Ruth Gledhill - Times Online - WBLG

Out and Angry: Colin Coward on being gay priest in today's church.

Colin Coward, pictured here by George Conger with Davis MacIyalla at the Lambeth Conference, has now blogged himself on my article in today's paper. Anglican Curmudgeon has a top class analysis of the pickle in which the Archbishop of Canterbury finds himself, and comes out in robust defence of Dr Rowan Williams. He writes: 'We have thus the best of Archbishops, and the worst of Presiding Bishops. It is the best of times, and the worst of times.' Anglican Samizdat notes: 'For some mysterious reason, the Anglican Church attracts a disproportionate number of homosexuals into its leadership ranks. Once they arrive, understandably, they can’t see why their presence is resisted; even though I disagree with the promoting of practising homosexual leadership in the church, I have some sympathy with them because Anglican liberals have “included”, “tolerated” and befriended homosexuals into an illusory sense of leadership entitlement'

Lesbian Bishop: Archbishop of Canterbury warns of serious questions

Further tragedy is unfolding in the Anglican Communion as the Archbishop of Canterbury is condemned on all sides, it seems, by critics of his failure to comment strongly on Uganda, where people's lives are at stake compared to his quick rush to comment on Los Angeles, where a harmless monogamous woman has been elected as a bishop. In The Times on Tuesday, a former student Colin Coward, of Changing Attitude, describes how he feels betrayed by his friend. Meanwhile the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori, has done what Dr Williams' can't and openly condemned the outrageous new death law for gays in Uganda.

Church of England to lose one in ten clergy: Littlebourne case study

Last week I went to a special parochial church council meeting in Littlebourne, Kent, in the diocese of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The benefice of four churches, one with just ten worshippers, somehow manages to raise £80,000-plus each year of which they give more than £50,000 to the diocese as combined quota payments. It costs the diocese about £40,000 to maintain the Rector, the Rev John Allan. When he retires, this hard-working, successful benefice, albeit with congregations of mostly elderly or retired people, will instead be given a part-time, unpaid 'house-for-duty' priest. Apparently, they have been told, they will not be given their own priest ever again, 'even if you raise £1 million.'

Archbishop of Canterbury in Rome: In giving we receive

The Archbishop invoked the Prayer of St Francis at evening prayer in Rome on the eve of his meeting with the Pope. You can understand why, given his latest admission that the Pope bruised his ego, as we report in Monday's Times.

Rowan in Rome: The Fightback Begins

Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, spoke to journalists after the Archbishop of Canterbury had finished speaking at the Willebrands Conference at the Gregorian University in Rome yesterday. See also Tom Heneghan's report on Reuters.

Archbishop Rowan: 'God knows what the future holds.'

The Archbishop of Canterbury has pleaded with the Church of England's Catholic Anglicans to remain in communion with Canterbury and resist joining the Pope's new Anglican Ordinariate. He referred to the 'chaotic and uncertain' future of the Anglican Communion but insisted that it was still possible to be holy, Catholic and Anglican.

Pope: Married Bishops in all but Name

Tremendous day. The Apostolic Constitution has been published. It is all that Catholic Anglicans hoped for and more.While it officially keeps the door closed on any relaxation of the norms on celibacy - former Catholic priests who became Anglicans, married or no, will not be permitted to join the new Ordinariates -  it is clear from Article 11 that former Anglican bishops can become Catholic bishops in all but name, even where they are married. They will officially retain the status of presbyter, but will be allowed to be the Ordinary or head of the Ordinariate, will be allowed to be a member of the local Bishops' Conference with the status of retired bishop and, significantly, will be allowed to ask permission from Rome to use the insignia of episcopal office. This leaves the path clear for Bishop of Fulham Father John Broadhurst, married father of four, to head the new Ordinariate in Britain. Heady stuff indeed - and I mean that theologically and metaphorically.

If I were Cormac I'd throw a sickie

The title of the former Archbishop of Westminster Cormac Murphy-O'Connor's lecture at Worth Abbey next week:

'ARCIC: Dead in the water or money in the bank?'

