In the last issue of 2005, Pat Ashworth of the Church Times reported on this: Malango ‘closes case: Kunonga left to do as he likes’.
Some other recent news reports:
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
4 Jan Anglican parishioners puzzled over Kunonga trial decisions
5 Jan Church has no money for Kunonga retrial
Sokwanele
5 Jan Shameful silence on Nolbert Kunonga, Anglican Bishop of Harare
and this response from a reader on the Sokwanele blog, on 8 January.
I linked earlier to today’s BBC reports on this.
Now, Ruth Gledhill has a report Church wants women bishops by 2012 in Monday’s edition of The Times which discusses further the draft Guildford report that goes before the CofE House of Bishops this week. Ruth has received a copy of this draft.
And she also has a more detailed discussion of the matter on her blog:Women bishops by 2012.
Both items are essential reading.
5 CommentsLast week’s Church Times had a review of the year 2005. Here are links to the various articles:
January, February
March, April
May, June
July, August
September, October
November, December
Press
Radio
Television
Books
Arts
The Press review, which mentions TA, is not actually a review of items, but rather a discussion about the effect of the web on news. TA readers may find this of particular interest.
8 CommentsIn The Times Jonathan Sacks writes about daily prayer: Prayers from the past and present can shape our world of the future.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about Manger, wine and water.
The Guardian again has multiple items on religion:
Face to Faith is written by an Anglican priest, Ruth Scott, in which she talks about a “safe distance”.
The Essay slot has an article by Ian Buruma titled Cross Purposes in which he suggests that Conflicting views about religion threaten to divide Europe from the US.
And Madeleine Bunting has a very critical review of the forthcoming TV programmes about religion by Richard Dawkins in No wonder atheists are angry: they seem ready to believe anything.
The most recent newsletter for supporters of InclusiveChurch can be found on its website. A copy is also below the fold here.
Some dates to note:
Seminar with Bishop of Worcester: Sunday 22 January (application form here, scroll down)
St Albans Pilgrimage: Saturday 24 June, more details here
Day Conference Saturday 14th October
The laity elections for the Archbishops’ Council have now completed:
Archbishops’ Council: Lay members elected.
There is a further election to be held for two clergy places on the Council.
The most current membership list can be found here.
0 CommentsUpdated Sunday
The BBC Sunday radio programme had this report by Robert Pigott:
House of Bishops
There are increasing signs that division among Anglican bishops is intensifying over how to proceed towards legislation in the Church enabling women to be ordained as bishops. The House of Bishops is to meet tomorrow to discuss what options should be on the table at the General Synod meeting in a few weeks’ time, with opinion on both sides apparently polarising.
Listen with Real Audio (3m 38s)
See also this much briefer summary, Split over women bishops deepens
The Church Times has this report today: Hill sceptical about leak of ‘TEA’ plan which refers to rumours found in two earlier reports: this one in the Church of England Newspaper Commissary plan to appease the opponents of women bishops and this one in the Telegraph Church group is split over women bishops.
The official report of the Bishop of Guildford’s Group will be published on Monday 16 January.
Meanwhile the full transcript of the seminar on episcopacy held during the November synod is available within this rtf file. An html copy of the transcript is now here.
0 CommentsUpdated again Monday 9 January
Anglican gay group threatens legal action against Church of Nigeria appeared in Black Britain
Updated Thursday
Reports of the charges made against Changing Attitude by the Church of Nigeria are appearing in other places:
Church of England Newspaper George Conger Answers wanted on Nigerian gay charity
Ekklesia Nigerian church fraud warning includes allegation against gays
And the ACNS has republished one of the two Nigerian press releases here.
And in Nigeria:
Daily Independent Anglican Church disowns Nigerian gay activist
This Day Anglican Church Disowns Nigerian Gay-Activist
Vanguard Anglican Church disowns Nigerian gay-activist
But there is more information about this issue in the comments on this blog than in any of these reports so far.
Update
Changing Attitude has published a new press release today:
Statement by Changing Attitude (England) about allegations against Changing Attitude Network (Nigeria)
There has been a further development in the story about Changing Attitude Nigeria which has been chronicled in detail on TA previously.
First, the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) issued two press releases on 28 December, see PRESS RELEASE – DISCLAIMER– Davis Mac- Iyalla. This leads to a second release which is more general in character, but also contains specific reference to Mac-Iyalla. (The page is currently poorly formatted but remains legible. A copy of it has been republished by ACNS.)
Second, Changing Attitude issued a press release in response to the above, on 31 December, Changing Attitude Network Nigeria responds to criticism by the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion).
50 CommentsThe BBC’s radio programme Sunday has several items of Anglican interest today. (Real Audio required.) Full programme details including interesting items on Judaism and Islam as well here.
