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30 March 2008: New Primate enthroned in Southern Africa
The Episcopal News Service (USA) reports that the Most Revd Thabo Makgoba has been enthroned as primate of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. The Independent Online (Cape Town) filed this report and managed to use the word 'ululation' in the first paragraph (though their use of that word does not correspond to our understanding of its meaning). The Anglican Communion News Service published this report a couple of days later.

29 March 2008: Diocese of San Joaquin reconstitutes, elects new bishop
The Bishop of San Joaquin resigned recently, and many of the congregations followed him out. The diocese held a 'Special Convention' at which it elected a new bishop. There is not much coverage on the Diocesan website, but the US Episcopal News Service covered the event extensively. ENS articles include 'San Joaquin diocese prepares for its future', 'San Joaquin Episcopalians place their future in context of healing', and more.

29 March 2008: New bishops in USA for Dallas and Maryland
The Episcopal News Service (USA) reports that the Revd Canon Paul Lambert has been elected Bishop Suffragan of Dallas, and that the Revd Canon Eugene Sutton has been elected Bishop of Maryland.

28 March 2008: New bishop in Canada for Edmonton
The Anglican Journal (Canada) reports that the Revd Jane Alexander has been elected Bishop of Edmonton.

28 March 2008: Church and State in Britain
The Church Times reports that Church of England bishops and Roman Catholic bishops joined forces to oppose the Government’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. The Church Times also published an editorial leader 'Church fails its biology exam'.

23 March 2008: Norwich cathedral evacuated during Easter service
The BBC reports that the fire detection system in Norwich Cathedral was not happy with the number of candles lit by members of the congregation, and that the cathedral had to be evacuated while the fire brigade made sure that the only fire was the candles. The service resumed after candles were quenched and the fire brigade went home.



23 March 2008: Easter Sunday
We're traveling to Frederic McFarland's funeral which will be in Burlington, New Jersey, USA, on Tuesday. You can follow the instructions (below) that we wrote last week if you must have current news. A blessed Eastertide to you all.

16 March 2008: Palm Sunday
Usually we extract from global Anglican goings-on those events that we consider to be international news worthy of your attention. Today our minds are elsewhere (see front page), and so we're going to refer you to some of the places that we usually look for news. If you really want some Anglican News today, you can search the Anglican Communion News Service, the Episcopal News Service (USA), the Anglican Journal, Yahoo News, Google News, the Church Times, the BBC Religion and Ethics wire, and AllAfrica.com. There are often good pointers to news stories on Thinking Anglicans and Episcopal Café. Google and Yahoo news search engines are not perfect, so we usually search for additional Anglican news in The Times (London), The Guardian (London), the Globe and Mail (Toronto), the New York Times, the Sydney Morning Herald, and various other newspapers that we shan't list today.


9 March 2008: Giving up news for Lent?
After our usual weekly research into Anglican news of global import, we've reached the conclusion that there is none. The usual arguments about sex and power continue, the breathless press releases are being churned out, and weblogs are full of emotion about these topics. None of this is news. This is the conflict and blather of church politics, and if you want to stay up to the moment on all of the feuding and power plays, you know that Anglicans Online is not the place to look for it. We hereby declare this to be a week free of news worth troubling you about, and suggest that you go do some reading, meditation, or praying.

1 March 2008: Canadian judge rules against Diocese of Niagara in parish dispute
The Anglican Journal reports that 'An Ontario Superior Court judge ruled on Feb. 29 that the diocese of Niagara may not send its clergy into two area churches in the next two weeks to hold Sunday services for members of the congregations that remain loyal after most of their fellow parishioners voted to leave the Anglican Church of Canada.'

29 February 2008: Detailed reports on Church of England General Synod
Thinking Anglicans has published its roundup of reports (which are themselves published in the Church Times) of the debates at the February 2008 General Synod.

28 February 2008: Canadian primate issues statement to Anglican Church of Canada
The Most Revd Fred Hiltz, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, has issued this statement to the members of that church.

28 February 2008: Dear New Hampshire: Send your money, not your bishop
The Episcopal Café reports that although Lambeth Palace has been careful not to send the Bishop of New Hampshire any correspondence pertaining to the Lambeth conference, it happily asked him to contribute money. We don't know whether or not Nolbert Kunonga was also asked to send money.