The blurb says: 'Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor will be coming to Worth Abbey, West Sussex on Thursday October 29th 2009 to give a lecture reflecting on his many years involvement in ecumenism and especially with regard to ARCIC, The Anglican - Roman Catholic International Commission. This Commission was appointed by Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey in 1970 to study the issues that divide the two Churches. The Cardinal was for many years the Catholic Co-Chairman of ARCIC.'

What on earth is he going to say?

Papua New Guinea: 'We don't want to go to Rome!'

This picture shows the spouses of the bishops of Papua New Guinea in traditional dress at the 2008 Lambeth Conference. Their details are at the end of this post. There is increasing speculation that Papua New Guinea might go to Rome as an entire province into the new Anglican ordinariates unveiled by Rome this week. You can read the latest Times report here, Libby Purves' analysis and the tale of two priests who might go with their congregations. 

Will Michael Nazir-Ali go to Rome?

A number of people have been asking whether Dr Michael Nazir-Ali might be among those who take the road to Rome under the arrangements announced yesterday. If married bishops are to be permitted, which admittedly seems unlikely, he could conceivably emerge as the ideal ordinary for Anglicans under the new Apostolic Constitution.

A former Catholic, he was received into the Anglican church into his country of birth, Pakistan, at the age of 20. He is married with two children and has just retired as Bishop of Rochester in order to work with the persecuted church.

He does not describe himself as Catholic or evangelical, but as 'orthodox'. He bridges both ends of the Church of England. He spoke at Gafcon in Jerusalem last year and this weekend will speak at the Forward in Faith conference in London.

Rome parks tanks on Rowan's lawn

Read our news story now online on the dramatic development today in Anglican-Roman Catholic relations. The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams discovered just two weeks ago that the Holy See was preparing to set up an Apostolic Constitution to provide Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans and former Anglicans who wish to enter into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. Thank you to the Acts of the Apostasy for this wonderful picture.

This podcast is of Archbishop Vincent Nichols talking at the press conference. 

This is the question and answer session on podcast.

New primate warns of Muslim 'mass production' in Africa

The new primate of Nigeria Archbishop Nicholas Okoh has warned that Muslims are mass-producing children to take over Africa and are set on domination of the continent. 

Anglican schism: Is this it?

These two bishops are among many commenting on the Anglican 'train crash' in the US. Read George Conger's latest story in The Washington Times and also my own for The Times, and see more video from George at Anglican TV on Facebook. Albert Mohler pretty well sums up the mood among US conservatives, both in and outside the Church.

Princely Bishop of Durham rides to the rescue

There's nothing quite like a good Church of England bishop in full purple wrath mode. The Bishop of Durham Dr Tom Wright, in his op-ed comment for today's Times, gives marvellous rhetorical shape to the grand old tradition of the Durham prince bishops. I knew he was writing it, because I asked him to. But even so, on reading it over coffee and croissants in Kew this morning, I was a bit stunned. I half expected a little army of purple-shirted crozier-waving mounted bishops to charge out of the newsprint and start doing battle with the fluffy kittens under my feet.

Archbishop of Canterbury 'regrets' TEC move to gay ordination

 The Archbishop of Canterbury told General Synod today that he 'regrets' the decision by The Episcopal Church house of deputies to overturn the moratorium on the ordination of gay bishops. At the same time, the Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori has warned the Church of England that it should not recognise the new Anglican Church in North America, arguing 'schism is not a Christian act.' And just minutes ago, as The Lead reports, TEC has taken a significant step towards overturning the moratorium on same-sex blessings as well.