Richard Harries
A big figure on the national religious landscape is stepping down in 2006 – like the Chief Rabbi, Richard Harries, the Bishop of Oxford, has a voice that is listened to outside his immediate constituency. He has been doing the job for 19 years – they were turbulent years for Anglicanism, and he was often to be found hacking away at the coal face of controversy. He talks about the highlights of his career.
Listen (6m 7s)
Guest discussion
Ned Temko from the Observer also the former editor of the Jewish Chronicle, Fareena Alam editor of the Muslim magazine Q-News and religious correspondent for The Times; Ruth Gledhill discuss the issue of homosexuality in the Church of England.
Listen (3m 43s)
New Year predictions
A New Year’s Day programme would not be complete without the predictions parlour game. Find out what big stories that the guests think will make it onto all the front pages in the course of the year.
Listen (2m 55s)
From the British newspapers:
Geoffrey Rowell in The Times writes that The calendar of commercialism does not reflect our spiritual rhythms.
Andrew Brown in the Guardian asks, in an essay entitled Belief systems: Are we hardwired for religion, or is it just a psychological and social need?
Two columns deal with the forthcoming 350th anniversary of the “resettlement” of the Jews in England:
Guardian Geoffrey Alderman in the Face to Faith column; and
The Times Jonathan Romain The timeless question: consolidate or integrate?
In the Telegraph, Christopher Howse writes about Naming the birds of heaven.
As it is New Year’s Eve today, the papers have articles about the New Year, like these:
Ruth Gledhill in The Times Bishops resolve to fight the flab – and end world poverty (see more about this column here), while Jonathan Petre in yesterday’s Telegraph was more sombre.
A range of essays from the Fall 2005 issue of Anglican Theological Review is now available from this page.
Several of these relate to the Windsor Report.
The Windsor Report: Communion, Structure, and Covenant by Ellen Wondra (this is an introduction to the set of articles, another copy is here)
A Note on the Role of North America in the Evolution of Anglicanism by Paul Marshall
After Dromantine by George Sumner
Authority, Unity, and Mission in the Windsor Report by Ian Douglas
Thoughts on the Windsor Report: What Went Wrong? by Paul F M Zahl
The Spiritual Context of the Windsor Report by Steven Charleston
“But It Shall Not Be So Among You”: Some Reflections Towards the Reception of the Windsor Report within ECUSA by A Katherine Grieb
Covenant, Contract, and Communion: Reflections on a Post-Windsor Anglicanism by Harold Lewis
Freedom and Covenant: The Miltonian Analogy Transfigured by Ephraim Radner
Restoring the Bonds of Affection by William R Carroll
The Windsor Report: Two Observations on Its Ecumenical Content by J. Robert Wright
The Windsor Report and Ecumenical Dialogue by Kevin Flynn
The Unopened Gift by Jeffrey Steenson
Updated 9 January
“Anglican Mainstream” has issued a press release. The text of it is not currently on at last posted to the AM website but meanwhile it can be found here. It says in part (emphasis added):
Following the passing of the Act, the House of Bishops of the Church of England released a pastoral statement on July 25 2005. Anglican Mainstream, the Church of England Evangelical Council, and Reform all issued responses to the Bishops’ statement between July and September. Between them they represent people in over 1000 churches and 2000 clergy throughout England. The Anglican Mainstream letter… has since been personally signed by over 1700 people, including 290 clergy and two Bishops from 260 churches in 38 dioceses. It has today been presented to the Archbishop of Canterbury as evidence of the deep disquiet within the Church about the pastoral situation which the Civil Partnership Act has created.
The statistics included in this press release are rather interesting. (Of course, any AM-originated statistics warrant caution in interpretation.)
Anglican Mainstream UK (which covers Wales, Scotland, and Ireland as well) has a Steering Committee which includes representatives from: Reform, CEEC, Church Society, and New Wine. It is curious that the latter two organisations are not mentioned in the press release.
If this coalition represents only 1000 churches and 2000 clergy in the Church of England then it would seem to be very far indeed from representing “mainstream” evangelical opinion within the Church of England.
What is even more significant is how few signatures AM has managed to obtain, even after several months of active solicitation.
According to the CofE official website, there are:
“… more than 9,000 paid clergy; more than 2,000 non-stipendiary ministers;… around 5,000 active retired clergy; and 1,100 chaplains in colleges, universities, hospitals, schools, prisons and the armed forces.”
and from here:
“The Church of England has some 16,000 church buildings, in 13,000 parishes covering the whole of England…”
And AM obtained less than 300 clergy signatures from only 260 churches.
40 CommentsIn today’s Church Times Bill Bowder reports on what the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich said in Bishop: gays ‘amongst the best’ clerics.
