VirtueOnline

Opposing Dioceses Harden Lines* Sewanee ExposedTEC SlidesSeminary Lay Offs

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:10:00 -0500

Evangelism and Social Action. The instrument of change. Evangelism is the major instrument of social change. For the gospel changes people, and changed people can change society. --- John R.W. Stott

Love and justice. The cross is a revelation of God's justice as well as of his love. That is why the community of the cross should concern itself with social justice as well as with loving philanthropy. It is never enough to have pity on the victims of injustice, if we do nothing to change the unjust situation itself. Good Samaritans will always be needed to succour those who are assaulted and robbed; yet it would be even better to rid the Jerusalem-Jericho road of brigands. ---- From "The Cross of Christ" John R.W. Stott

No warmth within. Some preachers have a great horror of emotionalism. So have I, if this means the artificial stirring of the emotions by rhetorical tricks or other devices. But we should not fear genuine emotion. If we can preach Christ crucified and remain altogether unmoved, we must have a hard heart indeed. More to be feared than emotion is cold professionalism, the dry, detached utterance of a lecture which has neither heart nor soul in it. Do man's peril and Christ's salvation mean so little to us that we feel no warmth rise within us as we think about them? --- From "The Preacher's Portrait" John R. W. Stott

Manhattan Declaration & Signers

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:40:00 -0500

Manhattan Declaration & Signers

http://www.demossnews.com/manhattandeclaration/press_kit/manhattan_declaration_signers October 20, 2009 Preamble 

Christians are heirs of a 2,000-year tradition of proclaiming God's word, seeking justice in our societies, resisting tyranny, and reaching out with compassion to the poor, oppressed and suffering.

While fully acknowledging the imperfections and shortcomings of Christian institutions and communities in all ages, we claim the heritage of those Christians who defended innocent life by rescuing discarded babies from trash heaps in Roman cities and publicly denouncing the Empire's sanctioning of infanticide. We remember with reverence those believers who sacrificed their lives by remaining in Roman cities to tend the sick and dying during the plagues, and who died bravely in the coliseums rather than deny their Lord.

SCOTLAND: Kirk votes against trainee gay clergy

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:40:00 -0500

SCOTLAND: Kirk votes against trainee gay clergy

The Christian Institute
http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/?p=18350
November 20th, 2009

Allowing a homosexual man to begin training for ministry in the Church of Scotland broke a two-year agreement to suspend appointing openly gay clergy, the Kirk has decided.

A church court voted 43 to 38 that Hamilton Presbytery, one of the largest in Scotland, broke the agreement by appointing Dimitri Ross to training.

The agreement was put in place after the appointment of an openly homosexual minister, Revd Scott Rennie, caused an uproar. The agreement will remain until a Special Commission publishes a report on the issue in 2011.

An Anglican Bridge Across the Tiber

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:30:00 -0500

An Anglican Bridge Across the Tiber
A former Anglican vicar now a Catholic priests reflects on the Apostolic Constitution

by Fr. Dwight Longenecker
Times Online
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6923444.ece
November 19, 2009

Last Monday I was traveling to Tampa, Florida for a week long retreat with other Catholic priests who were once Anglican priests. In the airport I got an email with the news that the new Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus had been published. Suddenly the rest of the week's program was decided. My brother priests and I spent time studying the document and discussing its implications.

ROME: Archbishop tells Pope: there will be no turning back on women priests

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:30:00 -0500

ROME: Archbishop tells Pope: there will be no turning back on women priests

by Ruth Gledhill and Richard Owen in Rome
The Times
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6923807.ece
November 20, 2009

The Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday made his most outspoken challenge to the Roman Catholic Church since the Pope invited disaffected Anglicans to switch to Rome.

Speaking before he meets Benedict XVI tomorrow, Dr Rowan Williams told a conference in Rome that the Catholic Church's refusal to ordain women was a bar to Christian unity.

"For many Anglicans, not ordaining women has a possible unwelcome implication about the difference between baptised men and baptised women," he said.

The Anglican provinces that ordain women had retained rather than lost their Catholic holiness and sacramentalism, he said.

