18 October 2019: Banned books on display in Durham Cathedral
The Church Times reports that as part of the Durham Book Festival, the cathedral library has put on a display of historic books that were once banned for their provocative concepts. Their authors include Dante, Milton, Galileo, Diderot, Hobbes and Defoe.

17 October 2019: Anglican churches reject Sydney archbishop's stance on same-sex marriage
Archbishop Glenn Davies suggested that supporters of same sex marriage should please leave the church. The Guardian reports that Bishop Jeremy Greaves in Southern Queensland responded with a statement that all God's children are welcome there, and no one is asked to leave. The Archbishop of Perth, Kay Goldsworthy, found it troubling that the welcome in Anglican churches was not universal, and the Archbishop of Melbourne, Peter Freier, said the church would not turn people away. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, even conservative rectors shuddered when they listened to Dr Davies' comments.

17 October 2019: Retired bishop of Quebec to run for Greens in 'election like no other'
Canada's Anglican Journal reports that Dennis Drainville will run for the Green Party in the federal election. He feels the new parliament will have to make momentous decisions about climate change, and also about the growing concentration of power in the prime minister's office. The leader of the Green Party, Elizabeth May, was studying to become an Anglican priest before she entered politics.

11 October 2019: New York cathedral makes progress on restoration six months after fire
The US Episcopal News Service tells us the restoration of the Cathedral of St John the Divine has progressed enough that it was able to host the New York City Fire Department's annual memorial service, with a fire clean-up crew’s scaffolding serving as part of the backdrop for the ceremony.

4 October 2019: ABC tells of his vision for future of Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion News Service (London) tells us Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, gave a 'powerful vision for the ministry of the Anglican Communion' at a recent meeting of CCEA, the Council of the Church in East Asia. The text of his speech does not yet seem to be online, but you can read the ACNS article to get a sense of what he said.

3 October 2019: 'Heartbreak' over early resignation of South African bishop
The Anglican Communion News Service reports the resignation of Dino Gabriel, Bishop of Natal, 'precipitated by the consequences of pressures on Diocesan finances'. Towards the end of the ACNS report, it mentions 'South African media outlets report that he has been driven out by hostile leaders within his diocese.'

1 October 2019: US Episcopal school to remove from buildings the names of leaders who ignored abuse
The Concord Monitor (New Hampshire, USA) reports that St Paul's school in Concord, which had named two of its buildings after former leaders, plans to remove their names from the buildings because they took no action in response to complaints of sexual misconduct. One leader gave a favourable job recommendation to a teacher who had a sexual relationship with a student.

30 September 2019: English vicar in midnight vigil catches thieves stealing lead from parish roof
The Telegraph reports the story of an English vicar in Wiltshire who caught thieves stealing lead from his roof because he was there for a midnight vigil. Because scrap-metal dealers in England pay cash and don't ask questions, lead thefts from church and cathedral roofs is a serious problem. The thieves are rarely caught.

26 September 2019: Church in Wales achieves 50/50 gender balance
The Anglican Communion News Service reports that after the recent election of Cherry Vann as Bishop of Monmouth, the Church in Wales now has an equal number of male and female bishops.

26 September 2019: New Primate for Nigeria
The Anglican Communion News Service (London) reports that the Church of Nigeria has elected Henry Chukwudum Ndukuba as the next Primate of the Anglican Church in Nigeria.

26 September 2019: New Archbishop for South East Asia
The Anglican Communion News Service (London) reports that the Church of South East Asia has elected Melter J. Tais, an indigenous bishop from Sabah in Malaysia, as the next Archbishop of South East Asia and Primate of the Anglican Church of South East Asia.

24 September 2019: Canada Synod votes to review governance structures
Canada's Anglican Journal reports that the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada has voted to launch a review of that church's governance. A motion for a constitutional review passed on the last day of General Synod, setting the stage for a thorough examination of its governance structures.

23 September 2019: Two new bishops in Ghana
Ghana Business News (Accra) reports that the Anglican Church of Ghana has consecrated Debukari Tong as Bishop of Tamale and Paul Appiah-Sekyere as Bishop of Dunkwa-on-Offin.