28 February 2008 New primate for Tanzania
The Episcopal News Service (USA) reports that the Anglican Church of Tanzania has elected Bishop Valentino L. Mokiwa of the Diocese of Dar es Salaam as its next primate.

27 February 2008: More San Joaquin congregations opt to stay in US Episcopal Church
The Episcopal News Service (USA) reports that a growing number of Episcopalians in the Diocese of San Joaquin are opting to remain within the US Episcopal Church. This report has a great deal of information and detail.

25 February 2008: US House of Bishops will address 'Bishops in Communion' plan
The Living Church News Service reports that 'Four [US]diocesan bishops met with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori Feb. 21 to outline an “Anglican Bishops in Communion” plan that was developed in consultation with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.'

24 February 2008: Victoria Matthews probably to be next bishop of Christchurch
The New Zealand Press Association reports that 'Church sources confirmed to The Press yesterday that Bishop Victoria Matthews was two-thirds of the way through the ratification process.'

23 February 2008: Rumblings of 'a new plan' for US Episcopal Church
The Episcopal Café reports on what is said to be a new plan 'to manage the conflict within the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion'. Much of this material is available elsewhere, but Episcopal Café has spelled everyone's name properly and seems to have gathered information from far and wide.

22 February 2008: USA Episcopal Church media group to operate without an editor
The Episcopal News Service reports that a budget-driven restructuring of the Episcopal Life Media group will result in it 'suspending its search for a full-time editor'.

22 February 2008: UK bookmakers publish odds on replacements for Archbishop of Canterbury
After the recent debacle in which the Archbishop of Canterbury demonstrated that he does not understand how to deal with the media in his home country, the Church Times reports that bookmakers have published odds and are accepting wagers about who might replace him.

20 February 2008: Near implosion at US theological college
The US Episcopal Church recognizes 11 seminaries (theological colleges). One of them turned its attention a decade ago to pressuring and changing that Church. Another, Seabury Western Theological Seminary, this week announced major cutbacks and restructuring. The Episcopal News Service filed this report.

20 February 2008: Australia's Anglicare to run Parliament House childcare centre
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports very briefly that Anglicare Canberra and Goulburn has won a tender to provide child care services for politicians. The Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn has issued this PDF press release.

19 February 2008: GAFCON alternative Anglican conference moves out of Jerusalem
Religious Intelligence reports that the GAFCON organizing committee, which is arranging an alternative to the Anglican Lambeth Conference, has announced that the dates and venue of the Jerusalem conference have been changed. This rearrangement occurred a day or two after the Bishop in Jerusalem, visiting Australia, was sharply negative about the original plans. The Church Times filed this report on the change.


15 February 2008: Ousted Zimbabwe bishop takes over Cathedral by armed force
SW Radio Africa reports that 'The ousted Anglican Bishop of Harare Nolbert Kunonga has reportedly set up residence at the Cathedral, along with 40 members of the notorious Zanu PF youth militia.' The Zimbabwe Independent has a longer report.

14 February 2008: General Synod ends in Church of England
Thinking Anglicans has a complete synopsis of what happened at the Church of England's recently-completed General Synod. Even if you decide not to read all about what happened at that General Synod, you ought to read the Archbishop of Canterbury's Presidential Address and Matthew Davies' report on it.

14 February 2008: New Primate for Sudan
The Episcopal News Service (USA) reports that the Episcopal Church of Sudan (ECS) has elected Bishop Daniel Deng Bul of the Diocese of Renk to serve as its next Primate.

12 February 2008: Canadian bishops warn parishes against separation
The Anglican Journal reports that the bishops of Canada's two Westernmost dioceses have warned their parishes that they may not legally separate from their diocese or from the Anglican Church of Canada. The next day the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada sent a similar warning to all members of that Church, across the nation.

9 February 2008: New bishop in Chicago
Somehow the 2 February consecration of the Rt Revd Jeffrey Lee as 12th Bishop of Chicago was not covered by any of the news media that we monitor. The Diocese of Chicago's website is so oddly structured that we can't even link you to their coverage of it. If you would like to read more about this (unintentionally) Stealth Consecration, go to the Diocese of Chicago's website and look under 'News'.


