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International-UN-NGOs
Global South Anglicans Reconsider Communion with Western Counterparts
2010-04-23
Anglican leaders in the Global South have been encouraged to reconsider their relationships with The Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada "until it becomes clear that there is genuine repentance."

Some of our Provinces are already in a state of broken and impaired Communion with The Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada. Their continued refusal to honor the many requests made of them ... have brought discredit to our witness," said some 130 Anglicans from 20 provinces at the conclusion of the Fourth Global South to South Encounter in Singapore.

They condemned the two western bodies for their continued "defiance" of Scripture and the rest of the global Anglican Communion with their pro-gay actions.

Specifically, the Global South leaders pointed to the upcoming consecration of the Rev. Mary Glasspool, a partnered lesbian, in Los Angeles. Despite calls by Anglican leaders worldwide to practice gracious restraint in regards to the ordination of partnered gays, Glasspool was confirmed to become the second openly gay bishop in The Episcopal Church. Her ordination is scheduled for May.

The consecration of the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, had heightened controversy in the global church body in 2003.

Several Episcopal bishops in the U.S. and Anglican bishops in Canada have also approved the blessing of same-sex unions in recent years.

"[W]e continue to grieve over the life of The Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada and all those churches that have rejected the Way of the Lord as expressed in Holy Scripture," the Global South leaders stated.

"These churches continue in their defiance as they set themselves on a course that contradicts the plain teaching of the Holy Scriptures on matters so fundamental that they affect the very salvation of those involved."

They further denounced the western church bodies for continuing to claim the name Anglican while pursuing "an agenda of their own desire in opposition to historic norms of faith, teaching and practice."

Anglicans in the Global South have vowed not to remain silent on the controversial actions.

Members of the Anglican Communion, which is the third largest Christian body in the world with 77 million members, are currently considering adopting a document, called the Anglican Covenant, aimed at preventing a split in the communion.

Global South leaders are still reviewing the document and have, meanwhile, suggested the covenant include a requirement that all who sign on to it must be in compliance with Lambeth 1.10, the 1998 resolution that rejects homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture.

The Fourth Anglican South to South Encounter took place April 19-23. In addition to addressing the brokenness of the church body, participants also sought ways to strengthen missions.

They lamented that over the last 20 years they have been distracted by conflicts and controversies that kept them from effectively fulfilling the Great Commission. They agreed to declare the next 10 years a Decade of Mission and Networking, which would include furthering mutual collaboration, harnessing of the potential of professionals and youth, and developing intentional mission strategies for overlooked communities.
The Global South Anglicans are 20 of the 38 Anglican provinces in the world, and far outnumber the remainder.
I'm under the impression that "Global South" is shorthand for African bishoprics, which are considerably more conservative than their British and American brethren. On the other hand, if they're meeting in Singapore, that would imply that the Asian bishoprics are included under that heading. I seem to recall that some of the American congregations have chosen to report to Global South bishops rather than their traditional American ones because of issues such as the above.
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Olde Tyme Religion
Lutherans second church to split over gays
2009-11-20
Conservative members of America's largest Lutheran denomination announced that they are splitting from the Chicago-based Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, making it the second mainline Protestant church to undergo a major schism over the issue of homosexuality and related matters of biblical authority.

The U.S. Episcopal Church has experienced a similar split, with whole dioceses attempting to leave, new Anglican churches formed and a series of property fights in the years since the 2003 consecration of Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

On Wednesday, an 11-member steering committee of Lutheran CORE (Coalition for Renewal), meeting in New Brighton, Minn., said it cannot remain inside the 4.7-million-member ELCA after the denomination agreed at its August churchwide assembly in Minneapolis to ordain partnered gay clergy.

That decision, CORE said in a statement, created "a biblical and theological crisis throughout the ELCA and conflict in local congregations."

"We are not leaving the ELCA. The ELCA has left us," said Ryan Schwarz, a steering committee member from the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in McLean, Va. "A lot of people who are planning to leave are telling us, 'We need you to form a new body that is like a traditional church body.' "

Financing will not be a problem for the yet-to-be-named Lutheran synod, which expects to triple or quadruple its $100,000 annual budget.

