The recurrent topic is the consent of the House of Bishops to the deposition of John-David Schofield for abandonment of communion.
The actions covered a resolution on waterboarding, a statement on the depositions of Schofield and Cox, and a statement on the Lambeth Conference.
Henrietta Bell Wells, the only woman, the only freshman and the last surviving member of the 1930 Wiley College debate team that participated in the first interracial collegiate debate in the United States, died on Feb. 27 in Baytown, Tex. She was 96. Other debates with white schools followed, culminating with Wiley’s 1935 victory over the national champion, the University of Southern California.
The House of Bishops voted March 12 to consent to the deposition from the ordained ministry of the Rt. Rev. John-David Schofield, bishop of the Diocese of San Joaquin, and the Rt. Rev. William Jackson Cox, bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Maryland, resigned.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has written the forward for a new edition of the poetry of WH Auden. The former Archbishop of South Africa, Desmond Tutu, wrote the preface for Bishop Gene Robinson’s In the Eye of the Storm soon to be printed in the UK by Canterbury Press.
In recent days ENS has run two stories that bring unwelcome attention for the Province of Nigeria and may reflect a new willingness by ENS
Daniel Aleshire, of the Association of Theological Schools pointed out that the United Methodists have about four times the membership of Episcopalians but only two extra seminaries. “All of these seminaries have operated a very similar program….They’ve all done a residential program, theological education in the most expensive way it can be done. The resources available to do an expensive form of education at 11 different sites at the level it ought to be funded is increasingly under stress.”
In Sudan, a land that has been at war for most of the past five decades, forgiveness is an immediate issue. This is a place where religious, tribal, ethnic, language and gender differences have resulted in the deaths of millions of people. This is a place where land has been taken, families have been split, livelihoods have been destroyed.
Summer is hard for me physically, and has brought about a long interruption in my explanations of the gospel. But because I’ve been silent my love has not ceased. I’m only saying what you all know within yourselves. Our expression of love is often hindered by other concerns; it remains undiminished in our hearts even though our actions do not show it.
“I represent a church that was complicit in a system that took children far from home and family, took their clothing, cut off their hair and punished them when they spoke their own language. Some of our staff abused children. The Anglican church has so much for which to be so sorry…