Parish Church page of the diocese site, the Rev Ambrose is critical of the Bishop of Ely’s handling of the matter…
The two articles in question can be found (for now at least) at
Response to the Bishop of Ely’s decision
Legal representation to the Bishop
Copies of both documents have been archived: here, and also here.
4 CommentsStephen Bates has written a major essay: Church of England: Beset by liberals, hounded by conservatives, Williams needs a miracle to keep church intact.
26 CommentsPreaching to the converted
Gene Robinson is the Anglican church’s only openly gay bishop. He was denied an invitation to this week’s Lambeth conference but came anyway and on Sunday gave a dramatic sermon in London disrupted by heckling. What’s all the fuss about? Stephen Bates explains, while political sketch-writer Simon Hoggart, theatre critic Lyn Gardner and gay atheist Gareth McLean review the bishop’s performance.
Giles Fraser made his own comments earlier, in Here’s to you, Mr Robinson.
23 CommentsChristopher Landau of the BBC has a report Sexuality stance ‘embarrasses’ Anglicans.
Episcopal News Service has this report by Matthew Davies of her Sunday activities in Salisbury, Salisbury diocese welcomes Presiding Bishop, Sudanese bishops for pre-Lambeth hospitality initiative.
7 CommentsTwo items that fall into this category:
Martin Beckford reports Archbishop Desmond Tutu warns Anglican leaders not to abandon tradition of tolerance
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has warned Anglican leaders not to abandon the church’s tradition of tolerance ahead of a critical conference which is set to be dominated by divisions over homosexuality and women bishops.
Ephraim Radner has written, at Covenant an Open Letter to the Lambeth Bishops. This is also available at Fulcrum, see here.
10 Comments…I write to urge you to prayerful action in the face of widespread concerns that the upcoming Lambeth Conference will prove not only wholly irrelevant to the needs of our common life, but perhaps also the last such conference that our Communion will engage. Yet, in large measure, God has placed these matters in your hands. Although I am not privy to the planning, the intentions, and the ordering of the Conference, there are clear signs that the Conference runs the risk of failing to face and respond faithfully to the needs of God’s people within our Communion and her churches…
The Tablet had a leader article about this: Peter, Paul and women bishops. (The previous week they had Flight from women bishops.)
The Bishop of Durham issued an Ad Clerum on General Synod, which can be read here.
1 CommentJim Naughton has published some further reflections on the event, at Live: the sermon, the protester, the press, etc. Part II.
He also corrects some misinformation elsewhere, viz:
1. It is true that many people in the Episcopal Church would like to get us out from under Resolution B033, the legislation passed on the last day of our 2006 General Convention which calls upon “Standing Committees and bishops with jurisdiction to exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion.” This isn’t a secret. Numerous dioceses have already submitted resolutions to next year’s General Convention asking that the legislation be repealed, or superseded. If this legislation passes (a big if—I am not sure there are enough votes in the House of Bishops to get the job done) a gay candidate would have a better chance of being elected and confirmed. The notion that if the legislation passed we’d immediately elect another gay bishop is speculative. The notion that we’d suddenly have five or six is hallucinatory. At this point, it is not even possible to know for which dioceses will be electing bishops, which priests would be chosen as candidates, or how the internal dynamics of the dioceses would affect the elections. (I have gone on about this at some length because I have had calls from three reporters about this story this morning.)
2. Integrity has not provided cell phones for all of the Episcopal bishops attending the Lambeth Conference—or even for those sympathetic to its agenda. The Episcopal Church has provided cell phones for all its bishops—and their spouses, too, I believe.
Those who are not yet satiated with information about last night can find even more material here:
Full video of the sermon is here.
The Bishop of New Hampshire’s own blog is here.
2 CommentsMadeleine Bunting has written an article in the Guardian about Rowan Williams.
It is titled If they did it over transubstantiation, they can find a way over gay priests.
The cliches have been used so often in recent months that one wonders how the reporters will find any thing new to say about the Lambeth conference, which starts on Wednesday. We have already had the headlines announcing “the end is nigh”; the Church of England is collapsing; the Anglican communion is falling apart; and “Rowan Williams’ authority is in tatters”. They have all become so mechanical that one wonders if they have been keyed into some media keyboards: type Lambeth and out they all pour. They betray an astonishing ignorance of much of what is at stake…
Ten years ago, Madeleine was the Guardian’s Religious Affairs correspondent covering the 1998 Lambeth Conference.
0 CommentsThe Vanguard reports:
12 CommentsAnglican bishops reject Akinola’s voluntary retirement
Bishops of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) yesterday rejected a notice of voluntary retirement from Archbishop Peter Akinola, as Primate of the Church.
