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from FaithWorld:
Archbishop of Canterbury voices unease over bin Laden killing
(Britain's Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, at Lambeth Palace in London September 17, 2010/Chris Ison)
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual head of the 80-million strong Anglican Communion, has said the killing of an unarmed Osama bin Laden left a "very uncomfortable feeling." Rowan Williams said the different versions of events coming out of the White House "have not done a great deal to help here."
Bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces early Monday during a raid on his home at Abbottabad, a garrison town near Islamabad in Pakistan.
U.S. accounts of what happened have changed throughout the week, and initial characterisations of a 40-minute gun battle have given way to officials being quoted as saying only one of the five people who were killed had been armed.
Citing U.S. officials, the U.S. television network NBC said four of the five, including bin Laden himself, were unarmed and never fired a shot.
"I think that the killing of an unarmed man is always going to leave a very uncomfortable feeling because it doesn't look as if justice is seen to be done in those circumstances," Williams told reporters in response to a question at a press briefing on Thursday.
from FaithWorld:
Church of England to wash some Bible imagery from baptism rite
(Sistine Chapel fresco The Baptism of Christ c. 1482 by Pietro Perugino)
The Church of England has voted to use more accessible language during baptisms to help it connect better with congregations, especially non church-goers. Members attending the Church's General Synod, or parliament, in London, agreed that the Liturgical Commission should provide supplementary material to help prevent the eyes of worshippers "glazing over" during important parts of the service.
The Reverend Tim Stratford, from Liverpool, said on Wednesday his motion was "not a request for christenings without Christianity." Quite the opposite. "I am not asking for the language of Steven Gerrard," he said, referring to the Liverpool and England soccer star. "Just references that could be understood by the majority."
Parts of the service were difficult to use "without seeming inappropriately schoolmaster-like", he said. Stratford said he did not disagree with the words currently being used, such as "I turn to Christ, I repent of my sins, and I renounce evil."
"But it sounds to many as if the church wants an entirely religious response -- removed from our behaviour, actions and conversations". Instead, he wanted words that showed Christ's neighbourly love. "Not inquisitorial, but aspirational."
Those speaking against said there was enough flexibility already and it was unwise to add alternatives. Other synod members suggested that if the children who were being baptised understood the service better, they and their parents may be more keen to attend church in future. It was not a call for words to be watered down, but for simpler, more powerful language to be used.
from FaithWorld:
Conservative bishops deliver blow to Anglican Covenant
Conservative Anglicans have rejected a proposed landmark agreement designed to prevent splits in the worldwide Anglican Communion, just as the Church of England -- the Communion's mother church -- moved a step closer to adopting it.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the 80 million Anglicans worldwide, has invested much personal authority in the proposed Anglican Covenant, which aims to prevent disputes over divisive issues such as gay bishops and same-sex unions. He has said the Anglican Communion faced a "piece-by-piece dissolution" if member churches failed to undertake to avoid actions that upset others.
The General Synod, the Church of England's governing body, voted in favour of the deal, although it still has a number of stages to go before adoption, which would be no earlier than 2012.
But the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) Primates' Council, a group largely led by African church leaders, on Wednesday rejected the proposed Covenant, which would require member churches to settle disputes through discussion.
"While we acknowledge that the efforts to heal our brokenness through the introduction of an Anglican Covenant were well intentioned we have come to the conclusion the current text is fatally flawed and so support for this initiative is no longer appropriate," the council said in a statement.
The covenant was first proposed in 2004 following tensions over the consecration of an openly gay bishop at the Episcopal Church, the official U.S. member of the Communion. Those Anglicans who supported the consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson fear the covenant would impede similar acts in future.
from FaithWorld:
First group of Anglican bishops to convert to Rome
Five Church of England bishops opposed to the ordination of women bishops will take up an offer by Pope Benedict and convert to Roman Catholicism, heralding a possible exodus of traditionalist Anglicans.
The bishops will enter full communion with Rome through an ordinariate, a body proposed by the pope last October to let traditionalists convert while keeping some Anglican traditions, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales announced.
The ordinariate will let married clerics become Catholic priests, in an exception to the Vatican's celibacy rule, but not bishops. Married Anglican bishops who convert may be granted a special status almost equivalent to their former rank.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, head of the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion, accepted the resignations of two bishops directly under his authority, Andrew Burnham and Keith Newton, "with regret." He wished them well "in this next stage of their service to the Church."
