30 March 2011: US Episcopal House of Bishops' retreat ends
Episcopal News Service (ENS) has posted a summary of the 6-day retreat of the House of Bishops. Themes of the meeting: selection, recruitment and formation of young leaders; preparing the church for the opportunities and challenges of the 21st century.

30 March 2011: Some important meeting ends
We have dim memories that there's a Standing Committee meeting going on somewhere. They never have told us where, nor just what the goal of these meetings was, nor what the authority of the Standing Committee might be. But the Anglican Communion News Service has faithfully released the fourth and final despatch from that committee, the bulk of which seems to be announcements of future meetings of that and other committees. A lot of people are going to earn Gold Tier status in their Flying Clubs.

28 March 2011: Manchester Cathedral to host 'new age' festival
Last week, we reported on Liverpool Cathedral's twist on raising revenue combined with community outreach. This week, the Manchester (UK) Evening News reports local Anglican leaders have agreed to throw open the doors of the historic cathedral in a bid to embrace alternative forms of Christianity. Fortune tellers, meditation experts and traditional healers will fill the pews during the day-long festival in May. "The Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Revd Nigel McCulloch, said he wanted to celebrate 'all forms of spirituality'."

26 March 2011: Anglican Communion Standing Committee meeting this week
The Anglican Communion News Service (London) reports that the 2011 Standing Committee is busy doing whatever it is that international standing committees do, and has issued a daily bulletin for their first meeting day. The bulletin is missing some basic facts, such as where the committee is meeting and what its charter and purpose might be. But you can read it if you like. We know that some international committees exist primarily to help their delegates earn frequent-flyer miles and hotel-stay points, but we don't think this one is like that.

25 March 2011: Zimbabwe's Anglicans forced to worship in pubs
The Telegraph reports that tens of thousands of Zimbabwe's Anglicans are being forced to worship in pubs, tents and private schools while their churches stand empty, shuttered by a bishop loyal to President Mugabe.

25 March 2011: Windows land in loving hands
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports on the acquisition by the Cincinnati Art Museum of four Louis Comfort Tiffany windows from the now-closed parish of St Michael and All Angels (aka Grace and Grace-St Luke). The church, now a mission known as 'Gabriel's Place', had voted to sell the windows to raise money for their new mission project. They also wanted the works to be preserved and available to a wider public.

25 March 2011: Liverpool Cathedral site of club dance night (innovations in fund raising)
The Liverpool Echo and the student news site from the Liverpool Screen School report that the cathedral has been booked for the Liverpool Rave, a series of workshops to provide a gateway for people for the music industry. The day ends with a club night in the cathedral. Because the cathedral does not charge visitors a fee to enter, a spokesman said, 'One of the clear drivers underpinning everything is the fact we do not receive any real funding from the Church of England. We find ways which allow us to run and maintain the Cathedral. A Grade I-listed building does not look after itself.' The student news site has more details to put the event in better context.

20 March 2011: Global shadows
The events in Japan and Libya have so dominated global news that most Anglican newsmakers have this week wisely refrained from issuing press releases or doing much that is momentous. The usual collection of feel-good statements about these crises have been issued by church officers, but we've never considered that sort of thing to be news. ACNS has a roundup of Anglican 'avenues for giving' aid to Japan here.

20 March 2011: Groups in Malaysia decry stamping of bibles
The Sun Daily (Selangor Darul Ehsan) reports on controversy surrounding the government's stamping bibles with serial numbers and 'for the use of Christians only, by order of the Home Minister'. The Rt Revd Bolly Lapok said the restriction of the Malay language bibles among the Malay-speaking natives of Sarawak destroys the goodwill and peace in its majority Christian community.

19 March 2011: Diocesan voting on proposed Covenant begins in England
The Diocese of Wakefield has voted against, and the Diocese of Lichfield has voted for. The Wakefield website hasn't (as of our publication time) been updated to include this news, but the Church Times has the story.

