The Most Revd Mouneer Anis, Bishop of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa, and Presiding Bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East will not be attending GAFCON.
He has explained why in a letter. The full text of the letter is below the fold.
Update Saturday evening
There are comments about this on many sites.
Covenant has Mouneer Anis explains his withdrawal from GAFCON.
babyblue asked Uh oh … Mouneer Anis jumps the shark?
18 CommentsThe Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) issued this announcement:
24 Comments21st May, 2008.
For Release to all Media Houses:
ELECTION OF TWO BISHOPS
The Episcopal Synod of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), met at the Cathedral Church of Saint James the Great, Ibadan, Oyo State, on Wednesday, May 14, 2008, and elected the Venerable Akintunde Popoola of All Saints Church, Wuse, Abuja to the See of Offa, Kwara State, where the incumbent was recently translated. Also, the Venerable Geoffrey N. Chukwunenye of All Saints Church, Surulere, Lagos, was elected to the newly created See of Oru in Imo State.
The date and venue for their consecration will be announced later.
Signed
Venerable AkinTunde Popoola
Director of CommunicationsN.B : In Anglican ecclesiastical terminology a See is the area of jurisdiction of a diocesan bishop while Translation, as applied to a serving bishop, means transfer to another diocese
Secretariat:
24, Douala Street, Wuse P. O. Box 212, ADCP, Abuja, Nigeria.
Tel: +234-9-523-6950, 523-0987/9,
Fax: 523-1527, 523-0986.
E-mail: communication@anglican-nig.org
Website: www.anglican-nig.org
The Episcopal Church, USA held a press conference in New York on the Lambeth Conference today. It featured the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church and the Rev. Dr. Ian Douglas, professor at Episcopal Divinity School and a member of the Conference’s design group.
You can watch the entire press conference here.
Related news story:
Lambeth Conference will help bishops strengthen partnerships, Jefferts Schori tells media
And earlier:
Lambeth Conference will focus on equipping bishops for mission
24 CommentsThere is a report in The Monitor (Kampala) by Tabu Butagira headlined Church of Uganda Steps Farther Away Over Gays (via AllAfrica.com)
…By Wednesday last week, at least 108 Ugandans had signed up to attend the June 22-29 symposium in Jerusalem that is expected to attract 1,000 people from 17 provinces of the Anglican Communion in the global south, representing about 35 million active followers.
The Communion has 38 provinces plus related churches representing some 80 million people across the world. Each province is led by a primate.
Forty two Ugandan bishops plus their spouses will be among those who will also visit sacred sites in Jerusalem such as the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane and the Ophel Gardens and Temple steps where it is believed the first Pentecostal, Apostle Peter, preached…
The Rev. Canon Aaron Mwesigye said the upcoming conference will reinforce the faith and remove growing anxiety over the homosexuality and same-sex marriage debate that has pitted the liberal wing of the church against the conservative one.
“The Anglicans in Uganda want to remain steadfast in faith [but] when they begin to hear about things like homosexuality penetrating the Anglican Communion, they get worried that the future of Anglicans is uncertain,” said Canon Mwesigye, the spokesman/provincial secretary of the Church of Uganda.
This says 42 bishops, cf. Church Times report earlier, mentioning 31 bishops.
10 CommentsRemember that business about letters from the Archbishop of Canterbury to selected bishops? See for example, this earlier article.
Well, now read this in the Living Church Canterbury Calling: Archbishop on the Phone for Lambeth
7 CommentsArchbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams’ Pentecost letter to the bishops of the Anglican Communion was not the anticipated communication in which he reportedly would ask bishops to predicate their attendace at the Lambeth Conference this summer upon their willingness to accept the recommendations in the Windsor Report.
