General Convention News and Resources

The other night I had been working on a blog post that would have proven useful and informative but Blogger had other ideas...like obliterate the post Catherine has been working on for over an hour, creating hyperlinks and that sort of thing to help her local church family as well as bloggers and readers across the globe understand and experience what is taking place in Anaheim.

Well, Blogger did not save as its supposed to every so many minutes or seconds and the whole thing--yet unfinished--went poof and was no more. Imagine my chagrin and exasperation...well, that's ok if you can't but it was still there and though I grumped about it earlier today, I am ready to make another attempt using the auto post email address for my blog so that I can write the article as an email and then send it to Blogger for me edit and format for posting. Safer. Less crazy-making for me.

So we begin. Resources and news information sites that will aid and albeit the understanding and knowledge of the mystery of General Convention and what is going on there...

Official and semi-official Episcopal Church pages for news and updates:

The General Convention of the Episcopal Church Official homepage

Episcopal Life Online

Episcopal Cafe, starring The Lead

epiScope

TEC Media Hub//General Convention 2009

Oregon at General Convention 2009

Integrity's Resolution Home Portal: How it's all panning out page

The Daily, a daily Convention newspaper with in-depth stories on all kinds of issues, provided by the Diocese of California. PDF versions are available here.

Episcopal bloggers, both clergy and lay, who are reporting or commenting somewhat daily from GenCon, adding a unique perspective to developments there:

Canterbury Tales from the Fringe by Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire

What the Tide Brings In by The Rev. Ann Fontaine of Wyoming

Telling Secrets by The Rev Elizabeth Kaeton of New Jersey

An Inch at At Time by The Rev. Susan Russell, President of Integrity USA

My Manner of Life by Lisa Fox, writing from Jefferson City, Missouri

Preludium by The Rev Canon Mark Harris from the Diocese of Delaware

The Living Church site

IntegriTV, a video source by Integrity USA

The "New" Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth

The Episcopal Church on Facebook

Entangled States by The Rev. Nicholas Knisely and Friends

Walking With Integrity, homepage for Integrity USA with great coverage of votes

The Episcopal Diocese of California.

...and I am sure there are many more truly reliable blogs and sites to peruse. You can easily find more places to explore for information if you go to the blog's sidebar where the author has listed worthwhile blogs to read.

This is a tense yet exciting time for the Church. Remember to pray without ceasing as every deputy, bishop, all youth, all the baptized need our prayers for wisdom and that above all, God's will be done, in the holy and loving name of our Lord Jesus Christ...

Do I hear an AMEN?

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." -- Galileo--

Secret theology committee unmasked: Chicago Consultation makes statement

The following information was found on Thinking Anglicans, a web blog news source for the World Wide Anglican Communion. The secret committee is indeed revealed. This site will also be an excellent source of up to date information the Convention as well as many blogs in the right hand sidebar of my blog.

Lisa Fox of My Manner of Life has published all but two of the names of the group studying same-sex relationships. For background here is the early June report.

See The Formerly Secret Panel (go to original source for live links)

So here are eight of the ten theologians serving on the panel to study same-sex relationships.

Co-facilitators:

* The Rt. Rev. Joe G. Burnett, Bishop of Nebraska
* Ellen Charry, Princeton Theological Seminary

Members:

* Deirdre J. Good, General Theological Seminary
* Willis Jenkins, Yale Divinity School
* The Rev. Grant LeMarquand, Trinity School for Ministry
* Eugene Rogers, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
* The Rev. George Sumner, Wycliffe College, Toronto
* The Rev. Daniel A. Westberg of Nashotah House

The Chicago Consultation has issued this press release:

CHICAGO, July 1, 2009—Ruth Meyers, Hodges Haynes Professor of Liturgics at Church Divinity School of the Pacific, General Convention deputy from the Diocese of Chicago, and co-convener of the Chicago Consultation, responded to the news that the names of most members of the House of Bishops Theology Committee panel on same-sex blessings have been made public:

“Continued scholarly work, done with particular attention to the work of the Holy Spirit in committed, life-long, monogamous unions of faithful gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Episcopalians, can liberate the church to discern more fully the work of the Spirit in all life-long unions of fidelity and mutual love. We wish this panel well, and we call upon General Convention to enrich its theological work by establishing a common rite for the blessing of unions across the Episcopal Church.”