#ecgc Danger of 'spiritual earwax' at Anaheim

Three years ago, when much of our new media environment was in its infancy, I blogged GenCon from my living room in Surrey. This time, given the advances that have been made, it seemed inappropriate to do that. Had it not clashed with General Synod in York this weekend, I would have tried to attend. I must ask Rowan Williams how to bilocate when I see him at York on Sunday. Lacking such saintly attributes in my own person, I've asked one of those attending, Sue Carter, to file a report. She has sent this, below. Sue is Professor of Journalism at the School of Journalism at Michigan State University, a former broadcast reporter, and newly ordained in The Episcopal Church, serving as a priest associate at St Michael’s in Lansing, Michigan.

The spiritual battle for the soul of Anglicanism

Update: Bishop of Rochester Dr Michael Nazir-Ali a 'Jeremiah' whose message serves neither church  nor nation, says leader in The Times.

Greg Venables, primate of the Southern Cone, has just spelled out the issues at stake in the launch at Central Hall of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans. See our report on Monday  and the latest today, Tuesday. 'In North America and here, true orthodoxy is being outlawed' warned Bishop Greg who has taken many congregations and even a diocese or two fleeing liberal episcopalianism under his conservative wing. 'We must remember we are not fighting flesh and blood. This is about principalities and powers.'

Anglicans in the US: a new Church is born.

Please welcome guest blogger Chris Sugden of Anglican Mainstream, reporting live from Texas on the first assembly of the Anglican Church in North America. For any readers baffled, bewildered or simply bored by Anglicans, Reuters have very helpfully published a Q&A on where we are and how we got here. For Chris, a member of the General Synod which meets in York soon, where traditionalists in England will continue their battle over women bishops, this group is the 39th province of the Anglican Communion. Although formal recognition awaits, new Archbishop Bob Duncan is in regular contact with the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams. Read about his 'I am' statement on VirtueOnline.

To donate or venerate: blood and religious faith

 

Guest blog  by Anna-Marie Julyan 

Blood has symbolic meaning in many faiths, whether represented by wine as part of the Eucharist or avoided in food, while others regard it as sacred. The pressing need for blood donors was highlighted by World Blood Donor Day on Sunday, but how does it equate with religious belief?

International humanitarian organisation United Sikhs launched a campaign to get “the Sikh community to pledge their share of blood” in the UK, Canada and the USA.

Money, Sex and the Anglican Communion

An interesting investigation into the Indaba process has just appeared on the conservative-led American Anglican Council website. I am awaiting comment from the Anglican Communion Office but in the meantime, here are some of the highlights, which appear under the headline: 'Money, sex, indaba: corrupting the Anglican Communion Listening Process.'

Bishops' expenses in the Lords: First prize goes to Sentamu!

The Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu has one of the longest trips to make, all the way from North Yorkshire, and is among the most active in the House of Lords attending ten days over a 12-month period. But he gets the first prize for bishops' allowances in the Lords from The Times because his expenses were - absolutely null and utterly zero! A bottle of Times champagne is on its way to Bishopthorpe - if I can get it on exes.

Second prize goes to Bill Ind, former Bishop of Truro, who must have had furthest to go and managed the trip five times before he retired in 2007, yet somehow managed to do it all on just £86. The Times religious desk reckons he must have used his free bus pass, which is no doubt how we'll be expecting all our bishops to travel everywhere before too long.

And third prize goes to the Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, who attended an impressive 38 days and whose travel costs included £1,751 in air fares, making him the only true 'flying' bishop in the Lords.

Consolation prizes also to the Bishop of Ely Dr Anthony Russell, who claimed £3 worth of stamps, and the Bishop of Southwark Dr Tom Butler, who managed an impressive 83 days in the Lords, notching up a total of £6,743 in subsistence. For an interesting analysis of this, see The Church Mouse.

(|Update: Times house champers on its way now to Bishopthorpe and another also to Lambeth Palace, in equivalent recognition of the Archbishop of Canterbury's frugality.)

Michael Nazir-Ali: Anglicans must 'look to Pope for unity'

As the Covenant process seemed to sustain something of a blow in Jamaica I was enjoying a the kindly light of  Oxford's Newman Society at the Catholic Chaplaincy, where Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester who recently announced he is to retire to work with persecuted Christians, was speaking about the future of the Anglican Communion. The bishop was interviewed before he spoke by Michael Webb. Read on for some of my notes on his speech. 

