25 December 2005: A Christmas message from the Archbishop of Canterbury
The Christmas sermon preached at Canterbury Cathedral by the Archbishop of Canterbury is a splendid way to end this tumultuous year. You really ought to read it.

16 December 2005: US priest donates kidney to bishop
The Church Times reports that a priest in the Diocese of South Dakota has donated a kidney to her ailing bishop. Press reports, such as this one in the Rapid City Journal, did not mention the identity of the donor.

16 December 2005: Replacement bishop in Malawi rejected by diocese
The provincial court of the Province of Central Africa last week rejected the bishop who had been elected by the Diocese of Lake Malawi, and appointed a retired bishop as a replacement. The Church Times this week reports that a clergy conference in the Diocese of Lake Malawi has rejected the replacement bishop. We gather from reading the report in the Malawi Daily Times, that the diocese's objection is based more on process than on the nature of the person selected by that process.

15 December 2005: Violent church attacks in Sydney race riots
The Australian reports that four churches in Sydney have been attacked as the city's riots 'spread from race to religion'. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the riots began on Sydney beaches.

13 December 2005: Dates for 2008 Lambeth conference announced; primates contacted
The Anglican Communion News Service has posted 'Lambeth Conference 2008 Press Media Release no.01', which announces the location and dates of the next Lambeth Conference. It will be at the University of Kent in Canterbury from 16 July to 3 August, 2008. The Archbishop also sent an Advent letter to all 38 primates. It contains the text 'Those invited will include stipendiary suffragan and stipendiary assistant bishops, as well as diocesans. Spouses will also be invited.'

9 December 2005: Radar finds Confessor's original tomb in Westminster Abbey
The Church Times reports that ground-penetrating radar has located the original tomb of Edward the Confessor, not far from the larger and fancier tomb to which his remains were moved in the thirteenth century.

9 December 2005: More information on Malawi rejection of elected bishop
The Church Times reports in some depth on the vote against Nicholas Henderson, who had been elected Bishop of Lake Malawi.

8 December 2005: Scottish primus statement on civil partnerships
Thinking Anglicans has published a statement from the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church on the subject of civil partnerships. We have not yet found an official copy of this statement online.

3 December 2005: Church in Wales statement on civil partnerships
The Church in Wales has released this statement on civil partnerships, which in summary says that the Church will not develop an authorised liturgy for them.

2 December 2005: Central African province rejects bishop-elect for pro-gay stance
The Mail and Guardian (Malawi) reports that a court of confirmation of bishops in The Church of the Province of Central Africa has rejected the election of a British priest to be bishop of the Diocese of Lake Malawi because he supports gay rights. More detailed information was reported later in The Nation (Malawi).

1 December 2005: New Archbishop of York enthroned
The Yorkshire Post reports on the 'stunningly colourful inauguration service' that enthroned Dr John Sentamu as the 97th Archbishop of York. Other ineresting coverage can be found in The Telegraph (London), the Church Times, The Times, and the BBC.

1 December 2005: Anglican Church of Canada facing extinction?
The Vancouver Sun reports that membership in the Anglican Church of Canada has been dropping two percent per year for forty years, and that if that decline continues, the church will be essentially gone by the middle of this century.

1 December 2005: A fourth primate disowns the Nigerian letter
The Church Times reports that another African primate has distanced himself from the Global South letter that criticised the Archbishop of Canterbury.

27 November 2005: Shakin' Anglican booty in Korea
The Joong Ang Daily (Seoul) reports that the Anglican Church of Korea has found a formula that works to attract a crowd and collect donations for charity.

25 November 2005: Archbishop of Canterbury begins visit to Pakistan
The Anglican Communion News Service reports that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams has begun an eight-day visit to Pakistan with a church service in Rawalpindi. Dr Williams delivered this lecture at the Islamic University in Islamabad. You might enjoy these pictures of the event.

25 November 2005: Shape of the next Lambeth conference?
The Church Times reports that the shape of the next Lambeth Conference could be decided at a key meeting in London. A group of eight people from across the Communion make up the Lambeth design group, and will consider radical changes to the conference which could lower the chances of conflict.

24 November 2005: Anglican bishop criticises Vatican over gays
Reuters reports that the Rt Revd Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire, has roundly criticized the Vatican for a document that it issued barring gay men from being priests.

19 November 2005: Bishops being combative
This week saw a series of events that are best reported together, rather than chronologically. The Church of England is holding its General Synod, and at that event, reports the BBC, the Archbishop of Canterbury asked for more harmony and less bickering. Since that bickering is largely about the most important topic in Africa, homosexuality, the Primate of Nigeria issued a statement carrying the names of 14 Anglican primates attacking the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Times (London) reports that the statement called the Church of England 'evil'. The Archbishop of Canterbury issued this brief and indignant response. News coverage included the BBC, The Guardian, Reuters, and the Associated Press. Shortly some of the people whose names were listed on the Nigeria document issued statements dissociating themselves from it or asking that their names be removed from it; the Church Times filed this report. The Times has a good summary of those statements, and The Telegraph (London) notes that this attack on the Church of England reflects more on the attackers than the victims. The Church of Nigeria quickly issued this press release about those requests for dissociation. The Times' religion correspondent Ruth Gledhill posted these comments on the spat, and the Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Archbishop of Sydney has issued a statement in support of the Nigerian position. Thinking Anglicans has the most detailed coverage we've seen of all this.