"Money has been pouring in since the churchwide assembly," Mr. Schwarz said. "We received more in contributions in the July-to-September quarter than the first six months combined. People are being incredibly generous."

In contrast, the ELCA's board of directors this week cut $7.7 million from its 2010 budget, eliminating 40 positions, though six of them already were vacant. Church officials said the cuts were results of the poor economy and conservative congregations that are withholding their funds out of disagreement with the denomination's direction.

Each CORE church would have to take steps individually to leave the ELCA and join the new synod. CORE has about 86 member churches and claims more than 300 other churches and groups as affiliates.

CORE's announcement stems from a Sept. 25-26 gathering in Fishers, Ind., that drew 1,200 like-minded Lutherans and culminated in a decision to work toward a "possible reconfiguration of North American Lutheranism."

CORE will not join forces with the Milwaukee-based Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) or the St. Louis-based Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) partly because neither ordains women. CORE allows female clergy.

Nor will it merge with the Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC), another breakaway group of 249 congregations, 23 of which have joined the churchwide assembly since August.

The Rev. David Baer, a CORE spokesman, said LCMC's structure is a bit too loose for many CORE congregations.

ELCA spokesman John Brooks said 87 out of 10,300 congregations have taken the first of a required two votes to leave the denomination, and 28 failed to muster the necessary two-thirds majority. Five have left the ELCA since August.

"This news from Lutheran CORE was expected," he said. "We know it takes hard work to organize a new church body. ... There has always been a place in the ELCA for all people despite our differences on various issues."
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Home Front: Culture Wars
Leaving A Church Behind
2008-01-01
It was the last Sunday service at Christ Church. Unable to go "further in a church that continued in a false gospel," the entire congregation, including the rector and church leaders, will sever ties with the national Episcopal Church and reform under a new name: New Hope Anglican Church.

One of the "Connecticut six," the half-dozen churches in the state diocese that disagree with national leadership on departure of scripture, including the appointment of a gay bishop, the congregation will trade its historic building on the town green for a free community room at the Thomaston Savings Bank around the corner. The Sunday service will be held at the bank, starting Jan. 6, until they find or build another house of worship. "We need to celebrate today, but we need to recognize there is a dying," the Rev. Allyn Benedict said in his final homily at the church. Reading off an overhead projector, church members sang hymns enthusiastically, clapping and raising hands in acknowledging their faith. They hugged one another, wishing peace.

The church was founded under the Church of England in 1764. In 2003, Benedict and several other Connecticut rectors clashed with Connecticut Bishop Andrew D. Smith, who supported the naming of V. Gene Robinson as New Hampshire's bishop. Robinson is gay. Benedict and Christ Church leaders also feel the national church is rejecting scriptural authority and traditions of the church.
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Home Front: Culture Wars
Archbishop: No change over gay bishop
2007-12-16
The archbishop of Canterbury said Friday he will not reverse his decision to exclude a gay U.S. bishop from joining other bishops at a global Anglican gathering next year.

The Episcopal Church, the Anglican body in the U.S., caused an uproar in 2003 by consecrating the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. Anglicans are now on the brink of schism, and attendance at next year's assembly, called the Lambeth Conference, has become a focus of the tension. Theological conservatives and liberals have separately threatened to boycott the meeting because of who was and wasn't invited.

The office of Archbishop Rowan Williams said he also had not changed his mind about refusing an invitation to Martyn Minns, a conservative U.S. priest who was consecrated as a bishop in the Anglican Church of Nigeria to minister to disaffected Episcopalians in the U.S.

The Anglican Communion is a 77-million-member fellowship of churches that trace their roots to the Church of England. Williams, spiritual leader of the world's Anglicans, said he has recruited professional mediators in trying to reach greater understanding between the U.S. Episcopal Church and its critics both at home and abroad.