18 March 2011: USA convention deputies gather to discuss same-sex blessings
The US Episcopal News Service reports on a recent meeting in Atlanta 'to begin a churchwide consultation on same-gender blessings'.

17 March 2011: New Bishop for Diocese of Trinidad and Tobago
Newsday (Port-of-Spain) reports on the consecration of the Rt Revd Claude Berkley at Holy Trinity Cathedral, Port-of-Spain.

14 March 2011: New Bishop of Lynn
The Diocese of Norwich (UK) announced the Very Revd Jonathan Meyrick as the next Suffragan Bishop of Lynn. He is succeeding the Rt Revd James Langstaff, who is now Bishop of Rochester.

13 March 2011: Bishop returns - wearing two mitres
The Falkland Island News reports on the visit of the Rt Revd Stephen Venner, bishop of the Falkland Islands and to the UK armed services. Although we don't usually report on Bishop Visitations, we like to include items we find from parts of the Worldwide Anglican Communion not often seen in our News Centre.

13 March 2011: New bishop in Kerala
The South Asia Mail reports that Thomas K. Oommen has been consecrated as the 12th Bishop of the Madhya Kerala Diocese of the Church of South India. Bishop Oommen promised that the church would speak for the oppressed and afflicted, and will pursue an active political role to ensure the welfare of the people.

12 March 2011: Island owned by Canadian parish becomes wildlife preserve
The Times and Transcript (Moncton, New Brunswick) offers a great deal of background information in its report on the transformation of Grindstone Island, owned by the Parish of Sackville in the Diocese of Fredericton, into a wildlife preserve.

11 March 2011: Anglican Communion responds to the Japanese earthquake
Anglicans around the world have offered their prayers and support to the people of Japan, after a devastating earthquake hit the country's northeast coast, according to the Anglican Journal and New Zealand's Anglican Taonga. The Anglican Communion News Service has heard that many churches of Tohoku, including the cathedral, suffered heavy damage. Since this is a huge global news story, we know you'll be able to find up-to-the-minute coverage at your preferred online news source.

11 March 2011: Archbishop of Canterbury writes to Anglican Primates
The Anglican Communion News Service has published the text of a letter sent from the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Primates of the Anglican Communion and the Moderators of the United Churches. It's about the locus of authority in the Anglican Communion and the recent Primates meeting in Dublin. Key sentence: 'The unanimous judgement of those who were present was that the Meeting should not see itself as a 'supreme court', with canonical powers, but that it should nevertheless be profoundly and regularly concerned with looking for ways of securing unity and building relationships of trust.'

10 March 2011: Robbers snatch ₦.8 Million From Nigerian bishop
The Daily Trust (Nigeria) reports that armed robbers stole 800,000 Nairas (about €3700) from the new Bishop of Asaba, holding him and his wife at gunpoint until they had finished looting.

10 March 2011: Anglican bishop fights deportation from Israel
The Jewish Chronicle (London) reports that Bishop in Europe Suheil Dawani has appealed his deportation to Israel's Supreme Court. That newspaper also observes: 'While the Christian congregations in the region continue to dwindle - there are only a few thousand Anglicans in Israel and the West Bank - the churches remain major landowners of prime real estate in Jerusalem and other cities.'

10 March 2011: African bishop urges focus on gender equality
The Post Zambia (Lusaka) reports that the Bishop of Eastern Zambia has urged that country to focus on gender equality, empowerment of women and equal access to education.

8 March 2011: Ghanaian bishop insists 'we are one family'
The Anglican Communion News Service (London) reports that Bishop of Sunyani Festus Yeboah-Asuamah has urged fellow theologians to 'try as much as possible to keep the Anglican Communion together – we are one family'.

8 March 2011: Queensland church attendance spurt seen as temporary
The Sydney Morning Herald says that the number of people attending church in Queensland has increased after the recent floods, but that historically church attendance because of traumatic events is only temporary.