A spokesman said Archbishop Williams had modified his plan to write to bishops whose stated positions ran contrary to the colleagial gathering of equals he envisions for Lambeth. Instead, Archbishop Williams has been in telephone contact with a number of bishops, asking that they honor the integrity of the meeting, the spokesman told The Church of England Newspaper…
I reported earlier on the letter sent to the Primate of Uganda, Archbishop Henry Orombi.
On Thursday he responded to this. The full text of his letter is below the fold.
Episcopal News Service reported on this in Uganda archbishop responds to Presiding Bishop’s objection to his ‘incursion’ into Georgia by Matthew Davies.
41 CommentsBill Bowder has a report in the Church Times today Two months to go and bishops are still checking in.
On Wednesday, numbers stood at 620 of the possible 880 bishops in the Anglican Communion. Officials calculate that about ten per cent of sees are vacant. Nigeria has said that none of its 141 bishops will attend; nor will Uganda’s 31 bishops. This leaves fewer than 20 bishops unaccounted for.”
…The Anglican Communion Office said on Wednesday that it had received no official notification that any of the bishops who had been invited were not attending.
“It is not wise to say who will be there till much closer to the event,” said a spokesman.
So far, 570 spouses have registered for the spouses’ conference.
This week, the organisers of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) said that 280 bishops had registered to attend. GAFCON, a conservative gathering, takes place in Jordan and Jerusalem next month. It is now clear that many bishops plan to attend both conferences.
No mention in this article of others who have said they will not come:
Dave Walker has a nice cartoon here.
The official conference website has three posters, here, here, and here.
There are also numerous bookmarks here.
The bishops of the Anglican Church of Australia recently agreed a Protocol about Women in the Episcopate.
The text of this document can be found as a PDF file on the national church website, here.
It is also reproduced in full below the fold.
16 CommentsThe Irish Independent reports under the headline Plea for unity over gay bishop argument that:
The Archbishop of Dublin has urged Church of Ireland members not to split over the issue of ordaining gay men as bishops, which has caused a crisis for the world-wide Anglican Communion.
Speaking last night at the Synod’s annual service in Galway, Archbishop John Neill also suggested that a resolution of the church’s “gay bishop” crisis could be found when the world’s Anglican bishops meet in July for their 10-yearly Lambeth Conference…
The full text of John Neill’s sermon can be found here.
The synod is also reported by Episcopal News Service in Archbishop reflects on Holy Land visit, condemns car bomb attack:
Harper, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland since February 2007, told a news conference following the synod’s opening session that the Church of Ireland remains in communion with every part of the Anglican Communion and spoke about his hopes for this summer’s Lambeth Conference of bishops. “I believe that we will find a way to manage the differences that we have with respect to everyone’s ethically held positions,” he said.
Harper described the July 16-August 3 conference in Canterbury as an opportunity for the bishops “to pray together, to study together, to discuss the problems and issues which are particularly current from their own perspectives and in their own backgrounds, to gain strength from one another, and to recognize in one another a Communion which goes back over many centuries.”
Acknowledging that it has the power to make resolutions, but that the Anglican Communion’s 38 provinces are not required to conform to them, Harper said the conference “was never set up as a legislative body and it is not that now. If there is a particular direction that is to be embraced by the whole Communion, it isn’t the Lambeth Conference that makes that decision.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, has invited some 880 bishops to attend this year’s gathering. Harper noted that certain bishops and primates have indicated their intention to boycott the Lambeth Conference, but said he expects the once-a-decade gathering to “reinforce the relationships amongst those bishops who attend.”
Also, the full text of Alan Harper’s presidential address to the synod can be found here (PDF).
6 CommentsLast week, the Church Times carried a lengthy article in which the Editor, Paul Handley, interviewed the Bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson.
This is now available for all to read, at Never lonelier, never more blessed.
5 CommentsThis GAFCON press release 1,000 Christian leaders, 280 bishops to GAFCON in Jerusalem has been issued.
Over 1000 senior leaders from seventeen provinces in the Anglican Communion, representing 35 million church-going Anglicans, have registered for the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem at the close of the online registration process. They include 280 bishops, almost all accompanied by their wives. Final attendance figures will depend on smooth processing of requested visas, and other factors.
