Anglican Mainstream

Senior Catholic blames UK's 'moral wasteland' on equal rights

By Jerome Taylor, Independent

A leading adviser to the Archbishop of Westminster has blamed abortion and gay rights for turning Britain into a "selfish, hedonistic wasteland" which has become "the geopolitical epicentre of the culture of death". Edmund Adamus, director of pastoral affairs at the diocese of Westminster and an adviser to Archbishop Vincent Nichols, said Parliament had turned Britain into a country which is more culturally anti-Catholic than nations where Christians are violently persecuted such as Saudi Arabia, China and Pakistan.

His comments, made with only weeks to go before Pope Benedict XVI's historic state visit to Britain, will cause embarrassment between organisers of the visit and government officials, because they reveal how some members of the Church's hierarchy believe that the pontiff is travelling to a hostile and anti-Catholic country.

In an interview with Zenit, a Catholic news agency with close links to the Vatican, Mr Adamus railed against five decades of equality legislation and the availability of abortion services in modern Britain.  "Whether we like it or not, as British citizens and residents of this country – and whether we are even prepared as Catholics to accept this reality and all it implies – the fact is that historically, and continuing right now, Britain, and in particular London, has been and is the geopolitical epicentre of the culture of death," he said. "Our laws and lawmakers for over 50 years have been the most permissively anti-life and progressively anti-family and marriage, in essence one of the most anti-Catholic landscapes, culturally speaking – more than even those places where Catholics suffer open persecution."

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By Peter J Smith, LifeSite News

WASHINGTON, D.C., August 31, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Concerned that religion is slipping from its time honored place at the heart of America, tens of thousands of Americans of all different faiths gathered in Washington, D.C. on Saturday. The massive crowd gathered in response to conservative icon Glenn Beck’s call for a fundamental restoration of traditional American values.

For Beck, the August 28 “Restoring Rally” was an ecumenical call that could serve to make the United States great again by bringing it back to God.

"Something that is beyond man is happening," Beck told the massive cheering audience, which was gathered at the same location (in front of the Lincoln Memorial) and on the anniversary of the date when Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech 47 years ago.

"America today begins to turn back to God. For too long, this country has wandered in darkness," said Beck, who praised American icons like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln as men of abiding faith, a component once considered essential to American greatness.

The Restoring Honor website described the event, saying, “We are calling on all church leaders to join with us in building a united community of constitutionally minded and Christ based patriots willing to push back against an overreaching federal government.”

While Beck is a Mormon, his event had the strong support of Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, who shares Beck’s concern that belief in God is on the verge of being banished utterly from the U.S. public square.

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By Michael Kirke, MercatorNet

Ireland has been stunned by the revelation that a Catholic priest appears to have been responsible for a terror bombing in which nine people died in 1972.

“History may be servitude, History may be freedom,” the poet T.S. Eliot observed in Four Quartets. When it is the former it can also be lethal, as Britain and Ireland were reminded last week. The virus of Irish Nationalism produced another shocker with the revelation that a parish priest in Northern Ireland was the prime suspect in one of the worst atrocities in the three decades of mayhem and murder known as “The Troubles”. Bad history must bear a large part of the blame for this particular manifestation of evil, as it must for much of Ulster’s tragic tale over those 30 years.

The Chesney case, like recent scandals of clerical abuse, appals because of the shocking incongruity of a man committed to the beatitudes of the Christian gospel allegedly taking command of a para-military cell and committing mass murder in the pursuit of a political goal.

It was 1972, the bloodiest year in the recent history of Northern Ireland, the year of Bloody Sunday and the year in which 496 people died in political violence. An undeclared civil war was raging. On the morning of July 31 the local IRA unit detonated two car-bombs in the village of Claudy in County Derry. Nine people were killed, including three children. More than 30 were injured. In the weeks following, it emerged that one of the suspects was a priest in a small neighbouring parish, Father James Chesney.

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By David Virtue, VOL

Bishops urge new Conciliar Process. Covenant has failed, they say

We write to you with gratitude and humility as we rejoice in our time together in Entebbe, Uganda at the All African Bishops' Conference.

Blessed is the Church in Africa to have such gifted leadership in our host, the Anglican Province of Uganda and its Primate, the Most Reverend Henry Luke Orombi. Such blessings continue in the CAPA Leadership and its Chair, the Most Reverend Ian Ernest, Primate of the Province of the Indian Ocean.