7 March 2011: Canadians discuss opening communion to the unbaptized
The National Post (Toronto) reports on an article by a London, Ontario parish priest in the Anglican Journal which suggests that the altar should be a symbol of inclusion rather than exclusion. The discussion in the daily paper included a letter which prompted the headline, 'Misguided Anglican Church'; while the lively discussion in the Anglican Journal tended to be more favourable.

5 March 2011: Diocese of Ripon and Leeds votes 'yes' on merger proposal
The Diocese of Ripon and Leeds (England) has announced that its Synod agreed in principle to the creation of a single 'super-diocese' for all of West and North-west Yorkshire. This isn't going to happen until the other dioceses involved (Bradford and Wakefield) also approve it, but this is certainly a green light of one kind or another. We predict that the biggest sticking point will be the name of the new diocese, and recommend that they use the approach favoured by American sport venues and sell the naming rights to the new diocese. Imagine the 'Diocese of Barclays' or the 'Diocese of Tesco'.

5 March 2011: Christchurch cathedral rubble found to contain no dead
We learn from the Otago Daily Times that the excavation of Christchurch Cathedral in New Zealand revealed that no one was killed in the collapse of the spire. It had been widely reported that about two dozen people were inside when it collapsed. No one is yet quite sure where those people are, and they have not yet been removed from the list of victims. New Zealand native Dallas Graham, writing in The Guardian (London) suggests that it would be inappropriate to rebuild a stone cathedral in a high-risk earthquake zone. One of your News Centre editors lives in a high-risk earthquake zone (just a few km from a famous active fault line) and is well aware that there are no stone or unreinforced buildings still standing anywhere nearby. The norm in such places is doubly-reinforced concrete with a significant number of oversized steel frames and beams. Buildings made that way do not have the organic elegance of Victorian stonework, but they don't fall down.

5 March 2011: New bishop for Colombo
The Asian Tribune reports on the recent election of the Ven Dhiloraj Canakasabey as the fifteenth Bishop of Colombo. Although it was a Nigerian-style election (only one candidate), due process in the diocese required him to obtain a 2/3 majority approvalboth in the House of Laity and the House of Clergy of that diocese.

5 March 2011: Church of Ireland synod rejects plan to delay episcopal election
At a special meeting of the General Synod of the Church of Ireland, the bill proposing that the calling of an electoral college for the See of Tuam, Killala and Achonry be delayed for the time being to allow for consideration of episcopal ministry in the Diocese was defeated. We suspect that somebody out there is willing to write down an explanation of the intrigue that would cause a special meeting of the General Synod. It's mysterious, because usually events like this have something to do with sex, which this obviously doesn't.

4 March 2011: Jerusalem bishop files lawsuit against Israel
The Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem was denied a residency visa by Israel. The Guardian reports on Israel's reasons and the bishop's response.

3 March 2011: Statement from meeting of bishops in Tanzania
The Anglican Communion News Service reports that 'Nineteen bishops of the Anglican Communion this week announced that the Communion was stronger together than apart and that its members needed one another.' The bishops who met there are not at all the 'usual suspects' for a Dar Es Salaam meeting, and we speculate that if you tried to guess their identity, you'd fail utterly.

1 March 2011: Church and state in the UK
Church news in the UK this week has been dominated by the 'Derby foster care case'. If you're not familiar with the case (which is to say if you live outside the UK) you can get a good sense of it from this BBC report. We find Andrew Brown's commentary on the case to be important for anyone interested in church and state. Or you can wade in and read everything about it here. Thinking Anglicans has a good mix of news reports here.

27 February 2011: Earthquake in Christchurch topples cathedral and much more
The major earthquake in Christchurch New Zealand has been reported in most world media. There has been passing mention that one of the buildings to be damaged was the city's Anglican cathedral. The best picture we've seen of the damage to it is on its diocesan website, christchurch.anglican.org. An early report in the New Zealand Herald noted police had said there was no possibility of survivors in the rubble of the collapsed cathedral. Naturally the city's attention is focused on recovering the bodies of those who were killed and tending to those who were injured, but there is talk of rebuilding it. The Brisbane Times reports that a church pianist just kept playing as the church collapsed around her; she survived.