8 February 2008: Church and State in Britain
The Archbishop of Canterbury provoked a worldwide storm of emotion with remarks that he made in a lecture at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. His office issued a 'What did the Archbishop actually say?' statement for those who might allow fact to interfere with their emotions. It seems to us that many of the thousands of news articles excoriating him were written in a bit of a vacuum. Perhaps when he gives lectures he should have his PR staff hand out summary sheets so that reporters needn't stay for the whole lecture. Dr Williams talked to the BBC before the lecture, and this interview was the cause of the storm of bad publicity. Dr Williams perhaps didn't realize that millions of people had just finished reading the CNN special report on crimes against Iraqi women in the name of sharia. We especially enjoyed this essay by Justin Lewis-Anthony, an English priest. Whatever Dr Williams might have intended to accomplish with this lecture, one byproduct is that no one is talking anymore about who'll be attending Lambeth and why or why not.

8 February 2008: Disputed parts of Anglican Covenant redrafted
The Anglican Communion News Service reports that the Covenant Design Group held its second meeting and issued a second draft of the proposed Anglican Covenant. The Church Times reports on the event.

7 February 2008: Anglican Communion Inter Faith Network releases key document
The Anglican Communion News Service reports that the Network for Inter Faith Concerns (NIFCON) has released a 'key document' titled 'Generous Love'. The NIFCON release notes, which include a link to the PDF version of the document, are here. The Episcopal News Service (USA) does the best job we've seen of explaining what this document is and what it means.

5 February 2008: Liverpool bishop apologizes for his role in blocking Reading bishop appointment
The Guardian reports that the Bishop of Liverpool, in his chapter of a new book, has apologized for the part that he played in blocking the appointment of Dr Jeffrey John as Bishop of Reading. The Church Times has a longer and more detailed report, and Thinking Anglicans has gathered most of the press coverage here.

4 February 2008: Sydney archbishop reminds us he's not going to Lambeth
The Archbishop of Sydney issued another statement announcing that he is going to go to the GAFCON conference in Jerusalem instead of the Lambeth conference in Canterbury. (It's not very different from this one that he issued a month earlier). He also wrote a column in the Sydney Morning Herald to explain his position to the public; that newspaper responded with this editorial noting that 'Absence is no argument'. The Sydney Morning Herald reported the unhappy response of the Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia to the Sydney press releases.


3 February 2008: Church and State in Zimbabwe
The Ecumenical News International reports that the Province of Central Africa has revoked the licence of Zimbabwean bishop Nolbert Kunonga because of his recent rebellious actions. The Associated Press reports that 'Supporters of an Anglican bishop who is a staunch supporter of Zimbabwe's ruling party blockaded Harare's cathedral Sunday, preventing the swearing-in ceremony of his elected successor. Police ignored a court order and did not intervene.'

3 February 2008: First aboriginal graduate of Moore College in Sydney
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Jonathan Lilley was the first Aboriginal to have completed the full, four-year bachelor of divinity course at Sydney's Moore College.

2 February 2008: Sydney announces boycott of Lambeth Conference
The Diocese of Sydney has announced that it is not going to attend Lambeth 2008. (It would have been a violation of Rules 1, 3, 5, and 7.) Meanwhile, the Church Times reports that 'A group of Evangelical bishops in the Church of England have written to conservative Primates urging them to rethink their objections to the Lambeth Conference.' Graham Kings of Fulcrum has written this essay about the going/not-going question.

2 February 2008: Church of England 'venturing into cyberspace' for Lent
The Press Association (UK) reports that 'The Church of England is venturing into cyberspace to urge people to "take something up" for Lent.' Anglicans Online has always maintained that 'cyberspace' is not a separate place but a communications medium, so we are watching this with interest. The Times (London) reports that the Archbishops of York and of Canterbury are backing a Facebook group urging members to find time in their busy lives to complete 50 actions during Lent. The action that The Times lists as an example, 'polishing someone's shoes' is decidedly something that does not require the use of computers.

2 February 2008: New bishop for Rochester
No, the other Rochester, the one in the USA. Dr Nazir-Ali is still on the job. The Episcopal News Service (USA) reports that the Revd Dr Prince Singh has been elected 8th Bishop of Rochester. After surveying the find-a-bishop process, it seems that the good folks of the US Diocese of Rochester like their bishops to come from Newark.

1 February 2008: English church attendance
The Church Times reports 'Attendance slides, but several dioceses buck the trend'. Overall church attendance in England dropped 1% in 2006, but there were exceptions. If you want to see numbers rather than a news article about numbers, here they are.

