28 June 2009: Church and state in South Africa: Zuma's 'Jesus' remarks are dangerous
When President Zuma mused that the AMC might rule till Jesus returns, Archbishop Makgoba thought the comments an unfortunate aspiration to one-party rule, which has done damage to too many of Africa's people. He was speaking as the recipient of the 'Naught for your Comfort Award' and his speech can be found here.

27 June 2009: C of E bishop declares Britain 'no longer a Christian nation'
The Telegraph reports that the Rt Revd Paul Richardson, Assistant Bishop of Newcastle, has said declining church attendance and the rise in multiculturalism mean that 'Christian Britain is dead'. It could well be that the position of suffragan bishop is also in decline; the Church of England General Synod will consider that at its next meeting; the Church Times reports that the post of Suffragan Bishop of Hulme (part of Manchester) will be dissolved when its incumbent retires. If being a good Christian requires discrimination against homosexuals, then perhaps this survey reported in The Times explains the root causes of Bishop Richardson's angst.

27 June 2009: A bishop for the Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior (APCI)
The Diocese of New Westminster announced that the Provincial Synod of British Columbia has confirmed the choice of Barbara Andrews, currently director of the Sorrento Centre, as bishop with responsibility for the APCI. The parishes had been part of the Diocese of Cariboo, which was dissolved after the financial toll from lawsuits regarding abuse at residential schools.

26 June 2009: Canon Prof. Rodwell wins medal
Ekklesia reports that scientist and Anglican priest Canon Professor John Rodwell was awarded the 2009 President’s Medal by the Institute for Ecology and Environmental Management. The British media are calling this the 'top green award'.

25 June 2009: Cuban electoral synod ends in stalemate
Canada's Anglican Journal reports that after 10 rounds of voting in the Diocese of Cuba no new bishop was elected to replace the soon-to-retire interim bishop.

25 June 2009: First female Anglican priest in Ghana
The Ghana News Agency reports that the Revd Hannah Dwomoh, a 60- year-old educationist, has become the first female priest of the Anglican Church of Ghana.

24 June 2009: North American breakaway group status report
Thinking Anglicans is keeping an eye on the activities of the groups collectively calling themselves the 'Anglican Church in North America', or ACNA. So is the US Episcopal Church, which filed this report.

23 June 2009: C of E says organ donation is a Christian duty
The BBC reports that the Church of England is part of the group of church leaders that have appealed to their members to register as organ donors.

23 June 2009: Interview: Christian formation, No longer your grandmother's Sunday School
The Examiner (San Francisco) has published an interview with a leading US Christian Formation specialist, Sharon Ely Pearson. We've discovered by listening that the way you can tell a person is involved in Christian formation is that they use the term 'Christian formation'. Everyone else seems to call it 'Sunday school'.

23 June 2009: Cardinal Newman miracle verified
Catholic Online (USA) reports that the Congregation for the Causes of Saints confirmed the latest miracle attributed to John Henry Cardinal Newman. Cardinal Newman is in line to become the first non-martyred English saint since before the Reformation. The BBC last year noted that no English person who has lived since the 16th Century has been made a Roman Catholic saint.

22 June 2009: Upcoming Church of England General Synod
The General Synod of the Church of England will meet in York from 10 to 13 July 2009. This press release summarizes its agenda.

22 June 2007: Eels for the Bishop of Ely
For 500 years people have evaded the eel tax owed to the Bishop of Ely. But Peter Carter, one of the fens' last traditional eel fishermen, presented a bucket of his slippery catch to the bishop, to commemorate the cathedral's 900th birthday. Cambs24 reports that during his four-day pilgrimage in a fen punt, Mr Carter raised money for a children's hospice, and for St Clement's church in Outwell, where he is a warden. You can watch him at work here.

21 June 2009: Vicar wants thieves' heads hanging on stakes
After thieves stole 20,000 pounds worth of lead from the roof of St George's in Ivychurch, Romney Marsh, the vicar, Jim Field, told Kent on Sunday
that if they caught the culprits, he wanted their heads on stakes outside. He did acknowledge that 'as a vicar I should not be saying this.'
But the picture in the article doesn't look anything like other photos of the church, such as this one or this one.

21 June 2009: Tsvangirai jeered in Southwark Cathedral
Zimbabwe's premier, Morgan Tsvangirai, was welcomed to Southwark Cathedral with the sound of ululations and an emotional rendition of his national anthem. But when he urged ex-pats to return to a country that now enjoyed peace and stability, reports the Independent,
over a thousand exiled Zimbabweans chanted that Mugabe must go. You can see and hear what happened here on the BBC website. The crowd was not impressed. The Church Times filed this report a few days later.

