1997–1998 Archives

Religion News Sites: Anglican
1997–1998 Archives (this page)

September 1998
June 1998
March 1998
February 1998
January 1998
December 1997

September 1998

Lambeth Conference

World: One Big Happy Family? By Andrew Brown. (Commentary.) The traditionalists refuse to be seen with the women priests, the gays want a homosexual bishop, senior African clergymen are pro-polygamy – and an American prelate insists 'Theism is dead.' Yes, says Andrew Brown, the once-a-decade Lambeth Conference is coming to town. [The Electronic Telegraph]

Old Black Magic. By Andrew Brown. An apology for a quotation in the above article. [Church Times]

World: Lambeth Plenary Focuses on Issue of International Debt. By David Skidmore. Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town, primate of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, put international debt on the center stage of the Lambeth Conference July 24 by calling for cancellation of the debt of developing countries. [Lambeth Conference Communications]

World: Brown Bows to Church Pressure Over Third World Debt. By Jon Hibbs. Britain's Chancellor succumbed to pressure from churches on July 28 and pledged that the Government would step up its efforts to free the Third World from the burden of debt. [The Electronic Telegraph]

World: Sub-Section on International Debt Drafts Letter to World Bank President. By Nan Cobbey. Their missive, mailed August 1, details some of "the worst and most salient examples of institutional optimism" for which they hold the bank responsible. [Lambeth Conference Communications]

World: Lambeth Conference Adopts Tough Stand on International Debt. By Nan Cobbey. A Lambeth Conference resolution on international debt and economic justice approved August 6 demands action by governments and banks, but also by churches. [Lambeth Conference Communications]

World: A House Divided: Gay and Ex-Gay Anglicans React to Resolutions on Homosexuality. By Heather Elizabeth Peterson. Last summer, the Episcopal Church nearly approved a resolution that would have have allowed the denomination to develop blessings for same-sex unions. This summer's Anglican discussion on homosexuality was very different. [Greenbelt Interfaith News]

World: Lambeth Backs Dissenting American Bishops Over Freedom Not to Ordain Women. By Robert Barr. An Anglican conference gave moral support August 6 to four U.S. bishops of the Episcopal Church who have refused to permit women priests in their dioceses. [Associated Press]

World: Lambeth Conference Reaffirms Protection of Diocesan Boundaries. By David Skidmore. Diocesan and provincial boundaries are sacrosanct, at least in the mind of the Lambeth Conference. [Lambeth Conference Communications]

World: Lambeth Conference Opposes Euthanasia. By Margaret Rogers. The Lambeth Conference has taken a strong stand against euthanasia, arguing that it should not be "permitted in civil legislation." [Lambeth Conference Communications]

World: Death, Debt, Youth and Unity Join Sex in the List of Resolutions. By Margaret Duggan. Of the 105 resolutions agreed by the Lambeth Conference, certain ones stand out as intended for immediate action, or to direct more positively the Church's thinking. [Church Times]

World: Anglican Conference Closing After Debates Over Bible Interpretation. By Robert Barr. In three weeks of debate over homosexuality, Third World debt and euthanasia, bishops of the worldwide Anglican Communion often returned to the fundamental point of how to interpret the Bible. [Associated Press]

World: Anglicans Reaffirm Unity, Diversity. By Larry B. Stammer. In their three-week Lambeth Conference, Anglican church bishops proved they were capable of solidarity in the cause of economic justice and religious freedom.They also proved they were subject to wrenching differences over issues such as homosexuality, how the Bible is to be interpreted, and the role of women in the church. [The Los Angeles Times]

World: Anglican Communion Endures Despite Divisions Over Homosexuality. By Robert Nowell. Once again – as in 1978 and 1988 – the prophets of doom got it wrong in predicting that seemingly unbridgeable gaps in culture and theology would split the Anglican Communion. [Religion News Service]

Canada: Church Adopts New Sex-Harassment Policy. By Vivian Harrower. In the wake of criticism of its handling of a sexual harassment complaint, the Anglican Church of Canada has adopted a new policy and procedure. [Anglican Journal]