Addressing an ecumenical conference at the Gregorian Pontifical University, the Archbishop said that the way Anglican leaders dealt with internal arguments offered lessons for senior Catholics.

NEW YORK: Episcopal Priest 'Very Sorry' Using Church Funds for Plastic Surgery

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:40:00 -0500

NEW YORK: Episcopal Priest 'Very Sorry' for Using Church Funds for Plastic Surgery; Gets Probation

November 19, 2009

A New York priest accused of using church funds to pay for plastic surgery has been ordered to serve five years probation.

The Rev. William Blasingame also must pay back $84,537 to St. Paul's Memorial Episcopal Church on Staten Island.

Prosecutors say he paid for personal luxuries, including tens of thousands of dollars worth of plastic surgery and Botox treatments, with money earmarked for the needy and the upkeep of church grounds.

Apostasy and Blasphemy in Islam: What should Christians Do?

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:20:00 -0500

Apostasy and Blasphemy in Islam: What should Christians Do?

By Michael Nazir-Ali
November 20, 2009

The Qur'an is fierce in its condemnation of apostasy (ridda) and of the apostate (murtadd). Theirs, according to it, will be a dreadful penalty ('adhbun 'azmun). This sentiment, which occurs in Sura 16:106, is re-expressed in other ways in other suras (chapters of the Qur'an). The interesting point to note is that the various threats of judgement and of punishment seem to relate to the next world or to life after this earthly one, rather than to this world and to this life.

Against this, we have the unanimous position of the various schools of Islamic law (fiqh) that shari'a lays down the death penalty for adult male Muslims in possession of their faculties who apostatise. Some schools also prescribe a similar punishment for women, whilst others hold that a woman apostate should be imprisoned until she recants and returns to Islam. In addition to this, should an apostate somehow escape the ultimate penalty, his property becomes fai', i.e. it becomes the property of the Muslim community, which may hand it over to his heirs; his marriage is automatically dissolved and he is denied Muslim burial.

How then did such a major difference arise between the prima face teaching of the Qur'an and the provisions of shari'a as codified by the various schools of law? The answer is that the death penalty for apostasy is to be found in the hadith, the various collections of traditions about the Prophet of Islam's sayings and doings, and it is also found in the sunna of Muhammad and of his closest companions, the reports about their practice.

Episcopal Priest Praises Mohammed, Vishnu, Buddha, Confucius in Liturgy

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:10:00 -0500

ARKANSAS: Episcopal Priest Praises Mohammed, Vishnu, Buddha, Confucius in Rogue All Saints Liturgy

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
November 20, 2009

When parishioners filed into St. John's Episcopal Church in Harrison, Arkansas, on All Saints Sunday, November 1, they were handed a bulletin that sent shivers down the spines of many of the congregants. It was a case of inclusion gone wild.

The "Litany of all the Saints of God" part of their Sunday liturgy read as follows:

Litany of all the Saints of God

CELEBRANT: Blessed are all you holy ones, the saints, you who have done the will of God, and now rejoice in the reward of Eternal joy.

Holy men and women who worshipped the All Holy One as Rama, Vishnu or the Lord Krishna, forest hermits, ascetics and wise ones whose lives were incarnations of the holy books the Vedas, Upanishads and Gita -

The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth:Parishes file Plea in Intervention

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:20:00 -0500

The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth:Parishes file Plea in Intervention

November, 19, 2009

Forty seven parishes and missions of the diocese have filed a Plea in Intervention in the lawsuit against the diocese that is currently before the 141st District Court. Collectively, the 47 churches are termed the "Intervening Congregations."

The plea asks the court to acknowledge through a declaratory judgment that, "in accordance with the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, the title to the real property being occupied and subject to the control of Intervening Congregations is held by the Corporation of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth in trust for the use and benefit of each Intervening Congregation" and that this trust relationship is superior to any other claims.

Rowan Williams urges Rome to rethink position on female bishops

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:40:00 -0500

Rowan Williams urges Rome to rethink position on female bishops

By Riazat Butt and John Hooper in Rome
guardian.co.uk
November 19, 2009

The archbishop of Canterbury today pleaded with Roman Catholics to set aside their differences with Anglicans over the issue of female bishops, insisting there was more uniting the denominations than dividing them.