Williams dedicated his Advent message to the crisis. He said that just under half of world Anglican leaders have not accepted the pledges by the Episcopal Church that it won't confirm any more gay bishops for now or approve official prayers for same-sex unions. "We simply cannot pretend that there is now a ready-made consensus on the future of relationships between (the Episcopal Church) and other provinces," said Williams, who does not have the direct authority to force a compromise. "Much work remains to be done."
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Home Front: Culture Wars
Episcopalians Reject Ban on Gay Bishops
2006-06-21
Episcopal delegates Tuesday snubbed Anglican leaders' request to temporarily stop electing openly gay bishops, a vote that prompted the church's leader to call a special session in hopes of reaching a compromise to preserve fragile Anglican unity. The vote by the Episcopal House of Deputies came just hours before Presbyterians, at a separate meeting, approved a plan to let local congregations install gay ministers if they wish.
I'd hate to think of what the Unitarians have come up with.
In Columbus, wrenching debate over the moratorium on gay bishops stretched over two days in the House of Deputies, a legislative body of more than 800 clergy and lay leaders. Top Anglican officials had asked the Episcopalians for a temporary ban to calm the outrage among conservatives over the election three years ago of Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, who lives with his longtime male partner. In a complex balloting system, a majority of deputies voted against a measure that would have urged dioceses to refrain from electing gay bishops. Conservatives complained that the proposal stopped short of a moratorium, but supporters argued it would have set a moral standard for the church and would have signaled that the American denomination understood the concerns of Anglican leaders.
Which they obviously don't...
Outgoing Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, the head of the denomination, said he would use his authority to call a special session Wednesday morning to address the issue again. The meeting will include both the deputies and the church's other policymaking body, the House of Bishops.
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Home Front: Culture Wars
Gay bishop faulted for calling alcoholism a disease
2006-02-16
ScrappleFace
(2006-02-15) — V. Gene Robinson, the first openly-homosexual Episcopalian bishop, came under attack today for a recent statement in which he called his alcoholism a “disease” for which he’s getting treatment.

“Bishop Robinson has reinforced the stereotype that being a drunk is some kind of medical condition that needs a cure,” according to an unnamed spokesman for the American Drunkards Association (ADA), a non-profit group that helps people recover from Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. “Alcoholism isn’t a disease, it’s who we are. We want to be accepted for who we are. The bishop has done irreparable harm to drunken clerics everywhere, not to mention the damage done to millions of lay-drunkards.”

The American Drunkards Association also lobbies lawmakers to gain equal rights for alcoholics — “a large and growing group of Americans who face discrimination daily, especially from the department of motor vehicles.”

“Imagine not being allowed to drive just because of who you are,” said the unnamed ADA spokesman. “Police across the country engage in discriminatory profiling against drunkards, and there’s no public outcry about this civil rights abuse.”

Bishop Robinson, who left his wife to live with his homosexual partner, said he’s “humbled by the opportunity to be the denomination’s first openly-gay, openly-drunk and openly-irresponsible bishop.”

“My life sends a refreshing message to our parishioners of redemption without repentance,” he said. “It’s a real improvement on old-fashioned Biblical principles.”
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Britain
Archbishop: Gay Issue Splits Anglicans
2005-02-19
Comes as a surprise, doesn't it? Who'da ever thunk that'd happen? But it seems to me that, if you're gonna have a church, especially one with magnificent edifaces and the occasional robes of cloth of gold, you should spend some time thinking about concepts like right and wrong. Maybe you could do some research, by reading up on the ideas in your holy book. If you have magnificent edifaces and occasional robes of cloth of gold, but there's no such thing as right or wrong, if it's all relative, then you're not a church. You're a social club with funny hats. You might as well spend the time you devote to Sunday services playing bridge.
The Anglican rift over gay bishops will be costly no matter how it is resolved, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said Thursday. Ties among national churches have been severely strained by the U.S. Episcopal Church's 2003 decision to elect V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire — who is openly living in a gay relationship — as a bishop. "Part of the cost involved in the repercussions of recent events is that it has weakened, if not destroyed, the sense that we are actually talking the same language within the Anglican Communion," Williams told the Church of England synod, which was considering an official report on the issue. "Not having a common language, a common frame of reference, has been one of the casualties of recent events, and there is every indication that that is not going to get better in a hurry," he said.

Robinson's elevation has roiled the 77-million strong worldwide Anglican Communion, which has its roots in the Church of England. The issue has pitted liberals against conservatives within the Episcopal Church, and some African bishops have cut off contact with the U.S. church.
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