The US Episcopal News Service reports on the role the cathedral plays in the life of its host city. The Telegraph (London) noted that its collapsed spire was the centre of the carnage. The Telegraph also noted that the very city of Christchurch 'embodies the dream of the Church of England to create a Christian city on the other side of the world'. It was first populated by 'Canterbury Pilgrims' hand-picked by Church of England authorities.

The Church Times did a good job reporting on the sense of despair in Christchurch and how church leaders are dealing with it. If you would like to contribute to the Diocese of Christchurch's recovery fund, the instructions are here.

26 February 2011: Property settlement in Ottawa
After months of negotiation, the Diocese of Ottawa has reached an agreement with two breakaway congregations. The Ottawa Citizen reports
that the diocese will disestablish the parish of St George's and sell it to the Anglican Network in Canada for a substantial sum of money. At St Alban the Martyr, Network clergy and members of the congregation who wish to join them will leave and start a new congregation. The diocesan news release can be found here (a PDF, alas), and ANiC's announcement here. While both sides had to compromise, both are happy to have negotiated a settlement.

26 February 2011: Crusade chaos
A visiting Pentecostal preacher in Monduli, Tanzania, stirred up strong feelings against other faiths, and some Muslims reacted by destroying the Pentecostal church, and also the Anglican church, and injuring twelve staff and students at the Mama Anna School. A number of suspects have been arrested, according to reports in the Daily Guardian (Dar-es-Salaam) and the Daily News.

25 February 2011: Bishop in Jerusalem's visa revoked
Asia News reported on the latest Israeli harassment of the Rt Revd Suheil Dawani, Bishop in Jerusalem. The Anglican Communion News Service (ACNS) also picked up the story.

25 February 2011: Women have crucial role in international development, speakers say
ENS reports on the the 55th annual meeting of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

25 February 2011: Convicted Colorado priest gets light sentence
The Gazette (Colorado Sprintgs) reports that the Revd Donald Armstrong has been sentenced to probation and partial restitution of stolen funds. If you don't remember the details of this case, there's a good summary in The Independent (Colorado Springs).

24 February 2011: Obituary: Canon Donald Allchin
The Telegraph remembers Canon Donald Allchin, who died on December 23 aged 80. Allchin was a leading Church of England theologian chiefly concerned with the subject of Christian spirituality.

23 February 2011: USPG appoints new General Secretary
ACNS reported that Janette O'Neill will take over as General Secretary/Chief Executive of USPG: Anglicans in World Mission from 1st May of this year, when the current General Secretary, Bishop Michael Doe retires.

23 February 2011: Okoh declares CANA not Nigerian mission
The Vanguard reports Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, Primate of Church of Nigeria, says the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), is no longer under the jurisdiction of Nigeria. Instead it is now under the jurisdiction of ACNA and Robert Duncan. Episcopal Café notes the news seems to have escaped the CANA website, which still proclaims Archbishop Okoh as its Provincial Primatial Archbishop.The Archbishop has seemingly 'clarified' that there has been no change in the status that exists between CANA and the Church in Nigeria.

22 February 2011: Zimbabwe Bishops fearful after brutal murder and death threats
The Zimbabwean reports Anglican bishops in Zimbabwe are appealing for protection. "On Monday, the Right Revd Chad Gandiya, Bishop of Harare, told SW Radio Africa: 'One of my fellow bishops was approached by two people who told him that they had come to kill him and that the mission is to kill all the Anglican bishops; and that is why I said we are an endangered species because from that conversation with my colleagues we are all to be killed.'"