Archbishop of Canterbury 'Chaos and division' in all around we see

 

This beautiful image of the opening communion at the Anglican Consultative Council in Jamaica sadly belies what has followed. We've had the Archbishop of Uganda writing a pleading letter about his excluded clerical representative. And now the Archbishop of Canterbury himself has warned of the 'chaos and division' within the Anglican Communion threatening to derail the Covenant process, according to reports coming out of Jamaica this evening. Below you can read for the first time online the full text of the Windsor Continuation Group report to this meeting, and also the draft resolution of the Windsor Consultation Group to the council, a model of restraint and charity but with some potentially sharp disciplinary teeth lurking beneath the inevitable acronyms and jargon.

Covenant: Is this an instrument to castrate Gafcon?

As the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams leads discussions about Anglican unity in Jamaica, heavyweight theologians are battling it out over the internet. Is the Anglican Covenant an instrument to castrate conservatives, or a stick to beat liberals? As Jim Naughton's The Lead reports, already the meeting is dissolving into acrimony as the Anglican Consultative Council refuses to let a Ugandan Church clergyman take a seat at the table because he happens to be one of the US conservatives who has 'realigned' with the African province. And Drexel Gomez, West Indies primate who was one of the architects of the covenant in the first place, this morning gave a presentation to the council where he warned the communion is at 'breaking point'. Read today's news story in The Times.

Sorry bishops, but a diocese is not a church.

Years ago I went on Graham Kings' camel walk. Now the Bishop of Salisbury has made him Bishop of Sherborne in Dorset. I've a funny feeling that camel walks will be with me for the rest of my professional life. Not that I've got the hump or anything. Because in fact this is a fascinating appointment with far-reaching implications. Dr Kings, currently Vicar of St Mary's Islington and the founder of  Fulcrum, is the closest thing we've got in England to an Anglican Communion Institute. And these are the dear folk who've been trying to persuade themselves that their episcopal dioceses are 'proper churches' after all.

Episcopal email conspiracy unwrapped

Mark Harris, a US episcopal priest in Delaware, has obtained details of an apparent plot by conservatives to subvert the authority of the US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, the only woman Primate among the 39 at the top table.

The idea seems to be that diocesan bishops can take unilateral action to sign up to the new covenant currently going through the long process of approval by the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Archbishop of Canterbury's recent remarks on the shift that is needed in the Anglican understanding of communion and autonomy appear to have given grounds for these hopes.

The covenant, by virtue of a quasi disciplinary process, is likely create a multi-layered communion, with the 'conservative' provinces in the inner circle, with full voting rights at all the communion bodies, and the pro-gay liberals on the outer circle and presumably some rights removed, if they insist on consecrating more gay bishops or sanctioning gay marriage and refuse to sign up to the convenant in all its biblical orthodoxy.

Bishop of Rochester steps down early

Bishop Michael of Rochester has announced that he is to step down as Bishop of Rochester. The inevitable question now is, will his plan 'to work in education and mission overseas' see him emerge as a new 'bishop' of an emerging Global South? His outspoken views on Muslims are thought to have cost him Canterbury,  but it is in this area that he wants now to focus his attention. He is an Islamic scholar and has good relations with Christians in Islamic areas in Pakistan and the Middle East, and it is to this mission field and churches in the developing world that he wishes to devote his remaining years in service. In February last year he had to be given police protection after he and his family received death threats. He had claimed that parts of Britain had become no-go areas for non-Muslims.

'It's not easy, being a boy called Vicky Gene,' says Bishop

Gene Robinson has given one of the clearest explanations I've ever seen on how he came to be baptised with a girl's name, Vicky Gene. It comes in a remarkably frank interview in the latest issue of Third Way Magazine. He also describes how he battled against his homosexuality, and finally concluded that his orientation was immutable.