19 November 2005: Lawyers stand ready
The Sunday Business Post (Ireland) reports that US bishops have set up a taskforce of lawyers to prevent breakaway conservative congregations holding onto property worth billions of dollars.

17 November 2005: Some English dioceses may be made redundant
The Telegraph (London) reports that the Church of England could axe a number of its dioceses and bishoprics as a result of radical reforms approved by the General Synod.

16 November 2005: Nigeria announces covenant with US 'continuing Anglican' organisations
The Church of Nigeria issued a press release announcing a covenant with the Reformed Episcopal Church and the Anglican Province of America. These groups are classified by the Anglican Communion Office as Not in the Communion.

16 November 2005: English Bishops' wives need help running palaces
The Telegraph (London) reports that a recent review suggested that extra money should be found to pay for outside help to support bishops' wives who lack the time to oversee events. One obvious way to raise that money, of course, would be to sell the palaces.

13 November 2005: Conference of confrontation in Pittsburgh
A conference of conservative Anglicans, sponsored by the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes, has just finished its meeting in Pittsburgh, in the USA. The focus of the conference, at least as reported in public, was to encourage schism in the US Episcopal Church. There is explanatory material on the conference website and on the diocesan website of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, which hosted the event. Press coverage includes the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the New York Times, and the Associated Press. The Post-Gazette reports that during the closing ceremony, the Bishop of Bolivia ordained three deacons and a priest to serve congregations that choose to break away from the Episcopal Church.

13 November 2005: Arson in Canadian cathedral fire
The Toronto Sun reports that the near-total destruction by fire of the Cathedral of St Jude in Iqaluit, Nunavut was probably caused by arson. The Anglican Journal confirmed that it was indeed arson.

11 November 2005: Irregular ordinations in Southwark
The Church Times reports on the unauthorized ordinations of three men inside the Diocese of Southwark by a bishop in the Church of England in South Africa, and on the consequences levied by the Bishop of Southwark for this act.

10 November 2005: Documents from Global South meeting
Thinking Anglicans reports that a new site contains many documents not previously available from the recent Global South Anglican meeting in Egypt.

7 November 2005: Church and state in the USA
The Los Angeles Times reports that a California Episcopal church risks losing its tax-exempt status because of an anti-war sermon preached there in 2004.

6 November 2005: Gene Robinson lambastes Roman Catholic policy
The BBC reports that the Rt Revd Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire, has said in a speech in London that the Vatican's ban on ordaining gay men was 'vile'.

6 November 2005: Corrected version of +Cantuar's speech
On 28 October 2005, The Most Revd and Rt Hon Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, delivered what might in time be considered the most important speech of his career. The official transcript of it, released by the Anglican Communion News Service, is riddled with so many errors that one is tempted to guess that it was transcribed by a speech-recognition computer and not by a person. A corrected version has just been placed online on the Archbishop's website.

5 November 2005: Another split in Sydney
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the welfare arm of the Diocese of Sydney has broken ties with its national body, exposing an escalating rift in the Anglican Church over women bishops.

4 November 2005: Divisions dominate Global South conclave
The Church Times reports that a reading of the communiqué issued by the meeting of Global South Anglicans shows that it is dominated by divisions rather than by unity.

4 November 2005: Pittsburgh diocese threatens to leave
Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh announced that the annual convention of the Diocese of Pittsburgh overwhelmingly passed a resolution threatening to walk apart from the Episcopal Church if the 2006 General Convention does not accede to conservative demands. The Diocese of Pittsburgh released this information about the resolution.

3 November 2005: Canterbury bishop meets New Hampshire bishop
The Anglican Communion News Service reports that the Archbishop of Canterbury met recently with the Bishop of New Hampshire. Both Reuters and the Associated Press filed brief news reports on this event.

2 November 2005: An update on the state of the Panel of Reference
The Anglican Communion News Service has published an interview with Archbishop Peter Carnley, Chairman of the Anglican Panel of Reference.

1 November 2005: ABC apologises to 'cultural captives'
The Times (London), in reporting on the Archbishop of Canterbury's recent speech in Egypt at the Global South meeting, noted that he said 'the Church had committed “error” in making “cultural captives” of those on the receiving end of its missionary endeavours during the days of the British Empire.'

28 October 2005: From the Egypt meeting
Reuters reports that the Archbishop of Canterbury, attending the meeting of Global South Anglicans in Egypt, urged everyone to 'keep talking'. The scant press coverage of that meeting thus far includes this report from the Associated Press and this report from Reuters on what the Archbishop of Canterbury had to say there. Update: attendees at the event have issued this statement, entitled 'A Third Trumpet from the South'.

28 October 2005: Irish primate issues clarification
The Church Times reports that the Primate of All Ireland, Dr Robin Eames, has issued a clarification of remarks that he made during the argument reported below.