GAFCON leaders have met in the period leading up to Pentecost with the leaders of Anglican, Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Eastern Catholic churches and Palestinian Christians and Messianic Jews in Jerusalem to brief them on the nature and purpose of GAFCON. GAFCON is concerned to affirm the continuing presence of the Church in the Holy Land.
Archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney, the chair of the Programme Committee reports that the programme is almost complete. “Our programme will focus on the transforming love of Christ. We will be drawing from the scriptures of the Old and New Testament in our pilgrimage, and their relevance to the challenges facing the church globally today. These include secularism, other religions, poverty and HIV/Aids as well as moral and theological issues.”
Pilgrims will visit traditional sites in Jerusalem during the pilgrimage June 22 – 29, 2008 including Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane and the Ophel Gardens and Temple steps where at the first Pentecost Peter preached and people of all nations responded. The 1000 pilgrims will travel to Bethlehem to the Church of the Nativity and Shepherds’ Field, and then to Galilee.
The goals of the GAFCON conference in Jerusalem are to:
1. Provide an opportunity for fellowship as well as to continue to experience and proclaim the transforming love of Christ.
2. Develop a renewed understanding of our identity as Anglican Christians.
3. Prepare for an Anglican future in which the Gospel is uncompromised and Christ-centered mission a top priority. Pentecost 2008
This release does not mention Jordan, but the conference brochure (PDF) does refer to “An initial consultation in Jordan…”
Meanwhile, criticism of GAFCON from open evangelicals continues, see Graham Kings’ recent address here or another version here, which was in the Church of England Newspaper.
39 CommentsUpdated Thursday evening
Scroll down for the response by Archbishop Orombi
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has written to Archbishop Henry Orombi.
See Episcopal News Service Ugandan primate’s ‘incursion’ into Georgia violates Windsor Report, Presiding Bishop notes.
Archbishop of Uganda Henry Orombi’s actions to visit a Savannah congregation on May 14 without the invitation of Episcopal Bishop of Georgia Henry Louttit “violate the spirit and letter of the work of the Windsor Report, and only lead to heightened tensions,” Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori wrote in a May 12 letter to Orombi.
“We are more than willing to receive you for conversation, dialogue, and reconciliation, yet you continue to act without speaking with us,” Jefferts Schori wrote in her letter sent by email. “I hope and pray that you might respond to our invitation and meet with representatives of this Church.”But noting that Orombi’s planned visit comes without Louttit’s invitation, “I must protest this unwarranted incursion into The Episcopal Church,” Jefferts Schori wrote in her letter.
According to reports, Orombi plans to meet May 14 with clergy and laity who voted in October 2007 to disaffiliate with the Episcopal Church. The group continues to occupy historic Christ Church, Savannah, while the continuing Episcopal congregation meets at Savannah’s Church of St. Michael and All Angels. Christ Church, Savannah, dates from 1733.
The full text of Jefferts Schori’s letter follows.
May 12, 2008
The Most Revd Henry Luke Orombi
Archbishop of Uganda and Bishop of Kampala
PO Box 14123
Kampala
UGANDA
EAST AFRICAMy dear brother,
I understand from advertising here that you plan to visit a congregation in the Diocese of Georgia on 14 May of this year. The diocesan, Bishop Henry Louttit, has not given any invitation for you to do so, nor received any information from you about your planned visit. I must protest this unwarranted incursion into The Episcopal Church. I am concerned that you seem to feel it appropriate to visit, preach, and exercise episcopal ministry within the territory of this Church, and I wonder how you would receive similar behavior in Uganda. These actions violate the spirit and letter of the work of the Windsor Report, and only lead to heightened tensions. We are more than willing to receive you for conversation, dialogue, and reconciliation, yet you continue to act without speaking with us. I hope and pray that you might respond to our invitation and meet with representatives of this Church.