Nambia: President Backs Primate on Call for African Economic Union. Namibia's president, Sam Nujoma, has given his backing to a proposal by a prominent African Church leader that African countries should set up an economic union to promote growth and development. [Ecumenical News International]

U.K.: Anglican Converts to Catholicism Cause Number of Married Priests to Rise. The number of married priests in the Catholic Church in England and Wales has hit record levels. [Catholic News Service]

U.K.: Church of England Retreats on Lord's Prayer Version. A controversial version of the Lord's Prayer has been thrown out by the Church of England's ruling general synod, despite initial approval by the same body in February. [Ecumenical News International]

U.S.: Traditional Episcopal Churches Sign Concordat of Intercommunion. On June 12th, a concordat of Intercommunion was signed in Philadelphia by the Reformed Episcopal Church and the Anglican Province of America. [Anglican Province of America]

Vatican: Pope Includes Anglican Orders on List of Issues Written into Canon Law. By James Solheim. Pope John Paul II has issued an apostolic letter that writes into binding canon law his position on a number of key issues and warns that dissenters may be subject to "just punishment." [Episcopal News Service]

Related Links

1998 Lambeth Conference. Covers the conference from every possible angle. [Anglicans Online]

Anglican Relations with Other Religious Groups. Links to articles concerning Lambeth discussion of interfaith and ecumenical matters. [Greenbelt Interfaith News]

Articles from the Lambeth Conference 1998. Coverage of the homosexuality debate. [United Voice]

The Lambeth Conference 1998. Official site.

Lambeth Conference News Links. Includes a search engine. [BishopCam]

Queen Lutibelle's Lambeth Collection, 1998. Coverage of the homosexuality debate. [Louie Crew's Anglican Pages]

Resolutions of the XIII Lambeth Conference [Anglicans Online]

June 1998

World: Eucharist Ruling Fuels New Debate. By Bob Bettson. Should lay people be permitted to celebrate the eucharist? The answer to that question, posed recently to an ecclesiastical court of the Anglican Church of Australia, could cause another rift in the worldwide Anglican Communion. [Anglican Journal]

World: Liberal and Conservative Anglican Bishops Offer Proposal on Homosexuality. By Heather Elizabeth Peterson. A liberal American bishop and a conservative South African bishop have urged the Anglican Communion not to rush to a decision over the issue of homosexuality. [Greenbelt Interfaith News]

World: Anglicans and Lutherans Approach Each Other

Canada: Anglicans Move Closer to Lutherans, Defeat Human Rights Policy. The Anglican Church of Canada's chief governing body has approved legislation bringing the church closer to Lutherans. [Anglican Church of Canada]

U.S.: ELCA Releases New Full Communion Proposal. The commitment of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to adopt the historic episcopate is affirmed in the draft of "Called to Common Mission," a revised proposal for full communion between the ELCA and The Episcopal Church. [ELCA News Service]

U.S.: Episcopal Proposal Forwarded for Study. By Edgar R. Trexler. After a cautious – and sometimes contentious – meeting April 17-20, the ELCA Church Council decided by 30 "yes" votes and three abstentions to ask synods, congregations and individuals to review and respond to a revised proposal for full communion with the Episcopal Church. [The Lutheran]

Called to Common Mission [ELCA]

Canada: Anglican Debate over Whether God's Grace is Reserved for Christians

Canada: Anglican Bishop's Multifaith Book Prompts Protest Calls. By Leanne Larmondin and Nancy Devine. Bishop Michael Ingham's new book, Mansions of the Spirit: The Gospel in a Multi-Faith World, has prompted several letters and phone calls to the Anglican Church's hierarchy, many of them protesting both the book's perceived content and the bishop's right to write it. [Anglican Journal]

Canada: Conference Affirms Idea of Universal Truth. By David F. Dawes. "How do we . . . seek and proclaim . . . Him who called Himself the way, the truth and the life?" This was the central theme of "The Way of Truth in the Present Age," a theological conference held February 18-21 at St. John's Church in Vancouver. [Anglican Journal]

Canada: What the Primate Had to Say. By Doug Koop. As controversy continues over Bishop Michael Ingham's views on the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, Archbishop Michael Peers gives his perspective on the role of Christian evangelism. [ChristianWeek]