19 September 2019: New bishop tasked with training leaders for Ethiopia's fast-growing churches
The Anglican Communion News Service (London) reports a new area bishop for the rapidly-growing churches in the Gambella region of Ethiopia has been given the important task) said raising up and training Christian leaders would be the new bishop's most important job.

19 September 2019: US Federal judge rules against splinter group in favour of Episcopal Church in South Carolina
When many parishes in the Diocese of South Carolina separated from the US Episcopal Church years ago, the South Carolina state courts ruled that they owned the name 'Diocese of South Carolina'. It seems to us that many of the state judges were Episcopalians who attended the breakaway churches. This week the US Episcopal News Service reported a ruling by a Federal judge (also a resident of South Carolina) that the breakaway group was guilty of false advertising and trademark violation and must immediately stop its use of trademarked names that belong to the Episcopal Church. Noting how litigious the South Carolina group has been, we are confident that they will appeal this decision, but the appeal would be to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Virginia.

14 September 2019: Wai now Bishop Quayle
The Wairarapa Times-Age (New Zealand) reports on the ordination of Waitohiarki Quayle as the first Maori woman bishop in the Anglican Church of New Zealand. She is 69, and was made deacon in 2013. Until recently she was Maori manager of health services. Anglican Taonga has more coverage here.

10 September 2019: New bishop for Bathurst
The Diocese of Bathurst has announced the election of the Revd Mark Calder as its next bishop. Fr Calder is currently a minister in the Diocese of Brisbane, and before that in the Diocese of Sydney. Sydney has a better information distribution network than Bathurst, and remembers well the man who did such a good job in Sydney's Parish of Roseville, so Sydney has published a comprehensive announcement of this event. Anglicans Online has confidence that Fr Calder will lead the Diocese of Bathurst out of its current difficulties, and we congratulate him on his election.

10 September 2019: Diocese of San Joaquin plans solar power for all church buildings
The (US) Diocese of San Joaquin in central California has 22 faith communities and lots of sun. The Episcopal News Service reports that it plans to become The US Episcopal Church's first solar-powered diocese. By the end of next year, the bishop hopes that nearly all its properties will have solar panels. The church will provide a location, developers will commit to installing the panels, and a utility will agree to acquire the energy produced for a set period of time. Various parish churches have invested in solar; San Joaquin may be the first diocese to do so.

9 September 2019: US Episcopal Church begins racial audit of church leadership
Noting that the US Episcopal Church 'is one of the whitest Christian denominations in America', that church's Executive Council has announced and begun a racial audit of church leadership, to learn just how far the church needs to go to adapt to the population demographics. Meanwhile, the Baltimore Sun reports on an effort by a church in Baltimore to understand its 19th-century role in slavery, in which it discovered that at least one parish family was descended from slaves who had been owned by a former rector of that church.

6 September 2019: Brazilian bishops blame Amazon fires on 'greed and hatred'
The Anglican Communion News Service (London) reports 'A group of 15 Brazilian bishops representing the Anglican church in Brazil have called on their government to take action to stop the spread of fires in the Amazon rainforest.'

6 September 2019: Hundreds of clergy facing hardship despite vast C of E wealth
The Guardian (London) reports that hundreds of Church of England clergy are in financial hardship, with some resorting to credit cards or pay-day lenders to pay their bills. Last year the Clergy Support Trust gave 1.8 million pounds in grants to 459 clergy. About 3,000 of England's 20,000 clergy are self-supporting, often by having a pension from an earlier career.  

5 September 2019: No decision on ABC's attendance at GAFCON
Premier (London) reports 'The Church of England's representative in Parliament says no decision has been made about whether the Archbishop of Canterbury will attend the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Kigali, Rwanda next year.'

3 September 2019: Alison Cheek, first female US Episcopal priest to celebrate Eucharist, dead at 92
The US Episcopal News Service reports the death of the Revd Alison Cheek, one of the first female priests in the US Episcopal Church and the first to publicly celebrate the Eucharist, has died.