Earlier in the month, Rachel Harden had two articles: Priests prepare to register their civil partnerships and also Both sides agree: this is not marriage.
And a further report was entitled Don’t try to bend gay rules, says Dr Wright.
This week’s column by Giles Fraser is headlined Protect me from prying bishops.
7 CommentsBBC Radio 4’s Analysis: Is God on their Side?, was broadcast on Thursday, 29 December, 2005 at 20:30 GMT.
Analysis explores the beliefs, the world view and the aspirations of the politically religious in America to discover why so many have come to believe that God, uniquely, is on their side.
Presenter: Andrew Brown
More information from the BBC about the programme
More information from the presenter
Listen to the programme (Real Audio – just under 28 minutes long)
0 CommentsThe Archbishop of Canterbury’s sermon is here, below the fold.
The Archbishop of York’s sermon is on the York diocesan website.
Two weeks ago, TA linked to the first part of a report by Ian Mayes, in his Open Door column, on the Guardian’s coverage of religion. The second part of this got delayed by a Chomskyian diversion, but appeared last Monday. Here it is.
On Wednesday, Richard Chartres talked about Christmas on BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day.
Today, the Guardian also carried an interview with Nicholas Holtam under the headline Motley Pew, and a column by Giles Fraser entitled Don’t leave those kids alone.
There was another good Thought for the Day on Friday, by Angela Tilby. The text of this is currently lost in the post, but you can hear it here (Real Audio): Darwin didn’t think that his theory of evolution dealt a death-blow to religious faith.
And The Times had another leader today: Very civil partnerships.
0 CommentsIn The Times the Archbishop of York John Sentamu writes the Credo column: Like children, we will be surprised and overwhelmed. Also, the Bishop of Colombo Duleep de Chickera looks back at the tsunami, Wave of division that defies God’s timeless love. The Times leader is headed O come, all ye faithful.
In the Guardian the leader is titled In praise of … Bethlehem. The Face to Faith column by Pete Tobias is about Hanukah falling this year on Christmas Day. Another leader is on Living and giving after the tsunami.
The Telegraph leader is titled Christmas and the end of history. Christopher Howse writes about What the bells told Toby Veck.
1 CommentFulcrum has transcribed the whole of the Simon Mayo interview with Rowan Williams previously reported. The transcript starts here, and not only is it complete, but it is also indexed by subject. What an achievement!
2 CommentsIn his advent letter to the Primates of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop Rowan Williams offers his advent hopes for individuals, societies and the Church. For the last of these he gives us just two themes – reconciliation and renewal. Being a sucker for alliteration, I would like to add a third – readiness – to make a new version of the “3 R’s”. I have been trying to reflect on these hopes through the season.
I rather regret that in recent times it has become unfashionable in Advent to preach on the “Last Things” (Death, Judgement, Hell and Heaven). Indeed, instead of looking forward to eternity, we are now asked by our lectionaries to look back (to the patriarchs, prophets, John the Baptist and Mary). To be frank, I don‘t think looking at the past is much help in terms of any of these three “R’s”. So let me suggest an Advent alternative.
From this perspective, reconciliation is about recognising that those we are in dispute with on Earth are also those with whom we hope to spend eternity. Despite the old joke (told at some point against most Christian denominations) there is no walled-off enclosure in heaven reserved for those who don’t think that anyone else is up there. In eternity, those with whom I have fallen out now, and to whom I may have behaved uncharitably, will be closer to me than the nearest human being in this present life. The Advent call to the Churches for reconciliation is therefore not so much “unity in diversity”, as “unity in eternity”.
Renewal also has its Advent dimension. We are to breath new life into our earthbound church so that we anticipate something of eternity. Taking just one example, it’s a call to make sure that the heavenly dimension is not absent from our liturgy and worship. And if that seems a rather too obvious thing to say, it is not that uncommon in my experience to find church services that appear to value matey-ness above mystery. A worship that is anticipatory of eternity will speak powerfully to our emotions, to our intellects and to our aesthetic senses. All too often we settle for being gently entertained.
Finally in Advent we are called to readiness. We are invited to prepare ourselves for a God who acts, not capriciously as did the Greek and Roman deities, but with a consistent and loving purpose moving ever towards the ultimate and complete fulfilment of his will. To be ready means to be prepared to wait. To wait for a God who may act sooner or later than we expect. It means to travel light so that, at any point, we are prepared to drop anything that holds us back from responding to where God is. As Archbishop Rowan has said elsewhere, the task of the Church is to notice what God is doing and join in with it.
In the final days of Advent maybe we can move beyond the remembrance of things past, so beloved of our current lectionaries, and begin to look forward. And as we do so, may we look forward both to that great breaking of God into the world that we call the incarnation, and that even greater breaking in of the world into God that we call eternity.
6 Comments