Anglicans braced for - unity

General Synod begins on Monday and the Bishop of Rochester Dr Michael Nazir-Ali will be leading the debate on the Covenant. This week I spoke to him and to Gregory Cameron who was with the Primates in Alexandria. He is about to become Bishop of St Asaph and is widely known to be the architect of the covenant. It'll be unity, perhaps, but not unity as we've known it. Read it all here. What has surprised me most are the strong signals I'm receiving that the new Anglican Church in North America is likely to be given some kind of recognition, perhaps as an extra-provincial entity. There are a number of precedents. Of the 44 churches of the Anglican Communion, just 38 are provinces. The rest are churches such as from India and China. And because of their large emigrant communities they operate parallel jurisdictions in Cyprus and the Gulf, for example. Then there are the two parallel dioceses of TEC and the CoE in Europe.

Archbishop plans 'mediated talks' with conservatives

Fascinating communique from the Primates in Alexandria.  I am told it was unanimous. The Primates ask Dr Rowan Williams the Archbishop of Canterbury to begin a 'professionally mediated conversation' with the seven members of the Common Cause Partnership. They say: 'We commit ourselves to support these processes and to participate as appropriate.  We earnestly desire reconciliation with these dear sisters and brothers for whom we understand membership of the Anglican Communion is profoundly important.  We recognise that these processes cannot be rushed, but neither should they be postponed.' Integrity meanwhile is not impressed with the renewed commitment to the moratoria.

Kevin Kallsen has been Alexandria with his Anglican TV and has done an interview with two of the conservative primates, Archbishops Orombi and Venables of Uganda and the Southern Cone. See more video coverage of the week-long meeting that ends today at the Anglican TV website.

'Mugabe must go' say Anglican archbishops

A strong statement from the Anglican Primates at their meeting in Alexandria today, calling for Robert Mugabe to stand down. Read our story here. Nothing yet matches the live television protest by Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York and one of the Primates in Alexandria, which I am posting here to remind us all of why Mugabe must go and why Sentamu is such a saint. The Church of England is the only province to have two Primates at the table, incidentally, which is I guess what is meant by the rather Orwellian phrase 'first among equals'. What I used to wonder about Iraq was, if the Americans can bomb thousands of civilians to smithereens, why couldn't one clever spy just get in and assassinate one dictator? I think rather the same about Mugabe. Surely it would be worth it. Tom Cruise might even make a film about it. I suppose there are diplomatic arguments against it, as there were in Hitler's time, but think how many lives it would save.

Traditional Anglicans to get 'Opus Dei' type prelature in Rome

Traditional Anglicans could be on the verge of being admitted to Rome via 'personal prelature' similar to that enjoyed by Opus Dei, according to Australia's The Record. Damian Thomson also has a lot of detail on Holy Smoke.

As Per Christum says, 'They have sought some sort of greater communion with the Catholic Church, and the rumor-mill has been very active speculating what exactly the Vatican will do. If they are indeed offered the status of personal prelature, this will be a major, major, decision.

'Some are speculating that thousands of of alienated Anglo-Catholic Anglicans in England may become Catholic under such a system. I am reluctant to get too excited over this (and I am also excited about the liturgical possibilities of having an Anglican-like prelature in the Church!), because rumors are flying both directions about the future of the TAC in the Catholic Church, but this is rather interesting.'

Canterbury summit: nothing happened

Well I suppose that headline is not quite accurate. The mother church of the Anglican Communion, Canterbury Cathedral, today welcomed into her stable the five Gafcon primates from the South and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, who they had travelled from afar to see. They bore gifts of frank discussion, gold-standard Christianity and little in the way of mirth. They were there to mark a new birth in the North, a province. Question marks hang like shepherds' crooks over its legitimacy, and probably will continue to do so for another 2,000 years or so, if it is not forgotten by then. But stranger things have happened.