I remain
Your servant in Christ,
Katharine Jefferts Schori
cc:
Bishop Henry Louttit
Archbishop Rowan Williams
Update Thursday evening
Archbishop Henry Orombi has responded to this letter in an email published at Stand Firm which you can read here.
20 CommentsThe Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has today sent an open letter to the bishops of the Anglican Communion, in advance of the Lambeth Conference.
The full text of the letter is online and can also be found below:
The Feast of Pentecost is a time when we give thanks that God, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, makes us able to speak to each other and to the whole world of the wonderful things done in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a good moment to look forward prayerfully to the Lambeth Conference, asking God to pour out the Spirit on all of us as we make ready for this time together, so that we shall indeed be given grace to speak boldly in his Name.
I indicated in earlier letters that the shape of the Conference will be different from what many have been used to. We have listened carefully to those who have expressed their difficulties with Western and parliamentary styles of meeting, and the Design Group has tried to find a new style – a style more reflective of that Pentecost moment when all received the gift of speaking freely about Christ.
At the heart of this will be the indaba groups. Indaba is a Zulu word describing a meeting for purposeful discussion among equals. Its aim is not to negotiate a formula that will keep everyone happy but to go to the heart of an issue and find what the true challenges are before seeking God’s way forward. It is a method with parallels in many cultures, and it is close to what Benedictine monks and Quaker Meetings seek to achieve as they listen quietly together to God, in a community where all are committed to a fellowship of love and attention to each other and to the word of God.
Each day’s work in this context will go forward with careful facilitation and preparation, to ensure that all voices are heard (and many languages also!). The hope is that over the two weeks we spend together, these groups will build a level of trust that will help us break down the walls we have so often built against each other in the Communion. And in combination with the intensive prayer and fellowship of the smaller Bible study groups, all this will result, by God’s grace, in clearer vision and discernment of what needs to be done.
As I noted when I wrote to you in Advent, this makes it all the more essential that those who come to Lambeth will arrive genuinely willing to engage fully in that growth towards closer unity that the Windsor Report and the Covenant Process envisage. We hope that people will not come so wedded to their own agenda and their local priorities that they cannot listen to those from other cultural backgrounds. As you may have gathered, in circumstances where there has been divisive or controversial action, I have been discussing privately with some bishops the need to be wholeheartedly part of a shared vision and process in our time together.
Of course, as baptised Christians and pastors of Christ’s flock, we are not just seeking some low-level consensus, or a simple agreement to disagree politely. We are asking for the fire of the Spirit to come upon us and deepen our sense that we are answerable to and for each other and answerable to God for the faithful proclamation of his grace uniquely offered in Jesus. That deepening may be painful in all kinds of ways. The Spirit does not show us a way to by-pass the Cross. But only in this way shall we truly appear in the world as Christ’s Body as a sign of God’s Kingdom which challenges a world scarred by poverty, violence and injustice.
The potential of our Conference is great. The focus of all we do is meant to be strengthening our Communion and equipping all bishops to engage more effectively in mission; only God the Holy Spirit can bind us together in lasting and Christ-centred way, and only God the Holy Spirit can give us the words we need to make Christ truly known in our world. So we must go on praying hard with our people that the Spirit will bring these possibilities to fruition as only he can. Those who have planned the Conference have felt truly touched by that Spirit as they have worked together, and I know that their only wish is that what they have outlined for us will enable others to experience the same renewal and delight in our fellowship.
This is an ambitious event – ambitious for God and God’s Kingdom, which is wholly appropriate for a Lambeth Conference. And our ambition is nothing less than renewal and revival for us all in the Name of Jesus and the power of his Spirit.
May that Spirit be with you daily in your preparation for our meeting. As Our Lord says, ‘You know him, for he lives with and will be in you’ (Jn 14.17).