28 January 2008: South Carolina consecrates the Revd Mark Lawrence as 14th bishop
The Episcopal News Service (USA) reports on the consecration of the Revd Mark Lawrence as 14th Bishop of South Carolina. The list of attendees and consecrators contained no overlap with that of the equally-well-attended consecration of Gene Robinson in New Hampshire a few years ago.


27 January 2008: Interdenominational covenant in Newcastle
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Australian Diocese of Newcastle will shortly sign a covenant of co-operation with the Roman Catholic diocese there.

26 January 2008: San Joaquin Standing Committee told that it is not real
In the US Episcopal Church, each diocese has a 'Standing Committee' that can legally represent the diocese in many circumstances. Here is an explanation of Standing Committees from the Diocese of El Camino Real. The Episcopal News Service (USA) reports that the Presiding Bishop wrote to inform each member of the standing committee elected at the last convention of the Diocese of San Joaquin that she does not recognize them as the standing committee of that diocese.

25 January 2008: Lambeth Conference will happen
The Church Times reports that 70 percent of invited bishops have accepted the Archbishop of Canterbury’s invitation to attend this decade’s Lambeth Conference. Here is the press release from the Archbishop of Canterbury announcing the official programme for the conference.

25 January 2008: GAFCON will happen
The Church Times reports that 'The organisers of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) insist that they will be holding the event in Jerusalem, despite strong protests and an alternative suggestion from the Bishop in Jerusalem.' The Times (London) describes that conference as 'disastrous'.

22 January 2008: England prepares for General Synod
Thinking Anglicans has gathered links to most of the papers prepared for next month's General Synod of the Church of England.

21 January 2008: Canada releases letter from ABC to Primate
The Anglican Church of Canada announced that 'Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has written to Canadian Primate Archbishop Fred Hiltz to say that he "cannot support or sanction" foreign interventions in the affairs of the Canadian Church.' Archbishop Williams' letter was in response to the letter sent by Archbishop Hiltz, the text of which is here.

21 January 2008: Anglican World suspends paper publication, becomes web-only
The Anglican Journal (Canada) reports that the on-paper magazine Anglican World, which recently renamed itself Anglican/Episcopal World, is again renaming itself http://www.anglicancommunion.org/resources/aw/. The domain name "AnglicanWorld.org" was registered in 2004 by Bill Atwood's Ekklesia Society (presumably to prevent its being used by Anglican World), so its online identity remains somewhat ponderous.


19 January 2008: Church and state in New Zealand
The New Zealand Herald reports that the Anglican Church there is lobbying to prevent more shops from being permitted to open on Easter Sunday, asserting that 'enough is enough'.

15 January 2008: Church politics roundup for the USA
The Episcopal News Service (USA) reports that the 'Title IV Review Committee has certified that Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan has abandoned the communion of the church'. In order to inhibit him, three senior bishops would have had to concur, and only two of them did. The bishop who did not concur explained his reasons here. Each of the two sides in the Pittsburgh dispute issued a statement, Bishop Duncan's here and Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh here. Down in Virginia, the Diocese of Virginia has filed a motion in court opposing the involvement of the Attorney General in property disputes. The Episcopal Café reports on the goings-on in the Diocese of San Joaquin when 6 of the 8 members of the Standing Committee refused to join the Province of the Southern Cone.

14 January 2008: Church politics roundup for Zimbabwe
The Anglican Communion News Service has released a Lambeth Palace statement on Zimbabwe church politics from. So did the Anglican Communion Office. The Episcopal News Service (USA) reported on these statements. While the Times of London opines about what it all means, an African radio station and the Zimbabwe Journalists Association note that Zimbabwe state police have been dispatched to help deposed former bishop Nolbert Kunonga deal with his enemies, and also that 'Ousted Bishop Kunonga Goes Berserk in Church'. It seems to us that those Harare Anglicans who manage to live through this are going to be able to say 'I told you so'. The Voice of America reported that 'Riot Police Round Up Anglican Worshipers In Harare In Bishopric Battle'. It must be very convenient to have a vengeful dictator as a close friend.

14 January 2008: Scottish Episcopal Church releases statement on Draft Covenant
Just that.

12 January 2008: Ousted Harare bishop announces formation of new church
Agence France Presse reports that former Anglican bishop Nolbert Kunonga, an ally of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, has formed a splinter church. The previous day, the Zimbabwe Independent reported that the Church of the Province of Central Africa had revoked Mr Kunonga's clergy license along with the licenses of the priests who have sided with him.