As we think of this very important gathering we recall that it was only four months ago that many in this gathering arrived in Singapore for the Fourth Global South to South Encounter. Since that gracious time shared, Anglican revisionism in the West continues and the need to "Secure our Future" as Faithful Anglicans has become even more acute.

As the chair of CAPA has articulated in his address, it is in this very moment we have a unique opportunity in the providence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to show the Communion and the world that Africa now sees fit to "unlock our potential" for a faithful witness to the Communion, fellow Christians in other traditions and the world.

Despite these blessings, we the Bishops of Rwanda have great concern about the state of the Anglican Communion and its ongoing disintegration. We ask you to prayer fully consider the contents of our Dispatch for Action for a pastoral plan that will indeed "Secure our Future".
 

By David Virtue, VOL

Bishops say Covenant has failed

The House of Bishops of the Province of Rwanda has sent a dispatch to the All African Bishops Conference (CAPA) meeting in Entebbe calling for new "effective structures" to meet the "ecclesial deficit" in the Anglican Communion.

The letter brought by the Archbishop of Rwanda, the Most Rev. Emmanuel Kolini said that despite the blessings here at the CAPA conference, "We the Bishops of Rwanda have great concern about the state of the Anglican Communion and its ongoing disintegration." He described the situation as "acute."

The Rwanda House of Bishops called for a true Communion, united through a conciliar process rather than a separated Federation. "Such a style of leadership would mean a more effective voice and a greater impact in the Communion." They said a Covenant iss inadequate to address the issues.

The Rwandan dispatch said that in order for there to be a renewed Africa there needs to be a renewed Anglican identity and that can be found in the (GAFCON) Jerusalem statement which affirmed the authority of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God written; upheld the four Ecumenical Councils and the three historic Creeds as expressing the rule of faith of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church as well as the 39 Articles.

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By David Virtue, VOL

Two African Anglican Provinces – Central Africa and Southern Africa – say they will not go along with CAPA's call to disassociate itself from the Episcopal Church for its actions in consecrating a non-celibate homosexual and a lesbian to the episcopacy.

In a letter VOL has obtained, the two provinces say that notwithstanding, the impression being created at the Conference that all Provinces in Africa are of one mind to abandon our relationship with TEC, [we believe this] is wrong. "Painful as the action is it should not become the presenting issue to lead to the break-up up of our legacy and this gift of God – the worldwide Anglican Communion."

The statement from the two CAPA provinces throws as an ecclesiastical spanner in the works, but did not derail the overwhelming majority of some 10 (out of 12) Anglican provinces who believe TEC has strayed far from the theological and ecclesiastical fold and should no longer be associated with.

"We are mindful that the Anglican Communion is under severe strain because of certain actions taken by the Episcopal Church (TEC) by their ordination of openly gay bishops.

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Posted By David W. Virtue in Entebbe
www.virtueonline.org
August 29, 2010

1. In a spirit of unity and trust, and in an atmosphere of love the Primates of the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa (CAPA) as well as Archbishop John chew, the Chairman of the Global South, which represents the majority of the active orthodox membership in the entire Anglican Communion, met during the 2nd All Africa Bishop's Conference in Entebbe, Uganda. We enjoyed the fellowship and the sense of unity as we heard the Word of God and gathered around the Lord's Table.

2. We gave thanks to God for the leadership of the Most. Rev. Ian Ernest, Archbishop of the Indian Ocean and Chairman of CAPA and for the abundant hospitality provided by the Most Rev. Henry Orombi, Archbishop of Uganda and the entire Church of Uganda.

3. We were honored by the presence of the His Excellency General Yoweri K. Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda, for his official welcome to Uganda and for hosting an official state reception for the AABCH. We are very grateful to him for his support of the work of the Anglican Church in Uganda and for his call to stand against the alien intrusions and cultural arrogance which undermines the moral fiber of our societies. We recall his admonishment to live out the words and deeds of the Good Samaritan. We are also grateful to the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister of Uganda for his presence and words of encouragement to us.

4. We were very happy and appreciated that the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Dr. Rowan Williams, accepted our invitation to attend the 2nd All Africa Bishop's Conference. We were encouraged by his word to us. We also appreciated the opportunity to engage face-to-face with him in an atmosphere of love and respect. We shared our hearts openly and with transparency, and we have come to understand the difficulties and the pressures he is facing. He also came to understand our position and how our mission is threatened by actions which have continued in certain provinces in the Communion. We therefore commit ourselves to continuously support and pray for him and for the future of our beloved Communion.