Rowan Williams was giving a lecture in Rome before Sunday's meeting with the pope, their first encounter since the Vatican's surprise announcement of a special institution for traditionalist Anglicans wanting to convert to Catholicism.

In his address at the Gregorian University, Williams said the Anglican communion was proof that churches could stay together in spite of their differences.

The communion has teetered on the edge of schism for nearly a decade over the issue of gay clergy but has retained a sliver of fellowship. Williams urged Roman Catholics to continue their 35-year dialogue with Anglicans in spite of theological and ideological divisions.

NEW BRIGHTON, MN: New Lutheran body to form after gay pastor vote

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0500

NEW BRIGHTON, MN: New Lutheran body to form after gay pastor vote

By PATRICK CONDON
http://www.thestate.com/166/story/1034068.html
November 18, 2009

The split over gay clergy within the country's largest Lutheran denomination has prompted a conservative faction to begin forming a new Lutheran church body separate from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Leaders of Lutheran CORE said Wednesday that a working group would immediately begin drafting a constitution and taking other steps to form the denomination, with hopes to have it off the ground by next August.

ROME: Archbishop Williams address at a Willebrands Symposium in Rome

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:40:00 -0500

ROME: Archbishop Williams address at a Willebrands Symposium in Rome

November 19, 2009

The Archbishop of Canterbury is today giving an address in Rome, as the guest of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The address is part of a symposium being held at the Gregorian University, to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Cardinal Willebrands, the first president of the Council.

The Archbishop says in his introduction:

"Since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, the Roman Catholic Church has been involved in a number of dialogues with other churches - including with the Anglican Communion - which have produced a very considerable number of agreed statements. This legacy has been brought together in a recent publication by the Vatican department to promote Christian Unity, whose first President during and after Vatican II, Cardinal Johannes Willebrands, is justly and happily celebrated in today's centenary conference.

Catholic Bishops' Pastoral Letter on Marriage - Mike McManus

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:20:00 -0500

Catholic Bishops' Pastoral Letter on Marriage

By Mike McManus
November 18, 2009

This week America's Catholic Bishops issued a major Pastoral Letter, "Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan." It is the first such comprehensive declaration of support for marriage by any denomination I have witnessed in nearly three decades of writing this column.

The Letter was prompted by the bishops' concern about several disturbing trends.

First, while young people "esteem marriage," many are "reluctant to make the actual commitment necessary to enter and sustain it." Instead, many are choosing "to live in cohabiting relationships that may or may not lead to marriage and can be detrimental to the well-being of their children and themselves."

Archbishop of Canterbury must show muscular Christianity - Ruth Gledhill

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:00:00 -0500

Archbishop of Canterbury must show muscular Christianity

Commentary

by Ruth Gledhill
From The Times
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6922397.ece
November 19, 2009

The Archbishop of Canterbury has displayed a munificent turning of the other cheek in response to what many see as a move by the Pope to annex part of his Church.

No one doubts his Christian holiness. But a bit more muscular Christianity would not go amiss. In Rome this week he might do better to ask himself not "What would Jesus do?" but "What would Thomas Cromwell do?"

Hilary Mantel's Booker Prize-winning Wolf Hall, a fictionalised memoir of Henry VIII's Reformation enforcer, has important lessons for Dr Rowan Williams.

ENGLAND: Churches head for a showdown in Rome

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:40:00 -0500

ENGLAND: Churches head for a showdown in Rome

by Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
The Times Online
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6922455.ece?print=yes&randnum=1258608022877#
November 19, 2009

Priests returning to the Anglican Church have warned clergy against leaving to become Catholics

The Archbishop of Westminster has blamed Church of England bishops for keeping their leader in the dark about the Pope's attempts to entice Anglicans to Rome.

As the Archbishop of Canterbury prepared to visit Pope Benedict XVI for the first time since plans to admit Anglican opponents of women priests into the Catholic faith were published, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, deepened the row.