20 February 2011: Canada aid group puzzled by Canadian government cuts
Kairos is a Canadian ecumenical development and social justice agency which has been receiving matching funding for its projects for decades. But this year, Canada's Interrnational Cooperation minister, Bev Oda, cut the seven million dollar support for the agency, saying that she based her decision of the advice of senior government bureaucrats. When it became apparent that the bureaucrats had actually supported continuing the funding, opposition MPs demanded the minister's resignation. CTV News tells how Kairos is at a loss to explain why the funding was axed, and the Canadian Primate, Fred Hiltz, has asked the government to reconsider the issue.

19 February 2011: Egyptian Muslims protect Suez Anglican church
The pastor of St Savior Anglican Church in Suez city was interviewed by the USA's National Public Radio. He said that when the church was attacked by people throwing stones and gasoline bombs, his Muslim neighbours helped protect the church.

19 February 2011: Elderly Anglican murdered in Zimbabwe
Jesca Mandeya was an 89-year-old lay church leader in the Diocese of Harare who had been pressured by the supporters of Nolbert Kunonga, the excommunicated Zimbabwean bishop and Mugabe ally, to come over to his side. She refused, and was found murdered in her home, according to the Zimbabwe Mail and the Zimbabwe Reporter. Bishop Chad Gandiya suspects that the former bishop's thugs were responsible for the killing, and his pastoral letter can be found here.

19 February 2011: Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf approves women priests
The Reverend Catherine Dawkins is a deacon serving in the Yemen chaplaincy. At a recent synod of the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf, the synod warmly welcomed the approval of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East for the diocese to ordain women priests, and Dawkins will probably be ordained in Bahrain cathedral. The decision does not affect the other dioceses of the province, Egypt, Iran and Jerusalem. The move is reported in the Cyprus Mail and the US Episcopal News Service.

18 February 2011: Church of England General Synod wrapup
The USA has one General Convention every three years, and it generates a preposterous amount of news coverage. The Church of England has three General Synod meetings per year; they tend to generate almost no press coverage. (We avoided using the words 'triennial' and 'triannual' because we were pretty sure you'd need to stop to look one of them up. Hint: it's easy to remember that 'triennium' means a three-year interval, from which it's a short step to remembering that 'triennial' describes something that happens once per triennium.) But we digress. We're supposed to tell you about The C of E General Synod. Since nothing of great interest to people outside the UK appears to have happened this time, we'll just refer you to coverage in the Church Times. Actually, as we read through those, we believe that the vote to set a simple majority for adoption of the Proposed Anglican Covenant is probably of global interest. After all, the founders of No Anglican Covenant are worldwide.

17 February 2011: Campaign to save Cape Town cathedral
The roof of the iconic Cathedral of St George in Cape Town has been so badly damaged by winter storms that it is in danger of collapse. The Times (Johannesburg) reports on an urgent fundraising drive. Alas, the newspaper article did not explain how one might contribute, and the Cathedral's website had no mention (that we were able to find) of this campaign or how to make a a donation to it. If we learn any more, we'll report back next week.

17 February 2011: Church of England launches 'real' Easter egg
The Daily Mail reports on the fairtrade chocolate Easter egg to benefit charities being sold in England. The egg is purportedly the only Easter egg to mention Jesus. You can read the press release here and visit the manufacturer's website here.

16 February 2011: Members of the Primates' Standing Committee announced
The Anglican Communion News Service has issued a press release naming the Primates who were elected as members of the Primates' Standing Committee at the recent Primates' Meeting in Dublin. In order to determine whether or not you need to care about this, you must first understand the nature and purpose of the Primates Meeting. We know thoughtful and educated people who are convinced that it is easier to understand the nature and purpose of the Holy Trinity.

16 February 2011: New bishop for Ontario
The Times & Transcript (Moncton, New Brunswick) reports that the Diocese of Ontario has elected the Revd Canon Michael Oulton (a native of New Brunswick) as bishop coajutor. The Diocese of Ontario also reported it, last week, but we didn't notice even though the story was mirrored in the Anglican Journal.

