Content about General

The recent ruling by the trial court in the case of St. James (Newport Beach) has the potential to put a cloud on the title of every piece of property sold by a California Episcopal parish or diocese since 1980 -- as well as to make future financing of their projects well-nigh impossible. Did you think about what you were asking for, Bishop Bruno?

A bulk email offering assistance akin to a pre-paid legal services plan has refocused the Episcopal Church’s attention on flaws within the new Title IV Ecclesiastical Discipline canons.

A 17 January 2013 email from CanonLawyer, Inc., an organization set up by long-time General Convention deputy and the former chancellor of the Diocese of Newark, Michael Rehill, elicited a wave of chatter amongst the clergy of the Episcopal Church after it warned of the risks of malicious prosecution under the new code.

A South Carolina court has been asked “Who and what are Episcopalians and how is that church organized?” after the Diocese of South Carolina filed a lawsuit yesterday against the national Episcopal Church.  The 65-page complaint asks the court to issue an injunction banning Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and her allies in South Carolina from using the name or presuming to act on behalf of the diocese and further asks the court to affirm the legality of the diocese’s secession from the General Convention of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America.

God is not an Englishman, the Chaplain General of the British Army said last month in an interview printed in the November 2012 issue of Defence Focus, but that does not mean war or military service is unjust.

In a wide ranging interview the Rev. Jonathan Woodhouse, the Chaplain-General to the Forces was asked if God was on “our side”.

The Bishop of the Diocese of Upper South Carolina has offered his support to national church loyalists in the Diocese of South Carolina in their battle with Bishop Mark Lawrence. 

In his 2 Dec 2012 Advent letter to the church, Bishop Andrew Waldo did not offer ecclesiastical oversight to the 5 to 12 South Carolina congregations that did not back the 17 Nov 2012 vote for secession, his offer of pastoral support lays the ground work for their absorption in to his diocese.

Eight lay members of the General Synod have written to the Times because “the uncomprehending fury and frustration that greeted the failure of the Measure and the one-sided reporting on the issue make it helpful for those of us who voted out of a sense of over-riding concern for the Church of England’s minorities, and for the promises made to those minorities, to explain why we acted as we did.”

A lot of people seem to be confused after the decision by the Church of England's General Synod not to approve the consecration of women as bishops.

Let us begin by establishing the facts. 1. All sides agree that the church will have women bishops at some point, whether they like this or not. 2. All sides also agree that provision will have to be made for those who cannot accept women bishops.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has rejected suggestions this month’s meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council was irrelevant, saying there was much to be “grateful for” from the ten day gathering in Auckland, New Zealand.

Speaking to the General Synod of the Church of England on 19 Nov 2012, Dr. Rowan Williams said he wished to respond to criticisms the “structure and pattern of ACC meetings is designed to push to the margin some of the more difficult and controversial matters in the Communion … to focus on mind on the process and take our minds away from the arguments we are not prepared to have.”

The Diocese of South Carolina has withdrawn from the Episcopal Church.

On 17 Nov 2012 delegates to a special meeting of the convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina endorsed resolutions affirming the withdrawal of the diocese from the General Convention of the Episcopal Church made last month by the Standing Committee and adopted resolutions amending the constitution and canons to delete reference to the national church.

Statement from the Presiding Bishop ....

You and the challenges you are facing in South Carolina remain in my own prayers and in those of many, many Episcopalians.  As the confusion increases, I would like to clarify a number of issues which I understand are being discussed.

The episcopal defendants in the Fort Worth 7 case have been charged with fraud, financial misconduct and failing to inform on their fellow bishops  who held opinions on church order contrary to those advocated by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.

In an email dated 2 Oct 2012 seen by Anglican Ink the Fort Worth 7 were informed of the specific canonical violations they had committed by filing an amicus brief in the Fort Worth case before the Texas Supreme Court.

Delegates to a special electoral synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria have selected a monk and two bishops as candidates to succeed Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria.

On 29 October 2012 the 2,405 members of the Synod of Bishops and the church’s General Lay Council meeting at St. Mark’s Cathedral, in Cairo’s Abbasiya neighbourhood cast ballots to select three candidates for the post.  Seventeen names had been put forward for consideration by an electoral commission, which narrowed the list to five candidates.