TRY TO IMAGINE - Peter Moore

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:40:00 -0500

TRY TO IMAGINE

By Dr. Peter Moore
Special to Virtueonline
November 19, 2009

It's 10:30 AM. Early morning classes are over. There's a break in the day. Students at this relatively small Midwestern college can bask in the unusual mid November sunshine, hit one of the coffee shops in the adjacent village, or - they can go to voluntary chapel and hear a woman speaker from a seminary somewhere in Minnesota.

Hope is located in Holland, Michigan - a small city settled very largely by Dutch immigrants of a few generations back. It has a noted tulip festival in the spring, and sports architecture reminiscent of Amsterdam. Nearby Grand Rapids is known as the hometown of Gerald Ford, Amway, and a lot of office furniture makers. It's also the location of Zondervan, Baker, and Eerdmans - large and influential Christian publishing houses that produce many excellent books
Hope College is not a fiercely Christian college, although it was founded by worthy members of the Dutch Reformed Church, now known as the RCA - Reformed Church in America. Like many other colleges with a denominational background, it now draws students from all branches of the Christian church, and none. It's faculty, while largely Christian in name, includes atheists as well as believers.

Two Fort Worth Bodies Tout New Unanimity

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:10:00 -0500

Two Fort Worth Bodies Tout New Unanimity

http://tinyurl.com/ylczrja
November 17, 2009

Now that the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth and the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth (Southern Cone) are separate entities, they are both reporting unanimous decisions by their respective legislative bodies. The decisions move the dioceses away from one another and toward their respective theological commitments.

The convention of the diocese remaining with the Episcopal Church voted unanimously Nov. 14 to:

* Call the Rt. Rev. Wallis C. Ohl as its next provisional bishop. Bishop Ohl succeeds the Rt. Rev. Edwin "Ted" Gulick, who has served as the provisional bishop for 10 months.

BETHLEHEM: Bishop gives permission for same-gender blessings

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:20:00 -0500

BETHLEHEM: Bishop gives permission for same-gender blessings

By Mary Frances Schjonberg,
November 17, 2009
Episcopal News Service

Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem Bishop Paul Marshall said Nov. 16 that he has established "interim measures" to allow clergy to bless same-gender relationships.

Marshall's letter to his clergy is available here. http://tinyurl.com/ydntsc2

"I am not generally broadcasting this decision yet (although I suspect the word will be quickly out) because it is up to the clergy of a place to decide if they are interested, and then to take it up within the parish system," Marshall wrote in his letter.

Appellate Court Stays Proceedings in Ft. Worth

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:40:00 -0500

Appellate Court Stays Proceedings in Ft. Worth

by A.S. Haley
http://accurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2009/11/appellate-court-stays-proceedings-in-ft.html
November 17, 2009

The Court of Appeals for the Second District in Fort Worth, Texas has issued an order staying all further proceedings in the trial court in Tarrant County between Bishop Edward Gulick's rump "diocese" of Fort Worth and ECUSA, on the one side, and Bishop Jack L. Iker and his co-trustees of the Diocesan Corporation of Fort Worth on the other side. The order (which I expect will be posted shortly on the Diocese's Website) comes in response to a petition for writ of mandate filed by Bishop Iker's attorneys, following the order signed by Judge Chupp after the oral arguments I described in this post, followed by this post, and then this one. Although by no means a definitive indication of the Court of Appeal's sentiments in this matter, the order recites the following basis for its issuance:

SEWANEE University Regrettably Succumbs to Post-Modernism and Pansexuality-Pt.I

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:30:00 -0500

SEWANEE: University of the South Regrettably Succumbs to Post-Modernism and Pansexuality - Part 1
University Elects Pro-Gay Bishop as Chancellor
Trustees Dump Ft. Worth Bishop's Orthodox Trustees

This is the first in a three-part series on the University of the South, the Episcopal Church's only university with a School of Theology as it transitions into the 21st Century.

Special Investigation and Exclusive Report

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
11/18/2009

Sewanee: The University of the South, The Episcopal Church's only university with a School of Theology continues undergoing profound and troubling changes as it heads into the 21st Century - changes that most who love Sewanee know compromise both its historic and intellectual character as well as its theological integrity.