5. We were very saddened with the recent actions of The Episcopal Church in America who went ahead and consecrated Mary Glasspool last May 2010, in spite of the call for a moratorium(1) and all the warnings from the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion and the 4th Encounter of the Global South. Read the rest of this entry »

From Premier Christian Media

A row's broken out again over the choice of speakers for this year's Greenbelt Festival.

Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell will address three different meetings.

The event takes place this weekend in Cheltenham and features speakers from different wings of the church and outside.

Dr Lisa Nolland from conservative group Anglican Mainstream tells Premier why she's concerned.

Peter Tatchell gives Premier his response:

In a 27^th August letter to Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, the Most Rev. Ian Earnest, Chairman of CAPA (Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa), apologized for “embarrassing” the Church of Uganda when CAPA received a $25,000 grant from Trinity Grants (USA) for the All Africa Bishops Conference taking place in Uganda.

In 2003, the Church of Uganda broke communion with the Episcopal Church (TEC) over their unbiblical theology and immoral actions that violated historic and Biblical Anglicanism and tore the fabric of the Communion at its deepest level. At the same time, the Church of Uganda resolved to not receive any funds from TEC.

The 2^nd All Africa Bishops Conference was hosted by the Church of Uganda, but the programme and speakers were chosen by CAPA.  The Church of Uganda received no outside funding for its role in hosting the 400 Bishops and other participants in the week-long conference. All funds were raised locally within Uganda.

Archbishop Henry thanked Archbishop Ian for acknowledging the awkward position CAPA had put the Church of Uganda in and appreciated his humility and generous spirit in writing.

The letter reads as follows: Read the rest of this entry »

By Nicholas Wolterstorff, Princeton University Press

" The concept of agape does not, all by itself give us an ethic;we have an ethic only if we also have a rule of application for the concept. There was near -consensus in the agapist movement of the twentieth century on the rule of application. " Equal Regard" became the standard term for the rule.Using the concept of the neighbor that Jesus employed,the rule is we are to seek to enhance the well-being of each and every neighbor for its own sake, and to do so in such a way that the well-being of each neighbor is given equal regard to that of the other.

And let it be understood that enhancing the well-being of someone will often require imposing a life-evil of one or another sort on him:a bit of pain in order to get the leg set,a bit of coercion in order to cultivate some virtue,that sort of thing.Agapists talk as if one ought never to impose any life-evil on anyone,not even for the sake of bringing about a great enhancement in well-being.So far as I can tell,none of them actually believes that.

I think we must expect the application of agapism,thus understood,to perpetuate and abet injustice"'

pp 107-108

Virtueonline

In private conversations with Archbishop Rowan Williams and in statements made among themselves the word is this; the African Anglican archbishops and bishops will have nothing more to do with a Western Anglicanism that has embraced a variety of unbiblical pansexual behaviors that have no basis in Holy Scripture.

How this will play out is still uncertain, but sources tell Virtueonline that if Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury calls a meeting of the Primates (Archbishops) they will not attend. It would be the end of the road and the final snub for the head of the Anglican Communion, and to all intents and purposes the end of the communion.

The Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA) bishops who are meeting for the second time in their history are fed up with the churches of the West which they see dying because it has no gospel to proclaim and because of they have accepted and practice unbiblical sexual behaviors.

The conference of 400 African bishops meeting here are focusing their attention on the growth of the church in Africa and they are not much interested in engaging the West because they see no future being aligned with a dying church more interested in homosexual practice than in spreading the gospel.

END

CNN Belief Blog

Conservative Anglican bishops pressed the head of the worldwide church over homosexuality at a conference this week in Uganda, demanding he "sort out" the crisis facing the world's third-largest Christian denomination.

Bishops from Singapore, Southeast Asia and Africa told Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams in closed-door sessions Tuesday and Wednesday that there should be no more diplomacy on homosexuality, an issue that has split the Anglican communion.

Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, head of Uganda's Anglican church and the host of the week-long All Africa Bishops Conference, said the Archbishop of Canterbury (pictured administering communion at the conference) faces a complicated task in trying to reunite the church. "He (Williams) spoke what was on his mind and we also spoke. We impressed it on him that he had totally gone in a different direction and he has to sort it out," Orombi told journalists after their closed-door meeting on Wednesday. "We sympathize with his position as head of the Anglican communion suffering disunity on moral grounds and teaching of the scripture. It's like having unruly kids in his house and he can't sit down to eat food. We have told him and he understood us, that (there's) no more diplomacy on that matter, homosexuality. We made our minds very clear and he is going back knowing there is no gray area on our part," Orombi said.