20 June 2009: Church and television in the UK
The Telegraph (London) reports that 'The BBC faces a clash with the Church of England over claims that its new head of religious broadcasting has given preferential treatment to minority faiths.'And Religious Intelligence reports that Bishop of Manchester Nigel McCullough has berated the BBC's children's programming.

20 June 2009: Church blesses fathers with beer
The Telegraph (London) reports on the novel way some parishes have attempted to attract men to church on Fathers' Day. At St Stephen's church in Barbourne, Worcester, for example, children will give men bottles of beer during the service. The bishop of Worcester argues that the free beer is symbolic of the generosity of God. We wonder if this song got entered in the Canadian contest (below).

18 June 2009: Contest in Canada for best new liturgical music: results are in
The Anglican Church of Canada has announced the results of a contest sponsored by the Anglican Foundation of Canada to find better musical settings for the liturgy. Your News Centre editor is the only member of the Anglicans Online staff who can't sight-read music, and is eagerly awaiting getting his hands on a recording of the winning music by Dr Derek Holman.

18 June 2009: Baltimore Convent to be received into the Roman Catholic Church
Eight of the ten members of All Saints Sisters of the Poor will be received into the Roman Catholic church in September. The Living Church reports the bishop visitor as saying that the sisters had become discouraged in their efforts to recruit new members. He suggested that a court battle over the property was unlikely.

14 June 2009: Church and wine in the UK
The Telegraph (London) reports that Bishop of Chelmsford John Gladwin has claimed 'Middle-class drinkers who consume alcohol in their homes are just as irresponsible as drunk youths on the streets'. The photograph accompanying the article shows the consumption not of beer but of red wine. So does the photograph accompanying the Church Times report on Bishop Gladwin's remarks.

14 June 2009: A new Primus for the Scottish Episcopal Church
The Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane, David Chillingworth, has been elected the new Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church. He was the only nominee for the position, but no one has suggested that he is a Buddhist. Before coming to Scotland in 2005, his parish ministry in Northern Ireland had focussed on the challenge of reconciliation. He is the Anglican Communion's first blogging primate, and you can read his weblog here.

13 June 2009: Hope for a miracle in Melbourne
The Age (Melbourne) reports on the end-of-parish agony among parishioners at St Matthew, Ashwood, as the diocese prepares to deconsecrate the church building.

11 June 2009: The clown of God?
The Retford Trader and Guardian (Nottinghamshire, UK) reports on the success of a parish priest who is also a professional clown. A few days earlier, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that the Bishop of South Sydney expressed displeasure at the use of humour in church, asserting that it interfered with the congregation's relationship with God. Tomie de Paola would be rolling over in his grave except that he is still quite alive.

11 June 2009: Unjust discrimination? Is there any other sort?
There has been considerable churn in the UK in recent weeks over the 'Equality Bill', which is currently being discussed in a House of Commons committee. Simon Sarmiento has written a concise reflection on the dispute, in The Guardian, entitled 'Equality, the church, and discrimination'. The author is a principal of Thinking Anglicans, whose coverage of equality legislation is always encyclopedic.

10 June 2009: Australian dioceses suffer big losses in financial markets
The Sydney Morning Herald, referring to the Diocese of Sydney as the richest and largest diocese in the world, reports that it has lost more than AUS$100 million in the value of its investment portfolio (a 50% drop in value) and is looking for ways to cut back spending. The Australian reports that every Anglican diocese was affected, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation notes that the Archbishop of Sydney has written a letter on this topic to all of the parishes in the diocese, calling it 'a terrible loss'.

10 June 2009: Three California churches returned
A California appellate court has returned St Luke's church in La Crescenta to the Diocese of Los Angeles. The US Episcopal News Service also reports that, in unrelated agreements, displaced Episcopalians will return to St John's church, Petaluma and St Paul's church, Modesto. The Modesto Bee reports that the dissenting congregation at St Paul's is walking away from the property before a lawsuit is filed. We have seen no mention of legal wrangling over the parish websites; in every one of these cases the breakaway group has kept the parish URL and has converted the website contents from Episcopal to Anglican.

7 June 2009: Five new bishops for Nigeria
The Guardian (Lagos) reports that at the end of its Economic Empowerment Summit in Lokoja, the Nigerian House of Bishops elected five new bishops. The press release is here.

5 June 2009: ABC appeals for environmental prayer and action
The Christian Post reports the Archbishop of Canterbury urged churches to use Environment Sunday (7 June) as an opportunity to pray for the planet and the campaign for climate change to ensure that the best deal is reached by government leaders at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen later this year.

