Allow me to elaborate. When I was an "active" parochial priest, I would never, ever, just baptize a person or young child because the people came and wanted him/her baptized (especially when I had an Hispanic congregation, or one along with the English). I required more than just being in the church on a few days.
Read moreSeveral senior bishops, including the Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, have already warned they could boycott the conference, the ten-yearly gathering of Anglican Communion bishops from across the globe, because of the row over gays.
Today nine Primates, including Nigeria's Peter Akinola, Uganda's Luke Orombi and South East Asia's John Chew, said the conference should be postponed until all bishops could meet "in a spirit of true collegiality and unity in the faith."
Read moreSeveral of these men have shown courage is addressing issues which they believe are important to the life of the Church, but I know what Richard Wurmbrand would say about the drivel that they signed after a few days in China. Ironically, their visit took place just before the IDOP. Perhaps they could "Google" that and do some serious reading before issuing a new statement. The Voice of the Martyrs will help them get a grip, and sober up from their heady tour.
Read moreBishop Lee agreed to this request and set up an official commission to examine all of the elements of the problem and return with a report to the governing bodies of the diocese. His six member team met for many months and submitted a unanimous report in September 2007 called 'A protocol for departing congregations'. The Protocol was 'received' unanimously by the Executive Board and 'by consensus' by the Standing Committee, without a single negative vote.
Read moreOOPS! The Episcopal congregations voted and then - following the Diocese of Virginia's Protocol for Departing Churches - filed that vote in their local court house. WE DID NOT, repeat, did not seek the court's declaration.
Read moreIt has been repeatedly stated and most succinctly summarized in the report, ‘Road to Lambeth’ we face a two fold crisis in the Anglican Communion: a crisis of doctrine and a crisis of leadership, in which the failure of the “Instruments” of the Communion to exercise discipline has called into question the viability of the Anglican Communion as a united Christian body under the common foundation of faith. (See the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral)
Read moreCharles, then a priest and John's supervisor during much of this time, knew that "his brother was conducting a sexual affair with an underage member of [his] church's youth group." It's said that Charles even came upon John Bennison and the 14 year-old-girl "while they were engaged in sexual relations."
Charles is charged with doing nothing, however, "to hasten the end of the affair."
Read moreWhat we have to take in account is that the Rev. Sierra is asking for his labor rights, unknown and denied by the diocesan, and his advisers.
Read moreWhen was the last time you read a mission statement and thought, Oh my! How exciting, how informative? My idea of hell is to be forced to read mission statements for eternity. The eyes glaze over and the mind is numbed by the banality, the sheer goodness, and the obvious motherhood statements that defy criticism. One is gripped by anger and resentment that something so dull could be seen to be foundational and yet what is there to complain about?
Read moreThere are many who are relieved that formal action has been finally taken against Charles Bennison. Hopefully his self serving leadership- known for building a camp at the expense of poorer parishes, financial mismanagement, dishonest communication and the mocking classical Christian doctrine- will come to an end. However, one cannot count Bennison out, not yet. He has given every indication that he thinks he can beat these charges. He may be right.
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