13 February 2011: Society of St Margaret: a mission on the move
The Boston Globe reports on the decision by the Society of St Margaret to sell their Roxbury convent. 'Selling the convent, said Sister Carolyn Darr, the superior, would allow the sisters to devote more money and energy to their charitable and spiritual work — in particular, their small mission in Haiti, which the order has run since the 1920s and which suffered severe damage in last year's earthquake.'

13 February 2011: Obituary
The Telegraph (London) has published an obituary of the Rt Revd Derek Rawcliffe, former bishop both of Vanuatu and of Glasgow and Galloway.

12 February 2011: Bishop Election in East Tennessee
The Episcopal News Service (ENS) reports on the election of the Revd George D. Young III as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of East Tennessee.

12 February 2011: Kandhamal Christians struggling after carnage
ENI News reports on the continuing struggle of members of the Church of North India to survive in Kandhamal, following the violence of August 2008 that killed more than 90 people.

12 February 2011: Bishop Michael Eldon
The Tribune (Nassau) carries tributes in memory of Bishop Michael Eldon, the first Bahamian Bishop of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos.

11 February 2011: Episcopalians, Moravians inaugurate full communion
At Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, representatives of the Episcopal Church and the Moravian Church in North America celebrated a eucharist to inaugurate full communion between the denominations. ENS reports that bishops from both churches knelt before their counterparts for prayers that symbolized the two denominations' recognition and reconciliation of each other's ordained ministers.

10 February 2011: Ballarat in the news again
The Ballarat Courier reported on the mixed reaction to proposed Sunday trading hours on Easter Sunday. The Anglican Vicar-General for the local diocese criticised the move, while the Melbourne RC archbishop 'said there could be a balance between the Christian holiday and commercial trading'. Earlier in the week, the Diocese of Melbourne's newsletter, The Melbourne Anglican, posted a story on the upcoming bishop search in Ballarat with a synopsis of the recent troubles in the diocese.

7 February 2011: Stairway to heaven?
Holy Trinity Church in Barnstaple, Devon has installed a £12,000 climbing wall inside its newly-renovated bell tower. The Daily Mail reports that the congregation has found grants to help pay the salary of a climbing instructor, who will double as the church's youth worker.

5 February 2011: Analyses of the Primates' meeting in Dublin
Not content to follow our recommendation to avoid looking for meaning in the recent Primates' meeting, many loud opinions have been published. Thinking Anglicans has gathered the lot of them.

5 February 2011: Church in South Africa annoying neighbours with loud parties
The Times Live (Johannesburg) notes 'Boozy weekend parties have unleashed an unholy war between residents and the Anglican church in a Durban suburb.'

4 February 2011: Heart-warming profile of New Zealand archdeacon
The Times-Age (Wairarapa) has published a sweet profile of Archdeacon Hariata Tahana who hails from 'the Anglican church in Cole St, Masterton'. We've not succeeded in locating this church through the Diocese of Wellington, though St Matthew is a short walk away from Cole St, over on Church St.

3 February 2011: Jewish historian locates grave of Anglican priest who supported Theodor Herzl
The Jewish Chronicle (London) reports on the rediscovery, rededication, and marking of the grave of William Hechler, calling him the 'unofficial foreign minister of Zionism in its first two or three years'.

1 February 2011: Obituary: Bishop Kenneth Stevenson
The Telegraph (London) published this obituary of the former Bishop of Portsmouth, 'one of a handful of scholars on the Church of England's bench'.

1 February 2011: Obituary: Augusta Denton Roddis
Ms Roddis was probably the last person alive who knew good friends of Bishop Grafton and whose collection of church stories and memorabilia encompass the confident American Anglo-Catholicism of the previous century. Her parents and grandparents helped bankroll churches in what is now called 'the Biretta Belt'. Her house reputedly contains a vast trove of Anglican documents, publications, and letters. We will watch carefully to see what becomes of them.