Read the rest of this entry »

Thursday, August 26, 2010

We are delighted to announce that the annual conference will take place at St Saviour’s Church Walmer , Port Elizabeth from 16h00 Wednesday 27th to midday Friday 29th October 2010.

The conference this years will focus on the “The Gospel, Culture and Mission” as well charting the way forward for Orthodox Anglicanism in this region.

The Speakers will include:

Archbishop Dr. Eliud Wabukala of Kenya and a member of the GAFCON Primates council.

“GAFCON was never conceived as an alternative to Lambeth. We cannot go there (Lambeth) so what is the alternative then? We need to recover accountability in the church. We need to re-establish confidence in the church. While we believe dialogue has ended over sexuality issues not all the orthodox believe that dialogue with Lambeth has ended. Many believe it has ended and we are among them. Some orthodox want to continue to talk and dialogue. We are in a period of discernment for the orthodox, but we cannot do that by going to Lambeth, it would compromise us…

Rt. Rev. Dr.Joseph Lawrence Bishop of Nandyal Diocese and a member of the Theological Resource Group of GAFCON. Read the rest of this entry »

CAPA Bishops Wrestle with issues of poverty, HIV/AIDS and life of the Church

By David W. Virtue in Entebbe
www.virtueonline.org     August 25, 2010

The Archbishop of the Anglican Province of Nigeria, the Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh underscored the primacy of the family, condemning homosexuality for his 23-million member Anglican province, the largest province in the Anglican Communion as well as all African Anglicans.

"We do not believe two women or two men can make a family. We [also] want to correct the impression that we are not sure. We are very sure that a man and a woman is the family unit and by God's grace add children to it. That is biblical not only for CAPA [bishops] but for the entire Global South. Our position is that if there is anybody who is a lesbian or homosexual they should receive pastoral counseling."

The newly elected Primate said CAPA bishops are trying to consolidate their position on matters relating to the family, poverty, as well as the life of the church. What is foremost is the unity of the family, which is a man and a woman with children added to it.

PRIMATES MEET ROWAN WILLIAMS

Asked by VOL at a press conference what the mood was like when the CAPA Primates met privately with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Ian Ernest responded describing the fellowship as "warm. We met in a spirit of brotherly love. Read the rest of this entry »

Charles Raven, SPREAD

In February 1960, British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan delivered his historic ‘wind of change’ speech in Cape Town, heralding the end of Great Britain’s colonial presence in Africa. Fifty years on, there is a spiritual ‘wind of change’ blowing in Africa which promises to end the predominance of London based institutions in the leadership of the Anglican Communion and the current All Africa Bishops Conference in Entebbe convened by CAPA (the Council of the Anglican Provinces of Africa) provides the clearest evidence yet of this change in the spiritual weather.

It must have seemed to Lambeth strategists that the Archbishop of Canterbury’s presence at this high profile African conference with an agenda dominated by uncontroversial humanitarian issues would be a golden opportunity to portray the Anglican Communion as back to ‘business as usual’ after Rowan Williams’ decision to invite the consecrators of Gene Robinson to the 2008 Lambeth Conference led to the principled absence of some 230 mainly African bishops.

If so, they badly misjudged the mind of the conference. After the first day, the public relations dream is threatening to turn into a nightmare and Dr Williams may well by now be wishing that he had stuck to being a merely virtual presence by video as at April’s South to South Encounter in Singapore. Press reports coming out of Uganda will make grim reading in London; Dr Williams is described as ‘the centre of attraction for the media at the conference’ because of his ‘open support’ for homosexuality and Uganda’s Prime Minister bracketed the practice together with terrorism and corruption.

Read here

From The Church Mouse

News from the inquiry into the Claudy bombing in Northern Ireland in 1972 by the Police Ombudsman has been dominated by the question of whether there was a cover up by the Catholic Church. Mouse simply cannot see how this stacks up at all.

The question has arisen as a result of the transfer of Fr James Chesney out of Northern Ireland and into the Republic, whilst he was suspected of involvement in the bombing.

Now, firstly this appears to have been done with the agreement (if not at the request) of the police and Northern Ireland secretary. Surely at any time other than immediately prior to the arrival of the Pope in the UK, this would be headlined as a government and police cover up. However, the bigger point, which has been made by Cardinal Brady, is that the transfer of Fr Chesney did not stop the police investigating. In fact, the police stopped investigating, in spite of their suspicions, raised the matter with government and the church, and were actively involved in the transfer of Fr Chesney.