Lambeth Palace on new province as Gafcon primates fly in for summit

As we report, conservatives from The Episcopal Church 'have voted to form their own branch of Anglicanism in the United States. TitusOneNine has more details. Today Lambeth Palace, although not the Archbishop of Canterbury in person, has at last made a comment on this, and the comment at first glance seems to make it clear that this new province will not receive formal recognition any time soon. In fact it appears pretty brutal in its dismissal of the Common Cause initiative. Hong Kong, don't forget, was recognised extremely fast once its three dioceses decided to seek independence.

Lambeth Palace says: 'There are clear guidelines set out in the Anglican Consultative Council Reports, notably ACC 10 in 1996 (resolution 12), detailing the steps necessary for the amendments of existing provincial constitutions and the creation of new provinces.

'Once begun, any of these processes will take years to complete. In relation to the recent announcement from the meeting of the Common Cause Partnership in Chicago, no such process has begun.'

Nevertheless, it should be nopted that this resolution is just a guideline, and has never been formally incorporated into the Anglican Consultative Council constitution.

Southern Cone heading south

Looks like action is about to be taken against Greg Venables and the Southern Cone for sheltering no fewer than four TEC conservative bishops and their flocks, the latest being Jack Iker and Forth Worth. See our news report summing up the latest. I understand that the Joint Standing Committee meeting in London this week, from which significantly Egypt's Mouneer Anis and Uganda's Henry Orombi are absent, is to discuss suspending Southern Cone's voting rights from the upcoming Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Jamaica next May. As long-standing readers will recall, this is what happened to TEC, then Ecusa, at the last ACC meeting in Nottingham in 2005. This is not so much a 'booting out' but should be regarded as a punishment, I am told. Meanwhile, it seems highly probable that TEC and Canada are to be rewarded for their restraint by being given a full seat back at the table again in May.

Obama and the Gay Bishop: 'Three Private Meetings'

Read on to find out why Barack Obama sought out gay Bishop Gene Robinson not once but three times on the campaign trail for private talks.

Sydney: first step to lay presidency

Sydney diocese has voted to allow deacons to celebrate Mass, a move that will inevitably take the storm-torn Anglican Communion closer to the rocks of permanent schism. At Gafcon I asked Peter Jensen about lay presidency, a controversial issue that would see non-ordained men and women celebrating eucharist. His reply was non-committal but certainly indicated that this was not something that anyone should worry too much about. But it does appear that his diocese is moving in that direction. Deacons are ordained but there are not that many of them in England. However, in Sydney women can be deacons but not priests, so this does open up the full range of presbyteral ministry to women, without making them priests. Clever Dr Jensen. I've always thought he should not be underestimated. Just as making women deacons was a first step to the priesthood, everywhere except Sydney that is, surely making deacons celebrants can only be a step to lay presidency in full, especially in Sydney. This issue is as contentious as the 'other' issue that has split The Episcopal Church and is threatening to split the communion. Just like that issue, though, I wonder sometimes how many people in the wider and increasingly agnostic wider world understand the implications, for better or worse, or even care. Read on for the full details of the debate and vote at Sydney, kindly sent to me by regular contributor here Robert Williams. For more on this issue, I recommend the book pictured here, the New Puritans by Muriel Porter.

Conflict resolution proposed for Anglicans

Warring Anglican bishops could be forced to confront each other in divorce-style "mediation" or conflict resolution, under proposals published today.The Covenant Design Group, responsible for drawing up the drafts for the covenant which is intended to unite the Communion, proposes in a document that different forms of conflict resolution be examined to see if any might be suitable for use by Anglican bishops. You can read our report on it, now online.

Bob Duncan: Over-stressed, over here and over ?

This is Bob Duncan talking to the media at the recent press conference at All Souls.

Financial crisis looms for Anglicans

Just back from Lambeth Palace, where the Archbishop of Canterbury blamed human greed for the financial crisis, word has reached me of a meeting this morning about the finances of the Anglican Communion, specifically the Anglican Communion Office in north-west London. This office is quite heavily dependent on income from the US. While none of the trust capital is affected, being secure in property in some of the 'best' areas of the US, investment income has apparently gone through the floor. This means that projects currently funded by such organisations have to be assessed and prioritised. One insider in the US tells me: 'I think ACO has been in a bad way even before the current situation. I am in the minority of TECers who would like to see us spend the money we give them on something more meaningful. Additionally, there are ethical issues involved in supporting a group of people so eager to throw gays and lesbians under the bus.'