5 June 2009: Ecumenical report released by ACO
ACNS announced a major ecumenical report 'The Vision Before Us' is now published. The volume records the work of the Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations which maintains an overview of the Anglican Communion’s engagement with Christians of other traditions, and of giving encouragement and advice to the ecumenical activities of the Communion and the Provinces.

4 June 2009: Orombi says Uganda needs to end child sacrifice
Martyrs Day pays homage to the Christian martyrs — 22 Catholics and 23 Anglicans — who were killed at the orders of the Kabaka of Buganda in 1886, after they refused to renounce their faith. At the Anglican commemoration, Archbishop Orombi spoke of suspected cases of ritual sacrifice and urged the government to take steps to stop it, according to The Monitor (Kampala). The New Vision (Kampala also) reports the Deputy Speaker of the government wondered why the country's president and chief justice, both Anglicans, attended the RC commemoration instead of the Anglican one.

4 June 2009: Higher education reasserts higher calling
Rebecca Attwood of The Times Higher Education Supplement reports on the UK conference of Colleges and Universities of the Anglican Communion (CUAC) where speakers say the present financial crisis offers the chance to turn away from market principles in higher education.

3 June 2009: Jerusalem receives healthcare grant
The Episcopal News Service reports that the Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East (the Rt Revd Suheil Dawani, Bishop) received a substantial grant to undertake a training program in neurosurgery. The press release from the diocese is here.

3 June 2009: Church and State in Rwanda
Catholic Information Services for Africa (Nairobi) reports on the protest by Rwandan religious leaders, led by the Rt Revd Emmanuel Koline, over certain portions of a proposed Religious Bill that would 'regulate the activities of the country's religious organizations including regular auditing of their finances'.

3 June 2009: US bishop refuses to release names of study group members
The US Episcopal News Service reports that the bishop who chairs the Theology Committee has declined to release names of the members of its same-gender study group. The Church Times reports that many are unhappy with this decision and are pressuring him to change his mind.

3 June 2009: Colorado church property dispute settled in mediation
The Colorado Springs Gazette reports that all parties have reached an agreement in the dispute that originated when a Colorado Springs church withdrew itself from the US Episcopal Church. The US Episcopal News Service filed this report. The former rector of that church still faces criminal charges, but we shan't be reporting on that until there is a resolution of those charges.

31 May 2009: Bishop from nearby diocese elected 'provisional bishop' of Eastern Oregon
The US Episcopal News service reports that Bishop Edna Bavi Rivera was elected provisional bishop of the Diocese of Eastern Oregon by unanimous vote during a special convention. This is important news in our opinion because we see it as a harbinger of things to come. There are quite a few small dioceses, and bishops are expensive. If these two dioceses can work out a bishop-sharing agreement and it is generally seen to be good, we expect other adjacent pairs of dioceses to try something similar. It may never get to be like dioceses in Ireland, where (for example) the Diocese of Kilmore, Elphin & Ardagh was created by merging smaller dioceses, but it is worth watching.

31 May 2009: Scandal priest goes over to the other side
The Revd Alberto Cutié was called Padre Oprah, because of his advice about relationships. When a Spanish-language tabloid published photos of him on a beach with a woman, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami removed him from his post. Despite the widespread newspaper coverage of the scandal, he was quickly received into the Episcopal Church. The Independent on Sunday reports that this has strained relations between the two churches. Fr Cutié was received into the Episcopal Church by the Bishop of Southeast Florida, Leo Frade, who has written this about why he did it.

31 May 2009: C of E financial loss means turning away clergy trainees after training completed
The Mail (London) reports that the Church of England is turning away trainee clergy for the first time in history after £1.3billion of its investments were wiped out in the financial crisis.

30 May 2009: Village church in England bought by City Council for £1
The Journal (Lowestoft, Norwich) reports that the ruins of the old St Margaret's Church in Hopton on Sea (a bit south of Great Yarmouth) officially now belong to the parish council - bought from the Church of England for just £1.

30 May 2009: Religious leaders and corruption in Nigeria
When the President of the Senate, David Mark, spoke to the synod of the Diocese of Kaduna, the Nigeria Calabash reports, he accused religious leaders of all denominations of blackmailing politicians for financial support.

29 May 2009: High tea atop Westminster Abbey
As part of a tourist initiative by Visit London, the Dean of Westminster has been photographed taking 'high tea' on the Abbey roof. The Church Times shows the picture, and you can see the promotional video on YouTube.