+ Rowan Cantuar
16 CommentsAnglican Church Bans Polygamy is the headline of a news article at PM News by Kazeem Ugbodaga:
The Anglican Communion in Nigeria has banned polygamy among members of the church.
The ban was handed down by the Archbishop and Primate of the Church, Most Reverend Peter Akinola.
Worried by the proliferation of marriages in the church among polygamous members, Akinola wrote to all Anglican Communions in the country to desist from such practice, which he described as unscriptural.
According to him, the integrity of the Christian faith is far more important than the reputation of those who turn their backs on the word of God.
“Those of us who are in the forefront of the prophetic call for a return to Biblical truth, cannot close our eyes to the increasingly blatant disregard for the teaching of the Bible on family life.
“The observation will destroy our witness if not firmly addressed. We cannot claim to be a Bible-believing church and yet be selective in our obedience,” he added.
Akinola stated emphatically that whosoever is involved in polygamous marriage, no matter how highly placed, must come under authority of the Bible.
He warned that any attempt to trivialise the Bible’s teaching on monogamy as the ultimate standard for the Christian family “will make a mockery of whatever else we stand for.
“Sadly, sometimes, even our leadership has looked the other way on this matter.”
The Anglican Communion Nigeria, during the crisis on whether to ordain gays (homosexuals) as preachers in the Anglican Communion overseas, stood against it…
Update Saturday
The BBC has a report on this, Warning for Christian polygamists.
76 CommentsThe Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has written to the Anglican church in Burma following the devastation of Cyclone Nargis in the area of the Irrawaddy River Delta.
See statement from Lambeth Palace here, and for background links to relief agencies, see the ACNS copy here.
In the letter to Archbishop Stephen Than Myint Oo, Dr Williams assures the church of the prayers of the Anglican Communion and commends the rescue operation now underway:
“I am heartened to know relief efforts are underway to help hundreds of thousands of people who are without clean water, food, or shelter. Our hearts grieve with all those who have lost their loved ones, their homes and their livelihoods. In the face of such loss, all I can offer in my prayers for you is the totality of the love of God, even in the face of all that on earth is disfigured by natural disaster. ‘This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.’ (John 6.39). Please be assured that your brothers and sisters across the Communion are holding you in their prayers.”
The Anglican church in Burma is known as the Church of the Province of Myanmar. Its leader is The Most Revd Stephen Than Myint Oo, Archbishop of Myanmar & Bishop of Yangon.
Update
Update from the Anglican Church of the Province of Myanmar
The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, USA has issued a statement about Zimbabwe. See ENS Presiding Bishop’s statement on the Zimbabwe crisis.
For earlier statements see here and earlier ACNS had Archbishop Thabo Makgoba calls for UN arms embargo on Zimbabwe.
Also, USPG: Anglicans in World Mission has issued a statement, see ACNS Anglican Church in Zimbabwe is making a difference:
USPG: Anglicans in World Mission, has been heartened by the response to the call to prayer issued for (27th April 2008) by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York.
The Rt Revd Michael Doe, General Secretary of USPG today said: “USPG: Anglicans in World Mission, as the principal Anglican agency working in the Dioceses of Zimbabwe, has been overwhelmed by the response individuals, parishes and Dioceses are making to the call to prayer.
“We’d like to follow up the Archbishops’ call to ask for the prayers of individuals for the specific needs of those dioceses, and to share some of the good work that is continuing there. USPG has continued to stand by the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe, and its steadfastness is an example to us all…”
And ENS also has Zimbabwe Anglicans face ‘communist-style’ persecution, says bishop.
0 CommentsUpdated Tuesday evening
The Lambeth Palace press release was titled Archbishop to convene the 7th Building Bridges seminar in Rome.
Reuters reported it as Pope discusses Islam relations with Anglican head.
Vatican Radio had an interview: Pope Meets with Head of Anglican Communion.