England's 'Pittsburgh' unfolds as parishes seek new bishop

As we report, evangelicals from Reform are at present meeting in London at their annual conference. I'll be popping in for a coffee tomorrow morning, before going on to Lambeth Palace for a briefing on the important Common Word conferencethat has been taking place at Cambridge. But I've just received chairman Rod Thomas' address to the conference, which makes it clear that an 'English' version is being worked out of the solution to the present Anglican crisis, an English version of the 'solution' adopted so dramatically in Pittsburgh a few days ago. Rod, pictured here in Jerusalem during Gafcon, indicated that English parishes who have a bishop embracing 'unbiblical teaching' will seek alternative oversight. And they will go ahead with this, even if the Church, through its General Synod, cannot find a way to 'accommodate' it, he warned.

Who stands to gain most from credit crunch?

We've been hearing so much about the losers in the present crisis, I thought it would be fun to focus for a few minutes on the winners. Feel free to add your own suggestions.

1. Gordon Brown. He suddenly looks electable. The Tories, having only yesterday offered prosperity, are now warning of tough times ahead. Coming from capitalists, this feels quite scary. Do we really want proponents of the free market running the country after what the free market has done to us? A canny, wiley, Presbyterian Scot with a reputation for fiscal prudence bordering on meanness today seems quite a deal more attractive than he did even a week ago. It is after all partly if not mostly thanks to him that we are bearing up better than the Americans. I keep thinking of his recent visit to the US, and the fable of the Tortoise and the Hare. I think some in my business  might have been a bit to hasty in writing this old tortoise off.

Give us new province, say orthodox

Last week Colin Bazley, former primate of the Southern Cone and now an assistant bishop in the Chester diocese, wrote an open letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury calling for the suspension of The Episcopal Church from the Anglican Communion and the creation of a new province for the conservatives. This was in response to the deposition of  Bishop Bob Duncan of Pittsburgh, pictured here, and which we covered last week. This is not going to go away. Even though Dr Rowan Williams is not planning to comment and has instead headed of to Lourdes with several busloads of Anglican pilgrims, hoping no doubt for a miraculous healing for his church, six of his bishops have today put out their own statement of support for Bishop Duncan. And as we report, one of those bishops, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali of Rochester, has in an interview with me today repeated the call for a new province first made by the Gafcon leaders at their conference this summer. I've always held out the hope in my own heart that the split would not come this side of the Atlantic. But I've recently spent a little time with some extremely senior laypeople in the conservative moment. They are not 'names' familiar to the blogosphere. But it seems there can be little doubt. What has happened there will happen here. Expect property battles and more in years to come. Read on for Bishop Michael's interview, and the response from Anglican Mainstream.

Bishop of Rochester and the three 'C's

The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, has delivered a strong address to the Prayer Book Society at its annual general meeting that you can  listen to here. He warned that the Anglican Church was too ready to adapt to modern culture. He called for the Church to reaffirm its traditional identity as a confessing, conciliar and consistory church. He was also critical of councils that 'make no decisions', a veiled attack on the recent Lambeth Conference. I've reproduced some edited highlights below. Also, please join in prayers for the family of the regular contributor to this blog, the Rev Tom Allen of Big Bulky Anglican, who has died suddenly.

Is Wales ready for a gay bishop?