Canada: Legalized Gambling "Unacceptable," Several Bishops Say. By Margaret Dinsdale. The spectre of widespread legalized gambling facilities operated by provincial governments has outraged faith groups across Canada, and several Anglican bishops have called news conferences and confronted politicians to voice their opposition. [Anglican Journal]

Canada: Vancouver Diocese Supports Blessing of Same-Sex Unions. A motion asking the bishop to authorize priests in the Diocese of New Westminster to bless covenanted same-sex unions was passed by the Anglican Synod, which met May 8-9 at Capilano College in North Vancouver. [Diocese of New Westminster]

Southern Africa: Archbishop's Meeting with President "Clears the Air". The Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, the Most Revd Njongonkulu Ndungane emerged from his meeting with President Nelson Mandela encouraged that the air had been cleared, following reports that the President had criticised him in front of two of his bishops and several other clergy. [Church of the Province of Southern Africa]

Southern Africa: Government Called by Bishops to Affirm Educators. Bishops of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa have issued a 12-point statement on education in Southern Africa. [Church of the Province of Southern Africa]

U.K.: Church of England Proposes New Eucharistic Prayers. By Ruth Gledhill. The Church of England has returned to the style of the 4th century in drawing up its Communion service for the next millennium. [The Times]

U.K.: Gay Rights Campaigner Interrupts Carey's Easter Sermon. Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has been arrested after dramatically interrupting the Archbishop of Canterbury's traditional Easter sermon at Canterbury Cathedral. [BBC News Online]

U.K. Heads of Anglican and Catholic Churches Disagree on Eucharistic Hospitality. The Archbishop of Canterbury has issued a highly personal plea for the lift of the Roman Catholic ban on intercommunion. [Ecumenical News International/Church Times]

U.K.: Support Grows for Remarriage in Church. By Jonathan Petre & Catherine Elsworth. Senior bishops are backing moves to relax the Church of England's ban on the remarriage of divorcees in church, effectively scrapping its centuries-old doctrine that marriage is for life. [Sunday Telegraph]

U.K.: Cathedral Bars Paedophile. By Paul Wilkinson. Church of England leaders have taken the unprecedented step of barring a convicted paedophile from services. [The Times]

U.S.: Bishops Praise Changes at Kanuga. By Doug LeBlanc. Conservative and liberal bishops alike have praised the first House of Bishops meeting led by Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold. [United Voice]

U.S.: Convention in Diocese of New Jersey Spurns Bishop's Attempts at Reconciliation. By Jerry Hames. A long-festering feud between Bishop Joe Morris Doss and many clergy and lay leaders in the Diocese of New Jersey erupted at the diocesan convention March 13-14 with a resounding defeat of the bishop's supporters on diocesan appointments and committees and a renewed call for his resignation. [Episcopal News Service]

March 1998

World: World Bank and World Faiths Discuss Debt. The World Bank and the world's major religions are to establish joint working groups on development issues, it was announced at the end of a high-level, two-day dialogue at Lambeth Palace, the Archbishop of Canterbury's London headquarters. [Ecumenical News International]

World: Anglicans Join Other Christians in Opposing War Against Iraq. In a letter to US president Bill Clinton, the leaders of the National Council of Churches (NCC), which has 34 of the biggest US Protestant and Orthodox churches as members, called on him to "pursue a humanitarian, not a military, option" in the confrontation with Saddam Hussein. [Ecumenical News International/Episcopal News Service/Anglican Church of Canada]

Australia: General Synod Apologises for Removal of Aboriginal Children from Their Families. By Paul Osborne. The General Synod of the Australian Anglican Church has unreservedly apologised to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for the part the Anglican Church of Australia played in the hurt and trauma caused by the unjustified removal of children from their families. [Focus]

Australia: Anglicans Approve Formula for Women Bishops. The Anglican Church of Australia has approved a formula under which women could become bishops after the turn of the century. [Sydney Morning Herald]