22 October 2005: Irish and Nigerian primates spar
Reuters South Africa reports that the Archbishop of Nigeria has attacked (verbally) the Irish primate, and the Belfast Telegraph reports that the Irish archbishop has responded in kind.

21 October 2005: Uganda bishop in London
The Diocese of London reports that the Archbishop of Uganda has appointed an English priest to be a Ugandan bishop based in London. Honest. The announcement is here. Thinking Anglicans offers this commentary.

21 October 2005: Racist reaction to new Archbishop of York
The Times (London) reports that the new Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has received racist letters, some smeared with excrement, since his election to that post.

21 October 2005: ABC to Egypt as Global South divides over Brazil
The Church Times reports that the Archbishop of Canterbury will attend and address the meeting of Global South Anglican leaders, even as that group forms internal dissent over how to handle the Anglican Church in Brazil. The Associated Press filed this report on the six-day meeting.

18 October 2005: Pittsburgh newspaper reports diocesan lawsuit settlement
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the settlement of a lawsuit against Pittsburgh Bishop Robert W. Duncan Jr. upholds current church law. The Diocese of Pittsburgh describes the settlement on its website, and the plaintiff's parish magazine describes both the settlement and the history of that litigation.

18 October 2005: Commentary on Sydney's plan to work with rival churches
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that many Anglicans are alarmed at the proposal to Sydney's synod to offer refuge to dissidents of rival churches.

15 October 2005: 'Calvary' lawsuit in the Diocese of Pittsburgh settled
Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh report that a settlement was filed yesterday ending a two-year-old lawsuit against leaders of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, including its bishop, the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan. The suit was brought by Calvary Episcopal Church, one of the largest churches of the diocese.

14 October 2005: Discord over planned church sale in Sydney
The Sydney Morning Herald reports on unhappiness at a planned sale and redevelopment of church property to raise $450 million as part of a drive to convert Sydney. The plan 'has been condemned by one frustrated Anglican church leader as akin to the Sheriff of Nottingham plundering Robin Hood.'

14 October 2005: Sydney plan to move farther from Canterbury, closer to local evangelical churches
Christian Today (UK) reports that 'Australia’s largest Anglican diocese, the diocese of Sydney will debate on controversial new plans for it to take on independent “Bible-based” churches or congregations from other denominations, reports the Church of England newspaper.' In a related event, that publication also reports that 'Leaders of the Sydney Diocese of the Anglican Church in Australia have proposed the church amend its constitution to make possible a split with the Church of England.'

14 October 2005: New Anglican church in Qatar
The Church Times reports that the Archbishop of Canterbury has pledged his support for a new Anglican church centre to be built in Qatar. It will be the first church construction there since the seventh century.

14 October 2005: US Methodist and Episcopal bishops meet
The US Episcopal News Service reports that 'An historic meeting of United Methodist and Episcopal bishops — the first between the two groups — convened in Evanston, Illinois, October 3-5.' Similar meetings have taken place in other countries; this is a first for the USA.

14 October 2005: New bishop in Papua New Guinea
The Anglican Communion News Service reports that the Revd Joseph Kifau Kopapa has been elected as the next Bishop of Popondota.

12 October 2005: Irish Primate speaks at Yale
The Episcopal News Service reports that 'The Most Rev. Dr. Robin Eames, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, delivered the 2005 Pitt Lecture at the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale October 12, issuing a warning on the future of World Anglicanism.' The report includes the full text of his speech.

8 October 2005: Church and State in Kenya
Christian Today reports that the Anglican Church of Kenya announced it will begin a massive civic education campaign for the referendum on Kenya's Draft Constitution on 21 November.

7 October 2005: Power struggles in Brazil
The Church Times has a good report on the state of the Diocese of Recife in Brazil. The Primate of a neighbouring province has taken over leadership of that diocese in the absence of a diocesan bishop. He wrote this letter to the clergy of that diocese.

7 October 2005: Irish Primate speaks in Washington
The Diocese of Washington reports on the recent visit by the Most Revd Robin Eames, Primate of Ireland, to the National Cathedral and at the Virginia Theological Seminary. This latter visit was reported by the Anglican Communion News Service.

7 October 2005: Confirmation in Sydney
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Diocese of Sydney is considering a change to its confirmation rites so that a priest or lay leader could confirm new church members. Confirmation is performed elsewhere by bishops.

6 October 2005: New Archbishop of York confirmed, speaks out
The Guardian (London) reports that the newly-confirmed Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has said he would have no difficulty ordaining women bishops and has condemned the language used by some about gay men and lesbians. The New Vision, a newspaper in Dr Sentamu's native country, filed this report on the event, and the BBC filed this report.

4 October 2005: Bishop blesses herd
The Bega District News (Bega Valley, Australia) reports that the Rt Revd George Browning, Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, performed the annual Blessing of the Herd at the Bega Cheese Heritage Centre. The lucky herd appears to be dairy cows.

2 October 2005: Clarification in Brazil
The Diocese of Recife has issued a 'Clarification concerning the Anglican Diocese of Recife'. The release is not directly clickable; go to this page and click on 'SOME CLARIFICATION CONCERNING ...'.