31 January 2011: Non-news summary wrap-up
This week also brought more reports of congregations splitting along theological lines, lawsuits over parish and diocesan property, victimization of minorities, Anglican leaders condemning great wrongs, and talks between Anglican and Roman Catholic leaders. We aren't going to help you find any of this. If you think you want to read those reports, we're sure you can find them without our help. The Journal-Sentinel (Milwaukee) published this obituary.

30 January 2011: Anglican Primates meet in Dublin.
About two thirds of the primates of various Anglican provinces met this past week in Dublin. The Anglican Communion Office, grateful for having something to do, issued a vast number of reports and press releases in English, Spanish, and French. Oh, and there were podcasts, too. We've read them all, and if you go to the Anglican Communion News Service website, you can also read them all. We confess not to have listened to any podcasts. What does it all mean?

On this page, the BBC has logged live reports of the final match of a cricket series between England and Australia; on this page, the BBC reports the last match of the series and its eventual outcome. If you are not steeped in Anglican Communion politics, we suspect that you can learn just as much about what the Primates' meetings mean by reading the BBC cricket coverage. If you are not familiar with cricket, we suspect that you can learn just as much about England vs Australia by reading the Anglican Communion News Service dispatches about the Primates' meeting. If you want to learn the True Purpose of the Primates' meeting, you can instead read an explanation of the game of cricket and learn all you need to know unless you are an Anglican primate.

29 January 2011: More website redesigns announced. This time it's ACNS
The Anglican Communion News Service (ACNS) is planning to redesign its website. They are seeking input on what their visitors would like to see. You can take the online survey to provide your comments here.

25 January 2011: Church to affordable housing in Winnepeg
The Winnipeg Free Press reports on the conversion to begin within the month of the large St Matthew Church into 24 units of affordable community housing. 'It's a church sanctuary that soon will offer another kind of sanctuary to low-income families in the West End.'

25 January 2011: Desecration astounds parishioners in Timaru
The Timaru Herald reports on the destruction of a one of the original stained glass windows in St Mary by thieves who stole communion wafers. The building also suffered damage in the September 2010 earthquake. (Timaru is on the South Island of New Zealand).

24 January 2011: Rt Revd John Warwick Wilson, Melbourne RIP
The Diocese of Melbourne announced the passing of the Rt Revd John Warwick Wilson.

24 January 2011: Norwich bishop swaps pulpit for catwalk
The Network Norwich reports on the upcoming 'Clergy on the Catwalk' show of ecclesiastical clothing. The Rt Revd Peter Fox, honorary assistant bishop in Norwich will model some of his wife's designs. The article features a photograph of a Tree of Life cope.

23 January 2011: Primates meeting to start this week
Church Times reports 'there could be sandwiches to spare in Dublin' as it is not clear how many Primates will actually attend the meeting which begins 25 January. We recommend a review of Thinking Anglicans' good coverage of the preparations for the upcoming Primates meeting.

23 January 2011: Did Handel play his Messiah on the Malta cathedral organ?
The Times of Malta has a feature on the past of the local cathedral organ - the title of the article is enough to entertain, but the story reads pleasantly as well. We will take cheerful and upbeat over wrangling and over blown seriosity any time.

21 January 2011: C of E Synod to debate Mary, and divorced bishops
With that intriguing headline, Church Times reports on the agenda for the upcoming General Synod in London. Among the topics are clergy discipline, ethical investing, marriage after divorce for bishops, and the Anglican-RC International Commission report on the role of Mary (as in BVM). Normally, we wouldn't consider this news until the Synod has occurred, which will be after February 7, but since Time's newsfeed picked up one agenda item - consideration of a diocesan motion from Liverpool to make the baptismal service more user-friendly to non-churchgoers (which was given a tabloid headline of 'Church of England May Remove Christian Language from Baptisms'), we thought you might be interested to read the actual motion and Secretary General's note pertaining to it. Links to these and all reports and supporting documents for the Synod are at the end of the Church Times article.

20 January 2011: An Anglican - Roman Catholic Covenant
The Anglican Diocese of Qu'Appelle and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Regina have signed a covenant, in which they commit to uphold each other in prayer, to hold occasional shared worship and to work together where they can.