Austria: Anglican Woman Priest Ordained in Austria. By Christa Pongratz-Lippitt. The first Anglican woman to be priested in Austria was ordained at Christ Church in Vienna on 25 January. [The Tablet]

Canada: Gay Clergy Respond to Anglican Bishops' Statement on Homosexuality. By Heather Elizabeth Peterson. It was a Catch-22 situation: Gay clergy are the ones most affected by the recent statement of the bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada reiterating that practicing homosexuals may not be ordained. But because of what the bishops said, many gay clergy could not speak publicly on the matter. Now a solution has been found. [Greenbelt Interfaith News]

Ecuador: Cardinal Preaches in Anglican Cathedral. In an unprecedented act in the country's religious history, Ecuadorian Cardinal Bernardino Echeverria offered a sermon in the Anglican Church's El Salvador Cathedral. [Latin American and Caribbean Communications Agency]

Ireland: Anglicans Clash over Irish TV Broadcast of Angelus. By Kieron Wood. The leaders of the Church of Ireland have clashed publicly over their attitude to the twice-daily broadcast of the Angelus on state television and radio. [Catholic World News]

Rwanda: Anglican Bishops Condemn Homosexuality. Following an acrimonious debate over homosexuality between the Archbishop of Canterbury and an American bishop, Rwanda's Anglican bishops have added their thoughts on the matter. [Greenbelt Interfaith News]

U.K.: General Synod Meets

U.K.: Anglicans Move to Strip Lord's Prayer of "Temptation". The Church of England has voted to eliminate temptation – or at least, the reference to it in the Lord's Prayer. [Reuters]

U.K.: Synod Restructures Church Administration. By Simon Sarmiento. Anglican Online's UK–Europe editor describes the various measures taken by the Synod in February. [Anglicans Online]

U.K.: Synod Discusses Extended Communion. By Matthew Hunt. A lay representative to the Synod presents his personal view of the debates. [Matthew Hunt Home Page]

U.K.: Anglican Churches Consider Marrying Divorcees. By Ruth Gledhill. The Anglican Church in Wales is to change its law to allow divorcees to remarry in church. The change could pave the way for the Church of England to follow suit. [The Times]

U.S.: New England Bishops Issue Response to PECUSA, Inc. By Jim Nunley. The eight active bishops of Province I (New England) have issued a pastoral letter reaffirming their episcopal oversight of the parishes in their dioceses – and warning traditionalists not to go out of bounds. [Episcopal News Service]

U.S.: Diocese of Newark Commends "Proper Respect for the Bible". The Diocese of Newark approved a resolution entitled "Proper respect for the Bible" during its annual diocesan convention in late January. Co-sponsors of the resolution were Louie Crew, founder of Integrity, a ministry to gay and lesbians in the church, and the Rev. John Donnelly – "two persons generally viewed as being on the opposite sides of almost any issue," quipped Dale Gruner, diocesan communications officer. [Episcopal News Service]

Washington.: Studio Settles Suit Brought by Cathedral Sculptor. By Sylvia Moreno. The makers of "Devil's Advocate" will alter some disputed scenes before the film is shown on network or cable television and will place a disclaimer on the videotape version to settle a lawsuit over the movie's depiction of an artwork, both sides have announced. The suit against Warner Bros., filed in federal court in Alexandria by sculptor Frederick E. Hart and Washington National Cathedral, alleged that a sculpture that comes to life in "Devil's Advocate" was copied illegally from Hart's signature work, which adorns the main entrance of the cathedral. [The Washington Post]

Related Pages

Editor's Note: Greenbelt Goes Quarterly. Greenbelt Anglican News will now be posted quarterly; read about our new publication schedule.

Communities of Faith & Homosexuality (Bridges Across the Divide). Edited by one of our staff members at a different site, this page provides links to articles on faith communities' varied responses to the issue of homosexuality. Several links are provided to Anglican documents.