The Catholic Bishops' Conference said in a statement: "We welcome the decision of Bishops Andrew Burnham, Keith Newton, John Broadhurst, Edwin Barnes and David Silk to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church through the Ordinariate for England and Wales, which will be established under the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus.
"At our plenary meeting next week, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales will be exploring the establishment of the Ordinariate and the warm welcome we will be extending to those who seek to be part of it. Further information will be made known after the meeting."
from FaithWorld:
Anglican gay bishops are okay if celibate, Archbishop Rowan Williams says
The spiritual head of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop Rowan Williams, backed gay people becoming bishops on Saturday as long as they remain celibate, risking more divisions within the Church on the issue.
Making one of the most explicit statements he has made on the subject, the head of the Church of England told The Times that he had "no problem" with their consecration. But he would not endorse gay clergy in active relationships because of tradition and historical "standards" that require celibacy, he said in the interview.
He said he had to decide against endorsing gay relationships for clergy and bishops because "the cost to the Church overall was too great to be borne at that point."
"To put it very simply, there's no problem about a gay person who's a bishop. It's about the fact that there are traditionally, historically, standards that the clergy are expected to observe," Williams said.
His comments provoked an angry response from campaigners who accused him of being inconsistent because they say he previously blocked the appointment as bishop of a celibate homosexual cleric.
from FaithWorld:
Excerpts from Pope Benedict’s address at Lambeth Palace
Meeting Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, head of the Church of England and spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, Pope Benedict put aside differences between the two churches and stressed the close cooperation they have developed over the past four decades.
Here are excerpts from the pope's comments to the archbishop:
"...It is not my intention today to speak of the difficulties that the ecumenical path has encountered and continues to encounter. Those difficulties are well known to everyone here. Rather, I wish to join you in giving thanks for the deep friendship that has grown between us and for the remarkable progress that has been made in so many areas of dialogue during the forty years that have elapsed since the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission began its work. Let us entrust the fruits of that work to the Lord of the harvest, confident that he will bless our friendship with further significant growth.
"The context in which dialogue takes place between the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church has evolved in dramatic ways since the private meeting between Pope John XXIII and Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher in 1960. On the one hand, the surrounding culture is growing ever more distant from its Christian roots, despite a deep and widespread hunger for spiritual nourishment. On the other hand, the increasingly multicultural dimension of society, particularly marked in this country, brings with it the opportunity to encounter other religions. For us Christians this opens up the possibility of exploring, together with members of other religious traditions, ways of bearing witness to the transcendent dimension of the human person and the universal call to holiness, leading to the practice of virtue in our personal and social lives. Ecumenical cooperation in this task remains essential, and will surely bear fruit in promoting peace and harmony in a world that so often seems at risk of fragmentation.
"At the same time, we Christians must never hesitate to proclaim our faith in the uniqueness of the salvation won for us by Christ, and to explore together a deeper understanding of the means he has placed at our disposal for attaining that salvation...
"In the figure of John Henry Newman, who is to be beatified on Sunday, we celebrate a churchman whose ecclesial vision was nurtured by his Anglican background and matured during his many years of ordained ministry in the Church of England. He can teach us the virtues that ecumenism demands: on the one hand, he was moved to follow his conscience, even at great personal cost; and on the other hand, the warmth of his continued friendship with his former colleagues, led him to explore with them, in a truly eirenical spirit, the questions on which they differed, driven by a deep longing for unity in faith. Your Grace, in that same spirit of friendship, let us renew our determination to pursue the goal of unity in faith, hope, and love, in accordance with the will of our one Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."
from FaithWorld:
Excerpts from Archbishop Rowan Williams’ address at Lambeth Palace
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the head of the Church of England and spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, received Pope Benedict at Lambeth Palace in London on Friday and stressed the common goal both churches have in defending Christianity in the public sphere and working together as much as possible despite their differences.
Here are excerpts from the archbishop's remarks to Pope Benedict:
"…Your consistent and penetrating analysis of the state of European society in general has been a major contribution to public debate on the relations between Church and culture, and we gratefully acknowledge our debt in this respect.