They requested him to complete his tenure, which ends in 2010.
The Dean of the Church, the Archbishop Maxwell Anikwenwa, said yesterday in Abuja that the bishops prevailed on Akinola to rescind his decision to retire by January 2009.
Anikwenwa, who spoke at a consecration service, said the bishops took the decision after they received the Primates retirement notice on Saturday.
He said the veto by the bishops was pre-empted by wide consultations with other Anglican leaders, particularly from the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON)…
Guardian
Riazat Butt Church of England: Gay bishop accuses church leaders of mistake over invitation snub
Stephen Bates Repent! Biker’s blast at bishop
The Times
Ruth Gledhill Gay American Bishop Gene Robinson accuses opponents of ‘idolatry’
Telegraph
Martin Beckford Gay bishop Gene Robinson criticises Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams
Daily Mail Steve Doughty ‘Heretic’: The first openly gay bishop is pilloried in the pulpit by a long-haired heckler
Episcopal News Service Church need not be afraid, New Hampshire bishop tells Putney gathering
Jim Naughton Live: The sermon, the press, the protestor, etc.
Integrity Fear Not! Gene Robinson preaches at Putney
BBC Heckle that symbolises Church split
Earlier reports are here.
10 CommentsPress Association Protester hits gay bishop’s sermon
BBC Protest disrupts bishop’s sermon
Channel 4 News Katie Razzall Protestor disrupts the sermon by the world’s first openly gay bishop
This video report includes fragments of an interview made earlier today before the service, and summarises the background events leading up to the Lambeth Conference.
Riazat Butt writes at the Guardian that Ian McKellen accuses Anglican church of homophobia.
Watch the entire interview with Andrew Marr on the BBC website here.
13 CommentsUpdated Sunday lunchtime
The Associated Press reports that Pope prays for end to rifts in Anglican church.
The Telegraph has several articles:
Jonathan Wynne-Jones writes Church of England should appoint Britain’s first gay bishop, says Archbishop of Wales and
US gay cleric Gene Robinson ‘received death threats’ from England and also
Dr Rowan Williams’ Anglican power to be tested at Lambeth Conference
and the Telegraph’s list of the 50 most influential figures in the Anglican church (sic) starts here
while George Pitcher writes Dr Rowan Williams: Robust in the face of torment.
The Independent has Gay bishop defies his Lambeth Conference ban.
Theo Hobson wrote in The Tablet It’s good to talk:
The average family gathering relies on certain truths being left unspoken, carefully skirted around. As the bishops and their spouses travel to Canterbury for this decade’s Lambeth Conference, which begins on Wednesday, they resemble members of a large family congregating for a wedding. All are uneasily aware that at the last such event something went wrong: things were said that should not have been said, and a row ignited that has resulted in one branch of the family staying away. Should they try to return to the old friendly atmosphere, or has a new spirit of brutal honesty made that impossible?
Until recently, few British Anglicans gave much thought to the Lambeth Conference, which (in theory) brings all Anglican bishops together once a decade. It was a reminder that Anglicanism was thriving in the colonies and former colonies. It was an insight into the exotic issues that faced native evangelists in sunnier climes. It was a way of discovering what help they needed in spreading Canterbury’s light through the globe…
The Observer has The gospel on being gay.
The BBC has Gay bishop will preach in London.
Updates at lunchtime
The BBC has more reports: Archbishop’s gay ordination offer and Archbishop’s position ‘untenable’ (these two articles refer to different archbishops) and also Bishop supports gay row boycott (this is not an English bishop).
The Press Association has Gay bishop calls decision a mistake and Gay bishop to deliver UK sermon.
40 CommentsThe Sunday Times has an article by John Sentamu Britain’s cruel snub to exiled Zimbabweans.
1 CommentGene Robinson writes in the Guardian about The God I know is alive and active in the church, not locked up in scripture.
In The Times Muhammad Abdul Bari writes that British Muslims plan a summer vision.
Christopher Howse writes about a forthcoming TV documentary in Koranic verses on the duty to kill.
Alan Wilson wrote about Church of Navel-Gazers?
‘Facebook Generation’ Faces Identity Crisis, according to Medical News Today (hat tip Mark Vernon).
12 CommentsRachel Zoll of the Associated Press has interviewed Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and her report of that can be read here.
The Bishop of Arizona, Kirk Smith was interviewed in the Arizona Daily Star and his views are reported in this article: Ariz. Episcopal bishop: Gay’s exclusion ‘insult’.
The Bishop of New Hampshire spoke this week at the conference of the Modern Churchpeople’s Union and what he said is summarised in this article: Lead, don’t manage.
6 Comments