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January 14 2005 By virtueonline SALT LAKE CITY: House of Bishops Issue A Word to the Church

We decided at our September meeting in 2004 to set aside this time so we might together begin to receive the Windsor Report with humility. We have met for a day and a half in Salt Lake City. We welcome with gratitude the work of the Lambeth Commission on Communion. We realize this is a long-term effort which will most likely extend beyond our March meeting. In the meantime, we aim to practice the more intentional consultative processes called for by the Windsor Report.

January 14 2005 By virtueonline ENGLAND: Bishops give Williams mandate for Windsor

“We wanted Rowan to go knowing we endorse the position taken by the report,” one bishop said. “We want to be genuinely backing him.”

Another bishop said that the show of unity was vital. “It is critical the Archbishop goes to the Primates meeting with the support of his own house. If he’d gone with criticism and a lack of support, it would undermine his ability to do anything. The Windsor Report could be terrific if it’s given teeth.”

January 13 2005 By virtueonline PITTSBURGH: Episcopal bishop to attend Utah meeting about gay issues

The leaders also will decide whether they should apologize for ordaining a gay bishop in the first place.

Duncan has been leading the charge against progressive movements within the church that he and other conservatives consider to be contrary to scripture. His actions have caused a rift -- and spurred lawsuits -- among the 20,000 Episcopalians in the Pittsburgh diocese, some of whom support the actions of the House of Bishops.

January 12 2005 By virtueonline PHILADELPHIA (UPI)--Episcopal meeting faces gay-bishop issue

The Rev. Carl Metzger of the Church of St. Alban in Philadelphia said the prospects of an apology for consecrating Robinson are almost non-existent.

"I don't think they'll go that far," he said. They may express regret "for the division it has caused." He further suggested that the bishops would be united in their refusal to apologize.

January 11 2005 By virtueonline SALT LAKE CITY: Episcopalians plan Salt Lake session to take on same-sex furor

The bishops will also consider whether to issue -- and if so, how to word -- a formal apology for the uproar their decision in August 2003 has caused within the 77 million member worldwide Anglican Communion.

The Episcopal Church is one small division within Anglicanism, representing some 2.3 million members. Largely conservative in membership, the majority of Anglicans view the action by American bishops as an act of hubris that defies biblical teaching against homosexuality.

January 11 2005 By virtueonline OBITUARY: The Reverend Professor Carsten Thiede

Thiede's ambition was to lay the intellectual foundations of what he called a "new paradigm" in Gospel scholarship, as simple in its arguments as it was provocative to the academic establishment. He was fond of quoting the distinguished classical scholar of late antiquity, George Kennedy: "Ancient writers sometimes meant what they said, and occasionally even knew what they were talking about."

January 11 2005 By virtueonline ANGLICANS AND TSUNAMI: Sri Lanka and India give thanks for Tsunami relief

The update states that the Rt Revd Duleep de Chickera, the Bishop of Colombo, has travelled to the affected areas - including areas controlled by the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). The church's parishes and communities have come together, it adds, utilizing reliable state agencies. In addition, the diocese has set up a Relief and Rehabilitation desk to co-ordinate work.

January 09 2005 By virtueonline CHARLESTON,SC: Episcopal gay issue invites scorn, scholar says

Wright, a Church of England bishop, served on the Lambeth Commission. That body is responsible for resolving a dispute in which the Episcopal Church has allowed the ordination of a gay bishop, a move the rest of the Anglican Communion opposes.

January 09 2005 By virtueonline LONDON: Churches' faith in public restored as attendance rises

The provisional figures for 2003 show changes in church attendance across the 44 dioceses, including the Anglican Diocese of Europe, which also recorded a small increase. The overall picture of Anglican churchgoing remains in some confusion, however, as it has since civil servants at Church House in Westminster changed the method of gathering statistics at a time when numbers nationwide threatened to drop below one million.

January 09 2005 By virtueonline CHURCH OF ENGLAND: Bishop sanctions service for gays

Although there have been unofficial blessings of gay relationships in parish churches, never before has a diocese or a bishop sanctioned a rite for homosexual relationships.

“When I arrived in the diocese,” said Saxbee, “I saw a member of the clergy become a victim of tabloid sensationalism for being prepared to support same-sex friendships liturgically. Part of the impetus behind this initiative was to provide a way clergy could do that with diocesan support.”

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