February 1998

Australia: Surprise Anglican Ruling on Power of the Laity. By Chris McGillion. There is nothing in the constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia to prevent lay people and deacons leading the Holy Communion, the Church's senior legal body has decided on a question potentially far more controversial than even women's ordination. [Sydney Morning Herald]

Australia: Large Australian Group Joins Traditional Anglican Communion. Citing pastoral and other problems within the Anglican Church of Australia (ACA), some 5,000 orthodox Anglicans have left the ACA for the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), an international association of Continuing Churches. [The Christian Challenge]

Australia: National Anglican Paper Ceases Publication. The national Anglican paper in Australia, Church Scene, ceased publication at Christmas after 25 years of publication. [Anglican Communion News Service]

South Africa: Pan African Anglican-Lutheran Commission Planned. By David Hamid. The establishment of a Pan African Anglican-Lutheran commission to work toward a relationship of full communion as a stage along the way to full visible unity was discussed in a consultation held in Johannesburg, South Africa in December. [Anglican Communion News Service]

Uganda: Primate Proposes an Episcopal Church of Africa. One of Africa's leading Anglican churchmen has called for a single Anglican Church to unite all of Africa's Anglicans. [Ecumenical News International]

U.S.: Lawsuit Brought Against Conservative Episcopal Group. By Heather Elizabeth Peterson. Pre-empting possible action by the Episcopal Church, two New Jersey bishops have entered a lawsuit against a conservative group that has been incorporating under the historic name of the denomination. [Greenbelt Interfaith News]

U.S.: Heat and Light at Burning Issues. By Doug LeBlanc. The third annual Burning Issues conference on December 8 and 9 offered an opportunity to discuss homosexuality away from the legislative pressures of General Convention. United Voice editor Doug LeBlanc suggests what lessons conservatives could take home from the conference. [United Voice]

U.S.: Lutherans and Episcopalians Take a Second Look at Proposal for Full Communion. Church leaders stressed clarity and candor in their advice to the teams charged with drafting a revised proposal for full communion between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Episcopal Church. [ELCA News]

Washington Feature: Frank Griswold Begins a Long Conversation: The Episcopal Church's New Presiding Bishop Explores the Meaning of Leadership. By Heather Elizabeth Peterson. As Bishop Frank Griswold began the preparations for his investiture, he was asked by the press: Where do you expect to lead the church? The new head of the Episcopal Church, though, is struggling with a more difficult question: What does it mean to be the presiding bishop? [Greenbelt Interfaith News]

Remarks at the Presiding Bishop's Press Conference. By the Most Rev. Frank Tracy Griswold, III [Greenbelt Interfaith News]

Sermon at the Service of Investiture of the XXVth Presiding Bishop. By the Most Rev. Frank Tracy Griswold, III [Anglican Communion News Service]

Washington: A Warm January: The Installation of the 25th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. By Cynthia McFarland. The editor of Anglicans Online describes Bishop Griswold's investiture, as viewed from the press gallery. [Anglicans Online]

Washington: Episcopalians Hold Different Views of Church's Future. By Heather Elizabeth Peterson. Two weeks after Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold stood in the pulpit of Washington National Cathedral and urged Episcopalians to join in conversation with each other, the Diocese of Washington's annual convention revealed continued differences of opinion between Episcopal progressives and traditionalists over the state of the denomination. [Greenbelt Interfaith News]

January 1998

TOP STORIES

U.K.: Church of England Bishops Respond to Pope's Ecumenical Overture. By Glyn Paflin. Ut Unum Sint ("That They May Be One"), published in May 1995 and addressed to all Christians, stressed the Pope's hopes of unity with the Orthodox Churches, and the shared RC-Orthodox insistence on the mystery of the Church, the bond between faith and sacraments, and the apostolic succession. The House of Bishops has now followed up a brief initial statement made by Lambeth Palace and the Council for Christian Unity with a fuller response, May They All Be One, published December 9. [Church Times]

U.S.: Dispute Heats Up Between Episcopal Leaders, Conservatives. By Nancy Phillips. A long-simmering struggle between conservative Episcopalians and the leadership of the Episcopal Church intensified in December as a group of conservative religious leaders announced it had formed a nonprofit corporation using the historical name of the larger church. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

For documents related to this story, visit Episcopal Synod of America Articles

THE REST

Australia: Australian Jews and Anglicans Meet. By Jeremy Jones. Representatives of Australia's Jewish community have held the first official interfaith dialogue with their counterparts from the Anglican Church. [Jewish Telegraphic Agency]