The campus, affectionately known as "The Mountain," is owned by the twenty-eight southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church. Its Sewanee School of Theology is an official seminary of the church. Known simply as Sewanee, the school has produced 25 Rhodes Scholars and was ranked 36th in the annual US News & World Report list of liberal arts colleges, having fallen in recent years from a high of 24th. Sewanee is a member of the Associated Colleges of the South.

The renaming of The University of the South to "Sewanee: The University of the South" in 2004 was an official attempt to recruit and retain more minority and non-Southern students. Most students and alumni were, and continue to be, offended by the "distancing" University from its historic association with the best of Southern culture.

WASHINGTON, DC: Catholic, Episcopal Bishops Clash Over Meaning of Marriage

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:50:00 -0500

WASHINGTON, DC: Catholic, Episcopal Bishops Clash Over Meaning of Marriage

News Analysis

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
11/17/2009

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington and the Episcopal Bishop of Washington are at odds over same-sex marriage.

Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl issued a Pastoral Message for Homosexual Catholics in the Archdiocese of Washington saying that of the many teachings of the Catholic Church, perhaps some of the most challenging for Catholics in todays culture involve human sexuality, including homosexuality.

Modern cultural pressures and assumptions are often at odds with the teachings of Christ handed down through the centuries. For some parishioners the issues are deeply personal. Living out the Churchs teaching can be a difficult challenge. Yet, no one needs to do this separated from the grace and love of the Church.

It is important to affirm that the Catholic Church is and always will be welcoming of any person who seeks who seeks a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.The Catechism of the Catholic Church upholds the human dignity of every person and condemns any form of unjust discrimination (2358).

Muslim academics and students are turning against Darwin's theory

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:50:00 -0500

Muslim academics and students are turning against Darwin's theory

by Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
The Times
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6919413.ece
November 17, 2009

Muslims in many countries are increasingly rejecting Darwin's theory of evolution, under the influence of conservative elements in Islam, a science conference was told yesterday.

Nidhal Guessoum, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, told the conference, being held in Egypt by the British Council, that in too many places students and academics believed they had to make a "binary choice" between evolution and creationism, rather than understanding that one could believe both in God and in Darwin's theory.

Baiticum et Switchorum: Unspinning the new constitution

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:00:00 -0500

Baiticum et Switchorum: Unspinning the new constitution

by Robert Hart
www.virtueonline.org
November 17, 2009

On a website of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) we find this report of Archbishop John Hepworth's address to the Forward in Faith people (with analysis):

The Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion addresses Forward in Faith. Here's a recap of what he said.

Archbishop Hepworth made a very successful speech praising the Holy Father's generosity, assuaging doubts and taking naysayers. He actively put the best possible face on the future for the delegates saying that they had be [sic] assured that they would be treated as Anglican Catholics, just as there are Roman, Ukranian, and Maronite Catholics--that while the ordinariates were not a rite, they looked an awfully lot like one. He said that they had been offered an ecclesial body for Anglicans that protects those crucial elements of spirituality, liturgy, theology, history, and discipline, that are part of the distinctive Anglican patrimony. He says that TAC national synods will be asked to begin voting their acceptance of the Holy Father's offer immediately.

ST. CATHARINES: Bishop Donald F. Harvey's Charge to Synod

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:30:00 -0500

ST. CATHARINES: Bishop Donald F. Harvey's Charge to Synod

http://www.anglicanessentials.ca/wordpress/index.php/2009/11/16/bishops-charge-to-synod-2/
November 16th, 2009

CHARGE OF THE RIGHT REVEREND DONALD F. HARVEY

TO THE SECOND DIOCESAN SYNOD

Held in

ST. CATHERINE'S, ONTARIO

NOVEMBER 11 - 13, 2009

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

LONDON: Archbishop backs higher taxes

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:20:00 -0500

LONDON: Archbishop backs higher taxes

By Daily Express Reporter
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/140810/Archbishop-backs-higher-taxes
November 17,2009

ARCHBISHOP of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams sparked fury yesterday by claiming higher taxes could be a way to create a better society.

His backing for new levies on financial transactions and carbon emissions enraged low tax campaigners.

