For many Episcopalians—indeed, many people of faith, every day is Earth Day. The Rev. Sally Bingham founded Interfaith Power and Light (then Episcopal Power and Light) in 1998 as an initiative to allow churches to purchase renewable energy and is part of The Regeneration Project, an “interfaith ministry devoted to deepening the connection between ecology and faith.”
The Episcopal Public Policy Network, an official part of the Episcopal Church can only participate in initiatives that have clear sponsorship by the General Convention or Executive Council. So far, in the years following the most recent General Convention, this work has focused on native american initiatives, climate change, immigration, and economic parity.
The author, James Baldwin spoke about the danger of allies with savior complexes. Have any of us had experiences with allies who thought of their role in that way? Have we fallen into that mode of acting ourselves?
Given the reality of medieval office politics (as real for us in the twenty-first century as it was in the thirteenth), Hadewijch offered two main pieces of advice: “be on your guard against instability” and “never abandon the true life of good works.”
Archbishop Gregory Venables responded to questions while in Canada. He was there visiting Anglicans who insist that they have broken away from the Anglican Church in Canada and become associated with the Province of the Southern Cone where Venables is the primate.
Chancellor to the Diocese of San Joaquin has announced the filing of a Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief in Fresno County Superior Court to reclaim all property currently being held by John-David Schofield, the former Bishop of the Diocese of San Joaquin. In a related matter, the Rt. Rev. Jerry Lamb, Provisional Bishop of the Diocese of San Joaquin, has sent a letter of protest to Presiding Bishop Gregory Venables of the Province of the Southern Cone.
The decline in Episcopal Church membership relative to America’s population growth is often attributed to our “lack of biblical faith”. Interestingly today, the Southern Baptist Convention, which prides itself on a focus on biblical faith above all else has announced that it must recognize that it is a “denomination in decline”.
Questions are being raised about the timing of Bishop Gene Robinson’s scheduled civil union ceremony this coming June. There are voices that feel that Bishop Robinson intentionally timed the event so as to overshadow the Lambeth Conference that will be held later this summer. Bishop Robinson denies that intention.
While HIV/AIDS is thought of as the world’s greatest public health challenge, there are other significant diseases that are are taking a similar toll. Today is World Malaria Day and a number of organizations around the world have taken advantage of the attention being paid to their work to call for new initiatives in the prevention of Malaria.
Several national hierarchical churches denominations, including the United Methodist Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Church, filed an amicus curie (or “friend of the court”) brief yesterday supporting the position of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia that the §57-9 division statute of the Virginia Code “cannot withstand constitutional challenge.”