Ireland: Irish President Focus of Ecumenical Controversy. By Kieron Wood. The newly-elected President of Ireland, Professor Mary McAleese, stirred up an unholy row with her recent decision to take communion during a service at Dublin's Anglican Christ Church Cathedral. [Catholic World News]

South Africa: Cape Town Synod Speaks out on Arms. The Anglican Diocese of Cape Town has called for an immediate and total prohibition on exports of South African armaments and on the services of mercenaries. [Church of the Province of South Africa]

U.K.: General Synod

U.K.: Church of England Updates Its Alternative Service Book. By Simon Sarmiento. The General Synod of the Church of England met in the last week of November 1997 at Church House, Westminster. [Anglicans Online]

U.K.: Church of England to Discuss Unity with Methodists. At the Church of England General Synod in November the go-ahead was given for talks moving toward unity with the Methodist Church. [Church Net UK]

U.K.: London Churches Reborn as "Spiritual Trailblazers". By Ruth Gledhill. Plans to close two thirds of the City of London's churches have been abandoned. Instead, the Anglican churches in the Square Mile are to be redeveloped into "spiritual trailblazers", becoming centres of peace, church history, religious education, healing and meditation. [The Times]

U.K.: Carey Broadcasts to Supermarket Shoppers. By Ruth Gledhill. The archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, took his message to the supermarkets on December 21 when he delivered a 90-second sermon that was broadcast in 216 ASDA stores. [The Times]

U.K.: Former Anglicans Change the Catholic Church. By Rupert Shortt. What has been the effect on the English Catholic Church of the arrival of married priests who are former Anglicans? An assistant editor of The Tablet went to find out. [The Tablet]

U.S.: Washington Cathedral Sculptor Sues Movie Studio. By Matthew Campbell. Frederick E. Hart, sculptor of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial statues, has filed a lawsuit against Warner Brothers studio because of their alleged misuse of his Washington National Cathedral sculpture in their movie, "The Devil's Advocate." [The Sunday Times]

Related Article

World: Homosexuality and Religion – 1997 in Review. By Heather Elizabeth Peterson. Homosexuality, a subject that has divided members of many denominations and faiths in recent years, emerged in 1997 as an issue that threatens to split apart several mainline denominations. [Greenbelt Interfaith News]

Related Page

Interfaith Calendar 1998. Baha'i, Christian (Eastern and Western), Jewish, Islamic, and Pagan holy days, with links to descriptions of those days.

December 1997

U.S.: In a ceremony held at the site of the first Anglican Eucharist in America, the Episcopal Church apologized for its past treatment of Native Americans and signed a covenant calling for reconciliation with the nation's indigenous peoples. The All Saints' Day ceremony was held in Jamestown, Virginia, and was attended by descendants of the Powhatan Confederacy, the Indian tribe that befriended the Jamestown Colony in 1607.

Ecumenical News International
Episcopal News Service

U.S.: Bishop William Wantland of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, has announced that he will resign in early 1999. Bishop Wantland is one of four U.S. bishops who have refused to ordain women; General Convention voted last July to allow women's ordination in all dioceses of the Episcopal Church. "I would rather resign as bishop than put the Diocese of Eau Claire in an awkward position of having to resist the canons of the church," the bishop said.

Episcopal News Service

U.S.: The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America proposed in early October that a new version of the Concordat of Agreement be prepared by the ELCA and the Episcopal Church. The Concordat, which would allow full communion between the two churches, was accepted by the Episcopal Church last summer but narrowly rejected by the ELCA. The ELCA has expressed concerns over the Concordat's view of the role of bishops, but passed a resolution last summer committing itself to continue working toward full communion with the Episcopal Church.

ELCA News (1)
ELCA News (2)
Episcopal News Service

England: Bishops and deans belonging to the traditionalist Forward in Faith movement have announced plans to start a separate Anglican province in England. Forward in Faith said in early November that as many as 1,000 Church of England parishes are dissatisfied with women's ordination and might be willing to join an independent church. Such a break would not take place until such time as women are consecrated bishops within the Church of England. If the new province was begun, Forward in Faith hopes that it would receive official recognition from the Anglican Communion. The Archbishop of Canterbury had no immediate comment, but has rejected similar proposals in the past.