12 January 2008: 'You can't fire me; I quit' in San Joaquin
The Episcopal News Service (USA) reports that Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori inhibited Diocese of San Joaquin Bishop John-David Schofield. He immediately claimed that he couldn't be inhibited because he had already separated himself from the organization that she leads. Thinking Anglicans has gathered all of the duelling press releases. The Episcopal News Service also reported on activities intended to reconstitute the damaged diocese after the departure of its bishop and many of its members.

12 January 2008: Fort Worth right on its heels
The Episcopal News Service (USA) reports that the Bishop and Standing Committee of the Diocese of Fort Worth have announced their intention to follow San Joaquin out of the Episcopal Church. We know several people who live there who don't think that the Diocese of Fort Worth was ever actually in the Episcopal Church.

11 January 2008: Church and state in Kenya
The Church Times reports that the Archbishop of Kenya, the Most Revd Benjamin Nzimbi, has called for the votes in the Kenyan election to be counted again, in an attempt to halt violence there.

11 January 2008: Plans continue for Jerusalem meeting of disaffected Anglicans
The Episcopal News Service (USA) reports that plans continue to hold the GAFCON meeting in Jerusalem this summer despite objections from the Bishop in Jerusalem.

11 January 2008: Bishop of Australian Newcastle disassociates from GAFCON
The Rt Revd Brian Farran, Bishop of the Newcastle in New South Wales (as opposed to the Newcastle in the UK) has issued a press release dissociating himself from the GAFCON conference being promoted by the Bishop of Sydney.

10 January 2008: Eastern Newfoundland requires clergy to state their loyalty
The Toronto Star reports that 'a Newfoundland bishop is demanding clergy come to the provincial capital to declare whether their loyalties lie with him or his predecessor, the leader of a breakaway conservative movement'. The Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, had recently written to other Anglican primates asking them, more or less, to stay off his turf.

9 January 2008: New bishop consecrated in Nevada
The Diocese of Nevada has announced (a PDF file, alas) the consecration of its 10th bishop, the Rt Revd Dan Thomas Edwards.


6 January 2008: UK bishop warns of Islamic extremism
The Press Association (UK) reports that the Bishop of Rochester has warned that Islamic extremism in Britain is creating communities which are "no-go areas" for non-Muslims, who face a hostile reception in places dominated by the ideology of Islamic radicals. This report was based on this article in The Telegraph, about which that newspaper published this editorial. Not surprisingly, Muslim groups reacted angrily. The following week, the Church Times reported that the clergy who work in predominantly Muslim areas of urban Britain say that the bishop's allegations are untrue.

4 January 2008: 'Anglican archbishop spurs opposition to gays'
The Age and The Australian report that Archbishop Peter Jensen is galvanising opposition to homosexuality in the church, in the lead-up to an unofficial meeting of conservative bishops in Jerusalem. The Church Times reports that event too, but doesn't focus on the anti-gay aspects of the assembled group. The Australian also reports on the reaction within Australia to this news of Archbishop Jensen's activities. Meanwhile, the Episcopal News Service (USA) reports that the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem has said that he does not want the GAFCON folks to meet in his diocese.

4 January 2008: Church of England releases response to Draft Covenant
The Church Times reports that the Church of England response to the draft Anglican Covenant was published on Wednesday, in advance of a meeting of the international Design Group later this month. The CT headline is 'C of E told it cannot cede power to Primates'. We've not found an official web copy of the response document, but the Church Times has posted a PDF version and Thinking Anglicans has posted it in HTML (easier to read online). The BBC filed this report on the Church of England document, emphasizing disapproval of the incursions by one province into the territory of another.

4 January 2008: Episcopal Church in San Joaquin said to be doing well
The Episcopal News Service (USA) reports that in the Diocese of San Joaquin, whose former bishop led many people and parishes out of the Episcopal Church, those who remain are upbeat and increasing in number.

3 January 2008: Church Times finally offers online subscriptions
After five years of discussion and two years of 'coming soon' messages, the Church Times now offers online subscriptions. We've signed up: the Church Times is one of the most important news sources in the Anglican world.

2 January 2008: South America makes offer to Canadian parishes
The Anglican Journal (Canada) reports that the Archbishop of the Province of the Southern Cone has announced it will accept Canadian parish churches as members.

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