The entire interview (8 minutes) can be downloaded from here. This is worth listening to in full.
Zenit has ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY VISITS BENEDICT XVI.
The Guardian has Vatican lends hand to Williams in battle to shore up Anglican unity.
Update Tuesday afternoon
Another Lambeth Palace press release is headed Archbishop – ‘friendly meeting’ with Pope Benedict and this page, headed Interview with Vatican Radio in Rome, links to a shorter audio recording and transcript of what was actually broadcast.
See also Archbishop of Canterbury, Pope Benedict discuss ecumenical, Muslim-Christian relations from ENS and Archbishop of Canterbury – ‘friendly meeting’ with Pope Benedict from ACNS. $5 minimum deposit casino canada
Tuesday evening
There is also this report in the Catholic Herald based on an interview with Cardinal Kasper, and this interpretation of it by Ruth Gledhill.
ACNS has published a Statement by the Church of the Province of West Africa on the state of the Anglican Communion.
44 CommentsThe Church of the Province of West Africa (Anglican Communion) meeting in Douala, Cameroon, on the 11th day of April, in the year of our Lord, Two Thousand and Eight, having considered very carefully, among other pressing and very important issues, the current general state of the Anglican Commuion in the light of same – sex relationship receiving official recognition and approval by some dioceses and provinces, an issue which is seriously threatening the unity of the Communion, do hereby make the following statement:
1 i. That we are resolved to continue to be in communion with the See of Canterbury as we unequivocally and unambiguously remain in the Anglican Communion.
ii. In this regard, we reiterate the resolution of Anglican Consultative Council, Hong Kong, August 2002 in response to Archbishop George Carey’s urging that dioceses “that are considering matters of faith and doctrine that could affect the unity of the Communion to consult widely in their provinces, and beyond before final decisions are made or action is taken.”
iii. We affirm the importance of showing concern and regard to the rest of the Communion.
2. We, however, out rightly condemn and reject the unacceptable action of some of the members of the Communion in the blessing and formal acceptance of same-sex marriages and relationships, the appointment, election and ordination to ecclesiastical offices of those persons who openly admit and declare that they are homosexuals and lesbians (cf Romans 1:26-27). That such practices of some of the members of our Communion do exist and that they are to be treated pastorally, we deny not. However, that they be given official recognition and acceptance by the Church of God as a standard form of life is quite another stand which we cannot and dare not accept.
3. We reiterate that while we remain members of the Communion, we shall continue to abhor such practices and, therefore, appeal to those members to reconsider their actions in the light of Biblical Teachings and Christian Principles.
4. We wish to commend the Leadership of the Anglican Communion for all the efforts being made in the face of many challenges to keep the Communion intact just as our forebears did down the ages in the midst of numerous controversies.
5. We further urge all members of the Communion to tread very cautiously in these trying and challenging moments of our existence even as we each try hard to uphold the beliefs and practices of the Anglican Communion especially as have been espoused by various Gatherings and recognized Organs which symbolize instruments of Unity within the Communion, and we do urge all to “make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Eph. 4:3)
6. In a debate, name-calling should be avoided. Reducing the conversation to Liberals versus Conservatives is not helpful; it only adds fuel to an already inflamed situation.
If you think that some of the Manchester report’s proposals are complicated, then try this.
Paul Bagshaw has prepared diagrams to show how the proposals in the Appendix to the St Andrew’s Draft of the Anglican Covenant might work.
See them here (PDF).
3 CommentsThe Presiding Bishop of the Southern Cone Gregory Venables is interviewed by Ruth Gledhill. See Archbishop Greg: ‘Why I’ll be at Lambeth’.
The Bishop of New Hampshire is also interviewed by Ruth Gledhill. See Lambeth: Bishop Gene and Bishop Greg.
Update Friday morning
Not only is Bishop Venables coming to Lambeth, but so also is the Bishop of Fort Worth, see this announcement.