Read here

The following is the opening speech delivered by Ugandan Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi to the CAPA All African Bishops Conference being held in Entebbe, Uganda.

By Henry Orombi
www.virtueonline.org
August 24, 2010

The church of Uganda and the Nation with open arms receive you to Entebbe. This is a unique place where both the International Airport and the state House are situated.  Nearly six years ago we all gathered in Lagos – Nigeria for the very first time as bishops from Africa. We were well received by the Church and the people of Nigeria, an unforgettable experience. Today you are in Uganda, the Pearl of Africa – Welcome.

THE CHURCH OF UGANDA

Our Church has a population of 10.2 million Anglicans spread across the Nation forming 33 Dioceses and 35 bishops most of whom are to host you and make you feel the breeze of the Victoria Lake and receive you with firm hand-shakes and hugs.

We are a Church that experienced the joy of the gospel as it came to us in 1877 brought to us by the Church Missionary Society by invitation. We are also a Church that has paid the price for the gospel by the sacrifice of the early believers who laid down their lives – "the Martyrs." The blood of both Bishop James Hannington and these early believers laid the foundation of this Church. A century alter, yet another martyr St. Janani Luwum paid a price by laying his life for the sake of the gospel (Feb. 1977) during dictator Amin's rule of terror.

The church experienced the Fire of Revival lit in Rwanda and burnt its way to Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi later to be known as the famous "East African Revival." We have this legacy which is the driving force of this Church. We treasure the gospel, we preach the gospel, we believe the gospel and we seek to live by the gospel. Read the rest of this entry »

Opening Address: Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa by the Most Rev. Ian Ernest
All Africa Bishops' Conference, Entebbe, Uganda

by Archbishop Ian Ernest  August 23, 2010

My brothers in Christ Jesus, Distinguished guests,

I wish to warmly welcome you all to the second Conference organised for Anglican Bishops in Africa in the Name of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

You have put aside several other important commitments, travelled long distances and at great financial cost you have come here to Uganda. You honour the Lord with your most precious presence at this most important Conference of Bishops.

On behalf of all of us here and those we represent, we would like to express our profound appreciation and gratitude to our brother, the Archbishop of Uganda, the Most Revd Henry Orombi, the Church of the Province of Uganda, His Excellency the President of Uganda and the people of Uganda for accepting the big challenge of hosting this second All Africa Bishops' Conference. The warmth of the hospitality bestowed upon us since we have arrived goes beyond our expectations as it expresses graciousness and a great sense of belonging.

The organisation of this Conference is being superbly handled by the General Secretary of CAPA, Canon Grace Kaiso and the CAPA Secretariat, to whom I am greatly indebted. I wish here to place on record the indispensable role of the two steering committees one in Kenya and one in Uganda and thank them for taking up the challenge and for putting at our disposal all we need to make this Conference a memorable and most fruitful one. I am grateful to God and I pray that this Conference will prove once more that Africa has come of age and that our future is secured for we are able to unlock our potentials. Read the rest of this entry »

From report in New Vision   Tuesday, 24th August, 2010    

By Vision Reporters

ANGLICAN bishops attending the All Africa Bishops Conference in Entebbe have reiterated their firm stand against homosexuality. In speeches, most of which received standing ovations, the prelates said the practice was alien and an" innovation of the truth".  Present was the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, whose open support of the practice has made him the centre of attraction for the media at the conference.

The seven-day conference, at the Imperial Resort Beach Hotel, attracted over 400 bishops, a quarter of whom are from Nigeria. Participants were excited by the attendance of bishops from the Muslim countries of Sudan and Egypt.

As most clergy stood to clap at speeches critical of homosexuality, Archbishop Williams and two aides, who sat in the front row, were the only ones who remained seated.

The Rev. Canon Grace Kaiso, said the conference is expected to design strategies to curb poverty, conflict and disease on the continent.

Prayers and Bible study will be held every morning in the conference hall.

In a sermon earlier, Williams did not talk about homosexuality, an issue which has put the African church on a collision path with their Western counterparts, who have ordained gay priests.

The chairman of the Council of the Anglican Provinces of Africa, Archbishop Ian Ernest, challenged the clergy to ensure that African values are not diluted with "misleading alien beliefs". "The time is right to address issues from an African perspective without alien impositions. We should make choices which strengthen, not weaken, the church's credibility," he said. Read the rest of this entry »