Susie Squire, political director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "The Archbishop is showing yet again how out of touch he is with the British taxpaying public."

NY: Bishop Christopher Epting comments on the Vatican's Apostolic Constitution

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:40:00 -0500

NEW YORK: Bishop Christopher Epting comments on the Vatican's Apostolic Constitution

November 16, 2009

Bishop Christopher Epting, Deputy for Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations of The Episcopal Church, has issued the following:

Now that the full text of the Vatican's "Apostolic Constitution" dealing with certain former Anglicans who wish to become Roman Catholics has been released, it is clear that what is being touted by some as an 'ecumenical gesture' may be understood as 'pastoral' but is not necessarily very ecumenical. Even though Cardinal Walter Kasper has now given one newspaper interview, there has otherwise been a noticeable silence on the part of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity on this matter. This appears to be a unilateral action on the part of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which flies in the face of the slow, but steady progress made in the real ecumenical dialogue of over forty years.

FT. WORTH: Appellate court issues stay in response to Mandamus filing

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:40:00 -0500

FT. WORTH: Appellate court issues stay in response to Mandamus filing
Stay buys time for Bishop Jack Iker

http://www.fwepiscopal.org/news/courtordersstay.html
Nov. 17, 2009

The Fort Worth Court of Appeals has ordered the suspension of further proceedings in a suit brought against the diocese last April. The stay was issued late on Monday, Nov. 16, in response to a Petition for Writ of Mandamus filed by the diocese on Friday, Nov. 13. The suit is pending before the 141st District Court. The Hon. John P. Chupp is the trial judge.

Monday's order, issued by the Court of Appeals for the Second District of Texas, says, "The court has considered relators' [the diocese's] petition for writ of madamus and motion for stay and is of the tentative opinion that relators are entitled to relief or that a serious question concerning the relief requires further consideration." The order sets a deadline of 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 30, for any response to be filed by parties of interest, who could include Judge Chupp and attorneys Jonathan Nelson and Kathleen Wells. The stay is in effect until the Court of Appeals issues a decision.

Cardinal Kasper says provision for Anglicans is not anti-ecumenical

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:40:00 -0500

Cardinal Kasper says provision for Anglicans is not anti-ecumenical

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The establishment of special structures for Anglicans who want to enter into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church absolutely is not a signal of the end of ecumenical dialogue with the Anglican Communion, said the Vatican's chief ecumenist.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said the visit Nov. 19-22 of Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, primate of the Anglican Communion, to the Vatican "demonstrates that there has been no rupture and reaffirms our common desire to talk to one another at a historically important moment."

REFORM Group Blasts Revision Committee on Women Bishops

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:50:00 -0500

UK: REFORM Group Blasts Revision Committee on Women Bishops
Overlooked Evangelicals could move to alternative Anglican affiliations

by Paul Dawson
November 16, 2009

Reform regrets a 'lost opportunity for peace and unity' over Revision Committee's decision on Women Bishops

The decision of the General Synod's Revision Committee to back away from proposals to give opponents of women bishops a way of staying in the Church of England has "overturned the will of Synod, created the spectre of confrontation, and risks extending the controversy for another five years," according to the chairman of Reform, the Rev'd Rod Thomas.

LONDON: It's time for Dr Rowan Williams to square up to a rampant Rome

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:30:00 -0500

LONDON: It's time for Dr Rowan Williams to square up to a rampant Rome

On Thursday, Dr Rowan Williams makes his own journey to see Pope Benedict in Rome Dr Williams must challenge the Pontiff over his raid on Anglo-Catholics

OPINION

By George Pitcher
The Telegraph
http://tinyurl.com/yhqu66m
November 16, 2009

I've lost count of the times I've been asked joshingly over the past couple of weeks whether I'm going over to Rome. I'd love to go to Rome, I reply, not least because my daughter has promised to buy me a Bellini in her favourite bar by the Pantheon. But there is about as much chance of me taking up the Vatican's offer of conversion to Roman Catholicism, under its new Apostolic Constitution, as there is of Pope Benedict XVI subsidising free condoms for Africa.