29 May 2009: Riding bikes, raising money for “Waters of Hope”
The St Louis Post-Dispatch (USA) reports on an effort in the Diocese of Missouri to raise money via Waters of Hope through the vehicle of sponsored bike-a-thon rides.

28 May 2009: Names of new Covenant Working Group announced
The Anglican Communion News Service has announced the names of the appointed members of the Working Group to study Section 4 of the Draft Covenant.

28 May 2009: New Bishop of Carlisle appointed
Number 10 (the British Prime Minister's website) announced that the Queen has approved the nomination of James Newcome, Suffragan Bishop of Penrith, as Bishop of Carlisle.

28 May 2009: Trickle-down charity in Wyoming
The Star Tribune (Casper, Wyoming, USA) reports on an innovative approach to missionary outreach being tried by a local church. The adjective 'trickle-down' was first used widely during the Ronald Reagan era in the USA to describe the belief that if the government provided money to large corporations, it would ultimately trickle down to needy individuals. Though Wikipedia claims that the term was coined by Will Rogers.

27 May 2009: Terry Waite considers running as an independent MP
As the Archbishop of Canterbury warned that MPs were being humiliated by publicity over their expenses claims, the former special envoy to the Archbishop of Canterbury wrote a letter to The Times saying he would consider running as an independent, in an effort to bring reform to Parliament. The Church Times' story about this is, oddly, illustrated with a photograph of the Dean of Westminster taking tea on the roof.

27 May 2009: I already quit, so you can't fire me
The Modesto Bee (California) reports that the Diocese of San Joaquin deposed 61 clergy because they have left the Episcopal Church to follow their former bishop into a South American province. The diocese issued this press release. The Diocese of Fort Worth announced that its bishop has sent letters to Fort Worth clergy who have left the church.

24 May 2009: Church and state in the UK
The Archbishops of York and Canterbury have issued a joint statement urging British voters not to vote for British National Party candidates.

24 May 2009: Anglican-Methodist covenant signed in New Zealand
Scoop (New Zealand) reports on the signing by both parties of a covenant between the Anglican and Methodist churches in that country. The Anglican press release on which Scoop based its article is here. The Methodist announcement is here.

23 May 2009: Church and state in the UK
The Times published this essay, 'Enough humiliation. We must move on', by Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, on the recent monetary kerfuffle involving members of that country's parliament. We cannot bring ourselves to use the word 'scandal' over all this. The Times' religion correspondent, Ruth Gledhill, used her blog space to say 'amen' to the ABC's essay. The Independent also said 'amen', but The Telegraph disagreed. From our vantage point, it appears as though responses to Dr Williams' essay are aligning along standard political boundaries, which means that this issue will very quickly become political news instead of Anglican news.

23 May 2009: Church and mammon in Australia
The Sydney Morning Herald reports on ambitious plans to rebuild a burnt-down urban church in the center of Sydney into something much more than just a church. We are intrigued that there is no mention in this article that St Barnabas is an Anglican Church.

23 May 2009: Small-town New York church to rebuild and reconsecrate after arson fire
After a zealot set fire to Christ Episcopal Church in Pottersville, New York, the tiny congregation continued to meet - in the firehall. They pray each Sunday for the arsonist, and overcame the bishop's reluctance to let them rebuild. The Albany Times Union reports that the Bishop of Albany would consecrate the new church, with a cross blackened by flames on its top.

22 May 2009: Diocese of Peshawar helps Swat refugees
As the government of Pakistan attempts to dislodge the Taliban from the Swat valley, the Diocese of Peshawar has set up a relief camp at its Christian Vocational Centre in Mardan. The Church Times reports on the effort to help some of the hundreds of thousands of civilians fleeing the fighting.

21 May 2009: Interim bishop in Zimbabwe helps fight dictatorship
The US Episcopal News Service has published this feel-good story about life for Anglicans being improved in Zimbabwe since Sebastian Bakare became Interim Bishop.

20 May 2009: Church vs state in the UK
Thinking Anglicans has published the otherwise-not-online press release from the 'Faith, Homophobia, Transphobia, & Human Rights Conference' in the UK last week. Basically the UK government intends to stand firm against religious excuses for what it sees as bigotry. A friend drew our attention to this map of sodomy laws worldwide; if we published it but told you it was a map of church conflict worldwide, we don't think you'd find it implausible. The Church Times' report on this conference is not yet accessible to non-subscribers, but an excerpt that summarises it is 'Maria Eagle, Under-Secretary of State in the Government Equalities Office, said that, apart from a few key issues such as whether to have women clergy, churches could not claim to be outside the scope of discrimination law.'