17 January 2011: Church tells women's march to find new spot
For almost 40 years the International Women's Day march set off from Sydney Square, between the Town Hall and St Andrew's cathedral. The cathedral has now told the collective that in the future they must start the march somewhere else. The Sydney Morning Herald wonders if the decision is linked to Archbishop Peter Jensen's prescription that women must submit to the headship of men, or if there are other reasons for it.

15 January 2011: Former English bishops ordained as Roman Catholic priests
The Guardian (London) reports on the ordination of three married men, formerly bishops in the Church of England, as Roman Catholic priests. The BBC filed this report, and The Observer offered this editorial about the event.

14 January 2011: Dither and controversy over new Church of England website
The folks at Thinking Anglicans have noted an interesting commentary that is critical of some aspects of the new Church of England website.

13 January 2011: Primate launches appeal for Queensland
More than 20,000 homes in Brisbane were inundated as the river flooded, and five Anglican parishes were offered as evacuation centres. The Church Times reports that the Archbishop of Brisbane has launched an appeal to assist flooded parishes. The diocesan website carries updates on the flooding.

7 January 2011: New website for Church of England
Over the past year or so, many African dioceses have been revising the names of their websites to include the word 'Anglican' in the name. For example, the Nigerian Diocese of Enugu North recently changed the name of its website from 'enugunorthdiocese.org' to 'anglicandioceseofenugunorth.org'. But the Church of England is going in the other direction. Its website previously had two identical names, 'england.anglican.org' and 'cofe.anglican.org'. The new site, running on a shiny Microsoft IIS server in Manchester, is named 'churchofengland.org'. Commentators and reviewers have not been kind to the new site. (The server for the Diocese of Enugu North is a state-of-the-art Linux box in Chino Hills, California.)

6 January 2011: Daughter of imam ordained as deacon
Fatima Yakubu-Madus was born in Nigeria, the daughter of an imam. She came to America to study, and now works as a scientist. She converted to Christianity, and has been ordained deacon, to serve a parish in the Diocese of Indianapolis. This was reported in the Edmond Sun (Edmond, Oklahoma).

6 January 2011: Church pledges support to south Sudan government
Bishop Abraham Nhial Yel of Aweil has told the Sudan Tribune that his church has run voter education training for pastors. He has promised to work with the government of south Sudan in building peace and promotion of sustainable development, regardless of the result of the independence referendum.

6 January 2011: Faith in courts
The Economist has an article under the moniker of 'law and religion' on property disputes in faith communities and 'the billowing secular jurisprudence on the handling of disputes over religious assets'.

6 January 2011: Archbishop of York launches 'Year of the Environment'
As part of the launch for the 2011 initiative, 'Year of the Environment', the Archbishop of York has sent bird nesting boxes to each of the churches and church schools in the Diocese of York. To learn how the nesting boxes relate to the initiative, you can read the BBC story.

3 January 2011: Archbishop of Canterbury's New Year message avoids controversy
The US Episcopal News Service reports that in his New Year's message, the Archbishop of Canterbury has celebrated the impact of the King James Bible since its publication 400 years ago.

3 January 2011: Bishop warns against the rise of violence
The Vanguard (Nigeria) reports on a statement released by the Bishop of Egbu, the Rt Revd Emmanuel U. Iheagwam, in reaction to recent reported cases of bomb blasts in parts of Nigeria: 'the recent introduction of bombing as a means of settling religious and/or political misunderstandings is now assuming alarming proportions and must be checked.'

1 January 2011: First group of Anglicans received into Roman Catholic Ordinariate
In 2009 the Pope announced that the Vatican would be creating an 'Ordinariate' within the Roman Catholic church, whose purpose was to bring disaffected Anglicans 'across the Tiber'. The Telegraph (London) reports that the first batch of 5 people has done just that. The BBC filed this report. The Telegraph also reported that these 'defectors' may not stay in their church buildings.