“We commit to praying for each of these theologians and their co-chairs by name, and we hope that the remaining two members of the panel will choose to come forward publicly so that we may begin General Convention next week with the spirit of openness and transparency that characterizes our polity and our common life…”

Posted by Simon Sarmiento on Wednesday, 1 July 2009

Anglican/Episcopal news headlines: news you can use...or not.

There has been a lot going on in the Anglican Communion, here at home and abroad. In my attempt to stay caught up, I offer the following leads of some of the more noteworthy reports. Granted it is the Episcopal News Service, and granted, there are readers who do not give the ENS much credence but you know, its news. Does any media outlet really tell it like it is? So here is the information on "local" [stateside] stories and items from overseas.

I only wish to help those who don't have the resources or who are unaware of where to find the latest news, and help them stay afoot, if you will, on what the WWAC is up to, or not. So I humbly offer the following with links to the complete stories included.

Catherine

COLORADO: Former Episcopal priest indicted on 20 felony charges Armstrong allegedly siphoned $392,000 from church funds

By Pat McCaughan

[Episcopal News Service] A former Episcopal priest surrendered to authorities May 22 after a grand jury issued a 20-count felony indictment alleging he stole $392,000 from Grace and St. Stephen's Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado before breaking from it and joining the Convocation of Anglican Churches in North America.

If convicted, the Rev. Donald Armstrong, 60, now rector of St. George's Anglican Church in Colorado Springs, could spend the rest of his life in prison. Each charge carries a four-to-12 year possible prison sentence, with potential fines amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars. He was released after posting $20,000 bail, according to authorities.

Full story:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_108014_ENG_HTM.htm

CALIFORNIA: Bishop: "a sad day" for Central California diocese

By Pat McCaughan

[Episcopal News Service] Bishop Jerry Lamb of San Joaquin has sent final deposition notices to 61 priests and deacons who disaffiliated from the Central California Valley diocese and The Episcopal Church.

Lamb described the actions as "heartbreaking," on May 26, after finishing the last of the letters, which were to be mailed out to clergy who, along with former Bishop John-David Schofield, realigned themselves with the Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.

Full story:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_108029_ENG_HTM.htm

SCOTLAND: Tutu gets standing ovation from Church of Scotland after addressing gay issue

[Ecumenical News International] During an address to the Church of Scotland) General Assembly in Edinburgh, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said that homosexuals have a place in the church.

Full story:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_108053_ENG_HTM.htm

MISSION: Pakistan

Episcopal Relief and Development sends emergency aid to Pakistan

[Episcopal Relief and Development] The ongoing fighting between Pakistan's military and the Taliban rebels has caused massive chaos, violence and displacement in the country. According to USAID, more than two million citizens have been forced out of their homes since the fighting intensified in early May. The number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) continues to increase at an alarming rate.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, claims that the current displacement crisis in Pakistan is the most significant and fastest growing since the Rwandan Genocide of 1994.

Full story:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81799_108037_ENG_HTM.htm

EASTERN OREGON: Rivera appointed provisional bishop

[Episcopal News Service] Bishop Edna Bavi "Nedi" Rivera was elected provisional bishop of the Diocese of Eastern Oregon (http://www.episdioeo.org/ ) by unanimous vote during a special convention May 23. Twenty-seven clergy and 67 lay delegates representing 21 of the 22 parishes in eastern Oregon were certified to vote.

Full Story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_108353_ENG_HTM.htm

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FORT WORTH: Bishop asks clergy to verify decision to leave

By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth provisional Bishop Edwin F. Gulick Jr. has asked 72 members of the diocesan clergy to meet with him to verify their decision to leave the Episcopal Church with former bishop Jack Iker.

Full story:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_108349_ENG_HTM.htm

EDUCATION: California

Church Divinity School of the Pacific lays off staff, restructures seminary

[Episcopal News Service] Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP) announced May 29 the layoff of five of its 17 full-time staff members as a part of a comprehensive restructuring of the Episcopal Church-affiliated seminary in Berkeley, California.

The restructuring is a response to mounting financial pressures and changes in the educational needs of the Episcopal Church, according to a CDSP news release.

Full story:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78650_108799_ENG_HTM.htm