Greenbelt Interfaith News
The Sunday Times [free registration required; after registering, go to Library/Back Issues and request the 9 November 1997 issue]

England: The chairman of the Church of England's bishops' group on homosexuality stated in early November that he favors lowering the age of consent for homosexuals from 18 to 16. The Rt. Rev. Richard Harries, Bishop of Oxford, said that recent medical evidence indicates that a person's sexual orientation is well formed by age 16. In addition, he said, "The idea of prosecuting people of 17 for having sex really is very unproductive." Bishop Harries's views were decried by traditionalists and by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who indicated that he favors England's present law on the matter.

Church Net UK
The Times

England and U.S.: A sharp exchange of words took place in November between the Bishop of Newark and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Bishop John S. Spong sent a letter to the primates of the Anglican Communion expressing his concern that the Anglican debate about homosexuality was being distorted by recent statements that show "prejudice and ignorance." Bishop Spong made reference, among others, to Archbishop George Carey's recent statements condemning homosexuality. In his reply, Archbishop Carey accused Bishop Spong of "campaigning tactics" and said, "I understand that you feel passionately about this and that you have the support of a significant number of Bishops. However I would ask you in turn to recognise that a very large number of bishops from all over the world disagree with you with equal passion." Bishop Spong responded with a letter to the archbishop saying, "I speak today as I do only because of the silence of leaders like yourself in the face of the abuse present in the public statements of [traditionalists] who do seek to impose their solution on the Church. They are the ones threatening the Church."

Daily Telegraph
Bishop Spong's Letter to the Primates
Archbishop Carey's Reply
Bishop Spong's Letter to Archbishop Carey

Canada: On October 29, the bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada issued a new set of guidelines regarding human sexuality. The bishops confirmed the Canadian church's present policy on homosexuality, which forbids the ordination of practicing homosexuals or the use of church rites to bless same-sex unions. The bishops indicated, though, that they are not all of one mind on this issue, and they committed themselves to continued study of the matter and to dialogue with the gay community.

Anglican News Service (full text of guidelines)
Episcopal News Service
Greenbelt Interfaith News

Australia: Rejecting a proposal to suspend debate over women's ordination, the synod of the Diocese of Sydney voted in late October to hold a conference in which synod members could discuss the matter. The Archbishop of Sydney proposed the conference as an alternative to a formal synod debate.

Anglican Media – Sydney
Church Times

South Africa: Cape Town city councillors voted unanimously on November 10 to honor Archbishop Desmond Tutu by granting him freedom of the city. A previous vote in October had failed, causing the city to be criticized locally and internationally. Archbishop Tutu, who received the Nobel Peace Prize for his fight against apartheid, criticized some of the councillors earlier this year for not accepting full responsibility for their participation in South Africa's former apartheid policy.

Ecumenical News International

Greenbelt Anglican News is prepared monthly by Heather Elizabeth Peterson for Greenbelt Interfaith News (www.greenbelt.com/news). Sources: Anglican Media – Sydney, Anglican News Service, Church Net UK, Church Times, Daily Telegraph, Ecumenical News International, ELCA News, Episcopal News Service, Greenbelt Interfaith News, Letters of Bishop Spong and Archbishop Carey, The Sunday Times, The Times.

Related Article

World Feature: Pro-Gay and Ex-Gay – Is There Room for Dialogue? By Heather Elizabeth Peterson. For nearly three decades, the pro-gay and ex-gay ministries have competed for the souls of gay men and women, each movement convinced that the other is tragically mistaken in its views on homosexuality. Now a small number of people on both sides of the issue are striving to find common ground.

This three-part article includes interviews with Philip W. Turner III, dean of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale; the Rev. Canon A. Paul Feheley, vice president of Fidelity; and Chris Ambidge, co-convener of Integrity/Toronto. It also includes the full text of a joint statement issued by Fidelity and Integrity/Toronto.