"Our task as bishops is to preach the Gospel and shepherd the flock of Christ; and this includes the responsibility not only to feed but also to protect it from harm. Today, this involves a readiness to respond to the various trends in our cultural environment that seek to present Christian faith as both an obstacle to human freedom and a scandal to human intellect. We need to be clear that the Gospel of the new creation in Jesus Christ is the door through which we enter into true liberty and true understanding: we are made free to be human as God intends us to be human; we are given the illumination that helps us see one another and all created things in the light of divine love and intelligence…
"Our presence together as British bishops here today is a sign of the way in which, in this country, we see our task as one and indivisible. The International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission has set before us all the vital importance of our common calling as bishops to be agents of mission. Our fervent prayer is that this visit will give us fresh energy and vision for working together in this context in the name of what a great Roman Catholic thinker of the last century called ‘true humanism’ – a passionate commitment to the dignity of all human beings, from the beginning to the end of life, and to a resistance to every tyranny that threatens to stifle or deny the place of the transcendent in human affairs.
"We do not as churches seek political power or control, or the dominance of Christian faith in the public sphere; but the opportunity to testify, to argue, sometimes to protest, sometimes to affirm – to play our part in the public debates of our societies...We shall be effective defenders or proclaimers of our faith when we can show what a holy life looks like, a life in which the joy of God is transparently present. And this means that our ministry together as bishops across the still-surviving boundaries of our confessions is not only a search for how we best act together in the public arena; it is a quest together for holiness and transparency to God, a search for ways in which we may help each other to grow in the life of the Holy Spirit…
Rejection of gay clergyman as bishop sends CoE into spin
The Church of England has blocked the appointment of a gay clergyman to the role of Bishop of Southwark after a bitter behind-the-scenes battle which has left the conservatives and liberals at loggerheads and possibly weakened the standing of Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, media reports said.
Jeffrey John, Dean of St Albans, was rejected after it was leaked that he was on the Crown Nominations Commission shortlist for the post in south London, one of the most liberal of all the church’s dioceses, the Daily Telegraph said.
It is a second humiliation for the openly gay but celibate John, who seven years ago was forced to stand down from becoming the Bishop of Reading after opposition from evangelicals.
The Archbishop of Canterbury had asked his friend to forgo the Reading post in an attempt to keep the church together, and will be seen as having been central in this week’s decision.
Williams, angry that details from the confidential CNC meeting were leaked for political purposes, said he would not allow himself to be pressurised into backing any one candidate, the Times reported.
Potential schisms within the CoE and the broader Anglican Communion have been frequently mentioned in recent years, but tensions are running particularly high at the moment.
Archbishops baffle with women bishops proposal
The two highest spiritual figures in the Church of England made a last-ditch attempt to persuade traditionalists to stay within the Communion and not leave over the issue of women bishops.
The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the Archbishop of York John Sentamu put forward an amendment for debate at next month’s General Synod, or church parliament, suggesting that a legally protected “nominated bishop” work in parishes where a female bishop is not wanted.
It is a rare move for any archbishop to put forward an amendment for General Synod and comes at the end of a long and protacted process by the revision committee, tasked with drawing up draft legislation.
Women bishops, along with homosexual issues, are two of the most divisive subjects faced by the CoE, mother church of the Anglican Communion.
Anglo Catholics, who argue there is nothing in the Bible or church history to support women bishops, have threatened to leave in their droves ever since women were first ordained as priests about 16 years ago, a danger heightened by Pope Benedict’s offer of an Apostolic Ordinariate last autumn.
The traditionalists Forward in Faith “warmly welcomed” the amendment but most observers reacted with bemusement. Not only did they fail to comprehend how it would work, but queried what the archbishops were up to. All the more baffling as it is a matter of record they both support the consecration of women bishops.
The General-Secretary of the General Synod William Fittall could only point journalists to paragraph six of the proposed amendment, either unwilling or unable to explain the meaning himself.
from FaithWorld:
Church of England stops short of links with breakaway U.S. Anglicans
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, England, 23 Dec 2009/Suzanne Plunkett
The Church of England stopped short of recognising a new conservative church in North America on Wednesday, avoiding possible embarrassment for the main Anglican church in the United States.
But some evangelicals in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) said they were encouraged by the decision of the General Synod, the CoE's parliament, for the archbishops of Canterbury and York to report back on the break-away church's progress next year.
Some members of ACNA, formed in opposition to pro-gay members of the official Anglican body in North America, said they had not expected any kind of recognition from the Anglican mother church for another five years.
"We are hopeful on this," Kevin Kallsen, an ACNA member from Connecticut, told Reuters.
The synod voted to "recognise and affirm" the desire of those who have formed ACNA to remain within the Anglican family, amending a private member's motion brought by Canadian-born CoE lay member Lorna Ashworth.
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