The possibility of Dr Jeffrey John becoming Britain's first openly-gay bishop is back on the agenda after word leaked that there are plans afoot to nominate him as the next Bishop of Bangor. We have a report and commentary in the paper today. The story first emerged on the Religious Intelligence website in an article by George Conger. Bishop David Anderson, President of the American Anglican Council, had sent a letter out about the possibility, posted by David Virtue. Wales Online had just before Lambeth reported Welsh Archbishop Barry Morgan's liberal views on the issue of consecrating an openly-gay bishop. Those following the story today, Tuesday, include Richard Evans on Radio Wales, Anglican Mainstream, BabyBlue, Episcopal Cafe's Andrew Gerns, Pluralist and Tom Jackson. Many more links at Thinking Anglicans. Worth reading this also from Anglicans Down Under, supporting my own view that Wales could in fact get away with this, if it had the courage to do it.

Back in 2003, during the Reading dispute, I did an exclusive interview with Jeffrey John that was the cover of our feature section, T2. As that article does not seem to be easily available online, I've reproduced it below for the interest of readers with a few minutes to spare to read on.

Lambeth Diary: Some Reflections

The fourth draft of the  Lambeth reflections document has now been published. You can read it all here and I've posted some of extracts below. Susan Russell of Integrity has commented on it. In this video, made for Times Online by Joanna Clegg, some leading conservatives comment on polygamy and other matters that have come up at Lambeth.

Lambeth Diary: Bishops back Rowan

The Archbishop of Canterbury has the overwhelming support of bishops at the Lambeth Conference, according to a survey for The Times. Few bishops support the idea of solving the church's differences by changing the Communion to a looser federation. Three-quarters of those at the conference are happy with Dr  Rowan Williams' leadership. See our story on this and the ENI interview with Rowan,now online.

Religious Intelligence surveyed 100 of the 670 bishops at the conference for The Times. Full results are reproduced below. Our own leader this morning backs Dr Williams, and our report shows the strong concern that remains among the bishops over sexuality. Bess Twiston-Davies has also been compiling panels of bishops' comments for The Times, here and here.

This and all other pics in this post by Tim Stubbings of Panoptica.

Lambeth Diary: 'When did you last beat your wife, Bishop?'

Context counts for so much. New York suffragan bishop is pictured here, speaking at the daily Episcopal Church briefing. The subject was domestic violence. Our resulting story is here. We also report today on Cardinal Kasper's address yesterday to the bishops, in which he said any hope of Rome recognising Anglican orders was 'finally at an end.' A translation of the speech in full can now be read here.

You would think from this picture that anyone who took on British Catherine would be brave or foolish. But you would be wrong. Scroll on down.

Lambeth Diary: 'Photodram'

Apologies for not posting a blog for an entire day. The weather was too hot and sultry and I was too tired, although I did manage to write a story for the paper which I'll try to do something on shortly. Thank you Herb Gunn, campaigner on behalf of African women and who did the interview with Bp Roskam that we write about two blogs hence, for this picture. There was a barrier erected to prevent journalists or other observers from getting this picture at the official conference photograph, but I snuck under it for a few seconds. Scroll down to see what happened next.

(Update: Just before you do that, a story is unfolding here of one bishop who wasn't registered but turned up anyway, assumed the name of a friend who was registered but wasn't here, and has attended the entire conference under his friend's name! Can anyone tell me who this imposter bishop is?)

Lambeth Diary: Rowan begs, 'Choose Life'

Incredibly powerful address from Rowan Williams to bishops at Lambeth tonight. 'At the moment, we seem often to be threatening death to each other, not offering life,' he says.'What some see as confused or reckless innovation in some provinces is felt as a body-blow to the integrity of mission and a matter of literal physical risk to Christians.  The reaction to this is in turn felt as an annihilating judgement on a whole local church, undermining its legitimacy and pouring scorn on its witness.  We need to speak life to each other; and that means change.  I’ve made no secret of what I think that change should be — a Covenant that recognizes the need to grow towards each other (and also recognizes that not all may choose that way).  I find it hard at present to see another way forward that would avoid further disintegration.  But whatever your views on this, at least ask the question :  ‘Having heard the other person, the other group, as fully and fairly as I can, what generous initiative can I take to break through into a new and transformed relation of communion in Christ?’ Read it all below. Our brief report on it is here. Picture Scott Gunn.